I’ve turned into such a consumer whore. I admit it. Today I went to Bed Bath & Beyond just to use one of the myriad of coupons they sent. Came away with a cool pepper mill: Vic Firth Pump & Grind Pepper Mill [amazon].
Judging by my blog entries some would say I turned long ago – but this piece of gadgetry appealed to the design-lover in me. Simple, elegant one-handed action – who needs those huge two-handed pepper grinders? Olive Garden my home is not. Very small pepper capacity, but again, how much pepper does one really use?
Spent the afternoon and evening by the main stage -- Day 2 of the Capitol Hill Block Party. This time I was prepared and brought earplugs. Prime spot near the speakers. I mainly came to see Mirah and Aesop Rock, but discovered another great band: The Cribs. Very rock n roll; Brits, love ‘em.
I probably would have passed on Mirah without Anita’s encouragement; and I’m glad I went. She is a beautiful person with a beautiful voice. Seems she lost a lot of weight -- she looks nothing like her PR photos. I’m currently obsessed trying to find her song “Don’t” off a 2003 compilation album “Ragazza Pop” Can’t find anywhere to purchase this album -- I’ve resorted to contacting an ebay seller and an ebay winner of the album to beg for a copy of it. I have some footage of the song thankfully:
The Cribs were great; lots of energy and catchiness.
John Vanderslice -- Not to my liking, and not just because his songs didn’t seem to have choruses.
I was awoken by Aesop Rock. Awesome performance -- great beats and intelligible lyrics; most live hip-hop acts are so musically muddled that it’s hard to hear what they say. Not so with Aesop. His labelmate Rob Sonic performed alongside -- another great lyricist. Aesop did a few old cuts and some new songs, Rob did a couple songs, and the DJ did some turntablism. Look for Aesop’s new album “None Shall Pass” coming out next month. Rob Sonic will have a new album as well -- I heard some of his music on his myspace -- good stuff.
I left after Against Me! -- Spoon was next and I was pretty worn out from being on my feet for 6 hours. Against Me! really got the crowd moving/moshing -- I felt the music uninspiring -- I love the punk genre, but something about them just screams ‘bland’ to me. I was surprised there was a mother and her two young children there at the very front, no ear protection, and one looking like a prisoner. When the crowd almost pushed the fence down they were quickly ushered away by security.
The kitchen is finally done: granite sealed & polished, floors vacuumed and swiffer-wetted many times, cookware & utensils: check, cutlery & dish sets: check, and other misc kitchen must-haves picked up while mom was in town the other week. Kitchen nook is finally furnished – Costco Home in Kirkland has some great deals; even though most of their stuff is not my style, the kitchen table fits well. I still have a bare pantry and empty fridge – and if I wanted to make toast I’d still need to buy a toaster. But otherwise, I am set to make all the ramen I need to survive.
Many pictures, different angles, lots more on my flickr:
The kitchen is finally done: granite sealed & polished, floors vacuumed and swiffer-wetted many times, cookware & utensils: check, cutlery & dish sets: check, and other misc kitchen must-haves picked up while mom was in town the other week. Kitchen nook is finally furnished – Costco Home in Kirkland has some great deals; even though most of their stuff is not my style, the kitchen table fits well. I still have a bare pantry and empty fridge – and if I wanted to make toast I’d still need to buy a toaster. But otherwise, I am set to make all the ramen I need to survive.
Many pictures, different angles, lots more on my flickr:
My brother and I bought a Sonos bundle and an extra controller and split it – since we only each need 1 zone for now. For a full review look here; here’s my quick breakdown: If you are a music fanatic who doesn’t want to be tied to the computer, Sonos is a must-have. If you’re open to a music-subscription service, Sonos is 10000x better. Spend the cost of a cd a month and you have access to over 3 million songs at your fingertips.
The Sonos controller really kicks the llama’s ass; it even has a light sensor and motion sensor in it – turns on when you pick it up and adjusts the LCD back light to the ambient lighting. Album art, genre-browsing, playlists – it’s all there; I was amazed at how well the interface was designed and how easy it is to navigate. I inherited some B&W DM3000s from my brothers – I grew up with these speakers and they still sound awesome. I did some research and found that in 1985 they cost $1900 a pair; in today’s dollars that’s $3600! I think my brothers pooled their money together in the early 90s and bought these speakers for our family home theater. I have the screens taken off the speakers since I love that aggressive look with the distinctive B&W yellow cones. My brother also gave me a Yamaha RX-V992 receiver to power these bad boys.
Here’s the set up so far:
Got the Xbox360, router (Linksys WRT54GL), Sonos ZP-80, and PS2 set up. Right now the speakers are straddling the television but I think I’m going to move them to each side of the fireplace since I plan to listen to more music than use the TV – plus I read that the prime listening spot should be equidistant to the distance between the speakers – forming an equilateral triangle. Here’s some close ups of the controller and the depth of the music library
My only complaint is that the Rhapsody library currently can’t be ’searched’ – but instead artists have to be browsed for by genre, but navigating the huge lists of artists is easy with the power-scroll feature. Hopefully this will be alleviated by a future software upgrade. Another neat feature is that the Rhapsody account is linked to my profile which I can modify anywhere – all my saved playlists, favorite artists/songs are available when I’m on my work, home, or any computer and of course the Sonos. This type is convergence is truly the future.
My brother and I bought a Sonos bundle and an extra controller and split it – since we only each need 1 zone for now. For a full review look here; here’s my quick breakdown: If you are a music fanatic who doesn’t want to be tied to the computer, Sonos is a must-have. If you’re open to a music-subscription service, Sonos is 10000x better. Spend the cost of a cd a month and you have access to over 3 million songs at your fingertips.
The Sonos controller really kicks the llama’s ass; it even has a light sensor and motion sensor in it – turns on when you pick it up and adjusts the LCD back light to the ambient lighting. Album art, genre-browsing, playlists – it’s all there; I was amazed at how well the interface was designed and how easy it is to navigate. I inherited some B&W DM3000s from my brothers – I grew up with these speakers and they still sound awesome. I did some research and found that in 1985 they cost $1900 a pair; in today’s dollars that’s $3600! I think my brothers pooled their money together in the early 90s and bought these speakers for our family home theater. I have the screens taken off the speakers since I love that aggressive look with the distinctive B&W yellow cones. My brother also gave me a Yamaha RX-V992 receiver to power these bad boys.
Here’s the set up so far:
Got the Xbox360, router (Linksys WRT54GL), Sonos ZP-80, and PS2 set up. Right now the speakers are straddling the television but I think I’m going to move them to each side of the fireplace since I plan to listen to more music than use the TV – plus I read that the prime listening spot should be equidistant to the distance between the speakers – forming an equilateral triangle. Here’s some close ups of the controller and the depth of the music library
My only complaint is that the Rhapsody library currently can’t be ’searched’ – but instead artists have to be browsed for by genre, but navigating the huge lists of artists is easy with the power-scroll feature. Hopefully this will be alleviated by a future software upgrade. Another neat feature is that the Rhapsody account is linked to my profile which I can modify anywhere – all my saved playlists, favorite artists/songs are available when I’m on my work, home, or any computer and of course the Sonos. This type is convergence is truly the future.
Ok not really a “spree” but it still pained the wallet. Today I went to Dania with my brother (our original quest was to get me a mattress from a discount outlet); it’s important to me to have my brother’s opinion on most anything I do involving the house. He’s on his 2nd house now so I trust his opinion on stuff. If anything, his taste and style have been pushing me more forward than my somewhat conservative tastes. I’m a hypocrite…I say I want to be more contemporary/modern but my pickings still seem to lean traditional; it helps that my brother helps open my eyes and bluntly calls what I like as ‘old-manish’.
So I got the Pisa queen bed, two nightstands, and a double dresser. It’s very eye catching because of the high gloss finish and the extensive inlay work. It’s by “Italian Design Group” or something, made in Italy as well. Dania describes the bed as:
Finely crafted in Italy in high gloss Canaletto veneers with zebra wood inlays, the Pisa bedroom features a gently curved head and foot board.
Costco Home finally has my kitchen nook table set in stock, so I’ll be picking it up this Saturday. It’s this table, but not the same chairs – and for much less than what Costco Online is selling it for.
Ok not really a “spree” but it still pained the wallet. Today I went to Dania with my brother (our original quest was to get me a mattress from a discount outlet); it’s important to me to have my brother’s opinion on most anything I do involving the house. He’s on his 2nd house now so I trust his opinion on stuff. If anything, his taste and style have been pushing me more forward than my somewhat conservative tastes. I’m a hypocrite…I say I want to be more contemporary/modern but my pickings still seem to lean traditional; it helps that my brother helps open my eyes and bluntly calls what I like as ‘old-manish’.
So I got the Pisa queen bed, two nightstands, and a double dresser. It’s very eye catching because of the high gloss finish and the extensive inlay work. It’s by “Italian Design Group” or something, made in Italy as well. Dania describes the bed as:
Finely crafted in Italy in high gloss Canaletto veneers with zebra wood inlays, the Pisa bedroom features a gently curved head and foot board.
Costco Home finally has my kitchen nook table set in stock, so I’ll be picking it up this Saturday. It’s this table, but not the same chairs – and for much less than what Costco Online is selling it for.
