The Calvin List: Music of 2007

It's New Year's Eve!!! It's party time! It's time to.... well.. sit on my couch, watch football (Go Ducks!) and EAT crappy food (before my "eat healthier" new years resolution kicks in tomorrow). And what am I doing for my big celebration tonight? Watch movies with Little Calvin. Tonight he's allowed to "try" to stay up until midnight, the only night of the year he can go anywhere near that idea. And since I let him pick the movies that will keep us up until the ball drops, he has picked "Surf's Up" and "Raiders of the Lost Ark".. My have I trained him well!!!

But the point of my post today isn't about our partying tonight (or lack thereof). Nope. On the last day of the year, I try to come up with my "lists". You know, just like everyone else does.. The Best this of 2007, the Best that of 2007.. blah blah blah. But my lists are a bit different. Here's why:

Sure, alot of good music has come out this year. But just because it came out this year, doesn't make it memorable in my mind. What I try to pick are the songs that meant the most to me this year. You know how music works.. You'll listen to the radio and suddenly hear a song that will flash you back to some point in your life. For instance "Land of Confusion" by Genesis... It has nothing to do with running in its lyrics, but every time I hear it... EVERY TIME, I flash back to the cross country state championships my freshman year in high school. I can suddenly remember the event as if it were yesterday. Those are the songs I am talking about.

So for me... which songs will remind me of 2007.. Will immediately flash me back to this point in time? It doesn't matter if the song came out this year or not... It just depends on what mental meaning my brain gives it. So that said... here is my music list (in no particular order) for the year and a little of why the song made the list.

Presenting...

The Calvin List: Music of 2007

Dance Tonight - Paul McCartney
The catchy drum beat that starts this song off, the simple tune and the happy-go-lucky lyrics have allowed me to use this song for several things this past year. Just a good old-fashioned fun song. As an added bonus, both Mackenzie Crook (Ragetti from the Pirates of the Caribbean films) and Natalie Portman star in the video...

Hey Now! - Oasis
I have no idea how I missed this song back in 1995. For some reason when I heard it this last year, I immediately loved it and it has been a top played song on my ipod ever since.

Instant Karma - U2
I just can't have an annual list without a U2 song on it, and since the band didn't release much this year, this will have to do. But considering they played this song at their last Portland show and this is the first real recoding of it that I could get without having to pull audio from a YouTube file.. I was excited to get it.

Lay Your Hands On Me -Bon Jovi
Definitely NOT a song from 2007!!! I stumbled across it listening to someone else's networked itunes collection at the office one afternoon and was immediately hooked. This became my unofficial theme song for my whole Volleyball film project, being cranked out of my car speakers at high volume levels on my way to and from each game, and I'd listen to it's opening drum section whenever I need some inspiration for some quick edits. As my filming schedule became exhausting.. this was my pick-me-up song. I think this song more than any will remind me of 2007.

Little Wonders - Rob Thomas
Used as the theme for Disney's "Meet The Robinsons" I was intrigued by the song, both as it served as the background for a tribute to Walt Disney in the film, and as it has a very "U2's the Edge" guitar sound that I love.

Wake Up Call - Maroon 5
This song will forever remind of my poor daughter's concert struggles of 2007. Last June, Amanda's favorite singer, Kelly Clarkson, announced she'd be coming to Portland for a concert. Knowing how cool this would be for her, I immediately bought her and I tickets, and even rearranged a business trip so I could take her to the show. This was her big birthday present for her 13th birthday. In early July, I had to break the news to her that the show had been canceled and she was devastated to say the least. To make it up to her, another favorite band announced a Portland show: Maroon 5, to which we purchased tickets.. this time floor tickets a few rows from the stage. We bought the new album, listened to it everywhere we went and counted down the weeks to November 1st. It about broke my heart when I got the dreaded e-mail announcing that shows cancellation, knowing I would have to tell her. We're still waiting to find her that birthday present concert... Come on Bon Jovi... play a Portland show.. Make a 13 year old happy!!! But heartbreak aside, the song is still a fun one to listen to and still manages to get played more than most.

Rockstar - Nickelback
Yup... I'll get mocked for this one incessantly at work now... but what can I say... It's a guilty pleasure.

Shambala - Three Dog Night
The oldest song on my list, I have to say I had never heard this little gem prior to hearing it on a episode of my favorite show: Lost. The show seemed particularly heavy for awhile this last season, then along came a really fun more light hearted episode where Hurley finds an old VW van in the jungle and solicits help to restart the thing. It was a total break from the heaviness, a lot of fun to watch and is actually one of my favorite episodes from last season (Although nothing will be quite like watching the end of the season finale for the first time.. I thought my head would explode when I caught on to what was really happening) This song served as a background for key parts of the episode, was purchased from the iTunes store, all of 2 minutes after the episode aired, and is one of my most listened to titles of the year.

Stronger - Kanye West
Rap is not my typical style, but this one was hard to ignore. At first the song comes across as a sporting anthem. Which explains why the song seemed to be on almost every team in our league's warm up mix. I don't think most people actually listened to the lyrics past the introduction to realize the song has absolutely nothing to do with sports. Yes, it is about "extra-curricular activities".. just not those that the schools would want to promote. So it always cracked me up to hear it blaring out the loud speakers in each gym.

The Sweet Escape - Gwen Stefani
Another guilty pleasure of the year. I first heard the song while trying to find a radio station while driving through the Notre Dame campus in Indiana. Upon arriving at my hotel, I immediately downloaded it, and after returning home introduced it to my 13 year old daughter. Needless to say.. now I get to hear it repeated over and over and as such will be a constant reminder of all things 2007.

So there's the list... the songs that will immediately flash me back to 2007 when I hear them 10 years from now. And with 2008 looking like some tripped out flashback with new albums by U2, Duran Duran, REM, Van Halen and possibly Led Zeppelin.. 2008's list could be really interesting!

Happy New Year!

Santa, Stereos and Sickos.. Yup, it's Christmas!

On behalf of the Calvin Clan.... Merry Christmas everyone! First... in response to my Christmas break excitement several days ago.. the break went MOSTLY on schedule. Friday we did spend the afternoon playing video games at Chuck E. Cheese (apparently I misspelled the name in my last post.. it's not Chucky Cheese, as my daughter has been giving me grief). But Tyler continuously complained of a sore throat that just wouldn't stop hurting, forcing us to keep a more watchful eye on him.

By Saturday afternoon as we were getting ready to head to Splash (our indoor water slide, wave pool, aquatic center) it still hadn't let up. We peeked down his throat and were shocked to see his tonsils the size of bowling balls in the back of his throat. No wonder he was uncomfortable... So rather than swimming, he got to head to the always fun doctors office with Dawn while I took Amanda and Little Calvin to the pool. Turns out, he had Strep throat. Ug. Poor kid. That put an end to our boy's late night movie watching fun, as suddenly he had to be sleeping.

But health issues aside, the rest of the break was nice... We celebrated my wife's birthday by going out to eat and seeing Enchanted (very entertaining movie, by the way... if you have grown up watching Disney animated movies, you'll enjoy it) and by gearing up for Santa's big visit on Christmas Eve with some friends joining us for dinner.

That leads us up to today.. Christmas Day! Awaking to the sounds of jingle bells.. watching excited, yet groggy kids stumble out of bed in the early morning darkness, and having it be the one day out of the year I can get away with Cheesecake being a breakfast food. Why my Dad taught me that.. I have no clue.. but it's a great Christmas morning tradition as the rest of the family looks at me with a shudder.

Then on to presents.. first from Santa. I started out thinking I had been very bad this year as I opened a dashboard car stereo install kit.. with nothing inside it. Luckily the actual stereo came later (now I can finally stop having to wear my ipod headphones when I drive!!). For the kids... it was their typical assortment of whatever they have been collecting and obsessing over this past year... Ben 10, magic tricks, High School Musical, etc. So they were all happy.

Eventually we got the the biggie presents... A new high tech sewing machine for Dawn, iPods for the kids (thank you Craig's List!!!) and the latest seasons of my favorite shows Lost and the Office. One gift that really got my attention was a quilt made by my wife. She took a bunch of t-shirts I had from my old college debate team days, from my church mission, and from my old Calvin and Hobbes t-shirt collection and put them together into a nice quilt. It both looks really cool and is a heck of a lot more practical than having a bunch of too small t-shirts taking up my closet space that I refuse to give away for sentimental reasons. All in all.. very cool.

So now we get to take our wrapping paper filled house and return it to normal, take our sugar filled kiddos bouncing off the walls from Christmas candy and new toys and try to wind them down, and then finally relax to some peace and quiet. It's been a fun break.. very busy and I will have lots of fun memories from Christmas this year, but at the same time exhausting. I'm ready for some quiet time! Maybe getting to go back to my office tomorrow isn't such a bad thing... And far away from the crazy stores!!!

Merry Christmas!

Give Me a Break! A Christmas One

Tonight I begin something that I haven't had in ages... an actual Christmas break! Now sure... it's nothing like the 2 weeks that the kids get from school, or the THREE weeks that Dawn gets as paid time off from her job (wrong.. just wrong I say... lucky girl!!) but I really can't complain. Let me explain:

For whatever reason, in a normal year, my company actually gives us less time of for Christmas than for Thanksgiving. For that holiday, we get both Thanksgiving and the following day off, giving us a lovely 4 day weekend. Then for Christmas... one day off. That's it. So let's say that Christmas falls on a Wednesday. We'll work Monday and Tuesday.. then have Christmas day off, then back to work for the rest of the week. Don't get me wrong.. I love my job and don't have any issues with the policy.. it's always just seemed a little odd when you step back and think about it!

Luckily this year, Christmas happens to fall on a Tuesday. The company, realizing that if anyone actually worked on Monday probably wouldn't be very focused, decide to give us an extra day off. Woo-hoo! One more vacation day. Plus, now that I have past my company 10 year anniversary, I get an extra week of paid vacation time. Soooo, I am taking any extra day off. That gives me Friday, Saturday, Sunday, Monday and Tuesday off!!! I realize that for most, this isn't that big of a deal... but suddenly I am faced with an actual Christmas break... something I haven't had in years. And I like it!!

So what are my biggie plans for all this time off? Stay home.. play with my kiddos, and have a good time leading up to Christmas day. I'll take the kids to Chucky Cheese, swimming, and to the movies. We'll celebrate Dawn's birthday, watch our list of traditional Christmas movies, see some Christmas lights, play some games, and finally catch up on some DVDs piling up to watch. There's cooking Christmas cookies and my annual Christmas cheesecake (ahhhhhh... cheesecake....) I better go get started... vacationing.. Turns out, there's a lot to do!