Another FAWM has come and gone...

...and I didn't blog about it again until April?!?!? Wow. I really get behind on these things. Well, I finished with my 14 again this year. :-) Some of them turned out to be pretty decent songs, too! That's always a bonus. Now -- if my stupid computer would cooperate, I might be able to develop some good demos...however, it won't even connect to the internet at the moment. :-(
www.FAWM.org

That time of year again...

Yup. It's February. And that means it's FAWM time again. Yes, the wonderful time of the year when February Album Writing Month rolls around and people are challenged to write 14 songs in 28 days. This year, 14.5 in 29. ;-) There are over 1600 registered on the website. Only about 400 actually post songs though. Sounds like church membership... But that's not what my thought is.
My thought is about FAWM in general. Well, there are lots of things to be said. I think some of this will have to wait for my Ponderings blog. I'll get to that later.
What is FAWM all about? Well, as I mentioned it is a challenge for song writers to produce, as in put forth ideas for, an album during the shortest month of the year.
FAWM started with just 4 friends in 2004. I'm #6 on the list, joining in 2005. Wow. #6 out of 1600. Does that get me a prize? No? Oh well. So I have participated in this challenge for every year. And, every year, I have been a "Winner!" - making it to 14 songs. I have a confession. They aren't really all SONGS. A lot of it is just BS to get to 14. I've done "Sound Art" in the past. I've let my kids scream into the computer mic in the past. Last year, my last entry was a song title with a sentence about what my song MIGHT be. Um...just a title and a line from the song which never developed.
So far, this year, I have officially posted 9 song titles. Only one of which hasn't really been written. It's a challenge from another group of people within the challenge. I'm going to complete it, but haven't yet. The lyrics and chords were given, so it's just a matter of recording it my way. The thing is, if you don't post your titles in February, they don't count. If you come up with the idea, but can't make a demo or anything til March, post your idea. In March, everyone is supposed to keep spending their days and nights on the website commenting on other people's songs. So post your title, come back to it once you get the others of the 14 done. But other than that, I think I am doing pretty well.
Last year, my big stumbling block was that I didn't have a voice for the entire month of February! What a bummer! That is going around this year, but luckily, I did't get it...yet. THIS year, it's been a lack of privacy. Bill isn't currently working and not going to school all of the time. In other words, he's here a lot. I don't have the luxury of hiding in the cave of my basement to work on this stuff without bothering him. Of course, at the moment, he's upstairs, and I'm wasting valuable time on a blog when I should be writing songs...or a Sunday School lesson...
Hmm....good point....I'll go now...

What Cable Can Do to You...

We still have all of our extra channels. We didn't turn off the cable right after the Super Bowl. Although that may have been a good idea. Do I make the best use of these extra channels? You decide...
I want to check the weather. I flip on the Weather Channel. Well, they only have Locals on the 8s. It's currently the 9s and I missed it. I still want to know the weather so I might as well wait around another few minutes. While I'm here, let's flip channels... Price is Right with Drew Carey! Awesome! (humor me for a minute, some of these shows come on at totally different times of the day) American Gladiators!! It's Hulk Hogan! Cool! ... flip... House! I love House!! ...flip... Survivor! ...flip... Channel 13, Fayette County Public Schools channel has a wild bird assembly on, let's watch... Hmm... I wonder what the weather will be. Wow, 8 hours later...
*whew* That thing can wear you out! The TV, that is. It has quite a soporific effect on me. You probably didn't notice, but "Channel 13" is the only station I can't get with an antenna (except Weather Channel, of course). Our little TV is still in the dining room from the Super Bowl party. I just haven't taken it back downstairs yet. It has the super antenna on it and has a crystal clear picture on most of the channels...from the air waves. Heck, we get channels I didn't know were around with that now!!! I am certainly not paying for an extra cable outlet for that little guy. It shows the channels I actually watch, and looks great!! Having Channel 13 is helpful...kinda...when the weather wasn't looking too good last week, all Jill had to do was flip on Channel 13 and hear there was no school. Easier than waiting for the scrolling announcement at the bottom of a screen, or on the radio. So, thank you, Insight, for providing us with Channel 13.

Welcome to the 20th Century, Longworths

The Longworths have "officially" joined the 20th century. That's right folks. We now have BASIC CABLE. All because FOX is showing the Super Bowl this year. If it had been CBS, NBC or ABC, we'd've stuck with the rabbit ears. However, getting FOX on this side of town can be tricky. This is my 3rd year in a row of hosting a Super Bowl party. Had to be able to actually see the game, you know?
As I mentioned, getting FOX on this side of town is tricky. Apparently getting basic cable is too.

At MIDNIGHT last night, they hooked it up! Yes. Midnight.

The installers came out some time last week and informed us that our house wasn't currently set up for cable and we needed to get cables run through the house before the could turn it on. *sigh* So the night before Bill's surgery, we are up in the attic trying to figure out just how we want to do this. We gave up. We had cable in the attic running to the box, but weren't sure where to go from there. This week, a friend from church came over to help Bill run the cable through the basement instead. (BTW - the surgery went well)

SO - we called the cable company, Insight, on Wednesday and they set us up for an "all day" appointment for Thursday. We called them at 7:00 pm when no one had called or come yet. They assured us that the technicians work until they are finished, which could be as late as 9:00. Well, at 9:00 no one had come yet. So I called again. They told me that the technicians work until they are finished which could be as late as 9:30. Well, customer service closes at 9, so I couldn't keep harassing them. I call the next day to hear that the installers claimed to have been here aroun 5PM!! What?!?!?! No they weren't! Besides, we called at 7 & 9 and were told they hadn't come. Someone was lying and it wasn't me. That installation company, called Boland (or something like that), is useless.


Friday comes. We are still cable-less. I call Insight first thing in the morning. The woman offered me an "al -day" appointment for Friday. Well, we weren't going to be around "all day" - so her other offer was a 2pm - 5pm window on Sunday. I told her that if it wasn't here by 5:00 Sunday they might as well forget it.
I told her I'd be home around 3:00 on Friday and she said she would call if they had any more appointments.
I got home at 1:00 and called back. I got to talk to the same girl and she signed me up for an "all day" appointment yesterday. Of course, these customer service reps are under the impression that the techinicians work until they are done "as late as 9:00". I asked which installation contractors we were signed up with and they said Shepherd. Well, at least it wasn't Boland.
ANYWAY - the technician calls us at 11:00 PM last night. Well, they do work until they are done, but it's not at 9:00! We told him to come on out. We were up and were messing with the TV anyway...in case they never came.

So - around midnight last night, we got cable. *whew* That guy told us that Boland only has a week left on their contract with Insight and probably doesn't really care about working for them. Oh well.

Our little TV now has the good set of rabbit ears and the picture is just as good as the cable connected TV. *sigh* At least we have now joined the 20th century. Maybe next year we'll catch up with the calendar and buy a flat panel.

It's Later

I decided to google my NFL on TV concerns and I found what Wikipedia had to say about it. As we all know, Wikipedia knows everything.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NFL_on_television

If anyone wants to buy me season tickets to any NFL team within a 3 hour radius, I'll gladly accept them and quit whining. (Examples: Colts, Titans, Bengals...) Colts tickets would be the best but I'm not going to be THAT picky if you are going to give me tickets...heck...tickets to just ONE game will hush me for a bit...