Author: admin

It’s snowing in Ypsilanti

personal, Ypsilanti

It’s snowing in Ypsilanti…and I am overjoyed. Happy beyond all reason. I get like a little kid every time the first real snow of the season falls (just ask my wife or former co-workers). It’s snowing steadily right now, only two days past Halloween, and that familiar blanket of white is back again – steadily, slowly descending on us.

That right there is one reason why I’ll always love Michigan: I love the change of the seasons too much, as summer fades into autumn and then winter quietly wraps the mitten in its embrace. When spring comes, I’ll be ready for it…but right now, I’m watching the snow fall.

Oh, and I’m also listening to Christmas music, getting in the mood to record a Van Loo family Christmas record in the next weeks leading up to Christmas. Can’t wait!

Kristine Mucher for Ypsi District Library Board!

Ypsilanti

Apologies for the blatant politicking here, but I had to drop a link to my former neighbor, Kristine Mucher, who’s running for a spot on the Ypsilanti District Library board. Kristine has a great blog going that clearly communicates her stance and ideas, and it’s excellent to see a candidate using this blogging medium to not only communicate but also solicit ideas. I think she’ll be a great asset to the YDL, one of my favorite community gathering places in Ypsilanti.

Tortoise ponderings

Uncategorized

Is it just me, or is the drum part from Tortoise’s “Seneca” one of the absolute best drum tracks ever? So raw, so funky, so noisy and restrained and over-the-top, all at once. The rest of “Standards” is kinda so-so, and their last record, “It’s all around you” kind of left me cold, but that’s OK, I still have the drum part from “Seneca”…

And “DJed” off “Millions now living…” still sounds pretty great after all this time, too!

new blog!

Uncategorized

I’ve decided to split my Internet presence into two halves: “business” (chromedecay.org) and “personal” (billvanloo.com).

To that end, I’ve set up this new domain, billvanloo.com, to host all my personal stuff – info about me, my personal blog, and family photos. This site is very much a work-in-progress at the moment, but will be added to in the upcoming days and months.

So, why the split? I just switched web hosting providers (to DreamHost, who I heartily recommend), and they offered a free domain regisration. Since I’d thought about having “billvanloo.com” for a while, I decided this would be a good time to acquire it, so I did. The thought of then splitting things up seemed like a natural one.

I’ll be using this blog to post more personal thoughts and reflections, often touching on my Christian faith. That’s something I started out writing about on the blog when it was hosted at chromedecay.org, but I slipped away from it as I began using the blog there more for music-related stuff. There will inevitably be some crossover on both blogs and sites, but that’s OK.

For now, enjoy the links to my family photo site on flickr, or my personal profile on audioscrobbler.