Monday started with Isaac re-adjusting to the time zone and fast awake at 7am. I am living in dread fear that he will fully adjust to eastern time by the end of our trip and be up at 6 again, only to have that become 5am back in Minneapolis. IT WILL HAPPEN. A good breakfast and we joined the cousins for a morning walk up to the small Annex to the Ding Darling nature center: This is where we saw the baby alligator and the gopher tortoise last year, and we were optimistic for great viewings... Our new resort is just a half mile from the annex so we had a nice march before it got too warm. And we did see some good stuff, including a pretty big old gator lolling about in the water - about a 6 footer. Not as many birds as last year.
Got back home and it was time for the pool again - Isaac is part Mer-man I suspect. Bella sat out, preferring to play with the cousins. Lunch was hit or miss, with Isaac declining major food in favor of running outside again. I got a little couch nap in while we all stayed out of the sun for a while... but Bella and I went off for a walk again while Pamela took Isaac to the beach with the cousins. Bella and I wandered down to a resort just down the beach where our friends Jenner and Mark were staying, and hey, there they were at the pool bar! So Bella and I had drinks with them (Bella had lemonade, I had a beer), and we brought a margarita back for Pamela, which she accepted with a smile. By early afternoon, it was apparent that everyone was getting a little cranky and we needed some major food. So into the car and off to the Blue Giraffe.
The Blue Giraffe is a very average place (and I think I wrote the same thing about it last year too), but good kid food, plus some cute shops and a playground outside. Inside, I had a very odd deja vu: I was was drawn to the build your own burger section, and dictated an order to the waiter - burger well done, guac, BBQ, Bacon, and jalapenos. The waiter said they didn't HAVE jalapenos, and I said "really?" and then realized, I had attempted to build this very same burger one year earlier and been stymied by the same issue. What is odd is that I had NOT tried to order this strange burger combo since last year. There was something in the wording of the BYOB menu section that triggered my same response. This year at least he offered roasted poblano peppers.
Bellies full, Bella and Pamela wanted to browse the shops, and Isaac wanted to play in the kiddie playground. He played well with the other little kids, but over time, their parents were all ready to go, and he was left alone on the playground. I went in to play and he asked if I'd play TAG. Well sure I would. We raced around and around, and then it happened. In the paver sidewalk, I was running top speed and TRIPPED. I fell forward, and broke my fall with my hands, but my momentum was such that I kept tipping forward, and smacked my chin on the ground. I don't think I even landed - I pushed myself right back up to standing, but found I had cuts on my hands, a puncture in my thigh from where my keys jammed in, and a good scrape on my chin - plus a sore jaw from getting my teeth smacked together.
Isaac watched from a safe, tag-free distance and wanted to know if I was ok... as did a group of older folk nearby. At that moment, Pamela wandered up too asking "NOW what?" Bandaids and neosporin were brought out, and i was actually quite a bit shaken by the event - it's not fun to be out of control like that. But I also wanted to be strong... And was feeling just sort of old and broken. Fortunately, nothing WAS broken by a miracle, so despite not being able to shave for a day or two, and a scraped up palm, I'm doing ok. But it was a little freaky.
There was supposed to be an ice-cream sundae bar after dinner with the cousins, but their dinner ran later and later and later, and by 8:30pm, there was still no ice cream and Isaac was a bit of a wreck. We gave him a bowl of whipped cream and a promise that TOMORROW there would be ice cream. He cried a bit, but we also finished up book 14 of the Secrets of Droon, so all was ok. I came out to find my cousins and uncle sitting on our porch, dipping into my scotch: The remaining kids were playing flashlight tag in the dark, and we were talking guy stuff. My Strathisla 12 was finished up and the kids were all headed to bed by 10, so I kicked them out and went to bed. I might have had a little too much scotch.
Tuesday:
I awoke at 5, insomnia wracking my brain, worried about statements of work and deliverables and whether I was any good at my job and all sorts of other things I have no right to think about on a nice vacation. By 6:30, I was back asleep, only to be awakened again at 7 by Isaac jumping on the bed. Literally. The day had nowhere to go but up. (And in the clear light of day, no there weren't big things to worry about and I actually AM very good at my job, thank you very much)
We gassed up with coffee and breakfast and hit the beach for a shelling run bright and early - Bella found joy in following shore birds. A very nice whelk washed up at our feet, and we picked it up, only to find it occupied. So we threw it back into the sea, only to have it wash up at our feet a good 100 yards later. I dubbed it Sidney the Suicidal Whelk, and we threw it even further back out, and we didn't see him again. Bella found a good hunk of coral. And we watched several dozen pelicans in a feeding frenzy, swooping and diving for fish - it was hard not to hear "Flight of the Valkyries" watching them. As we walked back, Isaac feigned tiredness, so he got a shoulder ride from me, and a piggyback from Bella.
Then it was Isaac headed to the Pool again, and I joined him. Bella was with the cousins again, for some reasons, the cousins have consented to having Bella tie them to palm trees. Bella loves this and cackles evilly. I got a nap in the afternoon, and we all got ready for our second Ding adventure of the week: The Tram Tour of the Ding Darling Nature refuge. We had done this last year too, and had thoroughly enjoyed it. This year, we had a different guide, but just as much fun: Highlights included a whole lot of Tarpons jumping out of the water, a horseshoe crab mating frenzy (dozens of those hideous things crawling all over eachother), a black mangrove snake trying not to be seen, and TWO big crocodiles - one a bit hidden but clearly huge, and the other swimming in a lazy circle for us to watch. They were close, they were noticing us, and we were happy to be up in a large vehicle. This year, not as many tiny mangrove crabs, however. Asked the kids what they thought after the tour, and the reviews were two thumbs up from each (though Liam added "Three Thumbs Up" - not sure what that thumb represented).
When we got back, we realized that with 3 sets of parents and 7 kids, we have OPTIONS, and we were offered the first of the "Date nights" - 2-3 hours to disappear while the other people fed and watched our kids (we'll be returning the favor for the other two families, of course!). We gussied up a bit and headed off to Traders (or as Bama renamed it, "Groupers").
Dinner was fantastic - I had horseradish crusted salmon, Pamela had blackened grouper. They had a good scotch on the bar (Glenrothes) and Pamela had a nice prosecco wine - we just enjoyed each other's company without worrying whether there was a hamburger on the menu. We wandered back in time to see the kids finishing up their sundaes, and I wrangled them back to home for bed.
I read to them both - Isaac and I started book 15 of Droon (something about MoonScrolls), and Bella and I kept on with Percy Jackson. Funny thing - Bella has started reading Percy Jackson 3 times and sort of crapped out in the same point (Page 58?) each time. Tonight, we finally blew PASTE that milestone, and kept on going! It's sort of fun to read it out loud because it's written first person in the voice of a petulant 12 year old demigod. So I get to throw a lot of attitude into the reading, and Bella has a lot of giggles.
After everyone was lights out, I pulled on the shoes and wandered up to the beach - it's a moonless night, pitch black except for the stars: they keep the lights low at the beach so as not to bum out the turtles, so it's like being on the moon out there - seeing by starlight. I stood staring at the sky, and that magical thing happened where I started to see THROUGH the first layer of the brightest stars, and see hints of all the stars behind them - and I got to a very peaceful place, realizing that there's always more to see if you let yourself stop and pay attention.
That's part of why I love doing these Blogs - by the end of a day, it's fun to try to remember all of the fun things that happened in that day. Listing it all out, it's pretty amazing just how much we pack in, while still feeling like a vacation.
And we're less than half way through! More adventures to come.
Tuesday, April 02, 2013
Sunday, March 31, 2013
Sanibel 2013 Part 1
Sanibel 2012 was such a magical time, we decided to give it another go, but even MORE.
Vacation started on Friday, with us dropping the dogs off at the Pampered Pooch and waiting for the taxi: Pamela had been our packing professional and had got us beautifully arranged for the trip. The house is clean and ready for us to return... and we wished the cold weather farewell. The lines were pretty short for our early afternoon flight, and we even had time for a quick lunch at Ike's to start our trip. The flight took off on time, and landed a little early. It was bumpy, but no puking.... Isaac was definitely restless and didn't really want to sit still, but we made it through. We were up in the front of the plane (not first class, though) so we were off the plane nice and fast.
Getting the car was a bit nutty - we had rented a small SUV, but realized with our luggage, it wouldn't work and requested an upgrade. They accommodated for a pretty small fee (interestingly, the guy wrote down the "standard" upgrade rate, and our discounted upgrade - 75% off, but didn't SAY the numbers - just pointed to them with raised eyebrows). But then he couldn't find the truck in his system, and walked us OUT to the lot... and then couldn't find the car, so did yet another upgrade in the lot, with a hand-written note on our form... which didn't really thrill the gate guy, but he waved us through nonetheless.
We headed straight to our Chicago friend Rick's parent's house in Cape Coral - Rick and Kari are of course the parents of Bailey and Ty, the twins who I have known since they were less than a year old - they're as old as my relationship with Pamela - which means that Pamela and I are now in the "junior year of college" phase of our relationship. Whatever that could possibly mean. The house is on a boat canal, and we took a little cruise before dinner. We discovered this feature of so many houses out here - the enormous screen structure - sample at http://superscreening.info to see what these huge screen structures are like.
Off to dinner - Rick's second cousin opened a small italian restaurant in Cape Coral, and it was simply wonderful: The owner was a hugely loveable creature filled with smiles, hugs, and laughter: She kept coming over to chat, and the food was delicious - many of us went simple - I had spaghetti and meatballs and sausage. Halfway through, a trio of plates emerged with fettucini alfredo, which I was told was delicious. Dessert was cheesecake and cream puffs. We left stuffed. Isaac was tired and excited and we played a lot of tag in the parking lot between courses.
Bed was at the Marriott right on the bridge to Sanibel - a huge king suite bought with points from my travels. Lights out immediately. We slept in, had room service for breakfast, and then a few hours of swimming at the resort. Rick and Kari joined us for a little cocktail in the sun. Big excitement out on the dock: A pair of dolphins were hanging out just 20 feet out from the dock. They were swimming around and around, surfacing, flapping their tails, and generally showing off.
Lunch at the Lazy Flamingo - the land-side not the island one - with grouper sandwiches, raw oysters, and conch fritters with cool iced tea. A completely Florida lunch, in a very Jimmy Buffet style old school bar atmosphere. We parted ways with Rick and Kari, and headed to Target to stock up for the Island. Happily, there were no heart attacks (or exposed boobs) at this Target, just a little panic as Wells Fargo decided that they couldn't understand why I was charging things in Florida when I am supposed to be in MN. After a few min on the phone, all was cleared up, but it was an ANNOYING moment. I do love me some fraud detection (just 2 weeks ago, somebody started using one of my cards to buy textbooks in Russia, and they shut that DOWN), but not necessarily when it IDs ME.
Crossed the bridge to the island and found our resort - just a half mile further up the road/beach than last year. Much larger complex, and a lot of teenagers. LOTS of teenagers. Not really that LOUD, but present. But who cares about teenagers when we have COUSINS? Yes, the Wisconsin arm of the family is here for the same week, in the same complex, just a few units away. Seeger, Liam, Julian, Trent, and Clyde. Plus friends from back home, Bill and Gracie. Bella and Isaac were out the door and running around, and we suspect that will be how the week goes. Of course there was swimming - first a visit to the ocean, then some serious pool time.
Off to Jerry's for shopping, libations, and a little dinner. Made it home, unpacked, and then off to bed... Isaac passed out pretty quickly, but Bella took some time to unwind with Catching Fire... Lights out by 10 for the kids, and 11 for us. ZZZZzzzz.
Easter Sunday: Isaac was back to the early wakeup, and Pamela surprised me by getting up FIRST, taking the early shower, and being generally the conscious person in the house. It was wonderful to be lazy, if only for a little while. One of our treats from Jerry's was small boxes of sweet cereal, and the kids were loving their breakfast of Lucky Charms and Cocoa Puffs. And hey, the Easter Bunny found us out here! YAY! The kids found their "Baskets" - actually mesh bags for shell collecting - filled with toys and chocolates. As the kids played with their new treasures, I pulled on some clothes and took a little run: 2.1/4 miles for a refreshing wakeup, listening to the new Depeche Mode album.
The day itself was a BLUR of fun - lots of pool time, lots of beach time, a little couch time. A little grimness - a dead bird on the lawn, a dead bird washed up on the beach, but some really cool beach finds too - a lot of crab parts and some bright coral pieces! Bella was very into the hunt.
The kids were all a PACK running around with some "secret agent" game where they were all wearing sunglasses. All day excitement. Isaac was in-and-out of the game, choosing to pair up with kids when possible: Trent for a while exploring the elevators, and Gracie at the end of the day, hunting for lizards and practicing cartwheels. He's really more of a one-on-one kind of kid. Dinner was tacos, and we met up with the Wisconsin gang to celebrate cousin Scott's birthday. A little cake, a little scotch, and some good laughs.
We ended the day with a walk down the beach as the sun set. It started with just me is Bella having a little stroll, and we met on the way back with Pamela and Isaac... One the way to the room, Isaac challenged us all to a race back, and sprinted off, and we caught up to him distracted by a climbable tree: Bella taunted him "That's how it works with the Tortoise and the Hare" - Eventually, Isaac did actually catch back up to us and was the first through the door and into bed.
Well, that's what happened so far. It's time for bed! Just 7 more days? WOW.
Vacation started on Friday, with us dropping the dogs off at the Pampered Pooch and waiting for the taxi: Pamela had been our packing professional and had got us beautifully arranged for the trip. The house is clean and ready for us to return... and we wished the cold weather farewell. The lines were pretty short for our early afternoon flight, and we even had time for a quick lunch at Ike's to start our trip. The flight took off on time, and landed a little early. It was bumpy, but no puking.... Isaac was definitely restless and didn't really want to sit still, but we made it through. We were up in the front of the plane (not first class, though) so we were off the plane nice and fast.
Getting the car was a bit nutty - we had rented a small SUV, but realized with our luggage, it wouldn't work and requested an upgrade. They accommodated for a pretty small fee (interestingly, the guy wrote down the "standard" upgrade rate, and our discounted upgrade - 75% off, but didn't SAY the numbers - just pointed to them with raised eyebrows). But then he couldn't find the truck in his system, and walked us OUT to the lot... and then couldn't find the car, so did yet another upgrade in the lot, with a hand-written note on our form... which didn't really thrill the gate guy, but he waved us through nonetheless.
We headed straight to our Chicago friend Rick's parent's house in Cape Coral - Rick and Kari are of course the parents of Bailey and Ty, the twins who I have known since they were less than a year old - they're as old as my relationship with Pamela - which means that Pamela and I are now in the "junior year of college" phase of our relationship. Whatever that could possibly mean. The house is on a boat canal, and we took a little cruise before dinner. We discovered this feature of so many houses out here - the enormous screen structure - sample at http://superscreening.info to see what these huge screen structures are like.
Off to dinner - Rick's second cousin opened a small italian restaurant in Cape Coral, and it was simply wonderful: The owner was a hugely loveable creature filled with smiles, hugs, and laughter: She kept coming over to chat, and the food was delicious - many of us went simple - I had spaghetti and meatballs and sausage. Halfway through, a trio of plates emerged with fettucini alfredo, which I was told was delicious. Dessert was cheesecake and cream puffs. We left stuffed. Isaac was tired and excited and we played a lot of tag in the parking lot between courses.
Bed was at the Marriott right on the bridge to Sanibel - a huge king suite bought with points from my travels. Lights out immediately. We slept in, had room service for breakfast, and then a few hours of swimming at the resort. Rick and Kari joined us for a little cocktail in the sun. Big excitement out on the dock: A pair of dolphins were hanging out just 20 feet out from the dock. They were swimming around and around, surfacing, flapping their tails, and generally showing off.
Lunch at the Lazy Flamingo - the land-side not the island one - with grouper sandwiches, raw oysters, and conch fritters with cool iced tea. A completely Florida lunch, in a very Jimmy Buffet style old school bar atmosphere. We parted ways with Rick and Kari, and headed to Target to stock up for the Island. Happily, there were no heart attacks (or exposed boobs) at this Target, just a little panic as Wells Fargo decided that they couldn't understand why I was charging things in Florida when I am supposed to be in MN. After a few min on the phone, all was cleared up, but it was an ANNOYING moment. I do love me some fraud detection (just 2 weeks ago, somebody started using one of my cards to buy textbooks in Russia, and they shut that DOWN), but not necessarily when it IDs ME.
Crossed the bridge to the island and found our resort - just a half mile further up the road/beach than last year. Much larger complex, and a lot of teenagers. LOTS of teenagers. Not really that LOUD, but present. But who cares about teenagers when we have COUSINS? Yes, the Wisconsin arm of the family is here for the same week, in the same complex, just a few units away. Seeger, Liam, Julian, Trent, and Clyde. Plus friends from back home, Bill and Gracie. Bella and Isaac were out the door and running around, and we suspect that will be how the week goes. Of course there was swimming - first a visit to the ocean, then some serious pool time.
Off to Jerry's for shopping, libations, and a little dinner. Made it home, unpacked, and then off to bed... Isaac passed out pretty quickly, but Bella took some time to unwind with Catching Fire... Lights out by 10 for the kids, and 11 for us. ZZZZzzzz.
Easter Sunday: Isaac was back to the early wakeup, and Pamela surprised me by getting up FIRST, taking the early shower, and being generally the conscious person in the house. It was wonderful to be lazy, if only for a little while. One of our treats from Jerry's was small boxes of sweet cereal, and the kids were loving their breakfast of Lucky Charms and Cocoa Puffs. And hey, the Easter Bunny found us out here! YAY! The kids found their "Baskets" - actually mesh bags for shell collecting - filled with toys and chocolates. As the kids played with their new treasures, I pulled on some clothes and took a little run: 2.1/4 miles for a refreshing wakeup, listening to the new Depeche Mode album.
The day itself was a BLUR of fun - lots of pool time, lots of beach time, a little couch time. A little grimness - a dead bird on the lawn, a dead bird washed up on the beach, but some really cool beach finds too - a lot of crab parts and some bright coral pieces! Bella was very into the hunt.
The kids were all a PACK running around with some "secret agent" game where they were all wearing sunglasses. All day excitement. Isaac was in-and-out of the game, choosing to pair up with kids when possible: Trent for a while exploring the elevators, and Gracie at the end of the day, hunting for lizards and practicing cartwheels. He's really more of a one-on-one kind of kid. Dinner was tacos, and we met up with the Wisconsin gang to celebrate cousin Scott's birthday. A little cake, a little scotch, and some good laughs.
We ended the day with a walk down the beach as the sun set. It started with just me is Bella having a little stroll, and we met on the way back with Pamela and Isaac... One the way to the room, Isaac challenged us all to a race back, and sprinted off, and we caught up to him distracted by a climbable tree: Bella taunted him "That's how it works with the Tortoise and the Hare" - Eventually, Isaac did actually catch back up to us and was the first through the door and into bed.
Well, that's what happened so far. It's time for bed! Just 7 more days? WOW.
Monday, March 25, 2013
Vacation Vacation Vacation
I have one thing on my mind right now. VACATION. In mere days we will be headed out to paradise, and it is very very hard for me to focus on non-paradisiacal activities. There is work I could be doing in the evenings - there are Powerpoints to tweak, spreadsheets to wrangle, proposals to generate. But tonight, I just want to go on vacation. I am not doing my Just Do It challenge either - after my steak, I let Piano slide. When I get BACK from Vacation, I will re-dedicate myself, but for now, please, GET OFF MY BACK. Go play "The Sting" soundtrack if you want to hear "The Entertainer" I'm busy thinking about seashells.
We went to Target last night to "refresh" our vacation wear: Pamela said "our challenge is to be the most colorful family on Sanibel". I got Isaac and myself some seriously retina-searing ensembles, and I cannot WAIT to bust them out. It wound up being quite the shopping trip. Thank goodness for the tax refund.
I've been having more fun with color recently, sporting bright yellow or red pants, bright orange and purple shirts... part of me is saying "MINNESOTA if you cannot be a little less gray and miserable, then I will overcompensate." Only Isaac rocks a brighter color scheme these days - and that's protective so that we can easily spot him as he sprints off into the distance.
At Target, Isaac decided to go stealth: He said "3-2-1 DISAPPEAR" and he did disappear. He was never further than 20 feet from me, and always came out when I hollered, but in the meantime, he slunk low to the ground, hiding behind clothing racks, and generally disappearing. It was a little unnerving, but he loved it. A few times, I rounded a corner to find him standing on an end cap, posed like a mannequin, hoping I wouldn't notice him. That made me laugh, and I wish I could have got a picture of it.
One of my favorite things to do nowadays is to "move like Isaac" - the kid bounces around like a lemur, so to enter a room and move around like him AS AN ADULT is both visually stimulating AND a good cardio workout. I think that simply moving like him for an hour would put anyone into shape.
Update on Bella: Her friend Minori did write back with some pictures - she's wearing glasses now! Bella was so thrilled she fired back a new message right away: I hope this keeps going - it's very cute. And hey, if they decide they want to get together, I'd love to take her to Japan. Watashi-no Nihongo-wa totemo subarashii desu! (my japanese (language) is totally fantastic).
Finally, Pamela's out doing another Silpada party - I'm really happy for her doing this stuff - because it's giving her a reason to reach out, be social, go to parties, and connect with friends. We've been in our shells for the past few years, and we need to get out. I am hoping to perhaps connect with the neighbors a bit more in the coming months - once the thaw comes through...
DID I MENTION I am sick of winter, and want to go on vacation? SO READY FOR THIS.
We went to Target last night to "refresh" our vacation wear: Pamela said "our challenge is to be the most colorful family on Sanibel". I got Isaac and myself some seriously retina-searing ensembles, and I cannot WAIT to bust them out. It wound up being quite the shopping trip. Thank goodness for the tax refund.
I've been having more fun with color recently, sporting bright yellow or red pants, bright orange and purple shirts... part of me is saying "MINNESOTA if you cannot be a little less gray and miserable, then I will overcompensate." Only Isaac rocks a brighter color scheme these days - and that's protective so that we can easily spot him as he sprints off into the distance.
At Target, Isaac decided to go stealth: He said "3-2-1 DISAPPEAR" and he did disappear. He was never further than 20 feet from me, and always came out when I hollered, but in the meantime, he slunk low to the ground, hiding behind clothing racks, and generally disappearing. It was a little unnerving, but he loved it. A few times, I rounded a corner to find him standing on an end cap, posed like a mannequin, hoping I wouldn't notice him. That made me laugh, and I wish I could have got a picture of it.
One of my favorite things to do nowadays is to "move like Isaac" - the kid bounces around like a lemur, so to enter a room and move around like him AS AN ADULT is both visually stimulating AND a good cardio workout. I think that simply moving like him for an hour would put anyone into shape.
Update on Bella: Her friend Minori did write back with some pictures - she's wearing glasses now! Bella was so thrilled she fired back a new message right away: I hope this keeps going - it's very cute. And hey, if they decide they want to get together, I'd love to take her to Japan. Watashi-no Nihongo-wa totemo subarashii desu! (my japanese (language) is totally fantastic).
Finally, Pamela's out doing another Silpada party - I'm really happy for her doing this stuff - because it's giving her a reason to reach out, be social, go to parties, and connect with friends. We've been in our shells for the past few years, and we need to get out. I am hoping to perhaps connect with the neighbors a bit more in the coming months - once the thaw comes through...
DID I MENTION I am sick of winter, and want to go on vacation? SO READY FOR THIS.
Sunday, March 17, 2013
Just Do It Update
This morning I hit my first goal - 10 30-minute piano practice sessions. We are going out for a steak dinner tonight at Pittsburgh Blue in Edina. The rest of the family is now envious, and has vowed to "catch up" on their projects... Objective Achieved?
I'm adding to the repertoire: When I was a kid, I focused on the Suzuki method, but many of my non-suzuki friends would sit down to the piano and do the intro to Joplin's The Entertainer. I recall being mildly envious of them, playing a "popular" song rather than the classical pieces I did...
So I downloaded some sheet music and got to work on it this morning: My first thought is that I am probably happy I didn't try it back then - lots of big octave spans and jumping left hand comping. I don't think my hands, though long-fingered and unquestionably elegant, would have been happy with those big fisted chords. My hands are now just great for that sort of thing, however.
The current play list is, then:
- Scales to wake up the fingers
- Suzuki Book 2, pieces 1-6.
- The Entertainer
- Somebody by Depeche Mode. Of course.
This is quite fun.
I'm adding to the repertoire: When I was a kid, I focused on the Suzuki method, but many of my non-suzuki friends would sit down to the piano and do the intro to Joplin's The Entertainer. I recall being mildly envious of them, playing a "popular" song rather than the classical pieces I did...
So I downloaded some sheet music and got to work on it this morning: My first thought is that I am probably happy I didn't try it back then - lots of big octave spans and jumping left hand comping. I don't think my hands, though long-fingered and unquestionably elegant, would have been happy with those big fisted chords. My hands are now just great for that sort of thing, however.
The current play list is, then:
- Scales to wake up the fingers
- Suzuki Book 2, pieces 1-6.
- The Entertainer
- Somebody by Depeche Mode. Of course.
This is quite fun.
Friday, March 15, 2013
The Sweetest Words
My best man Erik once said "the six most beautiful words in the english language: 'You were right, I was wrong' - I can never tire of hearing that phrase spoken to me."
I'm just finishing up a very interesting project: The whole direction healthcare needs to be going is in the safe and reasonable sharing of patient data across the inpatient and ambulatory and post-acute care spectrum. Patients need to know that every provider they see knows what they've been through, and that what they tell THIS provider will be shared with the next.
But the way healthcare is stratified and siloed, it's been very hard to do this. So I was brought into a project to design a working framework for a regional health system - a hospital with 150 employed physicians across 60 offices, working with an affiliation of 150 more independent private practice and specialty physicians. Over a dozen medical record systems, no shared network, and most worryingly, we saw several meetings devolve into shouting matches. These people want to share data about patients, but could barely tolerate communicating with each other.
We approached it as both a governance and cooperation project AND a technical project. My first architecture suggested that BOTH sides move a little and put data into a co-owned system that they'd all maintain. We got serious pushback from the health system side, and the kept making changes to my architecture... by the end of last week, it was looking as though our proposal was literally to endorse two parallel systems, one for the health system, one for the private practices to share.
Of course that would be twice as expensive, and it wouldn't fulfill the core requirement of data sharing that we were brought in for, but i was able to somehow draw a bunch of "interconnect" pipes so that evern though they were parallel, they were replicating data, so it was sort of like sharing, only we each have our own copy.
FINALLY this week, I had a really good conversation with some of the key sponsors (who were having a little sticker shock at the cost of the parallel solution) and got them to come ALL the way back to my original recommendation. The CIO actually sent a note to his team saying he finally understood the benefits of the shared architecture, and credited me with having the right vision from the start.
Today was my final presentation to the board here in Michigan: There were still some strong reactions in the room - mostly from some of the "parallel-istas" who hadn't yet seen the light, but I knew that the key sponsors finally understood. And most gratifying, at the end of the meeting, a core group of 5 doctors, a mix of the privates and employed, who had previously been actually yelling at each other.... they sat and talked about the benefits they'd all see in this architecture.
It was something that got me thinking that this might actually do something positive for the patients out here. And it felt good... And let's be honest, it felt good to have them finally understand that I WAS RIGHT. HA!
But it is also a strange thing to say "here you are - the next steps are yours" and know I'm not going to be working on this unless they call us back for a new engagement. Part of the consulting "thing" is that you need to learn an environment really well, figure out what they really need, help them start down that path, and then you need to move on, because us consultants are EXPENSIVE.
There are definitely BAD consultants who don't go deep, don't learn what's unique about a site, and don't leave an actionable plan. I pride myself on not being that bad consultant, but the problem with going deep is that I wind up caring... and it can be hard not to see them through the engagement. I have to wish them well and hope they do the right things.
So it's bittersweet to finish an engagement like this. Those nights of tweaking Visio diagrams until midnight... it's wrapped up and done. So now I'm sitting in a cute tiny airport waiting for the one flight that will take me home today.
I'm just finishing up a very interesting project: The whole direction healthcare needs to be going is in the safe and reasonable sharing of patient data across the inpatient and ambulatory and post-acute care spectrum. Patients need to know that every provider they see knows what they've been through, and that what they tell THIS provider will be shared with the next.
But the way healthcare is stratified and siloed, it's been very hard to do this. So I was brought into a project to design a working framework for a regional health system - a hospital with 150 employed physicians across 60 offices, working with an affiliation of 150 more independent private practice and specialty physicians. Over a dozen medical record systems, no shared network, and most worryingly, we saw several meetings devolve into shouting matches. These people want to share data about patients, but could barely tolerate communicating with each other.
We approached it as both a governance and cooperation project AND a technical project. My first architecture suggested that BOTH sides move a little and put data into a co-owned system that they'd all maintain. We got serious pushback from the health system side, and the kept making changes to my architecture... by the end of last week, it was looking as though our proposal was literally to endorse two parallel systems, one for the health system, one for the private practices to share.
Of course that would be twice as expensive, and it wouldn't fulfill the core requirement of data sharing that we were brought in for, but i was able to somehow draw a bunch of "interconnect" pipes so that evern though they were parallel, they were replicating data, so it was sort of like sharing, only we each have our own copy.
FINALLY this week, I had a really good conversation with some of the key sponsors (who were having a little sticker shock at the cost of the parallel solution) and got them to come ALL the way back to my original recommendation. The CIO actually sent a note to his team saying he finally understood the benefits of the shared architecture, and credited me with having the right vision from the start.
Today was my final presentation to the board here in Michigan: There were still some strong reactions in the room - mostly from some of the "parallel-istas" who hadn't yet seen the light, but I knew that the key sponsors finally understood. And most gratifying, at the end of the meeting, a core group of 5 doctors, a mix of the privates and employed, who had previously been actually yelling at each other.... they sat and talked about the benefits they'd all see in this architecture.
It was something that got me thinking that this might actually do something positive for the patients out here. And it felt good... And let's be honest, it felt good to have them finally understand that I WAS RIGHT. HA!
But it is also a strange thing to say "here you are - the next steps are yours" and know I'm not going to be working on this unless they call us back for a new engagement. Part of the consulting "thing" is that you need to learn an environment really well, figure out what they really need, help them start down that path, and then you need to move on, because us consultants are EXPENSIVE.
There are definitely BAD consultants who don't go deep, don't learn what's unique about a site, and don't leave an actionable plan. I pride myself on not being that bad consultant, but the problem with going deep is that I wind up caring... and it can be hard not to see them through the engagement. I have to wish them well and hope they do the right things.
So it's bittersweet to finish an engagement like this. Those nights of tweaking Visio diagrams until midnight... it's wrapped up and done. So now I'm sitting in a cute tiny airport waiting for the one flight that will take me home today.
Monday, March 11, 2013
Bella's bad year
Tonight just before bed, I found Bella at the computer, tears in her eyes, with the start of a letter up on the screen: It was a note to her friend in Japan, Minori. She turned to me and said "I just miss her so much" - and her note said "when you left, my life changed forever".
I know I've written about this time before, but it was fresh in my mind and I want to reshare:
First grade was a tough one for Bella: That was the year that her classmate Grant came to school having just stated treatment for brain cancer, and they spent all year watching his struggle, as disappeared for treatment, ballooned up from steroids, lost his vision and ability to walk, and ultimately lost his life.
Bella's teacher that year was not the most nurturing of people - sort of a brass tacks kind of lady, so Bella clung to her close friends. Minori was one of her closest. Minori's family came from Japan and her dad worked for a biomedical device manufacturer... and at the end of the year the family was transferred back to Japan.
Between the loss of Grant and the loss of Minori, Bella was definitely on-edge. It didn't help that this was also when I was traveling a lot - That was the year of Cleveland... basically for her whole year of first grade through half of second, I was gone 4 days a week. Later that summer, her other best friend Miles left for Austin Texas.
She went into second grade with her dad missing, her two best friends gone, and having watched a friend die.. and she had that brass tacks teacher again too. It's no wonder that she had a nervous breakdown. Yes, kids are resilient and make it through things... but I know she stores things down deep, and suddenly tonight she decided that she was really really sad and missed her friend.
So I helped her finish her letter, and we found some pictures and pasted them in. And I packaged it up and emailed it to Minori's mom. Hopefully we'll hear back. Maybe they'll video-chat now? Bella steals my phone to video chat visit with her dear friend Aleena every day after school...
Anyway, I have a good kid, and she's made it through some sad times. I'm glad she can let her feelings out sometimes.
I know I've written about this time before, but it was fresh in my mind and I want to reshare:
First grade was a tough one for Bella: That was the year that her classmate Grant came to school having just stated treatment for brain cancer, and they spent all year watching his struggle, as disappeared for treatment, ballooned up from steroids, lost his vision and ability to walk, and ultimately lost his life.
Bella's teacher that year was not the most nurturing of people - sort of a brass tacks kind of lady, so Bella clung to her close friends. Minori was one of her closest. Minori's family came from Japan and her dad worked for a biomedical device manufacturer... and at the end of the year the family was transferred back to Japan.
Between the loss of Grant and the loss of Minori, Bella was definitely on-edge. It didn't help that this was also when I was traveling a lot - That was the year of Cleveland... basically for her whole year of first grade through half of second, I was gone 4 days a week. Later that summer, her other best friend Miles left for Austin Texas.
She went into second grade with her dad missing, her two best friends gone, and having watched a friend die.. and she had that brass tacks teacher again too. It's no wonder that she had a nervous breakdown. Yes, kids are resilient and make it through things... but I know she stores things down deep, and suddenly tonight she decided that she was really really sad and missed her friend.
So I helped her finish her letter, and we found some pictures and pasted them in. And I packaged it up and emailed it to Minori's mom. Hopefully we'll hear back. Maybe they'll video-chat now? Bella steals my phone to video chat visit with her dear friend Aleena every day after school...
Anyway, I have a good kid, and she's made it through some sad times. I'm glad she can let her feelings out sometimes.
Saturday, March 09, 2013
Old Minneapolis
There's a Facebook group that posts old pictures of Minneapolis, and the ones that resonate the most with me are of course the ones from the late 1970s and early 1980s, when I spent a fair amount of time down there. We were more "free range" kids back in those days: I grabbed a handful of change, walked the 6 blocks to the bus stop, took the Number 5 downtown and back again.
I was remembering our family nights - maybe we did this a lot, maybe it was only a few times, but they imprinted strongly on my memory: I remember the 4 of us walking to the bus, riding it down, walking down a side street to a tiny Japanese restaurant called Asuka: Carrie would get Tempura, Dad would get sukiyaki or some similar "lots of things in a big pot". I would get Yakiniku, which was basically spicy beef and no veggies. I do not recall what mom would get... I'm not sure if they did ShabuShabu there? Hmmm.
After that, we would walk back up to Hennepin and pop into Shinder's: It was a wonder of a place - huge and sprawling: Magazines and periodicals in the front to the right, Books off to the left, and straight back to the comics. If you went THROUGH the comics to the left, there was the porn... and the skeevy gentlemen had to mosey past us kiddos to get their fix. As a boy, I was undeniably CURIOUS about what was behind the gate, but never spent much time trying to catch a peek: I suspected that if I showed too much interest, either the parents OR the employees (stalwart trustees of the innocence of youth) would say "this is a boy who may NOT COME BACK IN HERE" - I wanted access to those comics, thank you very much.
After the comics were purchased, we'd walk the extra block up to 8th to catch the 5 back home: The block between had a couple of theaters, but I remember the actual corner being very dark and boring. I wondered why Shinders couldn't have been one block over - at least we could have looked at the brightly lit window displays.
At the bus stop, there was a hot air grate without a fence around it, and we'd stand on it basking in the warmth while waiting for the bus. I'm not sure we ever really knew what the schedule was - I don't recall my parents wearing watches - the bus just CAME every 15 minutes or so - either you caught it or you waited for the next one.
There were a couple of variations on this family trip - I recall at least one time going to the Nankin Chinese restaurant, and the joke at the table was that you couldn't find your food under all of the water chestnuts. I also remember going to a crepes place called The Magic Pan, but don't remember liking it at ALL. I also know there was a Best Steak House down there but I think we went to the one up on 56th and Nicollet instead. If we were ever downtown during the DAY, you know we went to the Brother's Deli - with the theme song "Kibbitz and Nosh! At the Brother's Deli!"
After school and weekends, I took the trip downtown by myself or with my friend Jeaner - we saw movies at the Skyway, we shopped for comics (and maybe were a little bolder with trying to work out what was behind the frosted glass beyond the comics... but I still thought - IF CAUGHT, they will tell my parents next time I come in with them. I actually thought the dudes at Shinders would take Mom aside and say "he was here last week, and we caught him trying to look at the adult magazines... WE THOUGHT YOU SHOULD KNOW Ma'am." At which point I would be sent away forever.)
Of course as we got older (6-7th grade) we discovered the record stores too - Harpos/Hot Licks became Northern Lights, which was awesome... there was never any reason to go into MusicLand - overpriced and NOT COOL. Video Arcades popped up (Pops on 6th was the one to visit - the "arcade" on Block E was trouble).
The landscape of that 4-6 block area of Minneapolis imprinted on my brain: For years into adulthood I would have lucid dreams of walking around that version of downtown Minneapolis, though the stores would change in the dream, and new streets would appear, leading to a new adventure. But in those dreams, it was always dusk or night - the times when tired, full of Japanese food, and comics in hand, we would wander back to the bus stop.
I was remembering our family nights - maybe we did this a lot, maybe it was only a few times, but they imprinted strongly on my memory: I remember the 4 of us walking to the bus, riding it down, walking down a side street to a tiny Japanese restaurant called Asuka: Carrie would get Tempura, Dad would get sukiyaki or some similar "lots of things in a big pot". I would get Yakiniku, which was basically spicy beef and no veggies. I do not recall what mom would get... I'm not sure if they did ShabuShabu there? Hmmm.
After that, we would walk back up to Hennepin and pop into Shinder's: It was a wonder of a place - huge and sprawling: Magazines and periodicals in the front to the right, Books off to the left, and straight back to the comics. If you went THROUGH the comics to the left, there was the porn... and the skeevy gentlemen had to mosey past us kiddos to get their fix. As a boy, I was undeniably CURIOUS about what was behind the gate, but never spent much time trying to catch a peek: I suspected that if I showed too much interest, either the parents OR the employees (stalwart trustees of the innocence of youth) would say "this is a boy who may NOT COME BACK IN HERE" - I wanted access to those comics, thank you very much.
After the comics were purchased, we'd walk the extra block up to 8th to catch the 5 back home: The block between had a couple of theaters, but I remember the actual corner being very dark and boring. I wondered why Shinders couldn't have been one block over - at least we could have looked at the brightly lit window displays.
At the bus stop, there was a hot air grate without a fence around it, and we'd stand on it basking in the warmth while waiting for the bus. I'm not sure we ever really knew what the schedule was - I don't recall my parents wearing watches - the bus just CAME every 15 minutes or so - either you caught it or you waited for the next one.
There were a couple of variations on this family trip - I recall at least one time going to the Nankin Chinese restaurant, and the joke at the table was that you couldn't find your food under all of the water chestnuts. I also remember going to a crepes place called The Magic Pan, but don't remember liking it at ALL. I also know there was a Best Steak House down there but I think we went to the one up on 56th and Nicollet instead. If we were ever downtown during the DAY, you know we went to the Brother's Deli - with the theme song "Kibbitz and Nosh! At the Brother's Deli!"
After school and weekends, I took the trip downtown by myself or with my friend Jeaner - we saw movies at the Skyway, we shopped for comics (and maybe were a little bolder with trying to work out what was behind the frosted glass beyond the comics... but I still thought - IF CAUGHT, they will tell my parents next time I come in with them. I actually thought the dudes at Shinders would take Mom aside and say "he was here last week, and we caught him trying to look at the adult magazines... WE THOUGHT YOU SHOULD KNOW Ma'am." At which point I would be sent away forever.)
Of course as we got older (6-7th grade) we discovered the record stores too - Harpos/Hot Licks became Northern Lights, which was awesome... there was never any reason to go into MusicLand - overpriced and NOT COOL. Video Arcades popped up (Pops on 6th was the one to visit - the "arcade" on Block E was trouble).
The landscape of that 4-6 block area of Minneapolis imprinted on my brain: For years into adulthood I would have lucid dreams of walking around that version of downtown Minneapolis, though the stores would change in the dream, and new streets would appear, leading to a new adventure. But in those dreams, it was always dusk or night - the times when tired, full of Japanese food, and comics in hand, we would wander back to the bus stop.
Thursday, March 07, 2013
Five Days In
I have been a good boy and have been working on piano every night. I am now to Suzuki Book 2, song 5, a Bach Minuet. Tonight I played book 2 songs 1-5 through twice, with some extra work on both 3 (the happy farmer) and 5 (bach minuet 2). Tomorrow I will add 6 (minuet 3) to the repertoire.
This is FUN!
Also, I have been playing the drums nightly - heck by the end of March I might actually have some half-decent chops back. Then it's time to form a neighborhood BAND! But will anyone want to play Visage's "Fade to Grey" with me?
This is FUN!
Also, I have been playing the drums nightly - heck by the end of March I might actually have some half-decent chops back. Then it's time to form a neighborhood BAND! But will anyone want to play Visage's "Fade to Grey" with me?
Sunday, March 03, 2013
Just Do It
Motivational Bribery at the House.
While I've mused about "100 hours" and what can be done, I'm now lowering my sights - there's a lot you can learn just by practicing it 10 times. It helps that I'm desperate for ways to incent Bella to practice her guitar - she really is good, and when she practices, she gets better so incredibly fast...
So I got an idea: The JUST DO IT list: A name, a task, ten checkboxes, and a reward. For Bella, it's 10 times practicing guitar, and she gets a trip to Yogurt Lab. For me, it's 10 times practicing piano, and I get a Steak Dinner.
It's not for chores. It's for creative endeavors. Isaac wanted a task, and we suggested drawings, but he decided to integrate his dual loves of music and getting people to do things, his JUST DO IT is to get at least 1 other person engaged in a Family Music jam session.
We shall see how this works - but 10. Ten. X. We should be able to make these goals.
My goal here is not to get 10, but to get 100. I think we will set up tiered goals once we hit 10 - make 20 and up get more intense. I'm figuring when I get to 100 on Piano, the Dave Smith Instruments Prophet 12 will be released...
And I'll have some time for it - I'm in a low-billing phase right now - I'm going to spent dime on sales and methodology build this week and next: I'm sitting home while many in the company (and most of our customers) are out at a big trade conference... So looking forward to some time for improvement.
While I've mused about "100 hours" and what can be done, I'm now lowering my sights - there's a lot you can learn just by practicing it 10 times. It helps that I'm desperate for ways to incent Bella to practice her guitar - she really is good, and when she practices, she gets better so incredibly fast...
So I got an idea: The JUST DO IT list: A name, a task, ten checkboxes, and a reward. For Bella, it's 10 times practicing guitar, and she gets a trip to Yogurt Lab. For me, it's 10 times practicing piano, and I get a Steak Dinner.
It's not for chores. It's for creative endeavors. Isaac wanted a task, and we suggested drawings, but he decided to integrate his dual loves of music and getting people to do things, his JUST DO IT is to get at least 1 other person engaged in a Family Music jam session.
We shall see how this works - but 10. Ten. X. We should be able to make these goals.
My goal here is not to get 10, but to get 100. I think we will set up tiered goals once we hit 10 - make 20 and up get more intense. I'm figuring when I get to 100 on Piano, the Dave Smith Instruments Prophet 12 will be released...
And I'll have some time for it - I'm in a low-billing phase right now - I'm going to spent dime on sales and methodology build this week and next: I'm sitting home while many in the company (and most of our customers) are out at a big trade conference... So looking forward to some time for improvement.
Saturday, March 02, 2013
Pie-anna
As you know, the family music zone has been established, and in the weeks since, we've had some good times there - If anything we tend to get into competition about who gets the keyboard - everyone wants to play the keys: I might need to get a second and third keyboard down there - rebuilding the deathstar from my old Harriet days? Surely a nice Jupiter 8 and a PPG might be welcome? (Did you hear that sound? It's Pamela's teeth grinding, and she doesn't even know I'm writing this).
Moving the drums downstairs was easily the best idea - I can plug in my iPod and play along: Tonight it was two Simple Minds songs, a Tears for Fears, and my new favorite love/hate song "Survival" by Muse. Fun drums and a million fast fills. And I can do it after everyone's asleep and nobody's the wiser.
As I've been playing the keys to accompany Bella's guitar playing, I have taken steps to actually start playing piano songs - I laid hands on my old Suzuki Method books, and am pleased to report that I am now playing approximately as well as I did when I was 10. It was very strange to realize I still had muscle memory of a few of those songs.
It put me in the mind of my catastrophic experiences playing piano in college. I had let my "chops" such as they were lapse well into high school and had fully embraced my new wave "pose over a two finger melody" method. But part of me still thought I was good at piano: I still went to piano lessons, but I forgot to practice, and thus I completely failed to advance. In college, I kept trying to dodge the concept of piano, but had to take lessons as a part of the department... and thinking back, again, I did not practice, and I did not advance in skills.
But since I was also mister synthesizer, I considered myself a good musician, just "in my own way"... and if it was just that, it would have been fine, but some strange part of myself kept thinking of myself as a "Secretly excellent piano player if I just applied myself" This delusion came to a head for me when a girl I liked who played Cello asked me if I played piano. I said yes, and she said we should do a duet (which passes for courtship in a music department). She gave me some sheet music and we set a date for a week later.
In that week, I did try to practice, and realized I really couldn't read music, I couldn't play those notes, my hands couldn't do those chords... but somehow I still went to the date, with a strange feeling like I'd be able to pull it off. It was some seriously deep delusion, and it was 15 minutes into the date and me not even able to play the first page, while she played very nicely... I blocked out how I tried to pass it off, but I don't recall ever really fessing up.
I did try not to put myself into that position again - a flautist tried the "let's play a duet" thing a year later with me, and I was quick to say no, that's not what I do, and proudly played her one of my noise compositions. She figured out I did music, but different music.
Long way around, but really some of those experiences have led to deep "piano shame" for me. So I'm looking forward to re-approaching my the piano - getting back in at about the same place I was when I was good, and trying to have fun. Also, it's a good and safe thing to be learning this with Isaac and Bella listening.
So my goal for this week is simple: re-learn how to play Schumann's The Happy Farmer.
Moving the drums downstairs was easily the best idea - I can plug in my iPod and play along: Tonight it was two Simple Minds songs, a Tears for Fears, and my new favorite love/hate song "Survival" by Muse. Fun drums and a million fast fills. And I can do it after everyone's asleep and nobody's the wiser.
As I've been playing the keys to accompany Bella's guitar playing, I have taken steps to actually start playing piano songs - I laid hands on my old Suzuki Method books, and am pleased to report that I am now playing approximately as well as I did when I was 10. It was very strange to realize I still had muscle memory of a few of those songs.
It put me in the mind of my catastrophic experiences playing piano in college. I had let my "chops" such as they were lapse well into high school and had fully embraced my new wave "pose over a two finger melody" method. But part of me still thought I was good at piano: I still went to piano lessons, but I forgot to practice, and thus I completely failed to advance. In college, I kept trying to dodge the concept of piano, but had to take lessons as a part of the department... and thinking back, again, I did not practice, and I did not advance in skills.
But since I was also mister synthesizer, I considered myself a good musician, just "in my own way"... and if it was just that, it would have been fine, but some strange part of myself kept thinking of myself as a "Secretly excellent piano player if I just applied myself" This delusion came to a head for me when a girl I liked who played Cello asked me if I played piano. I said yes, and she said we should do a duet (which passes for courtship in a music department). She gave me some sheet music and we set a date for a week later.
In that week, I did try to practice, and realized I really couldn't read music, I couldn't play those notes, my hands couldn't do those chords... but somehow I still went to the date, with a strange feeling like I'd be able to pull it off. It was some seriously deep delusion, and it was 15 minutes into the date and me not even able to play the first page, while she played very nicely... I blocked out how I tried to pass it off, but I don't recall ever really fessing up.
I did try not to put myself into that position again - a flautist tried the "let's play a duet" thing a year later with me, and I was quick to say no, that's not what I do, and proudly played her one of my noise compositions. She figured out I did music, but different music.
Long way around, but really some of those experiences have led to deep "piano shame" for me. So I'm looking forward to re-approaching my the piano - getting back in at about the same place I was when I was good, and trying to have fun. Also, it's a good and safe thing to be learning this with Isaac and Bella listening.
So my goal for this week is simple: re-learn how to play Schumann's The Happy Farmer.
Friday, February 08, 2013
Family Music
As my studio has shrunk and consolidated, it has got to the point that it's pretty much a laptop and a small keyboard: With a little work that single keyboard and laptop can sound a heck of a lot better than my whole room full of synths ever did back in the 1990s, but there has been a compromise. The compromise is spontaneity and immediacy. In order to make a note of music, I need to park my laptop, launch a program, hook up some USB cables, find an audio cable, find the keyboard somewhere, and then I'm ready... it is five minutes in the best case, over 15 in the worst.
As Bella has been learning the guitar (a fantastic instrument that can be picked up and played with really no prep time at all, save for the occasional tuning), she's wanted me to play along, to accompany her on keyboards. Something about both of us playing really seems to make her happy, and truth be told, it makes ME happy too. But the aforementioned issues with getting a playable instrument up and running led to me sort of limping along playing accompaniment on the iPad: Not a BAD sounding thing, but not really the most inspiring instrument...
Add to this all that last christmas, I splurged and got an electronic drum set: I put it up on the 3rd floor, and in the past year, have seen it used fewer than a dozen times for a pretty obvious reason: Having a kick drum on the 3rd floor, even if it's being played through headphones, is still a shared experience with the whole rest of the house - WHOOMP WHOOMP WHOOMP! This was not an instrument for naptime, nighttime, morning... really it was a Saturday afternoon instrument at best. As such, it wound up pushed into the corner and not used all that much.
So last weekend with Pamela out of town, I decided to address all three issues. I created a family music corner in the basement. I moved the drum kit to the basement, along with an amp, mixer, and speakers. I laid my hands on an inexpensive piano-synth (something that has its own sounds, doesn't require a computer, but sounds pretty good), and I hooked it all together, with a stool and music stand for Bella. Keys, Drums, Guitar, all together.
I declared it the family music zone - the speakers will be on, the drums and keys can be played by anyone at any time. Headphones if you want them, or speakers for immediate enjoyment. And in the past week, we've had 4-5 good family jams down there: Bella loves playing the keyboard, Isaac loves the drums, and somehow by default I've been playing guitar. We mix it up - Bella guitar, me drums, Isaac keys... when it's the three of us, it's a bit atonal, but I can see that developing.
But aside from Family time, having it all up and running has actually been really good for... me. Tonight I had 15 min to kill while Isaac finished up a Star Wars show before bed, and I went down to play the drums. After his show, Isaac came down, dialed up a big fat synth sound, and played crazy notes to my drumming. We laughed, and then he dragged me upstairs for bedtime. After everyone went to bed, I went back down and dialed up a piano, and played "Somebody" by Depeche Mode, followed by a strangely rousing version of Oh Suzannah, and a little "Happy Farmer". I'm feeling a bit more connected to music, and am being drawn to performing instead of just arranging. I haven't "performed" since 1990 - everything since then was sequenced and arranged. But the idea of playing a piano for christmas carols, it's been something I've sort of wished to be able to do for years.
For writing music and producing songs, I'm still loving my laptop studio - when my inspiration hits, I have the tools. But it's not an environment for PLAYING, for creating a shared experience. For that, it's just nice to have instruments at the ready. I'm hoping that this might be something we keep going as a family. Oh, and I'll get Pamela a tambourine and microphone. The girl has GOT to be the B-Reay Family lead vocalist.
As Bella has been learning the guitar (a fantastic instrument that can be picked up and played with really no prep time at all, save for the occasional tuning), she's wanted me to play along, to accompany her on keyboards. Something about both of us playing really seems to make her happy, and truth be told, it makes ME happy too. But the aforementioned issues with getting a playable instrument up and running led to me sort of limping along playing accompaniment on the iPad: Not a BAD sounding thing, but not really the most inspiring instrument...
Add to this all that last christmas, I splurged and got an electronic drum set: I put it up on the 3rd floor, and in the past year, have seen it used fewer than a dozen times for a pretty obvious reason: Having a kick drum on the 3rd floor, even if it's being played through headphones, is still a shared experience with the whole rest of the house - WHOOMP WHOOMP WHOOMP! This was not an instrument for naptime, nighttime, morning... really it was a Saturday afternoon instrument at best. As such, it wound up pushed into the corner and not used all that much.
So last weekend with Pamela out of town, I decided to address all three issues. I created a family music corner in the basement. I moved the drum kit to the basement, along with an amp, mixer, and speakers. I laid my hands on an inexpensive piano-synth (something that has its own sounds, doesn't require a computer, but sounds pretty good), and I hooked it all together, with a stool and music stand for Bella. Keys, Drums, Guitar, all together.
I declared it the family music zone - the speakers will be on, the drums and keys can be played by anyone at any time. Headphones if you want them, or speakers for immediate enjoyment. And in the past week, we've had 4-5 good family jams down there: Bella loves playing the keyboard, Isaac loves the drums, and somehow by default I've been playing guitar. We mix it up - Bella guitar, me drums, Isaac keys... when it's the three of us, it's a bit atonal, but I can see that developing.
But aside from Family time, having it all up and running has actually been really good for... me. Tonight I had 15 min to kill while Isaac finished up a Star Wars show before bed, and I went down to play the drums. After his show, Isaac came down, dialed up a big fat synth sound, and played crazy notes to my drumming. We laughed, and then he dragged me upstairs for bedtime. After everyone went to bed, I went back down and dialed up a piano, and played "Somebody" by Depeche Mode, followed by a strangely rousing version of Oh Suzannah, and a little "Happy Farmer". I'm feeling a bit more connected to music, and am being drawn to performing instead of just arranging. I haven't "performed" since 1990 - everything since then was sequenced and arranged. But the idea of playing a piano for christmas carols, it's been something I've sort of wished to be able to do for years.
For writing music and producing songs, I'm still loving my laptop studio - when my inspiration hits, I have the tools. But it's not an environment for PLAYING, for creating a shared experience. For that, it's just nice to have instruments at the ready. I'm hoping that this might be something we keep going as a family. Oh, and I'll get Pamela a tambourine and microphone. The girl has GOT to be the B-Reay Family lead vocalist.
Saturday, February 02, 2013
Synchro
Had a very nice day with the kiddos today: Bella had an all day meet at Wayzata middle school - it was the four local teams, of which Bella's is the newest.
For the past 3 years, Bella has been learning with a St Paul team, which led to 30+ min drives each way to practice twice a week. The club was good, but focused a lot of their attention on the older girls, and the young'uns frankly didn't get as much training time or attention. So this year, we split off and formed a new club: We got our own name, our own coaches, and started with 6 girls, between 8-12 years old: The next generation of synchro stars starting their own club to grow together.
The coaches, Em and Liz are just wonderful - Em's the mom of the group, and Liz is the taskmaster, and between the two, they make sure the girls are nurtured AND worked. And watching them work, they've advanced more together than they had in 3 years at the old club.
There's definitely some politics and whatnot in there too, but really what I see is that these girls are a very good team, growing together, and learning a lot. They have an award for the hardest worker in any practice - the seahorse - and it's awarded every night. The coaches tell me that they don't even have to pick it, that the girls unanimously know who put in the work in any practice.
So at today's meet, our little club was up against three other clubs that have a huge bench strength - we only competed in 5 categories - 1 solo, 1 duet, 2 trios, and a team routine. We didn't take first place in any, but we made a great effort, and the girls felt great. There's a picture of them all smiling, feeling good that they not only made a showing, but they're building something for themselves, and for a new generation of swimmers.
I'm very proud of my Bella, and also for the coaches and moms and dads who have worked to create this new little club. I'm wearing my pink seahorse shirt with pride tonight.
After the meet, Bella, Isaac, and I went out for terrible mexican at Don Pablos - There's something about their chips and fajitas that just works for me. Anyway, we ate well, had a lot of laughs, came home, and Bella zonked out nice and early with a big smile on her face. And tomorrow, we pick up again, and start practicing for the next meet!
By the way, Isaac is their mascot - he hung out with the girls for much of the meet, and had lots of hugs for his sister. And he too wore his pink Seahorse shirt with pride to his class at Circus Juventas today... even though it's a "girl color".
For the past 3 years, Bella has been learning with a St Paul team, which led to 30+ min drives each way to practice twice a week. The club was good, but focused a lot of their attention on the older girls, and the young'uns frankly didn't get as much training time or attention. So this year, we split off and formed a new club: We got our own name, our own coaches, and started with 6 girls, between 8-12 years old: The next generation of synchro stars starting their own club to grow together.
The coaches, Em and Liz are just wonderful - Em's the mom of the group, and Liz is the taskmaster, and between the two, they make sure the girls are nurtured AND worked. And watching them work, they've advanced more together than they had in 3 years at the old club.
There's definitely some politics and whatnot in there too, but really what I see is that these girls are a very good team, growing together, and learning a lot. They have an award for the hardest worker in any practice - the seahorse - and it's awarded every night. The coaches tell me that they don't even have to pick it, that the girls unanimously know who put in the work in any practice.
So at today's meet, our little club was up against three other clubs that have a huge bench strength - we only competed in 5 categories - 1 solo, 1 duet, 2 trios, and a team routine. We didn't take first place in any, but we made a great effort, and the girls felt great. There's a picture of them all smiling, feeling good that they not only made a showing, but they're building something for themselves, and for a new generation of swimmers.
I'm very proud of my Bella, and also for the coaches and moms and dads who have worked to create this new little club. I'm wearing my pink seahorse shirt with pride tonight.
After the meet, Bella, Isaac, and I went out for terrible mexican at Don Pablos - There's something about their chips and fajitas that just works for me. Anyway, we ate well, had a lot of laughs, came home, and Bella zonked out nice and early with a big smile on her face. And tomorrow, we pick up again, and start practicing for the next meet!
Wednesday, January 23, 2013
The bad week
One week into the new year, the flu descended on our house. Bella was first to go, flush with a fever, home sick from school. Pamela followed two days later, hit with a wrecking ball and knocked right out. The boys were all doing well and feeling strangely immune. Sunday came around with some hard news: I had to leave town for one night, then 2 more nights - Pamela still sick (3 days into it), and a (I thought) immoveable client meeting. I bid my sniffling girls farewell Sunday afternoon.
At the airport just before boarding came the text: ISAAC HAS THE FLU. He got a fever spike not 90 min after I left the house. Oh boy. I should mention here that I am also flying my non-preferred carrier - Delta has ridiculous prices out to the east coast, and I was saving almost $700 by doing a connecting flight via American. The meeting was to be 10-noon on Monday, so I had to fly Sunday night.
On American, I have no status. I fly coach, and I board last. They are also not particularly incented to do me favors in a bad travel situation. Oh, wait, now I remember, this isn't even a fully American flight - it's United to Chicago, then American to LaGuardia. One of those Orbitz Specials.
Got to Chicago safely - no drama there. The flight to LGA was delayed just a bit, but we boarded. The passengers seemed anxious and I soon learned why - LGA had been backed up all day, and many of them were supposed to have flown on 3 and 5pm flights, and were now hoping this 8pm flight got them there.
Pulled back from the gate and... Announcement - LGA is still backed up, so we're going to sit HERE for an hour. BUT PUT AWAY YOUR ELECTRONICS! The flight attendants paced the aisles like prison guards yelling at anyone who had a device out, despite the fact we were not moving, nor DUE to move for a good 45 minutes. RULES ARE RULES. I did not break the rules, I napped.
When we finally took off, the captain perhaps ominously said "there are still backups out there, but don't worry, we took on extra fuel". The flight progressed, but then we started circling. For an hour, and then we were abruptly told: "we're out of fuel, and we're diverting to Pittsburgh. There will be a ground crew there who can gas us up, and we still hope to hit LGA by 2am". The passengers were abuzz - flight trackers saw that the flight that left just before us had landed. THEN we saw the flight that left just AFTER us had landed. Why were WE diverted?
We landed, and nobody got up... we all thought we were refueling. 30 minutes we sat on the plane, and the without warning they said "sorry folks, the crew just timed out, and we need to spend the night here. We'll be leaving at 10am tomorrow". We filed out of the plane and found the line for re-booking and hotel vouchers. We were lined up in plane order, so I was right in the middle. After waiting for 10 min and noticing the line was not moving, I called Orbitz.
Over the next 45 minutes, I patiently explained to the man at Orbitz that my flight was in Pittsburgh ("what, did you change flights?" The computer still showed the plane was refuelled and due to hit LGA that night). No I did not want to go to LGA anymore. My meeting is at 10am, and the flight wouldn't land until 12. Could they just send me HOME from Pittsburgh please? It took the whole 45 min, and explaining the whole situation to him twice and the lady from American he finally found once... and I got rebooked. And in that time, I had moved 15 feet ahead in line.
I called Marriott, found the closest hotel, called them directly and had them come get me. I wrote to my client and explained I'd be on the phone. My head hit the pillow at 3am. The next morning, I had a good breakfast and headed to the airport - might as well do the call from the airport. Took the call, and it all worked out fine. Headed to the gate and ran into the flight crew from the night before.
Turns out the gate agent had no idea how to rebook or how to get hotels: They didn't get to their hotel until 345. They were royally pissed about the whole divert and refuel thing. And they were mad they were in Pittsburgh to boot. (Let me take a moment to mention the Pittsburgh airport - apparently they used to be a hub for someone and built a massive almost Atlanta-sized airport with a tramway, out in the middle of nowhere. Then the hub left, and the airport is a serious ghost town. It was sort of spooky to have such a huge facility looking SO empty)
The flight home was uneventful, really... except for the mild scratchy feeling I was feeling in my throat... uh oh. By the time I hit Minneapolis again, it was pretty obvious - I was going to get this Flu.
My next 24 hours were like a man with a death sentence - I worked my tail off getting things arranged at my clients, canceling my second trip of the week, shopping for groceries, getting the bills paid, finishing my presentations, running errands.... Tuesday I woke up with a cough and the sniffles, and I knew this wasn't going to be good. Pamela was still floored too - I'm not sure how she would have survived my trip, actually. Bella was glazey. Isaac was a zombie, and there were mountains of kleenex.
Wednesday hit, and I had one thing I had to do: I had to LEAD a 1 hour presentation for a room full of doctors in Michigan. I slept until 30 min prior to the meeting, got up, caffeinated, brought my a-game, then zonked out for the rest of the day. DOWN FOR THE COUNT.
Thursday: I had 3 conference calls scheduled that I had hoped I'd have the presence of mind to attend: I woke up 2 minutes before the first one, and wrote the following message to my team: "I got worse". I stared at that message for a minute, wondering what else I should write, and my brain said "that's all you need to say". I hit send and passed out for the rest of the day. A migraine decided to move in early afternoon, and by the evening, Pamela had to head out, so I crawled downstairs to monitor the still-barely-moving children. My eyes went to the TV and the flashey-flashey triggered a violent reaction - I moved faster than I had in 2 days, and lost my meager lunch.
Friday was similarly lost, but I was able to function for almost 2 hours of it. By Saturday, I felt almost on the upswing, and Sunday one could actually say I was better. Pamela was still suffering, Bella had good days and bad, and Isaac, well he's the king of dancing around the room laughing while his nose runs like a faucet, so he was just HIM.
It's now Wednesday, and everybody has a clean bill of health finally... I went back to work Monday, and by Tuesday, one could even say I had my traditional chipper energy back. And I needed that because the down week put me behind at work... working hard to catch up.
And that was the week that was.
At the airport just before boarding came the text: ISAAC HAS THE FLU. He got a fever spike not 90 min after I left the house. Oh boy. I should mention here that I am also flying my non-preferred carrier - Delta has ridiculous prices out to the east coast, and I was saving almost $700 by doing a connecting flight via American. The meeting was to be 10-noon on Monday, so I had to fly Sunday night.
On American, I have no status. I fly coach, and I board last. They are also not particularly incented to do me favors in a bad travel situation. Oh, wait, now I remember, this isn't even a fully American flight - it's United to Chicago, then American to LaGuardia. One of those Orbitz Specials.
Got to Chicago safely - no drama there. The flight to LGA was delayed just a bit, but we boarded. The passengers seemed anxious and I soon learned why - LGA had been backed up all day, and many of them were supposed to have flown on 3 and 5pm flights, and were now hoping this 8pm flight got them there.
Pulled back from the gate and... Announcement - LGA is still backed up, so we're going to sit HERE for an hour. BUT PUT AWAY YOUR ELECTRONICS! The flight attendants paced the aisles like prison guards yelling at anyone who had a device out, despite the fact we were not moving, nor DUE to move for a good 45 minutes. RULES ARE RULES. I did not break the rules, I napped.
When we finally took off, the captain perhaps ominously said "there are still backups out there, but don't worry, we took on extra fuel". The flight progressed, but then we started circling. For an hour, and then we were abruptly told: "we're out of fuel, and we're diverting to Pittsburgh. There will be a ground crew there who can gas us up, and we still hope to hit LGA by 2am". The passengers were abuzz - flight trackers saw that the flight that left just before us had landed. THEN we saw the flight that left just AFTER us had landed. Why were WE diverted?
We landed, and nobody got up... we all thought we were refueling. 30 minutes we sat on the plane, and the without warning they said "sorry folks, the crew just timed out, and we need to spend the night here. We'll be leaving at 10am tomorrow". We filed out of the plane and found the line for re-booking and hotel vouchers. We were lined up in plane order, so I was right in the middle. After waiting for 10 min and noticing the line was not moving, I called Orbitz.
Over the next 45 minutes, I patiently explained to the man at Orbitz that my flight was in Pittsburgh ("what, did you change flights?" The computer still showed the plane was refuelled and due to hit LGA that night). No I did not want to go to LGA anymore. My meeting is at 10am, and the flight wouldn't land until 12. Could they just send me HOME from Pittsburgh please? It took the whole 45 min, and explaining the whole situation to him twice and the lady from American he finally found once... and I got rebooked. And in that time, I had moved 15 feet ahead in line.
I called Marriott, found the closest hotel, called them directly and had them come get me. I wrote to my client and explained I'd be on the phone. My head hit the pillow at 3am. The next morning, I had a good breakfast and headed to the airport - might as well do the call from the airport. Took the call, and it all worked out fine. Headed to the gate and ran into the flight crew from the night before.
Turns out the gate agent had no idea how to rebook or how to get hotels: They didn't get to their hotel until 345. They were royally pissed about the whole divert and refuel thing. And they were mad they were in Pittsburgh to boot. (Let me take a moment to mention the Pittsburgh airport - apparently they used to be a hub for someone and built a massive almost Atlanta-sized airport with a tramway, out in the middle of nowhere. Then the hub left, and the airport is a serious ghost town. It was sort of spooky to have such a huge facility looking SO empty)
The flight home was uneventful, really... except for the mild scratchy feeling I was feeling in my throat... uh oh. By the time I hit Minneapolis again, it was pretty obvious - I was going to get this Flu.
My next 24 hours were like a man with a death sentence - I worked my tail off getting things arranged at my clients, canceling my second trip of the week, shopping for groceries, getting the bills paid, finishing my presentations, running errands.... Tuesday I woke up with a cough and the sniffles, and I knew this wasn't going to be good. Pamela was still floored too - I'm not sure how she would have survived my trip, actually. Bella was glazey. Isaac was a zombie, and there were mountains of kleenex.
Wednesday hit, and I had one thing I had to do: I had to LEAD a 1 hour presentation for a room full of doctors in Michigan. I slept until 30 min prior to the meeting, got up, caffeinated, brought my a-game, then zonked out for the rest of the day. DOWN FOR THE COUNT.
Thursday: I had 3 conference calls scheduled that I had hoped I'd have the presence of mind to attend: I woke up 2 minutes before the first one, and wrote the following message to my team: "I got worse". I stared at that message for a minute, wondering what else I should write, and my brain said "that's all you need to say". I hit send and passed out for the rest of the day. A migraine decided to move in early afternoon, and by the evening, Pamela had to head out, so I crawled downstairs to monitor the still-barely-moving children. My eyes went to the TV and the flashey-flashey triggered a violent reaction - I moved faster than I had in 2 days, and lost my meager lunch.
Friday was similarly lost, but I was able to function for almost 2 hours of it. By Saturday, I felt almost on the upswing, and Sunday one could actually say I was better. Pamela was still suffering, Bella had good days and bad, and Isaac, well he's the king of dancing around the room laughing while his nose runs like a faucet, so he was just HIM.
It's now Wednesday, and everybody has a clean bill of health finally... I went back to work Monday, and by Tuesday, one could even say I had my traditional chipper energy back. And I needed that because the down week put me behind at work... working hard to catch up.
And that was the week that was.
Wednesday, January 02, 2013
De-Icer Ballet
Starting the new year in style, in the first class cabin of a tiny airplane headed down to Dallas to solve a problem I may or may not have any idea how to resolve... I had resolutely tried NOT to think about work for the past 10 days, constraining myself only to caring about the physician scheduling project in Minneapolis, but ignoring all others. So I'm just getting back into it, and am balancing the needs of 4 new projects in my brain.
This morning, I snuck out with most of the house asleep, but Isaac gave me a long hug and wished I didn't have to go. He breaks my heart every time I leave. Bella too, but she always gets me the night before, because she sleeps in when I'm on the way out the door... Still, these one-night trips are a lot better than the 3-4 night disappearances I suffered in 2010, so we'll deal with a little sigh here and there.
I got to the airport on time, and was in the security line when I realized my phone was not in my pocket. I raced back to the car, calculating what my options were: Buy a phone? Have someone drive it out to me? WHAT? I was relieved to find the phone sitting on my driver's seat, where it had decided to hide, just to make me sweat a little. I got back into the terminal and into line - and made it to the gate with plenty of time.
The new Delta gates are a thing indeed - with an embarrassment of power outlets and dozens of iPads freely available for use. It actually makes the SkyClub seem a bit.. shabby? Superfluous? I enjoyed the free electricity and internet, and boarded the plane when called.
Here's a little picture of what I saw this AM:
As the sun was coming up, the jet wheeled over to the de-icing pad, and I was given a good view of the process: Truck number 9 was on our left side, right out my window, with a driver smoking a pipe (???) and the de-icer person checking her phone in the elevated cab. We pulled up, and the girl put away her phone and pulled on her gloves, as the guy put the truck in gear. They made a slow turn and started driving and spraying: The de-icer girl's cab was even with my window, and only 15 feet separated us. She worked the cab height controls with one hand, and the sprayer nozzle with the other, and she was intently focused on the job - need to make sure that pink fluid covers the whole wing!
She looked a bit cold in a giant jacket, and she had a lot of eyeliner on.
They made their way to the tail end of the plane, turned again, and pulled up behind truck number 11, which was just on its way to de-ice the plane that pulled up next to us. The driver adjusted his pipe. De-icer lady pulled out her phone. We pulled away, "number one for takeoff".
It was a sort of poetic start to the day (after my minor panic about the phone), and I'm hopeful for a great rest of this trip. I'm hoping a trip to a Pappas restaurant is in the cards for tonight!
This morning, I snuck out with most of the house asleep, but Isaac gave me a long hug and wished I didn't have to go. He breaks my heart every time I leave. Bella too, but she always gets me the night before, because she sleeps in when I'm on the way out the door... Still, these one-night trips are a lot better than the 3-4 night disappearances I suffered in 2010, so we'll deal with a little sigh here and there.
I got to the airport on time, and was in the security line when I realized my phone was not in my pocket. I raced back to the car, calculating what my options were: Buy a phone? Have someone drive it out to me? WHAT? I was relieved to find the phone sitting on my driver's seat, where it had decided to hide, just to make me sweat a little. I got back into the terminal and into line - and made it to the gate with plenty of time.
The new Delta gates are a thing indeed - with an embarrassment of power outlets and dozens of iPads freely available for use. It actually makes the SkyClub seem a bit.. shabby? Superfluous? I enjoyed the free electricity and internet, and boarded the plane when called.
Here's a little picture of what I saw this AM:
As the sun was coming up, the jet wheeled over to the de-icing pad, and I was given a good view of the process: Truck number 9 was on our left side, right out my window, with a driver smoking a pipe (???) and the de-icer person checking her phone in the elevated cab. We pulled up, and the girl put away her phone and pulled on her gloves, as the guy put the truck in gear. They made a slow turn and started driving and spraying: The de-icer girl's cab was even with my window, and only 15 feet separated us. She worked the cab height controls with one hand, and the sprayer nozzle with the other, and she was intently focused on the job - need to make sure that pink fluid covers the whole wing!
She looked a bit cold in a giant jacket, and she had a lot of eyeliner on.
They made their way to the tail end of the plane, turned again, and pulled up behind truck number 11, which was just on its way to de-ice the plane that pulled up next to us. The driver adjusted his pipe. De-icer lady pulled out her phone. We pulled away, "number one for takeoff".
It was a sort of poetic start to the day (after my minor panic about the phone), and I'm hopeful for a great rest of this trip. I'm hoping a trip to a Pappas restaurant is in the cards for tonight!
Tuesday, January 01, 2013
Thursday, November 22, 2012
Forty Five
Forty Four wound up being a very good year. Both Bella and Isaac have taken such incredible leaps in the past year: Isaac working on his reading, his math, and generally growing into big-boyness. Bella with her new Synchro club, and being a peaceful, smart 4th grader. Her kindness and serenity amazes me every day... even when she is pulled into drama with Isaac.
I supported Pamela's new business, and have been proud to see her out in the world connecting with people and making plans.
My work was wonderful this year - No huge dramas, and a lot of emerging work in areas that I have been laying seeds for years. I made a good amount of money, and signed up work that will have it increase a bit next year... which I'll need to fix the leaks in the shower. I bought an ownership stake in my company too, but don't think we'll be selling anytime REAL soon.
I got two couples married in my 44th year. I read a LOT of books and saw a LOT of movies. I played a lot of cards, and built a lot of Legos. I cuddled my dogs.
I wasn't as recreationally creative in 44 as I have been in other years - I didn't blog nearly as much, I didn't write a piece of music, I barely worked on languages... I didn't play my drums as much as I had hoped (but maybe I need to move them to the basement, so that I'm less self conscious about the "whump whump whump" audible throughout the house.
I did exercise, and actually got into running - I'd say I ran almost 50 miles in my 44th year, which is 50 more than I ran in my 43rd. In my 44th year, we got into climbing the rock wall at REI.
As a gift, the elections turned out in a way that pleased me, though I confess I didn't do a lot of volunteering or phone banking or even donating... But I still felt good about it.
Not a lot of regrets in 44. I'm looking forward to 45 being pretty great too.
I supported Pamela's new business, and have been proud to see her out in the world connecting with people and making plans.
My work was wonderful this year - No huge dramas, and a lot of emerging work in areas that I have been laying seeds for years. I made a good amount of money, and signed up work that will have it increase a bit next year... which I'll need to fix the leaks in the shower. I bought an ownership stake in my company too, but don't think we'll be selling anytime REAL soon.
I got two couples married in my 44th year. I read a LOT of books and saw a LOT of movies. I played a lot of cards, and built a lot of Legos. I cuddled my dogs.
I wasn't as recreationally creative in 44 as I have been in other years - I didn't blog nearly as much, I didn't write a piece of music, I barely worked on languages... I didn't play my drums as much as I had hoped (but maybe I need to move them to the basement, so that I'm less self conscious about the "whump whump whump" audible throughout the house.
I did exercise, and actually got into running - I'd say I ran almost 50 miles in my 44th year, which is 50 more than I ran in my 43rd. In my 44th year, we got into climbing the rock wall at REI.
As a gift, the elections turned out in a way that pleased me, though I confess I didn't do a lot of volunteering or phone banking or even donating... But I still felt good about it.
Not a lot of regrets in 44. I'm looking forward to 45 being pretty great too.
That old devil perception...
I had an amazing moment tonight with Isaac as we were lying in bed:
He asked "what's a frown upside down?" I answered "A smile!" He asked "What's a SMILE upside down?" I answered "a frown". He then asked "What's a frown halfway to a smile?"
I thought and said, "I think it's just a straight line mouth"
He said "No... it's a moon".
And what hit me about this is that as we were talking about this whole smiles thing, we had a fundamentally different IDEA of how that smile was turning upside down: I saw it like a line bent upwards, straighening, then bending downwards. He saw it as a fixed crescent, that rotates to turn upside down, so if you stop halfway, it's a moon.
What it told me was that sometimes you can agree on a starting point, and an ending point, but have a completely different way of getting from A to B: If Isaac hadn't asked me about the "half way", I'd never have known we weren't thinking of the same thing...
I know it's really a minor thing, but it really took me aback in a good way and gave me some insight into how people brains work differently, and how important it is to understand the process.
He asked "what's a frown upside down?" I answered "A smile!" He asked "What's a SMILE upside down?" I answered "a frown". He then asked "What's a frown halfway to a smile?"
I thought and said, "I think it's just a straight line mouth"
He said "No... it's a moon".
And what hit me about this is that as we were talking about this whole smiles thing, we had a fundamentally different IDEA of how that smile was turning upside down: I saw it like a line bent upwards, straighening, then bending downwards. He saw it as a fixed crescent, that rotates to turn upside down, so if you stop halfway, it's a moon.
What it told me was that sometimes you can agree on a starting point, and an ending point, but have a completely different way of getting from A to B: If Isaac hadn't asked me about the "half way", I'd never have known we weren't thinking of the same thing...
I know it's really a minor thing, but it really took me aback in a good way and gave me some insight into how people brains work differently, and how important it is to understand the process.
Saturday, November 17, 2012
Choreographers
Bella has been listening to my music... a LOT. As she's been walking through the house with my old tracks blasting on the iPad, I've caught snippets of songs I haven't heard for years... so it got me to pull a playlist together and listen to some of this stuff.
From 1989-1993 I did a number of pieces of music for choreographers - first for my old roommate in the French house, then for others... In all I did music for 5 major works - the first was only 8 minutes, the middle three were about 20-30 min, but my last was over an hour.
As I listen to this music, I'm pretty amazed at what I pulled off. This was all just done in my spare bedroom direct to DAT, a wall of synths with me riding the knobs and levels as it went. It really was a performance. It's not all brilliant - I'd say that each piece has at least 15 minutes of really good stuff, and 10 minutes of "ok". Some of it had to do with trying to get to a time the choreographer wanted, so there's some stretching... Also, because the choreographers were getting a lot of music for no money, they didn't really edit or push me to fill out the lighter bits...
I was very influenced by David Van Tieghem, who worked with Laurie Anderson, and did two very good instrumental albums of music adapted from dancepieces for Twyla Tharp. The influence is strong, but the pieces weren't derivative, at least. They all sound like ME.
But listening also got me a bit sad: In almost all cases, I worked very hard on the music, only to have the choreographer turn it into an improv movement piece: In each case, I saw the premier, was happy to see a few "coincidental" moments where the body was thrown down right on a big "boom" in the music... only to have that moment not happen at all the next night. In fact, in once case, the dancer threw himself down to the ground in a very similar manner, but a solid two beats AFTER the big boom, which made it feel like a mistake.
I confess I never truly understood the language of dance, but it seemed to me that the movement could have been matched better - or "choreographed" a little better. Maybe the dancer was doing an "echo" movement... But each time, I figured "maybe next time".
But what broke me was the hour long piece - it was huge and ambitious - I was writing tons of music, and when I arrived, a few things happened: First, the facility wouldn't let me manually cue the tapes - they wanted me to lay it all down onto one long tape. But they had very poor facilities, so the process added a layer of hiss to the music, and their techs couldn't reduce it. So it didn't sound as good as I wanted.
But worse, the choreographer was having massive issues with writer's block, and she made an 11th hour decision to abandon her choreography and turn it into an improv: The problem is that this was with 15 dancers of varying skill, trying to tell a narrative story, filling up an hour of time across 10 pieces of music I had written.
The premier night, I was sitting in the sound booth hearing my music with hiss on the top, watching 15 dancers MAKING CRAP UP for a full hour. I had worked so hard on this, to have it come out so poorly, it was just heartbreaking.
After that, I made myself unavailable for this work: a few chorographers called me up with ideas, but I begged it off. And the choreographer of that last piece, apparently oblivious to my disappointment, left me a lot of messages for more dances. I never returned the calls. In general, when it comes to music for dance, I liked the music I wrote for the dance a lot more than I liked the end result. After five times, I figured it was time to move on.
But I have been enjoying listening to the music again. It's good stuff.
Three of Four
Of the last four weddings I have attended, three of them were officiated by me. The latest was just yesterday, at a beautiful small church in rural southeastern MN, just the couple and their parents (and Pamela). It was a beautiful space - with a wood stove right in the middle of the room, and oil lamps and candelabras providing the light along with the setting sun. It was a crisp fall day, with a pure blue sky.
The couple (who are keeping this under their hats for now, so will remain unnamed) trusted me to write the ceremony and provide some vows, which they loved.
As I reflect, I'm so grateful to Paul and Melissa Olson, who asked me 4 years ago to get ordained and perform their ceremony - it was in a field near New Ulm, another beautiful rural setting... I remember being out to dinner with them, when they were about to ask a sensitive question... I was SURE they wanted me in their ceremony (though knowing how any brothers Paul had, I figured I would be far back in the line). When they asked if I would perform the ceremony, I said YES without a second thought. It just seemed right. Geek that I am, I read the ceremony off of my white Amazon Kindle.
My talent lay dormant for 4 years, but then my friends Gregg and Rachel had me do their wedding late summer in a planetarium in Philadelphia. This one had a lot of Jewish tradition in it, which was fun to learn about, and I had to wrangle a good dozen speakers... AND we did the glass breaking... it was wonderful.
And now to have done one more in just a few months... now it's strange, but I'm thinking "yes, this is a thing I do now" - I'm just expecting someone else to ask.
I feel I'm actually pretty good at this - I love to write (as you know), and I am not shy in front of a crowd... and I also like to create a service that is very personal to the couple - I would never want to be one of those priests who just read the same service over and over... Not that I'll have that risk - it's not everyone who wants an agnostic geek to perform their wedding. I'm just happy that there are 3 couples (so far) who DID.
And I'm pretty sure I would have done a great job on the 4th wedding, if only Erik had asked. But as consolation, I did get to stand on that stage as one of his "best guys", so it was worth it.
The other fun thing to consider: My kids are growing up knowing that a person can pretty much do anything: Write music? Climb mountains? Help doctors? Marry people? Sure, I can do that. And so can they, someday.
The couple (who are keeping this under their hats for now, so will remain unnamed) trusted me to write the ceremony and provide some vows, which they loved.
As I reflect, I'm so grateful to Paul and Melissa Olson, who asked me 4 years ago to get ordained and perform their ceremony - it was in a field near New Ulm, another beautiful rural setting... I remember being out to dinner with them, when they were about to ask a sensitive question... I was SURE they wanted me in their ceremony (though knowing how any brothers Paul had, I figured I would be far back in the line). When they asked if I would perform the ceremony, I said YES without a second thought. It just seemed right. Geek that I am, I read the ceremony off of my white Amazon Kindle.
My talent lay dormant for 4 years, but then my friends Gregg and Rachel had me do their wedding late summer in a planetarium in Philadelphia. This one had a lot of Jewish tradition in it, which was fun to learn about, and I had to wrangle a good dozen speakers... AND we did the glass breaking... it was wonderful.
And now to have done one more in just a few months... now it's strange, but I'm thinking "yes, this is a thing I do now" - I'm just expecting someone else to ask.
I feel I'm actually pretty good at this - I love to write (as you know), and I am not shy in front of a crowd... and I also like to create a service that is very personal to the couple - I would never want to be one of those priests who just read the same service over and over... Not that I'll have that risk - it's not everyone who wants an agnostic geek to perform their wedding. I'm just happy that there are 3 couples (so far) who DID.
And I'm pretty sure I would have done a great job on the 4th wedding, if only Erik had asked. But as consolation, I did get to stand on that stage as one of his "best guys", so it was worth it.
The other fun thing to consider: My kids are growing up knowing that a person can pretty much do anything: Write music? Climb mountains? Help doctors? Marry people? Sure, I can do that. And so can they, someday.
Monday, October 29, 2012
An interesting evening
One of the wonders of having kids out there in the world is the people they choose to care about. To be sure, Isaac has bonded with classmates, but so far, Bella has impressed us with her ability to "collect" unique people who have good hearts. She's had a few people come through who like her energy, but guard it with strange jealousy (and drive us a little nuts) - but Bella's been pretty good about identifying that and de-escalating with them. She's a gal who likes nice people.
In the past few years, her best friends have included the most effeminate boy in the universe, a Japanese girl, a big guy with speech impediment and a wild imagination, a gangly boy with Aspergers, a tall sporty girl with a penchant for surreal anecdotes, a sweet Pakistani girl whose dad runs a convenience store, and of course, her synchronized swimming pals. Seriously, these kids should be out solving crimes. They're the most hilariously diverse group I can imagine. They're all dreamers, and they make each other laugh.
So this year, fourth grade, we started hearing about a new classmate, Amal. Bella just loved her, and they sat together at lunch a lot. We learned Amal is a muslim with Somali parents - she wears the hijab and is learning arabic and how to read the Koran. She's also extremely giggly.
When Bella had her very small birthday party, Amal was one of four people on the guest list. When she arrived at the birthday party, a little late, she bolted from the car and caught up with the rest of the gang who were up the block on a scavenger hunt. (later that night, when I asked Bella what her favorite part of her party was, she said that it was Amal hustling up the street toward them). I was left with her mom, Faduma, who had "just a few things" for the party.
She popped her trunk, and pulled out a party platter of two dozen cookies, a decorated sheet cake, and an enormous homemade pineapple upside down cake. Also a card with a very generous gift inside - far more than Bella needed. I tried to beg it off, and Faduma said "Bella is a good friend to Amal, and so she is like a daughter to me."(Bella, by the way, decided to donate part of the large gift to the humane society, which is SO Bella)
Amal had a great time at the party, very interested in our dogs (she's both allergic to most dogs, and her culture doesn't keep dogs as pets), and in the middle of a lot of mayhem: When she left for home, her black hijab was liberally smeared with bright pink frosting from Bella's cake. She had a mile wide smile.
The next day I got a call from Faduma: She wanted to thank us for having Amal over, and asked us to dinner the next week. Also, she wanted to take Bella out for the afternoon with her and Amal. All week we wondered - what would this be like? Pamela and I looked up Somali customs, I learned a few words to be polite...
Bella was picked up for a little shopping adventure at JC Penny, and we went over to the house a couple of hours later: The dad, Mohammed, met us - the girls weren't back yet, but we sat and talked. They had a sparsely furnished apartment right in the city limits so the kids would have access to the Edina schools. The girls showed up a little late, with bags in hand - yes, Faduma had decided to buy Bella a winter jacket. Way too kind.
For the next 3 hours, Isaac roughhoused with the two boys (in 1st and 6th grades), Bella was right there with them and Amal, and Pamela and I had an evening talking with Amal's parents - they were eager to share their stories, about how he left Somalia just 3 days before the civil war broke out (he had "a bad feeling"), how he left Faduma, but sent for her a few years later, how they've moved many times, how Faduma had to learn to drive in MN weather...
They have a youngest daughter who is on the spectrum for Autism: She is willful, shrieks, but also sweet. We watched as she processed a plate of fruits and vegetables into tiny cubes, and arranged into a colorful pile, then ran off. She has her own language, which the kids all understand. And throughout, the parents were patient and loving, and Pamela and I just marveled at their calmness with the storm all around (between the wrestling boys and the wild child and the giggling Amal and Bella).
My attempts to speak a little Somali led to a fun discussion with Mohammed (who speaks excellent English, by the way) about language - how he was working at a hotel in Minneapolis where a white man walked up to him and spoke perfect Somali - turns out he is retired CIA, and could peg Mohammed's accent and mannerisms to his exact tribe and city. He was amazed.
He also was happy about, but also puzzled by the ability for people to get by in the US without learning english... he said before coming to the US, he spent time in Ethiopia, Kenya, Syria, and Saudi Arabia, and each time, he said he had to learn the local language... he said "to know the language is to be safe". He worries about enclaves of people here who may not be safe if they have to leave their circles - he thinks everyone should be able to talk to a doctor, to a lawyer, and to a policeman with confidence.
It's interesting, because they also choose to use Somali as their language of the house... so they have English, Somali, and Arabic as languages in their house. Well, that just makes me want to keep learning languages... and now I feel like I want to understand Arabic - it has such beautiful writing.
Amal was very eager to show me her "learner Koran", and her arabic langauge book... and then ran over with a colorful mat and said "do you know what this is???" Of course I know about prayer mats - I watch Homeland, after all.
The food was an enormous spread brought in from the Holy Land Deli, and it was all wonderful. They were very generous with their time and their home, and at the end of the night, I felt very privileged to have been invited over. As we went home, Isaac said "this has been one of the best days of my life" - his play time with those boys was wonderful, and I think there might just have been a little something about being around a bunch of people who look like him... I'll ask a few questions about that, but let him share what he wants...
I have the feeling this won't be the last time we get together with this very nice family (I sure hope we see them more). And I'm grateful to Bella for having the sort of heart that looks right past a hijab, right past the awkwardness of the new kid in school, and makes a friend. I feel like I have so much to learn from how she approaches some things in life.
In the past few years, her best friends have included the most effeminate boy in the universe, a Japanese girl, a big guy with speech impediment and a wild imagination, a gangly boy with Aspergers, a tall sporty girl with a penchant for surreal anecdotes, a sweet Pakistani girl whose dad runs a convenience store, and of course, her synchronized swimming pals. Seriously, these kids should be out solving crimes. They're the most hilariously diverse group I can imagine. They're all dreamers, and they make each other laugh.
So this year, fourth grade, we started hearing about a new classmate, Amal. Bella just loved her, and they sat together at lunch a lot. We learned Amal is a muslim with Somali parents - she wears the hijab and is learning arabic and how to read the Koran. She's also extremely giggly.
When Bella had her very small birthday party, Amal was one of four people on the guest list. When she arrived at the birthday party, a little late, she bolted from the car and caught up with the rest of the gang who were up the block on a scavenger hunt. (later that night, when I asked Bella what her favorite part of her party was, she said that it was Amal hustling up the street toward them). I was left with her mom, Faduma, who had "just a few things" for the party.
She popped her trunk, and pulled out a party platter of two dozen cookies, a decorated sheet cake, and an enormous homemade pineapple upside down cake. Also a card with a very generous gift inside - far more than Bella needed. I tried to beg it off, and Faduma said "Bella is a good friend to Amal, and so she is like a daughter to me."(Bella, by the way, decided to donate part of the large gift to the humane society, which is SO Bella)
Amal had a great time at the party, very interested in our dogs (she's both allergic to most dogs, and her culture doesn't keep dogs as pets), and in the middle of a lot of mayhem: When she left for home, her black hijab was liberally smeared with bright pink frosting from Bella's cake. She had a mile wide smile.
The next day I got a call from Faduma: She wanted to thank us for having Amal over, and asked us to dinner the next week. Also, she wanted to take Bella out for the afternoon with her and Amal. All week we wondered - what would this be like? Pamela and I looked up Somali customs, I learned a few words to be polite...
Bella was picked up for a little shopping adventure at JC Penny, and we went over to the house a couple of hours later: The dad, Mohammed, met us - the girls weren't back yet, but we sat and talked. They had a sparsely furnished apartment right in the city limits so the kids would have access to the Edina schools. The girls showed up a little late, with bags in hand - yes, Faduma had decided to buy Bella a winter jacket. Way too kind.
For the next 3 hours, Isaac roughhoused with the two boys (in 1st and 6th grades), Bella was right there with them and Amal, and Pamela and I had an evening talking with Amal's parents - they were eager to share their stories, about how he left Somalia just 3 days before the civil war broke out (he had "a bad feeling"), how he left Faduma, but sent for her a few years later, how they've moved many times, how Faduma had to learn to drive in MN weather...
They have a youngest daughter who is on the spectrum for Autism: She is willful, shrieks, but also sweet. We watched as she processed a plate of fruits and vegetables into tiny cubes, and arranged into a colorful pile, then ran off. She has her own language, which the kids all understand. And throughout, the parents were patient and loving, and Pamela and I just marveled at their calmness with the storm all around (between the wrestling boys and the wild child and the giggling Amal and Bella).
My attempts to speak a little Somali led to a fun discussion with Mohammed (who speaks excellent English, by the way) about language - how he was working at a hotel in Minneapolis where a white man walked up to him and spoke perfect Somali - turns out he is retired CIA, and could peg Mohammed's accent and mannerisms to his exact tribe and city. He was amazed.
He also was happy about, but also puzzled by the ability for people to get by in the US without learning english... he said before coming to the US, he spent time in Ethiopia, Kenya, Syria, and Saudi Arabia, and each time, he said he had to learn the local language... he said "to know the language is to be safe". He worries about enclaves of people here who may not be safe if they have to leave their circles - he thinks everyone should be able to talk to a doctor, to a lawyer, and to a policeman with confidence.
It's interesting, because they also choose to use Somali as their language of the house... so they have English, Somali, and Arabic as languages in their house. Well, that just makes me want to keep learning languages... and now I feel like I want to understand Arabic - it has such beautiful writing.
Amal was very eager to show me her "learner Koran", and her arabic langauge book... and then ran over with a colorful mat and said "do you know what this is???" Of course I know about prayer mats - I watch Homeland, after all.
The food was an enormous spread brought in from the Holy Land Deli, and it was all wonderful. They were very generous with their time and their home, and at the end of the night, I felt very privileged to have been invited over. As we went home, Isaac said "this has been one of the best days of my life" - his play time with those boys was wonderful, and I think there might just have been a little something about being around a bunch of people who look like him... I'll ask a few questions about that, but let him share what he wants...
I have the feeling this won't be the last time we get together with this very nice family (I sure hope we see them more). And I'm grateful to Bella for having the sort of heart that looks right past a hijab, right past the awkwardness of the new kid in school, and makes a friend. I feel like I have so much to learn from how she approaches some things in life.
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