New Prince Album!!!!!!!!!!

I have been a Prince fan since I was 10 years old and Purple Rain came out (1984). I can remember doing everything "purple" for years and my parents hoping it was a phase. He is a genious and I had no idea the extent back then. I own probably 30 Prince CDs and each one is unique. He just loves to make music and wants people to listen. I love that his music and his passion is not about money. He's been embracing the web, digital media and experimenting with giving away albums with concert tickets. So cutting edge!!

Prince has a new album out this week. You can listen at his website.

There are a few really good songs. My favorites are "Planet Earth" and "I love my guitar".

Here are some snippets from recent news:

The title track of Planet Earth invokes John Lennon's method in "Imagine": Take lyrics about questioning the status quo and put them to an undeniably catchy tune. The song doesn't come near the simplistic eloquence of Lennon's ballad, but it's hard not to hum along to "Planet Earth" even before you know the lyrics.

Over in England, Sony didn’t bother to release the album at all, because Prince struck a deal with the London tabloid the Mail on Sunday to give away the album to its 2 million-plus subscribers. U.K. retailers went ballistic, but what did they expect? It’s Prince, the man who plays by nobody’s rules but his own.

Since breaking away from his longtime home at Warner Brothers in the mid-‘90s, where he once famously said he was treated like a “slave,” Prince has been in the news as much for how he’s chosen to release his music as he has for the music itself. In 2004, the ticket price for his arena tour included a copy of his album “Musicology,” which was given to ticketholders as they entered his concerts. Prince has been nothing short of a one-man revolution when it comes to distributing his music. In finding new ways to reach his fans, he anticipated the seismic shifts now rocking the music industry.

Who knew I was so smart in grade school? And if you want to learn more this entry on Prince in Wikki is amazing!

Retired?

My dad officially retired on June 1st from Delphi after an entire career lifetime of service. This is an ending of an era since I don't think any of us will stay with the same company for our careers. Heck most of us won't even keep a single career. I know I'm on my 3rd company and my next move will probably be into a different career.

But retirement hasn't been treating him well. I think maybe dad should go back to work! Since retiring my dad has:

1. Had a hole drilled in his head down to the skull to remove skin cancer
2. Had 3 shots into his spine to help alleviate back pain from spinal stenosis (and they didn't even work)
3. Had a strange bone growth removed from his ear
4. Had regular checkups for his chronic myelogenous lukemia, heart problems, sliding hiatal hernia, and sarcoidosis
5. And now, the icing on the cake, he spent 3 days in the hospital for pneumonia this week. His temperature was over 103 when he finally agreed to go to the ER on Sunday. Sooo stubborn and dumb - he refused to let feeling like crap interfere with his beach vacation all of last week.

I believe that my dad's sarcoid and CML are caused by exposure to Agent Orange from his time in the Marines in Vietnam. The sarcoid caused lots of lung dammage and scarring and the lukemia decreases his immune system - hence the pneumonia. He will fight off this pneumonia - I have no doubt. But I hate it that he is sick. In my opinion, noone on the planet worked harder, sacrificed, planned, did all the right things, and deserves to enjoy his retirement more than my dad. And I'm just pissed off and angry and sad that he hasn't had time to enjoy it yet. Plus I'm pissed off at our government for getting into wars and not taking responsibility for the people who agree to serve and sacrifice.

North Topsail, NC

A week of heaven on the beach. That's vacation! Ben and I flew to Raleigh and drove to the North Carolina coast to meet my family for a week on the beach. Mom and Dad knew we were coming, but is was a sucessful surprise for both of my sisters. Tyler's boyfriend Kevin (aka Garage Boy) also joined us for the first time and it was nice to have him there.

North Topsail is a small and narrow barrier island off the coast of NC - a few hours from the Outer Banks. They have a amazing beaches and we even saw dolphins a few times. Our house on the beach was so perfect - you could walk out the back door and be right on the sand. The ocean water was warm and we had fun jumping waves and reading on the beach. I read just about a book each day. Here are my short reviews: Three Junes by Julia Glass (started slow but I really enjoyed the ending), Goodnight Nobody by Jennifer Weiner (cute beach read), Abortionist's Daughter by Elizabeth Hyde (good mystery and interesting context), Keeping Faith by Jodi Picoult (another typical Picoult but an interesting storyline that made you think about religion and belief) and Anybody Out There by Marian Keyes (a typical Keyes book - perfect for the beach).

The night of the 4th of July there were impressive fireworks over the ocean. And the night of the 5th Ben and I drove into Wilmington for dinner to celebrate our 4th wedding anniversary. We had dinner as the sun set over Cape Fear river on the River Walk.