It’s funny how ideas can come clear out of the blue. I was chatting via IM this morning with my good buddy Mike Rohde and I was commenting on how good my random mix was in iTunes. I had selected the category “Electronic”, hit “Random” and then let her rip. Normally this can yield a bizarre mix, but for some reason this morning’s random play list was really, really good. It was so good in fact, that I started typing in the song names as they would come up.
The weather was a cool 68F. I had the window in my office open wide and Gracie was sleeping at my feet. With the music playing, I was just really entering a great groove. My taxes are done, I’ve got bills going out and I’m was just flush with the feeling that “Life Is Good!” So every time a new song comes up, I type it into my IM window to Mike. Here’s just a sample:
Soul Coughing – “Idiot Kings”
Lamb – “Gold (Hip Optimist Mix)”
The Beloved – “Let The Music Take You”
Lamb vs. Cosmos – “What Sound”
Mandalay – “Beautiful”
Paul Oakenfold – “Decent (Original Mix)”
Paul van Dyk – “The Politics Of Dancing”
DJ Rap – “Bad Girl”
The Crystal Method – “The Winner”
Hooverphonic – “Renaissance Affair”
Rinocerose – “Dead Flowers”
Tosca – “Worksong”
Patchwork – “Psychym”
Paul Van Dyk – “Out There”
The New Deal – “Receiver”
Ok, well, you get the idea. 🙂 I’m feeling so good, that I don’t even realize how long I’ve been entering in song names. As I type this, I’m still doing it in fact. I mean it only takes a few seconds to do it and I type fast, so I’m not thinking anything of it. I’m just being me. Then Mike brings what I’m doing to my attention in the following conversation.
Mike: “you are a freak. 🙂 “
Me: “How’s that?”
Mike: “typing in the songs… I figured you’d give up after 5. 🙂 “
Mike: “I mean, it’s cool… you’re just over the top 150% man!”
I had to laugh, but I also took his comment as a compliment because I LIKE being thought of as the “over the top guy”. It also reminded me of a story, which I relayed to him and I’ll do the same here.
This had to be about 7 or 8 years ago. I was talking with my best friend Chris LaFleur about all the stuff I had going on. I was working for the Louisiana Home Builders Work Comp Fund and it was a very crazy time in my life, but that’s a whole other story. Anyway, I’m telling him what’s going on and Chris is being the usual good listener as I go on and on and on. 😛 Chris doesn’t say much, most people might consider him kind of quiet. Chris may not say a lot, but when he says something, it’s on the money. It’s either funny as hell, or it’s heartfelt, or just right on target. He just always knows the right thing to say.
Anyway, so I’ve been going on for awhile about what I’m up to and Chris finally is able to get a word in and responds by telling me something that I’ve never forgotten.
Chris: You know, I’ve heard of some people ‘burning the candle at both ends’.
Me: Yeah?
Chris: Dude, you’re just a flaming ball of wax.
I lost it then and I lose it now every time I’m reminded of it. It’s just the funniest thing I’ve ever heard of, but at the same time, I think of it as a fantastic compliment. LOL
After telling the story to Mike, it hit me that “Flaming Ball Of Wax” would make a GREAT name for my weblog. Late last year I wrote about how I wanted to change the name of the site. I ended up not liking my choice and reverted back to mashby.com, but the idea has been sitting there in the back of my mind ever since. I did a quick domain check (using one of the best utilities I’ve ever run across called WhoIs ULTRA) and sure enough, all my domain choices were free! I went ahead and registered flamingball.com, flamingball.net, flamingball.org, flamingballofwax.com, flamingballofwax.net, and flamingballofwax.org. Using 1&1 to register the domains it was pretty cheap to boot.
So am I going to change the weblog title to “Flaming Ball Of Wax”? I don’t know. I think I might, but I’m going to sleep on it and see if I like the idea in a few days. It is kind of similar to one of my favorite sites Daring Fireball, but I think I could make the distinction that my weblog is an animal of a different color. :s Regardless of what I do, I know I’ll keep mashby.com, I’ll just have all those other domains point to the same location. This way regardless of what URL you use, you’ll still reach the same place.
What do you think? Do you like the idea of changing “mashby.com” to “Flaming Ball Of Wax”? ???
Dude! That has always described you to a “T”. I don’t know if you want to change the name or domain of the weblog (I’ll let you sleep on that for a couple of days), but certainly a graphic might be in order. Something like a candle, burning at both ends, getting totally consumed in flames, so people would immediately know the connection. To really get out there, you could have it moving across the screen and catching fire as it moved. To really, really get out there, put it on a bicycle! Have fun with it!!
Ken