For those who don’t know Expeditors International is a world-wide company that, in their own words, “set the standard for excellence in global logistics through total commitment to quality in people and customer service, with superior financial results.” I like that last part… no need not to make some money! They do many things including brokering shipments via air, ocean, land, rail, etc. Not individual package shipment but usually large shipments of trucks and shipping containers. Their moto is “You’d be surprised how far we’ll go for you.” Oh, baby, I am surprised!

So when Expeditors received the phone message (located below) I’m sure there are some that took it seriously and tried to help the guy. The message is a joke, however, but that doesn’t make it any less funny.

The call is completely safe for work, so play it for your co-workers and friends! Someone really should make a YouTube video out of it!

Click to Listen

I’ve been in my house for just more than 10 years now and I’ve finally had it with watering (or rather, not watering) the lawn. Every year it dies in several places if not in most of the front yard and every year I swear that I’ll do better next year.

But I now realize that if I couldn’t do it in any of the past 10 years I’m probably not ever going to be able to do it right. With the amount of water the trees in the front yard need I’m killing them too. They are dying and I don’t want to loose them. It is time for drastic measures… it is time to spend some money.

I’m buying a sprinkling system.

I know, I know, it really isn’t that hard and it isn’t that expensive but I am honest with myself: I’m not going to ever get around to doing it. I have the spend the money and get it done.

To that end, if anyone knows of a good and reasonably priced landscape person to not only put in a sprinkling system but to also lay sod and do some other landscaping, I would appreciate knowing very quickly. I’m already getting bids.

I hope to have this all done before the end of September–a reasonable expectation I believe. We’ll see how it goes.

If you have been looking for a true smack-down kind of game then you will love Rose and Camellia. I’m not sure that I really understand the cultural subtleies behind this kind of thing but the Japanese have saying like “even monkies fall from trees” and little spoons for digging out earwax so there you go.

It seems that the game is popular enough that videos of the game even exist on YouTube!

Have fun!

I’ve been using this quick and easy method of creating CD holders for several years now. I was going to do a step-by-step photo plan to show you all how to create a CD holder out of a single sheet of regular 8.5″x11″ paper but then I found a bunch of sites that already show it.

Instructables has a pretty good one with photos. Matthew Toledo has one too.

But the mother of all sites is PaperCDCase.com where you can even fill out information and it will create the PDF with folding guides and the information printed directly on it.

Have fun with this as I have!

Last week I was talking with some others at work about fun songs–espeically songs about IT work. I shared some stories about some of the songs my friend, Matt, had written covering topics from pulling cable to report writing to bad bosses and even robotic arms. I told them about a song he had written about user error and they all wanted to hear it.

To really appreciate it I have to give some background and then we all listened to the music. It then naturally occured to me that I could share this great experience with others so I contacted Matt and asked if I could interview him about some of his songs. So here is the first installment in what I hope will be a fun series about IT-related music.

I first met Matt through his wife who had become friends with my wife. They would talk about their husbands and say things like “my husband loves computers” and the other would say the same. It turns out that Matt and I had a lot in common be even so we didn’t really talk for many months–maybe even a year.

I eventually wound up working with Matt at SandStar Family Entertainment where Matt was a developer and DBA and I was developing ISP services. It was during this time that Matt shared some of his songs with me. We’ve stayed friends ever since.

His band “Bluelight Band” has a website and a page at AcidMusic.com.

[Nat] So when did you start writing and performing music?

[Matt] Heheh. A long time ago. I used to record things with my brother Zach on my dad’s tape recorder. We still have a tape with him singing “London Bridge” ad infinitum …but more earnestly in High School.

[Nat] Is that when you made your own radio program?

[Matt] Exactly. Good old WHAT radio. We lived in a boring town. So we used to record music, talk and commercials at my friend’s house after school.

[Nat] Did you ever compose or perform music for any girls in high school?

[Matt] Ah, an excellent question. At that point, most of my songs had a silly air about them as I didn’t consider myself a great musician. But there were a couple inspired by if not performed by various interests of that sort. The only song I ever wrote that I sang to a girl ended up being to my wife to be (so I guess it worked )

[Nat] One of the most beloved songs that people really take a liking to is PEBKAC (Problem Exists Between Keyboard And Chair). How did you come up with that idea?

[Matt] I suppose it was a while in the making. Ever since I had begun working in an IT shop, I had had treasured up all the lore and anecdotes one hears about ID10T errors. I just thought it would make a great song.

[Nat] Was it something you had rolling around in your head for a while or did you just sit down and crank it out?

[Matt] I cranked out the original version in very short order–I had decided prior to writing the song that I was going to try my hand at Ska. So it ended up being a sort of Ska, Dance Hall, Techno fusion. I play all the guitar in my songs and sometimes the keyboard. The rhythm section and other textures come from sample libraries.

[Nat] You also do the vocals!

[Matt] True! I almost forgot!

[Nat] How many revisions did you make of the original?

[Matt] I consider there to be 3 major versions – the original with the Jamaican accent. The 2nd was an attempt at singing more “straight laced” but I never much cared for it. Then last year I rerecorded the faux Jamaican with extra harmonies in the bridge section. I am quite pleased with the final attempt (though I could probably continue to “tweak” it forever).

[Nat] I’m not sure if you remember but for some period of time we used that song as the hold music for 1FN technical support (the ISP service I was workin on at SandStar).

[Matt] Ha! I had forgotten about that. I should have called and had you put me on hold.

[Nat] We took it off when we actually thought David Anderson (the CEO) was going to call it.

[Matt] XD I wonder if he would have figured it out?

[Matt] There are some listener comments on the song page for the original version.

[Nat] Excellent!

[Matt] Here’s the 2nd version page.

[Nat] Thanks for the interview!

Click here to go to Acid Planet then click on Play in the top-right corner to listen.