Flower!

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

NP: ProjeKct Two - The Deception of the Thrush

Contact!

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

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

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

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

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

Haplogroup!

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Smoking!

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

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

NP: Genesis - I Can't Dance

Proctor!

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

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

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

I was shocked!

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

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

NP: King Crimson - The Power To Believe II

Pseudocertainty!

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

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

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

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

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

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

NP: David Cross - Inc

Snow!

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

NP: Robert Fripp - On Awe

Firefly!

I've been watching the DVD's of the 1st (and alas, only) season of the TV show "Firefly," thanks to a birthday gift from Mr. Paik. We were talking about this show over Christmas, at home in NJ, and it came up that I hadn't actually ever seen it. I didn't really actively avoid it, but there are times when I avoid the 1st season of science fiction television shows, as it generally takes a season or so to work the kinks out of a good show.

I won't bother summarizing the story of Firefly. If you're interested, I'm sure there are plenty of websites out there giving you all the information you need or want. Sue and I have watched the first 2 discs as of now, and out of those 7 episodes, they've all been pretty solid. There was one that was not as good as the others (where the Doctor character was kidnapped, along with his sister, by a town needing a doctor), but even that one wasn't horrible, there just wasn't that much special or interesting about it.

It was definitely a show ended before it's time, but really, what do you expect with an unknown like Joss Whedon at the helm? I mean, why would you give someone with an unproven track record time to actually develop characters, plot, and an audience. I mean, it's totally reasonable that Fox would not want to pour good money after bad? It's just like that show Arrested Development. Why bother with quality?

(For the sarcasm impaired, please refer to that last paragraph.)

I do have to say, I think I can add the "What, we're married!?!?" cliche to the list of SF plots that every science fiction show, by law, has to do. Fortunately, most pull it off with an interesting twist, but everyone has to do it...

Did Firefly ever have Space Nazis? Or is that just the Alliance?

NP: Steve Howe - Double Rondo

Sunny!

Is it as sunny and nice where you all are in the world? We're having temps in the high 50's/low 60's here. It's like an early spring. Groovy stuff...

It's been a fairly normal day here, nothing too exciting to write about. So, I end quickly!

NP: Peter Gabriel - Fourteen Black Paintings

Winner!

I'm glad to see my work idea has provoked such discussion. See the post below, and enjoy! I'll be posting my consultation rates soon.

I took the Jeopardy! online contestant test tonight, 50 trivia questions. I think I did well, but we'll see how it develops, if I get a contact from them. We shall see. Unfortunately, my mom couldn't get on the website, so she wasn't able to do it. I would have liked to see if she got the same questions (I'm 99% sure they would have been identical), and also to see if there were any that I just missed. Out of the 50, I think I got between 40-45 right, but I'm not sure, of course.

I had my first full staff meeting of the term tonight. I always enjoy staff meetings, my staff cracks me up in many ways. They work well, although sometimes I'd like a bit more conversation happening. I'll try to think of ways to develop more opportunities for people to contribute.

I'm still working on my old tape conversion. I did a lot of Yes tapes, and got down to my last 5 or so, and decided I needed a change, so now I'm working on the MP3 conversion of some of my Genesis tapes. That pile was almost as large as my Yes tapes, so if I knock this down a bit, it'll help reduce the overall volume of tapes I need to convert. It's one of those things I just have to keep plugging away at. Fortunately, I can read a book, or watch a bit of television while doing it.

Tomorrow morning, I have to go out and get some muffins and other snacks for our staff meeting, as we're doing our birthday celebrations for myself, CD Daniel, and Michele, our Admin Assistant. It's always good to snack a bit during these meetings.

Cheers!

Mike

Idea!

I've been looking for ways of making lots of money, but not really doing any true "work." I think I've stumbled upon the answer, finally!

I will be a Dating Consultant.

I've been talking to one of my friends, lets call him Joe, who has been re-entering the dating world. I get to hear about the women he has been meeting, or not, as the case may be, and with my world reknown experience with "the ladies," as we call them, I think I've given him some sage advice for his meetings and communications with his contactees.

But I'm not a one sex guy! I have also talked to single female friends about their experiences, and have also been the wise dispenser of sagacity on that front also. I'm a double threat, I believe the "kids" are calling it nowadays.

So, look out world, I'm starting my true calling with a vengance.

NP: David Sylvian - Home

Indy! Part 3

This is the 3rd, and probably last part of this update on my travels. I'll confirm if it's the last at the end of this post. If it is, we'll be back to our regularly scheduled programming tomorrow, and I'm sure you can all barely wait!

When I came back to my room, after the first day of the conference, I found my toiletries put nicely on this towel by the cleaning staff. Thank you, Indy Marriott!

Blurry picture of me on the 2nd day (Sunday) of the conference. I looked snazzy, trust me...

Two of my Dartmouth co-workers, outside of the Dartmouth social on Monday evening. A good time was had by all...

Snowy Tuesday morning. There was about 2 inches, perhaps, on the ground. I guess the Indinapolis natives went a bit buggy over this, but up here in NH, 2 inches would be nothing!

Here's a photo of the main conference area, on Tuesday morning. Quite barren, isn't it?

This row of tables is where prospective job candidates would go to set up interviews with employers. Groovy stuff...

This is the area where candidates could sit down, take a load off, write thank you notes to employers, or do whatever they need to do to stay on top of their interview game. I like to think of it as "Where Hope Goes To Die."

Sadness is an empty candidate mailbox. Here's mine, empty. But no worries, I wasn't expecting any messages at this point of the conference. Really!

Here's the actual interview area. Employers sit on one side of the table, the candidate on the other, and there you have it! Again, being the last interview day, there's a lot of nothing happening here. It's not as bad as it looks, as a candidate, you're usually able to tune out any other conversations pretty well.

And Wednesday, on the way home! I got to sit by an engine! Yay! Surprisingly, it wasn't any louder than other places I've sat on planes.

Looking out the next window up. Goodbye, Indy! I hardly knew ya, but you seemed like an okay place.

In the air between Detroit and Manchester. Can you spot the UFO?

My flying needs. A book, a drink, and a cup. I'm a simple man.

So, that's all my photos. The conference overall was a good time. I got to interview for some possible future positions, and we'll see how that develops over the next month or two. I got to reconnect with some old grad school friends, hung out with co-workers outside of work (always fun), got to attend some decent sessions (and one or two that weren't so great), and did a session of my own (on living in residence halls as a professional when you're married or partnered) which someone told me was the best session they had attended at the conference.

Of course, I didn't ask how many other sessions the person had attended.

So, unless there are any questions from you all, my loyal readers, this will probably be the last chapter of the Indy saga. Unless Harrison Ford comes back for a 4th movie...

NP: Queen, It's Late

Indy! Part 2

Arriving on the 17th, here's the view out of my hotel window. The conference center roof is in the foreground, and the industry of America is in the background...

Looking left out of the window, there's the RCA dome, where some sport team plays. Don't ask me who...

Looking to the far right, a baseball park! Again, don't know who plays there...

A big pile of dirt by the RCA dome. Perhaps for a hockey/basketball arena, for another of Indy's nameless teams?

The bed where I would slumber, away from home... Was rather comfy, and I migrated towards the middle of the bed as the days went on... You have to take advantage of all that space when you can!

Let me know if you can see the funny/irony in this shot. I just had to take a photo of it. Perhaps the VP would have appreciated the humor also, if he ever changed the channel...

View out the window at night. Not quite a skyline, but pretty in an odd way...

Dressed for the first day of the conference on Satuday the 18th. Not the best photo in the world, I should have been a bit closer to the mirror... Ah well, live and learn.

NP: REM, Hope

Indy! Part 1

Here's the photo log of my trip out to Indianapolis for the ACPA conference. The conference lasted from Saturday, 18 March until Wednesday, 22 March. I left New Hampshire on Friday the 17th... This is the view out my window at Manchester Airport. Good flying weather...

I got to sit in the emergency exit row. Much better legroom. I should do this mor often. Also, I got to look at this cool diagram...

Window seats are fun! Look at that Earth!

A ski mountain, perhaps in Vermont? It was fairly early in the flight. Maybe it's Mount Snow?

We went from Manchester to Detroit, Michigan. A long terminal...

But you know, the family that s*its together, stays together!

That's the travel portion of this blog... Tomorrow, there will be more about Indianapolis itself...

NP: David Bowie, The Width of a Circle

Back!

Well, I'm back.

I'll write up a full report of the conference, with photos, tomorrow.

Generally, a good time. Interviews went well for some places, and blah for others. I won't get into names here now, as the processes are ongoing.

More later!

NP: The Zombies, The Way I Feel Inside

Car!

I dropped my car off this morning to have it inspected. I got a call around 10am, saying that the garage needed to put new brake pads and something else involving the brakes on the front wheels, in order to have it pass inspection. Since I had last done this about 4 years ago, it seemed like the timing was right to do it again.

However, it did run me $280. Yeech! Happy F*cking Birthday!

Not that $280 is out of my budget, I'll be able to pay it off as soon as I get paid on 1 April. But it is the unexpected nature of random repairs that is a pain. I'll live with it, but it's now $250 less that I can throw at my student loans this coming month. Ah well. Life goes on.

My birthday was fine today, nothing too exciting, which is fine with me. Sue got me the 4 disc set of the soundtrack to "Fellowship of the Ring," which I'll listen to in full once I get back from the conference this coming Wednesday.

I will bring my digital camera with me, so I can do a photolog of the conference upon my return. I probably won't have regular e-mail/internet access while out there, so if I'm slow in updating this, or with responding to any e-mail, no worries.

NP: Simple Minds - And The Band Played On

Gift!

I think these photos speak for themselves....

Feel the Force!

Cut my arm off? There goes your face!

Is that a sabre in your pocket?

Fear ME!

Thank you to Joe for fulfilling my life long dream to be a huge nerd... Photos taken by the lovely Sue!

Funk!

Ah, it's time for my annual birthday funk to begin. Not for the normal reasons, like getting older. That aspect of the birthday really doesn't bother me that much. Every day you're older than the last, so one more milestone on that road really isn't that big deal for me.

I think my conflict about birthdays rests in the fact that I like to acknowledge my birthday, and the birthday of others, but that I've had a lot of birthdays, specifically when I was younger, that really weren't that fun. What I always remember is having a party for my birthday, when I was in 2nd Grade, and only two friends from school showed up. And once they were there, they spent most of the time not playing with me, so it wasn't fun on most levels.

Of course, not every birthday was bad, and believe me, my childhood was fine. Compared to some people's stories, my life is fantastic! However, I do have this thing now where there are times when I just want to be alone on my birthday, or I want to be with people, but I can never tell how it's going to be until it actually hits. I think this year I'm leaning towards staying home, but you never know.

I think at heart, the funk comes from the want to do things with people, to be social, and the fear of finding that there's no one around who wants to do anything. I was thinking, a month or so ago, that it might have been fun to invite friends from Boston and elsewhere to come up this weekend, to hang out around my birthday, but not necessarily on it. However, with this conference I'm going to, leaving this Friday, that's pretty much out, at least for now.

What's nutty about this is that I know that I have good friends, good family, a good wife, who all like and love me, so it's not really a fear based on reality at this point. But, there are those things that we had happen as kids that stay with us for awhile. This birthday stuff is one of those very few negative things that I can recall.

On the good side, I remember a lot of good birthdays, with bowling parties, hanging out, doing stuff in college with friends, and being in Boston. Grad school, and living in Vermont pre-Sue was a bit rough, because I didn't really have many people to hang out with then, particularly in the 1st year of my Masters program, and when I first went to Vermont. Actually, during the 2nd year of my program, my birthday was at one of the conferences, and I had a good time going out with friends in St. Louis.

I do remember in Vermont, going to see "Analyze This" on my birthday, alone. The movie did cheer me up a bit, but it still was no fun.

So, this year, I'm playing things by ear. Maybe we'll go out and eat on Thursday, maybe not. I do have to get up way early on Friday, to catch a 9am flight out of Manchester NH to Indianapolis, so there's that excuse to stay in. But, it's also Dartmouth's closing day for the Winter term, so I'm sure that some co-workers may be going out, so that could be a pull out of the building later in the evening.

Maybe writing some of this stuff down will help get it out of my system, at least a bit. I'm really generally a happy person, but we all have our down moments...

NP: Steve Hackett; Sentimental Institution (live)

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