Pickle-ickle-ickle

It has been a while since I posted a blog entry. The times that I've had an idea in my head, I haven't been near a computer with time to enter. The times that I've had time and access to a computer, I haven't had any ideas.

I've got both. Actually, I've got time and a lot of ideas, but instead of making each one an entry, I'll just put some of them out here...

I've been listening to my mp3 player at work a lot lately. I keep going back to a few albums. Warren Zevon's The Wind and Chuck Mangione's Fun and Games. The Wind was Warren's last release before he passed away 4 years ago. He worked on it as he battled cancer. Some of the lyrics are wonderful. From the song, Disorder in the House...

Disorder in the house
All bets are off
I'm sprawled across the davenport of despair

Disorder in the house
I'll live with the tosses
And watch the sundown through the portiere

And from the song, Keep Me In Your Heart...

Shadows are falling and I'm running out of breath
Keep me in your heart for awhile

If I leave you it doesn't mean I love you any less
Keep me in your heart for awhile

When you get up in the morning and you see that crazy sun
Keep me in your heart for awhile

There's a train leaving nightly called when all is said and done
Keep me in your heart for awhile

The CD was very starkly produced. If you listen, you can hear everything. Joking during songs, a missed note here or there, the sound of a man dying, but willing to go on with life.

On the reading front, I'm over halfway through with Gabriel García Márquez's 100 Years of Solitude. I have read that people either love this book or hate it. I don't know that I love it, but I find it very interesting. A new movie is being released next month based on one of his other books, Love in the Time of Cholera.

Game 4 of the World Series is being played tonight. Before the season started, a few of the guys at work put in their picks. I called a New York subway series. I was wrong. Just before the Series started, we revised our picks. I chose Colorado in 6. I'm half wrong. We'll see tonight if I'm all wrong. - Update - The Red Sox have swept the Rockies. I'm all wrong.

Since the sale of our house, we've been able to get back on track, financially. Our credit cards are paid off, there's some money in the bank, and we purchased some new furniture. An entertainment center and a computer desk/hutch. A nice, simple look in pine. They should be delivered this coming Saturday. After buying them, I went a different store and I think I found our new kitchen table. I want Angie to look at it, though. I took photos and described it to her, but...

I've also been playing with IRC, the Internet Relay Chat. Basically, it is an instant messenger / bulletin board / private messenger thingo. I use it to communicate with other players of my Luser Game, as my loving wife calls it. Thanks to Mitch and Tali for helping me understand the cryptic commands of the protocol. Late last night / early this morning we also looked at making Google Talk work with more than one user. Using a GoogleGadget, we were able to do it, but it was late and I know that I had other things on my mind. I'm sure that we'll try again.

Regarding the game, I now have something to mock her about. She received a book as a gift from her parents. It is a science fiction novel written by one of their doctors. I don't think that Angie's ever read any real science fiction. I'm guessing that it is okay, but she said that some of the alien's names started with a !. That will make for a nice audio book.

Today, at church, we celebrated the 33rd anniversary of the start of our congregation. A local women's trio, 2 or More, came and sang in service, then again after the dinner. I didn't stay around for the dinner or the program. I took Caroline home, thinking that she probably needed a nap more than she needed to stay in the nursery. We fell asleep watching an NFL game, and then I put her in her crib while I retired to our bed. It has been a while since I've had a chance to take a Sunday afternoon nap. I enjoyed it.

And the Title of this blog entry is from The Wind. I'll let you find the song that it came from.

Shameless Plug

This is a link to get you to the JustGive.org website so you can make an online donation to the Down Syndrome Awareness Group of East Tennessee.

JustGive.org is a non-profit organization to assist other non-profits to more easily accept electronic payments. JustGive.org deducts 3% of donations to cover the transaction costs. This is as good (or better) than many credit card fees.

Remember to put Caroline's name in the Designate my donation and/or in the Dedicate my donation box(es).

When it asks for an email address to send a message to, please use: shccangie at yahoo dot com . You know how to do the anti-robot replace the at with an @ and the dot with a . thing.

On behalf of Caroline, and the other individuals and families that DSAG serves, thank you.

Off bass

On Friday we closed on the sale of our house. This has been a long 4-1/2 months. But, God has been faithful and has made resources available to us and saw us through.

It is much easier, at a closing, to be the seller. We signed a few papers, initialed others and then sat back and watched the buyer run out of ink in their pens. Twice. Not really, but you understand what I mean.

After the closing, Angie had to go to Best Buy to get some things for church. Since the Best Buy just happens to be next to Guitar Center, I went in there after we were done at Best Buy. Angie went to Jo Ann's fabric store. She bought something. I didn't.

I went in thinking that I might like to get an acoustic/electric bass guitar. I looked around the electric bass room. Some pretty ones to look at. But I like my current Fender. No need to change. But I thought that it might be nice to have an acoustic. So I looked. And played some. Here's what I looked at...

It is a Dean Playmate. Their price was about $200. Very much a Jumbo body. Uncomfortable for me, as the Precision that I play is much thinner. The sound was very tubby. Much slack on the strings, therefore much buzz. I really liked the feel of the neck, though.

The next one I tried was...

a Michael Kelly Club Deluxe. Their price was about $450. Workmanship was a little nicer. But still a tubby sound.

Finally, I tried ...a Fender Victory Bailey Signature. A much thinner body. The craftsmanship was super. Their price was about $900. A bit rich for my wallet. The sound was better, not as tubby, but I thought that it would cut through a bit more.

Now, to be fair, I did not run any of them through an amp, so I'm guessing that their tone would be different. But I thought that an acoustic bass might be useful for playing without an amp. I either had my expectations too high, or I'm just confused.

I'm not going to get one now. Maybe ever.

What I'm Reading

About six or seven weeks ago, I blogged about Savoring Books. I thought that I'd post an update.

I read some Mark Twain. Witty. Pointed. Darn funny.

I've been reading Tolkien's Farmer Giles of Ham. A delightful story in which... You go read it. It is often combined with Smith of Wootton Major. I'm not planning on re-reading that right now.

I picked up Marjorie Rowling's Life in Medieval Times. A nice, semi scholarly and very readable on social history. I've read a few chapters, including: "Women and Wives" and "Townsmen and Traders." Nice.

I also picked up a copy of John Donne's Poetry (Norton Critical Edition, selected and edited by A. L. Clements). Donna Mo commented on my wanting to read some Donne by saying:

And let me know how you make out with John Donne!

Donna, I don't want to make out with him. There are too many reasons why. But he was a randy fellow. Elegy XIX: To His Mistress Going to Bed (sometimes referred to as Elegy XX). Very good writing. He was quite the punster in some of his other writings. I'll let you find them yourselves.

I've also been going through Walter Wangerin Jr.'s The Book of God. I'm still reading about the prophets.

I have been reading for the details. They are so important. A good friend of mine recently said:

If you give me a month, I can make you a whole new world. You can give me all my life, though, and I won't have finished the first person to live in it.

Creativity at its finest.

My wife supports me in whatever I do

Last night I'm sitting at the computer, scanning some things for a DSAG, checking emails and typing up some RolePlay for BattleMaster.

My wife comes over and says, "So how's your luser game going?"

"Just peachy."

"I'm so proud of you, you little warrior. Or whatever you are."

Then she pats my shoulder and walks away.

Boys and their Toys

It's Sonny (the nickname that my father had) and his playthings. The last photo is slightly disturbing. More Champlain artifacts...

Be a well dressed First Aid worker

Another in the artifacts from Champlain.

What sort of literature comes in a plain brown wrapper?

This page is representative of the rest of the book.

French mime artist Marcel Marceau dies

Burn me Once...

When my folks were here a few weeks ago, they shared many different artifacts that they found at my grandmother's house. One of them was a small booklet titled:

1873-1973
Centenial
of the
Village Of Champlain
New York

Some Historical Notes
Compiled by
Lawrence Paquette & Charles W. McLellan

Centennial Days
Saturday, Sunday, August 25-26
1973

I have taken the liberty to reproduce (without permission) one of the articles here.

Education in Champlain

     The lamp of knowledge came to Champlain in 1792, with an Englishman, Michael Fothergill, as the first teacher. Four years later the first Board of Trustees was chosen, followed in 1797 by the first schoolhouse -- a log building near the railroad crossing on Oak Street.
     The second building was of frame, built a few years later on Church Street where the "locker plant" now stands. This was also used as a blockhouse during the war of 1812, ans was burned in 1814. The U.S. Government reimbursed the owners to the amount of $400.
     A brick building was built on the same site at a cost of about $1100. This building was 40 by 26 feet. It was sold by the School District in 1884.
     The Champlain Academy was erected in 1842, at the corner of Elm and Prospect Streets. It was a three story brick and stone building, 40 by 80 feet, and cost $5,200, including furnishings. Destroyed by fire in 1887, it was replaced at a cost of $11,000 by the building shown above, to which an addition was built in 1905. This structure was complete destroyed by fire in December 1940, the site now being occupied by the home of Mr. Carl Fresn.
     The new building was built in 1941-42 at a cost of $171,000, which is now the present grade school for our area of the Northeastern Clinton Central School.
     Consolidations of the many small school districts started in 1860; continued with the establishment of the Union Free School System in 1871 and the gradual expansion into our present Central School System.
     Notable among our early instructors are Dr. William Beaumont, who taught School in Champlain in 1807-10, and Jehudi Ashmun in 1815. Recent principals before Mr. Maher were Mr. Bacon, Marvin and Codding.

-----

Dad had sometimes mentioned that when he was in grade school, the school had burned down. I didn't know the whole story. Since a picture is worth a thousand words...

I'm not sure how this photo ended up in my grandmother's house, but I'm glad that I have a copy of it.

The Scoop

I haven't posted an entry in a few weeks. Life has been busy. Sometimes a good busy, but busy.

Angie does such a good job keeping up with her blog, I often don't have much family type stuff to blog about. When an inspiration hits me, or I find some hook to use, I check her blog and find out that she's already written about it. Today, because she's busy with church things (special music practice, service order prep and then an informal dinner for the staff only), she won't have time to blog during the day. I'll scoop her.

This morning, at about 10:30am, we signed a contract for the sale of our house. A nice young couple had looked at it before, and then their circumstances were such that they made an offer on Friday. Things were inline, so we accepted. (There's a lot more legal mumbo-jumbo that went on, but that is the sum of it.)

So, in the coming weeks we'll close on the house that we lived in for 11 years. There were many good memories made in that house. And I hope that the young couple can make their own at the same address.

We're happy that it is in the final stages of the sale, and Angie and I both praise God for it happening. If you've been praying for it to happen, thank you.

So, I've got the scoop, I've got the contract, I've got a great wife.

Doing her part for the Army Air Forces

My grandmother (my dad's mother) was doing her part to help America during WWII. She was an observer for the Army Air Forces. She'd spend hours scanning the skies in upstate New York, looking for enemy planes.

My parents spent the better part of the summer closing up her house. They found wonderful things: photos, books, toys, cookware and such that my grandmother used, loved and kept.

This entry is about one set of items that they found. It is her wings and a manual. The AWS on the wings stand for "Advanced Warning Service." I only scanned two pages from the manual, but all of them were so ripe. These pages are just a representation.



There was also a First Aid Manual that might end up as tomorrow's post.

End of August wrap up

Doug has been hounding Angie for photos of the Bristol weekend. Here's a link. The weekend was good. Read about it on Angie's blog.

On Tuesday, I took Edison to his orthodontist appointment. He's in getting his teeth cranked. I've read the Sports Illustrated and I've read all the Car and Driver magazines on previous visits. A few patients come in. Then one walks in. The women at the front desk rush around the patient. I only see her from the back, but then I hear her voice. A few minutes later, Edison comes out, just beaming.

"Did you see who that was, Dad?"

I ask the front desk women if all the stars come to Dr. H's office to get their teeth cleaned. Yes, as a matter of fact, they do. One of them asks if Edison would like to meet her. He grins a "yes."

They usher us back the hall. I push Edison's hair back down and remind him to be polite. Then, we're brought in to see her. Pat Summit. Around here, she's a legend. And she should be. She was very gracious and kind. She asked where Edison attended school and then commented that it was a good school. She shook our hands and answered a few questions about next year's team. She said that she's excited about the four new freshman girls that will be joining the team. That individual practices are going on, but that her staff is running those, but she watches when she can. She invited us to come out and see the team this year. All this while she was wearing a dentistry bib.

I didn't say anything stupid and Edison was very well behaved. What more could you want.

The folks are here for a few more days. Had to help dad get a new battery for their car on Tuesday. But, he's helped me with so much...

It rained last night.

So, that's the wrap up for the end of August. Life is still good.

Savoring Books

From Merriam-Webster's website, I find that a definition for savor is:

2a : to have experience of :TASTE b : to taste or smell with pleasure : RELISH c : to delight in : ENJOY

I've enjoyed reading for many years. Sometimes I read just to finish a book, though. "Well, it was a gift, I should read it." "It has been at the top of the bestseller's list for 2 months. I should read it." "So-and-so said that it was a must read. I should read it." That shouldn't be the reason to read. I'm trying to learn to put a book down when it isn't worth reading. I should have learned that before. Richard Grindal's Tartan Conspiracy comes to mind, as does Thomas Hoving's Masterpiece. Thomas Hoving has written some very nice books, but Masterpiece is not one of them.

Today I finished reading Malba Tahan's The Man Who Counted. What wonderful story telling. "Details are story-material," a friend recently said. There are fantastic details in this book. Not details like in Umberto Eco's The Name of the Rose (the description of the cathedral door was overkill), but details that flesh out the story. That make it a fun read. That make you want to savor it.

Malba Tahan's book is very readable. No, it isn't only a math book, but you get a lot of math in it. If you like number puzzles, then this is for you. You've heard some of them before. And others are fresh, even though they were written many years ago. The book is so readable, I might have been able to read it at one sitting, had I not been sick this past week and fallen asleep with it in my hands. I'm glad it took me the whole week. I was able to savor it.

Instead of reading the next few books that I've selected for myself I'm going to try to read chapters of old book 'friends.' I've started to read the chapter about Tom Bombadil from Tolkien's The Fellowship of the Ring. I want to read essays by Mark Twain. Not a whole book of them, just some. I want to read some short stories by O. Henry, particularly The Ransom of Red-Chief. My father-in-law loves it. I've heard him retell the story 3 or 4 times. But I've never read it. I want to read the poetry of John Donne. To enjoy it.

Right now, I'm going to be finishing Walter Wangerin, Jr.'s The Book of God. I just finished the part where King Solomon dies and then it goes into the Prophets. I reread the first few pages of the book tonight. Good details. Good storytelling. I'll be savoring that one for a while.

No Bake Cookies

The other day, Angie made some No Bake Cookies. They were the best batch that she made in quite a while. Just the right consistency. Fantastic.

My Life is Good.

Thanks, Angie.

I love you.

Bass Guitar

I play bass guitar. I'm guessing that I first picked up a bass guitar in about 1976. I had played cello since the 4th grade, then I learned upright bass in junior high school. Then I filled in on bass guitar for a few musicals. Thank you, George Slosson. I changed high schools at the beginning of my junior year. The new high school didn't have an orchestra, but did have a great stage band. I did play cello on one cut of an album that we recorded in the Phoenix area. My senior year, I got a Kay bass guitar. It was a Precision style. It wasn't that good, but it was mine. I put it too good use that year. We played a lot of shows, at the Officer's Club on Ft. Huachuca, Tombstone's Centennial Ball, Arizona State Fair, HS productions, weddings and the like. Thank you, Coach Klein. That was some of the best musical training a person could get. Then to college, where I played in the B Jazz Band. Then off to other places. I've been in quite a few pick up bands. Practice, do a gig, split. Don't practice, do a gig, split. I moved to Illinois in the mid 1980s. I played with the church youth choir. Then I found a 1983 Fender P bass. I think that it was in a music store on 95th Street. Great price. It was mine. It was a nice bass. That's how I met Angie. Playing bass. She was the piano player/musical director for Community Christian Church, a new church plant in Naperville, IL. Doug played guitar. Doug asked me to join the band. But that is another story. I had that bass until about 2000 or so. Then it was stolen. From church, no less. The insurance company replaced it, sort of. I had some custom work done to it, and it was rather unique. They don't make them like that any more. So, I got another Fender. California series. It is a combo of a P and J bass. I like it.

Start edit. Yes, I still play. Our church has two bands. I'm playing for both of them. One is more "Gaither" oriented, but getting in the 1990s now. Brass and woodwinds, piano, keyboard, acoustic and electric guitars, drum kit, but still reserved. The other band, the "Acoustic Band" features more of a Hillsongs feel. Acoustic and electric guitars, piano, keyboard, drumkit. But it has a rockier feel. End edit.

I found a few videos on YouTube featuring bass players. Here they are in no particular order. But the order is... Bill Clements (the one handed bass player), Tony Levin (improv with Phil Keaggy and Jerry Marotta), then Victor Wooten (Amazing Grace).







Enjoy.

Short story

I wrote this short story back in high school for a creative writing class. That was either 1979 or 1980. It was published in the high school literary magazine, Andromeda, in 1981. I rediscovered it last night while looking for my copy of The Lord of the Rings.


The Quota

The mobile guillotine slid down the street. The metal sluices shined in the early morning light. The police had to get their weekly quota, and they were still 237 short. If they didn't make it, the force made up the remainder.

The guillotine was used for such offenses as jaywalking, spitting on the sidewalk, and other misdemeanors. It replaced the chamber--quicker, cleaner, and generally more efficient.

Its photo-electric eye spotted someone leaning on a sign. It sped up to the loiterer, told him the charge, and asked him to lie down flat. The culprit, knowing that he had no other choice, lay down and it was over in an instant. The head was put into a collection box on the corner, and the body dropped into a incinerator nearby.

"Only 236 more," screeched the voice speaker in the police lounge.

"God Bless! Its Thursday and 236 more to go by Saturday midnight," gruffed the commander. "We haven't been this far behind since that one week in '93."

"Yeah, think maybe we could pick some of 'em up, Binky, huh?" asked a sergeant of his commander.

Binky slowly smiled. "Yes, yes. It looks like we'll have to get them one way or another. Too bad."

The electronic listening device sent this and all other conversations to the main computer. It was listened to and then sent to the data bank for police corruption.

After listening to it many times and analyzing voice inflection and sincerity, the computer commissioned a force of guillotines to the station.

Listed in the file for the weekly quota: "Due to the abundance of criminals this week, there will be no need to send out the mobile guillotines next week."

Not a Fan of the Fan, but a Fan of the Man

Here's a story about my ceiling fan. There used to be a light fixture. It came with the house, but it wasn't quite us. So I took it out, with the intention of putting up a ceiling fan that we bought at Lowe's some time ago when they matched the price of any Home Depot sale. We got fans. And a light kit. And bulbs, and stretcher bars that you hang the fans on. One for the office area and a very cute one for Caroline's room. Thinking that having had them for about 2 months and not putting them up wasn't a good use of resources, I was determined to install the fan for Caroline's room on Saturday. One thing lead to another, schedules got weird, mowing had to be done. Okay, maybe not Caroline's room, because that is her only source of light. I'll do the office one. We were to be over at Jim and Nancy's for dinner at about 6:20pm. Angie leaves with Caroline at about 5:40pm. Not quite enough time to get started, but I start to pull together tools, step stool, etc. I come home with Caroline and get her bathed and in bed by 9:00pm. I'm tired, but got to get it going. I take down the light fixture. Here's what I have...


So, got to put up a fan brace bar. My boss is overkill man, when it comes to construction. So, I got the Super Fan Brace. See below.

There was a stamped metal fan brace already installed. I can take that out. Wait. Notice the air vent just beyond the hole in the ceiling? You know how all modern construction is usually set at 16" to center studs? Except when they use 24". Like this house's ceiling joists. Great. The stamped metal fan brace is nailed into the joists, a little over 11" away from the hole, in a 7' ceiling. I fight with a claw hammer until midnight when I declare victory. The old brace has been defeated. I'm too tired and frustrated to continue.

Sunday afternoon, I resume. The instructions call for the blue wire to go to the blue wire, black to black, white to common, ground to ground. Except that I don't have a blue wire from the house. Only on the fan. I read and re-read and re-read the instructions. I've got it figured out.

Light kit goes on, just fine.

Then I need to change out the rotary dimmer. I've been doing all this work with the light switch turned off, but the breaker on. Spare me the lectures. I've heard them. Tonight. Twice. I go to the breaker box, turn off the dining room, because that is where the light is. Nope. It is on the Living Room circuit. Know how I found out? Zap! I then turn off the Living Room circuit, finish changing out the switch. Ah. The fan works. The lights don't. I start taking it all apart, checking the wires carefully. I disassemble the whole thing. It looks right. I call Jim, the best father-in-law in the US. (Runner up might be my dad to Angie, but I don't get to decide that.) He comes over. Looks at it. "Well, here's your problem, blue should go to black and black should go to black and white should go to white and bare should go to ground." And he said it in a way that didn't make me feel more foolish. He taped them up, we tested things and they work. He then handed me fan blades and screws and stuff.

Jim's a good man.
Thanks, Jim, for everything.

Books

Over the last few days (mostly evenings), I've been chatting with my friend, Tali, in São Paulo. The conversation winds from school studies, to family, family vacations, food, friends, music, movies, and books.

She introduced me to a few new (at least to me) authors. Malba Tahan. That's Tali's great-grand-uncle. Another author is Gabriel García Márquez. He wrote One Hundred Years of Solitude. The third author that she mentioned was João Guimarães Rosa. I've already ordered one of Malba Tahan's books from a neighboring county library. I look forward to reading it.

Yesterday, Tali said that she read two books in five days. "It was good for the soul." Reading is good for the soul.

It made me review what I've been reading recently. Here's what I've read in 2007...

• Dan Patrick's Outtakes
• Bruce Nash and Allan Zullo 's Baseball Confidential
• Harry Shearer's Man Bites Town
• Mike Greenberg's Why My Wife Thinks I'm An Idiot
• John Mortimer's Rumpole and the Reign of Terror
• James Lincoln Collier's Rich and Famous
• Elliott Roosevelt's The President's Man
• Alan Ross's Echoes from the Ballpark
• Lawrence and Nancy Goldstone's Warmly Inscribed: The New England Forger and Other Book Tales

I'm just finishing up Murders' Row, a collection of original baseball mysteries, edited by by Otto Penzler. I'm also slogging my way through Alberto Manguel's A History of Reading.

I should probably move away from the lighter fare and dig or re-dig into some meatier books.

Thank you, Tali, for having this discussion with me. Now, if I can just get Angie to read The Hobbit.

Twin Sons of Different Mothers?

Caroline's Art

In the past few weeks, Caroline created some art at Parent's Day Out.

Here they are without comment, except to say that the gray blotches are where the wet paints warped the paper and the scanner picked them up as shadows.

Enjoy.