laze.net
laze.net
Ryan M
laze.net is where I write about things that interest me. Try not to be shocked at the level of innovation! The site's history goes all the way back to December of 1994 when I launched a personal home page on my college's web server. It was only the second student site on the server and would eventually go on to eclipse the college's main page in terms of traffic. It also drew the ire of a politician in Richmond because I linked to "The Butt Page."
Latest Posts
(Read part one here, where I discuss my month with Qobuz.) I started with a free month of Qobuz and then used two months to try out Deezer. Let’s run down the list of my observations of how Deezer stacks up against Spotify (with some...
Streaming sucks for artists because the major players pay squat per stream. And in Spotify’s case, artists who don’t get many streams may get literally nothing. One alternative to traditional streaming services is to bring focus back to...
I was thinking today a bit about the first records I ever bought myself. It’s going back 40 years, so my memories be slightly switched about which purchase came first, but I know the two records and the two stores I got them from. The...
The snow from the storm I referenced weeks ago in my last update is still on the ground after weeks of sub-freezing temperatures. With it getting up into the 40s and 50s now, it’s starting to melt off which means soon I may be able to...
This week I’m featured on Manuel Moreale’s excellent People & Blogs series, answering his questions about my silly little blog, nearly 28 years in. It’s very much worth browsing through his archive; I’ve found a lot of great new blogs...
This was my longest length of time between Weeknotes but come on… you didn’t even notice, right? The holidays and new year were nice and I certainly enjoyed two weeks off from work. There was plenty of time with family and friends, nice...
It’s the second steep of a relatively gentle green tea. I’m going with about 170 degrees Fahrenheit and though it’s recommended to brew gong fu style with short steepings, I’m brewing for a couple of minutes with fewer leaves this go...
My first paid streaming service was MOG. I joined in October 2010, paying $4.99 a month (!) and really liked it. The interface was a little odd and the way the queue operated took some getting used to, but it was a quirky service with...
Here are my favorite albums of this year, in alphabetical order. (See my list on Album Whale for a more visual take with all the same commentary.) Nothing high-level to share about the year other than “there was a lotta good stuff.”...
Since running is one of the few habits I’ve been able to keep up with consistently over the last few years, I figured I’d celebrate (/brag uncomfortably about) my victories a bit here. At 50, I’m really glad that I started running...
After writing a couple of weeks ago about how I was taking it easy this holiday season and trying to not get caught up in the stress, pretty much all that went out the window and the typical pre-holiday stress has hit full force. Rather...
Manuel Moreale: How about, instead of preventing “the kids” from accessing social media, we go in the opposite direction and keep all the adults out? Wouldn’t that be wonderful? You also get the added benefit of kicking probably billions...
For the second year, I’m following Tom Whitwell’s lead and keep track of some things I learned throughout 2025. Be sure to read his list for this year. Once again, my list has far fewer than one-per-week (it even has fewer than my skimpy...
For a long stretch there, I really was not feeling the “holiday season” each December. I was grumpy, annoyed by the rampant consumerism, sick of the music, etc. But the last couple of years, I’ve really eased up a lot and am enjoying it...
Over the years, I’ve been lucky enough to interview a lot of people, from some of my favorite musicians to directors to actors to activists to political figures. But the other day when I was in the grocery store and heard Eddie Murphy’s...