The people over at Joann’s Blog Adventure wrote a thing today called “Favorite Things.” The author listed 10 of her favorite ordinary, everyday things. Even though this wasn’t officially listed as a Blog Challenge, I’m taking it that way, and here’s my list:

1.    The Bunn Coffee Maker – This thing doesn’t mess around. The coffee is hot, and it brews it really fast. Enough of that Mr./Mrs./Uncle Coffee or Braun or Krups nonsense; this is the real deal. 

**Note – being a musician, I could probably list 102 cool hings including several guitars, keyboards, amps and accessories. However, since my readers don’t include very many musicians, I’ll only include two music things on my list…

2.  My Planet Waves Guitar Cable – OK, you have to be a guitar player to understand this one. And I have a lot of instrument cables. But believe me, not all cables are the same. This puppy was a little expensive, but it’s saved me a lot of grief. It has a cool little on/off switch at the end where it plugs into the guitar, which keeps me from making a lot of buzzing and popping noises, as well as other weird undesirable stuff.

3.  My Planet Waves Guitar Picks – Not all guitar picks are the same, either. I’ve used a lot of them. And that’s part of the problem; some Sunday mornings, I use a lot of them, because the things break. It’s not like they’re expensive or anything, it’s just that it’s a hassle. But these Planet Waves things (like everything Planet Waves makes) are much more durable, and easy to hold onto as well, because of the texture of the pick.

4.  My Gap Messenger Bag – Roomy, black, lots of pockets, and you can throw it around. What more could you ask for? (Note – mine’s getting a little old, so I couldn’t find a photo online)

5.  My West Wing DVD’s – I have the entire series on DVD, and on the nights she’s home early, the Lovely Miss Courtney and I are watching the whole series in order. When we went to Washington DC a few months ago, we were super nerdy and kept pointing out stuff to each other that we’d seen on the show. But we made up for our nerdiness by doing the coolest thing ever… riding Segways in front of the U.S. Capitol Building.

6.  My Red I-Pod – Sure, it’s fun and all that, but I use this thing all the time for work. Plus, since it’s the Product Red I-Pod, I can be proud of the fact that a portion of my purchase price – maybe as much as a dollar – has gone to help fight AIDS, somehow.

7.  The Bose I-Pod Player in my Classroom at school – this thing rocks. Thanks to the guy who had the job before me, who talked someone into donating it. My classroom has cooler music than any other classroom at that school. 

8.  Amazon.com – I used to only buy books from these people, and that in itself was pretty cool. But in the past few years, I’ve bought a lot more than that. These guys can somehow get just about anything and sell it to you cheaper than anyone else. To this day, there’s something about that Amazon.com box showing up at the door that makes my heart skip a beat. 

8.  Brown Sugar Cinnamon Pop-Tarts. No explanation necessary.  By the way, you can buy these things from Amazon.com. That’s where I found the picture.

9.  Bagel Fridays with the Lovely Miss Courtney – Sometimes we even go on other days besides Fridays. We call those times “Bagel Fridays – at a Special Day and Time” just like they say on TV.

10.  Borders – Sure, there are other places I try to hang out, like Catalina Coffee in Redondo Beach, and also any one of 296 Starbucks within a one-mile radius of my house. But for the past 15 or so years since it opened, Borders has just been a cool place to hang out.