Is iTunes really psychic?

The song is Cuts You Up. Sung by Peter Murphy, formerly of goth pioneers Bauhaus. I don't know any of this. Or remember, really. All I've got is a snatch of song cycling through my head.

Frustrating.

Damn frustrating.

Just curious at this point -- scratching a mental itch. Driving me crazy not having words to put to the music.

But, since I don't even know the lyrics, I can't Google it. Believe me I tried. But how do you search for a song that could have been sung anywhere from, oh, like '83 to maybe the mid-ninties? Especially when the singer's not on the cover of People every week. Hell, you can't even think of another song to cross-reference.

Oh, and the lyrics I do happen to remember, I don't remember. Turns out I don't remember them correctly, anyway.

So I Google. I Google. I Google. Nothing, nothing, nothing, nothing, nothing, nothing, nothing. Parrot squawking song clattering between my ears.

This itch is becoming an infection.

I ramboogle, typing in overblown strings of search terms that I hope will grab something, anything -- some hint of a whiff of a clue.

Collective Soul. That's what I get. Collective Soul. Collective Soul.

Infection's spreading. Getting more painful. Suddenly it's all I can think of. Need to know. Must know.

I'll never know.

After all, what are the odds of it popping on the radio sometime, oh, in the next ten years? Slim.

I give up. Hate to, but I'll live. I mean, could be worse. You know, it could be an arm I'm looking for, my name, something essential like that. So I can't remember a song. Oh well.

That was three weeks ago. Today I sit down from my computer after lunch. iTunes is up because I was charging my iPod. Just for kicks I decide to check out the store. I never do this. For me, the store is typically serves as a launching pad, a starting point allowing me to dash off on whim song searches.

Today, I just want to look. You know, see what's new. And under all those slick buttons that I typically ignore is a box titled Just for You. I've never scrolled down this far. Two years of iTunes and I've never scrolled this far.

Suggestions aren't bad. Really, kind of spooky how close these programs are to tabulating my eclectic and admittedly esoteric music tastes. Second offering: Cuts You Up, by Peter Murphy.

Wait a second. That looks familiar. Could it be? Surely not...

It is.

I'm getting this computer exorcised. But first I downloaded the song. Don't want to go through that again.

Valentines Beware

So I sit down at my computer yesterday. I check my Outlook folder. E-mail from Hallmark. Early Valentine, I suppose. After all, this is the season, and my family doesn't hesitate to send some electronic love.

Anyway, I open the E-mail and... weird. Instead of a sender, there is a url address. Red flags. Road flares. All kinds of warning signals flashing. I go ahead and take it a step further, wincing slightly, and click. Instead of going to Hallmark's Web site, which is typically the routine, I get a little gray box asking me if I'm ready to download a file. Yeah, uh, I think I'll cancel that order.

I decide to try the safe route. Go to Hallmark, enter the username and password in the e-mail. No dice. Hallmark doesn't recognize the digits. I try again. Same results.

Yep. Virus, I'm pretty sure.

I sit down at my computer today. Checking the news. Come across this little story about Valentine's greetings spreading trojans. That was close.

My point? Valentine's day is a dangerous occassion as it is. Don't increase the hazards by opening bogus cards. There will be plenty of potential landmines anyway.

Coming soon...

to a computer near you: Texas Tech is making its first official venture into the wacky and admittedly addicting realm of user-submitted online video. On Monday, we will announce the launch of a new channel created in cooperation with video behemoth YouTube.

There, amongst all the basement comedians and amateaur pupeteers jostling for attention; the Rubik's Cube demonstrations, the self inflicted injuries, the sobbing fans, the song remixes, the sentimental compilations -- and, yes, the girls jiggle-dancing in their bathrooms wearing tank tops and booty shorts -- we will try to snag some eyes as we make the case that Texas Tech is the coolest university ever (see accompanying video below).

The site is an enhanced channel, meaning we get bells and whistles the average posting Joe doesn't: linked banners, avatars and bigger, longer videos. Due to the nature of the site, we took a bit of a gamble with the page and broke from the university's typical look. We asked Dirk Fowler, an associate professor in the School of Art known internationally for his concert posters, to design the banners and wallpaper.

We also left open a playlist for content generated by students, faculty, staff -- whoever -- to possibly include their content. Oh, and I made a cartoon -- the first of several I have planned, although this is admittedly the most elaborate. It's a bit rough, but I had fun making it. I used the free 3-D animation lab at the Texas Tech Library. Cool stuff.

Anyway, visit the site Monday: www.YouTube.com/TexasTech.

And now for the cartoon:
<