Microchips Make Joy Machines

I got a Nintendo DS for Christmas. And I love it. It teaches me how to cook, I can compose music on it, bring Mario with me, shorten a long plane ride with a deep Japanese RPG... it's a glorious thing. A glorious thing that fits in my pocket. Dee-lightful.

Also, I have a soft spot for touch screens... and stylus pens for that matter, though I realize they are "so five years ago." Come on. You can write on the screen!

What was your favorite Christmas gift in '08? Hit me up in the comments.

The Pistachio Game

Okay, one more Noah video from Christmas.

He really enjoyed bringing pistachios to his uncle Doug.

"Biiiiiiiiite?!"

Christmas Pics

Christmas with Noah!!!

My family and I were very fortunate to have Noah visit us for Christmas. Here's some delightfulness from the first day:



And the next day:



And Christmas Eve (the "Hide Eeeeeeeee" game never gets old!)

AMC John Wayne marathon

Cable network AMC just used my song "Lullabye (Christmas is Here)" in the promo for their annual John Wayne Christmas movie marathon. The song is available on iTunes, as part of the Snow Day EP.

It's That Time of Year Again!

'Tis the season to break out that festive sweater that doesn't match anything and start strewing lights over every surface you see! Hope you've started shopping (I haven't).

In honor of the holiday season, I've decorated my blog all kinds of garish colors and added holiday songs to the music player. Don't forget that my Snow Day EP is available on iTunes (link button below), and you can click on "Gift this Music" to give it to your loved ones.



What are you doing to prepare for the holidays? Hit me with comments.

A Wonderful No-Frills Christmas

This was a different kind of Christmas. A wonderful no-frills Christmas.

My Mom had just recently gotten out of the hospital after a difficult surgery (she's recovering quite well), so my parents hadn't any time to prepare for the holidays. And being on tour, I hadn't any time to shop either. So on the night of the 23rd, we hit one shop-filled strip and did all our shopping in a couple hours.

We decided to celebrate Christmas on the 24th, since I had such a short time at home, we thought why not spend less time on the anticipation and more time on the celebration? We also decided that wrapping presents was a waste of our precious time, so we put the gifts in previously-used Christmas bags and boxes, and put them under our cute little purple tree (my Mom's name and favorite color are both Violet).

Then our neighbor Susie delivered a boysenberry pie that she baked. My Dad thought we should make that my birthday pie, so he cut up a straw and put the pieces in for candles:

Of course we didn't light them on fire cause who likes to eat melted plastic?

On the 24th, we opened our presents by the purple tree.

We followed that up by doing a little more Christmas shopping, but not very much. Then we returned home and played with our new gifts, which meant much playing of Portal on The Orange Box (the cake is a lie!).

Also, the house was fairly dirty, as I've been gone for awhile, and my sweet parents swooped in (as they do) and made everything nice:

On the 25th, we celebrated my parents' birthdays, which were back in October, by eating yummy Italian food and seeing "Enchanted," which is much better than you might think (quite fantastic, actually).

Also, there was much more playing of Portal on The Orange Box. Delicious.

I flew back to New York after my short three-day break feeling quite rejuvenated. We're staying at a very old hotel with some very strange quirks. Today I turned on the shower and was greeted by brown water. Ahh, New York.

Merry Christmas to All!

I'm at home for a couple of days, enjoying the holidays with my family. I hope you all have a wonderful Christmas!

Have Yourself A Merry Little Snow Day!

People have asked about the song playing on this page. Yes, that's me singing. This song, called "I Wanna Get Along," is from "Snow Day," the Christmas EP that I released last year. You can read more about it here, and you can buy it on iTunes. Click the button to go there:

If you'd like to buy the EP for someone special, click "Gift This Music" in iTunes. Make this wintry season a little more musical for under six bucks, and the songs "Snow Day" and "I Wanna Get Along" are also available as ringtones, if you're so inclined. Enjoy!