It’s hard to imagine what Elvis would be like today, at age 75. When Elvis died, Nashville notable Shelby Singleton, Jr., rushed out a commemorative LP on the Sun label, which he’d bought from Sam Phillips in 1969. Singleton died this past October.
Side 1 is about Elvis and Sun Records…
[audio:http://www.dograt.com/Audio/2010/JAN/ElvisSun01.mp3]… and Side 2 has a collection of interviews and odd recordings.
[audio:http://www.dograt.com/Audio/2010/JAN/ElvisSun02.mp3]
Elvis in concert, at 40.
[audio:http://www.dograt.com/Audio/2010/JAN/Elvis75a.mp3]“How old are ya, kid? Thirteen???”
[audio:http://www.dograt.com/Audio/2010/JAN/Elvis75b.mp3]Once again I’m suffering from severe and debilitating back pain. It would be one thing if I were badly overweight and out of shape, but I’m not.
A month ago, while out running I tripped on an uneven section of concrete sidewalk. I managed to stop myself from falling, but in the process my right knee hyper-extended, and I jammed it hard when it landed. I was able to continue running and got home without trouble, but the next morning I couldn’t bend my knee.
The treatment for that is RICE — rest, ice, compression, elevation — and I was pleased that my knee responded. In fact, it felt good enough that five days later I was able to run a 5k (3.1 mile) road race. This was the starting line as seen by my cell phone.
I took it slow, and finished the race without difficulty. My knee felt a bit tight afterward, so when I got home I did the RICE routine again. But the next morning once again I couldn’t bend my knee, and I had to limp to get around.
Limping triggered my back, which had undoubtedly been wrenched when I nearly fell, and soon I couldn’t tell where the pain in my back ended, and where the knee began. After a week of that I saw an orthopedic specialist who confirmed that my knee had actually healed up just fine, but the pain from my back was radiating down my leg. He put me on Mega-Motrin (IBU 800 mg), and that works well, but when it wears off the inflammation and pain come roaring back.
And that’s pretty much the way it’s been since then. I was on crutches the entire time I set up the Wi-Fi radio network over the Christmas holiday.
I’m in physical therapy, and I’m exercising very hard at home, but so far the improvement has been slow and small. If I’m not significantly better at PT next week, the therapist will recommend I have the doctor order an MRI.
Oh, the fun and frustration of technology in the home. We now have thirteen(!) devices in the house that depend upon, or use, the Internet.
I’ve come across another quirk with playback from Logitech’s Squeezebox music server. The good news is that Logitech has a PC client called SqueezePlay. The bad new is it’s beta code, and it shows. Squeezeplay lets you choose which Wi-Fi radio in your home network you want to control. The player called Neptune is the Chumby One in the kitchen.
The interface is a slightly modified Squeezebox Radio screen, which is very nice…
… but if it plays on the PC — and that’s a big if — it sometimes sounds almost like Lou Reed’s Metal Machine Music!
[audio:http://www.dograt.com/Audio/2010/JAN/Squeezeplay.mp3]When you don’t hear anything, that probably means control has reverted to the Squeezebox Radio. I assume Logitech can fix this, and I’d be delighted if they would help Chumby develop a Squeezebox UI, because their products really don’t compete directly with one another.
A couple more things about my new Wi-Fi radio setup. As was pointed out to me by tastewar, one of the features of the Logitech Squeezebox server is it can remotely control a Squeezebox client.
The Web interface works for both the Squeezebox Radio and the Chumby One, which unfortunately doesn’t have its own Squeezebox UI. Needing a full-blown computer to control the Chumby makes Squeezebox support almost useless; however, I was pleased to discover that the Squeezebox Radio itself can control the Chumby. I would much prefer the Chumby having a Squeezebox control panel like the excellent interface it has for Pandora, but for now having one radio control another is a workable solution.
