Playin’ music again at 43

I've had somewhat of a storied music career. Bass drum player in the High School marching band, to drum player in a rock band doing Led Zeppelin covers, to recording my own music, then playing drums for a heavy metal/hard rock band where I was the senior member. My career spanned 1978 through 1994 (and hopefully beyond). A lot of details happened in between but that's for future blog entries.

I wanted to use this blog entry to put forth my new musical ideas for song titles. I'm starting to play the acoutstic guitar again and came up with these song titles:

• Tearing At My Cuticles
• I Thought It Was A Cool Car (When I Bought It)
• Could You Please Stop Smoking
• Gotta Stop Pickin' My Lip
• Maturity At Age 43
• Tryin' To Fix My '70 Duster
• Places Not To Use Soap
• More Bad Corporate Management
• Technology's Walking Too Fast…Still
• Designing Web Sites…Badly
• My Weights In The Cellar Are Still Weighting

I'm excited. And want to jam.

43? 43 is today's new 23. Giddy up…

Long time no blog

My mind was blank for a while. No ambition. No inspiration. No motivation to scrape the news landscape for minutiae. But Spring is here and the magnolias are blooming, the forscythia are screaming yellow, and of course the birds.

The Birds
First there was the Robins. Scrambling along the grass listening for worms underneath the surface. Then the Woodcocks at dusk dancing the dance of love, including the comdeic beeps in between. Then the usual suspects of Titmouse, Chickadees, Blue Jays, and Cardinals. But what I'm really waiting for is the warblers. I've already heard the Yellow-Rumped. The Palm Warbler is not far behind. These next 3-4 weeks are the peak time to watch for these little entertainers of nature.

Shorts
I put shorts on after work for the first time this year. I could wear shorts all year round if it wasn't for the New England winters. It's a tired record, but when I lived in San Francisco I did wear shorts all year round and just adjusted my tops for the foggy, cool air of the Bay area.

Finally, Work
It's really frustrating working with great people but having no direction from above. Like being on a great sail ship from centuries ago and nobody is at the wheel. Just drifting in the ocean. Add to that a managerial mindset from somewhere in the late 1980's, and it's like being in church and the preacher is a Las Vegas comedian.

Complete unsatisfaction from hopeful expectations that are never realized.

The American Dream.

A silent motorcycle; Iceland tops in broadband use; Tom & Katie’s baby will not have a Catholic baptism

We're in the midst of fossil fueled vehicles becoming a thing of the past. Hybrids, electric, ethynol, and whatever else the manafacturers are coming up with are here. For good. A Boston.com story talks about a new hydrogen powered motorcycle.

Iceland is connected
The little country to the north had the highest concentration of broadband users in 2005. The U.S. still leads in absolute numbers. And my father still has dial-up. Anticipation is a requirement in the swede's household.

Scientology wins out over Catholicism
Tom said 'No' to a Catholic baptism. Katie said 'OK'. And they're going to have a quiet birth. I say 'your freakin' dreaming' and I've never had a baby.

Brazil’s first lands safely; Rolling Stones in China; Red Sox have a flame-throwing closer

The first astronaut of Brazil landed safely with the rest of the shuttle crew. I think it's awesome that people from other countries besides the U.S, Russia, China, and a few others get to go up into space and give their country something to cheer about from the space perspective. Space history is pretty fascinating. And we're on the cusp of space travel (around the earth) becoming as easy as airline travel.

Stones stone the Chinese censors
First sentence in this story: The Rolling Stones rode roughshod over China's censors during their first show in the communist country on Saturday, serenading a largely foreign crowd with songs about Satan, sleaze bags and serial killers.

Nuff' said.

Worcester fact: The Declaration of Independence was first publicly read in Massachusetts by Isaiah Thomas in Worcester in July 1776.

The new flame thrower
The Red Sox won 2 -1 against Baltimore Orioles in Baltimore and Jonathan Papelbon mowed down the first three batters he faced in the bottom of the ninth while leading by one run. Poise under pressure. He's a young flame thrower who compliments an already very decent pitching staff.

Maybe two World Series in three years?

New rings around your anus; Bladder replacements; Apple Plays Nice with Windows

Two outer rings, one red the other blue, have been observed around the distant planet Uranus. Last December, the Hubble telescope discovered new moons and rings around Uranus.

Say this 10x fast: it's been very busy around Uranus.

Doctors Can Create Re-engineered Bladders
This is the first time scientists have reconstructed a human organ. This is the tip of the iceberg. Scientists will be able to recreate anything on the human body. I'm the first in-line for head replacement. Imagine waking up and your whole self has been replaced: the head, the body, the whole enchilada. "Hello. I'm your replacement", the alternate says to you. What happens to the real you? Vacation? Elimination? And this all started with a re-engineered bladder.

Worcester FACT
Population: 172,648 people. (2nd in Massachusetts)

Apple Opens Door to Windows
You can now run Windows on an Apple computer. Yipee. Really, really, rich guys helping out other really rich guys get richer. I'm so happy. At this point, I'm want to know what the advantage is of using a Mac over using a PC. Ten to fifteen years ago it was graphics and publishing software.

I guess the reasons to own a Mac come down to a better CPU, some cool looking PC cases, and being part of that time-tested club of Mac users.

Ten years ago I supported graphics software for a big software support company and when a Mac software support call came in, it was always put in the back of the call queue. And that was because of ignorance and laziness to learn the Apple way. Shame on me and my co-horts.

Those calls usually spent the rest of their lives in that queue. Well, maybe not all of them.

Scary baby; Baby shower gone bad; Poisonous (maybe) white fog

From AceRoofer (no for the squeamish): "Bizarre baby born in Dolakha". I don't know if this is true or not. But it's pretty disturbing. The baby sort of looks happy but grotesque. It died soon after it was born.

Right here in Massachusetts: "Pregnant woman beaten at baby shower".  The arguement/fight started over whether a woman let a 5-year-old daughter drink beer. Juan Velazquez fired shots in the air and started beating attendees with a large stick including the 22-year old mother-to-be. She turned out OK after being released from the hospital.

Gas prices in Worcester: Range from $2.48 to 2.67 here on April 5, 2006.

Final story of the night: I was driving home to Worcester from Westboro around 8:30pm and as I passed through Grafton, I heard an air siren. I wasn't sure what it meant so I called my brother Brett–a fireman–and he told me it was the call for the voluteer firemen to go to the firehouse(s) for duty (fire). A little farther down the road I was traveling behind Wyman Gordon on Westboro Rd. and a police car zipped by me. It stopped about 1/4 of mile ahead. As I approached (the car) I noticed a white haze going across the road, sort of like a fog. I pulled over and decided to turn around and go home an alternate way. A few seconds later I smelled pool water. I think it was chlorine. I immediately opened my windows and aired the car out.

I'll investigate and come back with more details about this story.

Can’t get rid of the Coca; Another wacky cat story; Notorious B.I.G.’s family awarded $1.1 million

U.S tax dollars have been going to Bolivia to help eradicate the Bolivian coca leaf. Under the newly elected President Evo Morales, a former coca farmer, the eradication effort is down 60%. This article from the Associated Press talks about the traditional, and natural, use for the coca leaf besides cocaine. Morales even suggests putting coca bread on the school menu. I made a similar suggestion to my high school about pot brownies. I'm still waiting for an answer.

Cats can't seem to stay out the news
The latest diabolical event was a cat stuck in a wall at house under construction, waving his paw out a hole, crying and catching the attention of prospective buyer. Just yesterday a story appeared about a cat in Sunset Circle Connecticut terrorizing the townspeople, ambushing 11 people utilizing the long claws on his six toe'd feet. Last week there was story about a cat fallingl 80 feet from a tree and landing on his back, then getting up and running away unharmed. And he was on the tree limb for 8 days.

My prediction: a news channel/web site/magazine devoted to serious, domestic, most e-mailed stories about cats.

I dream of similar attention levels being given to this blog. It's a dream I have.

L.A. ordered to give B.I.G.'s family B.I.G. bucks
The rapper's family was awarded the money for legal and other costs relating to a wrongful death suit brought against the city of LA . A detective withheld documents that might have been pertinent to the family's case. A $1.1 million dollar mistake and taxpayers have to pay for it.

I didn't follow the east coast/west coast rap war thing but I did like this song which allegedly was part of the whole controversy.

My dog Tikki

The story of Tikki really begins with a dog named "Jack". While living in San Francisco, my wife and I baby-sat a yorkshire terrier called "Jack" for some friends of ours. A sleep-over. Jack was about 6-8 lbs. and very friendly. Very lickee (the dog was all tongue). We both loved Jack. The lets-get-a-yorkie wheels starting turning in my wife's head.

We found a yorkie puppy for sale in Oakland off of a Yahoo.com classified ad. A woman renting a studio apartment, had to give up her yokie or face eviction. She would hide her ownership of the dog (from her landlord) by pretending it was her cousin's and she was looking after it for the weekend. The landlord caught on and gave her an ultimatum—either the dog goes or you both go.

So we trecked over the Bay Bridge to Oakland for a visit. Or at least I thought it was just a visit (more on that later).

We sat down with the owner in her 10×10 apartment, and this little rug rat jumped up on the back of the couch we were sitting on, walked behind our heads while checking my wife and I out. Her black fur jetted-out in spikes and made her look like Joan Jett the morning after. Honestly, she looked like the ugly duckling of the litter and weighed about 2 lbs. She reminded me of a baby Ewok.

Well come to find out, my wife had already talked to the owner and told her we were taking Tikki home tonight. I had no idea. I just wanted to look at the dog and think about it overnight. I told the owner this and she started to cry. She was emotionally preparing to let the dog go that night. Needless to say, we came back the next night and took Tikki home for good.

She's now 5 1/2 years old and 6 1/2 lbs. and her fur has gone from black to black & tan.

I figured my dog deserves a mention in this blog for all the love and dedication she gives me.

Kite flying can kill; Global warming is unavoidable; Some saucy sites

My brother directed me to an alarming and unique story. A kite flying festival, Basant, in Pakistan has been cancelled this year in fear of "kite dueling" – trying to knock a rival's kite from the air by slicing through his or her string which are usually laced with glass shards. This has caused seven deaths recently with people getting tangled in the death strings. Read the story from the Guardian Unlimited.

CNN had a lead story on Sunday about Global Warming and how it's here and in full force. Polar caps melting, less ice to reflect the sun's rays back into space, ocean water getting warmer, animal species becoming extinct, drought, severe weather events, and —- the Bush administration refuses to be a part of the 141 nations that have ratified the Kyoto treaty to reduce global emissions. Yikes! The hits just keep coming from this administration.

In keeping with the serious nature of this post, I thought I would list a few saucy sites for viewing:

• Hot Rod Condoms – no more fumbling around when your in the heat of the moment.
• Bust.com – for women looking to get something off of their chest.
• Saucy Monkey – an L.A. based band with an irish connection.
• The Association for Dressings and Sauces – good starting place for sauce making.
• Fire Hot Sauces and Gourmet – great site for hot sauce info.
• The "Saucy Jack" Postcard – a message claimed to be written by "Jack the Ripper".

Finally, on this day in history 53 years ago Dr. Jonas Salk announces on a national radio show that he has successfully tested a vaccine against poliomyelitis, the virus that causes the crippling disease of polio.

Man’s Toddler Son Wanders Into Strip Club; Scientists Learn Why Bird Flu Does Not Easily Infect People; Nats Soriano to Play Left Field afterall

A 31 year old father told his son to stay in the car (or monsters would eat him) while he went into a strip bar. Then the kid unstrapped himself and walked into the club. Police arrested the father on a complaint of “encouraging a minor child to be in need of supervision.” Nice. The club manager called police after seeing the kid walk in the club. My question: how did the kid get past the front door? Did the manager only call the police after is was apparent he wasn’t going to drink? Or have a lap dance performed? Full story from Forbes through AP.

Scientists have discovered a natural barrier that prevents us from getting H5N1 bird flu. The virus attaches to cells too deep in the lungs for coughing and sneezing to spread the disease. The disease also doesn’t spread easily between birds and humans. Good news for everyone except the millions of birds that will have to be killed once this virus takes hold in this country. Full coverage on this discovery from VOA news.

The Washington Nationals Alfonso Soriano finally decided that he’ll accept the change in position to left field from second base. He refused to enter a pre-season game yesterday and play the outfield and left everyone standing around confused. But finally he caved and the world has been set right again. ESPN has a story on how the ball club is pleased with his personal sacrifice. Wow.

A doink-headed Dad, potential national health disaster, and a millionaire baseball player making a personal sacrifice to play another position. Aliens observing us are scratching their bald, green heads, putting their spaceships in reverse and leaving this galaxy like a bat out of hell.

I’m still baffled by Sharon Stone making ‘Basic Instinct 2‘ or as it should be titled: ‘Basic Instinct 2: A Little Older and Still not Wearing Panties‘.