Hitting the High Points

Coming Home Again: Dad was discharged this afternoon from Barnes-Jewish St. Peters Hospital with a fairly clean bill of health. He'll need to go back in a few weeks to get his gullbladder removed, probably at BJC sister hospital Missouri Baptist, and they may also do something about his heart condition. An apparently amazing doc at Mo-Bap is looking into the case. The cardiologist that scared my dad at the beginning of the week by saying it was urgent that something be done for the heart, and not the gullbladder, changed his mind yesterday and said they probably didn't have to do anything in that department after all. Continued prayers for him are still needed, he isn't out of this stretch yet, but is progressing!

Music to My Ears: I finished my music reorganization project — a good nighttime project over the past week — which included the replacement of about 200 Ogg Vorbis files with AAC files (for iPod compatibility), the replacement of several dozen 96 kbps MP3 files from 1999 also with AAC files, and the elimination of almost all 128 kbps MP3 files in favor of AAC's as well. That was about 300 tracks to re-rip.

Plus, I ripped some CD's that I had bought for between $2-$7 at a big sale at Family Christian Stores this summer. I picked up Twila Paris' True North, Chris Rice's Smell the Color Nine and Past the Edges, Phillips Craig & Dean's Let My Words Be Few and Streams (a collection featuring, among other things, an excellent song from Sixpence None the Richer). The prices were much better than normal, needless to say. Even now, I barely put a dent into the iPod's hard disk, but at least all of my music will actually be playable and decent sounding now.

Coming topics on asisaid Music will include something on Evanescence. Kevin noted that for some reason he was connecting me with them, but I've never mentioned them on asisaid prior to the Challenge. I want to fix this, so I'll take a look at this interesting band. I'll also be doing one or more posts on Sixpence None the Richer — sort of a delinquent eulogy on this exceptional duo of Leigh Nash and Matt Slocum (and the others that joined and left the band over its history) that dissolved last March. If you aren't familiar with this C.S. Lewis-inspired band, I'll provide a few pointers on how to get a good taste of Sixpence without much effort. I may also do mini-reviews of Michael W. Smith's new Healing Rain and Steven Curtis Chapman's All Things New — both excellent, don't wait for me to recommend them, get them now if you are looking for a new CD or CD's.

Colorless Green Ideas Sleep Furiously: Or maybe they don't. But more quotes and other questions will return to the asisaid Challenge in the coming days. I need to go back and see if anyone answered any of the pending questions and re-tally the score. Then expect to be frazzled, even more so than those sleeping ideas.