TILT: (Wed) Nice traveling with friends

Just spent 4 hours in a car with a work colleague.  It was fun.  We don't really get to spend much time together.  Everyone lives in separate locations, and we only get together for our conferences. So, just a bit of discussion, some grousing about work, some criticisms of each others foibles, some snarky comments about ... pretty much anything.  It was fun.  Working out of the home, one misses work colleagues.  And, thus, friends.  

TILT: (Tue) Sunny again?

Wonder about the weather, ever? I used to ridicule old (farmer-ish) relatives for always talking about it, but aside from crops it certainly is interesting to see how moods are affected.  What a nice walk in the nice sunshine.  Makes you feel ... good.  Imagine that: weather makes you feel good.  Still, I'm not really looking forward to having 95 degree high humidity days -- that's what summer is around here.

TILT: (Mon) Friends are ... friends

I just talked to a friend I hadn't talked to in a while and it was really great.  You remember things you've done together and it makes you feel good.  It's just nice to interact with people you've already laid your life in front of.  They know what your problems are, and they are still there.  So, you feel comfortable talking with them, even if you haven't talked in a while.

Wish I had more of them, really.

TILT: (Sun) My daughter can SING!

I'm still amazed at things like this. My own daughter up on stage singing and sounding really good. Heck, I'm amazed when I hear a recording of me playing guitar that sounds good. I'm amazed that regular people like us can make reasonable music. In fact, one theme of a book I just read (Music on the Brain) was that only recently in human history have there been musician experts -- for much longer, EVERYONE was involved in the music and dancing. Interesting point. Now we watch others do it. But, it is nice to do some yourself. And, to see someone close to you doing it well. I'm amazed at my daughter. Wow. Makes me happy to see her doing so well. I'm amazed, but I shouldn't be -- that my daughter doing well makes ME feel happy.
While it makes sense, and I've heard others say things like this to me, to feel it myself is really a remarkable new feeling. Amazing!

TILT: (Sat) Soccer

Went to the DC United soccer game last nite. They won, avenging a loss away to the same team. I do enjoy the constant singing and standing and cheering and booing. Being soccer in the US, this is a cheap ticket ($28) and I sit right off the midfield sideline in one of the club booster sections. There is tailgating before, which is nice too -- tried some Bell's beer and Oberon. So many people get SO worked up for this. Amazing to see everyone supporting the colors. Lots of drumming too. Actually, it's a really fun game. Just enjoy yourself.

TILT: (Fri) Weekends

Aren't all weekends more interesting BEFORE they even start? Don't you find yourself on Sunday evening thinking ... I thought I was going to get more done, or have more fun, or ... well whatever. I finish work on Friday with great hopes. I usually get a run in, and a grocery visit (real fun, that). Then, some family things. We often have events to join in on. But, I still end up on Sunday thinking ... where's the weekend gone and why didn't I have more fun. I've got to stop over-hyping my own weekend, I guess. But, we all lie to ourselves. Or at least, we all hope for more than we have the will power to accomplish. Right?

Or, is it just me?

TILT: (Thu) My dog Sasha

Really, I wonder sometimes. I just saw an article in the paper about how much we spend on vets for our pets. Amazing amounts of money. I've done it too. Sasha has had 2 run-ins with a nasty biter dog which left us paying $1000s to get her fixed. Is a pet worth this? She's a smart dog, and fine to have at home (barks a bit too much, however). Still, when it gets that expensive, would you choose to spend the money? Will I next time?

TILT: (Wed) Still catching up

I'm wondering if I can claim I've done my blog as originally set out if I have to use the weekend to catch up on posting for the week. It certainly wasn't my intention to do this, but life intrudes. Or, more to the point, work. Still, I'd RATHER do it daily as intended. Can I even remember what I learned last Wed? Hmm. Phone calls for work; reading co-worker reports and commenting. Anything else?
What I learned today: I can't remember anything from 4 days ago.

TILT: (Tue) Woody Allen Talks A Lot!

Just finished Manhattan. Sure is a lot of talking going on in this, along with some great B&W images, mostly a homage to NYC. Cute that it ends asking him to trust people -- who's likely to do that? Certainly not Woody. He does like to talk, doesn't he? Funny glasses. Self-effacing manner. Unkempt hair. How does he EVER get a girl? Girls don't actually like all this talking, do they?

TILT: Ok, it's hard to do one every day, so ...

So, I'll start labeling the posts by day, even if I didn't write them that day. And that, my friends, is what I learned today. Short and sweet.

TILT: Water -- moving or not?

As I walked my little schnoodle Sasha this morning it was starting to drizzle. It had already rained a bit earlier. I walked by the stream near our house, I noticed two aspects of the water flowing. First, as the additional water was added from the rain, the stream was flowing much faster than normal. In extreme downpours and hurricanes, I've seen the stream up over its banks flooding even the path where I walk. Anyway, today it was moving fast, giving a nice little burble and pretty white water like flow. Beautiful. Second, there were still parts of that same stream just a few feet away from the white water part that you couldn't tell any water was even moving through the stream. Maybe it was higher than normal in that part, but it was certainly not easy to tell if any water was flowing in from above or out from below. Odd how the same stream can have both moving and non-moving parts? It's an interesting contrast, I think. Same substance in different visible forms presented in juxtaposition.

I found a picture from one of my past mountain walks (Virginia has very nice ones, albeit not too high) that illustrates this phenomenon. It's not as still in the pond part as I'm seeing in my stream today, but ... it's the only picture I have that comes close.

TILT: August Rush

Just finished the movie. This one, despite the schmaltzy family plot, rekindles one's love of music of many kinds. The guitar is wonderful, and the soundtrack is good. A good movie, a movie with good music. I'd kind of forgotten there were any of those. Certainly not looking forward to yet another Indiana Jones that I saw adverted down at Verizon Center, over a month before its release. Are there other good movies with music? I'm blanking at the moment. I'm sure I'll think of some, other than those concert movies or Tommy. Also, what's that choral music in those devil/Exorcist type movies that always ends up? I'd like to find that. Google searching isn't quite working. I'll have to ask around.

TITL: No sun today

There was sun outside, but I stayed indoor to play guitar and watch a movie. So much for the sun and springtime. I enjoy it, but I also enjoy the music. Can't play outside, at least not on my electric guitar. Oh well. Watching August Rush -- a movie about music, but not about springtime or sun. Odd juxtaposition, really. Still great movie. I bot the guitar sound track by Kaki King, all that guitar percussion is great. Give it a listen.

TILT: So tired from playing

I've just played guitar for 5 hours. Finger tips are sore. I'm tired. But ...

Exhilarated! Amazing to actually MAKE music. Hard to believe that good sounds can come out of just that instrument and my fingers. I have played for a long time, but ...

I'm still amazed that I can actually play, and play well enough (given my rather distressing lack of practice) to sound good.

I miss playing in a band tho. Got to get that back into my life. I think. I hope.

TILT: Losing track of time

Ok, I've been in my dungeon all morning messing around on the computer, checking out things on the web (Google Earth, Mac OSS, everything in my RSS reader pile). It just goes on and on. Is there any way to not just waste time doing this. Good thing I don't do this often -- I'd stop working altogether, which wouldn't be something my family would appreciate (they kinda like the paychecks -- so do I). Wasting time. Now, off to another time wasting activity -- guitar playing and a run. Or are these wasting time too?

TILT: Living without a car

We now have 3 drivers in the house (daughter driving to school now), but only 2 cars. When my wife is also out of town, I'm left with NO CAR. That's a new feeling for me, at least since I lived in NYC some 25 years ago. No car. No transportation. I can order in, when the food gets low. I can conceive of walking to the grocery and local Starbucks -- I am suburban, not rural. But, I'm American -- and we don't walk in America, do we? Anywhere we CAN drive, we DO drive. That's why we need all that gasoline! That's why we pay too much for it. That's apparently why we went to war in Iraq -- to get the gas and oil more controlled. Didn't realize, did we, that we'd have the OPPOSITE effect.

How'd I get on to the war? I was talking about the "no car" situation. It's just odd to have NO car again. I'm not quite comfortable with the loss. Odd, isn't it? Well, at least it only lasts one day a week, usually.

TILT: Tax Day Taxing?

Not really taxing, actually. I did have to drive over to the Post Office to mail the federal one (state's due later) certified. But, with the advent of electronic filing, it was just a form and a check -- a simple envelope. I remember when the posting was a package of stuff. Nice change. Unfortunately, I owe for 2007, so no refund for me -- thus I was waiting as long as possible to send in the dough. I bet we don't qualify for the special tax rebate thing either. Oh well.

TILT: Working harder or just working too much?

I learned today (Monday) that I can be accused of working too much. Even when I'm procrastinating, perhaps even longer when I am. When I do finish something, I get to stop. When I don't, even when I'm writer's blocked or just ... doing other things, I work longer. I make up things to do, or I do a few silly little things instead of the one or two big things I should be doing. Then, I think about things after I stop too. I guess that means it does feel good to get something done -- pressure is off. But until then, pressure is on, and the work seems to get extended. I thought I'd stopped the too much working back in my 20s, but here I am in my 40s still having workaholic periods. And, not necessitarily for getting more done unfortunately. Sometimes I just work longer and get the same set of things done -- not enough, not even what I'd hoped. Is this this definition of procrastination? Of writer's block? Or just of stupidity? Hmm.

What'd you get done today? We'll at least I penned this blog entry. Actually even this I did 2 days too late.

TILT: Nothing -- at least, nothing new

I don't think I learned anything new today.  I think everything I could think of as something I realized is still not new, but just something I've always known about myself.  For example, I'm pretty good at procrastination.  Yet another day putting off finalizing the taxes.  Yet another day not playing guitar or recording anything.  Yet another day when I did NOT go out to hear live music when I could have.  I did figure out the names of some songs I liked on the radio today, tho -- have to buy them on Amazon.  I think I'm going to test out Amazon's MP3 download option -- see how that works compared to iTunes for a while.  Yet another day when I did run, and did do a few errands, but didn't get off the couch later (tubing my DVR) and ate too much (mostly healthy).  I do like salad -- nothing new there either.  Well, maybe this: I do like Three Days Grace -- that's the new song I never knew who it was.  Again, I find I like DC 101 as a radio station when running or doing errands -- despite being over 40, I do like the harder side of newer music.  Just don't like pop -- never did.  Soda I do like tho.  But, I knew that already.  

TILT: Sensing Ads

For a lark, I've signed this blog up to Adsense just to see how that works. I'm sure I'll make a mint. Actually, I'm amazed how easy it was to set things up -- all just a few mouse clicks. So, I have the blog store, the income stream / cash register, and now all I need is some product for the shelves. I guess I'll have to provide some interesting content after all. Otherwise ... starving?

Well, all I'm doing is noting something, anything I learned today. So, what today? That setting up to get money is easy; getting real content that anyone might want to see is hard. I'll have to figure out a niche. Hmm. I don't have a niche. I don't have much of anything. Except curiosity and a willingness to share what makes me think of things differently each day. All I'm really signing up for here is to have the will power to really try to do one update a day. I think I can -- and I know I can find some little thing to comment on each day. Life is endlessly entertaining. Just you watch!

TILT: Spring sprang

It's warm outside.  Warm.  I just walked around in shorts and a t-shirt and it felt ... comfortable.  Now I'm having a gin and tonic.  Spring is here!  It just sprang up on me after getting back from Las Vegas -- where it might have been much warmer but since I was stuck in a hotel for a convention the whole time, who would know?  Time does have an impact.  Seasons are real changes.  Cherry blossoms are raining down like snow.  I hope it's not yet quite completely sprung -- I'd like it to last a bit longer before hot and humid summer arrives.

TILT: Travel bites

Too much travel. I'm not the only one, I know. But, it does get tiring. It is nice however to find a free wifi airport like McCarron when my flight is delayed. I got some busy work done. Lovely -- work while at the airport.

I'm amazed at how big Vegas has gotten -- so many cabs in and out of this airport. The cabbie was telling me how they get tickets for all sorts of infractions. And, of course, about how he used to own some land just ouside of town that he sold 20 years ago for under $100K that's now worth $15M given the new highway and resorts and so on. I still wish I'd kept real estate I'd owned way back then too. Don't we all? We'd ALL have been more happy with greatly appreciated real estate. Then again, don't we need that money for the next house?

The crystal ball is always brilliant in hindsight. Looking forward: murky. Live for today, for you never know what tomorrow will bring. Trite and maybe even true.

TILT: Little no-name blues bands can sound pretty good

Caught a band last nite at the House of Blues for a set. No names (in fact, I can't remember their name), but the singer was good and played a pretty good guitar. Their SRV version of Superstition was good as were some of their own songs. Nice to be reminded that not just the biggies can provide a nice musical diversion for an hour. Granted -- I did drink a beer or two, which does make things sound better.

TILT: Big hotels don't get everything right

I'm staying at the Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas this week for business. Two things stand out as horrible design choices on the part of whoever actually architects these things.

First, the elevator lobbies: there's one elevator lobby for 8 elevators that go to a bunch of floors. It's about 3 people wide and has ONE entry. So, there are constantly people lined up to get on and when people get off they can't get out of the one exit. A real mess each and every time there is ANY congestion.

Second, the bathrooms: there are many points to do your business (at least 20, probably more) and many sinks to clean up at. However, there are only TWO (count them: TWO) hand towel dispensers in the whole place. And, tragically, they are located in the two entry ways that are approximately 2 people wide, so to stand there is to block people coming and going; to go there is to push thru people coming and going ... only to find, of course, no paper in them anyway! Finally, you have your hands wet this whole time, so anything you might be carrying while you do your business is now wet as well.

Of course, some things ARE designed well -- such as that you have to go thru the casino to get to ANYTHING. Makes you walk farther, but ... we understand: it's why the hotel room and food isn't as expensive as it might normally be. Then again, some of the food at this hotel IS expensive. Oh well.

TILT: 8 seconds means a lot

I was sitting in Las Vegas watching the NCAA BBall final, and the atmosphere during that last 8 seconds before overtime was electric. I think it's because the audience wasn't just fans (with bragging rights on their minds) or traditional office pool people (with a little skin in the game). It was full of people seeing $100s coming and going in the course of 8 seconds. Amazing. I've heard of this, but I hadn't really seen it myself. People do get excited about sports, but I think they get more excited about betting.

TILT: Rain makes flowering trees beautiful

I learned that Washington DC (where I live) can be beautiful in the Spring with the rain on the newly flowering trees and bushes. Yes, that includes the famous cherry trees, but also ... every other flowering tree. We haven't had a lot of sun lately, but the rain seems to lend a shine or clean sharp contast to the petals, the emerging leaves, the buds. Wonderful. Flowers before leaves, it seems on these flowering trees. I don't claim to know them all by name, nor to understand the biological processes that make this all happen -- it's magic to me, and I remember little from bio class in high school. Still, science or magic, it's beautiful. Like music for the eyes. Just sit and watch. Or better, walk around. See the trees. See the life emerging again. Seriously WOW.