Favorite Albums of 2008.

Year 2008 is almost finished (a few hours left)... so this means it is time for my annual list of my favorite music of the past year. A year that saw terrible sales, more downloads - but some fantastic releases and reissues... especially the New Order and Robyn Hitchcock reissues. Again, like 2007, I was a little bummed out that I did not find more jazz releases that really grabbed my attention... but indie rock and electronic sounds seemed to keep me more than happy.

This past year I started spending time with many records that I listened to ten years ago (my twenties)... like Velocity Girl, Eggs, Superchunck, Fastbacks, Lois, Further, The Singles Soundtrack, Henry's Dress, Love Battery - you know, 90's indie rock. I had forgotten about so many amazing records that use to be the center of my life. Sure some had poorly dated, but even those were enjoyable to listen to and remember my life without the stress of the daily grind. But we cannot live in the past... so here is hoping 2009 bring some off the top music to our ears!

My Favorite Albums of 2008...
1. Primal Scream "Beautiful Future" (b-unique)
2. Frightened Rabbit "Midnight Organ Fight" (fat cat)
3. Parts And Labor "Receivers" (jagjaguwar)
4. Jamie Lidell "Jim" (warp)
5. Lindstrom "Where You Go I Go" (smalltown)
6. GZA/Genius "Pro-Tools" (babygrande)
7. Mates of State "Re-Arrange Us" (basuk)
8. The Dodos "Visiter" (frenchkiss)
9. No Age "Nouns" (sub pop)
10. Hercules and Love Affair "Hercules and Love Affair" (dfa/mute)

and the +10:
Black Mountain "In The Future" (jagjaguwar)
Cool Kids "The Bake Sale" (chocolate industries)
Dutchess & The Duke "She's The Dutches, He's The Duke" (hardly art)
Gutter Twins "Saturnalia" (sup pop)
Harvey Milk "Life... The Best Game In Town" (hydra head)
James "Hey Ma" (mercury)
Lodger "Life Is Sweet" (slumberland)
Q-Tip "The Renaissance" (motown/universal)
Royal We "The Royal We" (domino)
Stereolab "Chemical Chords" (4ad)

....yes, I still loved Q-Tip, Kanye West, Anthony Hamilton, Jazzanova, She & Him, School of Seven Bells, Spiritualized, Mudhoney, The Roots, Neil Halstead, Blitzen Trapper, Crystal Stilts, The Duke Spirit, and tons and tons of others - but they all just cannot fit.

Flying Solo (Update).

We made it! We both survived. And I am very proud of myself. No, Miles did not sleep the entire time. I am ready to be Mr. Mom... I think.

Flying Solo.

So today will mark my first time of flying solo... meaning it's just me and Miles in the house. LP is going to her work's Christmas lunch, so she'll be gone for three hours. Now I've gone solo for an hour or so a couple time - but never for three hours. Hopefully we survive!

A New Blog?

I've been toying with the idea of starting a new blog. I don't intend to ever stop this one, even though lately I've been too busy to post. I am trying to decide if it is the right thing to start a blog just for my unemployment time. A daily entry to note what I need to do, or what I accomplished, or something significant about being unemployed that day. It might not be the best reading, but it might be a good healthy was to express myself during a trying time. I'll have plenty of other things to write about on this site... I'll be an unemployed-going-broke-stay-a-home-dad... that has to make for some good posts.

Missing The Office.

The end of this year makrs the end of my job. There is so much to write about that, but not now. I go through so many feelings about being let go after nine years. I guess it would be easier to be fired because I did something wrong, but being laid off because I cost the company too much money (since I bring in the most) does not sit well with me. And no... I do not make a lot to start with. Maybe I am just frustrated since I cannot find a new job.

Today my post is about missing the office. This last month of employment for me is being spent at home since the lease to my office space in Chicago was up at the end of November. The company I shared space moved out too so there was no way to stay just one more month. I am not the kind of person who works well at home... I am too distracted, but I am trying the best I can for this month.

Every time I sit down at my desk at home I am reminded of what a great office I belonged to in Chicago. I did not work for the company I shared space with, but they treated me like one of the gang each and every day. We goofed on each other quite often, and simultaneously everyone seemed to get their work done. I came in early and they worked late. It just seemed to work well. On days with extra time I would perfect my David Lee Roth kicks in front of them. That seemed to be a hit. I played my music a tad bit too loud. I constantly complained on how messy they were, and how they always stunk up the bathroom. Now I almost miss those stinky days... almost. They were a good group of people who I miss seeing each week day.

We all move on, but I will still be friends with them. I guess I was just hoping when I left that work place I would be moving on to something new and better... not unemployment.

TV.

I know I have not posted in a long long time, but having a new born at home seems to keep my free time to a minimum. I do keep thinking of things to write about, just never seem to get to the computer to type away. Not even sure how long this will be.

This post is about a television. LP & I have an eight year old 20" tube television that has seen better days. The biggest issue is in the winter when it's cold outside it starts to lose the picture. Now I am not Mr. I-Have-To-Have-The-Biggest-TV-Mounted-On-My-Wall, but I would love to have something that will show the picture all winter long. So we've been saving our pennies to buy some kind of 26" LCD, something cheap - but an improvement. It's been hard to think about spending money on a television when in twenty days I will be unemployed, but it is something we do use and we would not be putting this on a credit card.

Well to my surprise yesterday the UPS man dropped off a new television. I was shocked. I was speechless. I asked LP how much she spent, in which she smiled and said "Nothing." She informed me that my family all chipped in and bought us a new TV... something my brother put together for us. See our family does not really exchange Christmas gifts - in fact this year we are making things for each other and keeping it under $20. So this was truly a shock to me. I still cannot seem to believe it. They thought so much of us to buy a television for our house. They bought us a TV! A TV!

So after putting it together LP and I watched the original Star Wars because we thought it would be cool on a big television, and it was. Then I stayed up most of the rest of the night watching my favorite chick flicks in true 9er fashion.

I might not have a new job yet, but I am reminded that I have a truly wonderful family. Sure I knew this before the TV arrived, but now I cannot ever forget it - there is a reminder that takes up a large chunk of our front room.