Updating from Mars

Tonight, Bella and I had a date: On our way out to the Burrito store, I caught her eyes rolling back a few times, she was dog tired. But the burrito was a magic refueler - a scooby snack extraordinaire, and she was ready steady to go to Guitar Center.

There she led the charge to all of the departments. In the drum department, she was quite timid, until some boys started playing real loud: Then she started wiggling and joined in. In the keyboard department, she finally made the connection between the knobs above the keys and the sound (thanks to a convenient Moog Little Phatty), and it was like a new store for her - she was playing with the filters on the synths and drawbars on the organs, giggling like a maniac.

We got home and she's STILL unwinding in bed - she really got herself wound up! She had wanted to go to the bookstore too, but I thought I had caught a few yawns... turns out she's got energy to spare!

Geek Story: Weeks ago when I was working that Golive (and watched all those Heroes episodes), a coworker was evangelizing about Firefly, a short lived sci-fi western. She said until I watch it, I don't know nothin' about nothin'. So this week I watched the pilot, and I gotta say, I can see why people were passionate about it. There was great writing, big themes, great effects, snappy dialogue, and some very surreal stuff. I could EASILY see getting together with friends, watching the show and dropping lines of dialogue in public places. But I'm a good 4 years too late, and I feel late to the party. I'm just not sure I have 10 episodes in me... but I'll try one more just to see.

Work: I needed to get some fancy insurance for the new gig, and finally got it arranged today. It's not a small amount of money, but in a way I've been lucky NOT to need it in the past. With this coverage, I can work just about anywhere they have lawyers who care. I was working two angles for the insurance: One was my current agency, who was flummoxed by the requirements and wanted me to wait for a week until somebody who knew better got in. The other was a pro who got it all arranged in a day, and was willing to activate all of it on a verbal promise to pay ("we need to have some level of trust here"). The guy who worked for it got my business.

Exercise: I'm excited that they're launching the new quarterly releases tomorrow, and I'll be good and tired when I get home tomorrow night: I'll be learning the new weights AND dance sets after work Friday... Pamela is graciously putting the kids to bed so that I can be an adonis at the gym (hey, I watched them last night while she got a pedicure, so we're getting even....)

Language: It was all about the Japanese this week for me. It started well, I finally learned some new words that I had heard movie villians say... and it reinvigorated me. I'll hit Chinese next week harder. The nice people at the Chinese website sent me a note: I had told them my goal was to learn Mandarin so I could go to Shanghai for my 40th birthday and have a suit hand tailored on me. They wrote me back saying that's a GREAT goal, and that suits cost less than $100, so I'll probably want to get a dozen, and they can point me to some great tailors who will even design crazy clothes I make up (I'm thinking some sci-fi wear might get made).

So that got me all excited to keep learning languages. Add to that, it's great mind exercise and is keeping me sharp (like I need the help?).

Music: I thought I had a great hook for the American Idol songwriter competition, but once I played it to tape, it was a bit limp. I may not be able to pull this one off. There are over 5000 entries already, alas, and the deadline is Tuesday. Perhaps this weekend it'll all come together? Perhaps.

Off to watch a show now! (no, not writing that great pop song - relaxing!)

(PS - Cary and Laurie are back home: The baby is stubbornly clinging to that woman's uterus and may be delivered early next week. If this is any indication, they'll eventually have a kid who won't be rushed... ;-> )