I always wondered why I never enjoyed listening to my favorite music played from an mp3 file on my computer. I guess I was just thinking that as I got older, my youthful passions were fading.

Long ago, I had decided that at least I ought to preserve my LP collection (about 400 records, mostly classical). Then last week, I finally got around to installing the FLAC codec on my machines and the project began. Listening to the music as it was encoded (live from my turntable) was an entrancing, emotional experience as I remembered. What's more, so was listening to the music played back from a FLAC-encoded digital file.

So I did an A/B comparison of the same music from mp3 and from FLAC. I could distinctly hear the comparative dullness and lack of airiness in the mp3s. Then I started berating myself. How could I have been so blind (or maybe deaf is the better word) for so long? How could I not have noticed the difference? Probably I put it down to listening on small computer speakers rather than my expensive stereo.

But I was wrong. Mp3 has been important and useful, and music on computers and music-to-go could not so easily exist without it, but for me-- it stole away my enjoyment of music for over ten years.

I'm not bitter, however. Now I get to hear it "fresh"-- all over again. If you have been subsisting on mp3s, maybe it would mean something to you to try conversion of your CDs and LPs to files encoded with a lossless codec.

It seems that Verizon likes to enhance revenue by making sure their cellphone users have to use Verizon's fee-per-call directory assistance service. A number of times over the past month I have tried to send a text message to 46645 (googl) with a name and address. Normally this gets you a text message back with the phone listing for about five cents. Lately text messages to this number simply don't work. Anyone else with similar experience?

After five years of trying to find the right lapboard for my keyboard and mouse, as I recline in style in my office chair, and after finding them all so cumbersome I gave up, locked the chair upright, and suffered, I found out my optical mouse can rest on top of my pants leg and move and work very well there. Is there some kind of IQ award I get for this? Duh.