hey, honestly, i've had nothing to post about lately, really. figured it was pointless to put up the same ol' shit, heh. it's a festive time, valentine's day, my birthday in a week, engagement celebrations... i can only offer you random thoughts.

the winter olympics have been somewhat entertaining, which is about what i expect out of them. so far the coverage has been pretty nice, plenty of high-tech camera tricks to bring an occasional 'wow' out of me. kinda glad it doesn't last more than 2 weeks though, certainly niche sports that you only really care about every 4 years. unfortunately i don't think the olympics really generate a lot of water cooler buzz anymore, i haven't heard anybody outside my own apartment speak of it at all. i especially love how when i asked jeff about it today he replied that he'd have to see what channel those olympics are on. wow, american pride.

lately i've kinda had the desire to start more seriously playing sports again. i've maintained 3 times a week in the gym for the last 3 and a half years now, but i kinda miss the whole spirit of competition. the leading candidates for me would be racquetball and roller hockey. my racquetball partner jason moved away to boston, so i'm kinda left without anybody to play with. so far i haven't had much luck seeing any organizations to play in within a 10 mile radius. i'm miles away from being in any condition to join a hockey league, but i did suddenly realize today that we've got a few pick-up outdoor rinks real close to us, i'd be interested in throwing together some equipment and practicing a bit, that'd just feel great to get back out there.

lately my music tastes have been really all over the map. i don't really feel like throwing down a slew of links here today, but i can do a bit of name-dropping. i've listened to a lot less drum'n'bass in the last 6 months, instead a lot more indie rock that you don't really hear on the radio all that much. through sources like newfound friends, facebook and last.fm, i've had a huge influx of all kinds of stuff i never would have known about were it not for a bit of word of mouth. lately i've spent a lot of time listening to lesser-known bands (at least to me) like sleater-kinney, lcd soundsystem, some old queens of the stone age from 1998, stereolab, the decemberists, etc.

i think by maintaining a pretty up-to-date and all-inclusive iTunes database i really listen to a LOT more music than i ever did even in college. back in college i had mp3's, cd's, and minidiscs to choose from. i was always in a state of clearing space so i'd burn everything to cd and then promptly never play it. over the last couple weeks i've bought 27 used cd's from half.com to sort of buy my favorite albums for real since i listen to them a lot. might seem kinda silly, but part of me thinks if i love the album so much i really should own it. i only spent $85 for that many cd's including shipping, that's pretty amazing if you ask me...

i'll try to up the post-count a bit, despite most of my friends lately completely bailing on their blogs. it's contagious.

--j