This week Apple started selling songs without piracy protection, calling it iTunes Plus. They had made a deal with one recording label, EMI, to offer this. EMI made the same deal with other companies so, while some people are saying Steve Jobs pushed EMI into the decision, I don’t know if that is true. The new songs will cost $1.29 instead of the standard $0.99 (Jobs had previously insisted on the $0.99 price for all songs). But to sweeten the offer the songs are also recorded at a higher quality level (meaning the files are bigger).
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Balloon Flower
I planted some balloon flowers several years ago. Though they don’t always come back, in general they will in Atlanta at least. Mom has some by her mailbox that have done great and Susan planted some at her house that have come back strong this year. Unfortunately I had some mums and lamb’s ear that overtook where I planted my balloon flowers, so they have gone away for the most part. But I got a couple of stalks that came up this year (the mum having obligingly died, and therefore no longer in the way) and I noticed they were a perfect example of why they are called balloon flowers. On the left is one that is puffed up and the other has already burst open. They are also called by their scientific name platycodon (or platycodon grandiflorus) and Chinese bellflower (on wikipedia).
Google in a Groove
I recently got another payment from Google (my seventh). They pay after the end of the month once you surpass $100 in earnings. This payment was my fifth quarterly payment in a row. While earnings have been down a little lately, taking 3 months to earn a payment seems pretty consistent.
Bathroom: Day 14
The bathrooms are essentially done now. I still need to paint the trim and ceiling, put in towel bars, a mirror in the main bathroom, a shower curtain, etc. But the big stuff is done. Stanley installed the baseboards using pre-primed wood, so in these pictures they look good, but actually still need a final coat of paint. Also I swapped out the old ivory switches and outlets with white ones, which makes them match better. I like the color and the contrast between the white trim, blue walls, and dark brown floor. The hall sink is much higher than a normal sink which is kind of nice.
Bathroom: Day 13
It’s always a big day when the hardware gets installed. Today the hall bath got shower fixtures, the toilet, and pedestal sink. Stanley worked on touching up some other items and should install the baseboard trim tomorrow. Then it will be up to me to paint the trim and ceiling. The old trim won’t be a picnic. Originally Stanley was going to replace the door, but modern doors have three hinges and old doors like mine only have two, so I think he decided it was more trouble than it was worth to do the door, but that I could pursue replacing all the doors at some point in the future. The problem with the old doors, old trim, and old cabinets is that I just don’t see how they can ever be fixed up to look very good with all the damage and layers of paint they have on them.