My awesome new toy

Well, my iRiver mp3 player arrived on Friday. I must say, I am quite impressed by it so far. I already have my music collection transferred to it (well at least the stuff that was already on my computer). The controls are definitely not as intuitive as an iPod (although I've only played with an iPod at Best Buy). But after referring to the manual a couple times, it is pretty easy to use. Transfering music to it couldn't be easier. I just plug it in and Win XP recognizes it as an external harddrive. No music management software is needed (although my music software of choice, MediaMonkey, has a plug-in that makes synch-ing it even more of a snap). The other cool thing is that I can upgrade the firmware. Just tonight I upgraded the firmware to allow me to play videos on it; the only catch is that they need to be converted to an iRiver format which is easy with some free software. As a test, I put the trailer for Star Wars III on it. Again, I am quite impressed. So far I am very glad I chose the iRiver H320 over the iPod. Hopefully that doesn't change as I use it more.

I also bought an iRiver FM transmitter but I haven't had a chance to use it yet. Unfortunately it is locked in a Dentist office until tomorrow morning. Starting tomorrow, I'll get to enjoy the tunes in the truck, too.

Congrats to Mike and Joan

This past weekend was my old friend from high school Mike's wedding. Mike and I go way back. We both played trombone in the school band (I was 1st chair; he was 2nd) and we also played trombone together in our ska band "The Skamish" (much less known as "One Louder" in the later days). His new wife, Joan, seems like a great girl and I don't think you could find a better match. The had a nice short and sweet small wedding in Onalaska this weekend. It was a good time. Unfortunately it was too dark for my phone to take any pictures, but Matt took a photo of Coreena and I together that I will post to Photogasmic shortly.

The other big news is that I finally bit the bullet and bought an MP3 player. I went with the iRiver H320. I just ordered it today along with an FM transmitter so I can play it in my truck. I will be anxiously awaiting that all week.

Happy Belated Birthday, Kasey Louise

I was so excited last post about the baby news ;) that I forgot to wish Kasey Louise a happy birthday. Her birthday was on April 1st. I guess in a way it is for the best that I forgot because if I wished her a happy birthday on her birthday, she may have thought it was just an April Fools joke and wouldn't have taken it seriously. This way she knows it is for real. So Happy Birthday Kasey!!

A couple other things to mention...

I'm gonna be in next week's Daily News. Erin asked me what show I watch that I'm embarrassed about and took my picture. Apparently they run a Question of the Week type of thing on Thursdays and I'm going to be in it.

This weekend is Mike's bachelor party type of thing. I guess we are participating in a beer tasting contest, eating, and going out in LaCrosse. I'm sure it will be a good time. Next weekend is the wedding.

And now the geeky part... I've been playing around with linux. It has been a bit of a challenge, but hopefully I'll get it figured out. The biggest problem is the variety of linux flavors. It seems like things work great on one version but not another so it is hard to find universal info on the web.

Good News Everybody!!

Well, it is official... I'm going to be a daddy!! Coreena and I found out the news this morning and couldn't be happier. We are still debating if we should find out the sex. I say no, she says yes. We are also trying to think of some possible names. My favorites for a girl are: Katrina, Skye, and Annabel. For a boy: Napoleon, Axl, and James. Hopefully I'll buy a house soon and we can start getting ready to become a family... and of course there's the shotgun wedding later this year. Well, that's it so I'll leave you with this last thought, April Fools!