Playing Piano

You know how some people collect different sorts of items, like vases, items of a certain animal, or shoes? Well, I have a collection of pianos! Only two, but I found them both for free on craigslist, so how could I resist. The only problem was when it came time to move. Thankfully we had space for both of them, but the movers were not so happy with the fact that they were both going. Now that they are major pieces of furniture in my living room, I guess I should really start to play them. I know how to read music which is the first step, getting the piano chords down is another story. Sight reading music is hard, but M is learning the piano chords, usually he plays by ear. Both of the pianos are horribly out of tune, and since they are so old (at least one of them) the last piano tuner said that he would not tune it up to the appropriate key in fear of breaking the sound board! Last summer when it was tuned he made it an octive down or so, but it still sounded great. Now I just need to get some free sheet music and I will be all set. We can playing dueling pianos! Good times.

Shopping at Home

Shopping can be so fun when you are in your slippers. The thought of going out to a mall on a day like today (temps hovering around 12 below zero), is not my idea of a good time. Work was cancelled due to the severe weather, so I will take this opportunity to do some online shopping. Shopping over the internet has become some much easier with many tools for searching you are bound to find just what you are looking for. I am able to search the entire internet for the items I want, and the results don't come back with just the paid advertisers. The search results are all sites where that particular item is available that is Wiki for you.

Today I am searching for a drum set. We have all sorts of musical instruments here ranging from an accordian to a zither, but we don't have drums. I have wanted a drum set with hi hat cymbals for a long time, and I am not taking about the kind to play on the Wii (though I would like that too). The problem was that I did not know what kind of drums I needed, so I turned to ShopWiki for their explaination on what sort of drums I would need, and how to choose the correct set for my skill level, which is by the way noivce. I used the clickable words in the drum article to find drums by playing style, jazz. I really liked the Mapex M Birch 5-Piece Jazz Drum Set. The birch wood gives a great sound, and I love the color of this one. I think I would want my drums to look great as well as sound great. If they are going to be in my house, they should be a fashion piece too. They showed other styles like rock, fushion, and standard. I was so wrapped up in this site one click led to another. The information regarding drums is vast. They have other instruments too, such as trombones, trumpets, and triangles. I think this might be a good present for my other half when we move! That gives me several months to choose what kind of drum kit we want. One thing I did decide on already is, the must have item when purchasing a drum kit that people other than yourself might play, the drum silencers! They will keep everyone in the household happy.

In the Groove

When I sit down at the sewing machine, I sometimes need a little music to keep me going. So when I need to get in the groove like I did this week, I had a 20 bag custom order to finish, I turned the computer on to Pandora. It is a great site to listen to music. You can create stations that will play music that sounds like a specific artist.
The way it works...you type in a name of an artist you like, then it runs through the database of thousands of songs, and pulls up not only that artist you typed in but others you might like. Then if a song comes through that does not fit the bill, you can say you don't like it and they won't play it again. It is a great way to explore music, find some new favorite artists, and new songs. My sister told me about Pandora a few months ago, but I just created an account, and I can't get enough now. The music got me in the groove, and I finished that custom bag order for Threadbeaur just last night. I was very happy to get them all put together. If you need some new music, I suggest you click over to Pandora, and check them out.

New Tunes

I got a nice surprise in the mail yesterday. The UPS man rang the door bell, and the dog went crazy. I love getting mail, so I ran to the door to say hello! I took the package and ripped it open. Inside was a tiny box with the picture of the ipod touch! My husband had ordered me a new ipod touch. The ultra thin ipod is so cool, only 8mm thick. I spent the day checking out all the features including the internet. I love the way Macintosh is so simple to use, I was able to just plug this in to the imac, and the computer instantly recognized it and opened itunes for me. I picked some of my favorite songs, and a few pictures of the pup! One of my favorite features is when you turn the ipod the screen shifts from portrait to landscape, it is great for surfing the internet and showing off my photographs. I went out to run some errands in the afternoon, and took the ipod touch with me. I had to look up an address while I was out, so I stopped by Panera where they have free wi-fi, and connected to the internet. I was able to retrieve the address, saving myself a trip home before mailing the package! How cool is that, my ipod touch helped me save gas! I am so excited about this new toy.