Color me a Pandora junkie

I’m strapped to the desk today, which means it’s going to be a Pandora afternoon.

If you haven’t heard of Pandora, you’re really missing something. Simply put, it’s a free online service that plays music based on the songs you like. Today, I’m listening to Bing Crosby, Tony Bennett, Louis Armstrong and the like singing Christmas songs, simply because I typed in “Santa Baby,” then selected the Eartha Kit version from the menu that automatically appeared.

This is crazy easy to use (and free):

1. Go to Pandora.com
2. Create an account (no, they don’t spam you)
3. Type in a song name to create a new station (aka: playlist)
4. Sit back and enjoy the music, baby

I’ve created about a half dozen “stations” in my Pandora account, running the gamut from the Rolling Stones to Ella Fitzgerald. The system remembers these stations so that all I have to do upon returning to the site is click on the one that sounds good that day.

Don’t ask me how, but they nail the mix 99.99% of the time. On the rare occasion that a tune pops up you don’t like, just click on the little thumbs down symbol and it goes away forever.

(Mac users have two additional options: You can download Pandora Jam--a free standing player that connects from your desktop--by visiting pandorajam.com, or hit the App Store to pick up an iPod/iPod Touch version.)

Pandora’s great for those times you’re stuck at your desk, tired of store music, or in the mood for a fresh mix. A music playlist--custom built for the listener--is a pretty sweet treat and very hard to beat (see what a great mood it has me in?).

Now-—go try it out. I’m off to sing along with Bing and his buddies. Oh yeah. And get some work done.

Where in the world is...?

It’s been a little quiet on the AU blog this past week, in part because my schedule’s been upside down, and in part because I’m working on a move from Blogger to the Always Upward website. This is no small undertaking-—especially for someone who doesn’t live, eat, and breathe code.

Until the new digs are ready, I’ll continue posting here. As soon as I think the floor is solid and the roof won’t leak, you’ll be the first to know it’s time to move over to the new address.

Think good thoughts. This is turning out to be a much more complex experience than building my own websites has been. Much more complex.

Blocked

Well, I can’t say I wasn’t warned.

Obviously, my posts were already running a few days behind—chalk that up to the combination of 6:00 a.m. wake ups and midnight returns to the hotel. Just wasn’t time to sit down at the computer.

After frantically trying to catch up on Hong Kong posts while en route to Beijing, then managing to get a few uploaded from the Westin immediately upon arrival, I woke up to a new reality the next morning. I was blocked. Not mentally—internet-ally (yup, just made that word up). While most of my bookmarked sites will open just fine, Blogspot now appears to be off limits. Try as I may several times, there’s no getting past the screen that says “access unavailable.” I was locked out of my own blog...

...and out of RetailSpeaks. I don’t just mean the site—I mean the entire URL, i.e., no email access either. According to the host company (emailed them using an unrelated account), the server is just fine and all systems are functional, so the problem is limited soley to my laptop here in Beijing. My apologies to anyone who was inconvenienced by the lack of timely responses (especially since from your side, everything appeared functional).

Bummer. On both counts.

Editor’s note: Since access was blocked, the remaining China posts have been added from the States, still in chronological order, dated correctly.