Zorky Park

iPhone blogging

2011-10-14T21:32:00.001-04:00

My first blog with the iPhone app. Just a test, nothing to see here...

Visiting Boston College

2011-08-17T21:04:00.002-04:00

A few weekends ago, I was up in Boston, visiting friends with Eli, which of course was a blast. It's always good to reconnect with old compatriots, even though we communicate a lot over e-mail, phone, and other venues. However, nothing beats being able to wander through old haunts, refreshing memories of those days gone by.

Wandering through the campus of Boston College, it's easy to focus on what is new and different, and part of my conversation with Eli was about that. New building here, changed pathway there, those are the surface changes that are easy to point out. What is deeper and more meaningful, is feeling the reflection and the ghosts of those old memories coming back to life.

Wandering around the grass of Shaw House, it was easy to remember the first time I stayed there, as a senior in High School, and then returning in September 1989 to live there for the first two years of my college experience. It's not the place to just randomly recount memories here, as this is more about those feelings of refreshing the well of memory. Place plays a strong role in memory, so being able to wander the grounds around the building, talking with Eli about what was where, who lived in different rooms, it was easy to connect back to those old times.

I did wish that some of those people I shared the time with were there also, as I think the discussion of what we remembered would cause a great synergy. Tony G. and I have often talked of revisiting Boston at the same time, and this visit just makes it even more imperative to do so at some point in the future.

Revisiting other areas of campus, walking the walks, it gave me flashes of memories that I hadn't recalled in years... Visiting Boston in general allows for that, and also creates the new memories...

Words for my grandmother

2010-12-05T17:52:00.003-05:00

I mentioned in my most recent blog post that my grandmother recently died, on Halloween of this year. My dad asked if I could speak at the funeral, and I agreed. What follows is what I said at the funeral.

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My grandmother, Thelma Partridge, was born in September 1917 to Robert Partridge and Bessie Nixon. She was the second of three daughters, and the longest lived of all three. If you are here today, it is because Gram touched your life somehow also, and she loved you in return…

When I think of my grandmother, I think of someone who was always willing to tell a story, to recount something from the day, something she saw, or something from the past to illustrate something in the present. Being the family researcher I am, this was a great help, although I didn’t get off to an auspicious start with this in my childhood. I believe we were driving somewhere, and my grandmother was telling some story, where in the middle of it, she said that she may have told this one before. My response was something along the lines of “Only a few hundred times before!”

But through her stories, as I got older, I got to know the family in ways I would not have otherwise had had the chance to. My grandfather died when I was 13, but through her, I got to know him in different ways. The same holds true for the stories she would tell of both her father and mother, lives I never quite touched, but lives that I was able to learn about from her.

I want to tell two brief stories of my grandmother, and perhaps these stories will sound familiar in some ways to you, just with you playing a role in the story instead of me.

When I was a child, adults are looked to for life lessons, and I remember one time, driving with Gram somewhere, I believe it was to see her mother, my great-grandmother, in the nursing home in Neptune where she lived. I was telling a story about a friend in school who was in some sort of battle with another classmate, and I said, “My friend really hates this other person.” Gram said in return to me, “Well, you should never really hate someone else.” In my mind, I listened, and said, “Okay, don’t hate other people. Check.” It’s something I’ve tried to live by through my life, and while it’s hard, I think that if you don’t hate those you don’t like, you at least can try to understand, rather than be blinded by your hate…

In recent years, with doing my research on the history of the family, I’ve had many conversations with Gram about what I’ve discovered. Through examining old photos, looking up documents that haven’t seen the light of day in years, I’ve learned a lot of the “facts” about the family, but not necessarily the “life” of the people. However, in looking at a lot of old photos, I’ve seen similarities between generations that maybe haven’t been noticed in the past… I mentioned to Gram during one of these conversations, that the Nixon’s, the family of her mother, had rather large ears…. I pointed to some old photos of her uncle Robert, and some others, and even some of the grandchildren of her sister Dot. Nothing that matter with large ears, it was just one of those things you observe in photos…

We left it at that, until I got a call later that week, from Gram! In mock horror, she described looking at her own ears in the mirror that morning, and discovering that she herself had the NIXON EARS! I laughed about it with her, and said that when you live with them that long, they’re just *your* ears, not Nixon ears. But that perhaps she had had hair cover her ears for a reason…

So, those are some of my own special moments that I have featuring Gram. I’d like us all to pause for a moment, to think of those things from our life with Thelma, that make us smile, that we can hold close to ourselves for the future.

Thank you for your time, and I give my love to my grandmother, and to all of you, for being able to be here today.

Robert Fripp in NYC

2010-12-03T23:37:00.002-05:00

Tonight, I attended the second of four performances of Robert Fripp's soundscapes at the World Financial Center in NYC.

Being a King Crimson and Fripp enthusiast, I've seen Fripp with Crimson a number of times, but had not had the experience of attending a soundscapes performance. I have many of the CD releases of Fripp's ambient work, but no live experiences. So, I was looking forward to this event in NYC. The added benefit of it being free was also a plus, but I would have paid, had the show needed advance tickets.

I arrived at the venue around 5:45pm, for a 7pm start time, and was able to get a seat at the front right side of the stage. The venue, while a public space, was very nice, with high ceilings, and a large backdrop behind the stage, which gave me the impression of being a sail.

Fripp came out at about 6:30pm to do a bit of soundchecking. Someone shouted "21st Century Schizoid Man," but fortunately that was the only bit of doofiness for the evening. Fripp was on stage for a few minutes, and then exited, to await the performance start time.

Fripp was introduced by one of the WNYC (New York's public radio station) hosts, I can't recall his name right now, but he does the "Sound Check" new music show on that station. He asked for no flash photography, and detailed how in this type of performance, which is mainly improvised, we the audience are as much a part of it as the performer. Our attention adds to the experience, and shapes it in ways that are both obvious, and subtle.

When Fripp then came on stage, he bowed to the audience at the front of the stage, then to stage right for a bow, and then to stage left before sitting at his stool to start the performance. Soundscapes are created by playing some different notes, patterns, or short melodies, that are then looped or processed in ways, allowing for additional loops or guitar solo melodies to be played along with the loops. It is a *quiet* music, but full of feeling.

Putting my own feelings on the table, I had had a full month. My grandmother died on this past Halloween, and some of the melodies, in their feelings of melancholy, loss, and reflection, I could not help but think about the life of my grandmother, and the loss that I have felt. But while it could be sad and maudlin to use music in that way, the soundscapes, for me, seem to have a feel of hope and redemption about them. Some do have a slightly darker feel, but even those have some feel of light about them. And, when reflecting on the life of someone close to you, it is good to have that feeling of being able to say goodbye, through music.

Fripp played for about 50 minutes, and I would say that there were 5-6 distinct pieces during that time. As some pieces flow into another, it's hard to say exactly how many pieces there might have been. For me, the second piece was particularly moving, and one of the transitions later in the set truly touched me.

There are two more performances in this series, both tomorrow (Saturday) at 12:30pm and 7pm. I would recommend these performances to anyone in the NYC area who would like to hear some music that is both very different from much of what is out there, but still can move you in ways that you will think about for a long time.

And still....

2010-09-10T15:57:00.002-04:00

When I weighed myself this morning, I'm at 200.

Good to know that I can go basically 3 months, and end up right where I started...

More to come!

Stable!

2010-05-28T15:34:00.002-04:00

No change in weight from yesterday. Still at 200 lbs.

Will it change tomorrow? The suspense is killing me!

Weight!

2010-05-27T12:03:00.000-04:00

So, this past weekend, we had the Saint Peter's graduation ceremony, and I get to work it as a marshal. So, I put on my suit, and headed out to the Garden State Arts Center (no PNC Bank crap for me, thank you very much) for the ceremony.

However, the vest for my suit was a wee bit snug. Pants had been getting tighter recently, so I knew that weight was creeping up. However, I didn't know it was getting *that* bad.

Strangely enough, I stumble across this article about weight loss. So, I'm going for the public-humiliation diet, to drop some poundage.

Some days, I may just post a number in here. Know that that number is my weight in pounds.

So, let's start the excitement, with a nice round number: 200 lbs.

NP: Dick Dale - Jesse Pearl

I know, I know...

2010-03-22T15:59:00.001-04:00

I really need to blog more... I'm going to start getting more into this world again soon, I promise... Perhaps even tomorrow. Because, why start today what I can put off until tomorrow.

Wait a second! This is a blog, and it's today! So, I *haven't* put it off till tomorrow.

Woot!

Snow for today...

2010-02-10T17:11:00.003-05:00

As I'm a bit snowbound today, here's some visuals of the culprit...

CD Review: Steve Hackett - Out of the Tunnel's Mouth

2009-09-15T21:21:00.000-04:00

One of the great things about being a fan of Genesis is that each member or former member of the band has a deep solo career to explore. For whatever mood you feel, there is new music to explore. Steve Hackett’s latest work, ‘Out of the Tunnel’s Mouth’ on his own Wolfworks label is the newest addition to this ever expanding discography.

This album runs through a full gamut of moods, with a lot of darkness and reflections, but yet to these ears the album feels hopeful at its conclusion. The turns that life takes can be unexpected, and can make the reality of life seem paper thin, as Steve sings in ‘Fire on the Moon,’ but by the end of the disc, you feel as if you are on a voyage somewhere different, exotic, and at its core, resolved to move forward, to take life on your own terms…

Are these songs autobiographical? They may be, but to the listener, it is almost irrelevant, as with the best autobiographical, personal songs, the music takes the listener on a trip to reflect on their own experiences and lives, as reflected to them in the music, the experience of another person. The personal experience of the artist, becomes general in the mind of the listener. This creating of these moods, based on Steve’s own experiences, then generalize to the hearts and minds of the audience.

What follows are impressions I felt while listening to each song. I am not attempting to “review” the music, as taste as always is a personal choice, but here you can find one person’s reflection, and perhaps it will whet your appetite to hear this music yourself… I know for me, this is an album that already has rewarded me upon repeat listens. I’ll continue to listen, to explore more and more the emotional depths present here, that are absent in so much music. This music speaks truth, and you will find yourself inside the truth, wherever that may take you.

Fire on the Moon: Starts with a sound, almost like a scream cut off abruptly… Is it autobiographical, the feeling of a drop off, a shock to the system… The rolling bass in the wordless choruses feels relentless, something moving forward inexorably towards an unknown conclusion… The guitar breaks, while intense, seem to these ears to be containing hope also… A reflection on the past, without submitting to it…
Nomads: A cry from the heart… could be the title for the entire album… A Spanish influenced song, with joy in the middle guitar break, turning to electric before our eyes…Shades of darkness near the end… It’s a cry from the heart, truly…
Emerald and Ash: A foggy nighttime intro… Smiling dolls wield the sharpest blade…An airy middle section, dreamy in it’s mode…But after the dream, darkness shows…Light and airy middle sections, with the sound of a light and airy 12 string, then turning dark and electric…Jamming guitar concludes… A workout on electric…Almost sounds like a march moving forward, relentlessly
Tubehead: Hackett has spoken of Clocks, off of Spectral Mornings, being designed as “live bait” for getting concert crowds rocking… This track is the live bait for 2009, and it works great! More guitar than should be allowed on one track… I’m sure this will be wild live…Perhaps the middle “breakdown” section could have even been pushed up in the mix a bit more, but that’s a minor quibble
Sleepers: Acoustic intro, reflective… Almost Hairless Heart like in quality, not a remake, but explores that same mood to these ears… …More of that romantic sounding nylon guitar that fans love from Steve, and that he does so well… Transition to song… more mournful guitar…Fine arrangement, relaxing, dreamy, pulls you in, then punches you in the face (in a good way?) with heaviness in the middle… Almost a cartoonish music break in the middle-end solo… Great stuff, from one mood to another in the space of a few bars… Does music come from dreams, and if so, are they as haunted as this music…
Ghost in the Glass: Nature sounds, outdoors, hanging with Steve as he plays the intro…Into the electric main melody, a respite from some of the darkness of the other songs on the album, but still power is here…
Still Waters: Heavyness incarnate…Blues with a dark feeling…Male/female vocals trading off, verse/chorus, blues with progressive breaks… a heavy blues groove to die for…
Last Train to Intanbul: A middle eastern flavour to the intro, guitar, flute, Steve can still take us geographically around the world, with a short guitar phrase… Takes a mode of music, and puts his own stamp on it… Orchestral call and response throughout the verses… Wonderful stuff… It unquestionably Hackett, with the taste of the rest of the world…Lots of references to sleep in the lyrics throughout the album… We can take this as an observation on waking up, becoming aware, and taking control as we begin the rest of our lives…

And as we fade out the last track, we get the sense of moving forward, the music going on, and we go on with our lives… We awake from the dream, finding our way to the new tomorrow, catching that Last Train to Istanbul…

Out of the Tunnel’s Mouth is available on 5 October 2009, from Steve’s site: Hackettsongs.com

Belew!

2009-08-30T12:40:00.005-04:00

On both Friday and Saturday night this weekend, I attended local shows by Adrian Belew, solo artist/guitarist/songwriter extraordinaire, the Friday night show at BB King's in NYC, and Saturday night's show at Maxwell's in Hoboken. Initially, I had only tickets to the Friday show, but I discovered a week or so ago that the Hoboken show was happening. As Hoboken is a 15 minute drive from here in Jersey City, I decided I *had* to go to the second show. Really, there was no choice! And I'm very glad I made that call...

The two shows had generally identical set lists, although Friday's show *may* have had a bit more of Belew's new album, 'e' played at it. The Saturday show, to my ears was way ahead of the Friday show, in power, playing, and just general fun. Perhaps it had to do with the Friday venue being a seated club, and the Saturday show being at a standing club (where I was right up at the stage, to Belew's left), so I realize that can have a bit to do with my enjoyment of the show. I do think Friday's show had a few tech issues, while the only real issue I saw on Saturday, was Belew having a bit of trouble finding a tricky C# in a fast run during one of the 'e' sections... Caused by dim lighting!

Here's a photo of the set list, which I was able to get from Saturday's show, for those of you who are interested...

The set was heavy on the instrumental bits, and while I have the feeling that a lot of the new album's material was not known to the crowd, it got a great response, as Belew's writing, whether instrumental or song based, is always heavy on memorable melodies, great playing, and strong musicianship. The new material, and some of the older songs utilized looping technology, where Belew would play a riff, patter, or melody, which then through the magic of technology, would be played as a loop, over which Belew could then play other patterns, rhythms, melodies, animal sounds, basically whatever he wished to...

Belew was discovered by Frank Zappa, and played in his band before going on to play with other great musicians, and record his own solo albums. I found myself reflecting after the first show, that I think if Zappa was still alive, he would have embraced this looping technology to a great extent for his own compositions. However, that's just me hypothisizing/daydreaming, who knows what would have happened if Zappa had lived...

I did take a few photos of the show, I did not use flash as I find that annoying during shows, but because of that, most of the shots I took have a fluid nature to them... They're not "great" shots, but I find something compelling about them... Here's a selection of them for you.

This tour was billed as the "Power Trio" tour, and the rhythm section was made up of Julie Slick on bass, and Eric Slick on drums. Much has been written on how great these two players are, and how well they gel with Adrian on stage, so let me just add my voice to the chorus and say how *fantastic* they are, they really seem to form an excellent compliment to the lead guitar and vocals provided by Adrian. Having two young musicians of this calibre to back him up, Adrian must feel as if he can go out on stage and play just about anything, and the Slick's will be right there with him to back him up...

This last photo was taken during the brief autograph session at the end of the night on Friday. Adrian is always willing to meet and chat with fans, and sign albums he's played on. I'm a sucker for photos and autographs, I admit, so I was happy to get this shot of us together.

I recommend to anyone out there who is interested in any part of Belew's career, to give this new album a shot, and to see one of these power trio shows if they're coming to play anywhere near you. You won't be disappointed.

EDIT: I also have to say I was glad to see "Futurevision" from the album 'Here' get a live airing. I've always loved that song, and I think it tends to get ignored in the greater Belew canon...

Trivia

2009-08-27T20:52:00.003-04:00

Yet again, our band of trivia goers (tonight, it was David, Mike D., Steve, and Julie, our new Community Director in the office) once again dove into the breach, and came up victorious. We ended the game in first place, so we take home the $50 gift certificate, which we use in the moment to pay for the food we got while out at trivia.

We tip well though, since we don't spend real money on the food. We know where our bread is buttered, and we want the staff there to like us...

Granted, we don't win all the time, but we tend to do well.

The way the game works is like this. There are five rounds, and four questions in each round. The first three questions, you answer, and you assign a point value to your answer. The value is either 5 points, 3 points, or 1 point, based on how confident you are of the answer. The team can only use each point value once. You can't put 5 points for each answer. So, the answer you are least sure of, you should put 1 point on that question, and 5 points on the one you are most sure of.

The 4th question is always worth 7 points, question number bonus. So, with 16 points in 5 rounds, the max number of points for the game is 80.

Tonight, we scored 70. Good, but not our best.

The categories are usually TV, Movies, Music, Sports, and then either a double of one of the used categories (another Movie, TV, etc), or sometimes a different one. Tonight's 5th category was "Games."

So, that's how we usually spend our Thursday evenings, after work... Now, I have to digest Houlihan's bar food... That'll take awhile!

Paul McCartney

2009-08-26T19:12:00.010-04:00

You know, I might be arriving a bit late to this party, but for the first time I have seen Sir Paul McCartney live in concert.

And, I have to say, I think this chap may have a decent career in music coming up!

I went to see Paul play with a rocking teenage combo at the new Shea Stadium back in July, now called Citi Field, or some such non-descript name. I think that people will still call it Shea, just like the PNC Bank Arts Center is still the Garden State Arts Center for those in the know...

Paul played a great selection of music, and as I've told some people in person, he truly brought "The Rock" to this show. Some of Paul's music could be a bit soft at times, but at this show, it was all good high energy rock, one after another. Even the acoustic bit of the show, had a power to it that worked for songs like Yesterday and others.

Overall, for this Beatle fan, a great show! I do need to get some of McCartney's solo albums now, any recommendations?

And, here's a video of "Jet," the second song of the night. Enjoy!

Frost/Nixon and UKZ

2009-01-25T20:13:00.002-05:00

Yesterday, I spent most of the day in New York City, seeing two very different shows. In the early afternoon, I went to see the film "Frost/Nixon," and in the evening, I went to see the "new" prog band UKZ, featuring Eddie Jobson from the late 1970's prog band UK.

But, to start with, I went into the city around noonish, to catch the 1:50pm showing of "Frost/Nixon." I enjoy reading history, and learning more about the story behind the story of what has happened in the past, so I believed this movie would be a good way of seeing what happened behind the scenes with the Frost/Nixon interviews, which I do vaguely remember from my childhood.

Of course, I know that any recreation of history is simply that, a recreation, but going into it with that light, these types of films can be a great way to get a sense of the atmosphere of the time.

With that all being said, my verdict is that I enjoyed the movie. I didn't realize the struggle that Frost had to get these interviews funded and off the ground. I knew that Frost was a television personality, but I didn't know that at the time, he was considered to be a lightweight, and that an interview with Nixon wouldn't really have fit in with his past career. The movie painted Frost as someone who at first, was really only interested in the interview as a way to get Nixon on television, to be the "first" to really interview him after his resignation in 1974. However, the movie showed Frost truly getting interested in getting the 'truth' from Nixon after a late night phone call from Nixon himself during the course of the interviews.

I'm curious if that call happened, or if it was a creation for the film. More to learn...

Frank Langella played Nixon, and while he doesn't particularly have a resemblance to the old President, he did inhabit the character like an old glove. Langella had played Nixon in the stage play that the movie is based upon, so he did have a familiarity with the character that another actor might not have attained in the time it took to make the film.

Overall, I enjoyed the film. There was enough of the 'process' behind the interviews, to have it be a compelling story, but I would have actually liked *more* about that process. And Nixon himself could have had more development as a character. Perhaps this is just my own hankering for history, that I always want more from these films. I know that the original interviews have been released on DVD recently, it may be worth picking up to see what the interviews were truly like, and if there are any behind the scenes stories in extras on the discs.

Not exactly what you'd think of as a compelling rental or purchase, but for me, it's something that I would really be interested in seeing.

Would I recommend this movie? Yes, most certainly. I think it does a great job of showing the time, and the personalities behind the characters. My main critique, is that I did just want *more* from the film.

Then, after checking out a local arcade on 42nd Street after the movie, where I played trivia games for about an hour, I headed to the Town Hall for the premiere of UKZ, a five piece band featuring Eddie Jobson on keyboards and electric violin, Trey Gunn on Warr Guitar, Marco Minnerman on drums, Aaron Lippert on vocals, and Alex Machacek on guitar. This band is a 'recreation' of the band UK, which Jobson was a part of in the late 1970's, which at the time included (at different times), John Wetton, Bill Bruford, Allan Holdsworth, and Terry Bozzio.

So, with Jobson really the only carryover from the old band, what to expect? My mentality was to go into the show with minimal expectations. I was going for fun, to enjoy myself, and to see a lineup of great musicians going for it. And fortunately, that is what I got.

The evening started off with Tony Levin's "Stick Men" project, featuring Levin and Michael Bernier on Stick, and Pat Mastelotto on drums. They performed for about 40 minutes, a variety of material written and performed with gusto, with lots of interlocking parts and fun playing. Levin and Bernier would alternate holding down rhythm, and playing lead lines on their Sticks. I enjoyed the material, but I think that some of it did begin to sound the same over the performance. One piece stood out for me though, where both Levin and Bernier used bows on their Sticks to make sound, versus the normal tapping that players usually use on the Stick. It was more a more breathy and atmospheric piece, some of which reminded me of the middle section of Pink Floyd's "Echoes." I'd like to see more experimental pieces from the Stick Men in the future, I'd gladly go see them again. Levin is always fun to see perform, and the band can really develop over time.

UKZ performed for slightly under 2 hours. If this band can sound this tight after what I would imagine are fairly minimal rehearsals, then I can only imagine what they could produce after a real series of shows. The band and performance was great! The first song was the UK classic "In the Dead of Night," which sounded both like the older arrangement, but had a great new edge to it. "Radiation," a new UKZ song followed, which while Crimson-like in its sound, was unique enough to keep this listener interested. The UK song "Carrying No Cross" followed, which was a really wonderful version, with emotional singing from Lippert.

The middle section of the concert included a number of solo spots, from Trey (with Marco the drummer), Eddie's piano and violin solo spot, a solo spot from the guitarist, and a drum solo which was both entertaining to see and amazing to listen to. To my taste, I think there was a bit *too* much of the solo spots in the show, but as a new band, UKZ still doesn't have a lot of new material to play live. If the band continues, and I hope it does, I would hope the solo bits would be cut down. I prefer solo bits that are incorporated into full band pieces...

The band played a few more new pieces, and ended the full set with another UK song, which I'm drawing a blank on, what the song actually was. I'm sure the full setlist is published on one of the other prog sites. The encores were King Crimson's "Larks' Tongues in Aspic II," with Levin and Mastelotto joining in on the fun. It was great to hear the violin lines in that song played by a violin again! The final song was UK's "Caesar's Palace Blues," with (I think), the song "The Sahara of Snow" from Bruford (co-written by Jobson) tagged onto the end of the piece.

All in all, a good day spent in the city. The movie was well worth it, and the band was wonderful to see.

A note from Mom...

2008-10-21T08:25:00.001-04:00

Good morning everyone...

I got a message from my mom about a conversation we had this past weekend, I thought I'd share it with you all.

----------------------

hi michael,
i've been thinking about something that you said when you were visiting yesterday,,,it was something like "life hasn't turned out the way you expected",,,and i hope you don't get depressed by that,,,i will go back to my own experience of having cancer which was without a doubt the low point of my life,,,and yet,,,and yet,,,exactly one year later max was born,,,i believe that when things are bad you have to realize that something beautiful may be waiting for you just around the corner,,,,i know from life this is true,,,,
so keep your spirits up and know that there are lots of people who love you and are all keeping good thoughts for you,,,,and you don't know what's around the corner,,,,;-)

----------------------

Just a little life lesson from mom. :)

Crimson in NYC

2008-09-13T19:10:00.002-04:00

Hello all! I haven't written in awhile, so let me start back up with what I last wrote about, the King Crimson show in NYC from back on August 14th.

The show started at about 8:30pm, and I had a front row ticket, to the right side, right in front of Tony Levin, the band's bass/stick player. It was a great show, very intense, a lot of heavy music, lots of instrumental bits. I enjoyed it immensely!

I could see everyone on stage very well, although Adrian Belew, the guitarist/singer, would periodically block Pat Mastelotto, one of the drummers.

The setlist was (to the best of my memory, so the order may be screwy):

Drum duet

The ConstruKction of Light

Neurotica

Red

Dinosaur

Talking Drum

Larks Tongues II

Walking On Air

Three of a Perfect Pair

Level Five

B'Boom

Frame By Frame

Indiscipline

First Encore:

2nd Drum Duet

Elephant Talk

2nd Encore:

Vrooom/Coda

Thela Hun Gingeet

I may be missing a song or two in there, I'll have to check around on the web to be sure... The show was a great time, being front row I was able to really pay attention to the music, and get into it in a very fun way. I tend to "conduct" the music when I listen to this stuff, making some sort of odd hand movements along with the material. I don't quite know why, but it helps me really get into it when I'm at a concert.

Here's a photo from Tony Levin, where you can spot Zorky...

King Crimson!

2008-08-13T22:19:00.002-04:00

Tomorrow, I'm heading into NYC after work, to go see the band King Crimson at the Nokia Theatre in Times Square. I'm looking forward to the show, I *believe* my ticket will be front row. If so, it'll be my second front row King Crimson experience.

My first front row experience with the Crimson King was in Boston in 2001. John Paul Jones of Led Zeppelin fame was opening for KC, although it was almost more of a co-headlining show, as JPJ played almost as long as KC did.

Crimson is a very *intense* band, and this lineup consists of Robert Fripp on guitar, Adrian Belew on guitar and vocals, Tony Levin on bass, and Gavin Harrison and Pat Mastelotto on drums.

I'll be sure to post a review of my thoughts on the show over the weekend. The band is actually playing 4 nights in NYC, but this is my only show.... Unless I become inspired to try to go to Friday's show too!

This Saturday, in non-KC related news, we start our Resident Assistant training for this year. The schedule has come together nicely, and I expect that we'll have a good week training, as we get ready for the arrival of students on campus on August 25th and 26th.

More later...

Boston!

2008-08-07T21:57:00.004-04:00

Sorry for the long time between posts, but I've been busy, and I'll try to write more as we move through the rest of this year.

This past weekend, I went to Boston to hang out with my friend Brian, so here's some photos of the weekend...

Here's Brian in his office, a few minutes after I arrived on Friday. From here, we went out and saw 'The Dark Knight,' which was excellent. Good storyline, and I would have never known it was Heath Ledger playing the Joker if it wasn't plastered all over the place...

Looking up Tremont Street in Boston, towards one of the old churches. One of my friends got married in that churck back in 2003 or so, it's a nice place. And, it was a beautiful day up there in Boston. Great driving up from New Jersey, and no real traffic problems, which was good.

That evening, Brian and I headed into Harvard Square, for a late dinner, and for this photo, which has a drug induced hippy feel to it... Do not take the brown acid!

The place is 400 years old, but yet they still build...

Back at Brian's. I scoff at the camera...

The next day, on Saturday, we headed back to Harvard Square. Across from Brian's, this cat was chilling out on the sidewalk. Pretty kitty!

Brian, his sister In, and I went to the Border Cafe, one of my favourite restaurants on the planet. And perhaps others too... I took this photo outside. I would have taken one inside, but the manager actually stopped me. I asked why, and he said that all the art and other things on the walls are custom made, and he's seen The Border's stuff show up in other restaurants. I thought it was a little extreme, not taking the photo, but hey, its his business, so I oblidged...

And what's a visit to Harvard Square without some street performers? Here's a guy with a nice little one man band setup going on... He had a shaker strapped to his foot, for a bit of percussion going on... No photo though, I didn't want to hang out taking photos of feet for that long...

On Saturday night, Brian and I just hung out at his place. I thought about going out, or contacting some other friends, but I was just too tired, and actually fell asleep for a bit... We are too exciting!

I was thinking of sticking around later on Sunday, to go to the beach with Brian for a bit, as he had some friends who were going to play beach volleyball, but I wanted to get back to NJ at a reasonable time. I'll hit Boston again sometime in the Fall, I'm sure...

NP: Pink Floyd - Astronomy Domine (30 March 1994)

Blood donation!

2008-06-18T16:35:00.003-04:00

Today at the college, the Community Service office sponsored one of their blood drives. As I was feeling good and ready for it, I signed up to donate!

Walking over to the room where the drive was being held, it was a beautiful day, so the bridge needed to be photographed....

Once we got all our paperwork in order, I had to wait until there was a free couch. Melody, one of my co-workers, was one step ahead of me. :)

Self portrait of the administrator as a blood donor....

By this time, I was stuck with the needle, and draining had commenced! Feeling good!

And afterwards, you got to have your OJ! Don't want to pass out!

And, finally, the aftermath. That's iodine on my arm, not anything else! They did use a lot of iodine compared to other times I've given blood, but it doesn't hurt or anything, so it's all good...

So, if you can, GIVE BLOOD!

NP: King Crimson - The Sailor's Tale (1971 04 13)

Saturday review

2008-06-15T00:40:00.004-04:00

Today was a little different than most Saturdays, as I went to a memorial service down in Spring Lake, NJ, for a memorial service for one of my grandmother's cousins who passed away earlier this week. I'm not usually a person who is thrilled about the content of memorial services, as it seems to be people saying general platitudes about a person. However, the minister at this service actually appeared to know my grandmother's cousin, so I think the service was actually better than some others I have been to.

After that, I went to my mom's place in Asbury, to see her for a bit. She had a lamp that she had ordered, which had an issue with the wiring, there was too much wire, and nowhere for the wire to go. It couldn't be pulled through a different area of the lamp, or pushed into a segment of the lamp that could store it.

So, it looks like the lamp actually has a real issue...

Here's a photo of my mom out on her back porch.

We tried to entice Daisy, my mom's cat, out for me to pet, but Daisy is really only used to my mom... Here's a video of Daisy the fraidy cat...

But, she does make friends with my mom, as we can see here...

And finally, here's a photo of the ocean, from my mom's rooftop deck. It was a bit hazy, but still, I love the ocean, and could look at it all day...

NP: Talking Heads - Take Me to the River

Father's Day

2008-06-14T00:01:00.003-04:00

Here's a photo of my Dad and I, from this evening. He and my stepmother are traveling for a bit, so we did a Father's Day dinner tonight. A good time was had by all!

In other news, today was the last Friday that I'm working until mid-August, as the college goes to a four day work-week during most of the summer. Needless to say, this is a happy day. I was *really* hoping that today could be the first Friday off, but really, I guess I can't be that greedy... :)

On Saturday, I'm heading to a memorial service for one of my grandmother's cousins. She was a nice lady, and she helped me out with my genealogy research. So, I'll actually be heading there with my Uncle Gary, and probably stopping by my Mom's place afterwards.

NP: Battlestar Galactica

The Genesis Meetup - UK Style

2008-06-08T22:07:00.003-04:00

On Saturday, 24 May, during our trip to England, Maria and I had planned a UK fan meetup for interested Genesis fans... Maria did the lion's share of the advance planning, I planned some trivia questions and other stuff for the evening's festivities.

The meetup was set to begin around 8pm, so Maria asked that we get to the pub, called The Albion on Hammersmith Road, at around 7:30pm to set up, and make sure that everything was ready for the fans who had RSVP'ed to the event. I headed out to the pub, and found Maria there, with a British fan, Matt, who I had met in NYC back in September before the Genesis MSG show.

We chatted for a bit, and then headed upstairs in the pub to our private room (ooh la la!) to get things set up. Maria and I got some decorations, mainly a big banner, set up, and we worked with the owner of the pub to get the DVD screen ready, for the showing of the Genesis Fan Club DVD.

At about 8pm, we're ready, Charlotte is there with her video camera, I'm there with, well, me, and Maria's got all the logistical "stuff" worked out with the pub owner.

Here are some scenes from the gathering...

Mike interviews Martin/Bender for some video clips on the website... Who's the most lifelike one here?

John/GreekHogweed wins the signed t-shirt from the band, as he came from the farthest distance (Greece)! John was a great guy to meet, very friendly and open, a fun person.

I'm holding court about something here, wish I remember what it was, as I'm enthralling the crowd! Probably something about Genesis...

The Trivia Contest.... Me choosing a *really* hard question for the group... Do you know when Anthony Phillips' last gig was with Genesis? Anyone?

The ladies of Genesis.... Eliuk, AfterglowCB, Maria, Caro345, and Caro's friend... Or was she Afterglow's friend? Ack, my memory!

Me interviewing Mark (Asher) for the website... Mark was the first interview, I believe. The interviews will be edited and up on the site sometime soon. Can't wait to see them myself...

Bender serving us some food... Looking for tips, I bet!

The Genesis Members Only DVD. It does exist! Really!

I'm obviously casting a spell... I didn't know that this was the Harry Potter fan group meeting too!

Myself, Eli, and Caro, I believe right before I did their interview, or maybe after... I have a future in newscasting... Or in Genesis fan interviews.

Doing the Invisible Touch hop.... Yes, we're dopey, but it's my kind of dopey.

This was a great trip, and I got to meet a lot of fantastic people. It was everything I could have wanted in the event! People left happy, and a lot of new bonds were created. What more can you ask for?

More to come....

Writing again!

2008-06-06T22:45:00.004-04:00

For about the 4th or 5th time this year, I am going to try to re-dedicate myself to writing this blog. I've been inspired by some comments recently, about people enjoying reading this, so here I am...

It's been about two weeks since returning to the US from England, and I've been digesting the experience, as it was a lot to take in. Fortunately, we got to see parts of London, like London Tower, the Eye, Parliment, Big Ben, Westminster Abbey, all the biggies...

Here are some photos...

The view outside our hotel room in Kensington... Someone's back garden, I suppose...

I believe this is near Wellington Arch, and that could very well be Wellington on the statue behind me... This was taken on Wednesday, our first day in London-town...

I told you, all the classics.... Big Ben.

Tower Bridge. It's almost like a hat.

Tower Bridge from a distance, with HMS Belfast, and some sort of cruise ship tied up in the Thames together.

A good shot of Tower Bridge from the Tower of London itself. Sue took all of these photos, I should let you know, as I forgot my camera on the trip! Not a smart move on my part, but fortunately, Sue and others were able to document the time there very well.

The Tower of London, from our bus tour. The first buildings in the Tower started in, I believe, 1067. So, it's almost a full thousand years old the oldest buildings in the center. The White Tower...

This photo is looking towards the Thames from the side of the Tower. It was before we went in for our tour...

Our tour guide... A member of the British military, and a guy with a good sense of humor, which is important in a tour guide, I believe... I wish I remembered his name, and I wish I knew we were supposed to tip him at the end! Live and Learn.

Inside the Tower, with some ruins in the foreground...

Westminster Abbey, it was actually closed to tours by the time we got there, which is one of my few disappointments from the trip, as I really wanted to see inside, Poet's Corner, and just breathe in the history...

Another Abbey shot, for goot measure. A beautiful place....

Tomorrow, I'll post about the Genesis meetup, and show you all some photos from that fun event. All of these photos were taken on Wednesday or Friday of our trip...

NP: Genesis - Dodo (29 Nov 1981)

My Day with Genesis

2008-05-28T21:01:00.003-04:00

For those of you who don't know, I work as a "consultant" for the band Genesis, basically as the "webmaster" for their website. My official title, for what it's worth, is "Genesis-Web Content Editor," but webmaster seems to cover the real work of it.

Genesis are releasing a DVD of their tour from last year, called "When in Rome 2007." Because there's a lot of publicity surrounding this release, Maria, who works for the company that runs the Genesis website, thought it would be great if we could head to London, to help cover the DVD release for the website. As you can imagine, she got no argument from me about this.

So, we made travel arrangements to head over to London, Maria a day earlier than I, to cover the DVD premiere, and my plan was to arrive on Wednesday, 21 May with Sue, as she was able to get off of work to have a little mini-vacation with me.

The really exciting part of this for me, as a Genesis fan, is that we had proposed to their management that we would do a tour of "The Farm," Genesis's studio, and actually do an online chat with Mike Rutherford and Tony Banks, 2/3rds of the core of Genesis since 1978. And, to our great pleasure, they actually agreed to this! So, I was going to get to go out to The Farm, where Genesis recorded such albums as Abacab, Genesis, Invisible Touch, and We Can't Dance, and hang out, tour the facilities, and meet Mike and Tony! Great stuff!

I'll do a blog later on about the rest of the trip, but this is all about the visit to The Farm. It was a great day, no two ways about it. I'll start at the beginning, and go from there. If you're not interested in hearing me blab about this, then this is *not* the blog for you.

I met up with Maria and Charlotte (the videographer) at about 11:45am at Waterloo Station in London on Thursday, 22 May. We were meeting to take the train out to the Farm, and do the various and sundry activities for today. I had my laptop with me (and some items to be signed!), Maria and Charlotte had the camera, laptops, and from Maria, snacks for the ride!

Our train leaves at 12:15, and we are at Witley by about 1:10. A very nice train ride through the English countryside. As it was my first trip EVER to the UK, it was great to see a bit of land outside of London. We were picked up at the train station, after a very brief wait by Dale Newman, who has been working with the band (starting out as MR's tech during the US Lamb tour) since 1975.

Dale's a *really* friendly, genuinely nice guy (as everyone I met out at The Farm was), originally from Indiana, but has been living in the UK for years now. We talked a bit of baseball, US politics, and of course, the band and music in general. We arrived at the Farm after maybe a 10 minute drive (my timing may be a bit wonky, as I wasn't really paying attention too much to time). There, we met Geoff Callingham, another long time Genesis "guy," and a truly great person to meet.

After chatting for a bit, making introductions and talking some tech set up for the day, Dale gives us the tour of the facilities (before the videotaped tour with Nick Davis). We see the main control room, the recording room, the stone room (for Phil's drums), and the back "old" control room, where Dale does some recording of his own material. Later on, I went back with Dale and he played me one of his newer songs, which I enjoyed, there was some nice sounding keys in the chorus of the song that I particularly liked.

After leaving the old control room, Dale took us to the equipment shed, where he told a great story about a Stonehenge mockup and it's role at the end of the first Mike & the Mechanics tour (think "Stonehenge" from Spinal Tap, and you'll get the jist of the story). There were a lot of flight cases around, along with some old keyboards, some familiar stools, and lots of guitar strings and other tech equipment. Great stuff... There was also a field right by the equipment shed, filled with sheep/lamb. When sheep bleat, it almost sounds "fake," as they sound too much like someone imitating a sheep... Kind of funny, to my mind...

Once back in, Dale made up some of his world famous sausages, which were quite good! Charlotte went out to grab some exterior shots of the studio, and Maria and I continued to get some tech stuff done. At this poing, I logged onto the Genesis site, and posted a thread in the Forum, and in response to a comment in that thread about soundboard tapes from early Genesis tours, Geoff suggested taking a photo of the tapes/hard drive boxes in the other room.

While we got some things done, Nick Davis showed up, probably before 2:30pm? We all talked for a bit after introductions, and we planned out how to do this video tour. Nick went outside to start it with Charlotte, and then, once inside, I got picked up on the tour to help out by asking some basic questions about the studio as we went along. I felt a little stilted, as when filming, you really do feel the camera eye on you, and there is a responsibility to be "interesting!" I think it turned out well though. Having done the tour with Dale previously helped out, as I knew some things to ask about, and while I'm not a professional musician, I'm familiar enough with how studios work that I could ask some decent questions.

After the tour, I checked in with Maria to see about the chat situation. We were concenred about some issues with the room, but there were tech folks at Ultrastar HQ who were working on workarounds, and we (meaning the tech folks!) got the issues resolved.

Because Charlotte had worked with Tony Banks' daughter either during or after college (I wasn't sure of the exact timeline), Emily stopped by, and we all had a brief chat. While waiting for the main event with Mike and Tony (they were expected around 5:45pm or so), Maria and I showed Nick and Geoff the Members DVD in the TV in the control room. Nick in particular really enjoyed it, and was gracious enough to say so in the Members Forum on the website.

This was one of those moments, watching the DVD on a monitor at The Farm, with Nick Davis sitting right next to me, bopping his head to Turn It On Again, and Home by the Sea, where I let myself think, "I'm at the FARM! This is NUTS!"

After some tea from Geoff, and working out the last of the tech/chat issues, Mike and Tony arrive, in separate cars, but within about a minute or two of each other. I believe Mike came in first, then Tony. We had some brief intros, again, and began the set up in earnest... I *believe* I posted in the chat room that "Mike and Tony are here," but some things are a bit of a blur...

We actually changed some of the set up on the fly. Our initial plan was to have Mike and Tony in the same room. I would be transcribing for Tony, and Maria for Mike. That way, we could pull a question, and if it was for both of them, Tony could answer, then Mike, or vice versa. Also, we thought we could get some good banter between them for the camera, and the chat. However, when we sat down, Mike was concerned that he and Tony would be talking over each other, or at the same time, so that it would be hard to concentrate on the actual questions.

So, Maria quickly set up in the other room with Mike (at the couches in the control room) whereas I stayed with Tony in the main "lounge" of the Farm. I chatted with Tony a bit, explaining how the "backend" of this chat would work, so that he would know what was going on. Nick was at another computer in the same room, doing some pre-chat, chat... Tony seemed interested and engaged in the chat process, and asked if he'd need to read himself. I said that I'd read the questions to him, but if he wanted to read himself, he could also. He got his reading glasses, so he could see the screen (on my laptop) a bit better. I did also ask Tony if there was anything that he *didn't* really want to talk about, and I believe his response was, "You can ask anything, don't worry about it." He also said that he knew that he could talk a lot, but would try to keep it shorter than usual...

I also have to share that I did bring some CD sleeves to get signed, and just by chance, they were sitting by the side of my laptop, with "A Curious Feeling" on the top. He pointed it out, and said something along the lines of "A man with taste," when I said it was mine... That was a fun little moment.

Since Maria was in the other room, I wasn't sure if we had an "intro" or not to the chat, so I decided to just jump into it. The good thing with Mike being in the other room with Maria, was that we were able to get a lot more questions asked, as we were really almost doing two chats at once. The negative to that was that we lost the interaction of Mike and Tony, and we couldn't film the *whole* chat, as Charlotte was going between the two rooms with the camera. I think Tony and I got filmed a bit more, as our room had better lighting.

I think I did a good job getting the spirit of Tony's answers. It was really impossible to get all of his words into every answer with my transcribing, but we joked about that too. Nick however thought that I really did a decent job, as he was sitting in the same room, and could hear Tony's answers, and read my transcription.

I have to be honest, I have *no clue* what Mike was saying to Maria, as I really couldn't take the time to read his responses as they came up in chat. Since being there, I've had time to read over the transcript, and it was great to see that Mike appeared to have a good time with the chat on his end also.

It *felt* like we did the chat for about an hour, although you can correct me if I have the specific time off. From reading some other comments, I can see that I/we may have pulled some questions from the same users. I can say at least on my part, I was trying to pull questions, and honestly, I barely paid attention to who posted the question. It's a little stressful, as you can imagine... But Tony was *really* easy to talk to.

I think Tony enjoyed doing the chat, and at the end, before he left, I mentioned that if he wanted to do anything else for the site, we'd be happy to facilitate it. "I know, I know" was his response, in a friendly way, like he knows he would like to do more, but just hasn't gotten around to it... I think that's hopeful for the future, for more chats, etc. I did manage to get Mike and Tony to sign some items, and the banter between the two of them at that point was really fun, just two old friends hanging out...

So, then they departed for whatever was next for them, probably relaxing... I took a deep breath, and just let it soak in, what had just happened.

We did some final filming for the tour, and wrapped up... Maria, Charlotte and I got on the 8:20pm train out of Whitley, back to Waterloo!

This is perhaps a very "dry" retelling of the events from last week, but I wanted to give a sense of how this type of event actually works. I had a blast, and it was pretty surreal. I have to say, Tony and Mike are friendly, and I was happy to work closely with Tony on the chat. It's *really* great that we were able to share some good news about the board tapes, and also about the *possibility* of the ACF reissue. Tony was a "good interview," and I enjoyed it immensely...

I also think that getting face time with Nick, Dale, and Geoff will help with getting some more content on the site. Obviously, Nick has his own area of the Forum, but I talked with Geoff and Dale about some other ideas for long time Genesis employee participation.

Emotionally, it was FANTASTIC! I realize I am INCREDIBLY lucky to have had this opportunity, and I really do feel like I was representing "fans" in my trip there. Sure, I was the guy in the chair, but really, part of my job is to put a "human" face to the fans, the website, and our fun group in general who live here on the site. So, that was part of the great fun of our London trip. More to come about the rest of the trip later on...

Ah, the weekend...

2008-04-06T14:34:00.002-04:00

I've been resting a lot this weekend, and updating my Shelfari page. You can see my new widget above my links, to the right of this post. This will show what I'm reading now, and if you hit the Shelfari link in the list of links, it'll show my entire bookshelf.

I have updated all the books I own into the Shelfari site, and now will be keeping it up to date from here on out. If you want to see what I'm reading, be sure to check it out. Reading is fundamental, as they say...

I may have some interesting travel news to share later this week, I'll keep you posted on what is going on.

Anyone out there watch Battlestar Galactica this past Friday? I thought it was a good start to the season, although I never quite know why some characters in fiction, when they come back from being "dead," never quite understand the perspective of the others who are meeting them, that it might actually make sense for others not to trust them right off the bat. Of course, if that were to happen, the story wouldn't advance, or it would be a very different kind of story.

I'll be interested to see how this "Final Five Cylons" plot line continues to develop. I still think there's some tie into the "Earth" plot, like these Five Cylons aren't actually Cylons. However, the "programming" of Anders may belie that idea. We shall see...

I promise to write more regularly now. Lets see if I can keep the promise...

Python!

2008-03-21T19:17:00.003-04:00

I just, in the past few minutes, finished reading Michael Palin's newest book, Diaries 1969-1979: The Python Years. While reading diary entries can be a bit dry, Palin writes with a clarity and a brevity that always tells a coherent story, while also being entertaining in the whole.

From reading about Palin and Python activities during the 70's, I've really been sucked back into a Python mode. I just threw on some of the DVDs of the TV show, and watched the new Life of Brian DVD last weekend. Not that I'm alone in this, but every time I watch Python, I realize how much they've influenced my own sense of humor. I'm not one of those people who goes around quoting every Python skit out there (I have *not* memorized the Parrot Sketch or the Cheese Shop bit), but I do find some turns of phrase from the show appearing in my everyday speech. It's more about embedding the ethos into my life, versus just quoting lines.

Reading the diaries, it's a firm reminder how anti-establishment Monty Python were as a group. Being in my line of work, where I am responsible for enforcing policy, it can be a bit of a stretch to incorporate my world view into my work. It's not impossible, but it involves a bit more thought. I think what stifles me is when I work with people who can't see outside of a strict view of what they think our work is about, in helping to develop college students. Sometimes, I think my field goes for some easy answers, instead of wrestling with the complex ideas that confront us in our daily work. The contradiction here is that we're supposed to be dealing with complex issues, helping our students continue to grow into good people...

So, with all that being said, I've been looking to digest more and more Python... I'll probably watch more of the TV show, perhaps revisit "The Meaning of Life," and continue to fight the power!

The NASPA Conference

2008-03-15T21:53:00.002-04:00

I was in Boston from March 7th to the 12th for the NASPA conference, one of the two major gatherings of student affairs professionals per year. I got into the city on Friday the 7th, and after settling into the hotel room (the lovely Midtown Hotel, right across from the Christian Science Center), I walked over to the Hynes Convention Center to get checked in, and see who was around that I knew.

I ran into Tricia, who I had worked with at Dartmouth, and who was now going through job interviewing herself, and talked to my old boss Jeff, also from Dartmouth. A nice visit with people I'd revisit throughout the trip.

That evening, I met up with my friend Sharon, who is a friend from way back at Boston College. We first met the summer of 1991, when we were both working for Housing during the summer. Actually, I was working making beds, and Sharon was working as an Orientation Advisor. We would work together, when the OA's would help us out, making beds for conferences.

So, anyway, we lost contact with each other after college (probably due to messages left not getting delivered), but recently, we've been back in touch through the wonders of the internet. Since I was coming into Boston, we made plans to meet up and get together for dinner.

We went to an Ethiopian restaurant, which was a lot of fun for me, as I had never been to one before. The food was quite good, and Sharon and I talked pretty much non-stop, just catching up, talking about our lives, etc. It's funny, because it wasn't like we were best friends back in college, but we always got along very well, and it was quite easy to just fall back into that mode in conversation.

And yes, I continue to be analytical about everything!

On Saturday, within the conference, we attended the JASPA conference, which was a day long conference for student affairs professionals from Jesuit colleges. David, my director, and Jess, our Assistant Coordinator of Operations, had flown up with me, but were only there for the JASPA section of NASPA.

JASPA, as a conference, was a mixed bag. Half of it was great (the morning sessions), and the afternoon sessions were not terribly thrilling. The banquet in the evening, back on the campus of Boston College, was fun for the time I was there. Taking the charter bus out there, I really had some strong feelings of connection to Boston, the campus, and that time of my life in general. Boston was a time in my life when I *really* enjoyed almost everything that was going on in my life. Sure, there were ups and downs, as usual, but it was a very happy time in my life.

Going back to campus, I was able to just sit back and relax, and let those feelings of being back "home" wash over me. Boston, besides the NJ shore area, is the one other place I consider to be "home." It was great to not have to concentrate on driving myself, thinking of other things, I was able to just *be*, which was fantastic.

At the banquet myself, I ran into one of the club advisors who worked with the CCE when I was President of the organization. It was great to reconnect with her, and I do think she *almost* remembered me!

I had to leave the banquet early, as I was meeting my friend Joe to record an episode of our internet radio show Pseudocertainty. Generally, because we live in different states, we have to record these shows over the internet, but if we can do them in person, that's always a better dynamic. So, check the site out, and listen to us blab about GM food, some odd medical procedures, and other fun topics.

On Sunday, I met up with my friend Brian, his sister In, and her husband Rowan for a viewing of "This is Spinal Tap" at the Brattle Theater. I hadn't actually seen the movie in a theater, EVER, so it was a great experience, although the sound of the movie was a bit too low.

After the movie, Brian and I hit the Border Cafe for some fajitas, and he was kind enough to drive me back to the hotel afterwards. We've been friends since about 1983 or so, we have a good shorthand when we meet. I think we can each talk about things in our lives, and we just *know* the context of each other's personalities well enough, that we know when we have to push each other a bit, or be honest, or be a bit quiet about things. We see each other only maybe 2-3 times a year, but it's always quality.

Here's Brian at the Border, talking to the Lovely Sue on the phone... She called during the dinner.

And, just a nice night time Cambridge shot, albeit a bit blurry...

Monday was the start of the conference proper. Here' below is a shot of Boston with a very blue sky...

And, the Prudential Tower.... With a new building next to it. Kind of futuristic, to my eye...

And above, a tailor's shop, with a very familiar name....

Here's a building where my friend Kim lived in while we were both in Boston in the 1993-1994 time frame. I walked by it a few times a day, going back and forth to the hotel, so I had to take a shot of it for her. Note to self - I should actually send it off to her!

Here's my friend Amanda, we were grad students together at MSU back in the mid/late 1990's. We hadn't seen each other since about 1999, at a conference in New Orleans. It was good to catch up with her, and see how her life is going. She's still out in Michigan, working at MSU, and taking doctoral classes. In fact, she's pretty much done with classes, and will be working on her dissertation soon. Good luck to her!

And here's the Beatles back together.

Tricia, myself, Krista, Brian, and Fouad. We were all Community Directors at Boston at the same time, and this group was the core of a really great collegial relationship. This photo is from the Dartmouth social on Monday night, and we actually met up for dinner on Tuesday also, along with some other Dartmouth folks.

This was another walk down memory lane, as reconnecting at these conferences is always emotional in some ways, especially as we all have a deep, abiding respect for each other. We know each other really well as colleagues, and can talk directly with each other about a wide variety of things that both friends and colleagues have to talk about. I'd happily work with any of these people again.

So, that's the conference. I can say that the sessions I went to were pretty decent, but the options were a bit thin on the ground. I have been inspired to plan some presentations for next year, to help bring some good options back to the floor of the conference. Fu and I were talking about some ideas for next year, and I'm sure we'll be in contact over the next year, to see if we actually want to try to put some things together.

Boston conference!

2008-03-11T13:12:00.002-04:00

Yes, it's been too long since I've blogged, but I've been very busy with work, both for the College and Genesis, and now I'm writing to you from the Hynes Convention Center in Boston, where I'm attending the NASPA Conference. There's a session at 1:45pm I'll be attending, so this is just a brief note.

Watch for upcoming photos from NASPA, from the cat show my mom and I attended last week, some Westminster Dog Show photos from February, and whatever other random things my cross my path in the next few days. Maybe I'll have time to write tonight...

NP: People walking by in the Hynes Convention Center

ps-Why doesn't Kinkos/FedEx take Fed Ex packages???

pps-I know it's just for after 4pm, but I still found the sign to be funny.

Tuesday Afternoon...

2008-02-05T17:24:00.000-05:00

Yes, it's a song title, and I don't have any other creative title for this...

However, today is Super Tuesday, and I went to cast my ballot around 10am-ish this morning, at a local school here in Jersey City. One of the ladies remembered me from the last time I cast my ballot, in November, which I thought was great! She even remembered my name, which I was very impressed by, until I realized I still had my work nametag on.

I'll be watching CNN pretty closely tonight, as I love to follow the politics, although the talking heads blathering on can get a bit repetitive. Sometimes they have good insights, especially if they are surprised by the results. If it's what everyone expected, then they pretty much talk about that, but if there are surprises, it allows for little bits of interesting talk to slip through.

Personally, I believe that McCain is going to get the Republican nomination, but I think it's still a toss up between Clinton and Obama on the Democratic side. Tonight may go a long ways to solidify one person's lead over another, but it may end up being a horse race down to the end. I think the money is on Clinton winning the nomination, at the end, but if Obama has a number of solid wins tonight, it could really influence the rest of the primaries down the road.

This past weekend, Sue and I drove down to my mom's to take her out to lunch on Saturday, as her birthday was on Monday. We went to a place called Rafferty's in Asbury Park, which was a great meal! A good turkey sandwich, is what I had, my mom had the Shrimp Salad sandwich, which she liked, and Sue had the Veggie-Burger, which she also enjoyed. All in all a great lunch, and it was good to be able to spend it with my mom for her birthday.

Next week, Sue and I are going into NYC for the Westminster Dog Show, at MSG, which should be a fun time. Lots of our four legged friends will be there, and neither of us have ever experienced something like this. I'll be sure to take photos and report back on it here...

Laptop!

2008-01-31T20:55:00.000-05:00

Yes, I'm writing to you all on my new laptop! New since Monday, I should say. I have been gettin this set up to do my web-Genesis work, my genealogy stuff, and just general computing. It's always fun setting up a new computer, making it homey, and personalized just how I like it.

This computer has wireless, so I've been working from the couch a lot. It's nice to have the mobility to be able to work away from ethernet wires, no more slave to the hub. Or to the jack in the wall.

Of course, I had a "you idiot!" moment earlier this week, when I thought about installing AOL on this laptop so I could check my e-mail. I've been checking my AOL mail on the AOL website while at work, but I didn't realize that I could create folders in the web-mail application, to store mail. Since I discovered that, it took me a bit of time to reach the conclusion that I didn't need the AOL software at all, as it gave me nothing that I couldn't get elsewhere. For some reason, my brain didn't wrap myself around that fact right away. Sometimes, I think I'm smart, then I realize that I'm not. :)

Laptop...

2008-01-25T17:43:00.000-05:00

Well, I decided on what laptop to go with, and I chose this one, after consulting with my computer tech Joe. It's in the right price range, and had pretty much everything I wanted/needed from a laptop at this stage of my life. I'm looking forward to receiving it, hopefully next week at some point, but we'll see how long the shipping process actually takes.

I have started my exercise routine again. I think what I'm going to try to do is exercise for 20 minutes every day after work. Then, I will blog here, and then I'll get on with the rest of my evening. I should be able to hold to this routine most evenings, although sometimes, like yesterday, I'll have an evening commitment that does not allow for exercise. When that happens, I just have to make sure I don't let that missing of one day go into a mass of missed days.

I'm on duty tonight, so I need to stick around campus till tomorrow morning, when I hand the duty materials off to the colleague I'm covering for tonight. I don't know what plans Sue and I have for the weekend, we'll figure it out tomorrow...

Next Saturday, Sue and I will be taking my mom out for her birthday, which is actually on the Monday, but obviously the Saturday works out better than trying to manage to get together on a Monday. I've also been invited to a SuperBowl party for Sunday, but I'm not sure if I'll be going. I just don't care that much about football, but it would be fun to be social with people... Decisions, decisions...

NP: Sammy Davis City - The Brian Setzer Orchestra

Adventures in Printing

2008-01-23T17:48:00.000-05:00

Today, during work, I got to travel down to Staples to get some color flyers printed up for our Resident Assistant application process at work. It's always fun to be able to get out of the office for awhile in the middle of the day. I took the opportunity while there to check out some laptop computers, as I want to get a new one in the next few months.

There are definitely some good PCs in the $800-$1200 range, which is what I'm looking for, generally. I'll need to chat with some computer friends to determine what options are the best, with what I want to do.

Generally, this laptop will be for web updating, genealogy research, and general MS-Word writing, etc. Nothing too fancy. But, the good thing is that I'll be able to clean off the decktop computer I have, and return it to being mainly for writing and recording music. I didn't want it to, but this one basically has turned into our all purpose computer. I didn't really want that to happen, but the present laptop we have is just too slow and old for modern purposes.

Isn't that sad?

NP: Puccini - Tosca in Barcelona

Forgot to mention....

2008-01-22T18:14:00.001-05:00

Went to Barnes and Nobles yesterday, and they're doing a "Buy Three, get one Free" DVD sale, so I bought:

Forbidden Planet - One I've been meaning to get for awhile, but hadn't
Aqua Teen Hunger Force movie - Just because
Queen: Live in Montreal - Ah, one of my fave bands, with lots of bonus stuff...

I also think I can get Season 1 of Battlestar Galactica, and Season 2.0 and 2.5 all at once there, for cheaper than I can on Amazon, even with the Amazon discounts. I may have to make a trip back there before the sale ends on January 31st.

NP: Frank Zappa - The "Real World" Thematic Extrapolations

A January Post...

2008-01-22T17:50:00.000-05:00

Okay, okay, I know I've been lazy in blogging here... It's been busy, so sue me!

What have I been up to? Lets see, since the new year, I've been busy with Resident Assistant Winter Training, getting that ready; working on the Genesis website, which continues apace; trying to have free time with Sue, which is going well; relaxing when possible, which I have to build in more time to do; and all sorts of other things, which I'll talk about when I remember them!

Here's some random stuff, to entertain and educate you...

This past weekend, I saw the movie Johnny Dangerously for the first time. I have the feeling that it was a lot funnier back in the day when it came out. As I said to Sue (who rented it to relive her comedy youth), "When Joe Piscopo is the best thing about a movie, you know you're in trouble!" And Joe was really good in it, with generally weak material. I found myself saying in my head a lot, "that's funny," but never really laughing. It was like watching a movie that had all the ingredients to be a riot, but it just never quite got there...

I also don't know if I bought Michael Keaton as the lead comedy guy in the movie, he seemed stilted and unfunny throughout most of the film...

But, I did go to see "Cloverfield," which was quite good, albeit formulaic in places. I'm a sucker for monster movies, so having a big beastie rampaging through NYC was quite good. The first person telling of the story worked for me, and I thought there were some clever turns in the plot, although I thought the "love" story in it was a bit preditable. Alas, such is life...

All in all though, I'd recommend it, and I think it would stand up to repeated viewings, unlike the first person "Blair Witch Project" movie from a few years back.

On Sunday, Sue and I went to go see "The WaterHorse," a fine kids movie about a boy who discovers the egg to the Loch Ness monster during WWII. I enjoyed it, as it tugged at the heartstrings in an appropriate, but not manipulative way. The kids in the theater seemed to like it too, as I heard sniffles at the right places. Or, were those mine?

Yesterday, Sue and I watched all of the "It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia" DVDs that Brian gave to me for Christmas. Great show, very funny, although digesting them all in one afternoon may have been a bit much. But, they're addictive. The group of four younger folk who the show follows are appropriately stupid/clever/funny in the right spots, and I liked the irony of one of the lead characters being bombarded with eggs outside of an abortion protest.

I'm sure I have more to say, but I'll write more again soon, I promise. Really!

NP: ELP - Rondo (9 Dec 1970)

Obama!

2008-01-09T20:42:00.000-05:00

Today, Senator Barack Obama had his NJ coming out party right here on the campus of Saint Peter's College, where I work. We were able to take this afternoon to go to the event, and it was a great time. I'm still a bit on the fence about who to vote for in the Primary, but Obama is my top preference right now. I need to do a bit more reading though...

So, here are some photos of the event!

This is Kennedy Boulevard, which cuts through campus. You can see the line to get in on the other side of the road. Supposedly, not everyone could get in, and there were about 1000-2000 people who couldn't enter the Rec Center where the event was held. The event was delayed a bit, as Obama pressed the flesh outside a bit, to make sure that those who couldn't get in didn't leave too disappointed.

Obama, on stage, speechifying. I was about 15 feet from him, at the most. Great vantage, and the crowd was really with him all the way, listening, responding, and generally paying good attention.

At the end, I did get to shake his hand, and I got these next two photos of him, by just holding my camera up and hoping to get something good...

Be sure to register to vote, if you're in the US. Vote! And if you're not in the US, vote in whatever elections you can!

Moscow Cats, and Hair

2007-12-28T21:49:00.000-05:00

Today, Sue and I went to go see the Moscow Cats Theatre at the Tribeca Performing Arts Center, in NYC. Sue had gotten me the tickets as a Christmas present, and today was the show. The venue was a tiny place, maybe seating 200? However, our seats were front row, but even if they had been higher or further away, we still would have been able to see everything fine.

The cats generally did very "cat-like" things, such as walking, scratching the floor, etc., but then were trained to run and jump and climb on certain things, like the tightrope walking cat in the photo above. There was always a treat at the end of the trick (and sometimes at the start) for the cats, and sometimes, I think the trick the cat did wasn't particularly what was planned, but it was still a blast. There were a few siamese cats, a hairless cat, a dog (Pomeranian?), and 5 actors/clowns, who either worked with the cats, or did their own tricks.

The show was about 70 minutes long, and was very much worth seeing. There was a lot of laughter from both us, and the audience during the show. I think the run is ending soon in NYC, and I don't know where they go from here.

In other Mike News, I've cut off a lot of my hair... Here's a photo or two to show the new style...

I'm definitely working that Garibaldi look from Season 4-5 of Babylon 5....

NP: ELP - From the Beginning

A strange feeling...

2007-12-04T20:33:00.000-05:00

Yesterday, I commente on my new position I have, as the "Genesis-Web Content Editor" for the official Genesis website. I've been doing this job officially for a month now, and it really is a fun job. Its work, that doesn't feel like "work," if that makes sense.

However, it is very strange for me to be in this position. I've been a fan of Genesis since about 1984 or so, and now, I'm working (through a company) for the band themselves, basically running content on their website. It's a connection in a very real way, to something that's been, for want of a better word, a "hobby" for me for over 20 years.

There's also a great sense of responsibility for this. I've been put into a position that any "fan" out there would kill for, and now, I'm *that guy*. I feel I can be a good voice for fans of the band with the management and perhaps even the band themselves at some point, but there's also that understanding on my part, that I really am just helping run their website.

I'm a big King Crimson fan also, and I got thanks on here yesterday about the Genesis gig from Sid Smith, the guy who helps run King Crimson's website (and does a lot of other cool stuff, check out his blog), DGMLive.com. That's a site the approach of which I'd like to emulate in my own work, while putting my own stamp on the approach I take.

At it's core, I figure I got this job by being myself, and I just have to continue doing that, helping to make the content of the site something I and other fans would be interested in checking out on a regular basis.

I think I'm putting a lot of my angst out here tonight about this job. Overall, I've been having a great time with this work, so I just have to continue doing so. It's a great place to be right now, and I'm going to do my best to put the band out there on the web with the best face. I made a comment on the message boards on the site that my goal for the site is to keep it active and alive, and one of my friends on the boards told me that that phrase sounds like a Mission Statement. I've taken that to heart in the past month.

So, in summary, it's a strange feeling to have a hobby/interest turn into a job.

NP: Yes - Children of Light

Back!

2007-12-02T23:21:00.000-05:00

I know, I know, it's been awhile since my last blog here. What can I say, except that I've been busy!

Since I last wrote in October, I've been to two weddings, was best man at one of them (traveled to Rhode Island for that one also!), have a new consulting job, and have just been plugging away at a lot of different work related stuff.

The consulting job is what's taking up a lot of my free time, I'm working as the Genesis-Web Content Editor, for the official Genesis website.

As you may know out there, I'm a big Genesis fan. Since November 1st, I've been serving in this official capacity for the website, providing news updates for the many Genesis fans out there around the world. It's a lot of fun, and I'm actually making some cash doing it. It's great when something that is a hobby can end up providing a piece of income also.

So, I'll be posting here again, I promise... More to come!

Mike

Suit!

2007-10-23T17:59:00.000-04:00

I bought a new suit for the first time in a long time for the upcoming Joe/Sally nuptuals. It was about time. My last suits that I bought, I bought about 10 years ago, when I was in grad school. Fortunately, they all still fit.

So, here's the photos of the new three piece suit, for your viewing enjoyment!

Hey you! I know you!

See, I'm *not* packing heat...

Ladies, I'm taken!

NP: Dana Gould - Angry at Rush

Blog fatigue...

2007-10-21T21:41:00.000-04:00

Hey there!

So, I said I was going to blog in here more often, and then I promptly fall off the face of the planet. Isn't that what blogging is all about? Empty promises and no content?

But, I'm here now, with an exciting week coming up! This Friday, Sue and I leave for Newport, RI for my friend Joe's wedding. I'm Best Man, so I have to finish up writing my speech this week. And YES, I have actually started it, so I'm ahead of the game there.

We leave on Friday, and the wedding is on Sunday. We're staying over till Monday, so it should be a nice little vacation, although we'll be busy with wedding stuff.

More to come later, but I wanted to let people know I was still alive.

Cheers!

NP: The Police - Rehumanize Yourself

Bowling!

2007-10-10T08:28:00.001-04:00

Last night, I went bowling with some people from work, about seven of us all together. It was a blast, but I didn't break 100 on any game. I was always in the 90's, but I just couldn't pull it together to have a consistent game. I like to bowl, but I'm not terribly good at it.

I always figure that if I can break 100, that's a good game.

Our next social work trip outing will be to Atlantic City, sometime in November. That should be a fun time, assuming that I'm able to go. We'll see how the schedule pans out.

In other news, here's a shot from the Genesis show I went to at Giants Stadium back on the 28th.

It was a great time, I had a blast. Fortunately, the weather held out, there was no rain, and it was quite a warm night. The music was great, and if it's the last time I see Genesis (as there's no guarantee that they'll tour again), that's okay...

New starts on here, yet again...

2007-10-09T08:40:00.000-04:00

I think at the beginning of September, I said I was going to re-focus posting on here, as I had dropped off for a bit. Of course, since then, I have barely posted.

I think I'm going to try to write something each day before going to work, see if that's a better time to do this than in the evenings. If I have something that I end up wanting to say in the evenings, then I'll write then, but this will probably become my regular time to write.

But, now, I have to go off to work... See you all later!

Tonight tonight tonight

2007-09-25T12:23:00.000-04:00

So, tonight, I'm going to see Genesis with the wonderful Sue at Madison Square Garden. I'll be heading into the city around 3pm or so, and will meet up with her at StoutNYC, where the fan meet up is happening before the concert.

This will be my first time seeing Genesis since 1992, at Foxboro, MA on the We Can't Dance tour. I'm wearing the t-shirt from that show, and I'm happy it still fits...

A bit blurry, but the photo does the job, right?

I'll be going to their show on Thursday at Giants Stadium also. Someone asked me yesterday at work, why I was going to two shows. My response:

"If they were doing another show at MSG, I would have gone to that one too..."

So, perhaps that explains my obsession.

I'll write a report on the show later on, when I return...

NP: Miles Davis - So What

Fair Play

2007-09-18T19:15:00.000-04:00

I finished reading Al Gore's new book, "The Assault On Reason," last night. His basic idea is that the political discource in this country (on both sides, but predominately by the present administration), has fallen to lows not previously seen in recent history.

This fall has been caused by the present administration not acting or reacting to real, verifiable information, or presenting such information to the American public. When the public does not have good information to review, there is no basis for making good, informed decision.

Of course, people of good conscience, in my mind, can of course disagree over approaches to solve a particular problem. However, when we are not given proper time or material to review, then how can "the public" even have enough information to have a proper debate.

The key here is that the individuals in power do not *want* the public to have the information for an informed debate. Because it serves their best interest to keep the public in the dark as to what they plan to do.

I don't expect readers out there to like Al Gore, he's a polarizing figure for some. However, he does have valid critiques of the present administration. There is no sense of Fair Play, and that should never be lacking in American politics, as it shows a disrespect for all the citizens that our elected officials serve.

NP: Porcupine Tree - The Sound of Musak

The Other Side

2007-09-13T22:12:00.000-04:00

So, I'm sitting here thinking about the past month, and I realize that I've made it to the other side of where I was looking to get back in mid-August.

Back then, I was thinking that if I could get to mid-September at work, life would be good, and settling down nicely. Now I'm here, and it is pretty much so. The new Director is on board, work is good, and things are okay. I'm happy that we're here, and that September is half over. Work will still be busy, but things will be fine.

In two weeks, I'll be at my second of two Genesis shows, this one at Giants Stadium. The first will be on Tuesday the 25th at Madison Square Garden. Yay! Then, that weekend, I'll be having a bachelor party for my friend Joe, going to Mohegan Sun.

Life, it is good.

NP: Robbie Robertson - Testimony

Post Labor Day

2007-09-04T20:12:00.000-04:00

Ah, the Labor Day weekend, come and gone... It was so nice to have a weekend where I didn't have to work... So, what did I do with my time?

On Saturday, Sue and I went to see the movie "Superbad," starring Michael Cera of Arrested Development fame. It was quite good, it was a High School comedy that wasn't all about the different cliques or groups in the school, it was about two friends, and their relationship. I mean, it wasn't terribly deep and everything, but really, it's high school, how deep can you get?

The humor was great, and it kept me interested throughout the movie. All in all, a good Saturday matinee.

On Sunday, we went into Hoboken, as Sue needed to go grocery shopping for a few items, and wanted to go to a specific market there. Managed to find good parking, and spent about 45 minutes in that town.

Afterwards, we went to the Ikea across the NJ Turnpike from Newark Airport, to watch planes take off and land. We were there for about an hour. Sue loves watching the planes, but hates flying. There's irony in there somewhere...

Monday was just a relaxing day. Didn't really do much at all, and I went to bed super early. And today was back to work, as usual. Always fun!

NP: The Police - Bombs Away

Classes!

2007-08-29T20:57:00.000-04:00

The first day of classes passed today. Work is slowly getting back to normal, although we're still processing a lot of late check in students. Some needed additional time to get their finances settled, while others just had better things to do on the earlier move in dates, I guess...

We're filling up work study positions in the office, and getting ready for September. I have "Room Swap Week" to coordinate, which I'll probably get all the stuff ready for tomorrow. I have to make some publicity, and get the forms all ready to go. Last year was the first year I coordinated this, and I have some changes I want to make to the process, in order to make it easier for both the students and our office.

In the world of classes, Sue starts taking a class next week, starting up her bachelor's program again. Should be fun for her to do! I think she'll do great in the class!

Other than that, it's still very much a work-centric week, although my evenings and mornings are becoming more normal.

NP: Big Bad Voodoo Daddy - Mambo Swing

The Return of the Giant Postweed....

2007-08-28T20:22:00.000-04:00

Yes, I'm back to posting on here, after a little short of a month away. Today, upperclass students (sophomores-seniors) moved into their residence halls on campus, and classes start tomorrow.

So, this means that a large part of my super busy time is now over. Granted, I will now be busy in different ways, but that's okay, I'm used to the rhythms of my job, I know what has to come now at different times, and what I must do to prepare.

We also have a number of transitions going on in the office. We have a "new" grad assistant starting tomorrow. I put "new" in quotes as she has worked in the office before, so she'll be able to jump right in to the detail work she needs to be doing.

We also have a new Housing person on board, who started last week, really in the thick of it. He's been jumping right in, and really has a good sense of the job.

Our Director is transitioning out, as she is going to be going to school full time. The new Director has been hired, and while he doesn't start officially for about another 10 days or so, he has been able to come in to the office for some of the big things going on, like First Year opening, and the start of Resident Assistant Training. I think we'll work well together. I've enjoyed working with the Director who is leaving, so I'll miss that, but change is always exciting, and I think this will keep me interested in the job in a different way than would have been otherwise.

So, lots of new people in the office. Which is fun, but has made the start of this year a bit "busier" than it would have been otherwise. However, with the start of classes tomorrow, we will get into our rhythm now. I'm looking forward to this year, and what it will bring.

RA Training, which I coordinate, with the big help of the two professionals who report to me, went off well. The students really kept their energy up all week, and I think they got the information from Training that they needed to get. Of course, the "on the job" training they'll get over the course of the next week or two, from actually working with their residents, will serve them well more than any formal training would on its own.

The RA group has a great vibe to them, and I think the group is going to work together well this year. Check back with me in May, and see if I still believe this. I think it'll pan out...

We started off the Training week back on the 17th with a trip rafting on the Delaware River. I'd recommend it to anyone who likes being outdoors, floating down a river with some minor fast parts, and spending 3-4 hours on the water. I think the staff got a lot out of it, as some of them had never done anything like it before.

Back on the weekend of the 11-12th, Sue and I had our friend Nariah down visiting from New Hampshire. Sue and Nariah went into NYC on the Saturday, while I went into the city for a different purpose, a Scavenger Hunt at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, done through the social group here at work that I help coordinate. It was a lot of fun, and I'm looking forward to help plan more events coming up.

I'll definitely be updating this a bit more often now. So, watch this space!

NP: King Crimson - Book of Saturday (6 Oct 1973)

Counting down!

2007-08-08T20:22:00.000-04:00

We're approaching the end of the summer at work. Next Thursday, a week from tomorrow, the Resident Assistants return from their summer, and start training. We're pretty much ready for them, it's just the little details like food that have to happen now...

However, once the 16th hits, I'll probably be incommunicado from here for awhile. It'll be busy for me both on the days and the evenings... Not until after Labor Day will I be back here with a vengance...

I think that's when I'll rededicate myself to the blog....

The Wedding of the Lily

2007-08-02T20:27:00.000-04:00

Last Friday, Sue and I traveled up to Salem, MA for the wedding of one of my college friends, Sean Lily. He was the last of the quad who lived together (Sean, Lou, Bill, and Derek) to get married, so it was a bit of a special time. Sean also I think has stayed friends with *everyone* from BC, so there were a number of people there who I hadn't seen in awhile.

Sue and I left on Friday morning, and took about 5.5 hours to drive up to Salem. On the way up, I had received a call from our friend Thor about doing lunch together with a bunch of people, so after checking into the hotel around 12:30pm, we walked down to "Finz," the restaurant where everyone was.

Once everyone who was coming got there, I think there was a total of about 16-20 people there for lunch. Old friends with their respective wives (Bill & Sarah, Lou and Sania with baby, Derek and Diana with Derek's parents, Theresa and Thor, and others!), some singles like John Wood, and some people I haven't seen in quite awhile, like Domingo, Guillaume, and Mario (who I've actually seen more recently, but really only see at weddings and the like). Sue and I had to sit at a side table, as it was a bit crowded at the "main" table, but we were right next to them, and people came over to our table to be received like royalty, as is their right!

Afterwards, Sue, Theresa and I wandered Salem for a bit, to be met up by Thor once he came back from the hotel. After a bit more wandering, around the village green (did the burnings happen there? There was no plaque...), we went back to to hotel to clean ourselves up. Sue and I were in a smoking room, but it really didn't smell bad, and because we didn't want a smoking room, we actually got an upgrade to a bigger room, which was nice.

So, after showering and getting all snazzed up, Sue and I walked the five minutes from the hotel to the church for the wedding. Even though it was a very warm day, it was not nearly as hot in the church as it could have been. Not to say that it was cool, but it was not boiling!

The ceremony, while being in a Catholic church, was not a mass. It was very nice, although I think some of the pieces of the ceremony were perhaps a bit out of order, but everything happened in the end. Unity candle got lit, all readings were completed, and a good time was had by all! And most importantly, Sean and Kelly got married! Yay!

Then, back to the hotel, where the reception was held, in a very nice room... Dancing, partying, rocking out, and fun was had.... Here's the best time to start showing the photos....

Aren't they adorable!!!!

The photographer had these marks on the back of his head. Alien abduction?

Enough of balding guy's scars! Back to the happy couple! They're married!

Lou and Bill escorting a bridesmaid. Menage a walking with a bridesmaid...

Theresa and Thor post wedding. They've been married almost 9 years now!

You know it's a good wedding when there's not one, not two, but THREE bagpipers there....

Bill on the left, and the mysterious John Wood. He says he works for a finance company, but we all think he's actually a secret agent.

Dr. Lou, caught in mid chew....

Bill, Derek, and Lou making their grand entrance... Muppet Show theme was the entrance music.

Happy Couple! It's their party!

You faithful blogger, and John Wood. I guess he's not blurry in all photos...

Thor laughing at something the lovely Sue has said...

Dance Dance Revolution!

The alluring stare of Dr. Lou....

Taken by Dr. Lou, a wonderful photo... It may be our Christmas card this year... Sania, Lou's wife, said to me at one point, "Sue is so much fun!" She's right!

Another rocking photo of the happy couple...

Derek, playing Mr. Cool....

Bill, taking some odd photos with the camera of someone else... Digital is fun!

Your faithful blogger... Looking hip, and having a blast...

On Saturday, Derek hosted a cookout at his place, which was a blast, much fun was had just hanging out, enjoying ourselves. Although, for some reason, I didn't take any photos... Sadness!

Sue and I ended up leaving slightly after 6pm, and got home by around 10pm that Saturday night. All in all, a quick trip, but one that was a blast, to see a good friend get married, and to spend time (gone all too quick) with friends from the college years...

Some final photos.... Driving from Salem to Boston, we ran into some nasty storms. Here's some photos Sue took while I drove...

NP: The Who - Join Together

More often!

2007-07-31T21:10:00.000-04:00

I need to rededicate myself to blogging again.

I'm not writing as much as I'd like, so I will try to do more.

Next post will update on the wedding of the Lily, and photos from MV....

Off to a wedding!

2007-07-26T22:14:00.000-04:00

Just a brief note that we're off to a wedding in Salem Massachusetts tomorrow, and will be back on Saturday. I promise I'll write more...

Potter...

2007-07-23T20:38:00.000-04:00

This weekend, I went and bought the new Harry Potter book on Saturday morning at a bookstore in Hoboken. Said bookstore did *NOT* do a midnight sale, otherwise I would have gone then...

I finished the book around 1:45pm on Sunday. A fitting conclusion to the series, I was satisfied.

I'm not going to go into the details of the plot and all that, as you're either going to read the book, or not, based on your own opinions. I do think though, that what drives these books, more than the fantasy aspect of it (which is fun, no doubt), is Rowling's focus on friendship, and the connections we all make to each other.

Life isn't worth much if you don't have connections to put meaning to it. That's the core message, and it is one that resonates with me.

So, friends, thank you all for being around. I appreciate you all.

NP: Robert Fripp - Glass and Breath II

Martha's Vineyard

2007-07-19T21:31:00.000-04:00

Sue and I spent a great eight days on Martha's Vineyard. Here's the report of those days:

Day 1 - Friday, 6 July

We drove up 95 North from New Jersey, hitting little to no traffic along the way. Yay! We got to Woods Hole and parked, taking a shuttle bus to the Steamship Authority terminal. There, we waited for the 2:30pm Ferry over to Oak Bluffs. The ferry ride was uneventful, and we got to our hotel by about 3:30pm, checked into the Nashua House, and went to our room. The room was small, but we had a balcony with a view of Vineyard Sound, so that helped "expand" the size of our room...

We went to eat dinner at Zapotec Restaurant, a Mexican place right in Oak Bluffs. I had chicken and swordfish fajitas, which were quite tasty!

We went back to the room, and waited out a short thunderstorm, which was really the only rain we had while we were awake the entire time we were there. We lucked out with the weather!

That evening, we walked around Oak Bluffs a bit, and just got the lay of the land. I should say, that Sue got the lay of the land, as I've been to MV at least 8 times beforehand, but this was only Sue's 2nd time on the island.

On returning to the hotel, we sat on the balcony, and watched the parade of hootchies going by, out to party in Oak Bluffs. Hours of entertainment there. We also crushed heads, in the true "Kids In The Hall" style...

Day 2 - Saturday, 7 July

On this day, we used the bus passes we had purchased for the week, to travel to Edgartown, in order to go to South Beach, the beach along the Atlantic coast of the island. It's a very narrow beach, I'm assuming because of erosion. I didn't go in the water, but Sue did, and found it cool but refreshing.

Of course, I put sunblock on, but managed to miss a good part of my legs and feet, so I ended up getting a bad burn on the tops of my feet and ankles. No fun there, but it seems to always happen.

I'm still peeling now down there, just for your information.

Where did we eat that night? Can't remember, but it was good!

Day 3 - Sunday, 8 July

This morning started with Sue and I going out on a boat, so she could go para-sailing! Sue's a bit more of a risk taker with some of this stuff than I am, and she really enjoyed her trip about 400 feet into the air, floating around with the parachute up there! It looked like fun, but I still have no real urge to do it myself.

After that, I think I just took it easy most of the day (resting my feet and ankles, as it hurt a bit to walk), while Sue did some window shopping in Oak Bluffs. Again, good food, but I can't remember specifically where we ate.

Day 4 - Monday, 9 July

I'm putting the dates in here, as if we really kept track of what day it was... ;)

This Monday, I believe we went into Vineyard Haven, to check out that area. It was quaint, but VH is not a town with a lot of options. Oak Bluffs has all the "stuff" to do, Edgartown is hoity-toity, and VH is just kind of there. It's nice, but nothing tremendous....

We were there for awhile, and headed back to Oak Bluffs after awhile. I think we ate at Giordano's, a great pizza place in Oak Bluffs that night. Not sure... It's amazing how quickly some stuff blends together...

We spent a lot of time walking around, going from place to place, just enjoying being outdoors. Walking along the ocean, checking out the harbor, that kind of stuff.

Day 5 - Tuesday, July 10

I think this was the day we went on a nature trip to Chappaquidick. We went with about 12 other people in a truck on a nature tour. You'd think, on a nature tour, people could actually be quiet, and enjoy looking at nature in as non-impactful way as possible, but that wasn't our truck, unfortunately. I enjoyed the drive, and the tour, but it just wasn't quite what I was hoping for, with people yakking away.

We saw beaches, birds, sand, houses, and a lighthouse. It was nice. :)

Day 6 - Wednesday, July 11

Relaxed. Sat on the balcony. Went to see Harry Potter in the afternoon, in Oak Bluffs in the Island Theater. It was fun, but the theater is OLD, and showed it... Walked around afterwards, had a quick dinner in the Island House Pub, I believe. Laid back, basic food.

Most of our time was spent relaxing. It's a good place to just take it easy.

Day 7 - Thursday, July 12

I think we actually went earlier, but this may have been the day we went to Aquinnah, formerly Gay Head. Nice walk down to the beach, and Sue went along to the bluffs.

I'll have pictures of all this stuff soon, but I wanted to have one post with text, and one with photos.

Day 8 - Friday, July 13

Went to Menemsha this day (or the day before)... Sue went shelling, and I sat at a little food shack to read my book. It was fun and relaxing... The books I read while on the island were "Death by Black Hole," by Neil Degrasse Tyson, and "Almost A Miracle," by John Fehrling, about the American Revolution. Both books were quite good, I'd recommend the collection of science essays by Tyson to anyone interested in astronomy or science.

Day 9 - Saturday, July 14

Leaving the island.... Had a good breakfast at Laura Jeans, a restaurant in Oak Bluffs, and caught the 10:45am ferry out of Oak Bluffs. Was home by 5pm.

Lots of good food, lots of quality time with Sue, lots of enjoying looking at the ocean, lots of laughing. It was a great time. MV is a special place for me, it's just very relaxing, and a good place to go to be with special people. I'm glad I could share it with Sue....

Photos coming soon!

NP: Pete Townshend - Save It For Later

I'm not dead!

2007-07-17T20:27:00.000-04:00

Yes, I haven't posted in awhile, but I've been away! Sue and I went on vacation to Martha's Vineyard for a week (July 6-14th, to be precise), so there was no computer access during that time. It was actually kind of nice, being away from everything, not having any regular access to tv, computers, or other media.

I'll write up a full report soon, but I wanted to let regular readers of this blog (all two of you!), that all was well on the Lord front...

This week has been about getting back in the swing of work, and looking towards the rest of the summer. In a lot of ways, my summer ends on August 16th, when RA Training for this year begins, but that'll be fine. Sue and I will cram a lot of fun into the time between now and then...

In other news, my friend Joe got engaged! Wedding nuptuals will be at the end of October. Congrats to Joe and his girl Sally!

NP: Frank Zappa - Sofa #1 (10 December 1970)

NEARFest!

2007-07-01T12:09:00.000-04:00

Last weekend, I attended NEARFest, the North East Art Rock Festival, with my friend Joe M. He and I last attended NEARFest in 2003, where the French band Magma was the headliner on the first day. This year, Magma was the headliner for the 2nd day, so Joe asked if I wanted to go again. Being a glutton for punishment, why not, I figured?

Joe arrived here in Jersey City from Rhode Island last Friday afternoon, and we then headed out to Allentown, PA, where we were staying, as the festival was on Lehigh University's campus, at the Zoellner Arts Center. However, as soon as we arrived, after checking into the hotel, we headed off to Reading, PA, to meet our friend Jen, who we attended Boston College with, back in the day.

Amazingly, we found the restaurant, getting there at 8pm, and Jen arrived a few minutes later. Joe had stayed in contact with her more, I actually hadn't seen her since 1994. It was a fun dinner, with a lot of catching up and recalling the lazy crazy days of undergraduate life. A good time was had by all.

Fast forwarding to Saturday, Joe and I arrived at Zoellner at about 9:30am, for a 11am start time for the first band. It's good to get there early to get good parking, and to figure out the lay of the land. Also, there are vendors with plenty of "prog" CDs, who are willing to give them to you in exchange for your hard earned money. Joe and I were happy to partake in the feeding frenzy...

Here's Joe, outside of the Zoellner Arts Center, with a photo of Michael McDonald looking over his shoulder...

Joe, up on a ledge, being seen through the bushes....

Mike, up on the same ledge, almost doing a Hulk Hogan impression. But Hogan's not as buff as I...

Joe, inside at our seats, before the first band...

Now, my quick review of each band. Overall, I really enjoyed the festival, with only one band not really doing anything at all for me (I'm looking at you, Magenta!). The others, we start with....

Izz: This was the first band of the Festival, and was a great kickoff to the day. Two drummers, a guitarist, a keyboardist/singer, a bassist/singer, and two female vocalists, they were quite good! A good hour long set, and I really enjoyed their music. The lyrics may have been a bit light here and there, some predictible rhymes, but I can live with that.

NebelNest: A French instrumental band, the drummer for this band was a monster! Great player, and all the other members of the band (two guitarists, keys, bass) were good also. A fun live experience, but I get the feeling that on CD, the material might begin to sound all the same.

Bob Drake: A semi-avant-garde performer, he did about 30 minutes of some "odd" songs with another guitarist and a drummer. Not bad stuff, but nothing that really knocked my socks off.

After Mr. Drake, Joe and I wandered around Lehigh's campus for a bit. Some photos...

Do you really want to live in "Drinker Hall?"

Magenta: The one band of this Festival that really did next to nothing for me. At one point, there was some music where I thought they were doing a cover of Steve Hackett's "The Steppes," but nope, it was their own song, that sounded *exactly* like that Hackett one. That happened a few times during the set that we stayed for. Joe and I made the executive decision to go out to dinner during this band. I don't feel we missed much.

Hawkwind: Hawkwind is a "space rock" band, that has had about 90 members over the lifetime of the band. Their performances are backed up by a slide show, that alternates between photos/drawings of the Earth from space, "Grey" style aliens, and the planet Saturn. If Spinal Tap were real, they'd be Hawkwind. I didn't "dislike" Hawkwind, but they didn't do much for me. But, if you're into taking heavy amounts of mushrooms, they're probably *just* the right band for you.

The Hawkwind banner....

Earth from space! Lookie!

Aliens! Hawkwind will protect us from the Alien Overlords!

After the first day, Joe and I went back to the hotel, had a drink at a local pub right nextdoor, watched a bit of SNL, and went to bed... In order to prepare for...

Second Day -

Indukti: An instrumental band from Poland, again, with a monster drummer. Also two guitarits, bass, and violin! Great combo, a good kick in the pants opener for Sunday morning.

La Maschera Di Cera: Italian prog band, with keys, flute, bass, drums, and singer. Not bad stuff, the singer had the best stage presence of anyone all weekend long. But it didn't really do much for me. We stayed for the full set, but I think that the band could have cut one song out of their set, and it would have kept it much tighter for me over the course of the performance, and I may have come out liking their band better.

Robert Rich: Ambient music, with some animations displayed on the big screen. I liked it, but it isn't the type of music I need to run out and buy. I closed my eyes and almost dozed off during part of it, which isn't a criticism, like it would be with other bands.

Pure Reason Revolution: Another good band, kind of Radioheadish, a good sound to them. Joe and I did leave during their set, not because we didn't like them, but again, because food was calling to us.

Magma: Ah, the band that Joe and I really came to see, and they did not disappoint. They played two "songs" during their main set, Kohntarkoz, and Ementeht-Re. I *may* be misspelling those names, as, for those of you who don't know, Magma sings in their own created language, called Kobian. The two "encore" songs were Kobia, and Linhs. The band is made up of drums (Christian Vander, who writes the music), 4 vocalists (3 female, 1 male), guitar, bass, keys, and a vibes player. With the second song of their main set, it was about 40 minutes long, and I knew it was coming to the end of it, as it was just too intense musically, and there was nowhere else for them to go but to end the music!

Sorry for the blur in the photos, but you can deal, can't you?

Magma taking bows!

All in all, a great weekend! It was fun to spend time with Joe, and see some great music. I got my Festival program signed by a lot of the artists, they all hung out for the length of the weekend. In fact, the Polish band Indukti sat next to us for a segment of Magma's show.

Another aspect of going to these shows, like attending a Star Trek convention, is that you get to see nerds in their natural habitat. It's good times. Joe and I also have an idea to make our own documentary about the NearFest experience. This little interview can be our calling card for investors!

Mike Yakking at NearFest

NP: Gershwin - An American in Paris

We have a winner!

2007-06-26T21:02:00.001-04:00

Brian correctly researched for me, and found out that the film mentioned in my last post was "Without Warning," with Sander Vanocer, *not* Edwin Newman as the lead newsman.

So, kudos for Brian for breaking through my mind block, on this film. Oddly enough, the TV movie aired in 1994, not the mid-1980's, as my memory initially told me. I guess I actually watched this show up in Boston, and NOT when I was living in New Jersey.

Funny how the mind creates memories, I really recall sitting in my living room in NJ, watching this show. But, we had sold that house by the time this aired, so I couldn't have seen it there.

NP: David Sylvian and Andrea Chimenti - I Have Waited for You

Edwin Newman in an alien invasion movie???

2007-06-25T21:28:00.000-04:00

So, I'll be blogging about NEARFest soon enough, once I get some photos in order. But, I have a question for all the SF nerds out there.

I remember, in the mid-1980's, there was a TV movie on NBC (I think) that was kind of a remake/retelling of the War of the Worlds story.

From what I remember, it starts out with a fake news report, starring real news reporter Edwin Newman. A developing story starts, with I believe some landings of meteors/alien spaceships in a number of places around the world.

The story is told by reporters, reporting into Newman in the home base. One country, perhaps the US, perhaps Russia, decides to destroy the spaceship.

BUT, then, there are three meteors approaching Earth from space. I think that the US and Russia launch missles to destroy the asteroids, and they do! Yay for humans!

BUT! And here's the Twilight Zone ending... Just as the rejoicing starts in the control room for the missles (with a reporter conveniently there), there are more radar hits for incoming asteroids. Hundreds of them. All coming in to destroy earth.

And, that's how the movie ends. Not a real happy story, but I remember being vaguely entertained by it when I was younger.

I checked Edwin Newman's entry in IMDB, and I've googled a bunch of combinations, trying to find the name of this movie, with no luck. Anyone out there remember this? Brian? Come on, if anyone does, you'd remember it....

NP: Peter Gabriel - San Jacinto

Black Swans!

2007-06-19T17:18:00.000-04:00

These photos are from about two weeks ago, at Sunset Lake in Asbury Park, where my mom lives (Asbury, not the lake).

There's a local doctor who has imported these pretty birds to the lake, so that they can give the whole city a bit of pleasure from seeing them glide along.

They are quite nice, if I say so myself.

My mom has named them all, they are:

Elizabeth and Mr. Darcy, Emma and Mr. Knightly, and Jane and Mr. Rochester

Full points for those of you who get the literature references.

It's been awhile...

2007-06-17T21:06:00.000-04:00

It's been awhile since I've posted, not because nothings been going on, but mainly through lazyness, or just being tired in the evening.

I picked Sue up from Hoboken from her knitting class last Thursday, and there was this fire-boat, shooting off different water...

Perhaps they're practicing for 4th of July celebrations?

And, here's a nice skyline photo...

I don't know how to set this up, so when you click on a photo, you get the larger version of it. Hmmmm... Something I will have to learn.

This past Friday was our first Friday off for the summer at work, so it has been good to have a three day weekend. Sue and I both had dentist appointments on Friday morning, so we still had to wake up early, but when it's not for work, it's not as bad...

More to come soon!

NP: ELP - Karn Evil 9

Sleepy Saturday....

2007-06-09T21:42:00.001-04:00

Ah, a wonderful lazy day... I slept pretty late today, till 10:30am or so, later than I expected. I drove Sue down to Hoboken, so she could be a part of an outdoor knitting group, and she was gone from about 11:30am till about 3:30pm.

I was pretty lazy most of the day, but I did get rid of some old albums, that I either have on CD, or I'm just never going to play again. Especially since I don't have a turntable at present. I know some people love LP's/vinyl, but I simply don't get it. There's a lot of argument about what's "better" or "worse" in audiophile circles, but CDs are fine with me.

While Sue was out, I watched "28 Days Later," a British zombie movie from back in 2002, I believe. I don't get into huge reviews of these things, but in general, I liked the film, although I thought it lost it a bit about halfway through the movie, pretty much once the little group followed in the film got to the Army encampment. But, well worth watching if for nothing else than another take on the zombie movie idea.

NP: Catherine Wheel - Salt

Hoboken Self Portrait

2007-06-07T22:02:00.000-04:00

Today, I hung around in Hoboken from about 6pm till 8pm or so, as Sue was taking a knitting class, and I was picking her up at the end of it (8pm). I got some pizza, went into a shoe store looking for some sandals, and went to Barnes & Noble to pick up the new Al Gore book.

After all that, I went to the park along the Hudson River in Hoboken, and took the following photos.

The Committee for Creative Enactments 2007 Reunion

2007-06-03T15:40:00.000-04:00

I'm back from Boston, where I had a good time hanging out with my friend Brian, and attending the CCE Reunion.

While not *quite* a founding member of the theactrical improv group from Boston College, my first year at BC was the first full year the club was in existence, so for the later membership, I was pretty close... There were about 50 people at the reunion, ranging in date of graduation from 1993 (me) to students who were still at BC. Most attendees were from the 1999-2007 timeframe, with a few late 90's folks, and my friend Derek, who was class of 1995.

I got up and said a few words, to talk about the start of the club from my point of view, and to give some context for the day. I've done a lot of public speaking in my day, but I have to say that I was the most nervous I've been in awhile, talking to the group for my 5 minutes up on the stairs of O'Connell House. I think because this group really meant something to me.

I spoke of starting at BC as a student 1989, and not really remembering a time when the CCE was not part of my BC experience. It allowed me to be a "performer," to be interacting with other people of creativity and fun, and to do something that was different from the norm. I gave due respect to Dave Foucher and Dawn Bishop, as the two founders of the club, without whom none of us would have been standing in that room on Saturday evening. I gave respect to everyone in that room at the time, because without them, there would be no club. I had heard before, when I met some students in the summer of 2005 from the club, that some people would have probably transferred out of BC if it hadn't been for the CCE. Afterwards, I was surprised how many people came up to me and said the same thing, that the CCE had given them a reason to stay at BC. It's not like saving someone from jumping off a bridge, but it showed me that this club has had a *huge* impact on people's lives, without us really even intending it.

I took some questions at the end, and one of the recent graduates asked, "Without as many long standing traditions, what did you guys have to argue about?" My response: "Name it, and we argued about it." There was a lot of passion in the group, a lot of thoughts about right and wrong. We didn't really know what we were doing, so we played a lot of it by ear.

Throughout the night, I was continually surprised that people came up to me, to thank me for getting this club off the ground, telling me how much the CCE has meant to them, and the people in the group. It was a bit overwhelming, really. I mean, let's be honest, I'm all for having my ego stroked, but this was more than I really thought would be happening. It does, to me, show the power of an idea, and that idea giving people something to work towards, to have a goal and be able to accomplish it. I asked a present student, who had helped write the last show, if she would have ever thought that she'd write a production that others would perform. That wasn't in her plan for BC, she said. Which is as it should be, the CCE was able to push people outside of their areas of expertise, and get the members to be more than they thought they could be.

I'll be reflecting on this day for awhile. I mentioned to some of the newer graduates that when they come back in 10 years, and meet some of the present members, they may feel similar to myself, because people will be coming up to them to thank them for keeping the club going. They'll be hearing stories of students who were given a real taste of theater through the club, and how the club is one of the main things they'll remember from BC.

All because some people decided to try to put on a murdery mystery in Spring 1989, and then said, "Hey, why don't we do another???"

Some photos from the weekend....

My host Brian, at home... We watched a lot of the show "Spaced" on Friday night... Great stuff....

You know, he *is* a dick!

Brian and I hit The Border Cafe in Harvard Square after seeing the movie "Bug," (not bad, but not good). My favorite restaurant in, well, pretty much anywhere...

Shaw House, where I lived my Freshman/Sophomore years at BC, and where the CCE started up.

The Shaw House lounge piano. The same piano that was there when I lived there. I hope it's been tuned....

It's a bit dark, but the stairs of O'Connell House, where many intro and other scenes during CCE events were staged. Can you hear the voices? I can.

Me and some later members of the club. More and more people kept getting added to the photo. If you're in this photo, feel free to let me know! I'm horrible with names, otherwise I'd say who everyone was...

Just a room shot, showing people hanging out in O'Connell House on Upper Campus at BC.

Derek and I hanging out at the Union Street Restaurant, after the O'Connell House event. It was good to be able to sit and talk to him for a good chunk of time, although the band playing at the bar was a wee bit loud. Reminds me of why I don't like going out to bars... That, and my scratchy voice today, from yelling to be heard in the room.

I'm very glad I went to the reunion, after being ambivalent about it for awhile. It's great to see what the "new folks" have made of the club, and the sheer enjoyment that everyone obviously gets from each other's company. I talked to one of the organizers, and we were saying that the next reunion will probably be in 2009, to mark the 20 year anniversary of the club. So, there's more to come...

NP: King Crimson - Larks Tongues in Aspic II (13 Oct 1972)

Heading to Boston!

2007-05-31T21:49:00.000-04:00

This weekend, I'll be heading up to Boston to attend a reunion for the Committee for Creative Enactments, a group I was part of (and *almost* a founder of) when I was in college at BC. We would write, produce, and act in our own murdery mysteries, once a semester. I believe I have the link to the group's website on my links on the right hand side.

I wasn't going to go up to this reunion, but then I realized that I may be one of the oldest members of the group to attend, and I like to represent the aged portion of the group. I can tell the stories about how we did show when we were young, without all this new fangled "talking" and "plot devices" that I hear the kids talk about nowadays.

Also, it's fun to be the representative of history. I was also the 3rd or 4th President of the group, so there's that going for me too....

So, it should be a good time. I'm staying with Brian while in the city, and was going to try to see Joe, but he'll be busy on Sunday, so unfortunately, no Joe this trip. Brian and I will probably see a movie on Saturday, before this big shindig starts up at 6pm. If it's nice, I may try to get to campus early, to take some photos, and just wander around a bit.

I'll be back with regular computer access on Sunday, so I'll update you all then on how it went....

NP: Frank Zappa - The Downtown Talent Scout

Memorial Day weekend

2007-05-26T21:14:00.001-04:00

Today was the first day of the Memorial Day weekend. I stayed in bed till about 10:30am, and spent most of the day realizing that it felt like the first day of Summer Vacation when I was a kid. I mentioned this to Sue, and she felt the same way. It was just one of those great lazy days where I had nothing of real consequence to do, so here's what I did...

1. Watched "Being John Malkovich" with Sue on DVD. Good movie, although none of the characters are people I'd like to know in real life.

2. Went to Hoboken. The mission was to go to the Ben & Jerry's store there to find the Stephen Colbert flavor, Americone Dreams. MISSION ACCOMPLISHED! It's quite tasty too, with vanilla ice cream, bits of chocolate covered waffle cone, and caramel swirled through it. I also stopped at the Barnes & Nobles, and got $50 work of book. The third book in a trilogy by Alastair Reynolds, a new book on the Revolutionary War, and a collection of scientific essays by Neil Degrasse Tyson. Should all be good reads...

3. Came home, ate the ice cream. Watched the SCTV DVD's that I've been going through, and took a nap on the couch.

4. Finished watching the netflix DVD's of the British version of "The Office" that we started watching last night. Great show, there's something about the uncomfortable human interaction in these comedies that just works for me. People should know better, but they don't, and it makes for great comedy. And, there's some great personal stories running through the show, such as the Dawn/Tim relationship. Great fun to watch.

5. Tucked Sue into bed, she's an early sleeper. Now, I'll just fart around here for a bit, maybe read, who knows....

NP: Anglagard - Sista Somrar

Hello little buddy!

2007-05-23T21:20:00.000-04:00

Here's a cute photo for y'all!

This is from a few weeks ago, I was visiting a cemetery in Hoboken, as part of my genealogy research, and there were a lot of groundhog holes in the place. I caught this little guy peeking his head out of a hole near a headstone that wasn't relevant to my research.

Doesn't he look just adorable???

I've really been lax in my genealogy research recently. I need to figure out a few good things to focus on looking for, and give a real effort to search out those items. Maybe I'll take this weekend to do that...

NP: Brian Eno - The Big Ship

Boat Trip!

2007-05-20T21:12:00.001-04:00

On Thursday of last week, I went on a harbor cruise for work, I was chaperoning students. A pretty easy gig, but it was fun to be on the boat. Here are my photos of the event...

At the dock of South Street Seaport in NYC, looking towards the boat, the white structure in the distance... Looking east towards Brooklyn.

Again, from the dock, with the Brooklyn Bridge visible.

Now, on board ship, taken from the top open air deck, looking at the dock.

Top deck again, looking up the East River at the Brooklyn Bridge. It was a nice evening, temp in the high 50's, I wore a sweatshirt to keep warm.

Passing under the Brooklyn Bridge. Pretty cool photo...

I like this view looking south, downtown, with the buildings and the sky... Pretty.

I thought this was a neat photo, because the current, from looking at the buoy, is actually moving against the current of the river. The tide must have been coming in, and the Hudson River/Harbor is one big estuary, affected dramatically by tides. This was an interesting view of the tidal effects in the harbor/river. Interesting to me at least...

About as far as we went upriver, we could see the UN Builiding in the distance. I'd like to go on the Circle Line sometime again, to go around the entire island... That would be fun, to me... Maybe during the summer it could be a fun thing to do.

Ruins on the Brooklyn side of the river. Cool.

Domino Sugar! Watch the teeth rot!

We then headed into New York Harbor proper, and here's the restored Staten Island Ferry building. They've been working on it for quite a long time. It appears to be almost done.

Ellis Island. Hello, Immigrant Ancestors!

And we'll end with the Statue of Liberty.... Thank you, France!

NP: King Crimson - Dangerous Curves (14 Nov 2003)

Visit from friends!

2007-05-16T22:18:00.000-04:00

I just took pictures off of my digital camera, and here's one of my friend Joe!

He and his girlfriend Sally came down to visit friends in the NYC area a few weekends ago, so we met for dinner the Friday they were here. I've been lazy, and hadn't taken any of the photos off my camera. So, here he is! Sorry ladies, he's taken!

My car wouldn't start today. I *think* the battery is dead, I'll have to try to jump it tomorrow, and see what happens. The car is 10 years old, and I believe it's still the original battery, so it's about time for it to go.

If it's not the battery, it *may* be the alternator. If not that, then I've reached the limit of my guessing.

NP: King Crimson - Indiscipline (27 Aug 1982)

A Lazy Poster....

2007-05-15T22:56:00.000-04:00

I've been incredibly lazy with this blog recently, I need to make more of an effort to post here. Work has been busy, we're closing the residence halls tomorrow, and graduation is on Sunday, so that's been taking up a lot of time and energy.

And, I don't *really* like posting much about work on here, and since work has been taking up most of my time, you can see the dilemma I'm under.

I did get a book in the mail from Amazon today, it's the new Tolkien book, Children of Hurin. I'll read it after I finish my present book, about the designing/building of the Apollo Lunar Lander.

The Larry Sanders Show

2007-05-12T21:44:00.000-04:00

Today, I finished watching the DVD's I just got of "The Larry Sanders Show," which was originally aired on HBO from 1992-1998. In this show, Garry Shandling played talk show host Larry Sanders, as a "behind the scenes" look at the making of a talk show.

However, the show was much more about character than just a mockumentary style comedy. It really set the stage for later shows, like Arrested Development, that took the documentary style shooting and ran with it. Also, the characters in Larry Sanders (Larry, his producer Artie, played by Rip Torn, and sidekick Hank, played by Jeffrey Tambor) were just fantastic to watch, because they were human, expressed emotions, and were "real."

So, if you're looking for some good laughs, and some surprising glimpses of emotion that are usually unexpected, then take a look at this show.

I'm on duty this weekend, so there's nothing really big going on in my life, besides watching tv and writing blogs. This Thursday, I'll be going on a harbor cruise in NYC, as a chaperone for a Senior Week trip, which should be fun. I'll be sure to bring a camera for some photos to post here.

All non-graduating students have to be out of the residence halls here by Wednesday at noon, so it'll be pretty quiet soon. It's quiet now, with exams happening, but I'm looking forward to the quiet of no one else in the building...

NP: Frank Zappa - No Not Now

An old wedding...

2007-05-10T20:30:00.000-04:00

On May 10, 1851, my great-great-great-grandparents, John Lord and Jane Lang, were married in Newark, New Jersey. They had immigrated to the US the year before, on the same ship. I'm not sure if they knew each other in Ireland, or if they met on the ship coming over, and stayed close in the interim between immigration and marriage.

That's the thing about genealogy, sometimes you learn something from documents, but have no real clue as to what actually went on. There's no old Lord Bible, or papers from a diary, to tell what the real story was.

Personally, I think they knew each other in Ireland, but that's just a guess.

Then, on May 10, 1890, the same John Lord passed away in East Newark, NJ. When you do genealogy for awhile, you're used to seeing coincidences of dates, they're more common than you'd think.

Jane Lord, wife of the aforementioned John Lord, died on March 16, 1912. That was exactly 59 years before I was born. Another date coincidence.

So, if John and Jane hadn't been married on this date, one hundred and fifty six years ago, I might not be sitting here right now, typing to you. That goes for any of my ancestors, on either side of the family. If just one thing had shifted, someone else (like me, but not *exactly* me) might be here, writing about their ancestors John and Jane being married on May 11th, or May 9th.

Kind of Twilight Zone-y, when you think about it....

If I have any photos of John or Jane, I'd put them up here, but I got nothing!

A funny environmental comment...

2007-05-09T21:36:00.000-04:00

The other day, in just random conversation, Sue said to me, "I can't wait until we have a house."

As the comment was apropos of nothing that we had been talking about, I said, "Why?"

Her reply: "We'll have a clothes dryer, and I can toast my pajamas before bed..."

"I don't know if that would be terribly energy efficient," I said.

And then the classic response: "True, it really wouldn't reduce the footprint much, would it?"

I thought it was a really funny, quick retort...

NP: The Police - Peanuts (Live)

Egging on!

2007-05-02T21:11:00.000-04:00

Louie's egging me on to apply for the Director job, as he mentions in his comment on yesterday's blog. I'm still up in the air about it. Here are some factors I'm considering, just so that people know what's going through my head:

Responsibility. Yes, it's more, which is good. The Director title and responsibility will look good on my resume, and I'll build more skills in those areas. On the other side of the coin, I'll be gaining a lot of the same experiences over the summer, as I learn what I'll need to know to help out the new director, so I could get the knowledge, without the parts of the job that may be personally draining. So, it's a toss up now, which needs more reflection on my part.
Money. Yes, it would be more, but not a huge amount more. We'd also have to move into the Director's house, which is nice, but it's still another move less than a year after we moved here. Both Sue and I value stability, so a physical move so soon could be rough. Not enough to rule it out, but it's part of the calculus.
Presidential search. The College is undergoing a presidential search right now, and while this won't have a big impact on my process, I am interested to see the outcome, before I start planning my continued move up the ladder of responsibility. Who the President is can truly determine the direction of the College, so I'd like a bit more knowledge on who is going to be sitting in the big chair before throwing my hat into the ring.
Longevity. If I apply to this job, how long does it commit me to being in the position? I don't know. I need to think about that, and see how long we'd like to be in the area. Sue will be looking at possible degree programs at the college where she works, so stability could be really good now. More info needed.
Job description. I still haven't even seen a job description for the Director position yet. Once I see it, I'll have a better idea of what I could be in for with the work.

So, those are some random thoughts. A lot of it is "more input necessary." I can truly say that I haven't really come to any conclusion yet, as I want to see what pans out over the next few weeks, with the actual position posting, and the possible conclusion of the Presidential search. There's also an Academic Dean position that has opened up at the College, that could be interesting to look at, again, depending on the job description.

More to come!

NP: Jon Anderson - Animation

Long Time Gone

2007-05-01T21:21:00.000-04:00

Sorry for the delay in writing, I've just been busy with life, and not sitting at the computer a lot...

Happy May Day everyone! Let the revolution begin!

What's been going on recently? Well, my supervisor is leaving her job at the end of the summer, so one of the things on my plate is reflecting on whether or not it would be worthwhile to apply for the Director job. A number of people at work have asked if I am, and have been semi-encouraging about it, but I'm still thinking about it, with no real decision made one way or another... Watch this space for further updates.

We're in the home stretch of the semester, with the Finals period ending on May 15th, and students having to vacate their residence hall rooms by noon on May 16th. Graduation is May 20th, at the Garden State Arts Center, and I'll be working the event. Then, the glorious summer months begin, which will be very nice. I'm looking forward to getting a lot of work done, and having Friday's off starting in the middle of June.

We've had candidates in for the Resident Coordinator position open for this coming year. Good candidates, we have a plethora of riches in this search. That's been keeping me busy at work since Thursday. Soon, I'll get to start reference checks on people, which is always interesting to see what gets said (or not) during these conversations.

Sue and I saw "Hot Fuzz" over the weekend, and I have to say, it's the best comedy I've seen in the movies this year so far, or actually in quite awhile, even back into last year. Simon Pegg and his co-writer/director are great at making a parody, while also not getting caught up in trying to be PARODY, if that makes sense. I'll put it this way, the films stand up on their own as story/comedy, without even knowing all the details of the parody. A great comedy, go see it!

NP: The Moody Blues - Isn't Life Strange

Ah, music...

2007-04-24T21:01:00.000-04:00

"Even with good friends, it's easy to feel alone at times. That's when music steps in."

I wrote this last night, in response to some postings on the Genesis message boards.

I've been a bit of a music nerd recently, posting *a lot* on those message boards. So much so, that I've been the #1 poster for awhile. I've recently dropped to #2 or #3, but that's okay. I have no need to be #1 all the time.

I was writing about my personal relationship to music. I have many people I consider friends, but unfortunately, a lot of them are far away, not within easy, just hang out distance. So, the phone, e-mail, carrier pidgeons, whatever communication venue works usually substitutes.

But, there are times when it's nice to have someone right there. Of course, I'm married to a wonderful Sue, and she's always there for me. However, sometimes you just need to be alone, or need some non-interactive consolation. For me, that's when I truly turn to music.

So, now you know a little more about me. Yay!

NP: Genesis - Duchess

Spring? What Spring?

2007-04-23T22:33:00.000-04:00

Today, here in New Jersey, we leaped straight into summer...

I was going to say "lept," but when I saw it, I wasn't sure if it was a real word...

I think it hit at least 85F today, which was nice after the unseasonably cool weather we had for the past week or two. On Saturday, Sue and I went out to the movies (saw Blades of Glory, good stupid fun), but beforehand, discovered a little scenic area in Bayonne (who knew?), where we could see the Statue of Liberty and the NYC skyline. It was a nice area, but needed a good trash pick up.

Litter is one of my big pet peeves. Mainly because there's absolutely no reason for it. If you have trash, wait till you see a garbage can.

There was a garbage can at this scenic area, but it was way out of the way. You have to be motivated to use it. If I were in charge (and really, why aren't I?), I would move it closer to where people actually stand.

NP: Silence

Thursday the 19th

2007-04-19T20:37:00.000-04:00

It's just as rare as a Friday the 13th, maybe I should get spooked about this...

This video is hitting everyone on the web, so if you haven't seen it, you should...

Comedy Click Here!

Very funny stuff... Some people, from the comments below it, don't quite realize that Will Ferrell isn't actually yelling at the kid... Editing can be your friend...

Today, I attended a day long workshop/conference on alcohol education at colleges. Quite interesting stuff, got to meet some cool people, and I got a free book out of it, so it can't be that bad!

I have to mention that after I said that my birthday was done, I got one more gift from Mr. Paik, the first season of Ricky Gervais's show Extras, which is shown on the BBC and HBO. It's a riot, very well done! I'll have to pick up the BBC "The Office," which I've only seen bits of on DVD at other people's places.

Patrick Stewart: You've seen Star Trek, haven't you?

Ricky Gervais: No, haven't caught it.

Patrick Stewart: Ah, you're married.

Ricky Gervais: No... Not married.

Patrick Stewart: Ah, okay, you have a girlfriend!

Ricky Gervais: No, no girlfriend.

Patrick Stewart: You're not married, you don't have a girlfriend, and you've never seen Star Trek?

Ricky Gervais: No, can't say I have...

Patrick Stewart: Good Lord.

Funny stuff, much funnier in delivery than I can put into words here... Find it and watch it, if you can!

NP: Jon & Vangelis - The Arms of Love

The joy of presales...

2007-04-17T21:22:00.000-04:00

This morning, I found out that there's going to be a Genesis concert at Madison Square Garden on September 25th, on top of the Giants Stadium show I already have tickets for on September 27th.

The Genesis website fanclub presale was this morning at 10am, so I limbered up my fingers, and got tickets in Section 102. Groovy!

This evening, we had our second Group Process interview for Resident Assistant positions here at the college. It was a good time, I always enjoy watching the candidates interact in groups. Then tomorrow and Thursday, they'll do individual interviews, and then we decide who to hire...

That's all for now, just a quick update...

T.O.O.L. - All Along the Watchtower

Tires!

2007-04-16T20:56:00.000-04:00

So, this weekend, I went and got new tires for my car. My old ones, I got in about the year 2000, and it was time for a change. They were also snow tires, from when I lived up north. They may have contributed to my transmission issues back in October 2006, as the snow tires cause more drag/resistance between the car and the road, so that was another reason to change the tires.

I always knew the snow tires made more of a sound, because of their bigger treads. Now, with the new tires, my car is riding very quietly! It's amazing, I didn't expect it to be that big of a difference, but the sound is much less in my car now.

Late last week, Sue and I made our reservations for our summer vacation on Martha's Vineyard. We'll be staying in Oak Bluffs, in a little hotel there. We'll have to share a bathroom with 3 other rooms, but that's fine, as the rooms are about $80 cheaper per night compared to other places. I'll be sure to post a full review after we get back in July.

NP: King Crimson - 21st Century Schizoid Man (6 May 1969)

The official conclusion...

2007-04-10T20:59:00.000-04:00

...of my birthday season arrived today, when I received a gift in the mail from my friend Brian. It's two graphic novels, of one series, called "The Walking Dead." More zombie literature to fry my brain! Thanks Brian!

I finished the novel "The Historian" yesterday. It was a good read, I enjoyed it, but the book is 675 pages long, and I think it could have been tightened up a good 100 pages or so. The story is about the search for the living Dracula, in semi-modern times, told through a "modern" story, but also through a series of letters, written by the protaginist's father, and an assortment of other characters.

The book kept me interested enough to finish it, but my main critique, as I said, was the pace of it. With that being said, I wouldn't not read other work by the author.

NP: Frank Zappa - Freak Out Drum Track w/timpani

Recap of the week!

2007-04-09T20:55:00.000-04:00

Sorry for not blogging recently, I've just been tied up with, well, just relaxing. It's nice to be able to just take it easy for a few days, with no real responsibilities besides hanging with my wonderful Sue, and having fun with her.

On Saturday, we went into NYC to the Lincoln Center movie theater, to see Pan's Labyrnth, which was an excellent movie. I'm always into subtitles, and this was a very fantastical story, about a girl growing up during WWII/Spanish Civil War, and how she deals with it. You never really know if the story is in the girl's head, or if it's real, but that's part of the charm/wistfulness of the film. I recommend it highly...

Today, I had the exciting delivery in the mail of the Genesis 1976-1982 5.1 surround sound box set, which includes the albums A Trick of the Tail, Wind and Wuthering, And Then There Were Three, Duke, Abacab, and a sixth disc of b-sides (also mixed in 5.1). So far, I've listened to Trick, and a song or two off of Abacab (Dodo and Whodunnit, for those of you who are wondering...). The new mixes in surround sound are quite good, it really opens up the music to hear detail that was only hinted at before. I'm looking forward to digesting the rest of the music over the next week, and afterwards...

Each album also comes with an accompaning DVD, with about 15 minutes of band interviews about the album, the associated videos, and any other items of interest, like live concert clips, tv appearances, etc. Very cool stuff, especially since it's all really just a bonus. I've only watched the Abacab interviews so far, and they're actually worth having... Which is nice, for a freebie.

In regards to the conference I attended, I have to give Al Gore kudos for his global warming/Inconvenient Truth keynote speech. What's interesting is that he asks the stage lights to be dimmed, so that you can't really see him talking, but because of that, you focus on the details of his presentation. Which is quite compelling, I have to say. Global warming is real, and many countries are taking steps to reign in the threat. However, the US is reacting slowly, while being one of the major contributors to the problem. I need to buy a hybrid car NOW! And vote for candidates who actually plan on addressing this issue.

I'm not going to go over what Gore says, you can rent the DVD of An Inconvenient Truth easily enough. Watch it, and be educated. Get past whatever political issues you may have with Al Gore, and just listen to the information.

NP: Lenny Bruce - Our Governors (1959)

The Baltarian Dialogues (Part One?)

2007-04-05T21:35:00.000-04:00

The Baltarian Dialogues

Brian and I engaged in an e-mail dissection of the Battlestar Galactica season finale, and since there's no real point in just copying/pasting it here, I give you the link to his blog entry above...

NP: Fonya - Fleabitten Cat

The return from Orlando...

2007-04-05T21:08:00.000-04:00

I returned last night from the ACPA/NASPA conference down in Orlando. The flight was fine, except that it left 3 hours later than it was supposed to, so I got home to Jersey City around 2:30am in the morning. No fun there! But, the flight was uneventful, so that's okay...

Here's a photolog of my experiences...

The line for registration. It looks long, and it was, but it actually moved pretty quickly...

Daniel and Brian, two friends from my work years at Dartmouth, we went out with Fu and Krista (pictured below) on Friday, the first night there...

We went to eat at a place in Downtown Celebration, a town that's been built to house Disney workers, from what I was told...

Fu really doesn't have buck teeth, although this photo may lead to to believe that...

I was actually down there to work, not just to eat with friends. Here's the table we had for Saint Peter's, where I (and my Director) interview prospective candidates to work in Residence Life at the college. It was a good area, very comfortable for interviewing...

I didn't really expect to see livestock outside of my hotel window, but life is full of surprises...

I thought this was a pretty evening sky.

The stage for Al Gore's presentation, from my seat, which Fu and Krista kindly saved for me...

The happy couple!

And to prove I was there, here I am, looking semi-professional! And more hairless than I actually am!

Al Gore, on the video screen right in front of us. If you haven't seen "An Inconvenient Truth" yet, you should! I haven't, but now that I saw Gore's presentation, I know all the relevant information. Watch it, and be educated...

On the phone, talking to Sue... See, there is hair up there!

A crowd from Dartmouth at the social...

That's where I'll leave this for now. Over the weekend, I'll write up more about the content and actual stuff I did at the conference.

NP: Mike Keneally - Bober

Heading to Orlando

2007-03-30T04:23:00.000-04:00

I'm heading to Orlando for a conference. I'll be gone till Wednesday. Most likely no blog posts till then...

Enjoy the break from the world of Mike...

NP: Playing? It's too early!

Sunday ramblings...

2007-03-25T23:04:00.000-04:00

Okay, I'm going to blather on a bit here about Battlestar Galactica, so if you don't want to be *spoiled,* look away now!

Now, I say!

Okay, I just finished watching the season 3 finale, and my quick thoughts are that it was very good, with a very stupid part at the end.

The doofy part is the All Along the Watchtower quotes, although I did like the Indian influenced music at the end...

Now, are Tighe, Sam, the Chief, and the President's aid really Cylons. Methinks not. Why would an Earth song trigger their Cylon pieces to come alive?

Could it be that they're plants from Earth itself, infiltrating the Colonies? That could be interesting, if "humanity" on Earth has Cylons of their own, or if these people are just real people, planted with some psychological trigger to reanimate their memories.

Although, it's just a song, and it brought them all together. It doesn't appear to have triggered any real mission in them, although the Chief did seem like the one most willing to accept his Cylon-nature.

But, wouldn't that make his kid special? Like Hera?

And, there were only four of them called to that room. There's still one Cylon model missing, if they really are Cylons. Who could it be? The Pres? Baltar? Starbuck? That lawyer guy? This stuff did all start when he had that cane, and he left it behind on the ship, showing that it was just a prop all along...

It's interesting seeing the Baltar groupies make their reappearance. He'll have friends to keep him alive now. It was great to see his character not change one whit from what he went through. Still the same self involved Baltar. Everyone loves Baltar!

More thoughts on this as I have them...

NP: Jane's Addiction - Mountain Song

Lazy Saturday...

2007-03-24T22:27:00.000-04:00

Didn't really do much today, as I was on the aforementioned duty... Got up around 10am-ish, showered, watched some TV, read a bit, updated some genealogy on the Scots side of the family, ordered some Chinese food, watched two old Richard Jeni specials I have on VHS tape, and did dishes.

A very nice Saturday. And, it felt like Sunday all day to me, so I think tomorrow will feel like a bonus weekend day, always good...

It was fun to dig out those two Richard Jeni specials. I think the CD I have of his comedy is a bit better than the tapes, but maybe that's just because we watched those shows so much while in college. I think if we were ever wanting for something to do to kill some time, once we got our work done, of course, we'd throw on those shows.

There's lots of little phrases that my roommates and I incorporated into our lingo from those specials. Some Minnesota accents, quick one liners (which of course I can't remember now!), and just general good jokes.

NP: Ensemble Modern - The Adventures of Greggery Peckery

I'm on Duty!

2007-03-23T21:18:00.000-04:00

Ah yes, another work weekend, I'm the duty person for campus, so I get to stay around for the next few days and TCB (take care of business) here on campus.

This year has gone by amazingly fast, where we're less than two months to graduation. Maybe it's part of being at a school again where the academic year is more "normal" than working at Dartmouth. Here at Saint Peter's, graduation is on May 20th. At Dartmouth, graduation was usually around June 10th. So, this year, it feels like I'm ending much earlier.

At this time next week, I'll be in Orlando, Florida, for the Joint ACPA/NASPA conference. I'll be there from Friday until Wednesday. It's really much more like work than a vacation, but work in Florida can't really be bad when you're not used to it. Can it?

It'll be a good trip, I believe. I'll meet up with old colleagues, and get to interview candidates for positions here. This will be the first conference since 2005 where I'm not looking for a job myself, which will be a nice relief.

I'll be doing some more updates over this weekend, as I'll be around... What are *your* weekend plans?

And Lou, I really liked the dream you posted... Weird, but, well, weird!

A dress?

2007-03-21T22:06:00.000-04:00

Here's two pictures of me in a dress!

These are digital photos of real pictures, taken in late 1991-early 1992. Junior at Boston College. I was doing a scavenger hunt with a friend, and one of the items was a guy in a woman's dress. We found one of his female friends, whose dress I could just *barely* get into...

I also have shots of me in a dress from one of the CCE productions we did, where I played an 85 year old woman. I should dig those out...

NP: ELP - Pictures At An Exhibition (13 Aug 1972)

Not quite Platonian dialogues...

2007-03-20T23:56:00.000-04:00

Brian and I just had an e-mail exchange about "THE HOST." Here it is for your enjoyment... '

In a message dated 3/20/2007 10:55:55 PM Eastern Daylight Time, Brian writes:

BRIAN: The first time I saw HARD BOILED was in college, senior year, with an animatrix friend. I think it was playing for several days in a row and I went back at least once more during that run. I *might* have dragged you to it then, but I suspect we must have seen it a year or so later, post-college.

MIKE: It feels more like post-college to me... I think that was when I saw my first HK cinema... I do remember really liking it, and I still have the Criterion DVD of it, I should break it out at some point soon...

BRIAN: Ah, THE HOST. I started to comment on your post about it, but felt that it would quickly get away from me, and bailed on commenting, figuring that I would do another write-up of my own on it... Alas, haven't gotten around to it. I've been having trouble settling down to write much of anything since getting back from Florida. Don't know quite why.

MIKE: It's the sun. It gets to you...

Feel free to hijack my blog anytime... I enjoy long comments.

BRIAN: The first time I saw it, I laughed at the family falling down in mourning/fighting. The second tme, I didn't laugh. Third time, I laughed. I really do feel that it's meant to be sad *and* funny. I think that goes for a decent chunk of the film.

MIKE: I laughed as it went on, but more of one of those, "My god" type of laughs... Not funny, but more of a reaction... Sad and funny, that makes sense to me.

BRIAN: It's amazing how that film can so smoothly switch gears in tone and style without breaking the continuity of it.

MIKE: It was pretty good with that. I thought at the end, with the brother dropping the Molotov Cocktail, was just perfect too... The music swelling, slo mo, etc. I thought he'd miss, or the monster would move. Didn't think about him just *dropping* it, which was so right...

BRIAN: Within a heartbeat, you get a laugh as the dopey father counts to himself how many shots he's fired with the shotgun, and then just the worst kind of sadness at the spiteful thrashing of the grandfather by the creature.

MIKE: And he doesn't even try to run, because he knows it's not possible to get away...

BRIAN: One scene that I love that gets some interesting audience reactions is when the family sits down for a seo-ri dinner in the abandoned foodstand, and out of nowhere, the daughter joins them. For me, that was incredibly touching and bittersweet. For others, it seemed to be a joke. For really annoying others, it was a puzzle, prompting one jerkass to repeat out loud several times, "Now I'm confused."

MIKE: I know I didn't laugh, but within a moment, it's pretty obvious it's a dream/imagination piece. I can't believe that someone didn't get it, who was intelligent enough to seek out a Korean monster movie!

But then again, I think of the reaction you talked about to Romeo & Juliet, where someone in the audience really didn't know that they both die at the end...

BRIAN: I love that nothing is wasted in the film. At the start, we see dad Gang-dul asleep in the food stand, and a little urchin of a kid attempts to steal a candy bar or something. Before he can manage it,he's whisked away by a big brother type, dressed in fatigues. These are the brothers who get snatched by the creature after seo-ri/robbing the locked up food stand later in the film.

MIKE: Ah, I'd have to see that again to catch it. Missed it the first time. And I thought they were father/son, not brothers...

BRIAN: The beer. The wanted poster. The bucket of change.

MIKE: "If you put a gun on the mantle in Act 1, it needs to be fired by Act 3." I think Chekhov (the playwright, not the starfleet officer) said that...

BRIAN: I like that what would be the subtext in a typical monster film is just plain text for the most part. The political stuff is political stuff, no metaphors. I'm eager to see how an American version of the film frames things, particularly the origin of the beasty, and the activist brother's character/motivation. Perhaps he's a dot-com refugee, overqualified yet unemployable.

MIKE: True, no Godzille=atom bomb here. Here, it's chemicals=chemicals. Is there actually going to be an american version? American movies tend to have no problem with the government being the bad guys. Or, it may be Industry/Capitalism, which works too...

BRIAN: I hope Sam Raimi's involved in bringing it over. He's had a hand in bringing over THE GRUDGE films and they've been solid.

MIKE: I haven't seen any of those. With Sue not being a real horror nut, my viewing of them has been cut down. At Dartmouth, there were a few people into horror, so I could go with them, but no people here are good movie buddies.

--------------

There you have it. A conversation for the ages... We'll have more dialogues on this blog in the future... It saves me the trouble of writing.

High School dream...

2007-03-20T20:40:00.000-04:00

The other night, I had an odd high school dream. Of course, upon waking, dreams always fall apart, but what I could remember from this one was:

It was graduation, but only about 30 people were in a small classroom for the ceremony. I was there, sitting next to one of my friends, Beth Lefsky. Her father (Mr. Lefsky) who was the head of the social studies department, was organizing the ceremony.
There were three people sitting near us, who were there to pick up a diploma for a friend of theirs, who was actually a student staff member who I worked with at Dartmouth, but they got his name wrong. His name was Mike, but they called him Mark. They also got his last name wrong, but the way it was wrong, it was the same name of someone in my class.
At one point, Beth and I left, to try to find more people. I *think* we found my friend Brian, but he didn't want to do the ceremony.
I was curious why there weren't more people around, or people I recognized, but that's dreams for you.

I think there was more of a plot to this dream. It did all seem to hang together when I woke up from it, but time and daylight drive out the details, and make it all just gossimer on the winds...

I'm "on duty" at work this week, which means I'm the administrator on call for the evenings if anything happens on campus. We'll see how this week goes.

Does anyone else out there have any weird dreams of their past to share?

NP: Genesis - In The Cage (24 Jan 1975)

The Host

2007-03-17T21:14:00.000-04:00

Sue and I went to see "The Host" today at Landmark Sunshine Theater on Houston Street in NYC today. A really enjoyable film, combination social satire, monster film, and family gathering. The basic idea is that a monster is created from some bad stuff poured down a drain in a morgue (authorized by an American doctor, adding to the politicial subtext of the film). The monster likes to swallow people, and then spit them up later in a bit of a holding pen in a sewer.

Most of the people swallowed die, but a few survive, and one of the survivors is a little girl, so her father and extended family try to save her.

The movie is from Korea, and from what I understand, it's the highest grossing movie in South Korea ever. Whether that includes films made outside of SK, I'm not sure.

There are some interesting parts to the movie, where I'm not sure if the comedy was supposed to be funny, or whether there are just some cultural differences to the approach to comedy or drama. However, it was a good movie, it surprised me in places, and worked on a number of levels.

Sue and I took the PATH trains from Journal Square to 9th Street in NYC, then walked to the theater. It was about a 35 minute walk in NYC, which wasn't bad, except for the slush/snow still on the ground.

NP: Magma - Kohntark (Part One)

Birthday!

2007-03-16T22:52:00.000-04:00

Ah yes, today was my birtday, born in Neptune, NJ, at 6:51am, back in 1971. As my friend Brian points out, I'm now officially square, as 6x6=36.

Ah, math humor. I just realized we passed pi (March 14th) the other day, when it was mentioned on Stephen Colbert (that's why he was feeling so irrational).

Because of the crappy weather today, we actually had a half day of work. So, it was nice to get away from work early on my birthday. Yay for me.

Sue and I would have gone out to eat, but because of the aforementioned bad weather, we got a pizza from the place down the street. Personally, it hit the spot for me, so a good birthday was had by all. Sue got me a t-shirt that is "Stewart-Colbert '08," which I will wear with pride.

This weekend, dependent on the weather, we'll probably go into NYC to see "The Host," as I mentioned the other day on here.

That's about it... Happy birthday to me, and all that... :)

NP: Genesis - Firth of Fifth (28 Nov 1981)

The Host

2007-03-16T01:00:00.000-04:00

I think I have to seek out this movie during this weekend at some point. It may only be playing in NYC, so it may be worth a trip in...

NP: Brian Eno - Back in Judy's Jungle

Eh...

2007-03-14T22:37:00.000-04:00

I'm in one of *those*moods tonight... Just kind of bleah...

I've found that when I get like this, I just have to let it ride out. If I actively try to combat the mood, I end up annoying and depressing myself. But, if I just take life as it is, and try to relax, it generally does get better.

These things don't usually go on for more than a few hours, or a day. Sleeping usually helps. I may be subdued the next day, but it's not horrible. It's just getting through stuff.

I think one of the things that I'm thinking about is what I want to do with my life. I enjoy my work, but is it really what I want to be doing? Is it enough? If it is, that's great! But, I want to make sure that I'm doing the right work for the right reasons. I'm trying to keep my eyes open, and my brain open, to different possibilities out there. I'm certainly not actively looking for another job (I'll be here for at least another academic year), but it would be interesting to see what may be out there for someone with my work history.

I'm using this blog to think out loud right now. Don't take this all as me being in a horrible funk or that I hate my job. I simply want to feel like I'm doing what I should be doing with my time. I generally think that I am, but days where I get a bit down, it leads me to question a lot of this surface/work type things. At my core, I'm a generally happy person. I like my life, and I have a lot of good people around me. So, I analyze and question, to see where I am at, and where I might think about going.

If I come up with any ideas, I'll let you know.

NP: Genesis - The Cinema Show (1976)

In other news...

2007-03-13T22:12:00.000-04:00

What else is going on in my life besides talking about comedy? Here's a quick lowdown:

I got tickets late last week to see Genesis at Giants Stadium in September. I wasn't happy that there wasn't going to be a show at Madison Square Garden, which I thought would have been a better venue, but I'm not scheduling the tour. So, I buy where the show is.

It should be a great tour. Our seats are in Section 110, so we'll be on the side, with a good angle for the whole stage. I've also been posting a lot on the new official Genesis message board, and have somehow made my way up to being the number one poster on the board (for now). I think this makes me king of the Genesis nerds, or something, a crown I will proudly wear, as a Genesis nerd myself...

Work is gearing up, I'm going to have busy evenings next week, I'll be on call, and have evening commitments I think almost every night of the week. That's fine though, I'd rather have those meetings when I have to be around anyway. The following week is our Housing process, I get to be a worker bee then. Tomorrow, Residence Life is attending a meeting of the Board of Trustees, so we get to answer whatever questions they have about Residence Life. Should be fun...

It was Sue's birthday this past Friday, which made everything we did this weekend special for her birthday. We have fun together, two geeky peas in a pod.

That's about it for now. More to come later!

NP: Catherine Wheel - Kill My Soul

Richard Jeni and the Art of Comedy

2007-03-12T21:45:00.000-04:00

I wanted to write a bit more about Richard Jeni, and his comedy. A bit of background on me.

When I was in late elementary school, I discovered a few old Bob Newhart and Bill Cosby albums in the closet in my house. I recognized both of them from TV, and said to myself, "Wow, I wonder what's on these? TV shows?"

I played the albums, and was amazed to find people talking, telling funny stories, and getting laughs. I thought this was great! Here was something that I could listen to, and laugh over and over again! Comedy, on demand.

I remember one of my friends coming over, and I make him listen to one of the Bob Newhart albums. After finishing it, he left. We did remain friends, but the comedy album format didn't really do anything for him. I couldn't get it.

After listening to them once, some people would ask, "You know the jokes, why do you listen to them again? How can it be funny all over?" For me, the answer was about listening to the nuances, the timing, the rhythm of the words. The word choice. The way the jokes were intoned. Accents. Pauses. All in the art of comedy. What do you do, and what don't you do?

After those classics, I got into Richard Pryor, George Carlin, and really delved into comedy with meaning, with subtext, and with purpose. Did I get all this when I was in Junior High? Nope, but on repeated listenings, I got the ideas behind what they were saying.

This brings me to Richard Jeni, again. When I first saw him, probably on the Tonight Show, doing his Jaws bit, where he talks about watching Jaws 4 late at night, and his body revolting against him for watching such a dumb film, it got me. The imagery, the timing, the thought, and even the animals (in this case, the Shark, and his spinal column) in the story.

Jeni made the comedy look easy, as all the great performers did. But I was in amazement, as I *knew* that he had honed this bit to within an inch of its life, and it *worked!*

When I saw that first Showtime special, I was continually amazed, and delighted, by the amount of effort Richard put into his show. The wording, the phrasing, all showed signs of an intelligent guy, going for it. One thing that continually amused me in his routine was his use of animals. He would mention the indignancy of the lobster tank at "Fred Robster," and how, at the steak house, you guessed it, no cow tank!

In the bit, there was a little line where the cow, crying, says, "Why don't you try the lobster," and the lobster returns the quip, "Why don't you mind your own damn business..." It was a subtle thing, but he used animals often enough in his bits that I had to believe that there was something more to it. Something about us as people. Because, of course, the animals are just substitutes for us. Jeni wasn't as overtly subversive as a Bill Hicks or a George Carlin, but in his own way, he could turn the mirror on ourselves, and make us laugh a bit...

That's as maudlin as I'm going to get in this.

Jeni was also great at weaving his bits into each other, having little references come back from previous bits, culmunating in a big laugh at the end of the show. I saw him live at least twice, and perhaps a third time (those years living in Boston seem so long ago in a lot of ways), and he never disappointed. I regret not having made an effort to go to some of his shows more often, in those intervening years.

I deleted a comment from yesterday's post, saying that Richard Jeni was just a D-list celebrity who didn't make it, that the suicide was the biggest news that he had made in years. And I think that shows just what's wrong with the culture of celebrity. Jeni was a steadily working comedian, playing probably over 100 shows a year, and doing great material. I'm not in his head, so I don't know if he thought that he should have been a bigger "star," or had a better film career. All I know is that he did stand up great, and had a lot to be proud of with that. If this was suicide, and if it was caused by despondency over his career, I'm really sad to hear that, because I think that Richard Jeni had nothing to be ashamed about with his career in comedy. He was a true comedian.

Richard Jeni

2007-03-11T21:29:00.000-04:00

I just read about an hour or so ago, on AOL News, that Richard Jeni, one of my favorite comedians of the past 17 years, died by an apparent suicide.

I first discovered Richard Jeni from 30 minute Showtime special from 1989. I still have it on tape somewhere. I showed that tape to so many people, making fans of him when I was in college. I think I was having some friends over to watch Evil Dead II in the summer of 1989, and while waiting for a few more people to show up, we caught this special on cable. We all laughed, but I really connected with his humor.

Later that summer, I taped it, thinking that it would be good to bring to college with me. It was, and the following summer, I taped his second 60 minute Showtime special, and those tapes became regular viewing in our room in Shaw House at Boston College.

I saw Jeni live at least once during college, and a few times while living in Boston before departing for grad school in 1996. I even have a tape of every episode of his short lived TV show on UPN, Platypus Man.

While in grad school, I picked up Jeni's CD, Greatest Bits. The tape I made of it is still in my car, and gets played often on long car rides.

I don't know what may have driven Jeni to suicide. Did he feel that he deserved bigger success? Did he have health issues? I don't know, and it almost doesn't matter, as we've lost a good comic voice.

So, Richard Jeni, I'll miss your comedy. And, I'll miss the potential that once was...

NP: Genesis - Behind the Lines

Ahh, Florida...

2007-03-07T20:59:00.000-05:00

It's Wednesday, and we've been back from Florida since Monday, so it's time for a report!

I'm going to bullet this, to make it streamlined. Don't like it? Imagine there are paragraphs here...

Thursday:

Flew out from Newark. Arrived in Jacksonville at about noonish. Got our rental car, a red Ford Mustang, convertable. Drove it out of the parking garage with the hood down. Drove for 5 minutes, it started raining. Hood goes up...
Got to the hotel, got checked in, and got to our room on the 14th floor. Of course, it's actually the 13th floor, but that's an open secret.

At around 5pm, Sue and I went to eat at The Landing, a collection of restaurants just a short walk from the hotel. Ate at a Mexican place, that was pretty good. Not outstanding, but a solid place to eat. We ate outside, where there were birds (sparrows and pidgeons) all around. I said to Sue, "If these were rats, we'd be disgusted, but since they're birds, we think they're cute."

Back at the hotel. Rested. Brian, In, and Rowan came down to the Landing to eat, Sue was tired (and knitting, I believe) so she stayed in. We ended up going to the Mexican place again. I just had a coke since I had eaten. Had fun with the three of them, along with Rowan's sister (Maggie, if my memory serves me right). And, that was Thursday...

Friday:

Breakfast with Brad, the groom. A good time. You can never really talk deeply with the bride and groom at their wedding, so it was good to have some time to talk with Brad before everything got nutty.

Left for St. Augustine. Nice place, the oldest city in the US, settled by Spain in the late 1500's. Very quaint. Brian, In, Rowan, and Maggie met us there in the early afternoon, we ate at the White Lion Inn, which had nothing to do with the band. Good times...

Toured an old fort. $6 to get in, which I felt okay about since it went to the upkeep of the fort. It was raining most of the day, but it got really heavy in the afternoon, and a bit cooler, so the fun slowly disappeared.

Then, went to the rehearsal dinner at 7:30pm at The Chart House in Jacksonville. Good place, sat with In, Rowan, and Brian again, and a good time was had by all... Also talked to Tami, the bride, which was good, and saw Brad's brother Ryan who I hadn't seen since about 1990. He actually recognized me, which was impressive.

Saturday:

Had breakfast with Don Lord and his family, Don's a cousin to my grandfather. I got in contact with him through my genealogy research. He was a talker, and fun to listen to. Sue talked with his wife and daughter, who were also at our table. A great guy, and it was a pleasure meeting him and his family.

Then, for lunch, met up with my friend Kim and her husband Charles. Another good time had by all. It was actually the third time I had met Charles, but really the first time I was able to talk with him. A good guy. It was fun to talk with Kim again too, it's like one of those friendships that just picks up where it left off the last time you saw each other. Which, I think, was actually our wedding... Is that right? Thanks also to Kim & Charles for treating Sue and I to the meal!

Then, the wedding at 4:30pm. Catholic ceremony, very nice, but you've seen one, you've seen them all, not a lot of creativity in those. But, it was all good. It's always nice to see friends be happy!

Reception at The River Club, on the 35th storey of a building by the river. A good location. The reception was your standard fun, I enjoyed myself, talking to Sue, Brian, In, Rowan, and two others at our table, the husband was from Ocean Township, so there was that connection.
Stayed at the reception till the end, then met up with others in the hotel bar till about 1:30am. Thanks to Rowan for my coke drink! Farscape was on the TV in the bar, which I thought was curious...

Sunday:

Went to Jacksonville beach. Sue collected shells, was attacked by birds, saw jellyfish, and got some small shark's teeth. I lay on the beach, relaxing, getting sunburned. Fun!

Wandered around the town, seeing some little shops, and enjoying being outside. It was a great day, so the top of the car came down. Very cool tooling around Jacksonville in a convertible. Worth the extra money.

Back at the hotel, got room service for dinner. Was very tired, both of us were asleep by 10pm, I think...

Monday:

Back on the plane, back here. Did laundry.

And that's our adventure! More little stories may come out over time, but it was great fun to be away with Sue, and to see so many friends all at once. It's not often that group stuff like this happens, so when it does, it's a good time.

NP: King Crimson - Groon (11 Feb 1972)

Return from the sun...

2007-03-05T22:51:00.000-05:00

Back from Florida... I'll do more writing soon, but here are some photos...

Hotel Room, first day (Thursday)

St. Augustine (Friday): Me, Brian, In

Saturday, Sue and I. After lunch.

Brad and Tami, wedding...

A bunch of Jokers... Saturday Night....

Attacking seagulls... Sunday.

View out our hotel window, to the right. Sunday evening.

NP: David Sylvian/Robert Fripp - 20 Century Dreaming

Migrating...

2007-02-28T20:43:00.000-05:00

Heading south tomorrow, to Florida for a wedding. We'll be back on Monday, so most likely no blogs till then (unless the hotel has some public computers.) We shall see.

Tally Ho!