I'm taking a jaunt out to Houston to visit Michael, explore the Hellmouth in his house, watch Julia Child, see the Scissor Sisters in concert, etc etc. Since it's only a 48-hour trip or so, I am using it to test out a whole new level of spartan traveling. Everything I need for the weekend is folded/rolled up and lives in one gym bag which I will carry onboard with me. Madness!

The other bonus of this is that 1) I don't have to wait through the lame bag check lines, and 2) I can dabble in the other voodoo I've always been curious about- taking the Red Line to the airport. I've verified on the schedule that it runs every quarter hour. I'm not going to go all the way to/from home that way, but I can take it from my office to the airport. If it turns out to be disgusting, I can always bail and catch a cab.

What's that you say? What am I listening to lately? Why, I'm glad you asked!

Also thanks to Michael, I've been consuming all sorts of new and different musicstuffs lately. First on the list is Amy Winehouse, who I suppose is old news if you're in the UK (or maybe just not in the USA) but man alive she is wonderful. I've always had a weakness for 50s/60s girl bands and motown. If nothing else, have a listen to Rehab.

The next one on the list is Goldfrapp. They haven't released anything in a while, but I loved Supernature and only just realized that they had older albums. I wore out Supernature by listening to it too much and I think I've already burned through Black Cherry and Felt Mountain the same way, but still they both rock. I love the ethereal vocals... Crystalline Green, Human, Utopia... all good.

And the last new one is Mika. A little poppier but still fun, I spent a surprising amount of time listening to his last album. Some of his better tracks aren't on the iTMS, but check out Grace Kelly and listen to Big Girls if you can find it.

Last.fm should build a feature to analyze your musical tastes by geography, 'cause I just realized that all three of these people are British. (Or... Lebanese but living in Britain.)