It may come as to a shock to many of you, but I am a major fan of techo / house / electronica / trance style music. In fact, it's pretty much all I listen to. Tiësto, Armin Van Buren, Paul Oakenfold, Hallucinogen, Paul Van Dyk, Infected Mushroom, Deadmau5, Kascade, etc. Pretty much anything with a good beat and interesting sounds. Oh, and Propellerheads. Love Propellerheads.
I like it at work because I can listen to stuff without having to focus on it. Classical music, for example, requires my full attention to enjoy. Rock is fine, but I tend to tune it out a little too easy or pay too close attention to the lyrics. Trance is the right mix of sound & beats that doesn't interfere with my train of thought. In fact, the beat tends to act more like a metronome and I tend to "think" in beats, which comes in handy.
My piano skills are somewhere between a paraplegic bonobo chimp and Mohammed Ali (with gloves). I can actually sound like I might know my way around the ivory, so long as both hands are in rhythm. If my left hand needs to go off on its own, pounding out a pattern that has nothing to do with the right, then I'm lost. I can handle a decent arpeggio, though, so non-polyphonic solos are something I excel at!
Toss in the magic of computers and sequencing, and I can manage pretty well at creating interesting tunes (I once did a kick ass mix of Sanford and Son, but I can't seem to locate the MP3 anymore).
Today's Woot was a refurbished USB keyboard controller (piano, not typewriter). I sold my synthesizer a while back because it was old, finicky, and didn't interface with modern computers (i.e. I didn't have a midi port). I've not been able to do any song writing in a long time and I thought that the USB controller would at least get me back into the ability to be able to do so.
I debated the purchase for a while since I'd have needed both the keyboard and the mixer (which at $50 each, was a pretty good deal) but there are bills to pay, and unlike GM I have to pay my own and don't have the option of a government bailout. I hemmed and hawed, then my wife told me that I could get it as a Father's Day gift.
By the time I showed back up, they were sold out.
Damn. Can't find a deal like that anywhere.