Comments!

So, when someone replies to something in the comments section, sometimes I reply in the comment section also. However, then I don't know if the reader ever goes back to check if there's a response to their comment.

I know I get an e-mail when someone comments on my blog. Do you get an e-mail if someone comments on your comment? I don't think so...

With that said, Mr. Brian commented yesterday:

I don't remember the music from that last bit. I've only seen the movie two or three times, I think. I feel like I may give it a screening soon, in the wake of CLERKS 2 Mooby madness =)Do you remember hitting CLERKS in Red Bank? Was that us? With some of the old school usual suspects?

I feel like I was working hard at trying to convince a few of our posse that they were watching Goodness. Okay, a bit raw, low-budge, aesthetically, not-so-pleasing, one-note acted Goodness, but Goodness nevertheless.

Independent contractors on the Death Star! C'mon!

I can confirm for you, Brian, that in fact, I was at that screening at Red Bank. We were with Geoff and Alex (Geoff, do you read this at all?). I seem to remember them both generally being okay with the movie, but they didn't enjoy it as much as we did. I think Alex was ranking on the acting in the film.

Now, you and I saw Clerks first up in Boston, at the BU theater, with Stephanie Gaus. She *really* didn't get the movie, but you and I ate it up.

We were even two of the lucky few who saw Mallrats *opening night* in Boston, whenever that came out. And I know we saw Chasing Amy together, although I may have been in grad school at the time...

If you watch Chasing Amy again (do you own it?), you'll recall the music when you hear it...

And, season 2 of BSG should be arriving soon from Netflix, so I'll be all caught up. I did see the second half of the Season 2 finale when it was shown, so it's kind of interesting, knowing where the show is headed, but not seeing the details in between yet. Fun stuff.

In other news, I went down to Trenton today to do some genealogy stuff. I confirmed the discovery of another sister for my Great-great-great Grandfather, Richard Coulson. He had a sister named Martha (after their maternal grandmother), who was born in 1829 or 1830 in Ireland, and married a guy named John Jameson. They all immigrated to the US, and lived in Jersey City (a few blocks from here) in the latter part of the 19th century.

If there's any Jameson descendants out there, feel free to drop a line! John and Martha had three kids, Samuel, Sarah, and Martha. It appears that Samuel probably died before having kids, but Sarah married a guy named Agustus (correct spelling) Harper, and Martha may have married a guy named James Kay. I still need to confirm that Kay connection.

NP: King Crimson - Soundscapes 1 July 1995

Hot!

It's a simple subject line, but hey, I'm a simple man...

Fortunately, it's not too bad here in the apartment, but it's a wee bit hot and humid out. The weekend was quite nice, but now, the heat is slamming. But, nothing's to be done about the weather until they build that big solar shade in space, so, we move on.

I've been doing well at work, I feel. I keep seeing little things I can do to improve things in the near term, and larger initiatives to do in the longer term. It's good to be in a place that's able to utilize what I know in positive ways.

When I came home today from work, Sue was watching "Chasing Amy," a great movie, and I think Kevin Smith's best work. Emotional in all the right places, funny in a pointed way, and a lead character who just does all the wrong things, not being able to get past his own issues. It's hard to go wrong with most Kevin Smith movies, but this is one that just gets me.

Does *anyone* have the piece of music that plays over the scene right near the end, between Holden and Banky, a wordless scene from across a room, but masterfully played, with a great score underneath it. There was never a soundtrack for the film, I would have dealt with all the alternative rubbish to get that one piece of music.

NP: Queen + Paul Rodgers - Hammer to Fall (9 May 2003)

Hangers!

Today, Sue and I spent some time going looking for hangers that we could use to hang pictures on our walls. With cinder block walls, no matter what the color, we need special hangers. I've had them before, they're plastic items, with three metal pins in a circular top area, to drive into the cinder block. They're great for these residence hall walls.

Anyway, we had been to some art stores, but I couldn't find them there yesterday. So today, our mission was to go down to Route 440 in Jersey City, and check out a Lowe's store to see what they had.

No luck was found there. Grr!

Then, driving further down 440, we found a Home Depot. We thought we might be 2nd strike losers, but NO, we found what we were looking for! The company that puts them out is called "Ook," oddly enough. They're my heroes!

So, for those keeping score, it's Home Depot ONE, Lowe's ZERO. Gotta work harder, Lowe's...

In other news, I watched the last episode of season 1 of Battlestar Galactica tonight. The end was quite surprising to me, something happened I didn't expect. I need to make sure that I watch Season 2 as soon as possible...

The apartment's coming along fine, 98% of books are on shelves, and Sue and I are both continuing to do the little organizing that needs to be done. We're really almost all there, but there's just a bit more to do... I'll then take some photos, so you can see what the place looks like all decked out...

NP: Ian Wallace - I Can't Breathe

Flow!

I listen to a lot of my music on my computer (82 gigs worth), and I enjoy having the random play just put whatever it feels like into my ears/head. It's a fun way to listen to music, that works for me.

This evening, I got Pink Floyd's "One of These Days" go right into Peter Gabriel's "D.I.Y.," and it was a surprisingly good segue.

NP: Page & Plant - Thank You (Aug 1994)

Rectify!

To rectify an omission from my last blog, here's a Lou photos for all you salivating readers out there...

Alright, it's not the best photo in the world, a bit too blurry, but it's the best I could do, really!

Today, Sue and I went down to the "waterfront" area of Jersey City to do some shopping. We needed to get some stuff for the apartment, and it was also just time to get out of the apartment and do *something!* We got some storage units for the kitchen, some paper towels, a "hub" for our computers, so they could both be online at the same time, and some other various and sundry items.

We had lunch in the Newport Mall food court, and it being a mall, there was a Panda Express, and there being a Panda Express, I had to have some! It was about normal for Panda. Nothing great, but it hit the spot.

Getting back here, I had to go around in the neighborhood a bit, to find a place where I could switch some bills into quarters. There's no bank right at our intersection of Bergen and Montgomery, or in the "McGinley Square" area, so I ended up going into a store to get 7 dollars worth of quarters. It was more than enough to do our laundry here, which is only a buck for wash, then another buck for dryers. Life is good when you have clean laundry...

I had a bit of trouble getting our laptop to have good internet access. It kept on being very funky with me, although our other computer was giving no problems with accessing the web. It was annoying me a bit, because there was nothing obviously "wrong." Finally, after doing other stuff for a few hours, I came back to it, and compared the connection in the Control Panel on the computer with EXACTLY how Control Panel settings were on the working computer. Obviously, I had done this to some extent before, but not to the level of detail I did this time.

And sure enough, I found the issue. There was some "hidden" stuff in the Control Panel that was still set up for the Dartmouth network, and it was probably enough to mess up the consistency of the ethernet connection. But now, both computers are alive and well. Fantastic!

NP: John Cale - All I Want Is You

Update!

Work continues, and is going well. I continue to see that this was a good professional move. It is taking a bit of getting used to, being an "Assistant Director," and being looked to make decisions, have an opinion, and be listened to seriously. All in all, a very good start.

On this past Saturday, I went into NYC, in order to figure out how the trains work, and how long it takes. I brought my camera with me, so here are some photos...

This building is 486 Broadway, where my great-great-grandfather, Robert Francis Lord, worked as the manager of the Stewart Hartshorn office in NYC, around 1900. The Hartshorn company made roller shades for windows, which I guess was quite the innovation back in the day.

The night before going into NYC, I e-mailed my friend Lou to see if he'd be free at all on Saturday. He replied that he was going to be meeting Greg, a mutual friend of ours from college, in Central Park around 3ish to play softball, and that I could meet up there. I wasn't sure about playing softball, but as you can see from this photo, I did get pulled into the game.

I started playing in the 2nd inning, when they needed someone to even up the teams. By that point, I had seen that the folks playing weren't the best in the world, so I felt comfortable sitting in. I was at bat 4 times, and got on base the last time. Woo hoo!

All in all, a very "New York" afternoon, hanging out in Central Park, and playing softball. Good times!

Here's Sania, Lou's wife. She's pregnant, and due in October, so playing softball unfortunately wasn't in the cards for her on Saturday.

I'm trying to get a photo of Lou up here, but blogger continues to give me some issues with photos. Very odd...

NP: Brian May - Headlong (15 June 1993)

Work!

Sorry for not posting a bit more recently, but the move takes a lot of energy, unpacking and getting settled in. Sue got here on Sunday, after the movers dropped off all our stuff, so things are going okay.

I missed Sue when she was still up in NH, so it's nice to have her here now.

I'll be posting some photos from my trip into NYC on Saturday. I met up with some friends in Central Park, and was convinced to play a bit of softball. Fortunately, it was a pretty casual game, so there wasn't a lot of pressure to perform. Of four at bats, I got on base the last time, but then the next person got out. Ah well. More to come on that front.

The apartment here is still a mess, but some things are slowly coming together. Our "office" room is getting there, as is the living room. We'll have to figure out some kitchen stuff, as I think we actually have a bit less cabinet space than before.

Today was, of course, the first day at the new job, and it seems to be fitting me rather well. People enjoyed my presence, and I got a lot of praise for arranging the desk in my office in a more friendly manner. Tomorrow, there will be more "real" work, which will be fun.

The evening here was spent pulling some stuff out of boxes, and arranging some furniture. I'm a bit tired now, but not "sleepy" tired, so I'll be up for a bit more... Not very long though, I think...

NP: Frank Zappa - Opening Night Party at Studio Z

Directions!

Go to the blog entry marked "Jersey!," and read up from there. For some reason, I couldn't post a lot of photos in each blog, so I had to break it up a bit... But if you read from "Jersey!," you get a coherent (I hope!) story.

A final photo, my humble bed!

NP: Still the Graham Chapman, it's a long cut...

Continued!

Okay, here's more photos... Perhaps St. Peter's internet connection is a bit different? Who knows...

Here's the other side of the kitchen, with more counter space, and a sink. Always a necessity.

A little further into the apartment, looking back towards the door...

Here's the bathroom. It's ORANGE! Very ORANGE!!! The last person living here painted it that color. The College may repaint it, but if Sue likes it, I'm happy to keep it this way. Or, if there's another color she wants, we can talk to the College about it...

The walk in closet off of the larger of the two bedrooms.

Here's the view of the larger bedroom, from the doorway of the walk in closet. I like the shelving on the walls of many of the rooms.

And the smaller of the two bedrooms, from the doorway into it. I moved a chair from the living room into here, so I could type all this to you, Gentle Reader. Again, note the shelves. And the windows all face east. Good morning sunlight. Once Sue gets here, we'll decide which bedroom to put our bed into it. Personally, I'm leaning towards this room...

So, there you have the little travelogue of the new apartment. Not a bad place. I think now I'm going to go out and walk around a bit, get a sense of the neighborhood, and all that...

NP: Graham Chapman - A Six Pack of Lies

Apartment!

Here are photos of the new apartment! It's a bit more "institutional" than our last apartment (cinder block walls, lighting, etc.), but it may actually be a bit bigger than our last place, or perhaps just set up a bit better...

This is the view into the apartment from the front door. You can see a bit of the doorjam on the right hand side of the photo. The chair on the left, I'm using to keep the door propped open. The carpets were cleaned before I arrived, and there was still a bit of that "carpet cleaning smell" to the place when we (Carla, the Director of Res Life) and I opened the apartment yesterday....

As of right now, there's no chairs with the dining table, on the left, but those will be arriving soonish...

View after walking into the apartment, looking into the living room. You can see the access to the kitchen on the right hand side of the photo.

A little further into the apartment, looking right, you see a bit more of the living room, and a bit more of the kitchen area. The kitchen area has a view of the living room, and yes, that is my penguin sitting in the window...

Here's a photo from in the living room, looking into the kitchen...

And here's the kitchen, from the entranceway. Some little snacks are there, left as welcoming gifts. How nice!

Blogger seems to not be letting me post any more photos, so let me start a new post, and continue this little photo montage...

NP: Graham Chapman - A Six Pack Of Lies

Jersey!

I arrived in NJ yesterday, after a MUCH longer drive than it should have been. For those of you in the know, you know that driving from Hanover, New Hampshire, to Jersey City, NJ should take about 4.5 hours, if there's no traffic.

For most of the drive, there was no traffic. I was having smooth sailing, and life was good.

However, at about 2:30-3pm, Interstate 95 started being backed up. And when I say backed up, I mean it was slow to the point of being totally stopped for periods of time. However, this first backup cleared up after about 20-30 minutes.

Then, the slamming began.

I think it was about Exit 10 in New York, where traffic was slowed like it was before, except even worse. It felt like I was actually in reverse for part of it.

Also, did you realize that Interstate 95, one of the main superhighways in the US, actually narrows down to ONE LANE at one point in the approach to New York City? Incredible.

Anyway, I had left Hanover at 11:35am or so yesterday. I arrived at the parking lot here at St. Peter's at 7:26pm. The drive that should have been 4.5 hours ended up being a bit shy of 8 hours.

Upon arrival, I gave the Director here a buzz. I was concerned that they were a bit worried about me, since I had e-mailed before I left that I should be arriving around 4ish, the Traffic Gods willing. Needless to say, there was much sympathy expressed about my travelling issues. But, that's in the past now, and my arrival couldn't have been nicer. Besides Carla, the Director, a number of other people were there to help unload my car. These people include Sara (one of the people I'll be supervising), Mike (an Operations person, if I remember my job responsibility breakdown correctly), and John, one of the Resident Assistants here, and who was one of the student interviewers when I was here back in early June. With their help, we unloaded my car in about 10-15 minutes, I think...

Once everything was in, we went out to dinner at a local Appleby's. (Am I spelling that right? I'm not sure...) First though, I called Sue to let her know that I got in okay. She had just gotten in from work a bit of time ago, and was shocked to hear that I had just gotten in... But, all was well, and today's her last day at work. Hopefully her travels on Sunday will be better than mine from yesterday!

For dinner, we were joined by two other students, and a former employee of the College. One of the students was named Brian, and I'm blanking on the names of the other two people. Horrible, I know...

Then, after dinner, I came back to the apartment (probably around 10ish), and started putting some stuff away, at least temporarily. Permanent decisions will have to wait for Sue's arrival.

I'll be posting some photos of the place up here soon. I've been trying to do it with this post, but they're not showing for some reason. Once I figure out the problem, they'll be right up here...

NP: Pink Floyd - Fearless

Fireworks!

Fourth of July! Yeah!

However, no fireworks seen by me tonight, although I heard some in the distance about an hour or so ago. I enjoy a good fireworks show, but unless it's a really good one, it's always a bit anticlimatic to me.

When I was a little kid, I really didn't like fireworks. The noise bothered me. I remember going with family to see 4th of July fireworks shows at the boardwalk in Asbury Park, and keeping fingers in my ears and my eyes closed. Part of it might have also been people making a big deal out of the shows, so I just didn't want to show interest. But initially, I think it was fear more than anything else, those loud booms!

Living in Boston till about 1996, I really got spoiled with fireworks, the shows there were so good, on the Charles River. I'd go with friends from college, and hang out most of the day on the Cambridge side, having fun till nightfall and the start of the show. They'd always end with those loud blasts, that would light up the sky like it was almost daylight. The first time I saw it, it was almost overwhelming because there were so many going off at once, and the blasts were so bright. After that first one, I never thought the later shows matched the intensity of that first time, but I'm guessing that's more about perception than reality.

Of course, we're just a few days too late to see the NYC shows, so we'll have to wait until next year. I saw a bit of it on TV tonight, but watching fireworks on television just isn't the same...

And as per Lou's comment on the wrestling matches basically being science fiction themselves, in my blog below, I think that's as good a reason as any!

NP: Spirits Burning - Red

Wrestling?

Can someone explain to me why ECW Wrestling is on the SCI-FI channel????

NP: The Twilight Zone, on the Sci-Fi Channel.

Zone!

So, Sci-Fi Channel is having a Twilight Zone marathon. I think they do it most every Fourth of July, and in its own way, I really do think showing this show is a celebration of freedom. Freedom of thought, and to make people think about issues that are beyond themselves.

Sure, many of the episodes are "spooky," or that traditional "wow, that's weird" ending. However, many of them are critical looks at government, society, religion, just about anything that's worth thinking about.

I watched the Twilight Zone often as a kid, and I think that for storytelling, great writing, and to think about "big issues," it's a great show for young people to watch. I'll also include the original Star Trek in that category, with the added benefit in Star Trek of having a regular cast of characters for people to identify with.

Of course, I watched the Love Boat as a kid also, so not everything has to be educational...

In other news, I hung out with some work people today, ate lunch (courtesy of CD Dan, thanks!), talked to some students, and went out to eat with Sue to Molly's, one of our favorite places to eat in Hanover. All in all, a very good day.

Tomorrow, we have no real plans. There's some stuff happening in town in the late morning that I/we may walk on down to, and I may do some packing of some of our final items. That'll also happen on Wednesday, as the movers are coming on Thursday.

I also got some good news about the move today, it's going to be cheaper than I expected. That's always a good thing!

Back to Twilight Zone now...

NP: Of course, the Twilight Zone...

End!

So, today was my last day at work at Dartmouth College. It's always sad to leave a place, but at the same time, exciting to be going to the next step in life. I mentioned to Sue the other day that if it wasn't sad to leave a place, that means that there's some sort of problem... Just my belief...

I spent the morning walking around to offices here, wishing people well, and generally just connecting with people who it's fun to connect with before leaving. Of course, sometimes you see odd things that just make you laugh... Like this:

At first, I thought, "Someone's buried a bike in the ground!" However, then I realized the true purpose of this.

It's a seat for the Earth.

After visiting some offices, I got to take a Community Director candidate on a tour of the campus, which basically meant that I got to show her East Wheelock, my (now former) cluster. When we got here, I discovered that my ID, which is used to gain access to the building, had been turned off! Ouch!

Fortunately, there was a painter in one of the lobbies who was able to let us in, so the tour could proceed apace.

After the tour, I left to go to our ORL end of (academic) year cookout. Always a fun time, I just relaxed at it, chatted with some people, and continued to NOT WIN ANYTHING in the raffle that happens every year. I thought with this being my last year, I would win something, but unfortunately, I continued to be a loser. My number was 634, and both 633 and 635 were called. Not that I'm bitter or anything...

At around 7pm tonight, I met up with some co-workers to enjoy a "last day" dinner with them. Thank you to CD Daniel for pulling this together, it was appreciated on my part. On the way out, I noticed this sign at another local restaurant:

Really, there's just something I find comical about the phrase "Beat the Pump."

I should have something philosophical or deep to say about this transition in my/our lives, but I don't know if I'm ready for this yet. I mean, I've been here at Dartmouth for 5 years, so it's a good chunk of my recent life. I got married while working here, met a lot of great people, and have gained good experience. I think because I'm used to transitioning, this is just one more, for right now, but I also think there's more to it, that I'll see with time. Maybe in a few days, maybe in a longer period of time. I'll digest this a bit more, and let you know what I come up with...

NP: Bill Nelson - Fellini's Picnic

Pics!

Awhile ago, I wrote about Sue and I going to see the Tony Levin Band down in Northampton, MA. Sue just got her photos off of her phone, so away we go!

Here's her photo of the stage, from our seat up at the front of the balcony. It's a photo from a cell phone, so unfortunately, the quality isn't great, but you get the basic layout. Pete Levin (Tony's brother) on keys and Jesse Gress on guitar are at the far left. Jerry Marotta, the drummer, is in the center of the photo, wiht his back to the audience, Tony Levin is behind Marotta (I think!), and Larry Fast is sitting behind his keyboard on the right.

Here's a photo of your hero, Mike. I believe this is from us sitting at our table, before the show.

After the show, the band was happy to hang out and sign CD's/albums, or whatever the audience had. Photos were also encouraged, so Sue got this one of Larry Fast (Mr. Synergy), myself, and Pete Levin. I thought Jerry Marotta would be in the photo also, but I guess he was out of view. Sadness...

And finally, here's myself with the man of the hour, Tony Levin. Great bass player, great musician, and all around good guy.

My eternal thanks to the wonderful Sue for taking these photos. She's the best!

NP: Jon Anderson - Naturemusic

Rain!

Raining all day here in Hanover. Not cold though, so at least that's going for us. Not steamy either.

So, with that weather stuff out of the way, what's up? Packing continues, and we're doing well with it. Work during the day is nothing earth shattering, just making progress with preparing for my last day on Friday.

I did receive a package of stuff from St. Peter's today, which included some t-shirts, a mug, some stickers, and information about both the college and local "stuff" in the Jersey City/Hudson County area. It was very cool of them to send a package like that. In my work history, they're the first place to do something along those lines. I'm feeling good about working with these people, which is a positive start.

I'm making a list of things to include in my car for the drive down to NJ. Most of it is stuff that is sensitive to moving, or at least things I *consider* sensitive to moving. Like my home recording computer, some musicial instruments, an old clock I have, stuff like that. Most of it could probably be moved by the movers with no problem, but I have the car, and it'll give me something to do while I'm down there.

Move guitars from room to room. Fun stuff!

NP: King Crimson - Improv: The Savage - 30 Mar 1974

Test!

So, in cleaning out stuff for the move, you never know what you'll find. Here's a photo of one of my archeological nuggets...

This was something I had on my white board outside of my Freshman year room out at Boston College. The Steve in question, nicknamed "Slammer," for appropriate reasons, was a bit, shall we say, tense. VERY tense. So, when I stumbled upon this survey for stress (that's what the little print is on the paper taped to the white board), I made it into the Steve Test.

And, I have kept it for 17 years.

But now, it's in the trash outside of our apartment. All good things must come to an end...

In other news (but not really), packing continues apace. We're doing quite well, especially with having about 10 days before the movers come. Sue and I used some of those SPACE BAGS, where you vacuum out the air from a bag, in order to condense the stuff inside. It works a charm with pillows, blankets, and other poofy cloth. Sheets are a bit less condensable, mainly because they're already pretty flat.

We did take some time in the afternoon today to get some ice cream from Ben & Jerry's. Sue had some coupons, so not only was it a good break, but it was cheaper than it normally would be. I got a Cherry Garcia shake, and Sue got some sort of uber-Chocolate ice cream. I can't remember the name.

I'm about 100 pages out from finishing the Truman Capote book "In Cold Blood." I was inspired to read it after seeing the film "Capote." I really enjoyed the movie, but I'm seeing that perhaps the movie was a bit fictionalized in it's storytelling. It got all the major parts of the novel right, but the film mixed a bit of things up (notably the confession of the two murderers) in order to make the film a bit more dramatic.

Definitely a recommended read.

NP: Chris Cornell - Follow My Way

Shuttle!

In case you haven't been paying attention to the latest space news like I have, the Space Shuttle Discovery is set to launch on July 1st, I'm not sure what exact time. As a strong supporter of space exploration and travel, I'm glad to see NASA getting it's manned space program back on the right path.

The plans are to have the shuttle fly until 2010, and then by 2014, have a new vehicle ready to make the next leap back to the Moon, by about 2017 or so. Very doable, from what I've been reading, as long as the budgetary support is there.

I've always wanted to go see a shuttle launch. I don't know if I'll be able to do that, but if not, maybe I'll be able to see a launch of people to the Moon, which would be just as interesting...

In more Mike and Sue related news, packing continues apace. I've packed away some old family photos I had on display here, and have boxed up a good amount of my clothing. I'm leaving some stuff out, obviously, to wear for the next few weeks. Also, some of the clothes I'm leaving out I'll carry in a suitcase, to have for my first week of work in the new job. I don't expect it would take long to unpack clothes, but I'd rather not have to be rushed with digging for clothes when our stuff arrives.

Work here is steady, but not overly hectic. I'm speaking of my actual Community Director job, not the work of packing up! I'm trying to prep a bunch of stuff for the next person to come along to this job here in East Wheelock, and tomorrow, I'll be organizing my staff room, which is a bit of a mess right now. I have no other real appointments tomorrow, so it'll be a good way to spend the day.

Today, I got a package in the mail of some cheese/meat mix from Hickory Farms, from Ruth, the former AA for our office. She's from England originally, and lived in Australia for quite some time before coming to NH. Last year, she moved back with her family to Australia, but we've stayed in touch, and it was really nice to get that from her. She also e-mailed me the song/dance audio for "Puttin' On The Ritz" from Young Frankenstein, as we used to joke about that quite a bit during her time here... The comedy never stops!

NP: Mike Keneally - Manhattan

Thunder!

Crazy intense thunderstorms today, right in the 4-5pm block! I tried to get some photos of lightning in action, but I was never pointed in the right direction. It actually interrupted the farewell gathering for the Dean of the College here, which was too bad, but the event moved inside with no real trouble.

Tonight, Sue and I went to dinner with my/our friends Theresa and Thor, who I know from my BC days. Theresa was a freshman when I was a senior, and we were connected through the CCE, the murder mystery group we were both a part of. They have a condo in the Queeche area, just about a 20 minute drive from Hanover, so when they're up here, it's good to get together.

We went to Molly's, a local restaurant, which I'm sure I've mentioned here before as just a good, solid place to eat. We met at 6:30pm, and ended up staying till about 9:15, which was fun. I enjoy hanging out with T&T, as does Sue. Hopefully they'll be able to find their way down to the NYC area when we're there. Theresa mentioned to me that she just saw Lou and his wife (Hello Lou and Sania!) a few weeks ago while she was in NYC (although I may have the timeframe wrong, don't hold me to it!).

Updates on ending up here at Dartmouth: My last day of work will now be June 30th. I wanted to work till the 5th, but I guess it doesn't make sense to keep me in the new fiscal year, when I'd only be working for 5 days. Ah well...

Movers will be picking up our stuff on the 6th, and delivering it to Jersey City on the 9th. I then start work on the 10th. A whirlwind few days, to be sure... I feel good about the packing we've done already, so we'll just have to keep the pace going.

NP: Jeff Buckley - Yeh Jo Halka Saroor Hae - 1993 07/08

Boxes!

Here are photos I promised the other day, of our packing, and of our helping we did for my departing colleague...

Ah, guys and trucks... We like to try to all play jigsaw man, and put everything in the truck perfectly. Sometimes it works, and here, it actually did. This is also what I call a "back of head" shot, as everyone is not looking at the camera. CD Brian is in blue, CD Fouad in maroon, Wilson, partner of CD Dan in green, and CD Krista is in white. She's the one who's leaving, although Fu and her will be living together down in Amherst in a few weeks. He's leaving too. *sniff*

CD Dan and my wonderful Sue, both avoiding work... Of course, there's no photos of me avoiding work, as I had the camera...

Here's Sue, plotting her next packing move, with some boxes in the foreground, and even the tip of my foot/sneaker in the frame...

And again, the wonderful Sue, with an empty bottle of a Romanian dish detergent, called Fart. Can someone please explain to me why this is funny?

NP: The Who - Baba O'Riley (30 June 1989)

Packing!

Today was a very moving-centric day. It started off with me bringing a small piece of exercise equipment to a friend's yard sale, to see if it would sell. I tried to see if it sold, when I stopped by their home later in the afternoon, but no one was around. I'll give a call tomorrow to see what's up.

I then went to buy some boxes for our forthcoming move to the Garden State, and even got a start on some packing before I went around 11:30 or so to help two of my colleagues, who are also leaving Dartmouth, pack up their moving truck. Fortunately, we had about 10 people there to help, and I brought two dolly carts from my cluster, so the loading up actually went fairly quickly.

Of course, it was hard to see my colleagues head out of here, but I know I'll be on their end of the departure day soon enough, so I can empathize on how it'll feel for us. Krista was leaving "for good" today, but Fouad will be working this last week here at Dartmouth, so there's still time to drag the departure out...

In the afternoon, I bought some more boxes (besides finding some boxes for free around town, and in the building), and Sue and I have a bunch of stuff now packed. All of our CD's, DVD's, and about 60-70% of our books are now in boxes. Tomorrow, I'll get the rest of the books, along with some other stuff packed. The movers won't be coming until around July 6th, so we still have plenty of time to get stuff ready.

We took some pictures today, I'll post them up here tomorrow, so you can see what the life in boxes will be like for the next few weeks.

NP: The Black Crowes - Remedy

Job!

So, I accepted a job offer today! In order to save time rewriting things, here's the e-mail I sent out to friends today:
----------------------------
Hello All!

Yes, it's a group e-mail, but I have some good news to share...

Yesterday, I received an offer, and today I accepted said offer, to be the Assistant Director of Residence Life for Community Development at St. Peter's College, down in Jersey City, NJ.My start date is Monday, July 10th. The job provides housing, so we'll still be living in an apartment in the residence halls, but that's okay, as housing costs in the area are quite high, since we're right across the river from Manhattan. It's an hour from "home" down in Ocean Township, where I grew up, and is close to many members of Sue's family. Also, since this job allows me to supervise other professional staff members, it is the natural next step in my career progression.

Besides supervising two other professionals, I'll be working to develop student staff training programs, working with other campus offices to develop and grow a variety of initiatives, and other interesting stuff. St. Peter's College is a Jesuit institution (like Boston Collge, where I got my undergrad degree), and has about 1700 full time undergrads, with about 700 of them living on campus. I'll also be someone who hears judicial/behavioral issues and issues sanctions, which isn't necessarily fun, but is a way to help influence students in positive ways. I could list other job responsibilities, but that's kind of boring... :)

Sue and I will be packing up here for the next few weeks, and my last day at work at Dartmouth will probably be right around the 4th of July.What's coincidental/funny, to me at least, about this job, is that the campus is about 10 blocks away from where a pair of my great-great-great-grandparents lived (Richard and Eliza Coulson) in the mid/late 19th Century, after they came over to the US from Ireland. Maybe I'm a big nerd for knowing these things, with all the genealogy research I do, but there you have it.

For those of you in the NYC/NJ area, since we're relocating, Sue will need to find a job. Right now, she's working as an administrative assistant for one of the academic offices here at Dartmouth. If you know of any good jobs she can apply for, let me know!

Hope all is well with you, I'll write more individually in the coming weeks.

Mike

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

So, there you have it. I wasn't really comfortable going into details on here before accepting the position, but I've been looking forward to talking about this for awhile. I'm just very glad that it's working out. I've been looking for a new position that would be a step up for awhile now, and it's finally come.

This job will give me the experience necessary to either move laterally from there in the future, or move up to another sort of position (Director, or other level). I've been getting a lot of well wishes from people, which has been great.

Of course, I will miss the people and location up here. Including my time at Landmark, I've been living up here in the "wild woods" for 8 years. I met Sue up here, fell in love, and all that goes along with that. But now we get to build something new, in a new location that has different things to offer, which will be a good experience.

I really enjoyed the people I met at St. Peter's, and already am looking forward to working with them. In speaking to my future supervisor on the phone today, I think we're going to have a great relationship. It'll be hard at times, to be sure, but that's what is good about change. New challenges to shake off any cobwebs in the brain...

More to come!

NP: Yes - The Ancient (18 Feb 1974)

Show!

On Sunday night, Sue and I made our way down to Northampton, MA, to check out the Tony Levin Band live in concert at a place called the Iron Horse. The show started at 7pm, and we got to the town at about 4:15pm or so. It was about a 100 minute drive from Hanover, so not horrible...

Since we were way early, we went to a nice little vegetarian restaurant to eat. Even though I'm not a vegetarian, I enjoy this place, we've eaten there before when we were in town. I had the vegetarian stir fry, which was quite tasty, if a bit more greasy than I'd like. But, it wasn't in a bad way. After eating, we wandered around the town for a bit (it was *quite* a nice day), and Sue went into a store while I enjoyed sitting on a bench on the street. I noticed a guy with a guitar case standing in front of the store asking passers-by for change. I can only assume that he had played enough guitar for the day that he didn't feel the need to perform any more. I'm always willing to throw in some change, if I have any, to street musicians. But, they do have to be playing when I throw my change in.

We got to the Iron Horse around 6pm or so, and it was pretty full on the floor. It was set up for dinner, and most of the tables on the stage level floor were filled. There was a deuce (restaurant talk for a two person table) right at the top of the stairs to the balcony, so that's where we ended up. It was a good location as we could both see the stage, and not have to share our table with other people. Not that we're not social, but I just didn't feel like sharing my space. You could end up with some cool people, or not... I didn't want to run the risk of the second option.

The Tony Levin Band is made up of 5 people. There's Tony Levin himself, who plays bass and a number of other bottom end instruments (the Chapman Stick, and an electric cello), and sings. Jerry Marotta plays drums and sings, Larry Fast is on keys, Jesse Gress on guitar, and Pete Levin (Tony's brother) also on keys. Those of you into odd music trivia may realize that Tony, Jerry, and Larry were three members of Peter Gabriel's touring band from the late 70's into about 1983. Levin still plays with Gabriel, but Marotta and Fast have moved on to other things. Larry Fast has a number of albums out under the name Synergy, which are all instrumental albums done on synthesizers. Cool stuff! I picked up two of those Synergy CD's at the show, as I already have all of Levin's stuff that was on sale.

Sue and I didn't eat, since we had already eaten, but I did get a coke, and Sue got coffee.

The opener was a duo from Australia called "The Kin." At first, I thought they were a bit too "pretty boy" for me, but they could sing well, and their songs were quite good, actually. I'm not running out to buy their CD's, but they were a good warm up, and performed for about 40 minutes. During their set, I saw some members of Levin's band, including Levin himself, moving in and out of the club.

When Levin and Company came out on stage, they first did a barbershop quartet which mimiced Levin's old King Crimson quartet piece from 1984, except this one was all about his own band. Very fun! The first "real" piece was an instrumental song (Pieces of the Sun, I believe), which started out with Levin on the aforementioned electric cello. The low end was deep enough to vibrate my seat!

I should mention that during the opening act, I got a dessert which was a brownie sundae, which was quite excellent!

Levin's set consisted of a mix of newer songs from his latest CD, other music from his recent albums, and covers of songs from bands or musicians that he's been involved with. He played two King Crimson songs (Sleepless and Elephant Talk), Black Dog from Zeppelin (just for fun), Genesis's "Back in N.Y.C.," Larry Fast's/Synergy's "Phobos," and Peter Gabriel's "On The Air," which was fantastic. The band all seemed to be really enjoying themselves, although Marotta seemed perhaps a bit under the weather, although he sang very well on Sleepless, Back in NYC, and On The Air.

Afterwards, the band was freely available to chat, sign anything that was put in front of them, and just be generally pleasant to talk to. Sue got some photos of me with the band members, which I'll get up here at some point. I talked with Larry Fast about being from NJ, which was a bit of "old home" stuff, and with Tony Levin about coming down from Hanover for the show. He wished us a safe drive back, and all was well. I didn't want to take up too much of their time, I could have really geeked it up with music questions, but chose not to, as they had a good drive back to Woodstock, NY, once the meet and greet was done.

All in all, a very good show! I'd recommend any instrumental music lover to go to their show, or if you're interested in progressive rock in general. Even Sue enjoyed it!

NP: Cheap Trick - Goodnight

Levin!

Just a quick post to say that Sue and I will be heading out soon, to Northampton, MA, to see the Tony Levin Band, tonight at a place called the Iron Horse.

Levin is a bass player who has played with John Lennon, Paul Simon, Peter Gabriel, King Crimson, and many others. He has a few solo albums out, mainly instrumental work, that are quite good. It should be a fun show... I will post an update tomorrow to share what the show was like...

Confidential!

Scribbler, aka Baron, made a comment on my last blog about job searching, and keeping things quiet versus being open during a job search. I should probably talk a bit about what it's like doing a job search in this field, so that readers out there know context.

Now, I don't know if this is for everyone, or just me, but in general I'm very open about talking about looking for a job. First off, at least in this situation I'm in now, it's because I actually still like the job I'm in. I'm very open with the fact that I do enjoy my present job, and I'm not looking under a negative cloud. It's just that it's time to find some new challenges with work. If I do end up staying here for longer, I can find different challenges with my present job, but it's becoming tougher and tougher to do that, without people going, "Why don't you find a better job out there?"

I obviously tell my references/supervisors that I'm looking, and my immediate co-workers. Of course, friends and family hear about it in a different context. With colleagues who I don't work with in an immediate way, if they ask the question, I'm open about talking on the topic of my job search. And, I'm also willing to strategically let it drop in conversation, if I think it could help with my search in some way. That may sound a bit more scheming than I actually am, as it's more in reference to just being willing to accept an offer of advice from people with more experience.

This year, I've been a bit more open with students I work with about my search. If they ask the question, I'm willing to talk about it, with making it clear that if I don't find it, I do still like the job I'm in. If they think I'm not really invested in staying at Dartmouth, then why would they want to work with me? As I said before, fortunately, I don't have to pretend that I like my work, I do actually enjoy it!

So, that's the context I'm in, for my job search...

Questions?

NP: The Who - Behind Blue Eyes (3 Sept 1989)

Closing!

Tomorrow is closing/move out day for all non-graduating students here at Dartmouth. I get to go around in the morning, starting at about 9am, and check all the rooms in the cluster to make sure people are on their way out. It's actually a fun time, because most people are either gone already, or are on their way to leave. Most people want to leave at this time of year, as it's really the end, for now...

Tonight, a number of us went out for CD Tricia's birthday, to a local chain restaurant called Margarita's. It's Mexican, but not the most authentic place in the world. Still, a good time was had by all, although the service was a bit slow.

Me, I got home around 8pm, exercised, and am now writing this. I was watching my new DVD of the movie "The Aristocrats" earlier, which I recommend to anyone interested in comedy, although it's not for the faint of heart... Lots of naughty language, and gross stuff abounds. Sign me up!

My general status on life right now is that it seems like a lot of things are in holding patterns. Work is good, but with doing a search, it's all in flux. I may be here in 2 months, I may be somewhere else, depending on how things go with interviews, offers, and the like. I am dealing with the ambiguity okay, but it's more an annoyance than anything else.

NP: Rachmaninov - Suite No. 1 Op. 5, 1st Movement

Hampshire!

Okay, I'm back in NH now. I arrived back from NJ yesterday (Saturday) at about 3pm, after having breakfast with my dad and stepmother at a nice little diner in the old hometown.

How did the interview go? It went well, from my point of view, although there may be salary issues that could be unresolvable, if an offer gets made to me. We'll see how it goes, if anything develops, I'll let you know.

It was good to be at home in NJ. I got to sit on my mom's roof deck and look at the ocean the first day I was there, and that evening (Thursday), watched some distant lightning to the north, also from the roof. Very cool...

Today, Sue and I went to go see the new X-Men movie. Sue's always liked the series more than I have (hello, Hugh Jackman!), but I don't actively dislike the movies. However, there was no real emotional resonance for me with the events in this film, although there should have been, as the movie was trying to press all my buttons. Ah well, there's plenty of other good movies out there to spend time on in the future...

On the way back here yesterday, I heard a bit of an opera by Beethoven on one of the NPR stations I listen to, I believe it was called Fidelius. I'm going to have to pick up a copy of it, as the bit that I heard was quite amazing...

NP: Keith Jarrett - John's Abbey

Gaseous!

From an article on the BBC News Site:

"This time period is associated with a very enhanced green house effect," explained Appy Sluijs, a palaeoecologist from Utrecht University in the Netherlands, and the lead author on one of the papers.

"Basically, it looks like the Earth released a gigantic fart of green house gases into the atmosphere - and globally the Earth warmed by about 5C (41F)."

Sometimes, the comedy comes to you...

NP: Genesis - Hairless Heart

Hot!

Here we are, at the end of May, and it's a bit of a steamy hotness up here in Hanover. I haven't checked the temperature, but I would guess it's in the mid 80's F, with a high level of humidity. It's not horrible, but I'm waiting for a thunderstorm to help break the weather. There was some lightning earlier this evening, around 8ish, but no storm developed. Ah well, perhaps while sleeping...

I'm generally packed for my travels south tomorrow. What, you are probably asking, does a well dressed Mike wear for a job interview? Well, here it is, courtesy of a photo I took back at the ACPA conference I attended in March.

A little blurry, but hey, what do you want?! A bisquit?

I've spent the evening preparing some of my own questions for the interview, reviewing the college's website to get familiar with their campus and their approach to the world of Res Life I work in. We shall see how it goes, I'll report when I can about it, upon my return to the Great White North.

Sue's visiting NJ right now, and she's coming back tomorrow, so I'm sure we'll pass each other on the road at some point. Of course, we won't really know where, but we'll be able to make some good estimates once I'm down there, and she's up here.

NP: John McLaughlin - Sing Me Softly of the Blues

Travel!

I'm preparing to travel down to NJ on Thursday, for a job interview on Friday. We'll see how it goes. I don't want to share too much about it, but obviously, if I get the job, I'll fill you in on all the details.

I will say right now, without jinxing myself, that I feel pretty good about the possibilities for this one. Of course, as I've jokingly said to some people, relationships can be fickle...

I had a *great* three day weekend, sleeping late, hanging out with Sue, and just generally relaxing. I slept late on all three days, and just took it easy. Memorial Day weekend is one of the few three day weekends we get here at Dartmouth, so it was good to be able to enjoy it.

On Monday afternoon, I watched the DVD of the new Battlestar Galactica, which I watched when it was initially on the Sci-Fi channel a few years ago. I enjoyed it then, but I haven't really been able to watch the series regularly (it's on my cue from Netflix). Watching the movie the second time, I enjoyed it a lot more, and saw a lot more depth and planning in the series. Here's some bulleted thoughts, that may have been answered or shown in the series since the pilot aired...

• At the end, Adama has a note on his desk, stating that there are 12 Cylon "types." Who left the note? As far as I know, Baltar was the only one who knew that.
• I'm a bit unclear if the 12 types mean that there are only 12 of the humanoid cylons in existence, or are there 12 models with multiple copies? There are doubles we see at the end, but are they part of the 12?
• Does Baltar really have a chip in his head? That was a bit too reminicent of "Harvey" from Farscape, being planted in Crichton's head, for my tastes... Although, it's not an uncommon SF plot trick, so I really can't hold it against BG.
• Who was the female Cylon (the blonde one, does she have a name?) meeting with at Caprica City after she left Baltar's company?
• Baltar's trick of blaming the PR guy for being a Cylon actually paid off, as he was truly a Cylon. Did Baltar's "test" actually pick something up? Or was he "guided" to choose him as a patsy, by the chip in his head?
• And, if there is a chip in Baltar's head, can it be used by the Cylon's to trace the fleet?

Those are my thoughts for now. I look forward to watching the series to see where it goes. I did see part of the season 2 finale, so I know where the show is going in some general areas, but it'll be interesting to see how it gets there...

NP: Queen + Paul Rodgers - All Right Now

Kids!

Today, Sue and I were in the Dartmouth Bookstore, and a kid, probably about 14-15, approached me, looking for donations to a charity for Darfur. I gave him a few bucks, because he did have fliers for the charity.

I've seen other kids on the street up here, asking for money for a variety of charities. It's an interesting way to get money, to just ask people on the street, without even a table set up with info, or any other "normal" charity activities, like a bake sale or other things.

I don't think the kids were lying about it at all, but it does seem like an odd way of raising money. I'm kind of surprised the people who run the bookstore allow solicitation like that in the store... Or perhaps they don't, and the kid was just getting away with something.

Ah well, whatever the deal is, I'm only out a few bucks, and who knows, it *might* actually go to charity.

NP: Robert Fripp and the League of Crafty Guitarists - A Connecticut Yankee in the Court of King Arthur

Ice Cream!

Today was "Free Ice Cream" day on the Hanover green, sponsored by the President's office here at Dartmouth. I got a Banana creamsicle. Tasty. I should have taken a picture of it to immortalize it for all of you, but alas, not.

"Not" was the Word for the Colbert Report last night. Watch for bears!

Today was a good day, as it was great weather here, and I got a check in the mail from proctoring the MCAT back in April. I don't have a lot of money on my credit card right now, but the check went to pay off a little less than half of it for now. Once I get paid next week, the rest of the card will get paid off. I'm a bit anal about credit card debt, I really like keeping it at zero.

This is the non sequitur blog today.

I'm working on wrapping up writing evaluations for my undergraduate staff at work. I have three more to complete, then I go over them again to see if I missed anything important. I should have them out in e-mail to the staff on Friday, and then we chat about the evals before they leave for the end of the academic year.

If you're in to odd e-mail generators that talk to you in Monkey, take a look at THIS!

Other than all this, I have nothing of real interest or content to speak of right now...

NP: 3; Hoedown - 14 April 1988

Bird!

I wanted to flip you all the bird, so here it is...

It's a blue jay, one of my favorite birds, that I saw outside of my cluster the other day. This was taken with my digital camera, with the zoom at it's utmost zoominest... I was hoping for a closer shot, but the bird wouldn't sit still. Damn you bird, with your free will!

In other news, we're getting closer and closer to the end of the academic year. I've got to make some sort of brownies for a Chocolate Fest event we're having on Thursday evening here in the cluster. I think I also have to get a haircut, as the last one I got wasn't the best... Ah, my life is so hard.

And for a final photo, here's one of a giant milk bottle, for your enjoyment...

Lube!

So, I had a doctor's appointment this morning...

There were latex gloves...

There was a small packet in silver foil...

There was fear.

However, all worked out... I had a regular checkup scheduled, and after the nurse took my blood pressure (120 over 70 or so, thank you very much), she told me to get into "the gown," and the doctor would be in to see me in a few minutes.

After changing into my stylish gown, I noticed a pair of latex gloves laid out on the shelf, with a packet of stuff next to them. I thought, "No, it can't be... I'm not 40 yet!" I stood up to look, and sure enough, the small packet was a packet of lubrication.

AAAAAUUUUUGGGGGHHHHH!!!!!!!!

I was concerned.

I told myself, to calm down, relax, and prepare for the inevitable. I planned to close my eyes and think of England, if it came to it.

However, besides checking out some other plumbing, there was no intrusion into unintrudible areas. So, all was right with the world. The sun shone, the sky cleared, and everyone was above average intelligence, just for a moment.

More happened today, but really, what more could compete with that?

Darko!

So, I watched the movie Donnie Darko today, my first DVD from Netflix. It is truly this generation's Jacob's Ladder...

Actually, it wasn't a bad film, an interesting ride, but I kind of had the movie figured out in the first 10 minutes or so, and was hoping for a surprise. However, I was let down. I did watch the Director's Cut, so I was thinking that this would be more oblique than a suit's vision of what the movie should be to sell to a mass crowd. We all deal with disappointment in our lives...

But then, after viewing Donnie Darko, I watched the original King Kong. Stilted by today's standards, it's still a great film. I remember seeing it for the first time as a kid, on Channel 9 out of Secaucus, NJ, most likely on Thanksgiving. For some reason, King Kong was a Thanksgiving film. The dinosaurs were great to this kid's eyes, and I did get the sadness of Kong at the end, even as a youth.

In other news, we had a relatively quiet Green Key weekend here at Dartmouth. Nothing too exciting happened, from what I've heard, which at this point, is not much. I'll get a much more thorough update tomorrow at work. I did spend the time in this weekend getting some genealogy work done. It's always fun to get back into the family history, especially because I've taken some time away from it recently. This calendar year, I haven't done much at all with it. Now, I feel prepped to dive back into it.

That's about it for now...

NP: John McLaughlin - Django

Green Key!

So, this weekend is "Green Key" up at Dartmouth. It's the last of our big three "party" weekends, with the first two being Homecoming in the Fall, and Winter Carnival, appropriately enough, in the Winter. It's raining up here now, but I don't think it'll keep students who are focused on having a good time from having one.

A number of us from work went out to eat tonight at a place called Lui-Lui's in West Lebanon, to continue celebrating Meg's new job, but the new piece tonight was that her partner Sarah (I believe there's an H on the end of there) just signed a lease for a condo over in Vermont. They'll be moving near the end of June, and I'm sure they'll have a good time with the place.

So, I'm listening to XM radio through the AOL website right now. I have the "progressive" channel on, but so far, all the music has kind of, well, sucked. There's some King Crimson coming up, which should redeem the channel, at least temporarily.

Possible job news on the horizon. Watch this space for updates...

NP: Camel - Lady Fantasy (on XM-AOL. At least this song doesn't suck)

Boston!

I was in Boston this weekend, from Saturday to Sunday, visiting Joe, phellow Pseudocertain-host, and old college chum. It was fun, although a lot of rain happened, so it was a very indoor visit.

Slept on the floor, which wasn't as horrible as it sounds. I can sleep pretty much anywhere, so sleeping wasn't the issue, although I did feel a bit out of sorts the next day, as my aged bones were creaking on my drive back to New Hampshire.

In other news, I installed Dreamweaver on my non-laptop computer, which will make it easier to update my home on the web, with music from a variety of projects. Expect to see a lot more TOOL and Nick's Eef and Be Ho material posted in the next day or two.

Oh, I started a MySpace site, mainly because Baron did. I like to be a copycat. I probably won't do much with it, but it's good to appropriate Zorknapp so that no one else can use it.

NP: I'm in Brace, so I'm overhearing a conversation about role playing games...

Thursday!

Nothing like the day before the last day of work for the week, is there?

Today, I interviewed someone for a job here at Dartmouth who went to Boston College, and lived in Shaw House, the place where I spent the first two years of my college life. However, he lived there in the late 90's/early 00's, which was about 10 years after I was there.

I'll be heading into Boston this weekend, to hang out with Joe (unfortunately, Brian will be in NJ, so I'll miss him this time), maybe we'll head on out to BC for a stroll down memory lane...

You know, I've *never* actually seen a street called "Memory Lane." There's got to be one out there, don't you think? Or is there only one in some Twilight Zone netherworld?

I worked on genealogy today for the first time in awhile, inputing some Scottish records into my Family Tree Maker program. I still have a few more to do, but I didn't want to spend all evening sitting at the computer. So of course, now I'm writing a blog. Is that irony?

Tomorrow, some of us from work are heading down to Manchester, NH to take in a minor league baseball game, and to go out to eat afterwards. I'm not a big baseball person, but it should be fun... I'll bring my camera for exciting action shots.

NP: Richard Lewis - Dates from Hell, Mistake Warnings, and Actresses (1985)

May!

On 10 May 1851, my great-great-great grandparents, John Lord and Jane Lang, got married in Trinity Church, Newark, New Jersey.

On 10 May 1890, John Lord died at age 61 at his home of 164 Grant Avenue, East Newark, New Jersey.

So, on this anniversary date, I reflect on how if either of these events had not happened when they did, I may not be sitting here right now.

NP: Velvet Underground - Afterhours - June 1993

Photos?!

Okay, will I actually get to post photos tonight??? Let's see...

Yay! Seems to be working! This is a photo of the crowds at the event, before the Relay officially started on Friday evening. CD Dan is in the lower left corner of the shot.

Here's CD Tricia and CD Dan, looking at something off in the distance, I'm not quite sure what. The event was indoors this year, which was okay, but I prefered it last year, when we got to walk outside on the track by Dartmouth's football field. When it got chilly in the evening outdoors, it gave more of an incentive to keep walking...

Daniel, beaten down by life...

People on our team (or just out supporting us) sitting, while a few of us walked. The idea of Relay is that at least one person from your team should be walking at all times. If that person sits down, someone else goes in their place. Relay, get it???

Krista, laughing at something, most likely something inappropriate!

The Luminary ceremony, which was all done with Christmas lights this year, since there couldn't be candles by the indoor track...

And, to end, a close up of CD Fu... This could be a good album cover, don't you think?

If you still want to donate, go to this site... Thanks to those of you who have already given for the American Cancer Society.

NP: King Crimson, Epitaph - 22 Nov 1968

Bisquit!

Ah, so I'm back... Feeling a bit under the weather today, but I'm finally going to post some photos from the Relay for Life event that was on Friday night. Away we go...

Well, this page seems to be having a problem with posting photos right now. So, it's going to have to wait...

In other news, I finished converting all of my old tapes today. Finally, that project is all done. Now, I have time in the evening to relax a bit, exercise when necessary, read, and perhaps even kick start my genealogy research. I really haven't done much with it during this year so far, so I should decide what to work on, perhaps really focus on trying to break down some barriers. There are still some branches of the Lord family I need to re-connect with. That's a good start...

It's been good to get back in contact with Baron from posting some old high school stories here, and the little comments section below the main posting. I do need to write an e-mail back to Baron, so if you're waiting out there Baron, I Haven't Forgotten You!

But, I was thinking, since Baron found his way here, perhaps I can get some other people finding themselves mentioned here, who I've been out of contact with for the past number of years. Those people are:

• Erik Lynch: Guitarist from T.O.O.L., lives out in Colorado now, I believe
• Bill Sexton: No idea where he is now...
• Andy Fenwick: One of the singers from T.O.O.L., perhaps living in NY, NJ, or Washington DC?

That's a good start for now...

In going over some of these old tapes, I found ones of me singing along to records when I was about 16. Horrible stuff... After doing this, there's a tape of me saying, "I guess I don't sing very well." It's so rare that you find an audio record of the destruction of an illusion...

There was also a tape of an audio letter I sent to Brian in the summer of 1988, when he was away at smart kids kamp... It was funny to hear, because, just like today, I was the king of banal detail. I had sent Brian some tapes of music, so I spent a big part of the tape detailing who was in the bands, who wrote what songs, and all that goofy stuff. I'm amazed anyone is still my friend!

Oh, and you think you're a big blog reader? What do you want, a BISQUIT???

NP: Scrubs on NBC

Relay!

Tonight, I'll be participating in the Relay for Life, a charity event sponsored by the American Cancer Society, to help raise money for research, treatment, and all the other stuff the ACS does.

If you'd like to donate, go to this page. Click on my name, and donate away!

The event itself is an all night extravaganza, where at least one member of your team has to be walking at all times. We're going to be set up indoors this year, on the Dartmouth indoor track. There are events, performances, food, and a bunch of other stuff to make it a real party, positive atmosphere. I'll get some photos to put up here sometime over the weekend.

I'm down to 8 tapes left to convert to mp3's! Yay! Once I'm done, I'm going to work on a midi-percussion piece I've been thinking about. I have a basic pattern in my head, which I will layer with some other musical instruments, and some live percussion. We'll see how it turns out...

Slow!

I've been a bit slow with blogging recently, as my life has been taken over by converting these old tapes to MP3's. It's a big pain in the butt, but I'm so close to the end now (only 14 more tapes to go!), that I just have to plow through it. I'm hoping by this weekend, I'll be done. My hope of getting done this past weekend was a bit naive.

Right now, I'm on Yes's "Ritual," from a '74 bootleg. The tape speed was a bit fast, which is why I'm glad my old four track recorder has a pitch control on it, so I can slow down the tape to something approximating the correct pitch.

I'm surprised that I'm able to tell the "correct" pitch. I didn't know I'd be able to do it, but I think I've done a good job with it. I've got a few more Yes tapes to convert, some David Bowie, some Moody Blues, The Who, and UK. Fun stuff.

Much more content coming soon in the near future. I've been neglecting genealogy recently, I've got to get back in the swing of that. I requested some records from NJ over a year ago, which I have yet to receive! They've cashed my check (last June), and I've sent a letter with a copy of the cancelled check to them back at the end of last year, and have still heard nothing. I'd hope to at least get an e-mail, saying, "Sorry, but we sent them, too bad so sad," but I haven't even gotten that...

NJ Vital Records, a Pox on your House!

NP: Yes - Ritual - 18 Feb 1974

Slogging!

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

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

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

NP: Yes - Siberian Khatru - 18 Oct 1997

Aykroyd?!

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

Anyone?

Contact!

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

MCAT!

Sue and I proctored the MCAT here at Dartmouth today, for a group of 27 students. It's always a fairly straightforward proposition, except for the fact that I have to get up early on a weekend to do it. But, it was a good group of testees, and except for a bit of noise from the building (heating issues?) during the last section of the test, it was a smooth session.

I'm still converting tapes over to MP3's. I'm done with all the tapes of concerts I actually recorded personally, so I'm back to doing either live tapes I got from other sources, or shows I taped off the radio back in the 80's or 90's. Right now, I'm working on a live concert by "3," an ELP offshoot containing Keith Emerson, Carl Palmer, and Robert Berry. They did one album in 1988, that wasn't horrible, but wasn't much of anything to write home about either. I taped this concert from the Ritz in NYC, off of WNEW FM in NY, back when I was growing up in NJ. The one song I've done so far, Fanfare for the Common Man, was actually performed very well, so although the album might have been a bit off, live they did well.

I have to throw this picture up, just for fun...

Tell me you wouldn't want to see a big piece of construction equipment, with a name like "Putzmeister!"

NP: Adrian Belew - Dinosaur

Puppet!

Per Lou's request, here's a photo of the Mike Lord puppet... This was made for a puppet show Sue did for our wedding back in February 2004...

I'll actually see if I can find a better one scanned in...

Concerts Part 2!

Back in October 1988, Brian and I went to see the Moody Blues at Madison Square Garden in NYC. What was interesting about this day, was that we were going into the city for a class trip, and we had asked if we could stay in the city for the concert. Unfortunately, the faculty member was not allowed to just leave two high school students in the city. Makes sense, but we had to at least ask.

So, we had to go into the city, leave, then take the train back into the city after the trip. Taking the train into the city was always fun, it was a very "grown up" thing to do. We went to the show, and it was a blast. On the train on the way back to NJ, we sat near two high school girls who had also gone to the show. From the look of them, they were Red Bank Catholic students. Maybe they had RBC jackets, and of course, here was a perfect opportunity to strike up a conversation with two girls with similar music tastes, but of course, we didn't.

This became a running reference joke between the two of us for awhile, and I'm sure Brian still remembers it also. Am I missing any details?

NP: Farscape

Concerts!

The next few blogs I'm going to do are going to be about some of the concerts I've gone to. Back in the day, I used to bring a tape recorder to some shows, to have a record of the music. It wasn't the best recorder, so it would actually register some of my friends and my conversations more than the music at times. So, the tapes in some way have turned more into a record of the experience, rather than a musical statement.

I was converting the Pink Floyd show from Giants Stadium in June 1988 yesterday. I went to this show with Brian Paik, Baron Blakley, Erik Lynch, Steve Rumsby, and a few others. From the tape, I remember now that Brian was sick as a dog, with some sort of cough/cold. It wasn't helped that the concert was on a rainy day. During most of the show, it was cold and clammy, but not raining, however, during Us and Them, in the 2nd set, it started to *pour!* Baron said to me, "This concert's cost me $50 already, I'm not moving!" We stuck it out...

At another point, I think during Money, Brian moved up a few rows to take a look at things. Baron asked what he was doing, and I said that he was moving up to see what he could see, a bit more into the rain.

Baron: He's tough!

Me: Who, Paik?

Baron: Yeah, but he's dying anyway, what does he care?

These were the people who I called friends back in High School. Those were great days. I'm still in touch with Brian, who's still one of the closest friends I have, although we don't see each other nearly enough. Baron, I haven't seen since sometime in college, as his family moved away from New Jersey during those years. Baron, if you're out there, feel free to say hi...

More stories to come... Other concerts I taped were Yes, the Moody Blues, R.E.M., and Anderson Bruford Wakeman Howe.

NP: Farscape - Green Eyed Monster

Flower!

So, I took this picture of a blooming flower on one of Sue's plants the other day...

Some might say, "Wow, look at that pretty flower!"

Me, I say, "Hey, that looks like the flower that made Spock go native back in that old Star Trek episode...

Last night, a bunch of us from work went out to Friendly's for dinner, then went mini-golfing. Here's some photos!

My meal, of chicken stuff, really. This was left over, because I remembered, after eating what's not on the plate, that food at Friendly's sucks...

CD Dan, who wanted his photo in my blog. Your prayers have been answered, Daniel!

Krista and Meg enjoying themselves, a rare event in a Friendly's restaurant...

A Ryder truck pulled over out in front of Friendly's. Drug bust!

Krista and Brian, watching a mini-golf shot. I should say that our group of 7 split into two groups to play, and I came in last amongst my trio of Tricia, Krista, and myself. Granted, it was only a point that separated each of us, but I was the big loser...

However, this trophy proves that we're all winners in the end... Really.

NP: ProjeKct Two - The Deception of the Thrush

Contact!

So, a friend of mine, who will remain nameless, has told me recently that he's been contacted not once, but twice, by two different girlfriends of two of his dead friends.

That seems to be a little complex, so to restate, my nameless friend has two friends, both of whom have passed away. He has received e-mail from a former girlfriend of each of them.

They have contacted my secret ally because he has some music posted on his website, collaborations with the aforementioned stiff dudes. Well, maybe only one of them... I think the other was just mentioned in passing at some point (although I could be wrong about that). So, these former girlfriends are obviously googling their late boyfriend, and they are linking to my enigmatic relationship to see what's on there...

My mysterious companion is trying to re-enter the dating scene after some time away from it, so while he is welcoming of random female contact, the fact that these women have no real interest in him is a bit disconcerting.

I say, best to stay away from girlfriends of dead friends. There's got to be some bad mojo working there...

Haplogroup!

So, I mentioned awhile back about participating in the National Geographic's "Genographic" survey, using DNA markers to determine what haplogroup individuals are a part of, in order to trace human migration out of Africa tens of thousands of years ago.

I have particpated in this study, and with my DNA sample in hand, gotten by doing a cheek scraping (not in the least painful), I now know I am a member of haplogroup G, denoted by genetic marker M201 on the Y chromosome.

But, you are asking, what does this tell us?

From the Genographic website, Haplogroup G is a relatively rare haplogroup that is an offshoot of the common M89 marker, the second great migration out of Africa. G is only present in at most rankings of a few percent in most tested populations. G seems to have its origins in the Indus Valley of northern India sometime between 10,000 and 20,000 years ago. From there, little is known about the dispersal of Haplogroup G.

Now, the Y chromosome is received in toto from the father during conception. So, I have the same Y chromosome as my Dad, my brother, my Dad's brother, my Lord grandfather, great-grandfather, etc... And from my genealogy research, I know that the Lord name comes from Ireland as far back as 1820. So, there's a big gap from 10-20,000 years ago to the 1820's, where my ancestors got from northern India, to Ireland...

Fascinating, isn't it? Hopefully, as more people participate in this study, the Haplogroup G migration will become a bit more known... I'll be sure to share more as I learn about this. Fortunately, the Genographic website will be updated as they learn more.

NP: Episode I - The Arrival At Tatooine and The Flag Parade

Smoking!

Sue and I went to go see "Thank You For Smoking" today. A good satire, that in an odd way, makes a case for the rights of smokers to smoke, while staying away from the issue of smoking in public places or other locations. Whatever your thoughts on the whole smoking issue, I think the movie is worth a viewing, as it is very funny!

Tomorrow or Tuesday, you'll all get an update on the haplogroup results I got recently from the National Geographic's Genographic survey. More soon!

NP: Genesis - I Can't Dance

Proctor!

This morning, I got to be the 2nd proctor in the room for the Foreign Service exam, given here at Dartmouth. Again, it was a fairly easy morning, although I was not looking forward to waking up early to do the proctoring. It'll be worth it once the check comes in though.

While proctoring, I did finish the 4th Harry Potter book, which was quite good. I'm now on the 5th one, and since there hasn't been a film of that one yet, I'm actually in the dark as to what will happen. Which is a good thing, as I'll enjoy the surprise of it.

So, the other morning, I had a dream with Sue and I in it. We were eating some rolls with butter, and in the course of the dream, Sue asked if I liked the butter. I said something along the lines that it was okay, and then she told me that it was really good butter, because the one stick cost $8500.

I was shocked!

$8500 for a stick of butter? I don't even put that much butter on bread!

Anyway, in the dream, I was quite annoyed about the expenditure, but once I woke up and told Sue about the dream, we both thought it was pretty funny.

NP: King Crimson - The Power To Believe II

Pseudocertainty!

Okay, so Joe mentioned below in the comments, about my weekend summary, that I forgot to mention recording a new episode of Pseudocertainty. So, I'm mentioning it now...

For those of you not in the know, Pseudocertainty is an internet radio show that Joe and I do periodically, every few weeks, where we talk about odd news items, alien stuff, cryptozoology, and othe random stuff. One of our great conversations was about foods that neither of us like.

In the past, when we first started this show, I'd go down to Boston and we'd record the shows in person, sitting in the same room. Now, with the wonders of the Interweb, we can use a program called Skype to have me recorded on Joe's computer, while I stay snug up here in New Hampshire. It's allowed us to do more shows in a shorter amount of time, so we might be reaching a critical mass here of material. So far, in this calendar year, we've had over 2000 page downloads, which is almost equal to the total page downloads we had in all of 2005. It helps that we've been podcast now, and also that Joe figured out how to do some Google ads, so we're getting the word out.

Pseudocertainty is an offshoot of our original website, AliensAliensAliens, which started in December 1995, and ended sometime in 2001 or so. I have recently discovered some archived pieces of that old site, so I'll try to put them up on my personal website sometime in the future.

We usually record these shows in the late evening, past 9 or 10pm, as it allows the silliness to come out in each of our personalities. Listen to the shows, and let me know what you think. At some point, we're going to have guests on the show. Joe wants my friend Brian to be our first guest, I'll see if I can convince him to do it... it could be fun!

Coming up in future blogs, we'll talk about my haplogroup results from the National Geographic genographic project, and a dream I had regarding an expensive butter purchase.

NP: David Cross - Inc

Snow!

Had a bit of snow today, but nothing that's stuck on the ground, for now. We're supposed to get a bit more tomorrow, but we'll see what actually happens.

This weekend was fairly relaxing. Friday night, Sue and I just hung around, watching more "Firefly." Saturday, I went with some co-workers to Koto, a local Japanese steakhouse, where we had the Hibachi style food, where the chef cooks right in front of you at the table. It was a bit pricey, but you get a *lot* of food, and the cooking is kind of a show, so it's worth it.

I got the teryaki (sp?) chicken, which consisted of rice, vegetables, and THREE breasts of chicken. I had enough left over for dinner the next day. The food was quite tasty, and the company was good. Not a place I'd go to regularly, due to the price, but fun as a periodic event.

On Sunday, Sue and I went to go see "Inside Man" at the local Hanover theater. Quite a good film, about a bank robbery which is not quite what it appears to be. Part of the plot revolves around the bank owner having started his fortune by working with the Nazis in pre-WWII timeframe (played by Christopher Plummer, in an ironic casting choice). We're getting into the time now, though, where modern movies aren't going to be able to use the Nazis as the regular foil for some of these plot turns, as the people who were alive then won't be around anymore. Of course, it doesn't mean that they can't be used historically, in movies set before the present day. I'm sure we'll see more films along those lines.

Unfortunately, I missed the Sci-Fi movie that Brian recommended in one of the comments below in a previous post. I'm sure I'll be able to catch it in the future, as Sci-Fi is known for repeats.

Reading the 4th Harry Potter book now. I started it on Sunday, and I'm already 388 pages into it, so it'll be a quick read. I have the 5th book on my bookshelf, so I'll probably jump straight into that once this book is finished. The Potter books are enjoyable, but I still think I prefer the Philip Pullman "His Dark Materials" trilogy for novels of that young adult fantasy genre.

And, of course, the tape transfer to MP3's continue. I think I'm about 30%-35% percent done, it is a long, tedious job. But, it is actually fun to listen to some of these old tapes again, and now I'll have easier access to the music, so it is (I hope) worth it.

NP: Robert Fripp - On Awe