some kind of scrapheap

A Myriad Myriad of Myriads

2011-04-28T20:54:00.003-04:00

The term 'myriad' can be used a noun or an adjective. For example, here it is as an adjective: A dark clear sky, with its myriad stars, invariably fills me with awe. And here it is as a noun (a plural noun, no less!): A dark clear sky, with its myriads of stars, invariably fills me with awe.

A funny thing about this term is that when I first encountered it (eons ago) my instinct was to think of it as a noun. In the book I was reading (the title of which is lost to me) it was used as an adjective and it sounded dead wrong. To my ear it was a word that sounded like it had to be something. A myriad. The myriad. Myriads and myriads of something. I looked it up and to my surprise found that it was being used correctly as an adjective. In fact, my impression was that the entry noted that using 'myriad' as a noun was incorrect (or at least frowned upon).

The difference between how my ear wanted to perceive the word, and the preferred usage prescribed by the dictionary created such a weird dissonance that I actively forced myself to use 'myriad' as an adjective as much as possible. In my thinking mostly, because at whatever young age I was at the time, regularly using a word like 'myriad' in speech would probably not have been a sociably adept move.

In any case, I learned to prefer and use the adjective form of the word. Seeing it used as a noun grates on me even though there is no reason to avoid it. In fact, its use as a noun is evidently older than its use as an adjective. Garner states that "myriad is more concise as an adjective," but confirms that the noun has "been with us more than 200 years longer than the adjective, and the choice is a question of style, not correctness." (Garner, GMAU 3d, p553)

Both of the example sentences in the first paragraph are correct, but I prefer the first.

All My Circuits Are Functioning Perfectly

2011-02-21T16:26:00.003-05:00

Watson kicked some serious carbon-based brain on Jeopardy.

The three shows that aired were interesting, outlining the background of the IBM project and detailing some of the challenges the engineers faced as they fine tuned the system to compete at a championship level - Watson's AI against Jeopardy's two most successful champions, Ken Jennings and Brad Rutter. I also watched the Nova episode which covered the development of Watson in much greater depth.

The most daunting challenge for the computer scientists and engineers who designed Watson was dealing with the not-so-straightforward stuff that comes up on Jeopardy: puns, double meanings, jokes, homonyms, and Jeopardy's always enjoyable "before and after" questions (extremely terrible example: Pays your dinner bill while organizing your contacts. What is a Credit card file, Alex?). In other words, how do you design a computer that can parse language and tease out nuances?

While watching the games, I felt that Watson had an advantage. There were lots of fact-based trivia questions that required little of the sophisticated language parsing skills that the Watson team worked so hard to develop. Answering these questions with the massive databases that Watson had at its disposal seemed trivial. I assume that the categories and questions were selected randomly, but it would have been more interesting if there were trickier questions. Additionally, and maybe more importantly, Watson seemed to be able to buzz in faster than the other contestants. Consistently, and to the chagrin of Jennings and Rutter.

In general, I think it would have been more fun (and maybe a fairer fight) if Watson was forced to wrestle with more of those tricky language questions, but I came away very impressed. I'm not in the camp of "oh shit, next stop, Skynet!!" I think this is more along the lines of Star Trek TNG's Majel Barrett-voiced ship's computer - a system that can assist humans with sorting intelligently through massive amounts of potentially relevant data in order to answer a question, learn something new, etc.

The thing that really struck me, however, was not the idea of a new, hyper-intelligent computer, but rather was the human ingenuity that went into designing and refining this system. The Nova episode manages to give the viewer a peek into the process, and it's both amazing and inspiring.

Painted Brick

2011-02-13T16:34:00.008-05:00

If you work in a paint store, as I did many many moons ago, you are very often called upon to mix custom paint colors. Part of this process is computerized, and part of it requires patience, skill, and a keen eye. Tints are added to bases, shaken up in a machine, and the resulting color is tested for accuracy by applying a coat of paint to a pre-primed glass slide. A heat gun is used to dry the paint quickly - paint dries to a noticeably different shade than it is when wet. We would use a brick to support the glass slides under the heat gun. During down time (never buffoonery(inside joke)), we would sometimes paint the brick. Near the end of my tenure at this job, I painted the silly scene you see above on the brick. I decided to keep the brick to remember my time at the paint store. I snagged a replacement brick from a construction site down the road. Got yelled at by a burly construction worker and everything.

Inspired by my good friend Dave's photo Brickman, which, as it turns out, is of the very brick that I snagged from that construction site so long ago.

The Sports Team From My Area Makes Me Very Cranky

2011-01-16T20:21:00.002-05:00

Yet another Patriots playoff meltdown leaves me pondering the idea of fandom once again. After spending the entire game yelling impotently at the TV, the rational part of my brain that usually runs things in my head resumed command and I was immediately struck by how insanely stupid it all is. It's just a game. It's a game played by grown men who make millions of dollars to do so. I have absolutely nothing riding on whether the team I'm rooting for wins. I have absolutely no control or say over the outcome. The only connection to me at all is that it happens to be the team from the area where I spent the majority of my formative years.

The Onion, naturally, has covered this - and quite a while ago.

It is time step back again and focus on what I can control, sports wise. I'm looking ahead to the 2011 racing season. The first 5K on my calendar is March 26. I'll not quite yet be looking to beat my personal record - not that early in the season anyway - but hopefully I'll be close. What's more, there will be no hype (and no trash talking). It's just me trying to run a good race.

Fort Point - Winter

2011-01-14T20:39:00.005-05:00

Quotidia 25

This is the view south from the office building I work in. I went crazy with post processing as you can see, among other things giving it a miniaturized look using a tilt-shift effect.

I've been lax with cross posting these and will try to rectify that. All the quotidia photos can be seen on my flickr page, if you are interested in such things.

How Music Works

2011-01-14T20:36:00.001-05:00

How Music Works - LibraryThing Book Review

How Music Works is a fantastic introductory book for the musically interested but otherwise musically uneducated reader. John Powell writes in a breezy conversational style, never talking down to his reader. He discusses the very basics of acoustics, melody, harmony, rhythm, and instrumentation. I think he does a marvelous job tying everything up into a complete package that an interested lay reader should appreciate. As a trained musician, I found myself wanting more from the book, but I cannot fault it for that. Music - and more specifically music theory and acoustics - can seem an arcane field to those who are interested but have had no training. I will certainly recommend this book to people I know who tell me that they'll never be able to understand music. How Music Works should be able to set the initiated reader on to the path of learning, well, how music works.

Standardized Torture

2011-01-01T18:38:00.001-05:00

Gah - I hate standardized tests! I am, as mentioned previously, furiously studying for the GRE. The big day is this coming Monday - at 8:30 in the morning. Am I ready? Not as ready as I'd like to be. In my practice tests I have done consistently well on the verbal section, but my performance on the quantitative section has been a little spotty. Much of the math has come back, but not all of it. I could stand to take a full blown review course, but alas, there isn't time. I am hoping that on test day I can kill on the verbal section to bring the combined score up to a decent, if not respectable, number. In the end, I'll just need to try to avoid conflating my GRE score with my worth as a human being.

Update 1/3/2011: It is done. I did better than I expected - respectably even. Now it's time for a celebratory libation! Hooray!

In with the New

2011-01-01T10:26:00.002-05:00

Out with the Old

2010-12-31T17:08:00.003-05:00

Quotidia 12

Shadow Aspect

2010-12-30T17:05:00.004-05:00

Quotidia 11, my weaknesses are showing...

Galilean Skyline

2010-12-29T19:06:00.000-05:00

A Galilean thermometer distorts the view north from our library window.
Quotidia 10

XXXX

2010-12-28T18:19:00.002-05:00

Quotidia 9

Snow and Ice

2010-12-27T15:21:00.001-05:00

We got walloped!

Arco

2010-12-26T09:20:00.000-05:00

Light and shadow with a steam radiator.

Quotidia 7

Tannenbaum

2010-12-25T14:59:00.001-05:00

Quotidia 6

Season's Greetings

2010-12-24T23:31:00.001-05:00

Quotidia 5

A Dream of Sound

2010-12-23T16:34:00.002-05:00

Quotidia 4

A Fellow Traveler

2010-12-22T18:00:00.000-05:00

Quotidia 3

Quotidia 2

2010-12-21T18:19:00.000-05:00

Quotidia 1

2010-12-20T16:23:00.003-05:00

With my writing languishing in blah-ville, and what with studying for the damn GRE and all (I've not mentioned that here, but I am, and it's not fun, I assure you), I thought why not do a photo of the day thing cross posted from my Flickr page. Inspired by my friend Dave, the challenge is to take, edit, and upload using only the iPhone.

Why not indeed.

Fannie's Last Supper

2010-12-08T22:51:00.000-05:00

Fannie's Last Supper - LibraryThing Book Review

Part personal journey, part history, part cookbook, and part cultural commentary, Christopher Kimball's Fannie's Last Supper is an engaging and lively book. Kimball, known best for hosting America's Test Kitchen and for running the magazine Cook's Illustrated, takes the reader from late 19th century American cooking, through the recipes and markets of the time, to contemporary American food culture. He paints a vivid picture of late 19th century Boston that, as someone who has lived in and still works in Boston, I really appreciated. He relates the history of Fannie Farmer and the Boston Cooking School, and certainly does not sugarcoat the reality that Fannie Farmer was more of a businesswoman than gourmet chef - some of her recipes were evidently inedible. Generally, though, I was left with the impression that Fannie was an interesting, driven person, who, through her books and classes, played a large role in educating a burgeoning cadre of turn-of-the-century middle class home cooks. In all, the story of Kimball and his talented group of chefs as they tried, made missteps, and eventually succeeded in re-creating (and, in many cases, updating) a 19th century 12 course meal is captivating.

The Holidays

2010-12-03T19:14:00.005-05:00

There's been a bit of a dustup over a recent billboard campaign by American Atheists.

I see the point - it is targeting non-believers who are still going through the motions. It aims to attenuate the stigma many closeted atheists feel marks their lack of faith. Personally, I don't like the sentiment of this campaign. I think the season is about family, friends, and giving, not a celebration of reason. I get it - there is a Christian thing saying that "Jesus is the reason for the season" and this turns that on its ear. Clever.

I applaud and support the efforts of American Atheists, don't get me wrong. I don't think there's anything about this ad that is harmful to others. It simply doesn't resonate with me.

Anyway, my atheistic take on Christmas from 2 years ago is still how I feel. Call me a sentimentalist if you want, but I'm looking forward to a merry and joyful winter holiday season with my family and friends. Some of them are religious, and some of them aren't. That's ok with me. I'm not going to proselytize non-belief. However, I am open about my non-belief, and I enjoy a good conversation on the subject.

Returning, Yet Again

2010-07-28T17:40:00.006-04:00

I'm going to give this blog thing one more go.

I've thought about quitting altogether and I've considered starting a new blog - a clean slate as it were. Maybe I'd come up with a clear theme, or write a subject specific blog. Instead, I'll just start (or at least _try_ to start) writing here again.

"Why?" you might ask. "You are clearly lazy and probably suffer from ADD. You've never consistently posted and you have questionable writing skills to boot. Who are you kidding?"

Yeah, I know.

I've said it before: I like writing; I want to write more; I think it's a worthwhile pursuit; I think it's good for me.

We'll see how it goes.

UPDATE (8/2/10): Yeah, so this is working well...

Blogapathy

2010-06-03T17:27:00.003-04:00

I have had zero desire to write anything publicly and have pretty much checked out of cyberspace. I think I will remain disconnected for a little while longer.

Capsule Review: Moon

2010-04-27T21:55:00.004-04:00

Moon, 2009, Directed by Duncan Jones, a/k/a Zowie Bowie.

Really good movie, and damn, what a terrific performance by Sam Rockwell.

Rockwell plays Sam Bell, who's at the end of a three year stint working alone on the far side of the moon mining He-3 to power fusion on Earth. He works for Lunar Industries, a corporation that is essentially solving the world's energy crisis and releasing civilization from the shackles of fossil fuel. But, as things turn out, Lunar Industries may not be the force for good it appears to be on the surface.

Things start getting weird after he has a mishap tending to a mining vehicle. A computer, GERTY, voiced by Kevin Spacey, and eerily reminiscent of HAL in 2001, wakes him up and tells him he's had an accident. Then things start getting weird and confusing as what he thinks is real begins to unravel.

How the story plays out isn't really a twist, because you can see it coming from miles away. But, some of the tropes you expect to unfold don't wind up going where you think they might - and, as I mentioned, Rockwell's performance is just spot-on.

***1/2

Linkheap Volume XXI

2010-04-22T18:19:00.004-04:00

Links (a few anyway).

This is one of the coolest blogs I've run across in a long time.

Via Pharyngula, the trustworthiness of beards! I am on the extreme trustworthy end at the moment, but have bordered on the "unkempt" or "homeless man" beard this past winter.

Maniacal Hooting has an interesting take on Earth Day

Things That Irk Me: Vol. 2

2010-04-22T18:10:00.004-04:00

Four Things That Irk Me on the Internet

Various ways people have of saying "you made me spit coffee all over my keyboard/monitor." I don't know why, but this level of hyperbole just gets my goat. Plus it's just not funny anymore.

"I just threw up a little in my mouth." That's just gross. And it's not funny. And it's gross.

Stupid things like "ossom" instead of "awesome."

Jackasses who don't put spaces after periods, or who omit apostrophes or capital letters when leaving internet commentary. Example: "hi.im a jackass.spaces between sentences are stupid.too bad if you dont like it."

Capsule Review: Ponyo

2010-04-17T11:53:00.003-04:00

What a wonderful film. Miyazaki always seems to hit me just right. The visuals - especially the underwater scenes - are fantastical yet realistic, and I think probably influenced by some of the amazing underwater filming you can see in projects like Planet Earth, and Life (I really should seek out the BBC version - David Attenborough as narrator as opposed to Oprah, among other things - more on that perhaps in another post). The story is relatively simple, but heartwarming. Of course, as with all of the Miyazaki films I've seen, it's cheesy in spots. I don't begrudge him that at all.
***1/2

New Stuff - Hopefully

2010-04-14T17:34:00.003-04:00

Well hell, I observe that I'm posting sporadically if at all again. To remedy this I was thinking of trying something new - assigning myself a few specific kinds of things to post each week. I was thinking that I'd try to at least post one review (capsule, full, or book), write one list of some sort, and respond to one article (news or otherwise) per week. I'll try to get back to posting links on Fridays, too. I think I'll stop posting the log entries for a while. It's mostly just me yammering on about working in the yard and such, which I'm sure is about as interesting as watching paint dry. I do reserve the right to write about working in the yard from time to time because it's something that I enjoy, and sometimes I actually want to write about it.

Furthermore, because I'm a master procrastinator, I shall start all of this tomorrow, or perhaps the next day.

If I fail to do this, I will blow up this blog.

Maybe.

Log 2010.04.06

2010-04-06T06:38:00.002-04:00

I've got a 5k race coming up in about a week and a half. I've been very slow to get into training mode - I've been running on the weekends, but that's all. I finally got my tired self out of bed this morning for a weekday run. It wasn't as bad as I expected.

It seems like we've got a cardinal nest in a bush right outside our home office window. The female has been building the nest over the past week or so. She flies into the bush with sticks and twigs - even an old piece of plastic wrap. I hope that we - or the cats - can manage to not scare her away. I'm really excited about seeing this. I'll try to get some photos.

Linkheap Volume XX

2010-04-02T09:00:00.003-04:00

Just a few this week.

Alex Ross (he of The Rest is Noise, and the MacArthur Genius Grant) on Pavement circa 1997.

Pearl Jam are offsetting their carbon footprint from their 2009 tour by planting 33 acres of trees. They will do the same for their 2010 tour, calling it a "cost of doing business."

Over at Byzantium's Shores, Jaquandor continues one of my favorite features of his, Fixing the Prequels.

I'm a little late to notice this, but it looks like The Hobbit film is back on.

If It Keeps on Rainin', Levee's Goin' to Break

2010-03-30T10:41:00.006-04:00

Rain rain go away. Seriously, I think we've had enough. The makeshift sump pump we hooked up during the last storm is working at the moment, but, sometime during the wee hours, the water rose to just about at the level of the water heater burner again before it kicked in. I'll explain.

We are lucky to even have a pump. During that last huge rainstorm -- about 2 weeks ago -- we got water in our cellar for the first time in the year and a half we've lived in the house. When we bought the place there was no evidence of prior basement flooding. Sometime over that weekend, water came up from the hole in the floor around the waste pipe. (We guess that the hole was the result of some plumbing work done by a previous owner.) The water table was just too high. I ran out to Home Depot to find a pump. The plumbing department was completely packed with crazed people in the same boat as me. There were no pumps, no hoses, no connections. I went to a smaller hardware store that I knew of in the next town over and managed to snag the very last pump. Clutching the pump (My pump! My PRECIOUS!), I gathered the parts needed to make up a reducing system so I could use a garden hose (they were out of the proper hoses). I was in business.

With the everything in place, we were able to pump out the basement in a few hours.

The problem is long term. Simply put, the hole we are using isn't quite deep enough to serve as a proper sump pit for this pump. The float switch doesn't turn on soon enough. It needs to be at a fairly high angle to turn on the pump - high enough that the water will be already be flooding the basement before the pump engages. But, if you can stay on top of it, you can manually move the float to engage the pump and it'll stay on until it reaches a relatively low angle when the water level in the pit has gone down.

Last night, I'd gotten up at 2:30am to check and the level was fine - fairly low, even - so I figured I could safely sleep through the rest of the night. Very bad idea. I should have gotten up again at some point because waking up to another flood was more than a little frustrating. At the moment, we're ahead of the water. I'm home today to keep an eye on things.

I'm not looking forward to the expense, but I am looking forward to having a proper sump system installed prior (hopefully) to the next epic rain. Our basement is essentially finished (circa 1950 or so - it needs a lot of renovation), and I really would like to be able to use it as a music space/den. It's got a fireplace and everything. Gotta get the water problem fixed first, though.

Negativity Meme!

2010-03-29T17:36:00.005-04:00

From Jaquandor, I learn about Sunday Stealing, a blog with nothing but quizzes. Since I am writing (if you want to call it that) again, I have been trying to rummage up things to write about. I had been thinking of doing another volume of "Things That Irk Me" because grumpiness is something that I'm good at. I'd also thought about doing a quiz thing, because they can be fun, and they're excellent if you're lazy, which I most certainly am. A quick browse of Sunday Stealing and I find a negativity meme!

Perfect. Here goes.

Foods which disgust the crap out of me: Hmm. There isn't much that disgusts the crap out of me. I'm a pretty adventurous eater. There are certain foods that I don't like very much. Kettle style popcorn is one - especially the really sweet kind. There are days when I could do without cucumbers. I don't love eggplant, really. Actually, now that I think about it - blood sausage kind of gives me the willies.

TV show I loathe: A specific show? Jeez, I don't know - those horrid Andre Rieu specials on PBS?

Movie I loathe: Loathe seems like too strong a word, but boy did I ever get annoyed with Grease when I worked in a video store. There was a woman who worked there who just loved Grease, and would always pop it in to play on the TVs throughout the store.

Music genres I loathe: New schlock country pop stuff irks me.

Magazine that annoys me: Parade?

Makes me cranky at restaurant: Obviously, bad food or bad service.

Makes me cranky in public: Rude people. Especially those who invade my personal space.

Makes me cranky in general: Being overtired usually does the trick.

Pisses me off at home: Wow - we're really getting into the negativity now, aren't we! Let's say that when things that I think shouldn't break, break, I can get a little hot under the collar. Often, after I've calmed down a little, I'll find that I can fix whatever has broken with the application of a little brainpower and the use of tools.

Pisses me off at work: The usual stuff, I guess. See the movie Office Space (or more accurately, I suppose, Haiku Tunnel) for an idea of these things. There is no printer or copier that I want to attack with a bat, though.

Pisses me off in general: Lately, Rain! I'm so tired of rain, and the troubles it can bring to my formerly-always-dry basement.

Makes me impatient at home: Waiting for water to boil. I often watch the pot, you see.

Makes me impatient at work: Buggy computer applications, a slow network, boring meetings.

Makes me impatient in public: Waiting in lines.

Celebrity I hate: I don't know, Jenny McCarthy?

Music artist I hate: Andre Rieu!

I could care less about: What your other car is.

Annoys the crap out of me weekdays: Getting up for work.

Annoys the crap out of me weekends: The end of said weekend.

Blogger's habit that annoys you: The company? Some other blogger? I don't know - answering quiz things to fill space?

Feature on your blog you hate: If a lack of consistent writing could be considered a feature of this blog then that.

Movie star you despise: Maybe Richard Gere? It seems that whenever I see he's in a film, I avoid it. On a personal level, I just don't care enough to expend the energy necessary to despise any particular actor.

Politician that you hate: Has to be Dick Cheney - he's the easiest to hate.

So, yeah, that was pretty negative!

Capsule Review: It Might Get Loud

2010-03-29T07:06:00.002-04:00

I really enjoyed this movie. Bringing Jack White, The Edge, and Jimmy Page together to talk and play served as a backbone to an exploration of each guitarist's style. My only complaint would be that it seemed that Jack White was a little over represented in the film. Maybe it's just his outsized personality that gave me that impression, or maybe it's just that I wanted more of Page and the Edge, but it seemed to me that Jack got more coverage. I didn't time it, so I can't say for sure. Overall, though, it was fun seeing them play together, and, especially for a lovers of rock guitar, there was a ton of great music.

***1/2

Capsule Review: Paranormal Activity

2010-03-28T11:10:00.005-04:00

Paranormal Activity is fun suspense/horror movie done with a very low budget (allegedly, just $15k) using "found footage" (Think of The Blair Witch Project) that pays off nicely with what I like to think of as "the buzzies" - that's the physical reaction when something happens in a movie that scares the bejeezus out of you.

The primary characters, Katie and Micah, are a twenty-something couple living in a suburban California house. They've been plagued with poltergeist style trouble: bumps in the night, objects being moved, etc. Micah starts filming to document what happens. The creepiest stuff happens when they are sleeping with camera sitting on a tripod in the same place each night, unblinkingly looking at the bed and black maw of the open bedroom door.

Overall, this is a solid, entertaining movie. The filmmakers build the suspense slowly and carefully and execute the payoffs masterfully.

***1/2

Linkheap Volume XIX

2010-03-26T08:00:00.000-04:00

I don't know how I feel about the stylized-to-be-cute Star Wars action figures. I'm turned off on a base level, but can't really bring myself to care all that much about it. Star Wars for pre-schoolers, however, just seems weird.

Hey, it's a collection of fun Venn diagrams!

If you've ever wondered what the Moon might look like if it had water, an atmosphere, and life, well, wonder no more.

NPR interviews David and Barbara Mikkelson, the good folks behind Snopes.com.

The Jets on Hard Knocks? That should be entertaining!

The web is abuzz about the Princeton study that shows how bad high fructose corn syrup can be, linking it to obesity. Now a Duke study links HFCS to liver damage.

Log 2010.03.25

2010-03-25T13:20:00.005-04:00

I've been getting together with a couple of my old bandmates for monthly jam sessions. I've been mostly covering bass, but have been bringing my guitar along as well. It's been fun. Inspired, I pulled my old Peavey Classic 50 out of storage and cleaned it up. It was a real mess. I replaced the handle that had somehow fallen off and a bunch of the knobs that had gone missing. It still sounds ok. If I'm sufficiently motivated I may do some minor customization. Having focused pretty much exclusively on classical and steel string fingerstyle playing over the past several years, my electric lead guitar chops are not quite what they used to be, but I can still play a little.

I got a copy of Kind of Blue on vinyl and the sound is way beyond my expectations. I've had copies of that album on tape, CD, and MP3, and none compare. Just wow.

I'm beginning to gear up to take the GRE. I'm thinking of heading to grad school for an MLIS in either September or January. Really not fun, but I think necessary for me to take any next steps in my career.

Log 2010.03.22

2010-03-22T20:23:00.003-04:00

I've got blisters on my hands from de-thatching the front lawn. I'll take 'em if it means that Spring really has arrived. After being approached by a lawn services company and seriously considering their offer, I've decided to keep at it myself. I did a heavy overseeding and put down some lime last Fall with some degree of success. I also bought fertilizer which I'm putting down section by section now as I go through the relatively arduous de-thatching process. I figure that there may come a point, possibly for no other reason than the time commitment, where it'll be easier to let someone else do the work, but for now I am enjoying it.

In other yard-related projects, I battled an old rosebush that drew first blood as I worked on getting some leaves out from around its base. The bush was about 8 feet tall (not hyperbole) - the rootstock of a long gone flower grown wild. It never flowered last year. I thought I'd just prune it, but I wound up cutting it down to the base. It's a hardy plant, so I may think about attempting a grafting operation at some point.

When did people start using the word "absolutely" in situations where the word "yes" would be perfectly sufficient? I've noticed that people appearing on the This Old House television show are among the worst offenders.

Analog Kid

2010-03-21T10:30:00.002-04:00

I've gone and bought a turntable.

I've got a pretty substantial music collection already and don't know where the vinyl records of my youth have gone. Probably thrown out. The point being that I didn't have any immediate need for a turntable. But, I had been thinking about it. I go to antique shops with my wife, and I often find myself thumbing through collections of old vinyl records with a feeling of nostalgia and a desire to hear some of them. Recently, I read a couple articles on the sound quality of analog, in the form of vinyl, versus digital, and was convinced that I should get me a record player. They don't have to be expensive; I got a Sony belt driven turntable for a little less than a hundred bucks. I bought a few albums to get started: Deep Purple's Fireball; Jimi Hendrix's Are You Experienced; Kansas' Point of Know Return; a Dock Boggs album.

I'm no golden eared audiophile, so whether it's all in my head is surely up for debate, but man, these records sound incredible. Warm, fat tones, crisp, clear highs, incredible dynamic range, and just wonderful clarity all around. The listening experience is different than I've grown used to, too. There is a ritual involved with taking out the LP, placing it on the platter, watching it begin spinning while the tone arm moves in to engage. There's no skipping ahead like with CDs or MP3s - you're committed to the side. It's immersive, and I love it.

My collecting will be slow and methodical from here on out. I won't be buying vinyl versions of what I already own digitally unless it is something that holds a special place for me, is an older album, and I find a good quality version of it. I want to collect only music that was originally recorded analog. I'll probably begin with a focus mostly on 60's and 70's rock and prog rock, 50's and 60's jazz, certain classical recordings, and interesting folk or Americana.

I'll keep buying plenty of music in digital format, too. I certainly don't want to be all snooty about it like David Cross in this video.

Hibernation (Log 2010.03.20)

2010-03-20T10:44:00.007-04:00

I think I'm finally coming out of hibernation. It's been a very long winter. Crocuses (croci?) are blooming, the Grackles are back at the feeder and Robins are exploring the back yard. I never thought I'd be happy to see Grackles. The collective noun for a large group of Grackles is a plague. We don't have that many. We slept with the windows open last night. This morning I was awakened by the persistent and angry screeching of a Blue Jay. It was 6:45. On a Saturday. There was a side benefit in that I saw the sun rise - always a good experience. The jays have been around all winter along with a pair of Cardinals, Chickadees, Tufted Titmice, Juncos, Mourning Doves, a Downy Woodpecker, and the ubiquitous House Sparrows. We had one visit by a Cooper's Hawk. It swooped out of the sky and landed on the arch on the metal rod that holds our feeder. It perched there majestically for about a minute, then hopped down to the ground for a moment or two before taking off.

The Princess Bride (The Book): A Short Review

2009-09-16T18:03:00.002-04:00

Here's my LibraryThing review of The Princess Bride: S. Morgenstern's Classic Tale of True Love and High Adventure, by William Goldman.

I've seen the movie version probably fifty times (It's on my list of Top Ten Friday Night Films) but had never before read the book. I really enjoyed it; it's fast paced, funny, and exciting. I admit that I wasn't able to experience the story without the movie's influence, but that didn't bother me at all. Many times throughout the book I found myself hearing lines and picturing scenes as they were in the film, and often laughing out loud. The story follows the same arc as the movie (or rather vice versa, I suppose), with few minor differences. Goldman also wrote the screenplay, so it's not a huge surprise that the material was so expertly handled for the film adaptation. In the book, you get a little bit more back story on the characters, and the meta story of the grandfather reading to his sick grandson is different; it's a bit more fully developed. It is, as advertised, a classic tale of true love and high adventure - all the good parts, and with all the boring stuff excised.

Linkheap Volume XVIII

2009-08-21T17:22:00.006-04:00

Links! Now with 20% more balls.

The Internet Lurker rails against those stupid truck balls. I have to agree with him here. People have always done dumb shit to their cars and trucks, but truck balls are one of the stupider things I have ever seen.

Roger Ebert on the so-called 'death panels' and health care reform.

Via the Bad Astronomer, here is a wonderful video on the Hubble Ultra Deep Field images in 3D.

And another video, this one a bit less serious, but still nerdy. Check out the comic, Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal, where it originated.

Over and out.

Log 2009.08.18

2009-08-18T20:59:00.005-04:00

My vacation really just cannot get here soon enough.

I've finally started going through my SD cards again and editing photos. Here are pictures of my cats, Selma and Patty, just after their lion cuts this Spring. They're fuzzy again now, but they were really unhappy after this was done. I don't think we'll be able to do this again. Still, these pictures do make me smile.

Linkheap Volume XVII

2009-08-14T08:00:00.002-04:00

Here's some good stuff I read on the webbertoobs this week.

Stephen Hough on not being so regimented when approaching your instrument. Sometimes you need to deviate from the norm.

Umm, oops.

Bryan Lambert of You Are Dumb infamy has a food blog. In this post, he reminds us that Alton Brown is one of the only truly good things about the Food Network.

Speaking of food, Michael Pollan (author of The Omnivore's Dilemma and other damn good books) has written a damn good article about Julia Child, food TV, and the fate of actual cooking among the citizenry in these United States.

More next week.

Log 2009.08.13

2009-08-13T21:15:00.001-04:00

I've been in quite a colossal funk lately. I'm off-kilter and feeling lethargic, anti-social, and unmotivated. It's a shitty way to feel and I hope my soon-to-arrive vacation will help. I know: boo hoo; poor me; get over it. Yeah, I've been trying. Running helps a little. The really craptacular thing has been that I haven't had any interest in practicing. Playing is generally a way for me to keep myself and my life balanced. I (usually) like my job and all, but it's not who I am; I am not defined by it. Sometimes it can even be a drag. Playing music serves as a creative outlet, an intellectual stimulus, a chance to focus and engage in something that I love--not to mention something that isn't work. To not have a desire to play is strange and disconcerting. Maybe I need to work on new repertoire; maybe I need to find a group or even someone to play duets with so I am not only playing solo stuff.

Things That Irk Me: Vol. 1

2009-08-11T07:12:00.003-04:00

I am a cranky bastard quite a large percentage of the time. Things irk me. This is a blog; a place where it is common practice and perfectly acceptable to yell and scream all manner of things. I thought: why not get some of these things off my chest? So without further ado, I present to you, dear reader, Things That Irk Me: Vol. 1.

During televised baseball games, the idiots who wave to the camera while, out of focus, they yammer to their boob friends on the phone, "Look at me! Look at me! I'm on TV!"

The now common use of invite instead of invitation (e.g., "I'm going to ask you to go ahead and, um, send me an invite to that meeting, m-kay?" I'm guessing this is the fault of Outlook.

People - especially people with big, stupid pickup trucks - who park on the street in front of my house

Broken air conditioning on the Red Line subway on horribly hot and humid days

Grocery stores that don't have enough cashiers manning the checkout lines during busy times - this is exponentially more irksome when you clearly observe what appear to be perfectly capable employees milling around like doofuses

I do feel slightly better now. There's plenty of stuff in the world that irks me. We'll see if this becomes a regular feature.

Log 2009.08.10

2009-08-10T18:00:00.004-04:00

We did a bunch of work in the yard this weekend. It's clear that at some point in the past someone took a great deal of care with this property. Sadly, it was neglected for many years. Nature always does its thing, and now there are areas that sport thick jungles of overgrown bushes, plants, weeds, and, most painfully, wild and very thorny rosebushes. We've been tackling things slowly. We've put in a couple of new planting beds to spruce up some less attractive areas of the front yard, I've trimmed the coniferous shrubs in front of the house to keep them in check (my bride hates 90% of the shrubbery, so I see some back breaking labor in my not-too-distant future), I continue my struggle to improve the lawn, which continues to resist my efforts to improve upon it, and we are slowly making my way around perimeter of the yard pruning and clearing the result of so many years of neglect. We're finding interesting flowers and plants all over the place: this weekend's discoveries included another hydrangea (we have found three), what we think is some variety of holly, and a patch of delicious smelling Cicely, not to mention the three or four species we've yet to identify -- I need to get a field guide. In general it's been hard and dirty work but altogether very (almost surprisingly) satisfying.

Memorizing

2009-08-05T21:24:00.007-04:00

Guitarists, like pianists (and other soloists), are expected to memorize music for recitals. I, however, have never been terribly disciplined when it comes to memorizing music. Besides, I'm not playing recitals; the kind of gigs I'm playing generally involve performing one to three hours of music in often less than ideal circumstances, and it's much easier to have a big binder full of material that's ready to read through for something like a two set cocktail hour. I practice it all diligently. I mark up my scores and write performance notes. For the most part, I like the pieces I play. And yes, naturally, I do even have a handful of the pieces in my repertoire memorized. What I really need to start doing, however, is putting in the mental effort to memorize the more challenging pieces. Some of Bach's more difficult music can be a bitch for me to completely internalize. Memorization needs to be more than rote hand and finger memory. It should be a multi-faceted (intellectual, physical, emotional) and deep 'knowing' of the piece - as Valentine Michael Smith would say: you need to grok the piece. It's hard work, and the just the thought makes me tired. But, in my experience, once the effort is expended even the those really hard and complicated pieces can seem much simpler.

Log 2009.08.03

2009-08-03T21:40:00.008-04:00

I finally had my wisdom teeth pulled a few days ago. Yeah, it was three quarters of a year ago that I mentioned it in this space. I broke down and went for the consultation in March but I didn't muster up the courage to actually go through with it until the end of July. Well it's done. Fucking ouch! Actually, it went pretty smoothly until day three when I developed a minor infection. I'm now on a course of antibiotics and resting and am expected to pull through.

On the home front, I've been doing a lot of work in our yard. I made a new planting bed next to the driveway that turned out quite nicely. I put in some bleeding heart and carex, and made a border out of old bricks. In the process, I discovered that the leaves from last fall have already, to some extent, developed into usable compost. Now I think I'd like to build a two bin compost structure in the back. Our current pile is unsightly and in the wrong spot.

In other plant related news, I planted a very small hibiscus that my dad gave me. I checked on it today and it was gone. I suspect the woodchuck that's been hanging around our back yard lately is responsible.

Year of the Cock - LibraryThing Book Review

2009-08-03T19:11:00.005-04:00

One of the neat perks about being a LibraryThing member is that you have the chance to get free books to review. This is my first. First and foremost let me say that I am not, nor do I pretend to be, a real book critic. I do hope to keep doing this and get better at writing this sort of criticism, but remember that this is just one reader's opinion. Comments and suggestions are wanted and welcome. (LibraryThing page)

Year of the Cock - LibraryThing Book Review

I have to admit that I couldn't put this book down; It was like reading a car accident.

Alan Wieder, a shallow-as-a-puddle reality show producer, leaves his wife because he wants to live the sort of "wild and crazy guy" bachelor life that he feels he missed out on and always dreamed of - complete with fancy sports car, tricked out bachelor pad, and as many notches as possible in his bed post.

So, he leaves his wife, ultimately ignoring her for weeks, and sets out to sow his wild oats. He does well at first. He buys a Porsche, a fancy stereo system, gets his bachelor pad, easily gets dates and phone numbers with the hot chicks, and seems to be living his dream. But he quickly develops a problem. He has a crisis of confidence after seeing an online sex tape, and becomes obsessed with the size of his penis. He thinks it's too small. He measures it. Daily. Several times a a day. Constantly. With an impressive array of measuring devices that he carries around with him wherever he goes. This is where the story turns a dark corner into a strange mashup of Jerry Springer, everything that's bad about reality TV, and the Learning Channel's lineup of medical freakshow programs. Things continue in a downward spiral of self-obsessed despair over the protagonist's incredible shrinking johnson. He's got some serious problems.

In all, the book was highly readable, entertaining, often quite funny, and had some sharp, Swingers-esque dialogue. My problem with the book is that the protagonist is selfish and shallow from beginning to end. The story seems to be driving toward a redemption, but the redemption that does come is weak. The main character doesn't seem to really change, learn anything important, or grow (ha!) as a person. Maybe the author has, but he failed to show me how. It doesn't surprise me that this book was written by a reality show producer. It plays out like one of those behind-the-scenes tearful confessionals where contestants bitch and whine about the other contestants or cry about their own problems. (**)

Guitar Stuff

2009-07-31T08:03:00.006-04:00

I went back into the studio to record some more classical guitar music last weekend. After one more session I should have enough decent material to put a solid demo together that should help with hustling up some sort of regular solo gig - restaurant, cocktail lounge, whatever.

For this session I played some well known traditional tunes for this session (Greensleeves, Scarborough Fair), and some more Renaissance music (Milan, Cutting, and Johnson). I've discovered the use of the capo for getting a more authentic sound for this kind of music. While the modern guitar is no lute, it's nice to be able to make the instrument a little smaller and play these pieces at the right pitch. I find the music of the period a lot more fun to play this way. If anyone is wondering, the best capo I found so far is the Planet Waves NS model designed by Ned Steinberger. I played a Steinberger electric guitar when I was at Berklee, and it was a damn fine instrument - no surprise that he designed a good capo. It's light and small and can be adjusted perfectly. I've tried the spring clip varieties. They are ok, but are big and a little clunky and it's impossible to adjust the force applied. I'd like to try a nice hand made cejilla at some point.

I really want to spend more time expanding my CG repertoire and tackle some longer and more challenging pieces (examples of pieces I've begun working on are El Decameron Negro by Brouwer and the first Bach lute suite), but I've been having a tough time finding quality time for practicing lately. The day job has been a bit of a drag, sapping me of the mental energy I need for practicing. I've tried morning practice before, but I tend not to be as mentally with it. I've also been trying to run 3-4 times per week, and the morning is perfect for that. Of course, the running can make me even more tired by the end of the day. Chris, on his excellent The Classical Guitar Blog, has a good post on the subject in which he talks about setting a specific time aside every day that's always practice time. What I need to figure out is exactly when that time is for me.

Log 2009.07.21

2009-07-21T07:03:00.002-04:00

I've been running about every other day or so. It's not exactly casual, as I'm keeping a log of distances and time, but I am trying to approach it with a "for fun" attitude. It's strange how good just a couple of miles can feel. I understand that there can be a mild endorphin rush associated with running, but there's no way I'm running far or long enough yet to achieve the mythical (to me -- so far anyway) runner's high.

In other news, I'm going to try to start writing again.

Log 2009.03.26

2009-03-26T21:46:00.003-04:00

Pretty much five minutes after mentioning in my last post that I've been wanting to jump back into some non classical guitar projects, I got a call asking if I was available to play a potential gig. It's some sort of corporate event where they want classical music to add some ambiance, so hopefully it'll be a pretty low key affair. But, it would be a three hour deal (there would be breaks, of course), so that means that I'd need to have pretty much everything in my book ready to play. Though I'm still waiting to hear back, I've been playing through the material in the binder to freshen up. It's been fun, and now I'm thinking that I really ought to hustle up a regular restaurant or coffee house gig or something. That would keep my repertoire fresh, so I could take any gig at any time while giving me more experience playing for people and a chance to try out new material in a relatively non-terrifying environment. Plus, the regular playing would probably help keep my CG technique in shape allowing me at least a couple hours of music time per week working on other projects.

Log 2009.03.22

2009-03-22T15:18:00.003-04:00

On the domestic front, it was a relatively productive weekend for me. I finished the last of the painting in the kitchen yesterday, and today raked and de-thatched the front yard. The back yard still looms. I think that I need to throw some seed down, too - especially in the back yard, which seems to be mostly moss, mud, and dead weeds at this point. With this being our first Spring here, I'm not sure what will happen in the back yard once the weather warms a bit more - probably an explosion of weeds, fungi, and dandelions. Aside from doing some research on basic lawn care, I probably ought to have the soil tested to see if it needs fertilizer or lime.

In the pleasant surprise department, we realized this week that there are plentiful crocus growing - and now blooming - in some of the flower beds around our house. Spring has been a long time coming this year, and the sight of those little, bright yellow flowers certainly lifted my heart a little bit.

And, on the music front, I've been twiddling around with some new ideas as well. I'm continually frustrated by the lack of time I have to do all the projects I'd like, but there's not a ton I can do about that. Anyway, now that my classical guitar recording project is done and I have one or two halfway decent demo pieces recorded, I'm going to spend some time working on some other stuff. The aforementioned twiddling is work on some new electronic music. I've also been thinking of jumping back into a song writing mode. We'll see.

Fifteen Things

2009-03-18T19:06:00.003-04:00

In the hope of ending this latest blogging hiatus, I am posting what I came up with when the big Facebook 25 things meme was making the rounds. I guess I never did get around to adding the last ten things. Anyway, for the one person besides my lovely wife who reads this blog (hi, Dad), here are fifteen random things about me.

I was once, for a brief time many, many years ago, a Jungle Skipper at Walt Disney World

Weirdly, for a guitar player, I like flat keys

I am hyper critical of myself, sometimes detrimentally so

While not necessarily a misanthrope or agoraphobe, I hate crowds and crowded places and avoid them whenever possible

My car, a 2007 Civic, is my third Honda, but my first new one. I've also owned a '76 Plymouth Volare, a '77 Ford Thunderbird, an '81 Civic, an '88 Buick Skyhawk, a '94 Toyota Tercel, an '82 Honda Prelude, an early eighties Chevy hatchback, a '96 Toyota Paseo, and an '89 Volkswagen Jetta. I still kind of miss that land yacht T-Bird.

I wish that I had been a better student in junior and senior high school

I love music passionately

Wickedly smart people make me happy. And jealous

I'm ~~learning~~ trying (very hard) to learn to lose chess games gracefully as I learn how to play

I am in awe of the universe

My avocation has seeped into my personal life as I am now in the process of cataloging all of my books

I'm very lucky to have the family and friends that I have; I tend to be a real cheese ball when it comes to my family and friends

I have two purebred Persian cats - sisters named Patty and Selma - that I'm crazy about

I love to laugh but don't laugh enough because I tend to take things too seriously

If I had it to do over, I think I would study physics or chemistry in college

Hi Ho Hiatus

2009-02-17T09:46:00.003-05:00

A Consort of Crumhorns

2009-01-28T21:22:00.006-05:00

One of the things I love about iTunes is the chance discovery of something unexpected. I was searching for recordings of Kemp's Jig, an anonymous renaissance tune that I plan to record for my upcoming classical guitar session, when I stumbled upon one of the more unusual products of the 1970s prog rock scene, Gryphon, and their own version of the tune, complete with crumhorn. Oh man, what an incredibly awesomely weird band this was!

I bought their eponymous first album with Kemp's which was packaged on iTunes in a double album format with "Midnight Mushrumps." Essentially, they were a medieval/renaissance/folk/prog/rock band (what a genre mashup that is, no?). They leaned toward an acoustic sound early in their career, and moved into the electric realm as they matured and were marketed as a prog band, touring with Yes in 1974 or 1975.

There's no doubt that this music is not everyone's cup of tea. You could call it pretentious, weird, whatever, but I like it. It's got bassoons, whistles, recorders, a consort of crumhorns, guitars, mandolins, percussion, keyboards, and singing all filtered through a slightly warped, D&D/ren faire lens spiced with the clear influence of early 70's prog bands like Yes and King Crimson. There are definitely some odd sounds, yes, but there's also some very beautiful music.

Log 2009.01.20

2009-01-20T21:24:00.003-05:00

I have the CueCat scanner in my possession; I've begun cataloging and have entered 130 books so far. You may notice the LibraryThing tag cloud on the sidebar. There are many, many more boxes of books to unpack, catalog, and put away. I am geeking out to the extreme. Nothing to see here; move along.

Would You Like to Play a Game?

2009-01-14T22:56:00.002-05:00

I can't get enough chess, lately. I've been playing on ItsYourTurn.com. It's a free site and it's easy to join. Anyone care to challenge me to a game? I'm a rank amateur, but am learning. My handle is sketchelement. Please, I invite you to look me up and school me.

Log 2009.01.14

2009-01-14T22:52:00.003-05:00

I've been thinking of letting loose a little more on this blog. I think my writing tends to be a bit cold and stiff at times. I was listening to a Stephen Fry podgram (his word for podcast, and a word that I quite like) on the train tonight, and he eloquently (does Fry say anything ineloquently, one could rightly ask?) railed against pedantry in language (there is a text version - though I highly recommend listening if you can). I am not innocent of the occasional bout of pedantry in language. I do try, though, to be tolerant. However, more to the point having to do with this blog, I think that I will, from now on, be a little more casual, a bit freer with my use of salty language when appropriate. I may play fast and loose with linguistic formalities from time to time. I may act on the urge to cavalierly split the odd infinitive. I may, I may. I may not, though.

Log 2009.01.07

2009-01-07T17:25:00.004-05:00

I've returned to a relatively disciplined practicing mode. I've got a recording session coming up in February for the solo classical guitar stuff. Basically, it'll be a demo recording so that I can get gigs. Aside from the odd wedding, I'd like to get a regular gig at a restaurant or something - maybe a monthly deal. Once I see how much time that takes up, I'd like to look into group playing again, either on electric guitar or bass. I'd love to do some crazy jazz/math instrumental fusion. The instrument pictured here is not getting enough of a workout of late. I still have grad school on my mind for September, so I don't know how much time or energy I'll actually have. For now I'll allow myself to consider the possibility.

Scholar's Mate

2009-01-01T11:20:00.001-05:00

Log 2008.12.28

2008-12-28T21:02:00.003-05:00

I'm not sure to what level of nerd-dom buying a customized "ex libris" stamp for my books elevates me, but I fear that it is probably a fairly high level. I also bought a USB scanner (a CueCat, which is an interesting piece of failed technology that has been repurposed by LibraryThing) so that I can get cracking on cataloging my books.

Apocalypto and Religion

2008-12-27T16:20:00.000-05:00

The following contains a spoiler or two, so consider yourself warned.

Apocalypto, Mel Gibson's Maya epic, has a few good points, like the costuming, the production design, well done action sequences, and some pretty good acting. However, several times during the movie I found myself saying (aloud at times, much to my bride's chagrin), "just get on with it for crying out loud!" and, "we get the damn point, thanks, can we just move the story on to the next chapter, please?" I wouldn't say the movie drags; it just feels overwrought. I think Mel needs to edit more.

And, while we're on the subject of editing, I can't help but point out a continuity blunder of astronomical proportions: there is a solar eclipse during the movie that is used as a key plot point, and, later that same night, a full moon is up. Oops.

After sitting through endless scenes of violence, chases (it was, in essence, a chase movie, and on that level, not a terrible one), and blood, I noticed - somewhat surprisingly given Gibson's well known fervent Catholicism - that religion seems to be portrayed in a fairly negative light. When the chips are down, such as they are for the Mayans in the movie, religion can impact a society in a horrifyingly negative way. The scene at the temple, with massed chanting people participating in some sort of collective orgasmic religious ritual, struck me as not unlike scenes of people today handling snakes and speaking in tongues. Forgive the hint of hyperbole, but when the heads started to roll, I wondered how far away from this level of insanity is our culture?

When the Spaniards show up at the very end, you can see the Catholic missionaries displaying the cross as they row to shore. With that, the Maya's religion of sacrifice and blood is, intentionally or not, juxtaposed with Christianity. Knowing what conquistadors and missionaries represent for the future of native Central American culture, it's hard not to think that all religion is doomed to destroy society. However, I wonder if instead, after watching the brutal scenes that precede this last one, the viewer is expected to feel that European civilization and religion are the only saving grace for this dying culture. If that is the actual point of this scene, then I really don't know what to say.

Log 2008.12.24

2008-12-24T14:59:00.004-05:00

Considering that it was one month ago that I committed to a daily entry, and considering my failure to actually write every day, but while also considering that my writing frequency has nonetheless increased, and furthermore, considering that I've lately been quite enjoying the process of writing, and lastly, in the interest of maintaining some tiny modicum of quality in my postings (it's all relative, you know), I have decided to release myself from my commitment to write every day and will now write if and when the mood strikes, which will, hopefully, be a few times per week.

Log 2008.12.23

2008-12-24T00:36:00.003-05:00

I'd been racking* my brain for some time trying to remember the title of a science fiction anthology I had as a kid. This collection has haunted me since I started getting back into science fiction a few years ago. I remember the stories in this book as lonely vignettes of places, times, and situations that were totally alien to my nine or ten year old mind. Those memories still inform my take on what makes science fiction good. Today, suddenly, finally, unexpectedly, I dredged up the title. It is Children of Infinity. Holy crap! Remembering something from more than twenty-five years ago after struggling so hard felt like quite an accomplishment. It came to mind, I plugged it into a search engine, and there it was. I've ordered it (a used copy - I think it's out of print) despite my moratorium on new books. I do hope it holds up to my memory - I fear that it won't. I wonder if sometimes memories like this are best left alone.

*I always though that word was spelled with a 'w' as in 'wracking', but that is incorrect. 'Wrack' means to destroy, as a verb, or, as a noun, it is a remnant of something that has been destroyed. 'Rack' is the word meaning to cause great suffering, or, interestingly, to siphon beer or wine away from sediment in the winemaking or brewing process.

Books on the Brain

2008-12-22T20:36:00.002-05:00

Does saying "my eyes are bigger than my brain" convey the same idea as "my eyes are bigger than my stomach" but for books instead of food? I have lately been trying to implement a moratorium on book buying. I mentioned recently the many unpacked boxes in our basement? Almost all books. I have a large backlog of books I bought in 2008 that I've not yet read and I'd like to read them before acquiring more books. So, instead of buying every book that piques my interest, I have been adding to my Amazon wish list on a near daily basis. It has quickly grown to 65 items, which I imagine is not terribly big, but, assuming an average of, say, 325 pages per book, that's around 21,125 pages!

Not buying books has been good for my wallet, and has allowed me to turn my attention to the books I have, rather than the books I want. My longstanding dream of cataloging our book collection using Library Thing remains unrealized. This has been weighing on my mind, if not heavily, then with a smallish amount of mass - perhaps equivalent to that of a Louis L'Amour novel. What's stopping me? Well, first, there's time. There just isn't enough of it lying around. Secondly is the problem of devising and implementing a system of organization. Thinking about the impending unpleasantness of shifting so many books around to comply with whatever organizational scheme we decide on, not to mention (again) the time needed, has consistently brought on an intense desire to fill my brain with vacuous TV programming.

The last part of the problem is where to put the books. When we moved to our new house in October, we went from an apartment with very high ceilings to a house with ceilings that are not so high. I miss those ceilings, but not as much as I don't miss our upstairs neighbor. The tall bookcases we had would be overwhelming in the new house and have since been installed in the garage as storage shelves. Mind you, these were unfinished shelves of dubious quality, so they work quite well in their new role. In our apartment, the spare bedroom served as a library/studio/office. The house has a spare bedroom, but we're using it as, shockingly, a spare bedroom. There is an office, too, but it has somewhat limited space. I've been thinking that the best way to tackle this will be to spread the collection throughout the house - some books in the living room, some in the bedrooms, some in the office, etc. We may need a couple more small to medium bookcases to do this, but I think it'll work. The plan is to catalog and organize the books as we unpack them.

The books remain packed.

Is this a ridiculous idea? More trouble than it's worth? I honestly have no idea. My (probably not unreasonable) fear is that inertia will doom the books to live in their storage boxes for years to come. I hope not.

Log 2008.12.22

2008-12-22T15:35:00.001-05:00

It was a cold, treacherous walk to the train this morning. The sidewalks were not yet plowed, so I had to walk in the dirty snow on the roadside. The train was delayed a couple of times en route to Boston, and I was late for a 9am meeting. I wore jeans today, but when I got to work, I realized that I'd erred in my recollection of exactly which holiday week had been declared "denim week." It's next week.

Sigh.

Log 2008.12.21

2008-12-21T20:59:00.006-05:00

This weekend was all about snow removal and me rejoicing for the heated garage where the little Honda has been ensconced, and our new, relatively small driveway (compared to our old, very long driveway). I will be achy for a day or two from manhandling so much heavy, wet snow, but the driveway, the walkway, and the sidewalks in front of our house are presently clear, and the car is dry and ready to go without my having to do anything.

We had an object lesson in storm preparation yesterday when we lost power for a short while and struggled to find a flashlight. The candle (yep - we have just one lonely candle right now) was packed in one of the thirty or so unpacked boxes that crowd our basement right now. I wound up lighting a fire and for thirty or so minutes we felt a little bit like frontier folk. Then, once the power was back on, we quite unashamedly ordered delivery pizza.

I watched Troy last night. I've never read the Iliad, but my bride has, and evidently more than a few liberties were taken with the story. My take on it is was that it was a bit over the top. Of course, that's not too surprising considering that it was directed by Wolfgang Peterson, who was responsible for The Perfect Storm, a movie that I found just awful - especially in its over-the-topness. Das Boot and In the Line of Fire remain my favorite Peterson movies (Das Boot has a place on my all time favorite list). The film was chock full of epic CGI shots (with some of the CGI looking a bit too obvious to me at times) and violent action and was, all things considered, a lot of fun to watch. It didn't feel like a nearly three hour movie and it made me want to read the Iliad; I just need to find a good translation. We considered following up with Oh Brother, Where Art Thou?, but decided we'd had enough Homeric fare for one night.

Robert Goyette Cabernet Sauvignon - 2005

2008-12-21T18:01:00.001-05:00

Ok, henceforth I'm going to format these wine posts like this one. Ratings indicate the likelihood of me buying the wine again, with 5 being definitely, and 1 being no effing way. The more of these posts I do, the better equipped I think I'll be to compare smells, flavors, and colors.

Cost: $20

Variety/Region/Type: Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon

Vintage: 2005

Description: The aroma is full of cherry and raspberry with some citrus hints. A surprising note of something that reminded me of broccoli burst out at one point. The color is on the ruby side of the red wine spectrum, I think. This one is pretty dark, but doesn't have any of the brown tones you can get in red wines. It's not too astringent, acidic, or sweet. I noted a chocolate flavor in there somewhere. Nice soft tannins and a lasting finish. Yum!

Other notes: Visit the Robert Goyette winery's website.

Rating: 4

Winter Solstice

2008-12-21T07:04:00.003-05:00

If it isn't obvious, either by some of my writing (though not much, as I've not written a lot about this), or by the big red letter 'A' on the sidebar of the blog, I'm not a religious person. At all. I am, in fact, an atheist. However, I'm an atheist who happens to love Christmas.

How can this be?

Well, contrary to popular belief, being an atheist doesn't mean that I believe in nothing. No, that would be nihilism, and we all know that being a nihilist is exhausting. An atheist simply doesn't believe in any sort of supernatural deity. Be it the Abrahamic god of Christianity, Judaism, and Islam, or the household gods of ancient pagan religions, or even the Flying Spaghetti Monster, I don't believe in it. Why? Simple. There is no evidence for the existence of any of these entities, and I have no compelling reason to ignore that fact and believe anyway. As it happens, however, I find the Flying Spaghetti Monster quite entertaining.

I do believe in non-supernatural stuff, though. I believe that we live in a truly astounding and mind boggling universe. I believe that part of what makes the universe so awesome is that we are alive and can perceive it, study it, understand it (to some extent, anyway), and appreciate it. I believe in wonder and I believe in science (how can an atheist not?). And I believe that science (or more accurately, the scientific method) is, as far as we presently know, the most useful and efficient method of understanding, cataloging, and organizing what we humans know about the physical world.

I also believe in love - which is all you need according to some. I believe in laughter, and friendship, and the importance of being with the people you love when you can. That's why I love Christmas. It's always been the time to be together with people who I love - to break bread and celebrate; a time of lights and pine smell and music and gifts and good will; a time for we denizens of the higher Northern latitudes to light fires and hang stockings and share warmth.

So, I celebrate the season. I begrudge no one their beliefs. I choose to celebrate the winter solstice, which occurred today at 7:04 AM, EST (12:04 UTC). Happy winter solstice! Merry Christmas! Happy Yalda, Saturnalia, Karachun, Soyal, Hanukkah, Wren day, Kwanzaa, Hogmanay and Yule! And of course, good tidings to all who celebrate Festivus.

Domaine Des 2 Ânes Corbières - 2005

2008-12-20T15:50:00.004-05:00

A new subject I'd like to start posting about is wine. I am a dilettante, but learning. Herein I will wax pretentiously about a wine's aromas, comparing them to various non-wine sources of aromas. I will say things about the texture and flavor as well. It will be fun, and perhaps even educational (for me).

Today's entry is from Domaine Des 2 Ânes (translation: Field of the 2 Asses), and is a Corbières, a large appellation in southern France, namely the Languedoc region. These wines are mostly red, and are blends of made of Carignan blended with other grapes, including Grenache, Syrah, Mourveder, and Cinsaut. Evidently, 2005 was not one of the best years for Corbieres, but alas.

This wine was seriously funky. The first aromas were dirt and moss, and then, to my horror, a strong note of dirty diapers. Now, I do know from experience that some wines can emit quite a funk, but this was slightly off putting. I let it breathe in the glass for a bit longer, and some raspberry smells fought through the diaper stink. Interesting.

The first taste was (not shockingly) earthy and fruity, not acidic, and, almost boring in its lack of astringency. It really was a very pleasant wine, overall, though. I would buy it again.

Log 2008.12.20

2008-12-20T11:51:00.002-05:00

Half way through the month that I committed to writing every day, I go on a 5 day hiatus. Damn. I'm going to try to get back on track in order to finish out the month with a daily post, but in January, I'll scale back a bit. I plan still to try to write at least a few times per week, but every day is hard for me to do. I'd also like to try doing a few regular features on specific subjects. I'm still mulling over ideas for those.

Why write at all? That's a subject for a longer article, but very (very!) briefly, I find that writing helps me focus, sharpens my thinking skills, forces me to concentrate. It takes effort to write even the drivel I spew here, but I feel the effort is well spent.

Back to the log proper (a short one).

The past week at work has been draining. It's that most wonderful time of the year when budgets are proposed, criticized, defended, and, hopefully, finalized to everyone's satisfaction without being eviscerated. I've been in that fray, and, especially with the economic crisis on, it's been a tough go. Hopefully things will turn out well.

Log 2008.12.15

2008-12-15T20:14:00.002-05:00

I didn't account for how much I dislike washing and ironing my own shirts. I'm still at it, but I don't really like it. Poor me.

I'd somehow forgotten that Johnny Marks wrote a whole lot of holiday tunes with very similar structures. I was reminded of that bit of trivia when playing bass guitar in the family band at my sister's annual holiday party for her music teaching gig.

Catching up with the first season of Flight of the Conchords has been rewarding. I saw the second half last year and HBO has finally made the whole thing available on demand. Yis.

Log 2008.12.12

2008-12-12T13:22:00.002-05:00

Without even interacting very much, I'm learning more about the goings on among my extended network of friends, acquaintances, and assorted ghosts from the past - people who I see rarely, if at all, anymore - through Facebook than I ever did in the real world. It's a surreal kind of connection that I'm not sure I'm terribly comfortable with.

Log 2008.12.11

2008-12-11T18:00:00.000-05:00

With blogging, I'm finding that the more I try to write, the less I seem to have to say.

Yoda said, "There is no try. There is only do, or do not."

For now, I'm taking this to mean: shut up, I should, and write; think so hard about it, I should not.

Something like that.

Log 2008.12.10

2008-12-10T18:57:00.005-05:00

I like that an umbrella acts as a kind of wing. With just the right breeze and just the right angle, you get lift; if you very carefully adjust the angle, and the breeze is relatively constant, your umbrella feels weightless.

Log 2008.12.08

2008-12-08T17:13:00.003-05:00

I'm under the weather today, sadly. Lately, I feel like I need to re-boot, healthwise. I've not really been taking the best care of myself, and it's time (once again) to make some changes. I've really never been one for resolutions, but this is the traditional time of year to think about that sort of thing, after all. Is a vague resolution like 'be healthier,' which lacks a specific way to measure success or failure, a valid resolution? Do I really need to say 'lose ten (more like twenty-five) pounds' or 'be able to run 10 miles in 90 minutes or less' or 'reduce caloric intake by twenty per cent' in order to have a resolution? Perhaps goals like that will help, but I think I will just follow my tradition of eschewing tradition and resolve to make no resolutions. I will simply commit to being healthier and will try to become so by eating more healthful foods, less unhealthful food, and exercising regularly.

Log 2008.12.06

2008-12-06T10:40:00.004-05:00

The Guinness beef stew was simply delicious.

I get very few comments here. That's fine, but when I see that a comment has been posted, I get all excited. When it turns out to be comment spam, it really, really annoys me. I will immediately delete any and all comment spam.

I watched a couple of movies last night (instead of posting a Log). Saw Art School, a newer Zwigoff (since Crumb, I've been hooked - though I haven't seen Bad Santa for some reason), and rewatched Adaptation. I thought Art School was funny and sad, but maybe a little clunky at times. I enjoyed watching it, though. Adaptation was as good as I remember from the first time saw it.

Linkheap Volume XVI

2008-12-05T13:46:00.004-05:00

I'm certainly no where near as smart as John von Nuemann, and I'm probably not as smart as Matt Springer, who posted an interesting problem. I did, however, manage to see the "trick" solution right away, and that pleases me.

My bride has been reading Twilight series, and assures me that it's not my cup of tea, so I haven't read it. That Girl's post seals the deal for me. Sparkles? On vampires? Please! I guess I just don't dig the bagel bites.

Yau-Man Chan on the interesting cultural effect homonyms have on how superstitious speakers of Chinese perceive the inherent luckiness or unluckiness of numbers.

Jeremy Denk has this (and much more) to say about Andre Rieu:
But I propose that these André Rieu telecasts, complete with phone banks and PBS pledge drive emcees, are the least cool thing ever created. I mean, look at those ornate, gold-coated music stands, and the campy, pillowy outfits; look at his hair, for God’s sake (then look away, or you will go blind); watch the camera pan over some woman’s eyes as she leans on her boyfriend’s shoulder, brimming with tears at a saccharine arrangement of “Memories;” look at the fonts, etcetera, etcetera! Drink it in, the complete absence of cool. Swim in this black hole of hip.

The Broccolization of music is indeed a terrible thing to contemplate.

Log 2008.12.04

2008-12-04T20:54:00.003-05:00

I missed a day with this log thing yesterday. I did commit to writing daily through December, so I suppose I should be punished. I make the rules here, however, so I guess I can break them from time to time.

I put together a Guinness beef stew for the slow cooker tonight. The beef I bought is really just far too good for a slow cooked stew, but that's what I have, so that's what I'll use. Tomorrow morning it gets turned on low, and when I get home from work, I should have a hot, delicious beef stew waiting for me. See, now I have something to write about tomorrow night.

I've been playing a little bit every day. My strategy, as I slowly get my chops back and my playing nails back in shape, is to hack through as many pieces from my book as I can stand. No exercises, no warm ups, nothing like that. With two of four nails not right, the tone is garbage, and I really just can't stand playing with a garbage tone. The way things are going, I should be able to get a satisfying full-length practice session in over the weekend. I hope so, because I've got a gig - admittedly a very low-key, very low-stress gig - coming up on the 13th.

Cows on the Red Line?

2008-12-04T10:14:00.010-05:00

The MBTA is removing seats to accommodate more passengers during rush hour on the Braintree branch of the Red Line. The Boston Herald has run a funny picture with the headline "Cattle Cars!"

Articles like this always bring out some interesting comments:

I bet this person works for the T.

Guys, honestly now, what else can they do? They cannot expand the trains, the platforms only hold 6 cars. They also cannot add more trains during rush hour, the trains are already bumper to bumper in the tunnel, there are only so many blocks in the system. This is the ONLY thing they can do to increase capacity. If you have ever been on the red line at rush hour you would know they need to increase capacity. The only other method is to raise fares and decrease ridership through economic principles. I'd rather they remove seats.

A citizen concerned about the hygiene of his fellow riders

HOW ABOUT REQUIRING RIDERS TO TAKE SHOWERS BEFORE THEY COMMUTE. YOU SHOULD SMELL THESE COMMUTERS! GROSS

And, a true conspiracy nutjob.

Listen. The global elite treat us like cattle because we ARE cattle to them. They use the term "useless eaters" when referring to us. Why should anyone be surprised at this move? Its not a conspiracy, its an agenda. The plan is a global neo feudalist society and guess what? Even you millionaires out there are going to be reckoned as serfs. When you run out of carbon credits the only alternative will be the cattle cars. I hope everyone who fell for the global warming\climate change scam and the bailout bill enjoys making like a sardine.

As a daily Braintree branch Red Line commuter, my initial reaction is that this tactic is probably worth trying. The cars are always packed and uncomfortable, and there are times when I find myself waiting for two or three trains before the platform at South Station - where I get on in the evenings - clears out enough for me to squeeze onto a train. If the T can cram an extra 27 passengers on each train, as they claim this move will help them do, it may help clear those packed platforms a bit more quickly.

We'll see.

Log 2008.12.02

2008-12-02T23:52:00.002-05:00

Man, getting back into playing shape after an extended break is a drag.
I've decided to wash and iron my own dress shirts for a while. It's greener than the dry cleaner, but more work. By habit, I am a very lazy man. Hopefully I can stick with it.
Disappointingly, I missed the big Venus-Jupiter-Moon triangle formation. It was, I think, cloudy here last night, but I completely spaced it.

Log 2008.12.01

2008-12-01T18:00:00.000-05:00

I'm feeling creaky today. Creaky and foggy and more than a bit muddled. Is it me, or is it just really hard to get quality sleep on a Sunday night? I spend hours, it seems, in a half-awake semi-sleep; when, after what seems like an eternity in this pre-slumber purgatory, deep sleep finally takes me into its warm embrace, it's mere moments before the alarm pierces the stillness, and my arm reflexively begins slapping at the nightstand in the general direction of that awful noise and the prized "ten more minutes" offered by the snooze button.

Log 2008.11.28 - 2008.11.30

2008-11-30T17:46:00.002-05:00

I'm already slacking. Yes, it was a holiday weekend, but the fact that I don't really feel like writing anything doesn't bode well for the future of this blog. Notable happenings (and a non-happening):

Visited with family and had a good time.
Bought tile for our kitchen backsplash
Disappointingly, I haven't been able to get into a groove with my practicing
Encouragingly, I have gotten into a groove with some regular exercising. We'll see what the workweek brings.

Linkheap Volume XV

2008-11-28T07:00:00.002-05:00

Gather round for some Friday links!

Ironic Sans has been posting these really neat "60 Seconds In The Life Of" videos.
Astroprof talks about Copernicus and the fact that his (Copernicus's, not Astroprof's) remains have been found.
David Valdez posts the amazing interviews between Paul Desmond and Charlie Parker.

Log 2008.11.27

2008-11-27T18:23:00.004-05:00

Set alarm for 7:15. Snoozed a whole bunch of times. Dragged tired-ass self out of bed at 7:40. Trundled downstairs, removed turkey from brine, rinsed, patted dry, placed in roasting pan, dressed bird with onions, celery, and carrots, placed in preheated oven.

While waiting for the turkey to roast, dealt with a fraudulent credit card charge. I've never had anything like this happen before, but there was an unexplained and unauthorized $500.00 charge among my online transactions. It looks like some father raping bastard may have gotten hold of my card number. Prick.

Completed cooking (trimmings, Brussels sprouts w/ bacon and apples, mashed potatoes w/ chives and sour cream, appetizers included kielbasa cooked in Guinness, brown sugar, and maple syrup - guests brought along some damn delicious squash, cranberry sauce, and wonderful desserts)

Hosted Thanksgiving dinner for family.

Presently consuming bourbon.

Log 2008.11.26

2008-11-26T15:36:00.002-05:00

I had the day off today and went grocery shopping to get ready for Thanksgiving. This is the 3rd year that we've hosted my family, and it's turned into a tradition that I really enjoy. I'm brining the turkey this time. I brined it the first year, and it was delicious. In an ill-advised, lazy-man maneuver, I bought a pre-cooked bird last year from a local turkey farm. It just couldn't come close to the home roasted brined bird. Lesson learned.

Log 2008.11.25

2008-11-25T19:00:00.000-05:00

I spent a long time lingering over the cereal selection in the cafeteria at work this morning. It reminded me of my childhood breakfasts where, in the little upper cabinets above the stove, there was always a wide selection of cereals to choose from. They were mostly non-sweetened, "healthy" cereals: Wheaties, Cheerios, Corn Flakes. We usually had some borderline cereals, too, on the healthy scale, like Honey Nut Cheerios, Life, and Cinnamon Life. My favorite cereal ever was certainly Team Flakes, a delicious quartet of corn, rice, wheat, and oats that I never truly appreciated during its heyday and that I'll never be able to experience again because the cereal was discontinued ages ago. Team flakes had a good box, too, with, if I remember correctly, bucolic pictures of the four grains growing in their fields superimposed within the letters, T.E.A.M., and some good reading material covering the various health benefits of the multigrain lifestyle along with some sports stuff. In reality, the box was important to me not so much because it gave me reading material, but more for the fact that it could function as a privacy screen. My sisters and I usually ate breakfast at around the same time. I guess we didn't like to look at each other during breakfast because we built little fortresses around ourselves with our cereal boxes. We were weird kids.

Ebert on Clone Wars

2008-11-25T13:34:00.005-05:00

Roger Ebert's review of Star Wars: The Clone Wars made me laugh.

You know you're in trouble when the most interesting new character is Jabba the Hutt's uncle. The big revelation is that Jabba has an infant to be kidnapped. The big discovery is that Hutts look like that when born, only smaller. The question is, who is Jabba's wife? The puzzle is, how do Hutts copulate? Like snails, I speculate. If you don't know how snails do it, let's not even go there. The last thing this movie needs is a Jabba the Hutt sex scene.

Jabba's uncle, Ziro the Hutt, by the way, is the Truman Capote of the Hutts. I found that this characterization was, in fact, intentional (via). Oh, and the baby Hutt, Rotta the Hutt, is referred to as a Huttlet, and is, I'm almost afraid to say, kind of cute.

If you're just burning up to know more about snail copulation, visit this page.

The movie itself just isn't terribly good, sadly.

Log 2008.11.24

2008-11-24T17:05:00.006-05:00

My iPod croaked. Until I can get to an Apple store to see if it can be repaired, I'm without my music collection. To bridge the gap I've been listening to Pandora at work, and it's been giving me all kinds of good stuff. You put in a song or artist that you're in the mood to listen to, and it plays that song or artist and creates a mix of other music that has similar attributes. I've tried a few, but my favorite at work so far has been my Boards of Canada mix. Lonely ambient downtempo music that fits my state of mind to a tee.

I need to go to the dentist to have my wisdom teeth pulled and I seem to be terrified. Why else haven't I made the appointment? It's been a very long time since I've visited a dentist, but there's absolutely no rational reason for me to be afraid. I never had an especially bad dentist experience. As a kid I actually liked my dentist. It's baffling. I hereby vow to find a dentist and make an appointment by the end of November.

We have this neat old Crane sink (scroll to the bottom) in our bathroom that has the spout and water pathways integrated with the porcelain. We're pretty sure it was original to the house (1949). The handles are made of chromed zinc, and haven't held up over time. The valves are leaky too. Our plumber laughed at our suggestion that we try to refurbish the sink saying that you can't get those valves anymore. We were planning to say the hell with it and replace it with a new pedestal sink. A little bit of research, however, turned up a plumbing supply company out of California, DEA Bathroom Machineries, that fabricates the parts to repair or replace the valves. You can see that the full valves are quite expensive, but after an email conversation with one of their plumbers, it turns out that I can most likely rebuild the valves and replace the trim for significantly less money and keep the vintage sink.

Log 2008.11.23

2008-11-23T21:57:00.009-05:00

To help get some writing happening, I plan to start writing daily entries. Because I have been kind of at a loss as far as material, I'll be writing these entries like a diary or journal. For example: 'X' happened today; I observed 'Y' and it made me think 'Z'. I'll commit to doing this through December.

Ok, without further ado, let's write yesterday's entry (I'm writing about yesterday, 11/23, today, which is 11/24, and date stamping it for yesterday because I can).

---

Organized the basement and set up a home gym area and the TV and DVD player so that I can start doing some DVD cardio and kickboxing routines and iron pumping. I've been getting fat again and I'd really like to do something about that. It's hard to significantly cut back on calories during the holiday season with all the accompanying parties and feasts that go along with this time of the year. I think increasing my activity would help. I'm also thinking about getting a stationary bike. I'd like to start running and biking again in the spring, and think that maybe this will help prepare me for that. I will report back on any successes or failures in this endeavor.

Purged my radiators of air. We've got a forced hot water system in our house. It was working very nicely in the rooms where it was working. The radiators in the spare bedroom where I practice, and the bathroom, however, were not working. Air in the system prevents the water from making a complete circuit through the heating pipes, leaving some of the radiators - especially those furthest from the boiler - bereft of hot water. The fairly simple procedure of bleeding the radiators will do the trick. What a difference a warm bathroom can make on a cold morning!

Finally got back to practicing. I shattered my thumbnail during the lost month of renovating and moving (the kitchen project that consumed every moment of our spare time for the month prior to our moving in is something that I'll need to write more about at some point). That, plus the lack of practicing during the aforementioned 'lost month', has made getting back to a routine a fairly disagreeable concept. I hate the week or more of work required to shake off the rust. Plus, I'm playing with a rather dinky thumbnail (it's growing back, but its seems to take forever to get to a length that's comfortable for playing). This means that playing feels a bit awkward and I sound like crap. I simply need to be disciplined. If I play every day things should start to come together again.

Blog Bloggety Blog Blog Blog

2008-11-20T20:48:00.003-05:00

I think I may start writing again.

When I left off last I was single (but taken) and an apartment dweller. Now I'm married and a homeowner. This happened in a three month span. Granted there was planning - lots and lots of planning - so it was more than three months of work, but we had one hell of a whirlwind three month span. I'm tired now. I just want an endless string of days in a lovely remote location where I sit and drink pint after pint of Guinness and think of nothing.

When I left off last I lived in a nation in turmoil, embroiled in wars and facing mounting economic problems. Now I still live in a nation in turmoil and embroiled in wars. The economic troubles have turned into a full blown crisis. But, for the first time in a very long time, I feel hopeful. I'm proud to hail from the USA for the first time in a very long time.

I still have no idea what I will be writing about here or even if I will actually bother to write. I haven't felt that I've had much to say. What I'd like to do would be to write better. I'd like to find things to write about that help me to clarify my own ideas. I'd like to use this space to actually say something. I'd like my writing to be inspired.

I'm not holding my breath.

What's more, I feel like I might be at a sort of crossroads in my life. Do I want to keep at the music thing? I need to go to grad school in order to progress further in my day job and I'm getting to the point where I don't know if I can do that, work full time, and be satisfied with the progression and quality of my playing. Maybe I'm wrong and I can find a way to balance these different areas of my life. Maybe I'll sell my instruments and stop playing entirely. Maybe I'll say to hell with grad school. I just don't know right now. I suppose this minor life dilemma would be something to write about.

If I do actually refrain from clicking that big juicy "delete this blog" button, I'd still like to post links. Maybe I ought to write about the books I read, the movies I see, the music I listen to, the TV shows I watch. That's what blogs are for, right?

Checked Out

2008-09-17T15:58:00.003-04:00

I've checked out of cyberspace for a bit. It's nice (if busy) out here in the real world. I expect I may get back to posting later this year.

How Fast Is The World's Fastest Banjo?

2008-08-08T12:47:00.001-04:00

Pretty fast...

The Kind Of Thing That Can Make My Day

2008-07-25T22:32:00.001-04:00

Memo to Me

2008-07-17T22:07:00.008-04:00

Clipped to my music stand:

It reads:
1. Breathe, or you'll surely die
2. Relax
-Gut, shoulders, forearms
3. Left hand postion
-crisp, accurate
4. Focus......

This list has been very helpful in recent practice sessions.

Tablature

2008-07-17T13:42:00.007-04:00

When I buy music for solo gigs - arrangements of popular or standard songs for solo guitar, for example - the music invariably includes tablature. I don't care for this. I'd prefer it if the publishers of this music would offer a choice - tab, or no tab.

No tab for me, thanks.

I've got nothing against guitar tablature. It has a long and distinguished history. I just don't find it useful. I read standard notation fairly well, thanks, and the TAB staves clutter up the page unnecessarily. They double the number of pages needed for a given arrangement. When I play a solo gig, I like as few page turns as necessary. Tab staves would force me to turn more pages. Page turns are not an easy feat for this guitarist.

I keep my music for solo guitar gigs in a binder (my 'book', as it's known in the vernacular). I use clear plastic three ring binder pages so that I can rearrange things if I want. It makes it easy to add and subtract music as needed. If I buy music that has tab staves, I need to go through the exercise of exorcising the tab. I copy the pages I want from the book. I slice out the tab staves with a paper cutter, and then I lay out the tab-free treble clef staves on a blank piece of paper, tape them down, and photocopy them. Voila, instant (well, no, not instant, it takes a little time) tab-free music.

Linkheap Volume XIV

2008-07-13T23:54:00.005-04:00

A short one.

Phil Plait on how to pronounce the word kilometer.
Bat Smax.
Straight No Chaser does a podcast with a couple tunes from the unlikely pair of Wynton Marsalis and Willie Nelson. There's some good stuff from Bill Frisell, too. I like.

To Be a Bird

2008-06-16T09:39:00.002-04:00

O, to jump into the air without a care.

This guy jumped from the roof, flew into a nearby tree, and merrily engaged in the "physical act of love" with a female of his species.

Ah, spring!