Happy Monday! How are you this second Monday in December? It snowed in Terre Haute last week. Not a huge amount like other parts of the country is getting, but enough to cover the ground and to see snowflakes. It was pretty exciting considering we’ve never lived in snow before. Everything looks so pretty right now — very wintery and festive. The Sycamore Farm barn below is down the street from our house. I love seeing how beautiful it looks each day.
1. How do you all handle listening to music when you’re on-the-go? Here’s my problem: I have music that I’ve purchased that are either on CDs or living in my iTunes music library. I did have a ton of that music downloaded to my iPhone, but it was taking up too much space. So I bought an iPod Shuffle for myself to transfer some of that music.
I also have songs saved to playlists on Spotify that I listen to when driving, running and walking. That’s only available via an Internet connection, so you must use data. I upgraded to Premium to download the songs, but turns out they can’t be downloaded to an iPod Shuffle. But I can play them offline on my iPhone (from the app); however I have to — wait for it — download them first. So I’m back to square one with music taking up room on my phone. I beginning to think it was easier when we all paid for music and made mix tapes.
2. Speaking of music, American Songwriter released its list of the top 50 albums of 2016. I’m not quite as up to speed on music as I once was and am not familiar with most of these picks. But I was glad to see one of my favorite bands, Dawes, make the list. I’m excited to see them in Indianapolis next year!
3. If you’re a book lover like I am, you’ll enjoy this article in which 25 authors talk about the best books they’ve ever received. I love that Charlotte’s Web made the list. It’s still one that inspires me most. And speaking of books, The New York Times picks the best book covers of 2016. Do you agree?
4. I found this article fascinating about why people never smiled in old photographs. Interestingly, when I got my Indiana driver’s license earlier this year, they directly me NOT to smile for the photograph. Apparently showing teeth distorts the facial recognition feature that is now used with identification cards. I wasn’t prepared for that, so let’s just say my photo makes me look like I’m posing in the 1800s rather than today.
5. Here’s some humor to end this post. The other day, I was doing some online research to write an article about amazing kids who are doing great things. I come across an article entitled “19 Kids Who Will Grow Up to Change the World.” I click on it thinking I may get some fodder for my article. It was NOT what I expected, but holy cow, was it hilarious. I laughed so hard I cried.
What’s going on in your life? What are you thinking about on this December Monday?