Top 10 Albums of 2008:

10. Gnarls Barkley - The Odd Couple



This is a good album to listen to while working. It’s the first neo-soul album I’ve liked listening to the whole way through since Res’ 2001 album How I Do. Note: I haven’t listened to Gnarls Barkley’s first album, St. Elsewhere, yet. If it’s anything like this release, I’ll probably like it.

09. Ryan Adams & The Cardinals - Cardinology



I’m not sure it’s possible for Ryan Adams & The Cardinals to release a bad album. (Although, Ryan Adams sans The Cardinals has done it.) This is another solid alt-country album worth listening to.

08. The Raconteurs - Consolers Of The Lonely



Once again, I played the heck out of a Raconteurs album for a week or two and then moved on to other things. It’s good ear candy, but it’s lacking carbs.

07. One Day As A Lion - One Day As A Lion



Zack de la Rocha (Rage Against the Machine) and Jon Theodore (The Mars Volta) made some pretty rough keyboard and drum socio-political tracks which I quite enjoyed.

06. Shiny Toy Guns - Season of Poison



They replaced their female singer and I couldn’t even tell the difference. This is a really solid synthpop album.

05. Coldplay - Viva la Vida



Coldplay got a little experimental and still successfully delivered an album full of memorable melodies.

04. Nine Inch Nails - The Slip



Best legally free album ever released (though Radiohead fans may disagree).

03. Fall Out Boy - Folie à Deux



Their most compelling album to date. The forays into other genres are more skillfully executed than on Infinity On High and Patrick Stump’s vocals are as dynamic as ever.

02. Xavier Rudd - Dark Shades of Blue



This is another album to listen to while working. A lot of the tracks are like a folksy Tool with more positive lyrics, others remind me of Sting, but they all have 100% more didgeridoo than either of those artists.

01. Cloud Cult - Feel Good Ghosts (Tea-Partying Through Tornadoes)



Cloud Cult is one of my favorite bands and this album is as amazing as the previous two. I think it’s bands like this that make modern music an art rather than simply a money making machine.

Honorable Mentions:

The Parlor Mob - And You Were A Crow
More like Led Zeppelin than Wolfmother, but a voice just as high.

Pop Evil - Lipstick on the Mirror
Sounds like southern rock, though the band is from Michigan. Better than most modern post-grunge (such as Nickelback and Puddle of Mudd).

Biggest Disappointments:

Doomtree - Doomtree
Their last release, 2007’s False Hopes, was touted as a collection of songs that weren’t good enough to be on this self-titled album. I would argue that they got that description backwards.

King’s X - XV
This is one of my favorite bands, but they don’t get it right every single time. Ear Candy used to be my least favorite King’s X album, but I think it’s now in a tie with XV.

The wind chill for the past few days has been hovering around negative fifteen degrees. Tomorrow is supposed to be warmer.

Nicholas was supposed to fly in to Pennsylvania on Sunday, but the weather in Seattle was frightful. So, he ended up getting in last night. Kind of stinks, but it could have been worse.

Molly’s mom and grandmother (on her her dad’s side) are coming up to visit with us tonight. Her grandmother lives in Texas, so this will only be the third time I have seen her. It should be a pleasant visit.

Tomorrow, Molly and I are heading out to PA. Earlier, the weathermen were predicting freezing rain. Fortunately, they’ve changed their prediction to plain old rain and a high of forty-four. The driving won’t be too fun, but hopefully it will be less dangerous.

I’m really excited. I can’t believe Christmas is only two days away.

Obama chose Arne Duncan to be his Education Secretary. Duncan is currently the CEO of Chicago Public Schools. One attribute being mentioned about the wisdom of this choice is that Duncan has run the nation’s third largest public education system since 2001. What I haven’t heard mentioned is that CPS is also one of the worst public school systems in the nation. It’s possible I don’t have the complete picture, but the initial reaction is that this was not the best choice.

The Federal Reserve lowered their interest rates to 0%-.25%. Haven’t they been paying attention to what happens every time they lower interest rates? Stocks soar for a day or two and then they go back to being terrible. Their tactic of lowering interest rates has been eliminated. If they go any further, they will be paying banks to take their money. I’m very interested to see what happens next.

We visited Molly’s parents for Thanksgiving. It was a nice relaxing time. Except for when we played Pictionary Man; things got a little crazy then. Allen’s representation of Lady Godiva and Molly’s attempt at Sigmund Freud were pretty interesting. Oh yeah, and if you are ever playing Pictionary with Molly and she starts drawing Godzilla…it’s supposed to be the United States.

We had Chipotle for the first time while we were out there. It was pretty good and very filling. A good tip to remember when eating there is that you can save 330 calories by getting your meal without the tortilla. It’s still very tasty in a bowl.

This past Sunday, we went to Qdoba with some of the Zieglers after church. It’s practically the same restaurant as Chipotle. Even though the food was just as filling, I found it to be less tasty.

Lately, I’ve been playing Tetris on Facebook a lot. I first played to beat all of my friends, but they eventually beat me. So, now I just play to reclaim my title each time someone passes my score. Molly kept wanting to play on my account, but I made her get it on her own profile. She didn’t want to because she wanted to keep herself from getting addicted. I think she played for about an hour last night.

As of yesterday, most of my holiday shopping is done. All that remains are gifts for my aunts and stuff for Molly’s stocking. I’ve been counting down the days until Christmas. Every morning I ask Molly what day it is and then I exclaim “Do you know what that means? It’s only X days till Christmas!” Some days she smiles, some days she rolls her eyes, and some days she does both. Oh well, I enjoy it.

Molly is volunteering for the U.S. Figure Skating Championship that is taking place here in Cleveland in January. Her first meeting was Monday night and I went to the library. It felt good to spend my time that way instead of wasting it on the computer or watching tv. I want to try to spend some time studying at library more often.

That’s all I have for now. Back to work.

I had a dream that I was in jail. The warden had a claw like Wolverine from X-Men and stabbed me in the leg because I was on the cell phone with my lawyer after lights out.

We had a church service that all the inmates attended. They served communion with one cup. It didn’t contain wine or grape juice, just water. I got some murderous looks from the inmates who would be last to get a sip because I drank more than my share.

It all worked out, though. I found an alien fetus in a can of green beans, so they let me go.