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

A Good Saturday

Today was a pretty normal day. Did some reading, helped Sue put up our little Christmas tree, exercised, and pretty much finished shopping for the holidays.

For some reason, I get depressed when we put up our tree. I think this is just something that's always been around when doing these tree type things, but who knows. Ah well, life goes on.

I've got 90% of my Christmas/Holiday shopping done, so that's good.

After finishing this entry, I'm going to do a mix of the demo I've been working on, and get it up on my website tomorrow. It's a work in progress, but I want to now let it sit for a bit, and see what I think about it in a little while. It's not like I have a release date for these things...

More later!

NP: Genesis, Squonk (from Seconds Out)

Will the Digestion Never End???

The day after Thanksgiving, the day of Turkey Sandwiches, Turkey Soup, Turkey on Toast, and all other turkey items served across the United States. I did my share today, and just had some reheated turkey. Good for dinner, and now the turkey is gone.

For now...

Today, I managed to blow through the written section of all my UGA (Undergraduate Advisor) evaluations. I still have to do the "check box" ratings, but those take 5 minutes tops per evaluation, so I can do those at my leisure on Monday. It took me from about 11:15am till about 2pm to get those done.

After that, I managed to clean up the apartment a bit, although more of that will be done tomorrow. Played some music while doing so, including the new Mars Volta and John Cale. Both are quite good, in their own way. I do need to listen to them a bit more to really get the sense of the music though. The first runthrough of an album is almost always just getting a sense of the music, with repeated listenings getting into the deeper arrangements and structures.

Sue and I watched the movie Tapeheads in the evening, one of my favorites. First saw it back in High School on VHS with Brian Paik, and have seen it lots of times since then. I introduced it to a lot of my college friends, and it's taken on a life of its own since then. We hadn't watched it in awhile, so it was fun to see it again. It's also not a long movie, so it goes by quick. Swanky Modes rule!

I'm about 120 pages into Anansi Boys by Neil Gaiman. A very fun read so far, and I'm looking forward to perhaps finishing it before the weekend is out.

NP: Ten Seconds, The Last Three Minutes, 1

Almost Thanksgiving...

Ah, the last day of work until Monday was today. Although, I think I'm going to go into my office on Friday and try to blow through some student staff evaluations I have to write. I dislike writing evaluations, so I want to rip the bandage off all at once, and get them done, so it's not water torture, doing some on one day, another the next, and never really getting them done in a quick way. So, I'll sacrifice a few hours on Friday. Sue's going for an eye appointment, so I'll do it then. It's less like real work when no one else is around, and I'll crank some music up.

Speaking of music, this weekend I'm going to try some experiments in getting some musical ideas down. I want to write a big stupid rock song, just for the fun of it, so that might be my next recording. Tomorrow or Friday, I'll do a mixdown of my most recent demo, and put it up on my website for your perusal.

Thanksgiving is going to be spent at the apartment/home of the director of our little division of ORL at Dartmouth, Deborah, and her partner Chelsea. It'll be fun, and it's nice to be a bit social even if it's not with family. Sue and I will be down in NJ around Christmas, so we'll do all the family stuff then.

My current reading is Volume 1 of the Babylon 5 scripts of Joe Straczynski, the creator and main writer for the show. Babylon 5 was a 5 year story told from 1992-1998 on syndicated television, an epic tale of rising empires, falling civilizations, and the individuals who are key in the events of their age. A great story, told well. The scripts are fun to read, to see what goes into making a show of this scope, where foreshadowing during the first season pays off in the 4th and 5th seasons. And, it's a quick read also. Next up may be Neil Gaiman's new book, but we shall see what I'm in the mood for.

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

Walk The Line

Went to go see "Walk The Line" with one of my co-workers tonight. Great movie, whether you like or know the story of Johnny Cash a lot, a little, or not at all. I knew next to nothing about Cash, and now I want to learn a bit more. Good story, and great performances.

Went to the dentist's today for a cleaning, and to have them check on my achy tooth. Going to get a crown on it in early December. Does the fun ever stop?!?!

Finished my UFO book "Watch The Skies" tonight. A good overview of UFO stories from the 1940's to the early 1990's. Would have liked a bit more about the 80's onward, but there was less perspective on those years when the book was written.

NP: Lenny Bruce, Religions Inc.

Oh Dear....

It's been a few days since I've blogged, not because of anything bad, I've just been a bit too tired and busy with other things in the evening to do it. So, here's what's been up since the last update into the life of Mike Lord:

• Went to a student staff conference on Saturday with another Community Director and two UGA's (Undergraduate Advisors) from here at Dartmouth. It wasn't a bad conference, but there's a lot of "ra-ra" positivity in this field, that sometimes keeps a deeper level of thinking from happening. That's what this conference was like. My colleague and I presented at the conference, and if we didn't have students with us, probably would have left after our session (which was well received by our 5 attendees, by the way).
• Sometime on Friday, I believe, I noticed a slight ache/pain in one of my lower left teeth when I would chew on that side. Fortunately, I have a cleaning scheduled for tomorrow, so I'll have the dentist check it out while I'm there.
• Talked to my friend Tony tonight on the phone for about 2 hours. We hadn't talked on the phone since sometime in the summer, and we've been playing phone tag for about the past three weeks. It's good that we finally connected.
• I have a serviceable demo prepared of "So In Love (With Your Presence)," that I may put up on my website sometime soon. It's *very* rough, but the structure is there, so I can now play around with it, and perhaps even leave it to ferment a bit while I start up some other stuff.
• Sunday was a lazy day, I didn't do much other than watching the 4th volume of "SCTV" on DVD.
• One of my UGA's had a fun program on Saturday evening, one of her residents taught a group of us some 18th century dances. The dances were very structured, but fun.

That's about all for an update right now. I'm sure I did some other stuff of interest that I'm forgetting now, but I think you'll live without knowing every detail of my life.

Won't you?

NP: Dick Dale, Riders In The Sky