Why I Oughta...

First it was Paul McCartney signing with Starbucks to distribute his new records, then news came that   Radiohead might be following suit . (that has since been denied by the band) It's an interesting trend and one that I think has merit. To me, the artists aren't so much signing up with a new label, as they are signing up to be distributed and therefore "co-branded" by Starbucks.   As Lenore Skenazy   wrote this week   Starbucks, even through some of it's missteps, is still the "third place" we all seek. Its the place we linger, she says. I agree. I look around (even in my own family) and I see those white cups as status symbols. You have the fancy diaper bag, the Range Rover, the over-sized sunglasses, and the white cup. Soon, they'll have Radiohead. What's not to like if you're the artist? You get this great association with a solid, if not down-right great brand. Under the old system, your records would sell good and you'd have a fo...

I 'm looking for an "off the shelf" countdown clock for our   wedding blog . I've found   these but they have the "epileptic" look of a myspace ad. Any ideas where I can find a cute, customizable one?

My 29th Birthday is around the corner (next month) and Nat asked me this morning to put together a "list" of things I might want. I have to say...It's not exactly the easiest thing to do. This post might be filed under the "Jake needs an editor" category, as it's totally gratitious and unnecessary, but it's just something that I've been noodling all afternoon.   If there's something that I want, I usually either go buy it, or I can't afford it. So, what do I put on this "list". Things that I could "use", I guess. It borders on awkward for me to put together a list. What do you guys do? My list this year included some of the old standbys and some new items. Here's the list.   1. A really good hammer. 2.   Gold Toe Grey Athletic socks 3. A jumper from Patagonia 4. Armor All   auto wipes .   5. Anything that has   Chief Illiniwek   on it.

I have high hopes for the Fighting Illini football program this year, but I understand that we won't be winning 8 games this season and we need to take one step at a time. Coach Zook probably doesn't want to undermine what he's doing by taking on an in-state school like Northern Illinois (even though   Henry   would probably love that...) because of the possibility of a loss and a setback that could hurt recruiting.   That's fine and I understand. What I don't understand is how we're letting the   friggin   Iowa Hawkeyes come   into Soldier Field and play those Huskies on our turf . Talk about great Chicago PR and recruiting "juice" for Coach Ferentz. That's what we need to be doing. Schedule something up there and get us in front of more kids. Isn't that why the hoops team played those moldy games   at the Sears Center in Hoffman Estates ?   Come on, Ron Guenther. Get aggressive with the scheduling. Going to St. Louis for a match-up with M...

Darren Rowse is the "pro blogger". Although he has put together a   nice piece   on why readers unsubscribe to your feeds, I have to take exception with at least one of his reasons. He's right on with the partial feeds talk, though. I have talked about that before here on Rhodesschool. Infrequent Posting (or the blog is effectively dead)   - 29 Hmmm...I disagree with this. I use Google reader and it has a function called "only list updated". What this effectively does is it puts "dormant" subscriptions into hiding, where I don't really even remember that I subscribed to them in the first place. This isn't a reason why I would unsubscribe, but rather, one of the biggest reasons that I love feeds in general. I have a few friends who post all-too-infrequently, but when they do, I get it in my reader.   Sorry, Darren. I understand where the rationale is coming from, but when the technology works the way it's supposed to, this is a exactly ...

Today, we took the wraps off of   stats for the Headline Animator   at FeedBurner. Very cool. There's more to be rolled out when it comes to the Animator, but I'll leave that to the official folks at FeedBurner. In the mean time, I'll be watching my stats on the little animated image that's below from our   Wedding Blog . Great work, guys.

Yesterday kicked off the Lenten Season for some of us, and in that spirit (and the spirit of trying to drop a few el-bees), I've decided to swear of "desserts" for the full 40 days. That means no cookies, cakes, etc for a while. Natalie thinks I'm doing it for the wrong reasons. I don't think there ever is a "wrong" reason. So...if you're with me, make sure I stick to this.