Radio!

For those of you who don't know, my friend Joe and I do an internet radio show called Pseudocertainty. Every few weeks, we record a show, sometimes about odd news events, random stuff, and our own habits. Compelling listening, for all of you I'm sure.

We are available through I-Tunes, I think, as a podcast. Our numbers of downloads have been going up in the last few months, so perhaps it's working.

Our goal is to not have to do "real" work, but that hasn't happened yet. When o when will we be discovered for our own greatness?

All this blabbing about the show is to point out that we have a new one up there, recorded this past Saturday evening. I've always thought that late night is the best time to record these shows, and I think it's been bourne out by our last few offerings.

For the "log" part of this entry, it's been a productive time at work, getting stuff done, and seeing what I have to do. I won't bore you with the details, but it has been fun. Tomorrow, I may have to leave campus for a bit to do some work elsewhere around the town, but nothing too bad.

I made my first e-bay mistake today. I sent the wrong DVD to one of my buyers. Fortunately, over e-mail, he's more than happy to forward the item I sent him to the proper person. It restores my faith in humanity, I tell you...

NP: King Crimson, Improv: Pforzheim

Horror!

On Friday, I went with a few people (Meg, Sarah, Brian, and Laura, to be precise) to see "The Hills Have Eyes" at one of the local theaters. I wanted to write up the evening when I got home, but there was a blogger issue, and it wouldn't let me write a post. So, here we are, a little delayed.

The movie itself was actually better than I thought it would be. It was much more about suspense than just blood and gore (although there was enough of that to satisfy the blood lust of the audience). The characters actually had a little bit of life to them, although my prediction for the first one to go ended up being the "hero" of the movie. I would like there to be a bit less "lets have one of our major characters in the shot, and have someone run between them and the camera to show they're being stalked" set ups in these kind of movies. There are plenty of other ways to show someone being watched, that I think are actually creepier. Like seeing a head poke up from a rock, watching someone, and then dropping out of sight. Stuff that you may not catch as a movie viewer the first time you see it...

All critiques aside about style, it was enjoyable, and I didn't think I wasted my money, like I did with "Hostel," which was *horrible!* I should see the original "The Hills Have Eyes," to see how similar this one is to the first one.

On Saturday, Sue and I went out to Margarita's for her birthday dinner. Margarita's is a chain of Mexican restaurants up here in New England, although I haven't seen anyone working there who actually looks Mexican. It's okay food, but for more authentic local Mexican, I'll stick with Guzano's, a new local place that just opened up a few months ago. I had my traditional Mexican fare of steak/chicken fajitas. Good, but not like The Border, in Harvard Square....

Today my excitement was going out to buy shoe polish.

See you later!

Birthday!

Today is happy birthday to my Sue! I think she'll like what I got her. I'll reveal it after it's opened... Don't want to give away any surprises.

We'll go out to eat this weekend in celebration, and have a tasty meal somewhere. I'm sure I'll give a full report once it's happened. Very exciting stuff!

First day of study days for students here at Dartmouth. At this time next week, they'll be off for spring break. And then I leave for Indianapolis the next day for a conference. What a destination location!

Not really, but hey, I have to psych myself up for it somehow...

I sent off today to Joe and JP the mp3's of our old band project from 1994. And of course, as soon as they're off, I discover two more old tapes. I'll have to make an addendum to the discs, once I get these converted to mp3's.

NP: Bill Nelson, Working Man

Tapes!

The dubbing of the old band project tapes has gone much faster than I expected, mainly because I have less tapes of the project than I thought I had initially. I'm on the last tape now, and may try to knock it out in the next evening or two, in order to be done with it.

The music still speaks to me at times, which is reassuring, that we were able to create some pieces with staying power. At least to my mind.

Exciting stuff on the genealogy front today. The Scotlands People website released their online version of the 1851 Scotland Census today, which means that I've been able to find some old records for a variety of relatives in a relatively fast period of time. I was even able to discover a record for a guy named Alexander Lindsay, who is my G5-GF. I was pretty sure he died before 1855, and I found an Alexander Lindsay in the census who was the right age, living with someone who could be one of his daughters. The birth location is the right place too, so all signs point to yes, as the saying goes.

Now, I just have to wait for the 1841 Census to come online, and all will be well.

Sue is being tempted by the big box sitting on our table, waiting to be opened on Thursday for her birthday. I think she'll be able to resist until then...

I got a CD of music from my old T.O.O.L.-mate Dan VanArsdale yesterday in the mail. I have to give it a listen in the next day or so. I'm very interested to see where his musical travels have taken him...

NP: Billy Squier - On Your Own (from the Metropolis album by Giorgio Moroder)

Weekend!

I've spent a good portion of this weekend converting old audio tapes of a band that Joe J., John S. and I were in back in 1994. We didn't have a name for it at the time, but I'm now calling it Nick's Eef & Be Ho. That's the name of a place in Cambridge (Nick's Beef and Beer House) that we used to go to, but there were some letters missing from the sign. With a few permutations, that's what we ended up calling the place.

Funnily enough, I was talking to Joe tonight on the phone about the band, and what went wrong with it. We only rehearsed for about 4 months, and while we produced some workable arrangements of songs, both written outside the band and developed through some improv, we never went any further. Like a lot of things, it came down to young guys not really being able to communicate with each other about what was going on. My perception was that Joe wanted it to be a band that played the songs that he wrote. I personally liked the stuff we were coming up with by jamming, and wanted to develop more along those lines. But of course, we never talked about it in a real way. We may have talked around the issue at the time, but never confronted it head on.

And JP was a good middle ground for both of us. An excellent drummer, he was willing to work on most anything musically, and had a good sense of humor about life, even while he was going through a pretty crappy year or two himself. JP and I actually worked at the same place, actually two different places (the Mass College of Pharmacy and Boston University) at the same time. Good times.

So, rehashing old band politics from 1994 aside, it's actually a lot of fun listening to these tapes, with the distance that time gives me. Good playing in general, all around. I actually don't think I play bass as well now as I did back then. Although, put me in a band setting with a drummer, and I'll be interested to see what happens.

Some of these tunes will get posted over on my website, perhaps as early as the end of this week.

In other weekend news, Sue and I watched some movies here at home, and I went out to see "Capote" on Saturday night with a friend from work and some other people I didn't know very well at all. Great movie, it really showed the complexity of Capote, as someone who is a great writer, but also self-absorbed, and willing to use people for his own ends. I haven't read any Capote to speak of, but the movie does make me want to go read "In Cold Blood" now.

Other than all that, a good relaxing weekend.

NP: The fan from the computer

Interviews!

This is a busy week of UGA interviews here in Res Life. Conveniently (for me, and it's all about me, isn't it?), all the interviews are done in Brace Commons, so I don't have far to travel. It does keep me from experiencing the outside world, so today I made sure to get out of the building and go to the office, mainly to pick up mail, but also to experience the outside world.

Tomorrow morning, I'll be traveling out to pay for my car registration for this year. Exciting stuff!

Talked to my grandmother today, as Sue and I got an anniversary card from her in the mail. She's 88 years old, and is doing fine, living in an assisted living home in New Jersey, near where my family lives. She moved out of her house after 53 years back in summer 2004, but then had to move to another assisted living location when the place that she was living was sold for some other purpose. The new owners were not interested in keeping the home going. Fortunately, she was able to find a place relatively easily, with the help of family in the area.

Tomorrow is the last day of interviews for this term. They haven't tired me out like the interview week has in the past. Perhaps I'm doing a better job of pacing myself, or I'm mis-remembering how tired I actually was in the past from these.

NP: Frank Zappa - The Mammy Anthem (12 July 1982)

Obvious!

Before on here, I've spoken of Joe and my conversations about his cucumber moments, AKA: Penetrating glimpses into the obvious. I had one of these the other day.

I was thinking about Chekhov in Star Trek II, and how he did a 1st Officer's Log for the Reliant. I then thought, "Hey, a captain's log is much like a web log! That's interesting..." Then, I realized it's actually not interesting at all, as pretty much everyone who ever thought about "weblog" probably realized that the idea of a Captain's Log is pretty much identical to the blogging idea.

Anyway, a glimpse into my mind. Joe's example of this is about pickles, and realizing that they're actually pickled cucumbers. Duh.

1st Day of March today. Happy new month!

Today's been a busy day of Dartmouth student staff interviews, and general work stuff. We're doing interviews till Friday, and then we're done till next term. Today was also payday for we "non-exempt" staff (or are we "exempt," I can never remember). We get paid once a month, which I actually like, as it makes it easy to budget. I paid off all my credit cards today, so again my credit card debt is down to zero. I still have about $8500 in student loan debt, but my plan is to knock as much of that down as quickly as possible this year, as I'm just sick of paying it off month by month.

It's possible that I could have it all paid off by December, but we'll see. If I don't do anything extra, it should all be done by April 2009, which still seems like a long way away, although it's only 3 years.

NP: Genesis - Duchess

Anniversary!

Today is Sue and my 2nd wedding anniversary! Happy us! Sue is great. I love her.

We went out to eat at a local Mexican place, our first time there. It was quite tasty, if I say so myself.

If you're looking for what D&D character you are, go here. I'm a True Neutral Half-Elf Druid Fighter. You know, the Druids built Stonehenge...

NP: David Bowie; Queen Bitch

Tapes!

Tonight, I may actually start converting the audio tapes I have of the Joe J./Mike L./John S. project from 1994 over to MP3's. Or, at the least, I'll get set up to do it. There's a lot of good improv music on those tapes, that perhaps I'll try to turn into something a bit more arranged... We shall see.

My friend Lou has a blog now too. Not much on it yet, but knowing Lou, there will be interesting stuff up there, even if it's just ramblings...

Today, I finished the latest book by Richard Dawkins I bought, called "The Blind Watchmaker," all about evolution and other science-y type stuff. As a frustrated scientist myself, it's always interesting to read about what smart people are doing with their time. I hope some of the smartness rubs off on me...

Now, I'm reading the 4th volume of Joe Straczynski's Babylon 5 script books. Sometime soon, I'm going to have to revisit watching the entire series. And, I haven't mentioned it on here recently, but Andreas Katsulas, who played G'Kar on the show, recently died of lung cancer. I'll have to pull out some episodes specifically to watch him, perhaps "The Long Twilight Struggle," or "Dust to Dust," although there are plenty more with great G'Kar moments in them.

NP: John Lennon; Woman (Home Recording)

New Song!

I've got a new song up on my website, it's called "Answers Without Questions." Joe J. thinks I've listened to too much Yes and Moody Blues. You be the judge.

The song is based around a bass riff I've had since about 1994. About 2 weeks ago, I finally decided I needed to do something with it (I'm a fast worker). I wrote a chorus bass part, and then started working on the arrangement for other instruments. I decided on a Police-esque guitar for the verses, and a screaming rough tone for the choruses. The middle eight is just me rambling on a keyboard solo. Fun stuff. Oh, there's also a rhythmic keyboard part throughout the verses, that gives it a bouncy feel along with the guitar part.

There's some timing issues in the song, but hey, it's only a demo. I'm not looking for perfection here.

Now, because I've got this done, I'm going to start converting the old tapes of the Mike/JP/Joe project from back in 1994. It'll be the last old audio archiving I have to do for any time in the forseeable future, save should some other tapes come into my hands.

I've promised some photos the past few times I've posted, so here you go. On Thursday morning, some of us from ORL went on a tour of the new residence halls being built here at Dartmouth. Here's a photo of one of the rooms:


That's Meg in the cool hard hat and goggles, by the closets in one of the rooms.

Here's an unfinished ceiling from one of the lounges.

And now, for something completely different, a sign of great importance...

I hope they had fun up there...

And now, back to construction...

Here's a photo of Angela, one of the other CD's, with big construction stuff in the background...

So, I hope that satisfies your hunger for photos, but I know it won't. You're a beast, blog readers, who are never satiated with just a photo or two. You always want more! MORE!

Talked with Joe J. today on the phone, and our conversation went to me as an old man, once I get my band together, yelling at musicians because they're not playing my music right. "That's a dimished 7th, you twit, not an augmented 3rd!" Pesants!

Well, it was funny on the phone...

NP: Frank Zappa; King Kong

Group Process!

So, we finished our UGA group process for this term, with another session waiting for us in the Spring Term. Myself and a number of the other CD's went out tonight afterwards to enjoy each other's company. Fun was had by all.

I have a fairly good sense of humor, and it's nice to exercise it with other who share the same mentality.

No photos tonight, I'll load up some tomorrow for your consumption.

NP: King Crimson, Elephant Talk - November 1995

Busy!

Busy day, lots of work, and then a busy evening, with lots of work. Photos tomorrow!

NP: The Colbert Report

Has it really....

....been since the 17th that I've posted? Seems true, but I didn't think I was actually away from here for that long.

This is a busy week at work, with lots of UGA one on ones, and helping out with our student staff selection process on Thursday and Friday nights this week.

I spent a good portion of Saturday night finishing the music recording of my new song. I put some midi-percussion on it, keyboards, and a "la-la" vocal track, getting a sense of a rhythm/melody that will make sense over the music. Now I just need to write some words, and record some vocals. Once I do that, I'll put the rough demo up on my website. Opinions always welcome, even if you think they're no fun.

Two phone interviews today for two different jobs. One interview was your basic phone interview, while the second was was great, because the interviewer really pushed my answers out of me, asking good follow up questions, looking for tangible thoughts (contradictory?), not just the basic "I'm a good worker, because I say I am" that so many interviews can fall into. Who knows where it will lead, which is why I'm not putting the names of the places I interviewed with up here at this time!

Mmm, nothing beats a good Cherry Coke!

Joe and I did a great radio show this weekend, on Saturday night, starting around 10pm. Check it out over on Pseudocertainty! I think the nighttime is the best time to record these things, as we're both a little bit punchy.

NP: Yes, Siberia

Book!

Finished a book today, "Darwin's Children," by Greg Bear (see links in my previous blog entries). The book is a sequel to Bear's novel "Darwin's Radio," which is about human evolution facilitated by viruses. In the original book, a generation of children are born who are "different." Stronger sense of smell, more control over skin pigmentation, both of which are used by the children in communication.

The new book picks up 12 years after the original book, meeting the children when they are in their early adolecence. The goverment in the US has rounded up many of the "virus children," and placed them in special "schools" (read, concentration camps), due to the fear by many of the "normal" humans to this new breed.

Without going into the details of the book, I did enjoy the time spent reading the book. However, I also felt that the book seemed to be a bit scanty on filling details of the story, or certain levels of characterization. I did not read the first book right before starting this one, so perhaps I would have had a better experience had I done so. However, I didn't, so my experience is what it is.

The story jumped from place to place very quickly, which usually does not bother me in books, but there wasn't a lot of explanation as to what was going on in the story. There seemed to be a lot of political issues coming up in the background of the novel, and I would have liked to know more about those, but I didn't get it. None of this would keep me from reading any of Bear's new novels, though, as he still generally tells a good story. I probably would wait for the paperback, as I did with this one.

In other news, I took the day off from work today. Slept till about 10am, then did some grocery shopping, updated genealogy stuff, listened to music, watched some Aqua Teen Hunger Force, finished the aforementioned book, and spent some time with Sue. All in all, a good day away from work.

While listening to music off of my computer today, my old song "Forever" came up on the mp3 docket. It's quite an enjoyable little ditty, if I say so myself. If I re-recorded it today, I'd put some nice drums to it, and probably a bit more biting guitar, doubling the ascending lines the bass does through parts of the song.

The new book I'm reading is "The Blind Watchmaker," by Richard Dawkins, a British biologist. Only 12 pages into it, so no real opinion on the content yet, although Dawkins has rarely if ever disappointed this reader.

I may record some guitar parts tonight for the music I've been working on. Last night, I determined that I may want to play the guitar a bit differently for the song. More like the guitar in "Roxanne" by The Police. We'll see how it works tonight, should I do the recording. I'm going to wait till later to do any work on it, as Mr. Johnston may be giving a call a bit later.

NP: Attack of the Clones Soundtrack; Bounty Hunter's Pursuit

Trio!

Tonight, over in East Wheelock's "White House," I attended a dinner program with the Newstead Trio, a chamber group out of Pennsylvania, made up of a pianist, a cellist, and a violinist. Great stuff, they did some Dvorak, some Chinese folk songs (one of which reminded me obliquely of King Crimson's "Trio," from Starless and Bible Black), and a Mendelsohn piece.

I got to talk at length with the pianist of the group, a guy who was born in China, and has spent the last 16 years in the US. A very good guy, willing to talk about music, but also about whatever else would come up. I talked to the other two members of the trio also, but not to the same length as with the pianist.

Other than that, it was a quite normal work day. The oddity of New Hampshire right now is the unseasonably warm temperatures. I think it may have been in the 60's today, and there hasn't been any appreciable snow on the ground since perhaps mid-January. I keep thinking we're going to get the "big storm," but it just hasn't happened.

Today was actually the start of my weekend, as I'm taking a day off of work tomorrow, just for the fun of it. I have a lot of days to use up by the end of June, so taking a day now isn't a bad idea. My main goals for this weekend include spending good time with Sue, working on updating genealogy, finishing recording the song I'm working on, completing the book I'm reading (Darwin's Children, by Greg Bear), and cleaning the apartment.

NP: Trey Gunn; Arrakis

Sweaty....

Just finished exercizing. I try to do at least 30 minutes a day on the recumbent bike, although last week, due to evening work, I was barely able to do it more than one or two evenings. Because of my blood donation, I took off last night, so tonight, I did about 35 minutes. Not bad, but my shirt doesn't absorb sweat very well, so I'm a bit sticky.

I'm sure you all wanted to know that...

It's been a quick week so far at work. These weeks where I don't have a lot of student meetings tend to go by faster than I expect them to. I'm also thinking of taking Friday off from work, to burn off a vacation day. I deserve it, right?

Had an interesting conversation today at lunch about the whole Dick Cheney shooting incident. One of my co-workers, and rightfully so, was debating the usefulness of this being a "real" news story. My point was that yes, the accident may not be much of a story (except if the victim dies) outside of the immediate circle of people affected, but that the handling of the story shows a level of secretiveness and ambiguity about sharing news that this administration has shown again and again for "important" issues. Except shooting someone in the side/face is a lot more understandable to people than lobbyist issues, or even illegal wiretapping, which are the "real" stories that need to be covered. We shall see where this all goes.

If nothing else, Dick Cheney will join the ranks of Aaron Burr in trivia questions about VP's who have shot someone.

Tonight, I *may* record a guitar part for a song I'm working on. It's a bit late, and I don't know if I want to start it at this time. I may just do a quick pass to see how it sounds, or wait till tomorrow or over the weekend to record it. Once I get this new song done, I'm going to start transferring the old Joe/Mike/JP band tapes, which won't take as long as the T.O.O.L. tapes did.

NP: The Fellowship of the Ring Soundtrack; Flight to the Ford

Exsanguination

I gave blood today, and here's a photo of me!

I was doing something called a "Double Red Cell" donation, which takes one pint of blood, centerfuges it, and then puts the plasma (?) back in your arm. Then, you give another pint.

It's pretty straightforward, although your arm does get chilly, because the stuff coming back inside has dropped in temperature while outside of your body. Pretty neat!

Then, on the way to Gerry to check mail and get some paperwork prepared, I took some photos of the Snow Sculpture on the Green. This is something that happens each Winter Carnival. Here are some photos of that:

This is the sculpture from a distance. It's a big D, sloped downwards like a bobsled run, with Calvin and Hobbes, the cartoon characters, sliding downwards in a bobsled on the run. Supposedly, since it's a temporary structure, Bill Waterson gave permission to use the characters. Generally, from what I understand, he's pretty protective of the use of his characters, which is understandable seeing how many bootleg t-shirts the characters appear on.

Here's another photo, closer up....

And here's one of Calvin and Hobbes, closer up.

And a photo from Inside The Sculpture!

When I got off work, I was sleepy from the blood donation, and ended up napping until about 9pm or so. Of course, now we'll have to see when I actually get tired enough to sleep again...

To close, here's a photo that I took last night, before going bowling. It's a double exposure, I was experimenting with nighttime photos. Pretty cool looking, I think...

NP: Brian Setzer Orchestra: A Nightingale Sang in Berkeley Square

Bowling!

Don't know if you can see this photo, but here's some bowling scores from tonight...

I scored 104! In my second game of the evening! I even scored over 100 in the first game, I believe getting 107! I was even happier because I beat Brian Reed, the other CD who's staff I was hanging out with tonight.

I have to give credit to Nora, on Brian's staff, who beat us both in the 2nd game. Good for her!

So, now for a bit, I have bragging rights in the world of CD bowling. Kneel before Zod!

Here's something else dopey. I had noticed that my digital camera had been able to hold less photos that normal on it's disc. So today, just now, I explored on it a bit, and found that somehow, I had put some MP3's on there. Needless to say, I didn't need those files taking up space on the camera disc, so they got deleted toot sweet.

Oh, and another bowling thing, at some point, I got to use the line "Irony can be pretty Ironic sometimes," so Mr. Paik should be happy. And it was big ball bowling, not candlepin, that odd creation of New England...

Other than that, that's about it for now... More to come tomorrow!

NP: ELP, Pirates

Saturday night/Sunday Morning...

So, I tried to write something up last night, but there were problems with the connection here. I'm out in Brace Commons, watching a bit of the Olympics, chatting with students as people come and go.

It's been a busy week, with a lot of evening committments. Dinner events with students earlier in the week, on Monday, Tuesday, and Thursday, a Student Staff recruitment information session on Wednesday, and staying out here in Brace on Thursday, Friday, and tonight. Fortunately, I've been able to sleep late today (Saturday), and this coming morning (Sunday), so I should be getting some rest to keep exhaustion away.

I have a lot less evening committments this coming week, which will make it much more bearable.

But, whate else have I been doing for fun? I've recorded a bass part for a new song. I want to put a guitar part on it next, and am trying to think of something creative for it. Some of my music tends to be kind of basic or samey to my mind, limited by my restricted playing abilities. I've been thinking of taking some guitar or piano lessons, in order to increase my skills. Perhaps in the springtime I'll look into it.

Sue and I watched the last four episodes of Arrested Development (Free Annyong!) today, which aired last night. It did a good job of wrapping up the storyline from the last 3 years, and should it be picked up by anywhere else (Hello Showtime!), there's enough to continue the show. There were a lot of great laughs in the final episodes, and some good surprises... Now, it's just a wait for the DVD's to come out.

This is the "Winter Carnival" weekend here at Dartmouth, which is why I'm hanging out here.

Okay, it's late, and I'm sleepy, so this is it for now. More to come tomorrow, which is today, but you know what I mean...

NP: Luge at the Olympics

Busy Week

It's a busy week, with lots of evening committments. I'll summarize later this weekend.

Weekend notes

Ah, the end of a weekend... Here's what I did:

• Proctored for the LSAT's on Saturday morning. I was hoping to sleep in this weekend, but I got a call on Friday asking if I could proctor. It's hard to turn down $70, even with losing sleep. So, I was done by 1pm (got up at 7am), napped in the afternoon, and finished my book, "The Triumph of Sociobiology."
• While proctoring the LSAT's, I was thinking about genealogy, as I am want to do. I thought about a family story, passed to me by a distant cousin, about the Coulson's. Richard Coulson was my g3-GF, and he was born and married in Ireland. However, before he came to the US in 1853, supposedly he lived in England for a bit, and his second daughter Jane was born there. I made the leap on Saturday morning (don't know why it didn't occur to me before), that perhaps Richard was in England for the 1851 Census. When I got in, I checed on Ancestry.com, and sure enough, he was there with his wife Eliza, and daughter Martha (my G2-GM, who married Robert Lord). I also found Richard's parents, Richard and Sarah, also living in England in 1851. A very good day for genealogy.
• Sue was sick this weekend, so I tried to comfort her, and just help out in any way I could. Basically, with her head cold, what she needed was vegging, so I just stayed out of her way and assisted where I could.
• On Saturday night, I recorded a bass part for a song I wrote. The verse part was written back in about 1994, and the chorus/bridge were written last week. I think I'm trying to use up all my old riffs, to clear the deck of old things. I need to come up with guitar/keyboard parts, perhaps drums, and lyrics... We'll see how it develops. As soon as it's in good shape, I'll post it over on my website.
• Today, we had a Super Bowl viewing in Brace Commons. A good turnout, better than either of the previous two years that we had done it.

And now, I'm writing this... It'll be time for bed soon, but I want to take it easy for a bit...

NP: Rick Wakeman, The Last Battle

Stuff

First, a victory for the good guys. Want to read something fun? Go to:

Logic and reason finally prevail!

Yes, it's long, but go to page 136 and read the conclusion. Great stuff...

Now, on another subject, I bet you've been wondering, What Has Mike Been Doing With His Genealogy Recently? Well, wonder no more!

Just in the past few weeks, I've discovered some Canadian records of Boomer Partridge, a great-great-granduncle, sent away for Irish birth/marriage/death records, sent away for some Polish birth records, sent letters to cemeteries in New Jersey, requested a death record from New York, and discovered some wills of old dead Scottish relatives.

Not a bad bit of work to kick off the new year. Some other goals for this year include:

• William Nixon was my great-grandmother's half brother. I know he had at least one child, Virginia, who lived into adulthood. I'd like to find her or her relatives.
• I'd like to dig around in some Polish records from the towns of Zaborow, Niebylec, and Glinik. I can get the Zaborow records from the Mormon Family History Centers, and perhaps even the other ones...
• I'd like to make some breakthroughs on the Lord line. Right now, it ends with Robert Lord, my G4-Grandfather. I know he had a son, John Lord, who's my G3-GF, but that's it. I don't even know who Robert's wife was.
• I'd like to contact some more close living relatives, to learn about what photos they may have buried in basements, or hiding in attics.
• One thing I've wanted to do is send some letters to addresses in NJ, where my relatives used to live. Who knows, maybe there's some boxes marked "Lord" in an attic in Kearny, NJ, that someone doesn't want to throw away, that hold some rare items... I know, a distant hope, but genealogy is all about hope.
• The ScotlandsPeople website will be releasing the 1851 and 1841 Scotland Census records soon, hopefully by March. It'll be interesting to see what comes of those...

I think that's a pretty good list for now. Ask me in the future how I'm doing...

NP: Robert Fripp, Green Park Suite: Polychromatic Park - 21 Nov 1996

Addicted to Oil?

No, it's not a new Robert Palmer song (RIP), not even a new Power Station song (RIP ditto), but something that Our Great Leader talked about in the State of the Union address last night.

Interesting now that people in power are realizing that if we had energy independence, perhaps we wouldn't be as beholden to regimes or other leaders who control the energy supply of the country. And this is not just a Republican thing, the Democrats, while being a little better with it, are still far off from being good advocates for alternative energy sources.

So, kudos to OGL for mentioning this in the State of the Union, but if something actually happens from this, I might actually be a happy guy. The only other kudos that OGL gets from me is giving NASA a goal to head back to the Moon by 2020, which NASA actually hopes to do by 2018 or 2017, according to Space.com.

Just finished exercising for the day. I try to do at least 30 minutes each day on the recumbent bike. It gives me a bit of activity each day, and keeps most of the flabbyness away.

Got something for Sue last night for her birthday. Can't tell you what it is yet though... Not till March.

Today was payday, so bills were paid, and I'll put some money into savings tomorrow, and throw some additional cash at my student loans either this week or next. I'd really like to get rid of this loan before the end of the year. I have less than 10K to pay off, and I'm just tired of paying it each month. If I were to pay it normally each month, it would take till April 2009 to pay off the loan. So, if I can aim to get it done this year, I'll knock off a bit of interest that I'd be paying in the future.

NP: Chris Squire & Billy Sherwood, Days of Wonder

Tuesday Evening

Just had a good phone conversation about Babylon 5 with Joe over the phone. He's rewatching a lot of the show on DVD now, and is picking up a lot of interesting parallels, for those of you with interest in the show. Perhaps he'll detail some of them on his blog...

Sue's feeling a bit under the weather, hopefully she won't get any more sick...

I think this weekend I'm going to be trying to record something new on my home recording setup. I want to do something, but don't have any immediate ideas. I'll see what develops between now and then, setting that for my goal...

NP: Steve Hackett, The Devil Is an Englishman

Ach!

Okay, before you read this blog, read the one below it...

Have you read it yet?

I realize I didn't mention the issue with my presentation in Friday's blog. Here it is. The conference has put my Sociobiology presentation at 9:45am on the closing day of the conference. Unfortunately, my flight is at 11am or so. Therefore, I can't really do the presentation without missing my flight, and the cost to change the reservation would be over $300, and I can't make my work pay for that.

So, I've put in a request to have my presentation at a different time, but I have not heard yet if it's going to be changed at all...

Uh oh, I just realized maybe I did talk about this, in a blog before Friday's. I didn't check back that far when I went to look before. Ah well, repetition never hurt, at least with one of my stories...

I would like to still do the presentation, but if it has to stay on Wednesday, I'll have to pull out... And the other thing is, I don't know how many people actually go to presentations on Wednesday. Not that attendance is everything, but I would like people to actually attend the program if I'm going to put the work into it.

If nothing else, the work now can get me ready to do it again for next year, should I choose to resubmit it.

NP: Jeff Buckley, Lover You Should Have Come Over - July/Aug 1993

Reading

Have I mentioned that on here before that I pretty much need to be reading a book at all times? I finished the 3rd Harry Potter book on Saturday, and I thought about taking a little break from reading something, but I couldn't do it. I started "The Triumph of Sociobiology," written by John Alcock, last night. I am continuing to do reading for my presentation at ACPA in March, although I'm a bit unclear if it will happen now, due to what I mentioned on here in my last entry.

I did mention it on there, didn't I?

Anyway, I'm about 50 pages into it, and I'm enjoying it quite well. Sometimes, when I'm reading "scientific" books, I worry about skimming over hard parts. However, I've been pretty good about re-reading sections that are giving me trouble, so that I can be conversant in the ideas when/if I do the presentation in March.

I have a few other books on my "To Read" shelf right now. There's "Return to the Moon," by Harrison Schmitt (or Schmidt), about resources that could be used on the moon to make it worthwhile economically to go there. There's "Darwin's Children," a book by Greg Bear that's a fiction book about the next "stage" of human evolution. I have another Sociobiology book, called "Defenders of the Truth," which is about the debates that raged in the 70's/80's about the veracity of Sociobiology as a discipline within biology. I also have "Consilience," by E. O. Wilson (yet another science book), and "The Blind Watchmaker," by Richard Dawkins, a great writer in the field of evolutionary biology.

I'll probably pick up in paperback the 4th and 5th Harry Potter books at some point. They're great reads, and I can see why both kids and adults get into them. The adventure is good for both age groups, and adults can remember what it's like to be that age, or it's good to be reminded periodically of what kids, even fictional kids, can get into at that age.

I continue to be on the lookout for good books to read. It is one of my vices, but any vice that keeps the mind active, reflecting, and thinking can't be that bad...

NP: Brian May, Driven By You - 15 June 1993

Koop!

Here's a photo of Brian Reed, CD extrordinaire, C. Everett Koop, and myself, in Brace Commons in my residential cluster. Koop visited to speak to a group of about 15 student about issues in the medical field, generally about the cost of care, the aging of America, and old folks.

I learned that Dr. Koop is 90 years old. A very sharp guy! Brian and I were glad we were able to pull this together for students. Brian did most of the work, so I give my kudos to him. Props!

You say you want some more photos? Here's one in town, just a sign...

Vermont is not really in the sky, it's West. And that's the town of Lebanon, not the country. We are a bit remote up here, but not *that* remote...

It's been a longish week. A pretty good one, but still long. Lots of meetings, evening committments, and other work. It should be better this coming week.

My goal for this weekend is to get a more structured outline created for my Sociobiology presentation in March at the ACPA conference. Shouldn't be too hard to do after my note taking last weekend. Also, I hope to get a book order from Amazon tomorrow, which should continue to put me on the right track for this presentation. On Monday at work, I'll start developing some material for my other presentation/roundtable, on making the transition from single to married/partnered while living in the residence halls.

NP: King Crimson, The Rich Tapestry of Life - 17 Oct 1972

Photos soon!

Yes, I took some photos today, but I won't load them up for a bit of time. Definitely by the weekend, probably before that.

Generally a good day today, I helped out with a presentation about our selection/hiring process for our student staff, got a lot of good info out, and got some good small laughs from the audience. I remember the days where I couldn't talk in front of a group without getting freaky scared beforehand, but now it doesn't bother me that much. My main concern nowadays when I talk in front of groups is keeping it interesting. I think I've done enough of it now that I'm much more comfortable with it, but I still want to develop more comfort doing it, better eye contact with the audience, etc.

Think that's all for now!

NP: Faith No More, Take This Bottle

Weather

I'm going to break one of my cardinal rules and comment on the weather here. We've had abnormally warm weather recently, but now have snow back on the ground. I'll grab some pretty photos of it tomorrow, assuming that it's still looking nice then.

Exercized today for the first time since Saturday. I'm continuing to do the recumbent bike, and need to eat a bit less to make the benefit real.

Received a new CD I ordered around the new year in the mail today, a new Frank Zappa release called "Imaginary Diseases," recorded live back in 1972. An interesting album, the band was basically a rock rhythm section (lead guitar, drums, bass, slide guitar) with a 6 piece horn section. Very different from a lot of other Zappa on the first listen, it was cool. I'll need to listen a bit more to really get a flavor for the music in depth.

NP: King Crimson, Cadence and Cascade - 12 March 1972

Conversation...

So, I'm sitting out here, by the snack bar in my cluster, and I overhear a student say, "I think I may want to go to grad school in CS (computer science) at Stanford. That's where all the cool computer scientists are or are from."

Not being able to pass this up, I had to correct the student, and let them know that there *are* no cool computer scientists...

I kid, I kid... I have a former roommate who is a computer programmer, and he's kind of cool. Sort of. A bit...

NP: Background noise

Semi-Lazy Sunday

Today was one of those days where I feel like I actually got stuff done, but it didn't really feel like work much at all. I did, in fact, go though the "On Human Nature" book in preparation for my March presentation, like I said I would back on Friday night. I have 4 pages of notes, which I feel is a good starting point for the talk.

I ordered two books on Amazon that will supplement my research so far. More on those books once I get them.

I have also returned to the world of E-Bay, listing 22 items today. I like to list them all at once, and then I can just relist the ones that don't sell right off in the coming weeks. I did go out to a local used CD store today, to look for new inventory, but I realized that I need to do more research on E-Bay itself t0 see what is selling. Also, I'm not terribly happy with how the Newbury Comics up here puts their used stuff all in with the new stuff. It's not a great organizational system, for me at least.

I also, while I was out, just felt like I wanted to get back here. No big reason, I mainly just didn't feel like being out anymore. A bit weird, but it's one of those things I didn't really fight against. Go with the flow, that's my general nature in certain situations.

I am now reading the 3rd Harry Potter book. They're enjoyable reads, I think the 2nd was a good story, but I think I enjoyed the 1st one a bit more. I'm only about 50 pages into the 3rd one now, I'll let you all know how it is as it goes on. This is a busy week for evening stuff coming up, so I don't know how much I'll get to read, but I'll do what I can.

I actually received a brief e-mail from an old grad school friend earlier this week, in response to a group e-mail I sent out about conferences coming up. I'll have to write her back, to see how life is treating her. If I get a response to that one, it'll be cool.

NP: The Who, The Seeker - 13 Apr 1970

Organizing

I love organizing things. When I was a kid, with my Star Wars trading cards, I would love putting them in order, making neat piles, and just being anal about these things. Sometimes I would mess them up, just so I could reorganize them.

I also collected coins and stamps, which played into the organizational fetish. Nowadays, I like to keep all my CD's in alphabetical order by artist, and then by year of release within artist. I say it's because then I can tell what's missing if I lend something out, but I think it's really because I like to organize things.

MP3's have been a fun thing to organize now. For any live songs, I put the title in this format:

"Sound Chaser - 11 Dec 1976"

I spent part of tonight going through my live CD's that I put on my computer, updating the songs that had accurate dates to them. I am debating about putting just the year for some songs, if the album doesn't have the exact date of recording on it, but I think that might be cheating. However, I don't like the idea of some live songs not having the proper date after them, even if it is just the year...

Sick, I know.

This weekend, my main "work" goal is to get an outline prepared for one of my upcoming ACPA presentations. My inherent lazyness makes me want to procrastinate, but my dislike of doing things at the last minute should keep the inertia in check. I'll report at the end of the weekend how I did. Sue has some committments tomorrow night, perhaps I'll do it then...

No other really big plans for the weekend. Sleeping late is always on the agenda, and I'm reading the 2nd Harry Potter book now. It's fun, light reading. I'm actually looking forward to reading the books in the series that I haven't seen the movies for yet, since they haven't been made.

NP: Yes, Close to the Edge - 29 July 2000

The Office

To give you all a sense of where I work, here are two photos of my office. This first one was taken while I sat in my chair, looking at my computer, a new Dell laptop that I just got (for work, not home) in mid December.

This next one is looking at what's on my wall. Exciting stuff...

I should have taken one from the doorway, so you could see the whole glorious spread, but alas, I didn't think of it. I will take one in the future, for your edification.

Some more about my office: I have no window to the outside world, but I do have a good amount of bookshelves. That's always a good thing.

Today was a good general day, with solid work getting done, and relaxing at home. I've actually been flying solo tonight, as Sue went out with a friend after work, although she did pop in for a bit before going out. I've been cleaning up a bit, doing some genealogy work (sending off some vital record requests to Ireland), listening to music, shooting off some e-mail, and exercising.

I've also weeded out some more CD's to sell on e-bay from my collection. I don't really need the 4 Adam Sandler CD's I have. They're not bad, but I'm never going to listen to them all the way through again. So, off they go. I'll list them, and some other stuff, this weekend. I may even go to some of the used CD places around here to see if there's anything worth buying for the purpose of selling online. It's a nice supplement to my regular income.

Tomorrow's a pretty straightforward work day, and then the weekend. As normal, I'm looking forward to sleeping late. Sue and I may go out to eat or something, who knows, we'll play it by ear.

We were invited to a housewarming party in Boston/Arlington in February, but unfortunately we can't go, as it's Winter Carnival weekend up here, and I have to be around to work and do my Res Life duties at that time. I'll miss the party, but we'll get down there at some point soon again...

NP: John Cale, Caravan (from Hobosapiens)

Writing again!

Here I am, saying that I wanted to not skip days of writing, and I haven't written since the 13th... Okay, so life sometimes gets in the way. Here's exciting stuff that's happened since the last time I wrote...

• One of my co-workers had a birthday yesterday, so some of us went out and spent a few hours at a local restaraunt/bar. Quite good.
• Finished reading "On Human Nature," by E. O. Wilson, a book I needed to read for a presentation I'm doing at the ACPA conference in Indianapolis in March. I got lots of good ideas for the conference, so more to come about that soon...
• I sent off letters to a bunch of cemeteries, looking for burial records of distant relatives. I hope to get some good information from those places over the next few weeks. If I learn anything interesting, I'll let you know.
• I sent a request off to a Civil Records office in Poland, to get the birth record of one of my great-grandmothers and a few of her siblings. That will be sent home to NJ, to my mom's place, assuming they respond.
• Sue got a gift certificate to Molly's, a local restaraunt, so we'll be going there sometime soon.
• Sue and I watched some of the old Muppet Show DVD's I got her for Christmas, they're great shows.
• My cough is almost gone. I still hack up some stuff periodically, but not often.
• I sent off e-cards to two friends, Kim and Tony, for their respective birthdays. I always forget Kim's, because she's relatively soon after the holidays, and it's easy to forget about those birthdays. I think I'll do a better job each year, and then I don't...
• With the extra payments I've made to my student loans over the past three months, I've reduced those payments from $305/month to $260/month. I'm going to continue throwning extra money at them, to pay them off faster.

That's the major stuff over the past few days. I could talk about the weather, but is there anything more boring than that? More to come in the near future. Tomorrow, I should be able to post some more photos, for those of you who are visually inclined...

NP: Harry Shearer, The Last Kuwaiti Woman Held Hostage

Things that piss me off!

Rampage! Destroy! GRRRR!!!

Okay, that's out of my system. I thought it would be funny to list things that annoy me here. So, without further ado...

1. People walking through the wrong double door: When you approach a double door, generally, I feel that you should go through the right hand door. That way, people coming out the other way won't get a Mike Lord in their face. However, not everyone seems to know this rule of thumb. Grr.

2. Littering: Case in point. Today, I saw someone in the post office, who thought they dropped something, bend down and pick up a small piece of paper. When the person discovered it wasn't theirs, they dropped it back on the floor. Is it really that hard to throw something away, once you pick it up?

3. On the subject of doors again, if there are double doors, and one is open, everyone tries to go through the open door. I've seen people wait to get through the open door, when if the other door was opened, it would (amazingly) double the volume of traffic the entrance/exit could handle. And don't tell me that the one door is stuck closed, because I've *tried* the other door in these circumstances, and 95% of the time, it opens fine.

4. Lack of a sense of humor. Do I really even need to go into this? I'm not talking about people who find other things funny that I don't find funny at all. At least those people have a sense of humor, even if it's not mine. I'm talking about people who lack any humor at all. It's not as rare as I would think it would be.

Of course, I could go on, with people who are unwilling to think, to be critical of their own beliefs (which can be hard, I know), or whatever. But, I'd rather not get worked up this late at night.

This weekend should be a restful one. I think my body needs lots of sleep, and I'm ready to acquiese to that wish. I'm reading "On Human Nature" by E. O. Wilson right now, for a presentation I have to do at a conference in March on Sociobiology in Residence Hall Situations. It should be interesting, I think it'll be an interesting session, as long as I'm prepared for it.

I'd like to get it all ready by the middle of February, to give me plenty of margin time to revise and get comfortable with it. It should be fun.

NP: Bill Bruford and Michiel Borstlap; Swansong

Chuck Norris

For those of you who need some more Chuck Norris in your lives...

Chuck!

Still a bit under the weather. The hard thing about this is that my job pretty much requires me to talk/communicate during most of the day, so giving my voice a rest is not an easy task. It hasn't gotten any worse, but it certainly hasn't gotten any better either.

Waah!

Could be worse. Could be raining. Oh wait. It is.

On the genealogy front, I made a list today of the cemeteries I need to write to in NJ, in order to find out more information about who is buried with some distant branches of my tree. This is one way I find more people who are related. Who is buried with them?

Exciting stuff, I know...

NP: Fission Trip, Silent Life

Sick...

I'm feeling a bit more under the weather. I had to talk more today, and my throat is feeling it kind of hard. Also, my nose is a bit more runny, which may be connected to the talking thing, I'm not sure.

So, I'll be taking it easy.

NP: Pete Townshend, Sheraton Gibson

I've got a case of the Mondays...

*cough* *cough*

I'm a bit under the weather today. On Friday evening, when I went to see the movie "Hostel" with some co-workers, I noticed that my throat was a bit scratchy. I took it easy over the weekend, and it is actually better than it was, but I still have a bit of a stuffed nose and itchy throat. I'm thinking it's going away, but I'll have to keep a close watch on it...

Speaking of this "Hostel" movie, it's not really worth seeing. There's a total of about one scary part to it, and it's not even that scary, more gross than anything. While I do like seeing stupid people do stupid things in these kinds of films, it really didn't do much for me. The start of the movie was a real slow set up.

The one thing I did enjoy about it is that the kid who is set up at the start as the "hero," or main character, ends up not being that person. It's his friend who is the real "hero" of the film. (I"m not worried about spoilers with this film, because it's so dopey otherwise). And, the friend wasn't white/anglo-saxon, which is a general departure in the horror genre that I thought was quite good. Too bad it was in such a lousy movie.

However, there was a preview for the remake of "The Hills Have Eyes," that looks like it has potential. I saw the original way back in college, and I think it's time to see it again.

I did watch two movies on DVD this weekend, "Office Space," and "The Day The Earth Stood Still." If you haven't seen them, go out and get them. I'm not really in the mood to summarize them here, or write a review, but trust me, they're good.

More later... I know I've been missing my daily updates, so I'm going to try to dedicate myself again to doing this.

Cheers!

Mike + The Mechanics; Let's Pretend It Didn't Happen (my computer plays music randomly, I'm sorry!)

Photo MADNESS!

Okay, here's a bunch of photos from the last few days...

Ah, Dartmouth. The clock tower, pictured on 31 December.

Sue at Pizza Hut on New Years Eve.

Joe, up from Boston, and Jeff, down for Orford. It's not the flash, they're both really that washed out in real life...

Isn't this usually done with wine glasses??

And now, some photos from UGA Winter Training, on 3 January 2006....

CD Reed. Looking serious in a dark and brooding way...

Coffee urns. They're dark and brewing...

CD Poker Showdown, with your host, Kevin McDonald... 82% chance of taking the pot with this one...

The game is up... All is lost... Huzzah!

NP: Trevor Rabin, I Can't Look Away

A Little Out

I've been away from the blog a bit, mainly because I've been busy with other things. In order to write about stuff, sometimes you actually have to *do* stuff!

On the 1st, the LOTR marathon went off well. On the 2nd, Sue and I did a bit of shopping around, but generally just took it easy. The 3rd was the first day back at work, with Winter Training for our UGA staff happening. That all went well.

Today was a first "real" day back at work. Lots of meetings, and some time at my office getting work done, meeting with students, and getting ready for a work retreat on Friday. I'm also "CD on Call" this week, so I get to hang around campus.

I'll be posting some photos tomorrow, once I get them off my camera.

More soon!

NP: National Lampoon Radio Hour

Happy New Day!

Yep, it's a new day, and I'm ready to celebrate!

I've never been much for New Years Eve celebrations, so we just went out to Pizza Hut, and came back here. My friend Joe came up from Boston, and one of my co-workers came out with us too.

Pictures to follow sometime in the future.

Today, I did do my second annual viewing of the three Extended Editions of the Lord of the Rings films. They're all great movies, and watching them in a row, while taking 11.5 hours, does give a real sense of this being one big STORY.

I didn't feel as tired this time as I did last year. Maybe because I knew more of what to expect?

NP: Rush, Limelight (Live)

Mmmm... Chicken....

Had to share this photo of good ol' Chick-Fi-La (or is it Fi-Le?) food from home in NJ.... Mmmm. Buttery chicken.

Below you'll see my friend Brian enjoying his "food."

This was from after Sue, Brian and I went to go see King Kong. I think that Jackson fellow may have a future in the "cinema," as I believe the kids are calling it nowadays.

You're probably all wondering what I've been reading recently. Well, let me tell you! I've been on a bit of a reading spree. I just finished not one, not three, but two books!

The first book I finished, two days ago, was "Team of Rivals," by Doris Kearns Goodwin, about Lincon's political history, and his relationship with his cabinet members. Fascinating read for those of you interested in US History of that era. From reading the book, it really is hard to imagine another politician of that era who would have been able to hold both the Union, and his own government together during a time when there was not only the military aspect of the Civil War occuring, but a change in the attitude of the populace about what would be worth fighting for.

At the start of the war, if Lincoln had said that the war was about slavery, very few in the North would have supported him. By the time of his second inaugrual, it was clear that that was the core issue of the war, and that slavery had to end. It's easy to take comments Lincoln or others made about the war, about slavery, and about the role of the federal government out of context, and what this book does it give the reader a detailed understanding of that context. I recommend it highly to everyone.

The other book I finished, just yesterday, is a very different beast. Chris Elliott's "The Shroud of the Thwacker." It took me a total of two days to read its 360 pages, because it was one of the most entertaining fictions I've read in awhile. Very funny, very *weird,* and very Chris Elliott. The book is a mystery, involving murder, New York, wee folk (the book's assignation, not mine), Teddy Roosevelt (continuing his infatuation with the Roosevelt family), time travel, sewers, gangs of New York, the Museum of Natural History, robots, and much more. There were parts of the novel that were kind of weak, transitions were not necessarily handled effectively in all parts, but for a good quick read, I couldn't ask for more.

I think that's good for now...

NP: Fish, Family Business

The Inkwell

While at home, my good friend Brian and I went to one of our favorite high school haunts, the Inkwell, located in Long Branch/West End, NJ.

While in high school, once I could drive, it was not uncommon during our senior year, for Brian and I to find our way to the Inkwell almost every night of the week. It's a coffee house, with basic food, almost like a diner for the younger crowd. Perhaps even the hip crowd, although whether we could be counted amongst that group, only others could be the judge of.

Brian and I went there on Monday night, the 26th. It was honestly the first time we had both been there in years, at least three or four. The inside was the way I remembered, although there was the addition of some vintage video game units in two of the rooms. The burger I had was tasty.

The best Inkwell story from yesteryear I have is the time I was there with Brian and our friend Brad Factor (yes, that's really his name). I wasn't terribly hungry, so I ordered rye toast. When our orders came out, my toast was a tad undercooked. Meaning, it hadn't been toasted at all. This struck Brian and Brad both as very comical, and much hilarity ensued, especially when I had to ask the waitress to bring the bread back to have it toasted properly.

I had never been served raw toast before. In a restaraunt.

Another time, Brian and I were there, and we realized we had enough money for our bill, but not for a tip. We didn't know what to do, until one of us realized we had a coupon for a free sub at Jersey Mike's in our pocket. We debated for awhile if it would be more insulting to leave the coupon in lieu of a tip, or to just leave nothing. We ended up leaving the coupon, and we never saw that waitress again. I think we might have been the last straw for her.

We didn't see any of the same waitresses there from our heyday. Not even the raw toast girl, or the coupon tip girl...

The Inkwell does have a website, but I didn't get the address, and I can't seem to find it on Google. Once I get it from Brian, I'm sure the link will find its way up here.

NP: Swanky Modes, Ordinary Man

Back from NJ

Ah, the holidays. Was at home in Monmount County, NJ, from Thursday the 22nd until today. One of my gifts I received this year was a digital camera, so you'll start seeing some visuals on this silly blog. My first photojournalistic essay is going to be called...

THE STORY OF THE MEAL

Here's my mom, preparing lunch on Christmas day for Sue and myself.

A set table... Salad. Mmmmm....

Sue, watching the skies....

The empty plate....

Roasted vegetables, thy name is YUM!!!

Does brown wine go with pasta?

The aftermath....

Of course, my mom has a cat, named Daisy. Here's a shot of her running from me...

And another...

She doesn't really like anyone other than my mom...

She does run quite quick. Maybe she's scared of the flash?

Finally got a photo of her the next day, where she was sitting under my mom's bed.

More photos to follow soon!

NP: REM, Saturn Return

Mid week

Can you tell my titles are getting a bit less uninspired? It's the end of the year, and what do you want! Energy! Yar!

Today was a bit more prep for leaving, continuning to read "Team of Rivals" about the Lincoln administration, and then Sue and I did our gifts! She enjoyed her presents (ask her what she got, I can't ruin the surprise!), and she gave me some clothes, a few DVD's (Godzilla: Final Wars and The Day The Earth Stood Still), and a book about the Mars Rovers. Very cool stuff!

Tomorrow, on our way to NJ, we'll be stopping off in CT at some distant relative's home. They're connected through my Nixon lineage. My great-grandmother, Bessie Nixon, married Robert Partridge. Bessie had a half sister named Mabel, and the people I'm meeting tomorrow are connected to Mabel. Should be fun!

NP: Dana Gould, show from 1990

Tuesday's Afternoon

Today was mainly a day of preparation. Getting ready to head to NJ. Sue put in the laundry, and I folded it. I've actually already packed my clothes for our departure on Thursday, as it didn't make sense to me to not pack clothes when they were already out.

I'd like to do a load of laundry while at home also, as I don't like traveling with dirty clothes. I would do a load of the clothes that Sue and I wear while down there. It never made sense to me when friends in college would travel home with dirty clothes. I never wanted to carry clothes that were stinky and dirty.

Maybe other people's clothes didn't smell as bad as mine? Who knows...

Tomorrow, Sue and I will exchange gifts. I think she'll like what I got for her.

Other than that, it's been a pretty lazy day. I did walk into town to go to the post office and to buy eggs for Sue, as she was finishing her baking today. Personally, whenever I go into town, I try not to drive, as it really is such a short distance that it's not worth the aggrevation of finding a parking spot, and it's also better for the environment, for exercise, and it's just good to be out on my own two feet. Granted, I'm out longer than I would normally be, and it's a bit chilly out, but really, is that so bad. People have, and continue to live through worse environments.

Soapbox moment done. Basically, people should walk more when they can.

NP: Pete Townshend, Communication

Ah, vacation...

It's nice to be officially lazy. Today was my first "real" day off from work for this holiday season. I spent the evening making some merengues, watching Arrested Development, and now, writing this blog. After, I'll read the Lincoln book I'm still working on.

During the day, I worked on some of my genealogy research. I haven't had any recent breakthroughs on my direct ancestors, but I continue to make small strides with all the ancillary connections. I found a WWI Draft Card for a 1st Cousin thrice removed (that's three generations away, my great-grandparent's first cousin, basically). That led to finding one of his sister's married name, which I did not know before. So, perhaps, there's new living connections I can find from these people.

Over the weekend, I slept late, and relaxed. Nothing terribly exciting.

More to come!

Card Games

Spent some time after work playing Spades with some of my co-workers. Four of us played, in two teams of two. You're supposed to play until you reach 500 points, but we called it over when one of the group had to leave. Unfortunately, my team was not doing well. It wasn't horrible, but it wasn't good either... Perhaps the game will be picked up later on. I'll keep the scorecard just in case.

Some readers out there may remember back in BC days, when we'd play Hearts, Spades, Euchre, Egyptian Ratscrew, or other games during summers working for housing... Ah, those were the days...

Today was my last day of work in 2005. I'll pop into the main office next week to check mail, but that'll be the only contact I have with work folks until after Christmas, most likely.

I also sent out an e-mail today letting friends in the area know about my plans to host the 2nd annual New Years Day Lord of the Rings trilogy viewing. Last year, I watched all three extended editions on New Years Day, and at the end, it felt like I had been on the quest to destroy the One Ring myself. So, why not repeat it this year?

I don't expect a lot, or really, any people to necessarily show up, but if anyone wants to pop by for awhile, more power to them, the company is always good.

Now, it's just a time to rest and relax. I just started a monster of a book about Abraham Lincoln and his cabinet, called "Team of Rivals." I'm only a little over 60 pages into it, but it appears to be a good read so far.

NP: Pete Townshend, Flame (Demo)

Card photos

So, I've been getting a lot of cards for the holidays recently in the mail. Some are of the new "hey, let's put a photo of ourselves on here!" variety.

I've noticed that once my friends have kids, oftentimes, the parents are no longer in the photo. Why?

Not that I don't want to see the kids, but why can't I see the parents too? I know the parents better than I know the kids, and I'd like to see them. Are the parents too run down and ragged from their kids that they don't think they're photogenic any more?

Just a short observation for this wintry morning. I'm waiting for computer people to show up here at work, to set me up with a new laptop for my office.

NP: Silence.

Cookies!

Mmmmm... Butterscotch Merengues....

Tuesday the 13th

Why is Friday the 13th such the big scary day? Today's Tuesday the 13th, just as rare as any other date...

If you have an answer, let me know.

It's been fairly quiet at work recently, mainly because all the students are gone. I've been working on my end of term report, which should be done tomorrow. It's not officially due until the 22nd, but since this Friday (the evil 16th) will be my last day of work in this year, I want to have it and other work done way ahead of time.

Joe and I recorded another radio show last night. If it's not up on Pseudocertainty yet, it should be up by Wednesday. This was a fun one, talking about the alien talk we gave up here at Dartmouth back in October, and the solo talk I did myself in November.

One of my co-workers said that my song, This Barren Land, sounds very Floydian. Joe said that he could detect Yes influences in there. Let me know what you think, constant reader.

I like having this recording set up, where I can just get something down quick, and either work to develop it more, or leave it be. I'm actually thinking in the new year of trying to take piano or guitar lessons. I'm not terribly interested in reading music, but I'd like to develop fluidity so that I can play those instruments better than I can now. I think I've got as far as I can for now with teaching myself, and I think having some lessons may allow me to push up to another plateau, or at least to a level where I can continue working on skills myself.

NP: John Wetton, The Night Watch

Updates from Snow Central

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

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

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)

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

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

Happy New Month!

What's your new month resolution? Let me know!

Me, I'm going to be just as groovy as I can be, for this last month at the halfway point of the oughts.

Today was a generally good day. I made my first batch of merengue cookies for the holiday season, and they turned out pretty well. Of course, I'll be making more before the month is out, but it's a good start.

I also had a social for my student staff tonight, which was cool. People hung out, ate a bit, chatted with each other, and then went back to their studying. (It's finals time here at Dartmouth).

Fun for this weekend, Sue and I will be proctoring for the LSAT's again. Always a good thing, especially to have the extra cash at this time of year. All of my holiday shopping is done, with perhaps one small thing to get, and that will be it.

More later!

Wrapping up

Excitement! I got a haircut today. Who would have thought that life could get this good?

A relatively busy work day was had, as I finished up most of my UGA evaluations, met with some staff, attended some evening programs, and worked on some budget stuff. Not a bad day.

I'm very happy with the song that I've posted on my website, "This Barren Land." I'll have to think about writing some more new stuff sometime soon. Once the term ends next week, I should have a bit more time to do some more creative work.

Listened to a CD I got recently, Magma's "Udu Wudu." It's from the mid-70's, and on first listen, had some decent songs on it, with one longer piece that has a bit more meat to it. More comments to come once I listen to it a bit more.

And now, it's time for bed... Cheers!

Another New Song

Since I've last written, I've finished recording the song I was working on. I have a mix all ready to go, and it'll be up on my website shortly. It's called "This Barren Land," and while it's short, only a little over two minutes, I really like it a lot.

I found the lyrics I wrote back in September 1994, and they fit really well. I knocked out another verse, added one stanza to the first verse, and away we go.

Enjoy!

A tech filled Sunday

Today I spent a lot of the day sitting at the computer. And what a surprise, I'm still sitting here...

I revamped my personal website, and added my most recent song to the Music page. Check it out and let me know what you think. I also redid the format for the Genealogy page, making it so each last name in my ancestry has a separate page. Granted, some names don't have any real information on them yet, but it will now be much easier to manage updating information on the extended family.

I've also been recording a new song. There's a chord progression that's been in my head since I lived on my own in Boston, that I wrote on a very foggy night. (Nice setting of atmosphere, eh?) I've developed a "chorus" part for it, and recorded two rounds of it, consisting of guitar and keyboards. I did write some lyrics for it way back when, and I'll have to dig them up to see if they're any good...

NP: Family Guy, on Fox