The month of April marked the return from a hiatus for the sOUNDTRACK tO mY lIFE. While there were a number of forces that conspired to keep the soundtrack out of your hands over the last six months the primary culprit was a lack of motivation. Apparently digging through the blogs and podcasts for new music was just too much effort for me. But, I’m excited to announce that last month the spark returned. I found myself making notes about the ear catching songs I heard on the radio, searching through a pile of unplayed podcasts, and listening to 4 gigs of new Mp3’s given to me by my good friend BDR - who is more of a music snob than I am. He won’t listen to a song unless he can hear it in it’s intended context - while listening to the entire album.

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Last week a group of ladies came stumbling into Santa Cruz wearing some of the hard work that came out of the 2 Out of Three studio. Team Sweet Tooth had just completed a 200 mile relay run from Calistoga to Santa Cruz. Congratulations to the team for completing the race and shattering their expected time by 2 hours. I’m proud that I was able to help them out with a shinny new logo for the run.

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Freelancing has its advantages, one of which is the ability to travel and live in places that you wouldn’t normally have access to while working a typical office job. Currently 2 Out of Three is half way through a two month stint in Santa Cruz. And when we’re not banging away on our laptop at the local coffee shop, the mountains, ocean, and town of Santa Cruz provide eye catching scenery to take a few photos. Below are a few of the best shots from the month, and be sure to check out the rest of April’s Santa Cruz pictures at Flickr [along with commentary].

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Layer Tennis has been around a few years, the premiss is simple. Two designers swap Photoshop, Flash, and Illustrator files back a forth in 15 minute intervals trying to out design and out smart each other. A moderator maintains a running commentary on this exercise of speed and wit. After 10 “volleys” all the fun comes to an end and everyone in the inter-web gets to vote for a winner via twitter.

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Thanks to Apple’s bare bones commercials touting all the iPhone apps available at the iTunes store, my Mom just learned what an app is. She doesn’t have an iPhone but to it in perspective, I explained that she’s been using apps on her Mac Book for years. So, given that more and more people are using these apps, I thought I’d pass on a “best of” list for my favorite apps that I’ve used in the six months of owning an iPhone.

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It’s only been a week since the release of the first installment from our Ginger Beer Tasting and we’ve already heard reports of a more educated public because of it. With seven reviewed brands down, we’re excited to present the final eight ginger beers from our South Lake Tahoe tasting.

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A public service is any service rendered for the greater good of the public interest. And in that spirit 2 Out of Three, in association with the Best Cabin ever, held it’s first ever ginger beer tasting on March 21 in South Lake Tahoe. The mission was to establish a pecking order for ginger beers, specifically in the mixation of a Dark ‘n Stormy. The blue ribbon panel consisted of veteran Dark ‘n Stormy tasters, including, but not limited to William Lavery, Robert “Frodo” Sostak, Bea Leung and yours truly.

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First thing’s first: I’m not sure how I’ve gone thirty two years without hearing of the poet Nikki Giovanni. In fact after seeing her brilliant mind at work in a recent interview with Bill Moyers, I’m embarrassed to say that I’ve never come across her writing before. This Grammy-nominated poet, activist and mother has been publishing work since the 60’s and her new book Bicycles: Love Poems, comes out in a week.

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New Mexico has an alarmingly high number of natural & health food markets including the standards like Whole Foods and Wild Oats, the smaller local varieties as well as the international Talin Market. Between Albuquerque and Santa Fe I’ve been to half a dozen different markets in the week and a half that I’ve been here, and the combined population of these two cities is less than that of San Francisco. Because of this easy access, the state is bursting at the seams with an unprecedented variety of ginger beer. The New Age hippies and their younger counterparts - the “dreamcatching yoga greenies” -  must have developed a bit of a ginger habit. The thing I can’t seem to wrap my brain around is what are they doing with the stuff? I’ve yet to stumble across a single bottle of Goslings - or any top shelf dark rum for that matter - so they can’t be using it for Dark and Stormies? Are these health nuts just drinking the stuff straight? A prospect I’ll never understand - and one, that personally, is a bit offensive. Could they be wasting away their afternoons stumbling over tumble weeds in the high desert tripping on Moscow Mules?

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Heeb Magazine is ironic, sarcastic, and very funny. When read cover to cover you’re sure to find something that will offend you, and that’s something we at 2 Out of Three respect. The latest issue of this Jewish humor and culture magazine showed up in our mail box this week and it is special. Not because there is a half naked picture of Courtney Love on the cover or a poorly chosen “urban kvetch” about the uselessness of libraries - which, by the way, are great institutions of higher knowledge - a point I plan on taking up with the editor. No, this issue is special because it is the debut of my little sister Yasha as creative director for the magazine.

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