Happy 1 year birthday to my pride and joy, Brianna Nicole Martin! It was one year ago today that she opened her little eyes to the world.

I love you, baby girl. Thanks for making your daddy smile everyday!

Current Brianna Vocabulary:
Daddy
Momma
More (sign)
Please (sign)
No Touch!
Water
Grandma
Grandpa
Buck
Rob
What's this?
Num Num Num Num Num (okay - that's a stretch)

Happy Birthday, again, Lil' One!

My house is for sale. It looks great inside and out. I'm not going to tell you where it is, but the fact that my house is for sale is the basis of my next comment.

I was driving through Menomonee Falls (WI for you non-WI readers) this afternoon and I saw an absolutely disgusting looking home. It was new - but it was butt-ugly! I wish I had my camera with me. The sign said:

I'm Beautiful Inside!

It might as well had said, “I know, I know, this house is really ugly and WAY too expensive, but at least you don't have to look at it while you're sleeping!”

That made me laugh - so I just thought I'd pass that along. The house is on Pilgrim Road, by the way. If you live there - I'm sorry.

Last year, country singer, Mindy McCready, was arrested for writing her own prescriptions for OxyContin. In May, Mindy was arrested for driving under the influence and with a revoked license. Later that month her fiancé, William McKnight, attempted to kill her. Last week, Mindy was arrested in Arizona for identity theft, unlawful use of transportation, unlawful imprisonment, and hindering prosecution.

But wait, there's more.

Last Friday Mindy was found unconsious in the lobby of a Florida hotel. It turns out that she overdosed on two undisclosed substances… and alcohol.

You can take the ex-country star out of the trailer… but you can't take the trailer out of the ex-country star.

I do wish her a swift recovery, though.

Story and Source, here: E! Online: Mindy McCready OD's

UPDATE: If you're looking for the original article I posted on Mindy McCready, it is right here: Trailer Park Heroine

When Apple first released their latest version of the Mac OSX operating system, I was excited. I rushed out and purchased “Tiger” or 10.4, and installed it on my Powerbook. The main reason I wanted the program was the new “Dashboard Widgets” feature. This feature allows you to have all sorts of cool “widgets” on your desktop. These widgets include things like the weather, movie showtimes, a cool analog clock - you name it.

The program was really cool at first. In order to view the widgets you have to hit the F12 key. I really didn't mind hitting F12, then waiting for the program to update the weather for me. Sometimes I would hit the F12 key to access the calculator instead of navigating to the applications folder to find Mac's default calculator.

It got old. I really wished that you could view the widgets right on the desktop with the rest of the items on my desktop. You know, I don't want to have to hit F12 to use the iTunes controller - if I did then I might as well just keep iTunes maximized. Are you picking up what I'm putting down here? I'm a lazy American and I want what I want when I want it - and without having to go through the hassle of pressing a button!

Okay, seriously it just didn't seem that practical. Since the program was hidden most of the time, I tended to forget it was even there. Until… I met Konfabulator.

Konfabulator is the program that started it all for Apple's Dashboard Widgets. In fact, most of the widgets in the - now free - Konfabulator program are exactly the same as Apple's Dashboard Widgets. I downloaded Konfabulator for the Mac OSX 10.3 machine I am operating on right now - and I love it!

While I'm on my soapbox, I thought I'd point out another problem with “Tiger.” Since upgrading to 10.4.2, I've noticed that everytime I “wake” the computer from it's sleeping state, the computer forgets that it's connected to the internet via Airport. There was even a recent Airport upgrade, but the issues continue. I still get the “You are not connected to the internet” warning if I open Safari too fast upon “waking.” It's a shame, too. The problem is annoying enough that I curse my new computer every time I wake it up.

Now that I found Konfabulator - I won't be upgrading my other two Macs to 10.4 anytime soon.

Thanks to Jed at Boots and Sabers for the tip on Konfabulator.

My buddy, and pop-culture guru, “Claude,” is on board to bitch about the downfall of an iconic 80's music group:

- What You Need
- New Sensation
- Need You Tonight

Just a few of the biggest songs from a band that had the potential to rival U2 as a “world” band, INXS. From 1977-1997, INXS steadily grew in popularity with great music that wasn't too much pop and wasn't too much alt rock. With the traggic death of their lead singer, Michael Hutchence, in 1997, INXS basically fell of the musical map.

Now, the remaining members of the band, a 3/5 majority being the Ferriss brothers, have decided to search for a new singer for the INXS band on a CBS television show. (I'm sure these pricks were all together in “getting the band back together” to make some more money).

This is the worst thing that these assholes could do. The presence that Michael Hutchence produced was like a Jim Morrison-lite. This cannot be replicated by one of these karaoke kids that are performing every week. It all comes off as a terrible cover band…even if backed by the original song writers. The essence is gone. Whoever wins, they will never have the “frontman” title that people look for in a singer.

The remaining members are destroying the memory of the band by dragging their sideshow out for some extra bucks and publicity for a sure-to-come album and tour.

Go back to Australia and collect your royalty checks.

Please comment…I would really like to hear if anyone else feels this way (or not, I suppose)

Sure, I'm a country radio personality. I love country. I have loved country music since I was in 8th grade. I also, however, have always loved rap as well. I figure a good diet of hip hop and country equals out my psyche - it's a musical way of balancing my chi.

There is something about rap on the radio, however, that has recently caused me grief. Censorship. It's not that I'm against bleeping out “I'm gonna beat that p_____ up.” Or “Naw Naw Naw Naw Don't Phunck with My Heart…,” but it seems as though hip hop stations have been playing the nearly uncensored versions of certain songs, only to switch to censored versions a month or two later. It's ludicrous!

Here's an example:
Radio stations have been playing the Black Eyed Peas hit, “Don't Phunk with My Heart,” for some time now. Some stations, however, have recently started playing an edited version that says “Naw, Naw, Naw, Naw, Don't MESS with my heart…” WTF!?! If you're going to switch to that version - do it from the beginning!

'Nuther example:
In Snoop Dogg's “Drop it Like It's Hot,” there are a number of lines that were changed well after radio stations had been playing them.
1) “I keep a blue flag hanging on my backside, but only on the left side - Yeah, that's the Crip side.” (referring to the infamous gang called the “Crips”) - The phrase “Crip side” was removed from the song only after the song had risen to the top of the charts.
2) “That's whiter than what's spillin' down your throat.” - That line was obviously censored, but it wasn't censored until after it had been on the air for a while. What Program Director is dumb enough to allow that line to be played in the first place? I can think of 3 in the Milwaukee/Madison area off the top of my head.

Okay, one more:
In 50 Cent's “Just a Lil' Bit” he claims his “eye's a lil low cuz I twist the 'dro.” This is an obvious reference to being slit-eyed from smoking the reefer… (tetrahydrocannabinol). Well… it took “Just a Lil' Bit” to hit number one before that line was bleeped out of the radio edit of the song.
AND the kicker - the song is about getting stoned and having sex, right… well some stations have even just decided now to bleep out the words “I wanna unbutton your pants Just a Lil' Bit… Take 'em off and pull 'em down Just a Lil' Bit…” So now there's a whole lot of dead air in the song. It's pretty much worthless.

I'm not saying that we should allow every song about getting high and having sex to be played uncensored on the radio, but if a station is going to censor a song they should be smart enough to censor it from the start. I hate singing the wrong lyrics to my favorite songs.

Tonight Brianna and I headed over to Owen and Wendy's (of Boots and Sabers - http://www.bootsandsabers.com) for a nice dinner. It was really nice to hang out with grown-ups with children of their own for a change. The Boots and Sabers babies are very well-behaved and Brianna had a blast hanging out with other young'ns.

Thank you, Owen and Wendy, for a great meal and your hospitality.

I went out with the boys and saw “Wedding Crashers” this weekend. I have to say that it is one of the funniest movies I have ever seen. There are so many hilarious one-liners that I may have to go see it again just to get my movie quotes down.

All I have to say is - “Mom… Meatloaf… F&@k!”

If you are looking for some fun reading regarding “hooking up” at a wedding - Ricky Van Veen at CollegeHumor.com has a great article:

http://www.collegehumor.com/articles/1595992/

Flickr is cool, don't get me wrong, but I think I am going to stick mainly to my own gallery. I have way too many photos to upload, and I don't feel like paying for more at Flickr when I pay all this money for server space on FuzzMartin.com.

So, enjoy the new photos in the gallery. These photos are from Brianna's 1st Birthday Party at her Grandma Mary's house. Bri started the day off great… but about an hour before the guests got there she decided to take a digger on my mom's wrought iron and stone (anti-child) coffee table. Bri had her first official bloody, fat lip. She's a trooper, though, and it didn't stop her from entertaining guests. Kids are tough.

Enjoy the new photos.

I am experimenting with a new Flickr account. Check it out if you'd like.

http://www.flickr.com/people/fuzzmartin/

If you have iTunes - you can check out my iTunes Top 25. I'll post it as often as it changes.

Here's the link:
http://phobos.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewPublishedPlaylist?id=409135

If you're driving this weekend, please don't drink. I also suggest you don't speed. On my way from West Bend to Mukwonago, I saw seven squads - each with cars pulled over. Today is only Thursday, mind you. If you listened to my show today you heard me make fun of my mom for telling me to watch my speed limit because she had seen three squads with cars pulled over in a three-mile stretch. She wasn't kidding. It's also the end of the month. Think about it.

Slow down and get there cheaper.

That's a tip from your Uncle Fuzz.