TILT: (Mon) DC United finally wins one!

My daughter and I went to the DC United game Sat nite. They WON. Finally. For a good team to be so poor this season is not a good sign. So it was nice to have something to cheer about along with the rest of the fan club faithful. I also recorded the game to watch highlights later and yet still couldn't pick myself out in the fan stand shots. I like it when they win.
Amazing how being a fan of a club can generate significant emotional satisfaction or displeasure. We need the outlet, I guess. Opiate for the masses? Is sports the new religion? We do attend more of that than church I think, particularly on NFL Sundays (I speak for myself here).

TILT: (Sun) My wife is sick

Yes, she's just coughing and lazing on the couch. This is NOT her usual position, not even on weekends. She's one of those that's always doing something, even if it is just work on the weekends.
(this is NOT my wife)
When a close adult is sick, you sort of feel like helping, but you know they know how to help themselves. So, you offer to bring the kleenex or pills or a drink, and you often get your head chopped off for bothering them. Or, a "thanks" in a weak sort of admitting no weakness voice. How to help the not so weak then? Just push thru and keep offering? Leave them alone? I don't know. I've tried all of these techniques and gotten differing results. I'm never sure what to do. Oh well. I guess that keeps sickness interesting, even for the healthy. Or, does it just make it more annoying? Hmm.

TILT: (Sat) Tab Benoit: Niche yet nice and warm

Actually, the wife and I went with some friends to hear Tab Benoit last nite. He was great. We've seen him 3 times now, and I think I have at least 1/2 his albums. His mix of personality and playing is just fantastic. He can do so much with just one guitar, and I only wish I could play like him. Takes practice. Many others attending were also repeat customers and I overheard while waiting to shake his hand after that some were road tripping to VA beach to catch his show there Sat nite.

It's nice to see that some dedication can bring dedication out in fans. Guess it pays off, even if I'm sure he doesn't make as much money as many in this business. He does have a loyal and long term following. Niche, yes, but nice and warm -- the title of my favorite song that he did play last nite. It was a lot slower yet very interesting. Always fun to see interpretations and reinterpretations of songs live like this by artists. Lovely. I love live music in smaller venues where you can get close to the band and really see them making music. If you need binoculars to see the band, you're not in a good place. This was a small place and was really great.

TILT: (Fri) LONG weekend

Somehow, I thought I'd have a light day today after 4 days (really 5 counting flying on Sunday). But, no. Each call required a full hour, plus some next steps work. I wasn't done until late. By then the family was ready to have the long weekend start. Mee too!

Seems like we're not the only ones thinking that we won't go very far for fun over the weekend. It's not the high gas prices, tho, that bother me. I always hate the big weekends where the roads are even more crowded. We're sticking close to DC and just hanging. Music tonite!

TILT: (Thu) Seeing everyone, one at a time

Normally, when I travel, I'll go around with a single salesperson to a number of accounts. On this day I think I had a record day: I had one meeting with each of 4 sales people for 4 accounts. Each visit involved a handoff from one sales to another. At one point, I was alone in a Starbucks using wifi but unattached. What if the other guy didn't find me? No, that doesn't worry me. It was kind of fun just having such a bizarre combination.

But, then the flights home seemed all messed up. Nice day, bummer for the travel part. Happens everytime I have to go thru Ohare. Ugh. Spend all this time just hanging around an airport or two (if connecting). Get home really late. Just in time to ... nothing. Tired.

TILT: (Wed) Minneapolis has swamps

I stayed at a hotel near the airport and when work was done, I jogged to the nearby nature preserve which was a swamp. It was very pretty, and I was there at the end of the day when the light is just gorgeous, perfectly backlighting the swamp grasses with their tufty ends waving in the breeze. When you're just thinking how bucolic it all is, a big jet passes nearby very low landing into the airport.

This hotel was also across the street from the Mall of America -- which used to be the largest mall in the world. I walked over there and around one level to get a feel. It does have 3 levels and a real rollercoaster or two in the middle. But, it didn't see that large. I ate sushi, bot some shoes and recovered from the run by ... walking. I was tired that evening. But, all in all, a really great day of both work and diversion. I'd do it all again.

TILT: (Tue) And, then I visited the Jails

After all that police stuff, I visited the folks who run the jails. Interesting line of work. I must confess that I do find that interesting even if ... hard to imagine. So many movies about prisons and how the warden is bad (Brubaker, etc.) and the prisoners live a harsh life. Surely there must somewhere be some good stories coming out of incarceration. No? Well, I can't think of any either. Mandela's bio, maybe? But, I never saw that; I'm not even sure it's a movie. Bridge on the River Kwai? Sort of -- but it was mostly the guy who escaped who benefitted -- until he was killed of course, along with the Brit guy (Alec Guiness) who marshalled the men better than the warden could. To what avail? The good of his people, but not for the war effort really -- getting the trains across that bridge would after all abet the enemy.

TILT: (Mon) Sacramento is the wild wild west

I go to Sacramento often -- lots of clients there. This time, the trip over was uneventful -- got a direct from DC. However, the day was odd -- we saw some bank robbers apprehended right near the office. Actually, we saw the aftermath, which was some 50 cop cars littering one of the main streets of town. Curious, yes. A big day in police town -- apprehension of suspects, of criminals, of miscreants. I love some of the police words: miscreant, felony, misdemeanor. Does this last mean you've lost your ability to keep a calm external face? Wild wild west out here. I guess in the end I wasn't that interested. I just gummed up traffic.

TILT: (Sun) My dog is a fraidy-cat!

While I was walking the dog this morning, we found a turtle walking across the path. Sasha really got weird. First, she jumped back -- I think surprised that it moved when she sniffed it. I didn't see that part too much as she was ahead of me -- I noticed the jump. My dog can really jump -- like with all 4 feet off the ground straight up or sideways. It's really cool when she does this. Another cool thing is her fast walk where her feet all together do something that just looks cool -- her body just moves horizontally but the feet are all working. It's mesmerizing.

Anyway, back to the turtle. She jumped, and then I noticed why: the turtle. She moved back to sniff it, not getting too close. She backed off and tilted her head. She gingerly got closer for more stiffs. I tried to tell her "it's just a turtle" but she wasn't listening. Then, she tried a low growl. Perhaps she thinks another living thing will respond to this? Anyway, the turtle of course said nothing. Which just made Sasha more curious. Still, she was worried. She couldn't explain it. So, what choices are being debated in that dog brain? Bark, growl, ignore, bite, sniff. Anything else. Oh yeah: pee on it (leave scent). In the end, she was just circling with a little intermittent growl. So, I told her it was time to go.

I wonder how long it took her to forget about the turtle?

TILT: (Sat) Adding stuff to blog

I added some new widgets to my blog today: a PPT viewer and a booklist.  I gotta add more books, but at least these are 3 I have on my list.  Can you believe I actually intent to read Pynchon?  I'm half way thru both -- and may not finish either.  I've read his other stuff.  They're both so BIG.  Hmm.

Yes, I did write for 6 hours today, but then the weather was perfect for a run, then a beer outside, then some indian food, then ... back to the dungeon for computing things.  I gotta get a laptop to get outside.  How's that Mac Air looking now?  !   (Well, it looks expensive.  Oh well.)

TILT: (Fri) Weekend coming

Of COURSE!  I love repeating notes about how good Friday's are.  However, this Friday I ended up doing lots of little work things, and missing doing my big work thing -- rewriting a big report into 4 separate ones to make it more sensible.  And, to get more credit of course.  That'll be tomorrow I hope -- if my will power holds up.  Fun to hang with my daughter a bit after her friends left.  They played ... board games.  I remember that.  Risk, Life (when I was younger), Trivial Persuit, etc.  Then there was Twister.  I wish I could create one and make a million bucks.

So I learned that I'd love to be rich! ?

TILT: (Thu) Friends blogging ... with good music?

Caught a business friend's blog just now off the air on Twitter somehow (I'm not even sure).  He has this cool time lapse video of him at his Mac.  He put a backtrack of this song by Edison Glass called "Let's Go" which is pretty good.  I just purchased the CD on Amazon -- only $1 more than the MP3s, so with free shipping why not get it here!  Cool stuff.  I learned that some people I know do a LOT more online than I do.  Amazing stuff.

TILT: (Wed) Birthday presents from someone paying attention

I had a great birthday a few days ago.  Got good presents, as I noted.  But I was thinking today that my wife really did remember something I'd mentioned at least two months earlier about a belt and shirt from Lucky.  She remembers.

Plus, she tries new things.  She went to a thing in NYC and heard some new bands that she thought I'd like, so she got a few CDs for me.  And, surprisingly, I do like them.  One, Grizzly Bear, is sort of like Radiohead -- which I like.  The other, John Amos, is a really good singer with a range of choices that just sound good.  Nice work, girl!

So, how do good present givers do it?  I think they notice things, they remember things, they try harder.  Why can't I be like that?  Even for my own wife.

TILT: (Tue) Dance lessons

Harder than I thought.  Another batch.  Too many different kinds.  I'm not used to moving my hips and body like that.  Apparently practice helps.  Practice DANCE?  Must I?  I'd rather practice guitar.  Oh well, the things you do for your loved one.

TILT: (Mon) Just getting up ...

... is hard.  A whole week.  Don't you just feel it all weighting you down?  5 days of ... WORK.  Ugh.  Get me some coffee.

TILT: (Sun) Another sports day

I do love to watch sports, particularly football.  That's why this time of year, with no football, it's hard to enjoy enough tube time.  I'm left with pro basketball -- boring, even in the playoffs.  Hockey? Baseball -- boring!  To me, anyway.  Soccer -- do have live soccer to watch (DC United).  So, what to learn today: I watch these sports ANYWAY.  Odd.  Well, not baseball.  Not yet -- but then there's still everything else to watch.  What am I going to do when there's only baseball?  Watch that?  PLEASE ... really, I hope not.  There must be some will power in this sack of bones.  I hope.  PLEASE!

TILT: (Sat) SAT class

NOT ME, but my daughter.  It all speaks of college.  What can college possibly mean?  Well, since I'm going to my 25th college reunion soon, I kinda think college is useful.  Worked for me.  But, I can't remember how hard it was to be the student.  Maybe it wasn't that hard for me.  These days, in the baby boom, it's harder for the kids to get where we didn't even want to go.  Things change.

TILT: (Fri) Weekend coming

Again?  Totally fixated on Friday weekend-ish activities.  Do I really need to feel exactly the same EVERY Friday?  Really?

TILT: (Thu) The morning fox

Walking the dog this morning, I saw the neighborhood fox again.  What an amazing bushy tail!  So wild somehow, yet in our suburban DC neighborhood.  Much more surprising than deer, which we also see sometimes.  It just looked at us while my dog barked at it from our distance.  With distain?  With curiosity?  Without a thought at all ... except, are they moving and should I be scared?  Being still, animals believe they are harder to see -- which is true (as deer prove).  Amazing.  

TILT: (Wed) Dandelions

Dandelions.  Plague of the lawn.  Dug up another one today -- I'm sure I'll be doing this all summer.  Pests.  Deep roots.  Well, I do feel like I'm doing real death dealing when I kill them by digging them up.  It is satisfying to fix the imperfection in the yard.  It's something one person can do and you can see the difference.  

They are actually pretty in a way.  But, they breed and multiply quickly.  They need killin!  And, I'm just the one to do it to em!

TILT: (Tue) Dance lessons

My wife dragged me to my first ballroom and salsa dance lesson yesterday.  Pretty amazing to see that I can actually sort of do this almost ok, even on my first try, even without any fancy stuff.  It's not that hard.  But, I can see that getting better will take practice, and as usual I wonder if we will.  We do have a wedding coming up -- always a place to shake your booty.  But, since practice is required, I just wonder if I will.  If we will.  If not ... well, nothing ventured, nothing gained.  We'll see how it works out.

TILT: (Mon) HAPPY BIRTHDAY ME!

Today is the day -- the birthday.  Another year older.  Well, really only a day.  But, it's worth celebrating.  And, it's DEFINITELY worth the GIFTS!  I got lucky this time -- stuff from the lucky store, specifically.  Plus a nice selection of interesting music I'm listening to now.  

Speaking of which, we caught a little of Newton Faulkner at Jammin Java and he was cool last Friday.  He played an acoustic single guitar and voice version of Bohemian Rhapsody that was cool.  He got the audience singing on that and on one where he had us do different parts.  Daughter came with -- she liked it too.  So, now we have his CD -- thanks Amazon free shipping.

TILT: (Sun) Watched DC United v Colorado at pub

Well, first, United lost.  Second, the pub was HORRIBLE.  No service, then too much, then none.  How can they plan that well?  To have no one there when you DO want something and have someone there bothering you when you don't?   Funniest was one waitress who came to serve one couple in our game watching separate room who didn't ever ask anyone else what they wanted.  Apparently, she only served one person. Another waitress changed shift and left -- without telling us.  They had a staff meeting while we were there.  Not leaving a big tip there, I'll say.  Too bad - since our group will go back and I'll suffer through it again, I guess.  I thought they were trying, but ... perhaps not.  I don't like to say that I didn't get good service, but ... I didn't.  And, IT MATTERS!

TILT: (Sat) Wonderful dinner = $ down the drain?

Just ate at Restaurant Eve, a fancy restaurant in Alexandria.   Very expensive, but very good.  Prix fixe 5 course meal with I think 4 unexpected tidbits between them.  Some choice of things.  Had a wine flight to go with -- each glass came with an explanation of why it was chosen, by a sommelier.  With all that enjoyment comes the question of "is food EVER worth it?"  In this case, it was expensive -- I could have gotten a nice guitar effects box for the same money.  Is food ever worth it?  It was worth it at our wedding when there was a big party.  It was worth sitting with my daughter to hear what she's up to -- when she's in a good mood and talkative (which isn't often, nor is a shared meal in our 3 different ways we go house).  In the end, I love food best when it's really good (but, fine if it's not GREAT) and not expensive.  I guess expensive doesn't really seem worth it much on things that don't last.  The memory lasts, but not the food ... or the taste.  Am I just a poor taster, a non-aesthete?  I feel the same way about wine and beer -- so I guess so.  Good to learn something about oneself.  But, I really did like the dinner!  ?

TILT: (Fri) Weekend coming

Finishing up the week is always a nice thought.  Lots of time to myself coming.  Big dinner tonite.  So, very much a nice thing to have coming.  Sometimes I wonder in fact if the weekend isn't better in prespect rather than retrospect.  You look forward to it, but then after the fact you look back and ... did you get all you wanted?

I think I've said all this before.  Was it last Friday?  Ha.

TILT: (Thu) Memristors: The days of 1s and 0s are numbered?

From the NY Times article on the new HP memristor announcement, the thing that struck me first, was not the technology per se, but this notion: that the chip can store a "vast array of intermediate values, not just the binary 1s and 0s as conventional chips do."  No more 1s and 0s?  No more binary digitality?  Isn't this almost like going analog again?  

Just makes you remember to think: what will we be doing in 5 or 10 years?  With this technology, what COULD we do?  Sounds like a significant advance, so I'm betting on some amazing things.