Snow from yesterday continues to linger on the ground. No biggie, because I didn't set foot outside today. But, you ask, what did I do? Well, I updated my website with some more old T.O.O.L. songs, I smelled the good stuff that Sue was baking today, I made some of my own merengue cookies, watched "Garden State" on DVD, and generally just relaxed.
Saturdays are good days to do nothing of importance, unless there's something important you want to do. Last Saturday, we proctored the LSAT's, so today, I wanted to sleep late and and just let the day unfold.
I've also been continuing to read "A Crack In The Edge Of The World," which is fascinating. I enjoy reading these types of books, because I always learn something, and it gives me an appreciation for the absolutely immense time scales of most geological processes, and how the ones that happen quickly have such an impact on human lives. One of my student staff members was in Sri Lanka last winter when the tsunami hit, so hearing someone's first person account, and then reading about a not dissimilar, geologically, event from about 100 years ago is a fascinating comparison.
I talked to my Dad on the phone today and heard that one of my good friends from High School had a rather serious hand injury during this past summer. He'll be in NJ for the Christmas holiday, so I'll have to make an effort to see him, as I haven't been in contact since probably 1993 or so. I still consider that we're friends, mainly because nothing has happened that would make us *not* be friends. We just lost touch with each other, there was nothing bad that happened.
On a totally different note, I read today that Richard Pryor died this morning of a heart attack. Anyone who knows me knows that I have an extensive comedy collection on CD, and Richard Pryor is one of the building blocks of that collection. I'm glad that the albums remain, and the laughter goes on.
NP: Jingle Dogs, All Through The Night
10 December 2005
08 December 2005
Memories...
One of the less common questions out there for "historical" events is, "Where were you when John Lennon was shot?" It's heard less often than JFK's assassination, the moon landing, or even the Challenger accident.
Personally, I was about 3 months shy of my 10th birthday, and I recall the TV being on, but I wasn't watching it. A news report came on to the New York station we were watching, perhaps WABC, channel 7 out of New York, saying that Lennon had been shot, and was being brought to one of the hospitals in the city.
While I wasn't terribly into music as a 9 year old, I was aware of who Lennon was, through the listening habits of my parents, and just a general knowledge of the world at that time, or however much knowledge a 9 year old could realistically have. I remember my mom being upset by it, and my brother was around, although I don't remember his reaction. I don't really remember having much of a reaction myself, other than I felt bad for him being shot. I'd have to think about the timeline, but I think my parents were separated at the time, so my dad wasn't around for me to see his reaction. Although, he could have been out working...
I didn't get into really listening to music until I was in about 8th grade, when I got into Yes. I kept away from buying any Beatles for awhile, probably until late high school or early college. And while I was familiar with Lennon's solo work from what was played on the radio, I actually didn't buy any of his music until I was in grad school in the 1997 time frame. Looking back on it, I think I was annoyed about such talent being cut off, and also about the cult of personality that surrounds artists when they die "before their time." By the time I got to the later 1990's, I was personally able to get past a lot of that, and just listen to the music, which was tremendous.
It's one of his later songs, but I have always enjoyed "Nobody Told Me," one of the outtakes later released after Lennon's death. Perhaps I'll go listen to it later...
NP: ProjeKct Three, ProjeKction
Personally, I was about 3 months shy of my 10th birthday, and I recall the TV being on, but I wasn't watching it. A news report came on to the New York station we were watching, perhaps WABC, channel 7 out of New York, saying that Lennon had been shot, and was being brought to one of the hospitals in the city.
While I wasn't terribly into music as a 9 year old, I was aware of who Lennon was, through the listening habits of my parents, and just a general knowledge of the world at that time, or however much knowledge a 9 year old could realistically have. I remember my mom being upset by it, and my brother was around, although I don't remember his reaction. I don't really remember having much of a reaction myself, other than I felt bad for him being shot. I'd have to think about the timeline, but I think my parents were separated at the time, so my dad wasn't around for me to see his reaction. Although, he could have been out working...
I didn't get into really listening to music until I was in about 8th grade, when I got into Yes. I kept away from buying any Beatles for awhile, probably until late high school or early college. And while I was familiar with Lennon's solo work from what was played on the radio, I actually didn't buy any of his music until I was in grad school in the 1997 time frame. Looking back on it, I think I was annoyed about such talent being cut off, and also about the cult of personality that surrounds artists when they die "before their time." By the time I got to the later 1990's, I was personally able to get past a lot of that, and just listen to the music, which was tremendous.
It's one of his later songs, but I have always enjoyed "Nobody Told Me," one of the outtakes later released after Lennon's death. Perhaps I'll go listen to it later...
NP: ProjeKct Three, ProjeKction
07 December 2005
Neil Armstrong
Interesting coincidence. Today I finished reading "First Man," the new biography of Neil Armstrong, the first man on the moon. One small step, and all that. So, from my "To Read" pile, I picked up "A Crack in the Edge of the World," a book about the 1906 San Francisco Earthquake.
Now, the coincidence is that the earthquake book opens up with the idea that viewing the Earth from the Moon at the end of the 1960's helped to understand the Earth as a complete system, and the author uses the idea of Neil Armstrong standing on the Moon looking at the Earth as his starting point for his literary metaphor.
So, a neat coincidence.
For those of you who don't know me well, one of my interests is reading about the history of the space program, so when word of an authorized biography of Armstrong being published came to my ears, I knew that I'd be reading the book. And I was not disappointed.
The book gave a truly detailed look at Armstrong's life, from his youth and family history, to the modern days. Armstrong has always seen his accomplishment of being the first man on the Moon in the context of the history of aviation and spaceflight, and the book does a good job of providing that context to the reader in an interesting, compelling manner. We read of Armstrong's first lessons in flight, to his days as an aviator during the Korean War, his work as a test pilot in the 50's flying, among others, the X-15 rocket powered plane, to his days as an astronaut and afterwards.
To most readers familiar with Armstrong the astronaut, the beginning chapters may be a bit much for some, but I found them quite interesting, as it was a world I didn't really know much about. Of course, the meat of the book was his NASA days, with his post-Moon landing life covering the last 15% or so of the book.
Through it all, Armstrong comes off as a focused, unassuming, intelligent individual, who also did not necessarily think about the "human" aspects of his flight, or if he did, was not comfortable sharing those thoughts. The book certainly isn't an expose of the inner man, but neither does it shy away from the less easy to excuse aspects of his personality. A worthy read, whether you're interested in the space program or not.
I'll keep you all up to date on my new reading, and how it's progressing. I like finding non-fiction books that are on a topic I find interesting, but that I don't really know much about. I know the basics of the story of the 1906 San Francisco Earthquake (it was big), but other than that, not much.
Tonight was the Dean of the College area holiday party. I generally don't really enjoy these type of events, not because I don't like the people (I do, I enjoy the company of my co-workers and others in the Dean of the College area), but that I prefer smaller social settings over ones like tonight's, that had at least 100 people attending. I ended up focusing on talking to my immediate co-workers, and a few others. I probably should get more comfortable in these situations, but I'm also happy to find the smaller conversations when I can.
For me, the smaller gatherings are those in the 10-20 person range. Any larger than that, and it tends to get excessive in my book. But, I'm am comfortable talking in front of large groups, and don't mind some of those settings. I think it's also the cramped nature of when at parties, you're all pressed together with no space to move. Perhaps I'm a bit claustrophobic? I never really thought of that before.
This has been a longer blog than I expected, so I close with my Now Playing note:
NP: John Lennon, Luck of the Irish (Live)
Now, the coincidence is that the earthquake book opens up with the idea that viewing the Earth from the Moon at the end of the 1960's helped to understand the Earth as a complete system, and the author uses the idea of Neil Armstrong standing on the Moon looking at the Earth as his starting point for his literary metaphor.
So, a neat coincidence.
For those of you who don't know me well, one of my interests is reading about the history of the space program, so when word of an authorized biography of Armstrong being published came to my ears, I knew that I'd be reading the book. And I was not disappointed.
The book gave a truly detailed look at Armstrong's life, from his youth and family history, to the modern days. Armstrong has always seen his accomplishment of being the first man on the Moon in the context of the history of aviation and spaceflight, and the book does a good job of providing that context to the reader in an interesting, compelling manner. We read of Armstrong's first lessons in flight, to his days as an aviator during the Korean War, his work as a test pilot in the 50's flying, among others, the X-15 rocket powered plane, to his days as an astronaut and afterwards.
To most readers familiar with Armstrong the astronaut, the beginning chapters may be a bit much for some, but I found them quite interesting, as it was a world I didn't really know much about. Of course, the meat of the book was his NASA days, with his post-Moon landing life covering the last 15% or so of the book.
Through it all, Armstrong comes off as a focused, unassuming, intelligent individual, who also did not necessarily think about the "human" aspects of his flight, or if he did, was not comfortable sharing those thoughts. The book certainly isn't an expose of the inner man, but neither does it shy away from the less easy to excuse aspects of his personality. A worthy read, whether you're interested in the space program or not.
I'll keep you all up to date on my new reading, and how it's progressing. I like finding non-fiction books that are on a topic I find interesting, but that I don't really know much about. I know the basics of the story of the 1906 San Francisco Earthquake (it was big), but other than that, not much.
Tonight was the Dean of the College area holiday party. I generally don't really enjoy these type of events, not because I don't like the people (I do, I enjoy the company of my co-workers and others in the Dean of the College area), but that I prefer smaller social settings over ones like tonight's, that had at least 100 people attending. I ended up focusing on talking to my immediate co-workers, and a few others. I probably should get more comfortable in these situations, but I'm also happy to find the smaller conversations when I can.
For me, the smaller gatherings are those in the 10-20 person range. Any larger than that, and it tends to get excessive in my book. But, I'm am comfortable talking in front of large groups, and don't mind some of those settings. I think it's also the cramped nature of when at parties, you're all pressed together with no space to move. Perhaps I'm a bit claustrophobic? I never really thought of that before.
This has been a longer blog than I expected, so I close with my Now Playing note:
NP: John Lennon, Luck of the Irish (Live)
06 December 2005
Tooth Decay
I got a lot of dental work done this morning. I had to get a crown for one of my lower left teeth, and they re-did some fillings while in there. I've never had a crown done before, so here's the process:
- First, they numb you up. For my work, they had to give me 3 or 4 shots, I can't remember the exact number.
- They gave me some goop that I had to bite down on, in order to make an impression of my teeth before they did any work.
- Then, the drilling begins. With the amount of novocaine in my system, I really felt nothing other than the pressure here or there.
- More impressions were then taken, so they could make the temporary crown.
I didn't know this either, that they put in a temporary crown, and then, after a few weeks, remove the temp and then put the permanent crown in, the one that has been specially made just for my mouth.
I feel so special.
Anyway, my bite feels pretty normal, although I think the temp crown is just a tiny bit higher than the real tooth was. Not a big deal, I'm already used to it, although I notice it periodically. I go back in early January to get the permanent crown installed. Then, I shall be a king among men.
My appointment was at 8:50am, and I got back to campus shortly after 11am. Not bad at all, although I did have to pay a bit more out of pocket than I was hoping, but it's not excessive. I'll pay off my credit card next time I get paid.
The rest of the day at work was just that, work. I started working on my outline for the Winter Training session I get to present, which is doing some case studies. Everything is pretty much written, I just need to revise, and perhaps create a new case study or two. I also worked on some end of term report stuff, as our end of term is coming up this Thursday.
I officially have to work till the 22nd of this month, then I'll be off till January 3rd. However, I may take off from the 19th to the 22nd, to extend the break a bit. That does mean that I have to get on the ball with some of these reports, which won't be hard.
Last night, I hung out with some of the other CD's, to watch the Monday Night Football game. With me not caring about sports terribly much, I'm glad that the game was pretty much a blowout, so we could just talk about whatever came up (sorry Eagles fans! Your team sucks!). And ghost stories is what came up! It was a fun conversation, telling stories about what may have happened in our respective pasts in regards to this area. Anyone out there interested in my own take on this can check out some of the shows on Pseudocertainty.com.
Look for a new show before the end of the month.
I think that's it for now. Please, feel free to make comments on here, so I don't feel like I'm talking to myself. Not that that's a bad thing, but I enjoy the interactive nature of this, and would like to see it used more...
NP: Yes, Never Done Before
04 December 2005
Moviethon
My friend Brian just finished a moviethon event, to raise money for the Brattle Theater in Cambridge, MA. He saw over 20 movies in the span of a few weeks. The Brattle's a cool place to see movies in Boston, an older theater that shows a lot of specialty films. The last movie I saw with Brian there was Godzilla: Final Wars, a fine film...
I do miss living in Boston, and doing things like this.
On another matter entirely, the space bar on this keyboard is a bit broken. I've been able to fix it, but it's still not as smooth as it should be. I'll have to think about getting a new one.
Yesterday, Sue and I proctored for the LSAT's again. It was a pretty easy proctoring, no real issues, and the check should come before Christmas. Last night, we watched the movie "Comedian," about Jerry Seinfeld creating all new material after retiring his old material after the completion of his TV show. Very good movie, and Sue enjoyed it also. I had watched in a year or two ago when I first got it on DVD, and I knew I'd re-watch it at some point.
Speaking of Christmas, I've completed all of my Christmas shopping, and am just waiting for one more box to arrive. I actually did all of my shopping this year online. I think it's the first time I didn't buy *anything* in an actual store.
That's about it for now. I have to exercise for a bit, and then get some e-bay sales ready to go out the door tomorrow.
Cheers!
Mike
I do miss living in Boston, and doing things like this.
On another matter entirely, the space bar on this keyboard is a bit broken. I've been able to fix it, but it's still not as smooth as it should be. I'll have to think about getting a new one.
Yesterday, Sue and I proctored for the LSAT's again. It was a pretty easy proctoring, no real issues, and the check should come before Christmas. Last night, we watched the movie "Comedian," about Jerry Seinfeld creating all new material after retiring his old material after the completion of his TV show. Very good movie, and Sue enjoyed it also. I had watched in a year or two ago when I first got it on DVD, and I knew I'd re-watch it at some point.
Speaking of Christmas, I've completed all of my Christmas shopping, and am just waiting for one more box to arrive. I actually did all of my shopping this year online. I think it's the first time I didn't buy *anything* in an actual store.
That's about it for now. I have to exercise for a bit, and then get some e-bay sales ready to go out the door tomorrow.
Cheers!
Mike
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