Steve Jobs’ medical leave: Apple’s CEO

Steve Jobs’ medical leave: Apple’s CEO will leave the company—even if he’s healthy. – Slate Magazine http://ow.ly/3FsGh

Two great albums from 2010

I am typically pretty picky when it comes to music. It’s very rare for me to buy music unless I have already been exposed to a band in concert or through a friend, so I was pleasantly surprised with two albums I purchased a few weeks ago. Each are nominated for Grammy’s (not exactly a badge of honor considering the crap that wins most years) but in this case I can say that these are two of the best albums of the year….at least in my house.

The first is the debut release ‘Sigh No More’ from Mumford & Sons, an English folk band who draw from Shakespeare and Steinbeck for some of their lyrics. On the first listen, I wasn’t sure what to make of it. But after I listened to the album a second and third time, I was hooked! The lyrics and the music are stellar and they have a certain energy that comes through in the recording that only a good live band can produce.

Here is the video for ‘Winter Winds’ from this album:

The second album is from Ray LaMontagne & The Pariah Dogs. This release, titled ‘God Willin’ and the Creak Don’t Rise’ is full of great songs that offer a mix of LaMontagne’s trademark  voice and acoustic guitar along more diverse and complex sound due to his addition of a backing band.

Listen to ‘Beg Steal Borrow; here:

My Top 5 iPhone Apps

Here are my favorite (and most used) iPhone apps.

1) Twitter:

There are many apps to use for Twitter, but I prefer the clean and simple interface of this official version. I especially enjoy the ‘Read Later’ feature which allows me to save any http:// link used in a tweet to view late. Also, they recently added push notifications which was a great improvement.

2) Instapaper:

My second app is related to the first. On any given day there are several tweets that contain links to news stories and other web pages that I either don’t have time to read at that moment or are not easily viewable on a mobile phone. Instapaper allows you to store those links to view at home on your computer or via this app. The app breaks down the link to contain only the text so it’s more suitable for an iPhone screen and loads much faster.

3) Pandora Radio:

If you don’t use Pandora Radio, you should. I use it at home pretty often and recently starting using the iPhone app too. Once you log in it will sync with your radio stations you have already created or you can start from scratch. The idea is to use artists you like and then rate songs as they play. This will allow Pandora to customize the music stream to fit your preferences.

4) ESPN Scorecenter:

This one should be pretty straight forward. You can choose which sports and which teams to follow and view the scores from the big games of the day. If you select a game that is in progress or completed, you get scores, stats and other game info. When you select a game that occurs in the future, you get the game details and occasionally a game preview and the line for the game.

5) Instagram:

My wife introduced me to this app used for taking, sharing and altering pictures with the iPhone. Once you take a picture within the app or chose one from your library, you can select from several filters to adjust the image. Once you are satisfied with you results you can save it and then share it via Twitter, Facebook and other options.

Friends

It’s hard to define a friend these days. Facebook has created a world where almost anyone can be your friend. But what really defines a friend, at least to me, is someone you can count on. It’s someone you can trust. It’s someone who is there to listen when you have a problem no matter how big or how small.

I would like to think that I have a lot of friends, but with that said, I only have a few truly great friends that I can really trust 110%, through thick and thin. And that’s OK with me. When I need to talk, I don’t want to sort through my contacts wondering who to call – I just pick up the phone and dial.

When I left work today I felt good, really good. Not because I had a great day at work (I didn’t), not because it’s Thursday, not because the weather is great, but because I felt relieved. I have always relied on my close friends to share my thoughts and feelings with and when stress levels peak and change confronts you head-on, I go to someone I trust to talk things through. There’s nothing better than that feeling of relief once you get something off your chest. Even if it’s something you’ve had bottled up for weeks, once you say it aloud, it becomes real.

And the great thing is when you are talking with a friend, you have someone to share that burden with you and that truly is a special thing. It happened to me today and that’s why I felt so good leaving work. I didn’t reach any sort of resolution of find a solution, but I shared my concerns with someone who understood my feelings and made me realize I’m not alone – that I have friends who will stick by me regardless of what happens.

So while I was driving home, I thought of something my dad said to me recently. He told me this weekend that I am very fortunate to have such good friends. This was after spending time around one of my closest friends and meeting his wife for the first time. Then the next day I was able to have lunch with a group of friends in Raleigh and I realized how right he was. I have a special group of friends who have for the most part been in my life for a while and they are the people I turn to when I am confused, upset or just looking for someone to listen.

And that’s what motivated me to write today.

10 things I like

As the title of this blog suggests, I tend to write about the Things I Like. So far, I have written about music, sports, cooking and books. And while some subjects are worthy of an individual post, others are not. So with that thought in mind, I will be doing ‘top 10′ style lists every few weeks in order to capture some of these thoughts.

1. The salted caramel brownie at Amelie’s Bakery. Well worth the drive down to NoDa to grab one or two.
2. Rubicon on AMC. As a lead in to Mad Men (one of the best shows on TV), Rubicon is proving to be a great show in it’s own right. The pacing and suspense are perfect.
3. The start of football season. I’m more of a college fan than NFL and I don’t do fantasy football, but I love the sport and look forward to seeing how Virginia Tech will fare and how bad the Panther’s will be this year.
4. Arrested Development on Netflix. How did I miss this show when it first aired??? It’s hilarious and addictive. Plus being able to stream the episodes through Netflix to my TV, computer and iPhone makes it easy to catch an episode whenever I have time.
5. Boudreaux’s Louisiana Kitchen. Two locations, Blacksburg & Charlotte. I worked across the street from the Blacksburg location and ate there often. Going to the one in Charlotte reminded me how good the food is!
6. Fall – easily my favorite season. You get football, playoff baseball, changing leaves, cool nights and warm days and finally a break from the humidity.
7. The new Apple TV. At $99 it’s a great deal. You can stream content from your computer (music, tv, movies) as well as rent movies and TV shows as well as Netflix instant videos.
8. Weekend road trips. Meredith and I went down to Lake Waccamaw for Labor day and it was great to get away for a few nights. I like the lake atmosphere so much more than the beach and it helped that we got to spend some quality time with friends.
9. Crossword puzzles. I recently downloaded the NY Times crossword puzzle app for the iPhone and while they are challenging, I’ve really enjoyed working on them, although having someone to partner with is always helpful.
10. The Best of What’s Around. One of my favorite DMB songs and recently it’s been stuck in my head a lot. It’s on my gym mix so I hear it often and love the lyrics.

See, you and me
Have a better time than most can dream
Have it better than the best
And so can pull on through
Whatever tears at us
Whatever holds us down
And if nothing can be done
We'll make the Best of What's Around

‘The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo’….was just OK.

I love to read a good book. I’ve been an avid reader since I was kid, dating back to the bookmobile and Hardy Boy’s books. I read a lot of different types of books but one of my favorite genre’s is crime fiction. Authors like Lee Child, James Patterson and John Sandford have entertained me for years, so when I heard all of the buzz around the mega-bestseller ‘The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo’ I had to check it out. And having just finished it, I have to say I was disappointed.

Music videos still exist

The Avett Brothers are quickly becoming one of my favorite bands. Here is a video for Head Full of Doubt/Road Full of Promise, which was shot using still photographs to create an animation. The painting was altered 2600 times to create this effect.

Go here to see the making of this video: http://bit.ly/9vsz9v

Ben Harper and Relentless7

Ben Harper has been one of my favorite musicians for more than a decade now and I can’t get enough of his newest formation, Relentless7. They released their first studio album in May ’09 and then a live album/dvd this past March. While the music has a different feel than some of his previous work, it’s quickly some of my favorite music and is always in rotation on my iPod.

Here’s a clip from the live concert. The song is called Why Must You Always Dress in Black and transitions into a cover of Red House by Jimi Hendrix:

To get more information, check out the official website: http://www.benharper.com/

Live music, DMB style

Along with the summer, comes a few assumptions. There will be lots of grilling. The grass will turn brown. There will be baseball games and cold beer at some point and there will be a few concerts, especially the Dave Matthews Band.

The #3 in victory lane

It shouldn’t be surprising that I grew up in North Carolina and have spent many Sunday afternoons watching NASCAR races on TV. My parents were not fans so I’m not sure what it was that lured me in, maybe a friend from school or neighbor.  I couldn’t exactly emulate what I saw on TV in my back yard like I did with basketball and baseball. But at some point I got hooked on the sport.