The decorated tree! (…and that dog)

It is sure looking like it will be a White Christmas! Temperatures have been well below zero and the long range forecast shows no change anytime soon. Consequently, it snowed most of the weekend. I think we got 3/4 of a foot. Bdot finished decorating the tree and looks pretty impressive. (Photo later) Must say, it is pretty awesome sitting in a hot tub under a full moon on a clear night.

One of the fun? (read: agonizing and time consuming) things I get to do as a music reviewer is compiling my Album of The Year list. I usually have a few in mind, but as other people release their lists I check out more music and the process could go on forever. I must have listened to over 100 extra albums before finalizing this list. I could have probably done a top 40 list pretty easily. I could see most of these albums being anywhere on other people’s list… the numbers after the top five are more arbitrary.

1) Russian Circles : Hits every emotion with evocative precision. what more can you ask of music?

2) Deafheaven – Sunbather : Powerful, dynamic and uncompromising. Fuck yeah. Suck it haters.

3) 65daysofstatic – Wild Light : Pulsates with unique vibrancy and character

4) Damascus – Heights : Dizzying highs, tranquil lows blended together with melodic majesty.

5) Encircling Sea – A Forgotten Land : Four epic musical journeys that touch on so many atmospheres, moods and tones that it boggles the mind.

6) Entropia – Vesper

7) Savages – Silence Yourself

8) Forest Swords – Engravings

9) Strawberry Girls – French Ghetto

10) Iceage -You’re Nothing

11) Vallendusk – Black Clouds Gathering

12) Humanfly – Awesome Science

13) Tides from Nebula – Eternal movement

14) Front Line Assembly – Echogenetic

15) Hammock – Oblivion Hymns

16) Author and Punisher – Women & Children

17) SubRosa – More Constant Than the Gods

18) Sigur Rós – Kveikur

19) Dias De Septiembre – Terminal

20) Darkside – Psychic

One more week then I’m off for two. Looking forward to some downtime. The morning commutes have been horrible. Bdot has a worse commute however having to fly to North Carolina (or is it South?) today. House smells of cabbage rolls and cookies all day Sunday as Bdot cooked up a storm.

Really enjoying my S4. My 416 number has been moved over as of today. Goodbye Telus. From one big corp that treats customers like cattle to another. …

Have to mention the nightmare epic phone call bdot had with Rogers. I really believe they have a mandate to do whatever it takes to suck you into as much expense as they can (with empty promises like a politician) then do everything they can keep you at that high spending level. I recently switched from Telus to Rogers largely due to the offer that we thought we had negotiated on the phone with Rogers. Well… we called back to ensure it was in place and to move my number over… and magically they have NO RECORD of the offer and the offer is actually NOT POSSIBLE AT THAT PRICE POINT. But of course… at this more expensive rate we can offer you THIS plan‘. What a lousy bait and switch scam that is. Rogers absolutely refused to honour the plan we negotiated. We both clearly heard the terms and went over it SEVERAL times before we agreed to accept it, only to be told it isn’t in place and it isn’t possible. If it wasn’t such a hassle I was tempted to tell them I’ll send the phone back and cancel the plan. Again… part of the scheme I bet. Now that I’ve configured and I’m enjoying my new phone I’m obviously less likely to cancel the plan. Absolutely infuriating how poor their customer service is. The poor wife was on the phone with them FOR HOURS as well because they ALSO messed up our cable AND internet packages. I dread seeing the next bill because will only facilitate ANOTHER waste of time call to idiots who don’t make notes and can’t honour what they promise anyway. ‘If there is a new way… I’ll be the first in line…‘ What a joke.

WOO! I’ve killed off all the ‘uncategorized’ unsung entries. There were over 2000 of them. :/ I’ve also fixed most of the miscategorized ‘www’ entries that were actually just ‘Meme’ entries. Phew.