I've never considered myself to be a technological geek per se, which is why I'm especially proud of my recent conversion of an old cell phone charger into an iPod wall charger.

I essentially coupled the AC adapter to a RadioShack PS2 to USB converter. A USB to PS2 converter, such as is included with most computer mice, provided the end which received the iPod's USB charging cable, thus leaving it intact. With some soldering and some geeky magic, I now have a functional wall charger for my iPod.

I have a confession to make.

First of all, everyone who knows me knows that I have a history of, well, mocking every trend in popular music. And this in itself is surprising, since as far as classical music goes I'm bordering on the bohemian avant-garde fringe of John Cage and Georgiy Ligeti. (Just call me the John McCain of classical composers.) And although I can tolerably listen to most popular music, I still don't care for much of it.

Thus I must confess to all who thought they knew me that last night, for the first time, I played Guitar Hero.

But this confession begets an additional confession: it's actually kind of fun. I definitely think it doesn't deserve all of the attention it gets, but it is actually somewhat enjoyable to play. The system of notation they use is interesting; it resembles a variant of a primitive pitch-time graph which can basically describe most music until the late twentieth century, when Ligeti engendered a kind of chromatic grid to depict his famous Lux aeterna (made popular in 2001: A Space Odyssey; it's the music that sounds like random wailing noises). I have concluded that musically, Guitar Hero does have some (I repeat, some) merit.

Now don't get me wrong: the fact that I enjoy playing the game does not necessarily require that I like all or any of the music on it. I think even those who generally like popular music can concede that some of the songs on Guitar Hero are just plain annoying.

So that's it. I'm off to hack another notch in my column of moral decline.

Today marks the anniversary of the assassination of Julius Caesar in 44 BC, known formally as the Ides of March.

To the Shakespearean scholars among us, this day has come to signify impending doom. Fortunately I haven't yet crossed paths with any soothsayers foretelling my imminent death. But as a general warning to all readers, if you think that your political enemies might be out to stab you, take a hint from Shakespeare and avoid any dagger-wielding anti-imperialists at the forum.

I don't really have anything special planned to celebrate the Ides of March, except writing this post, of course. But if you're in the Ides spirit, here are some suggestions for the execution of your celebratory fracas:

• Read or reread Julius Caesar; make personal life applications as necessary
• Eat a Caesar salad
• Go to Orange Julius
• Wear a toga (with proper undergarments, of course). Marching in the streets yelling "TO-GA! TO-GA!" is optional.
• Reenact the assassination of Julius Caesar
• Keel over without warning in the line at the supermarket and hoarsely whisper "Et tu, Brute?" to the cashier
• Wear laurel leaves as all Romans do
• Go to Rome

Finally, my 40 Organ Chorales arrived from Stanton's today.

I've been pining for some sight-readable music to use for prelude and postlude at church, and I found this collection of chorales by Johann Christoph Bach whilst purchasing 3 Fantastic Dances by Shostakovich. They're all very simple and "churchy" sounding, and best of all, they're all sight-readable. Wait, I lied. Best of all, they're not Mark Hayes arrangements.

This is a huge relief for me, because none of the music I'm preparing for auditions and/or contests is appropriate for use in church. I doubt anybody wants to walk in to hear the pounding of Beethoven's Waldstein Sonata or the hopelessly depressing lyricism of Mozart's Fantasia in D minor, because thus far the level of musical awareness has proven to be lacking at best. I figure I'll break even if everyone can settle on the polyphonic mastery of Bach as opposed to Chris Tomlin's bastardization of all that was once musical.

I plan to also play J.S. Bach's Italian Concerto sometime in the near future as well. While I do easily tire of most baroque music, it has a sacred grandeur and complexity beyond any other musical style. Plus, I'd sooner play Charles Ives' Concord Sonata than play another Mark Hayes derangement.

When I returned home from accompanying choir rehearsal last night, I was greeted by complete darkness. As a result of what can be described as no less than Ohio weather, our entire street, with other sporadic regions of Canton, were without electrical power.

Of course, until you've brushed your teeth and/or relieved yourself in complete darkness, you haven't truly experienced the joys of a power outage. In an instant, huge numbers of people are flung back into an earlier era of Spartan living with few if any modern conveniences. In our case, we were only offset a few decades or so (the MacBook was still functional off of battery power). What's more, because the power failure occurred in the dead of winter, our house temperature dropped from its normal freezing temperature to just downright sub-arctic temperature.

The power came back on just about a half hour ago, and that is how I am able to post this update for your reading pleasure. Feel free to share your own power outage anecdotes in the comments.