Crista and I got a new puppy. He’s a pembroke welsh corgi, and his name is Brando.

Catch is, he’s not real.

It’s up to Brendan to figure out what I mean.

Here’s a list of the games I’d really like to play with some friends. They are mostly what I’d call Storytelling games. I take that definition as kind of a cross between role playing games and storytelling. Another description might be collaborative storytelling. If you played in our recent group Once Upon a Time game, you have a flavor for such a game, albeit lighter weight than the following.

• Polaris: already own it
• Dogs in the Vineyard: willing to buy it
• My Life with Master: bought it
• Universalis: in the mail

I also want to run a game of Pandemonium, which is more of a straight laced RPG, minus the magic and dwarves. Other more traditional RPGs I’m interested in are Call of Cthulhu (ooo…scary) and Northern Crown.

The Wal-Mart ad featuring Destiny’s Child is currently near the top of my imaginary “Ads that suck” list.

There are three serious offenses against this ad:

1. The “music” makes me long for the sound of nails on a chalkboard.
2. It’s always on the super-annoying-I-paid-so-you-can-advertise-to-me-more Twenty crap at Regal Cinema outlets. Ohhh….entertainment ignited! No, but the audience is.
3. The messaging at the end of the ad is particularly suggestive. Yes, I know, tricky advertising. But in case you didn’t catch how this ad works, here goes. At the end of the ad the lyrics finish on “So just give more” and they flash the slogan “Hook up your home for the Holidays” with the Wal-mart logo up. That’s some pretty good programming you got there.

Or, yet another instrument to learn.

My shakuhachi shipped today. I had tried in the past to make a pvc practice flute, but couldn’t get the tuning or the mouthpiece right. The mouthpiece was the worst part. It was off just enough to make the already frustrating task of learning to play all the more irritating. However, when I could get a note to sound, it was totally exhilarating.

So I found this guy in New Mexico can crafts what he calls utility flutes out of pvc. I ordered a standard D model, as it’s the traditional beginner key. It is the midrange color with a standard overcut.

I’m really looking forward to trying out the instrument, especially after my previous unsatisfying experience. I trust that this will be a much finer piece than I turned out, given the crazy tuning diagrams the guy has up on his site.

Since my readers might have no idea what the flute sounds like, I can suggest you listen here.

So a few months ago I used eMusic for a couple months. I’ve always thought they had an interesting service. The main problem of course is their selection isn’t the greatest.

Lately I’ve been using my iPod in conjunction with some hour long natural sound tracks (I like raindrops) from the iTMS. They really help me relax and lessen my anxiety. Here’s the deal though. On the iTunes Music Store, any track longer than 10 minutes is only available if you buy the album. Since these tracks are about one hour, it’s one track per album. So that’s about $8-$10 a track. That’s a pretty penny.

I just found that eMusic has 16 such tracks. I also just found an email in my inbox that says I can rejoin for a month for free. eMusic counts 1 track as 1 download. So let’s do the math. 16 tracks x $9 per track average = $144 on iTMS. Or, with my free 30 day trial on eMusic, it’s uhh, free. That’s a deal.

I just saw a hilarious ad on cable for a local Infiniti car dealship. The ad features former basketball player and commentator Bill Walton. Yeah, off to a good start. So, Bill comes waltzing from behind one of the cars parked inside the dealership and forcefully proclaims, “Everything you’ll ever need in life is right here”.

Everything? I mean, come on, who writes this garbage. I can get food, water, shelter, friendship, and companionship at the dealership? I think not.

It’s funny to me to see an advertisement which bluntly proclaims the message that lies in all advertising: “All you need is brand X, and you won’t be happy without it”. It’s just funny to see it presented with practically no veil.