Slogging!

I'm continuing to slog my way through my collection of old live or radio show tapes that I've collected over the years, converting them to MP3. I'm going to do a major push this weekend, while I'm on call, and possibly, I *may* be able to be totally done by the following weekend. I have 28 more tapes to convert, so I may be wildly optomistic on this front...

Right now, I'm converting Yes from the Orpheum in Boston, October 1997. It's a show I attended, but I did not do the tape myself. And of course, it being Yes in Boston, I attended the show with Brian. (The bass drum on this recording is very bassy... Ah well, bootlegs...)

I haven't mentioned recently what I'm reading, so away I go... I'm reading "Manhunt," by James Swanson, a book about John Wilkes Booth's assassination of Lincoln, and Booth's subsequent escape for 12 days. It's a fascinating read, as I didn't know much about Booth's escape, I just knew he was killed at a farm sometime after the assassination. The book is generally a good read, but there's a bit too much repetition in the narrative, and not enough referencing of places and dates. I know dates can be the death of a history book, but I love them, to keep track of the narrative in my head...

NP: Yes - Siberian Khatru - 18 Oct 1997

Aykroyd?!

Is it just me, or does this new movie, RV, remind anyone out there of the Dan Aykroyd/John Candy vehicle from the late 80's, The Great Outdoors?

Anyone?

Contact!

Ah, the wonders of the Inter-Ether-Web... I just heard, via a comment below, from the aforementioned Baron, who was a good friend from back in the days of Ocean Township High School, class of '89.

That was way back in the last century, for those young ones out there.

It's a good time, to hear back from people that I've lost contact with over the years. When I think about that high school graduation was 17 years ago, I can certainly get a little nostalgic. It's not an eternity, and generally, I like to live in the present, versus wallowing in the past, but it's good to visit the past periodically.

Hell, I do genealogy! Let's be honest, I *love* wallowing in the past...

But, my wallowing is not about trying to relive the past, or changing what has happened. It's more of a reflective wallowing, to learn and remember the good/bad/ugly times from back then. Brian and I are very good at doing this if you get us together for any period of time.

"Guess Who" wanted to hear more stories about that Baron fellah... I remember Baron, Brian and I working together on studying for a final exam in Mr. Lefsky's Macro class. We had to basically overhaul the American economy. I vaguely remember us liking the idea of reinstating chain gangs, to have prisoners do more menial labor. I'd have to find my notebooks from back then (which I still have, in some trunks in the apartment), to see what our ideas were. Lefsky encouraged us to work together, which was good, as I think the three of us probably wrote fairly identical essays for that test. I think we all did well...

I also remember, on a trip to NYC with the aforementioned Macro class, that Baron had a jacket, perhaps a Members Only type, that we joked looked as if he had a gun in a shoulder holster. Much fun ensued when Baron slowly made to reach for his imaginary gun...

Well, it was funny at the time, really...

In other news, work is going okay. I'm still waiting to hear from some of the jobs I've applied for, but colleges, and Student Affairs positions in particular, are usually sssssssssssssssslllllllllllllllloooooooooooooooowwwwwwwwwwwwwww in doing their job searches. So, I submit resumes, and wait...

I have some photos from that New York trip, I'll see if I can get them onto the computer to post up here... Ah, to be young and have hair...