Saturday morning

I've got a few topics of interest so I'm just going to throw them all into this sat morn post...
Bono>
I happened to catch a little bit of the televised prayer breakfast with the President. I don't know what this was for, is it a reoccuring event? is it to promote a certain topic among world leaders, or is it simply a photo-op? I was flipping through the channels and Bono was giving a speech. I was surprised by how eloquent he was. I thought it would be more like a "rock star" speech, but this guy can talk. Of course he threw in a few "rock star" comments but that kept it entertaining. I guess i should not have been surprised as Bono has met with a lot of world leaders, and I'm sure he would not get this access just because he has a good voice. One comment that struck me (and others as I've seen this replayed on a few news clips) Bono was comparing the devestating Tsunami statistics of 150,000 people who perished. He then went on to say that 150,000 people are dying in Africa every MONTH - and most of those deaths can be prevented by simple medicines and clean drinking water. Such devastation is hard for me to fathom. Here's a transcript I found on another blog of Bono's speech.

Art>
I just started my first watercolor painting class this week (Thurs. night). It was new experience for me. I enjoyed it very much inspite of my frustration at trying to learn a new medium. I've been toying with the idea lately of adding some original art/sketchs/doodles to my blog in the same way as Drawn... I "might" do this with some of my watercolor experiments.
On another note: I got to the class about 10 minutes early (I had hoped to be there MUCH earlier but spent about a half hour driving around the city looking for parking!) As I was setting my new paints, and paper out, I glanced up to see who was walking in, and it was my friend Paul! Turns out, he had signed up for this class before I had, and was able to keep it from me so it was a surprise. I was glad to have a friend there :) He's also a talented artist so I hope to see some of his cool work.

Blog question>
What's the format for responding to comments left on your blog? A few people have left some comments, and I would like to respond but am unsure how... Do most people just respond in the comment area (like a message board), or should I create a new blog topic as a response? Maybe you could post a comment, and let me know how you've seen it happen with other bloggers. I too will look around and see if I can find a "pattern".

Music>
I just discovered a REALLY neat website...
http://www.pandora.com
It's a "social" music website... Social in the vain of Flickr, digg, technorati, delicious, etc...
You simply enter the name of a favorite group/artist/song and pandora will first play one song from that group, then start a streaming radiostation of what it thinks is "similar" music.
I typed in one of my favorite 80's band - depeche mode. It came up with 3 good matchs (all of which I knew of ;) I just registered (for a free account) and now I can create multiple "stations" so as I've been typing this post, I've been listening to a "white stripes" station. I've heard some good new music! (Ted Hawkins - Joe Purdy to name two). In todays radio world its about 2-3 songs of top 40 hits, then 10 minutes of commercials or sub-par banter. I've started listening to the local Country Western Station in the morning only because they play more music than those crazy morning DJ's. There is not much of an outlet anymore for "indy" music or "alternative". I like the idea of satellite radio but I don't want to spend another monthly fee to subscribe. So... I'm glad I found pandora.com and encourage you to check it out. (broadband recommended).

ok, long post I know.
Have a great weekend!
Enjoy the superbowl if you're going to watch it. I will probably watch some of it only for the commericals and see what 2.5 MILLION dollars gets you now-a-days. If only we could put some of that money in the problems that Bono was talking about.

note to self: Oscar movie nominations.