Media Roundup - March 2009

Funding and sustainability issues plague the Refuge: The Province: Nanaimo parrot refuge seeks funds by end of March to keep operating The World Parrot Refuge, based near Nanaimo, desperately needs funds by the end of March to continue caring for its flock of 700 birds. Refuge co-founder Wendy Huntbatch said the economic turmoil is only partly to blame for the centre's dire financial position. Huntbatch said parrot owners are surrendering their pets more often -- more than 15 birds have arrived since January -- and visitors have dwindled. Heavy snowfall also forced the centre's closure during what would normally be a busy time. Victoria's Times Colonist: Financial woes put Island parrot refuge in jeopardy Huntbatch, a lifelong animal welfare advocate, said she can't accept a worst-case scenario if the centre runs out of money. It has provided a home for life for parrots since it first opened on Vancouver Island with 400 birds in 2004. "I have no idea what would happen. I haven't faced it yet," said Huntbatch. "We simply cannot shut down. You just suddenly get to a point where it's like, 'Oh my God, [money] is not there.' It costs about $300,000 each year to operate the massive facility that allows the parrots to fly in large enclosures designed to emulate natural surroundings. Care for each parrot costs about $500 but medical bills can drive that cost up." Canada.com: Flood of surrendered birds, lack of funds threatens Island refuge The World Parrot Refuge has room to house the unusually steady stream of extra birds that arrive each week, but not the money to pay for their care. The Coombs sanctuary desperately needs funds by the end of March to continue caring for the flock of 700 birds. The B.C. Gaming Commission provides money but that endowment dropped about $15,000 this year in an economic downturn that refuge co-founder Wendy Huntbatch believes is to blame for the centre's woes. Parrot owners are surrendering their pets more often -- more than 15 birds have arrived since January -- and visitors have dwindled, and donations with them.Original post blogged on b2evolution.

Jimmy McGriff

Jimmy McGriff - Blue to the Bone -1988 - MilestoneMcGriff with Bill Easley on sax, Melvin Sparks on guitar, Bernard Purdie on drums, and Al Grey on trombone. The trombone is not that often found in the small-organ combo format and may not appeal to everyone. Smooth, yet funky. © Michael Erlewine & Ron Wynn, allmusic.comThe late, great Philadelphian organist, Jimmy McGriff once said, "People are always classifying me as a jazz organist, but I'm more of a blues organ player". And "Blue to the Bone" qualifies his statement. If you are into great Hammond playing, you will enjoy this great gospel, funk, swing, and blues influenced album. Jimmy McGriff was famous for this kind of music which he loved, and he played it with intense feeling. Even if you are not overly fond of organists, you won't fail to be impressed by the quality of this album. Six great tracks, and a brilliant back up band including legendary drummer, Bernard Purdie, the world's most recorded drummer, who has played with countless blues, jazz, and rock artists. If you can locate them, try and listen to two of Jimmy McGriff's albums, the 1963 recording, "Jimmy McGriff At the Apollo [live]", and his superb 1969 album, "A Thing to Come By". Jimmy has a huge back catalogue, but the two aforementioned albums are hard to beat.TRACKS / COMPOSERS1 Ain't That Funk for You - Grey 6:252 For All We Know - Coots, Lewis 5:103 Don't Get Around Much Anymore - Ellington, Russell 10:184 Secret Love - Fain, Webster 9:035 Hangin' In - McGriff, Sparks 7:436 After the Dark - Marks 5:33MUSICIANSJimmy McGriff - Hammond B-3 OrganMelvin Sparks - GuitarBernard "Pretty" Purdie - DrumsBill Easley - Sax (Alto), Sax (Tenor)Al Grey - TromboneREVIEWSThe following reviews are taken from the Amazon website and were written by Amazon customers. - Funky later jazz-organ masterpiece .You can't go wrong with anything from Jimmy McGriff, and this is one of McGriff's best. Recorded in 1988 at Blue Note legend Rudy Van Gelder's studio, some time after other jazz-organ giants like Groove Holmes, Jimmy Smith and Jack McDuff peaked, this one still features McGriff's organ front and center, but there is also plenty of room on this CD for the other talented musicians; especially Al Grey's trombone and Bill Easley's sax (veteran sessionman Melvin Sparks plays guitar pretty well too). "Ain't that Funk for You", a classic leadoff track, best exemplifies that synergy--and energy. It's also a very funky number (if you ain't tapping your foot to it, you're dead) that like the other reviewer said, will play in your head long after you hear it. "For All We Know", the second track, is a cool slow number, but the CD picks up again with #3; his version of Duke Ellington's "Don't Get Around Much Anymore", which features a long solo by McGriff that shows off the richness of his playing (and at 10 plus minutes, the other musicians get their chance too). Perhaps the funkiest tune is "Secret Love", the fourth track, followed by "Hangin'In", a slow, bluesy tune that departs the most from the overall theme of the album, which as some have pointed out, is tight and without major mood swings. The last track, "After the Dark" ends the CD well and is almost as good as the killer leadoff track. If you're into jazz organ and are looking for a slightly more contemporary and inclusive sound without departing from the old school, you'll want this CD. Highly recommended. [ Written by viagracat, Sunday, 15 January 2006, Rating 5 out of 5, based on 2 votes] .... Tight, soulful and refreshing. This set contains some amazingly refrshing blues plus some great arragements of jazz classics (i.e., Duke Ellington's "Don't Get Around Much Anymore") The opening track "Ain't that funk for you" is a tightly arranged blues number highlighting the talents of the five musicians on this album. It's one of those great tracks that stays in your head for days after you hear it. Throughout the album, Jimmy's organ work is rich and soulful as ever. [ Written by helgason, Saturday, 8 July 2000, Rating 4 out of 5, based on 4 votes ] © 1996-2009, Amazon.com, Inc. or its affiliatesBIOOne of the all-time giants of the Hammond B-3, Jimmy McGriff sometimes gets lost amid all the great soul-jazz organists from his hometown of Philadelphia. He was almost certainly the bluesiest of the major soul-jazz pioneers, and indeed, he often insisted that he was more of a blues musician than a jazz artist; nonetheless, he remained eclectic enough to blur the lines of classification. His sound — deep, down-to-earth grooves drenched in blues and gospel feeling — made him quite popular with R&B audiences, even more so than some of his peers; what was more, he was able to condense those charms into concise, funky, jukebox-ready singles that often did surprisingly well on the R&B charts. His rearrangement of Ray Charles' "I Got a Woman" was a Top Five R&B hit in 1962, and further hits like "All About My Girl," "Kiko," and "The Worm" followed over the course of the '60s. McGriff spent much of the '70s trying to keep pace with the fusion movement, switching to various electric keyboards and adopting an increasingly smooth, polished style. As the '80s dawned, McGriff gave up trying to sound contemporary and returned to his classic organ-trio sound; as luck would have it, vintage soul-jazz soon came back into vogue with a devoted cult of fans and critics, and McGriff was able to recover his creative vitality and take his place as one of the genre's elder statesmen. James Harrell McGriff, Jr. was born April 3, 1936, in Philadelphia. His mother and father both played the piano, and he counted saxophonist Benny Golson and soul singer Harold Melvin among his cousins. First getting involved in music through his family's church, he received his first instrument, a drum set, at age eight; by his teen years, he had taken up acoustic bass and alto sax, and also learned vibes, piano, and drums by the time he finished high school. Bass remained his primary instrument for a while, although he was inspired to try his hand at the Hammond organ after seeing Richard "Groove" Holmes at a club in Camden, NJ. However, McGriff was drafted into the military after high school, and served in the Korean War as a military policeman. Upon returning to the United States, he decided to make law enforcement a career, and after completing the necessary training, he worked on the Philadelphia police force for two and a half years. Still, he never lost interest in music, and around 1955 he augmented his day job by working as a bass player behind vocalists like Carmen McRae and, most frequently, Big Maybelle, who had a regular gig at the local Pep's Showboat club. With the Hammond organ rising in popularity around Philadelphia, jobs for bass players were scarce, and McGriff contacted Groove Holmes about learning the organ, this time in earnest. He bought his own Hammond B-3 in 1956, and spent the next six months practicing as hard as he could, either at Holmes' house or at Archie Shepp's house (where he stored the instrument). Skipping more and more work time to play gigs, he finally quit the police force, and enrolled at the local Combe College to study music. He later moved on to the prestigious Juilliard School of Music in New York, and also studied privately with Milt Buckner, Jimmy Smith, and Sonny Gatewood. McGriff's first recording was the single "Foxy Due," cut for the small White Marsh label in 1958; it featured a young saxophonist named Charles Earland, who subsequently learned the organ from McGriff and, like his mentor, went on to become one of the instrument's quintessential performers. McGriff was performing in a small club in Trenton, NJ in 1962 when a talent scout from the small Jell label heard him and offered him a chance to record. McGriff's instrumental soul-jazz rearrangement of Ray Charles' classic "I've Got a Woman" was released as a single, and sold well enough for Juggy Murray's New York-based Sue label to pick it up for wider release. With better distribution and promotion behind it, "I've Got a Woman" hit the national charts and became a bona fide hit, climbing into the Top Five on the R&B charts and the Top 20 over on the pop side. Sue issued McGriff's debut album, naturally also titled I've Got a Woman, in 1963; it too was a hit, nearly making the pop Top 20, and it spun off two more charting singles in the McGriff originals "All About My Girl" (number 12 R&B, Top 50 pop) and "M.G. Blues." Sue released several more McGriff albums over the next two years, including the live At the Apollo, Jimmy McGriff at the Organ (which produced the chart single "Kiko"), the holiday hit Christmas With McGriff (actually his highest-charting album at number 15 pop), the charting Topkapi (a collection of soundtrack themes with orchestral backing), and another chart hit, Blues for Mister Jimmy, which proved to be his last on Sue. In 1966, McGriff moved over to the Solid State label, where he hooked up with producer Sonny Lester, who would helm most of his records through the '70s. He debuted with Jimmy McGriff and the Big Band, which found him fronting an all-star swing orchestra featuring many Count Basie alumni (it was later reissued as A Tribute to Count Basie). McGriff recorded prolifically for Solid State over the remainder of the decade, including albums like A Bag Full of Soul (1966), A Bag Full of Blues (1967), and I've Got a New Woman (1968; mostly a look back at his Sue material). Most notably, though, McGriff scored another hit single with "The Worm," which made the R&B Top 30 and sent the LP of the same name rocketing into the R&B Top Ten in early 1969. In addition to his Solid State recordings, McGriff cut several albums for Blue Note over 1969-1971, most notably Electric Funk, an early foray into jazz-funk fusion that teamed him with arranger/electric pianist Horace Ott; a similar outing that featured pop/rock and R&B covers, Soul Sugar, was released on Capitol during the same period. Additionally, McGriff toured as part of Buddy Rich's band during the late '60s, and again from 1971-1972. McGriff made Groove Merchant his primary label in 1971, and although he briefly quit the business in 1972 to start a horse farm in Connecticut, the lure of music proved too powerful to overcome. Early in the decade, he alternated between funky electric outings (usually with covers of contemporary rock and R&B hits) and more traditional, small-group organ-jazz settings. Notable albums included 1973's Giants of the Organ Come Together, a summit with mentor and longtime friend Groove Holmes; a duo album with bluesman Junior Parker; 1976's Mean Machine, a slicker jazz-funk LP that returned him to the R&B album chart's Top 50; and the 1977 follow-up Red Beans, which also sold respectably. After 1977's Tailgunner (on LRC), McGriff's recorded output tailed off over the next few years. He resurfaced on the Milestone label in 1983, debuting with Countdown, a return to his classic, bluesy soul-jazz style that started to bring him back into the jazz spotlight. A series of strong albums followed during the '80s, including 1984's Skywalk, 1985's State of the Art, 1986's acclaimed The Starting Five, and 1988's Blue to the 'Bone (a near-Top Ten hit on the jazz LP charts); he also recorded a one-off session for Headfirst in 1990, You Ought to Think About Me, that made the jazz Top Ten. Additionally, McGriff co-led a group with saxophonist Hank Crawford during the late '80s, which released several albums, including 1990's popular On the Blue Side (number three on the jazz charts). He also returned to his roots in the church by playing on gospel singer Tramaine Hawkins' 1990 live album. McGriff and Crawford moved over to Telarc for a pair of albums over 1994-1995, Right Turn on Blue and Blues Groove. As soul-jazz returned to cult popularity in both America and the U.K., McGriff found himself playing higher-profile gigs and venues on both sides of the Atlantic. He returned to Milestone and resumed his solo career in 1996 with The Dream Team, which featured saxman David "Fathead" Newman and drummer Bernard "Pretty" Purdie, both of whom would become familiar faces on McGriff recordings in the years to come. Follow-ups included solid records like 1998's Straight Up, 2000's McGriff's House Party, 2001's Feelin' It, and 2002's McGriff Avenue, which looked back on some of his '60s hits. © Steve Huey, allmusic.com

S-RIDE

iPhone SDK

I'm trying to figure out exactly why I'm so psyched by the Apple iPhone SDK announcement. The basic announcement wasn't a surprise, and I don't even own an iPhone. I did, however, dig out my Cocoa programming book and start studying.Further thoughts:The tools themselves seemed somewhat slicker than what was expected -- a lot of Mac developers were pleasantly surprised that Interface Builder was included (although apparently it's not in the first beta). There was a lot of speculation that the SDK release was delayed over security issues, but it also looks like polishing the tools took some time.The demos were exceptionally well done, a very nice range of choices, and the continual push of how easy it was to make them. The quality of the demo is clearly one of the reasons that I'm excited.As an aside.. say your boss came up to you and said you're going to fly to Cupertino for two weeks to build something in the super-secret iPhone SDK, which you will get to present in a full-on Steve Jobs media event. How many nanoseconds would you need to wait before accepting?Let's see, the iPhone 2.0 comes out the end of June. So... by August 1, it should be the top mobile gaming platform going, right? Those were some seriously cool looking games...The terms were more open than I expected. It's particularly nice that Apple is allowing the developers to set the price. It's particularly nice that they specifically included "free" as a price. They seemed to emphasize that Apple was going to try and get as many apps in front of developers as possible -- I'd take the inclusion of AIM as a demo as a sign that even things that AT&T might not be thrilled with will be allowed.The general sense of the existing indy Mac community is that the 70/30 split is reasonable given what Apple is offering. It'll be interesting to see how the price points play out. (As pointed out by Jens Alfke, the App store model enables an entirely new class of micropayment software)Still a number of questions: how will developers manage limited betas? Will developers be allowed to have the download be free, but have a separate license authorization? What about free but add supported (like Twitteriffic)?Early line, here's a short list of people or apps off the top of my head I expect greatness from:MobileTwitteriffic, already essentially announced. The trick here will be improving on the web UI.Red Sweater, apparently Daniel is considering porting Black Ink, and maybe MarsEdit.Ambrosia Software. For a really great game -- Sketch Fighter would work...The Desktop Tower Defense guy. The UI would be tricky, though...Somebody to do the killer To-Do list or GTD app. Omni?A really cool doodle/draw program.I think this is going to be a very fun ride...

Hot Wheels

Alpaca

Of EVE and other things edition

Eenie, meanie, minie, moe... which MMOs are Massively staffers playing this weekend? Most of the time even we have trouble deciding amongst our possible options. And with so-called "real life" always getting in the way... leet's just say that what we may or may not be playing at any given time can get complicated. So, want to know what the Massively team is up to in-game this weekend? (Or perhaps you don't care, but want to talk with your fellow readers about what you're up to in-game this weekend?) Read on!Continue reading WRUP: Of EVE and other things edition

Caring for the children of the mentally ill

Mental health nurse “child risk”Children may be being put at risk because nurses carrying out assessments on mothers with mental illnesses do not have enough training, an expert says.Mental health nurses are often asked to assess the parenting capabilities of mothers with serious conditions such as schizophrenia and bipolar disorder. But Sarah Rutherford, from Manchester Metropolitan University, said they did not get enough guidance or training.She called for a thorough review of practices across the UK.BBCNHS BLOG DOCTOR readers are only too well aware of the deficiencies of modern NHS mental health care. Patients who cannot afford to pay to see a psychiatrist are dealt with by the CMHT, a pot pourri of poorly paid HCPs with no real psychiatric training. They do not diagnose, they do “risk assessments”. A risk assessment means filling in protocol driven questionnaires, counting up the numbers of 'yeses' and 'noes' and then reading the result from the predetermined answers. More than five 'yeses' and the patient is discharged. You know the sort of thing. Women’s magazines have similar questionnaires which purport to tell them if they are good lovers.Poor back-up from social services is thus not the whole story behind the care of our at-risk children. (See again Shocking Psychiatry) If children in this situation do not deserve the undivided attention of a psychiatrist, who does? Not many, these days. It is thus not just children who are at risk. That is just today’s article. All mental health patients who cannot afford to pay to see psychiatrist privately are at risk.Finally, before the usual onslaught of comments from the usual sources, please note that this research was done not by a doctor but by Sarah Rutherford, who is herself a registered mental health nurse.+++++++++Illustration from the excellent Mental Health Blog

Chris Brown has a new girlfriend.

Chris Brown doesn’t have Rihanna anymore, she will not even talk to him. So he opened up his little black book and got in touch with his ex-girlfriend. Apparently she is supposed to be good for him, not just a punching bag. God I crack myself up, I really do! And while Jackson is “no Rihanna,” the general consensus among his friends and family is that the new girl is going to be good for him in the long run. “[Erica] has a good head on her shoulders; she’s solid,” says our insider. Chris and his new gal pal were spotted leaving a Sunset Blvd. tattoo parlor on Saturday afternoon. “She’s more of a plain Jane — cute though,” says our source. At the very least, she’s helping to ease Chris’ pain over Rihanna. He was mad in love with that girl.” According to pals, the “mad” one in this love trifecta will be Rihanna herself. “She is going to be pissed!” says a pal of the pop starlet. “Ri is going to be so hurt that Chris has moved on so quickly and is parading this new girl around town.” (source) Celebrity Gossip, Celebrity News, Celebrity Photos, Rihanna

Don't wait

Don't wait to make that phone call to that person you love and haven't seen or talked to in awhile. The best friend I have ever had in my life, the one that knew all my secrets and hopes, dreams and fears, we kind of got out of the habit of calling each other or going to see each other, and it stretched on for a few years. We got in contact on myspace through me finding her kids on there, but time still marched on I hadn't been there to see her for a long time. Any way May the second she passed on, 42 years old. I am having a very hard time dealing with the loss of my partner in crime. I feel like I had deserted her for the things going on in my life. I missed the chance to tell my old friend I love her. R.I.P. Anita you will be missed!

If US changes healthcare others will follow

In my role Horizon Scanning for the National Health Service (NHS) here in the UK I work at the leading edge of health. New services, new technologies, new inventions, exciting as they be in their potential to improve health, they still fundamentally feed one entity; the healthcare machine. And because much of our healthcare here in the UK is driven by that same, principally US orientated healthcare machine, we exhibit the same symptoms as the US healthcare system. Aside from our ageing population we suffer the same spiralling costs from obesity (

On the state of Eclipse

I applaud Bjorn for bravely and candidly expressing his thoughts on the state of Eclipse.Here are a couple of points that came to my mind, following the discussion. I've included my thoughts on them below.How do you encourage diversity through individual participation?The lack of diversity in many projects is something I find troubling. A diverse committer base is an insurance policy against an entity pulling the plug on a project. It has happened in the past. If you consume a non-diverse project commercially, it may be in your interest to get involved more actively.Diversity also encourages openness. Openness encourages contributions. Contributions encourage diversity.The downside is that increased diversity comes with increased communication and coordination overhead. I believe this is why the model of one project = one company is quite popular at Eclipse.org. As a community we have to ask ourselves, is this the standard we want to set and have come to expect? How is this different of just putting the code up on sourceforge? Wouldn't it be better to have a stricter requirement for diversity? For example, you can't exit incubation if you don't have at least two (or more) contributing entities on your project.Ideas:(a) making it easier for individuals to contribute - DVCS, more flexible IP policy, help wanted lists of items; 'how to contribute' info on project homepage(b) maintaining a high degree of responsiveness - for example NEW bugzillas without timely response or bugzillas with attached patches with no response are insulting to contributors and should not be tolerated(c) encouraging diversity - make diversity a requirement for exiting incubation; existing projects are reviewed and encouraged to take action to increase diversityTo be continued...PS: Obviously this is my personal opinion and does not represent in any way the position of my employer.

Dropping bricks

A runaway boom in property prices has gone into reverseIF ANY market has been distorted by the activities of the rich over the past decade, it must surely have been property. For a while it seemed as if the plutocrats were competing against each other to pay the silliest prices for the smartest locations.Even though prices are now retreating, in some areas they still seem over the top. A two-bedroom apartment in Monaco shown to The Economist did have a view of the bay, but it was not helped by an elevated highway bang in front and a noisy building site next door, and the kitchen was tiny. The price was a staggering

Lux Interior, RIP

The LA Times music blog reports that Lux Interior, co-founder and lead singer of seminal psychobilly band The Cramps has died at age 60. Full obit here. If you've never heard of the Cramps (indeed, my own knowledge of them extends not much farther than rocking out to a few great singles on various compilations and an appreciation for Poison Ivy's unique fashion stylings), here's a lovely, succinct analysis of why they matter:The band's lack of a bassist and its antagonistic female guitarist quickly set it apart from its downtown peers and upended the traditional rock band sexual dynamic of the flamboyant, seductive female and the mysterious male guitarist.[...]The band's influence can be clearly felt among lauded minimalist art-blues bands, including the Black Lips, the White Stripes, the Horrors and Primal Scream, whose front man, Bobby Gillespie, allegedly named his son Lux.Pitchfork has a nice obit, as well, featuring some great live clips, including their 1984 performance in a mental institution.Allmusic's analysis is delightful, as well:[...] the Cramps celebrate all that is dirty and gaudy with a perverse joy that draws in listeners with its fleshy decadence, not unlike an enchanted gingerbread house on the Las Vegas strip.Yes!Allmusic's entry on the Cramps is particularly useful if you're looking to offer some listener's advisory to distraught fans (or to folks who'd never even heard of the Cramps before but are curious about their sound). Check the list of Moods & Genres -- if you click "trashy", for example, you'll be brought to this page, which lists similar moods, trashy albums highlights, and top trashy artists. It's so well organized and so browse-friendly that it's easy to get lost in there, but what a wonderful time you'll have!Bust out the crushed-velved blazer (in black with blood red piping, please) and black eyeliner, folks, while you put together a display to honor Mr. Interior featuring but by no means limited to:All of your trashiest rock biographies;CDs by Iggy Pop, White Stripes, Elvis, and other artists you find on AllMusic;Movies by John Waters;Maybe some pink flamingos (you know, the ones for putting on one's lawn)?Other ideas? Put 'em in the comments.

Score!

Unrelated opening: Whew. I have been on a blogging rampage lately. It is my goal to now post at least 5x a week, so please check back often.I am also going to take a page right out of the hilarious and (let's call her) transcendent Bloggess's book and start highlighting "The Comment Of The Day." Meaning if you've commented something particularly funny, useful, poignant, flattering, whatever, I want to highlight it. (Because I do a crap job of replying to the comments you leave and that sucks of me. I read them all, I love them all, and hope this helps some.)* * * * * * * * * * * * * *About a million years ago (ten) I was known to regularly rant (to my ex) abouta) Why computer equipment is so damn fuglyb) Why all computer and office peripherals are so damn fuglyWith the advent of high-speed internet and things like "telecommuting," suddenly everyone was working from home and converting guest rooms and closets and, in our case, tiny dining rooms into home offices and also everyone was buying computers. Remember 1999?And remember how ALL computers were big and clunky and either gray, black, or beige? Oh! Wait! Remember how they STILL ARE?Well, mostly.I mean, I love that my laptop is white. I love that you can buy skins in new colors. I love that finally, a decade after the five colors or whatever of iMacs came out, we finally have something like this:Can you hear me drooling ? It's not even a Mac. *drool*And of course I care about functionality blah blah but come on. This should not be so revolutionary, you know?Likewise, I feel like it's only been in the last few years that home decor has finally given us options, real options, for office furniture that doesn't all look like you're going to stub and break your toe on it.My toes hurt just looking at this.Also, this weighs a thousand pounds and looks good nowhere.In the same vein, I LOVE when I find office products that don't look like boring office products.Love these file folders from Ballard Designs.The point of all of this is that today I ended up at TJ Maxx. This alone is worth blogging about because first of all I thought the entire store had disappeared because I couldn't find it, even though it was just there the day before, except -- a-ha! -- my pregnancy had moved it. And then I got there and was disappointed to learn that they do not have maternity clothes, their "plus size" section includes a whopping total of two sad racks (jam-packed with cardigans) (???) and also the scariest Irish dolls in the universe. So that post is coming a little later because it involves diagrams.But while I was wandering around in a "nothing is going to fit me" state, I came upon what I think is the cutest damn thing ever!It's this thing called the "Take Note Tote" and it's by Vera Bradley, whoever she may be. It's really just one of those accordion-style file holders, except it's actually attractive and has handles. It's PERFECT if, say, you're moving and want to get rid of all your magazines except want to put those few awesome recipes and projects somewhere you can actually access. And don't want to put them in a butt-ugly brown file folder.Here's a picture of someone prancing about with the tote, stolen from the internet:I'm not sure why someone would want to go walking around with a collection of recipes, or why that person would seem so damn happy about flinging a file folder over her shoulder when clearly the straps are too short for that sort of thing, and I really don't understand why someone would take their files to the beach while wearing jeans, but these are mysteries for another time.Anyway, it was $9.99 at TJ Maxx's. I guess that's pricey for a file folder, but it's a lot cheaper than packing up and moving and finding a place to put a year's worth of magazines just so I can save about 3 recipes and one knitting project.And it's so cute!Um. So I don't know what my point was other than maybe you are also looking for a pretty file folder? Or something? And also hate ugly office furniture?Buying this is kind of like packing!*****Comment of the Day***** Anonymous said...I recently bought a laptop. When I told my coworker (who was helping with researching what I should buy) what I was looking for, I told him that the #1 criterion was that it was purple. I bought my purple laptop and it brings me so much joy every time I use it. Especially since I also bought the matching purple wireless mouse.