I love Electronica!

I know that’s a very broad genre of music, but there are so many aspects to Electronica that it’s hard to choose a sub-genre as a favorite [or even a sub-sub-genre, for that matter]. I guess it depends on what kinda day it’s been, or what kinda day you want to have, doesn’t it? I mean, really, what shall it be today?…House, which can be uplifting and danceable, and, yet psychedelic and trippy depending on the sub-sub-genre…or Chill Out with sub-categories such as Ambient, or Trance with a wide range of subs from Acid to Goa. The list of genres and sub-genres within Electronica are staggering! Now, if I haven’t confused you yet, then you’re probably a fan as well. If I have confused you, well then, don’t feel bad…most people don’t understand what the hell I’m talkin’ ’bout most of the time anyway…take a number…

A good place to start [that is, if you're interested] is Besonic.com. This is a German site that has recently relaunched. Browse the categories within Dance and Electronica and the sub-categories, and you will get a general idea of how things breakdown. This site offers free downloads to registered members. Artists on this site will find tools on how to get their music out there. Music is by mostly unsigned groups who want their music heard…thus it’s free.

Another good site to find free downloads is CNet’s download.com. If you browse thru the genres and click on a certain sub-category name, sometimes it will give you an overview on where and how the sub-genre started.

And, in my opinion, the best site for finding and listening to the acme of Electronica music would be ProtonRadio. I can’t write enough praise for this online radio station! Live DJ sets, weekly programs, artist biographies, links to downloads and “on-demand” content, forums, and so much more!

So, it is with great happiness that I trackback and link to 10 Daily Things. DJ Stelios has made his sets available to download on his wordpress blog. I’ve been listening for hours now while blogging and surfing. Neat sets of retro remixes, progressive sounds, and some well-placed Mediterranean-influenced beats…bravo! And, so, I have added to my links at the right——->

30 Boxes, the most interesting, innovative, life-changing calendar ever!

That seems like a bold statement, huh? But I have been so won-over since the release of the public beta, that one of the reasons I got this wordpress.com blog in the first place, is simple: 30 Boxes has made me a more educated consumer, a more organized person, a better communicator, and more interested in where the World Wide Web is going.

I’m not sure how it all started, actually. I remember randomly clicking on links at the bottom of Webshots.com, I believe.

SideNote: For all you desktop tweakers out there, the first thing you remember doing when you bought your 1st computer was changing the background image on your monitor to something a little more interesting, or, perhaps, a little more personal. All of a sudden, you’re downloading Webshots and the revelation that follows is nothing short of immediate…this is my computer! [now, how can I change the way the toolbar looks?...haha]

Something I read about the co-founders of Webshots leaving and forming a new outlet for their expressions, 83 Degrees, lead me to research and dig more on the subject. One link followed another, and before I knew it, I had read blogs, interviews, perused Narendra Rocherolle’s personal website, and, in general, found out more about the preview of this new online calendar event. I was so curious that I did something I had never done before…I signed-up for a beta testing. I haven’t looked back since…..

As a result of my research, many things happened to me all at once. Probably more than I can explain in the course of this post [which is going to turn into a novella, I'm sure of it...], but let me assure you, patient reader, the effects have been life-altering! I learned about many new and wondrous things. RSS feeds, for one. I had already had a small taste with the new features in the personalized version of My Yahoo! And who woulda thunk it…subscribing to a feed that updated itself whenever the poster made a new entry. It was mind-blowing…my favorite magazines, my local newspaper, world events, from soup to nuts, blogs that number the stars in the sky…anyone and everyone was typing out their daily lives, whether informative or personal for the whole world to read. Not to mention the browser integration of such, or feed readers, how will I choose? And podcasts. What the hell was that?! I didn’t have an iPod, but I knew it was time for me to take my mp3s on the go…but video as well…WOW! How-tos, corporate development, travel info…lions and tigers and bears, oh my. I had already delved into my own blog at Yahoo! 360, but I’ve been somewhat timid in making friends there…it was more of a personal outlet, a trial and error sort of thing…the www can be a pretty impersonal place when you’re a newbie, or at least, when you feel like one. I had already posted photos on Flickr [just before Yahoo! acquired them] and was experienced with Yahoo! Photos as well, but I just didn’t realize the full potential there until I happened across Thomas Hawk’s blog. Guess what? He has written up 30 Boxes also. I’ve had a website for awhile now, the free Yahoo! Geocities one, and I keep coming back to the same conclusions…less is more. Less clutter, less photos, less pages, less bandwidth…lol. This comglomeration of awakening was happening at a crucial time when I was trying to find applications that worked for me. Things that didn’t waste my time, things that I could use on a daily basis, things that I could access anywhere in the world I went, things I could make shortcuts on my desktop for [can you say Widgets, boys and girls...haha], things that were user-friendly, and last, but not least, things I could interest my daughters in, as well.

Did I mention that 30 Boxes was an online calendar? Did I mention that you can share as much or as little of your schedule as you want? Let’s finally get down to some brass tacks. [finally...whew]

My first thought after test-driving 30 Boxes was this: this is so simple, even my mom could use it [sorry, Mom]. So, after much hinting and subliminal messaging, Mom agreed to sign up and now we have a way of knowing each other’s schedules. Eureka! I could tell you why this was so important to me, but it would take another hour of typing. Another very important aspect, and perhaps the most unique, to this calendar is your Buddy Page. This is more like your “web presense” page. Flickr, My Space, Webshots, your blogs, any RSS feed can be assembled here. Your iCal subscriptions, Yahoo! calendar, Outlook, can all be integrated into your 30 Boxes calendar. SMS reminders, it’s there. Maps for directions to events, yup, that too. Forwarding your e-mail to add as an event…done. Taggable events and todo list, AJAXy, open-source API, Web 2.0 and more innovation on the way…and, introducing a One Box add event entry. I could go on and on, but you really need to check it out for yourself. Did I mention that I can see my Mom’s schedule…:)?

So, perhaps I’m a slow late-bloomer, as far as web technology goes. I know there have been online calendars out there and I know there are up-and-coming calendars popping up all the time. Social networking…been around awhile. The Blogosphere, sure, that too. But 30 Boxes and I were ripe for each other…we were on the same page, so to speak. My eldest daughter would tell you how glad she is that it comes up in Outlook. My youngest would tell you how cools it is that Grandma can read my newest blogpost from the dayview. I would tell you that many people just like me were ready for a user-friendly, online, calendar-sharing application.

This post, more than likely, will be one of the longest posts I write. I’m sure you can tell how passionate I am about 30 Boxes and I hope that you click over there right now. But, better yet, do what I did…research it. Maybe you will have a Web 2.0 epiphany like I did. Knowledge is change. Knowledge is power.

Pandora Radio

Well I’m going to have to agree with Thomas Hawk on this one…Pandora Radio is absolutely the coolest! It’s user-friendly and only requires a quicky registration. Find artists to add to a personalized station, and it will include similar artists as well. You can make upto 30 stations, I believe. Also included is the ability to post RSS feeds and integrate your bookmarked artists or songs to your blog or website…very snazzy!! And the best part? It’s free!!

Note my latest bookmarked songs as a feed on my sidebar to the right —–>

And Brenda’s Test Radio station link here… for y’all who like electronica…[hope this link works]
As an added bonus, there are links to info on the artists, songs, and options for buying what you hear! Hawesome! [as Wil Wheaton would say...]

Time to blog…

So, I seem to be having trouble finding time to blog. Just like a major part of the U.S. right now, it’s hotter-n-hell here in the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex area. Although we’ve had a cool front for the last couple of days [it's been 96 rather than 106], I seem to be melting from the heat. I work outside at the airport as a ramp rat…you know, the guys who throw your luggage around…heh heh…and it’s 100 in the shade around here, so I sweat from every pore on my body. So, when I get home, I tend to want to vegetate.

Nonetheless, I find myself getting pissed-off at my inability to commit more fully to this blog. Brain-drain is no excuse, but I really want to be somewhat coherent on this thang. Ya just don’t know who’s reading your stuff……so I strive to find a happy medium….thus I write first today about my inattention during the past few days, and hope that you, patient reader, will cut my body some slack…

Here’s my weather forecast:

http://xml.weather.yahoo.com/forecast/USTX0971_f.html

What’s the weather like where you are?

countdown to Zooomr…

Well, after much waiting and crossing-of-fingers, looks like we might be able to see the light at the end of the tunnel…

Zooomr 2.0, a new up-and-coming photo hosting site, should be launching any moment…DoS attacks not withstanding, it has been one of the most anticipated start-ups to capture my attention since 30 Boxes.  I first heard of this new online toy thru the normal RSS channels [Scoble, Techcrunch, Thomas Hawk, GigaOm {links in my sidebar}] and I’m pretty interested in the career change brought on by Mr Hawk’s excitement over Zooomr.  I shall see for myself soon enough, me thinks…:)

I would like to wish everyone on the Zooomr Team “Best Wishes and Good Luck”! 

the new Yahoo Homepage

While nominal users of the new Yahoo! portal will find all the AJAXy-goodness they’ve been hearing about, we experienced users of Yahoo! may find no purpose in saving this link to our browsers at all. Our homepages may be the “personalized” version of Yahoo! already, called My Yahoo!, where AJAX and Web 2.0 have been in place for a year now. Content can be added via RSS, modules of your e-mail, messenger, weather, local, TV stations, calendars, etc are all geared toward personalized content already. [much the same as Google, MSN, Live, but, better, in my opinion]

So, while the new launch of this preview is news, and, yeah, it looks cool, some of us who have been yodeling Yahoo! for years may not change our settings for “Home” at all…why should we?…we already have all the personalized content we need in one place…My Yahoo! [<yawn>]

Hmm, having problems…

Oooh, now I have 1 post per category…neato.

Sure would like to understand how to get Flickr incorporated here…tried setting thru Flickr…aaarrgghh…what is “xmlpc.php”?

Importing Bookmarks

Adding my most read feeds to blogroll

Hello world!

Welcome to WordPress.com. This is your first post. Edit or delete it and start blogging!

Edited: Well, here I am at WordPress…finally!  Thought I would delve into the blogging venue with someting other than Yahoo! 360.  This will take some commitment on my part, as I am the Queen of Procrastination.  I’ll be studying the how-tos and what-nots for a few weeks, so bear with me.

Listening to Pandora Radio to my newly-created station, Brenda’s Test Radio.  I’m really enjoying it so far…

Additional Edit: …guess it would help if I had my timezone correct, huh?