32 posts tagged “qotd”

Do you own all the albums of any particular musical artist or group? Who?
Submitted by dutterman.

DJ Shadow, for a while.  I'd buy albums where he produced one song or scratched on another, but he lost me with Public Works, an expensive box set with one of the t-shirts depicting someone throwing a molotov cocktail.  Also, I wasn't a real completionist, since there were a lot of early rarities I couldn't even come across in MP3 format.  At the time, now we live in an age of abundance.  I will still buy his albums—The Outsider was an uneven effort but still showed Shadow to be doing stuff nobody else can—but I no longer want to buy records where he was within 15 feet of the recording studio at which it was produced.

Clowns: delightful or terrifying?

I have no childhood memories of clowns, good or bad, so my brain is clogged with the clown references that come from The Simpsons. My favourites are "can't sleep, clown'll eat me" and the blow-up clown that Principal Skinner punched that returned back to him.  Do they make those?  And for how much?

Are there any podcasts that you never miss an episode of?
Submitted by Kadeeae.

I just posted a list of podcasts I'm currently listening to, and plan to periodically write about whatever the list happens to be at the time.  I never miss an episode of KEXP Music That Matters, CBC Radio 3 Podcast, and the Planetizen Podcast.  I listen to the non-music podcasts—Best of the Web, Planetizen, and other "talk shows"—usually while doing something that's not reading or working.  I can't concentrate on talking when working or reading, so I usually listen to those while riding on the bus or walking to work.  Music podcasts I can do something while listening to them: in fact while I write this I'm finishing off a three-hour episode of CITR's The Jazz Show.

The great thing about podcasts in iTunes is you can stop them, play something different, then come back to the point you were listening to in the podcast.  The point you last listened to even transfers to my iPod when I sync.  This doesn't work for the DJ mixes I download, which are in non-podcast form, just straight MP3s downloaded from some website.

How often are you wrong?  Do you find it difficult to admit it when you are? 
Submitted by emily ann.

I'm wrong very often.  I'm fine with admitting it, but most people don't know how to correct me in such a way that make me not feel like an idiot.  They often say "No, it's [opposite of what I said]" instead of "hmm, I heard it was actually [opposite of what I said]".  That is, I don't take correction very well, and would rather people correct me privately so I can correct my mistake in public.  If I'm wrong when I thought for sure I was right, I quickly say that I misspoke [example] and correct it.  People are more forgiving if you tell the truth, admit being wrong, and find the right answer than if you try to hide the fact that you don't know what you're talking about.  It's better to say "I don't know" than make something up.

How do you sign your emails?
Submitted by rosemarypepper.

I usually don't sign my emails with anything other than my name and/or a URL.  For instance, if it's from my personal email address, it's my full name plus one of my blogs, usually Just a Gwai Lo.  And just a URL, no 'www' but including the http://  Here's an example:

Hey loved the post on SkyTrain parties.

--
Richard Eriksson
http://justagwailo.com/

I sometimes sign with the URL http://r13n.com/ which redirects to my blog anyway. 

Note the use of "exactly two hyphens, followed by a space, followed by the end of line".  I know people who omit the space at the end.  Heathens. 

If it's a more personal email, I just sign it with simply "Richard", as I did in my signature-free days.  I'm considering adding more information to the signature, but for now it conveys all the information—i.e. my name and a place to find more information about me—that I need to convey.  If I want to give someone my phone #, I'd do it in the text.

I don't add any words like "Cheers" or "Yours" or any other sign-off, though I sometimes wonder if people expect that of me.

What kind of camera(s) do you own?

Depends on what you consider a camera.  My MacBook Pro has an iSight built in, my N70 has a two cameras (front and back), and I have two other devices that look typically like a camera: a Canon EOS 400D / Digital Rebel XTi and an Olympus D-560.

What are your plans for the weekend?

Funny that I see this halfway through the weekend.  Today I participated, as planned, in the 1st annual BC Floorball Federation Challenge.  During the week I will write about it more on Urban Vancouver, but let's just say it was a major success.  And that I can't feel my legs!

Tomorrow I planned on attending dragon boat practice, but I'm making that a game-time decision.  Probably going since this is an upper-body workout where floorball is significantly running with a stick in your hand.  After that, no plans, but I'd like to spend some of Sunday with my girl.

Tonight, though, rest, recovery, and maybe a pinch of reflection.

Have you ever tracked down any of your old high school friends and fellow students? 
Submitted by campsite2007.  

Only the one with the impossible-to-Google name, and unsuccessfully.  Facebook should make short work of that, as it's making short work of tracking down even the people I forgot about.  My ex tracked me down one day, so she has my email address, but I didn't see her at the reunion.

But that was a previous life.  At least it feels like one.

What's that secret dream job you've always believed you'd be good at, but never gone for? 
Submitted by wedgeh.

Truck driver or bus driver.  There's something romantic about the open road in the former case, but from what I've read the time window between picking up a delivery and when it needs to arrive is fairly small, and that many drivers lose out on sleep, something I value very highly.  In the latter case, it would be an interesting experience but lately in Vancouver there has been a lot of press about rider-driver confrontations, something I don't think I'd handle very well, and driving in general demands more attention than I think is worth.  Bus driving is even worse, because you would have to watch for passengers waiting for stops and remember to drop passengers off when they pull the 'stop request' cord. 

Neither are for me, but I like to dream.

How well does your name Google? Who are you up against? (Celebrities, etc.)
Submitted by Matt Blank.

I do rather well, and have no competition.  It used to be that the top 10 results were all from sites I had administrative control over, but now user profiles on social networking sites have creeped in.  Not a problem at the moment, since I say what goes on there.  I used to be #4 for my first name, but have since dropped down a few spots because I've temporarily ceased updating my main weblog.