April 2003

Michael and I gave his parents, Margie and Vin Femia, Margie and Vin.com for their 30th wedding anniversary this year. Vin started to post to their weblog last week. He’s been a frequent commenter on Michael’s website and now he has his own site to post his witty comments, sports commentary, etc. Fun!

I’m selling three books on eBay that Michael acquired in the past six months. He definately has book finding superpowers.

“The Big U” by Neil Stephenson :: This is the first book he wrote. It is presumably a parody of Boston University. From what I’ve read, he is not all that fond of this book and is not pleased it is still in circulation. Other books he’s written include Snow Crash and Cryptonomicon. We found it priced for quite a few pennies at abebooks.com but decided to go with the bargain “buy it now” price of $300. ;)

“M/W” (Men/Women) by Herb Ritts:: Rare, out of print, 4th printing.

“Eight Mortal Ladies Possessed” by Tennessee Williams :: This book is signed by the author. It’s the first paperbook printing from 1974.

Boston cartoonist Mikhaela Reid has opened up an online shop at Cafepress.com to sell her cartoons and other merchandise. For a mere $5.99 you can own your own Wartime ABC’s Mini Poster Print!

I think that Jen (writer) and Mikhaela (cartoonist) should conspire on a project. They’ve got a similiar style: lots of wit, intelligence and sarcasm.

If today had a theme song it would be “Rain On Days”, a song that Rose Polenzani recorded for/with Zoe Ardito. I’m not sure how old Zoe was when they recorded the songs (with lyrics created on the fly by Zoe) — maybe five or six years old. Rose has a section of her website dedicated to the songs they collaborated on. I don’t mind rain and I usually prefer a slightly cloudy day over lots of sun; but today I was hoping to go out and take some photos. Maybe tomorrow.

Rose has a show coming up on Thursday, May 1st at the Kendall Cafe. Also performing that night is eastmountainsouth, a band I’ve never heard of. I downloaded MP3s on their website and they sound great — a mixture of pop and folk. This looks like it will be a great show not to be missed.

The Internet radio station for Exploit Boston! is back online. It broadcasts 24/7 with a mixture of Boston rock, pop and indie bands (past and present). I definately need new music suggestions if you have any. The music streams through Live365. To listen you’ll need (1) a high-speed connection and (2) a free Live365 account. It takes a minute to create your account and then you can choose which MP3 player you want to use including Winamp, the Live365 player, RealOne Player, etc. Live365 is a very cool service. It’s nice to see that it has (so far) survived the ups and downs of the Internet industry.

My mom (Mary Kay Kaup) died of a heart attack on March 20, 2003. I haven’t gone into a lot of the personal details of what I’ve been going through because I guess I didn’t know what sort of line I might cross with oversharing personal details on this website. So, despite how quiet I have been about her death, I do appreciate hearing from people. Since my mom wasn’t sick and I hadn’t talked to her in a few weeks (she was in Nebraska where I grew up and I’m in Boston), the news really came as quite a shock. Her 56th birthday would have been coming up soon on April 30th.

Growing up, my mom took 10+ years of piano and voice lessons. For whatever reason, I did not get the actual singing talent she had; but I did get my mom’s appreciation and passion for music. Local and online pals have asked if there is anything they could do. So, I sent an email to the sooz.com elist last week asking everyone to contribute to the Rock & Roll Library as a memorial to my mom. I think this idea would make her happy. So, now I’m inviting anyone who reads my website to also participate.

The Rock & Roll Library is a non-profit Boston-based organization that I’ve been volunteering for during 2003. I’ve mentioned them here before and I can’t say enough fabulous things about RRL. Anne Fitzpatrick, the executive director, is one of the nicest humans on the planet — no doubt about it! She has turned a childhood dream into an internationally recognized organization. RRL needs monetary support from individuals and companies to move the organization into the next phase. All contributions directly impact RRL programs and projects including the development of the Music Archive Database, lesson plan and song contests, maintenance and design of the website, etc.

It would mean a lot if you would consider participating in this memorial and inviting your family and friends to participate, too. To learn more about the Rock & Roll Library visit their website. Click on “membership” to contribute through their ecommerce system or PayPal. Any contribution is welcome and membership is included with $25+.

Thanks.

Note: Consider writing “Mary Kay Kaup Memorial” in the “additional instructions” field if you are using PayPal for your donation.

When I was poking around my web stats this morning I noticed that Eric Snowdeal linked to my entry about the too cool for school Nokia 6800 phone. He’s a fan, too. Eric mentioned that I work for Nokia yet I have a Sanyo phone. That’s true. But I also have a Nokia phone. It’s something they gave me for “work use only.” If they would kindly give me a 6800 I would happily stomp on my Sanyo 4900 and toss it out the window. I don’t work for the phone division nor do I have any super deluxe connections so the chances of me getting a free 6800 are next to nothing. But it’s a nice thought! Presumably the AT&T Wireless store near the office gives decent discounts to Nokia employees; but since I’m a contractor I’m not sure if I’ve made that list. I probably wouldn’t want to leave the Sprint PCS + Vision service anyway. Which means I’m still hoping that Nokia will make the 6800 or something like it available with Sprint PCS. A girl can dream.

More (*) people (*) should ping weblogs.com so their site has a little asterisk next to their name on my “daily visits” list over on the right. I do a much better job of keeping up with the people who ping. So, that’s today’s PSA.

Evan Dando (singer from the Lemonheads) has a new album out on Bar None Records. I’ve listened to about half of it (so far) via his website and so far so good. He was on a sort of seven-year haitus from the music world after the Lemonheads released their last album. His new release “Baby I’m Bored” comes out in the U.S. tomorrow (it’s already out in Europe). He’s playing a free in-store gig at the Newbury Comics near the Alewife MBTA Station tomorrow at 7pm. Me and my digital camera will definately be there. I always liked the Lemonheads but I guess I wasn’t a real fan since I never bought any of their albums.

Visit Michael’s website and send him your birthday wishes. And you’ll probably want to wander around his site, too, since it’s overflowing with great articles, rants, movie reviews, etc.