The influence continues.....

No Muzak here
Originally uploaded by Matt Callahan.

This is my daughter's birthday present. Every kid in her school has an mp3 player. It kills me to see these kids strolling around with their iPods and cell phones as they leave school for the day. Some even carry laptops. After fighting with it for a few days, I've figured out all the secrets and loaded just over 60 cd's on it. I've snuck it away from her enough to know I'll have to get one for myself. No, it’s not an iPod, but I think it's the best choice for my (I’m the dad, who else is going to fix it?) needs. Battery life is quite impressive and changing the battery will be very easy when the time comes. Sound quality is quite good. Thanks to Adam for his input.

Bought it

Bought it
Originally uploaded by Matt Callahan.

I broke one of my one rules when I didn't by the Moleskine notebook. If something you want presents itself unexpectedly, buy it.

One Hundred

Spring is officially over. Today’s high will be 100 degrees and the temperature trend will continue into next week. You could feel the change in the weather as this past week progressed. The air thins out and tastes different in summer. When outside, you can feel the intensity of the suns rays on your exposed skin.

I’ve had a number of thoughts rumbling through my head this week. Habits were one of them. I’ve been focused on how predictable my days are. Not that what I do is bad really, I just do the same thing everyday. Because of the schedule that’s kept Monday through Friday, I find it hard to break free and enjoy the weekend. I tend to stall out and do nothing. This weekend has too many family things planned and there isn’t time to take a drive and escape the city, as I’d like to. I find the Phoenix area is just too crowded. I need some room.

Ottmar’s mention of his retreat reminds me that I need to do the same. It’s time to recharge.

Happy Saturday

Liquid Sunshine
Originally uploaded by Matt Callahan.

My current beverage of choice. Feel free to stop by and join me for a caballito or two.

"How to drink tequila: The traditional way is to use a tall, narrow shot glass called a caballito ('little horse', or pony, also called a tequilito)."

Moleskine

I had about 45 minutes to kill this afternoon and stopped at Barnes & Noble. I was hoping to find something of interest but nothing presented itself. It is becoming harder for me to find a book that peaks my interest. I don't have much time to read so perhaps I'm making it harder to warm up to a book. This preventing me from buying books that stack up in a corner never to be touched.

Before I left the store, I noticed on the far wall there was a collection of notebooks. I steered myself in that direction and found that Barnes & Noble carries the Moleskine brand notebooks Ottmar has mentioned. They seem quite nice but I didn't make the purchase. As I drove away, I mentally kicked myself. As I said before, OL is my best "worst" influence. It would be nice to have a notebook to write down my blog thoughts that I seem to always have when far away from the keyboard. I'll order one online and save a few bucks.

Of course now I'll need a nice pen to go with the Moleskine. And a messenger bag of some sort. Doesn't make sense to carry around a pen and notebook in your hand. And if I had a messenger bag, there would be room for an iPod.....