guapacha.com

Everything is set for me to start at Sony on Monday so today is my last (week)day of freedom, no more getting up at 9.30 and waching Judge Joe Brown over lunch. But I’m also glad that it means no more sending out resumes every morning and waiting for the phone to ring.

I’d like to say I’m spending my last day in style but this morning I have some PC setup to do and this afternoon I need to complete my Lord of The Rings marathon, and at 12 hrs for the whole lot, marathon is the word.

And, finally, I want to thank the good state of California for keeping me somewhat financially afloat these past few weeks.

Too much time on my hands before I start the new job so I’ve revamped all three blog sites with new themes. Can’t say for sure how long any of them will last but for now go check out the theme-y goodness at my mini blog and flying diary sister sites.

Last week we had a Cha Cha and a Samba. In keeping with the ballroom theme, this week’s tune is a Rumba from 2001. When you think Rumba you don’t generally think of bands like the Clash, but here is Joe Strummer, and the Mescaleros, with Mondo Bongo, this week’s top tune at guapacha.com.

So I was watching CNN this morning and saw this article about giving men parental choice, like women ‘currently do’. In essence these guys want the right to say “you have the choice to have or not to have the baby, and I have the right to say that if you have it I will not be responsible”. The guy bringing the lawsuit said he told the girl he didn’t want to be a father but they got pregnant anyway – why should he have to pay anything towards it, she knew his wishes. What an idiot. We don’t need a law to ‘protect’ men from being fathers, we have things called condoms, maybe next time this guy should try one. Read more about these halfwits at the National Center For Men.
Is it me or are we becoming a nation of people who won’t take responsibiity for anything. I got you pregnant – not my deal! I spilled hot coffee on my lap whilst driving – not my fault! Come on people, be adults, not children.

It took longer than I expected but I am finally about to start a new job since being laid off in January. As previously hinted, I will be joining Sony Computer Entertainment America at the end of the month. I can’t say what I’ll be working on as I don’t know. Apparantly the project is so secret I couldn’t be told, even after I signed the NDA. Its due to go live soon and then we’ll all know but all I can say its something to do with writing java web applications for the Playstation range. I’m looking forward to it, should be real interesting.

There is a major press conference from Sony tomorrow (probably today when reading this) which some say will be the announcement of the PlayStation3 features, dates etc. Others say they are going to announce delays and problems. Hopefully it will be the former but, reading the blogs etc, there sure is a lot of hate out there for Sony.

Two singles this week and they’re both pretty mainstream. But I’ve picked them both for the same reason – they’ve taken a classic latin track and given it an up to date sound. Better still, each tune has retained the dance rhythm that made them classic in the first place, the samba and the cha cha respectively. I think if I was doing shows right now I’d choose them both to be in my display. To iTunes we go….

• Mas Que Nada – Sergio Mendes and the Black Eyed Peas
• Sway (Alternative Version) – The Pussycat Dolls

Thanks to the incomparable UPop on XM Radio I have another must-play song to share. From his 2005 album Live at Stubb’s, I heartily recommend you check out the excellent King Without a Crown from reggae-star Matisyahu. Get hooked now and then come back for his new album, Youth, due out March 7.

I know everyone has seen this before a thousand times over but in celebration of England’s 2-1 defeat of Uruguay last night, uninspired or not, and the fact we are only 100 days from the World Cup, let’s revisit:

the badgers celebrating Euro 2004

Probably old news by the time you read this but the word is out that TiVo is announcing a new initiative Thursday at 11am ET. Merger with Apple? The Series 3 HD box? Free iPods to existing customers?? We’ll let ya know.

In other TiVo news, you can look at the top 10 most TiVo’d Olympic moments, or make do with my copy of the top 5:

1. Canadian skater Marie-France Dubreuil slamming to the ice
2. Sasha Cohen’s Short Program performance putting her in first by a razor thin margin
3. Apolo Anton Ohno winning gold in the Men’s 500M Speed Skating
4. Bob Costas interview of Silver Medalist Sasha Cohen
5. Sasha Cohen performance at the Champion’s Gala Evening

I get an email today advertising a brand new service for pilots, tells me to go to leftse.at. I scratch my head thinking what a bizarre URL and then it hits me – take out the dot and you get leftseat which is where the pilot in command sits. But its hideous; leftseat.com is taken so I am sure they couldn’t decide what to do but I really hate what they came up with.