20070331

Thirty days has September, April, June and November...let's see, that's 9, 4, 6, 11...adds up to 30...oh well, clearly I'd rather think of anything than getting the taxes finished.

Today's agenda (stifled laughter offstage):

1. taxes
2. read
3. listen to friends play at a coffeehouse
4. go for a walk
5. write
6. study
7. other

20070329

Run too hard, and the knees will likely get sore. Among other things.

Home from YAMP (yet another music practice). Will give it a rest tomorrow. Also do a bit of reading maybe. Everybody here seems to be doing OK, P. was kind of sick a couple days but quite mended now. Some friends have their son in the hospital with lots of testing and few answers, although he is getting better - was scary for a while.

Renewal time...exercise...thinking time.

20070326

Summer breeze, ice by the bike path, P. and I rode miles along the trail to our ice-cream destination, and then back. He's resting now, while I catch up here. Taking the day off, imagining what to do...so beautiful outside.

20070325

Finally saw "Pursuit of Happyness" (yes, with a 'y') yesterday at one of those theaters where movies go shortly before the DVD comes out. Having gone through a career change this last year, it was especially poignant to watch character Chris Gardner struggle through losses and eventually succeed with his dream. Good stuff.

Played with LA&TK Friday evening (3/23) at a coffeehouse, again a friendly crowd, some new faces. Talked with the owner of the coffeehouse afterwards, she mentioned that finances were becoming a significant problem for the operation since an expected nearby condominium development had been delayed. Tough to make it all work sometimes.

Need to finish cd recording this week, maybe start final mixing next weekend.

20070324

There are 10,080 minutes in a week.

20070320

Home from performance (LA&TK), good sound and a friendly "crowd" - well, not a crowd exactly...but some people, which is fine for Tuesday evening.

Small dish of ice cream and off to bed. Pathetic post, I guess. But better than no post at all.

20070319

A full day. Good band rehearsal this evening, performances coming up. Also spent time with N. working on her analytical chemistry homework. But it's late now and time for rest. Good night, and see you tomorrow...

20070317

Slightly past midnight...we went to a concert in the evening, Minnesota Orchestra with St. Olaf choir performing a version of Peer Gynt, complete with narration, soloists, some theatrics. Very cultured, I suppose.:) Ibsen and Grieg. Nothing like Rogers and Hammerstein. I'm guessing that Grieg really needed the work, but he wrote some wonderful pieces, now quite familiar.

Right. Well, it's the weekend again. I have some practice exam software loaded on my computer to study for the patent bar exam, hope it helps me pass the first time.

Feeling pretty good about things this past day. Kind of nice, some days are harder

C.A. still out at a concert with friends, should be home soon. N. home tomorrow for a week or so (spring break). R. stayed home from school today, not feeling well. P. & Cy. doing great. End of report.:)

20070314

Ah, back from a band practice. This group of people I haven't seen since last October. We play maybe 3 times a year, for events related to one of the companies where some of the band members work (or have worked). Quite fun to see them again and also see if we can remember the tunes. We went through the Beatles' "I Saw Her Standin There," Cake's "Never There," a KT Tunstall song called "Suddenly I See," a Joan Jett version of "Love is all around," a couple of original tunes, and a few new ones. The event is in late April, so we have time to practice. Very good to see them again.

Must get more rest though.

20070313

Monday flew by.

P kind of sick today, needs to rest. Everybody else ok.

Not a lot else to report for today - a music practice mid-day, bringing the bass guitar along. Looking forward to getting some lingering tasks out of the way. A DVD of "To Kill A Mockingbird" should arrive today, might get a chance to watch this evening.

About it. Did start reading a second PD James book.

20070311

Finished PD James book "Original Sin" - quite good, I don't know mystery literture so well but it certainly kept me guessing right to the end, with several interesting twists thrown in at the end for good measure (thanks to Annie for highlighting PD James on her blog).

Also got through several chapters of "To Kill A Mockingbird" with R before she had to go out for the evening - more to read later on, I think.

Meanwhile, a bit of writing to do myself...

Otherwise, all well, P out playing with his buddies in the milder weather today. Clock moved ahead last night, so still quite light here at 7 PM.

20070310

Today's menu:

Read PD James "Original Sin" - finish (noon- ch 43/66)
Get a box to archive 2006 records
Assemble 2006 records as needed
Read "And Suddenly the Inventor Appeared" by G. Altshuller, ch. 5-9 (done by 1 PM)
Read several chapters of "To Kill A Mockingbird" with R. (ch. 12-15 - done)
Possible visit to N. at school for study session (moved to Mon/Tues)
Finish current chapter in patent bar materials, do practice test
Exercise - at minimum, go for a walk
Do a slog2live entry (picture)
Catch up on others' blogs for the week (ca. 45 min - done)
Review action/waiting/project/someday lists
Finish critical document
More exercise
Develop Spotfire presentation (if time)

20070308

Oatmeal with banana and brown sugar, tea with milk and sugar. Why tell the world? Just a homey note, I guess.

Barely light out, darker blue than the recent post on slog2live. But not quiet, there are busy morning sounds, conversations about the dog, the snow, food, departure times, reminders.

Spent time reading with R last evening, "To Kill a Mockingbird" - her class is moving through it at about 3 chapters a day. I really like spending the time reading with her, and it helps focus attention in the face of too many things to work on.

Also spent time scanning through various videos of people playing electric violin, solo with looping effects (play their own background track, then solo over it). Wishing for that kind of equipment now. But really need to stick with the basic ongoing skill development - equipment is no substitute!

Learning new things at work every day. Good crew to work with, some of whom I may only ever interact with by emails, given that they live across various oceans.

Fresh scones. May need a second cup of tea...

20070307

Crunch times in the classrooms. Several of the kids feeling the pressure of assignments, unclear directions, frustration at having done more than was actually needed. Hard to know what to say sometimes. Help them through it, support, offer cups of tea...P is fine, upstairs working on a puzzle, but R & C have both had late nights recently trying to get everything done. With N we have to use some imagination, she did ask for some help this weekend with a chemistry assignment.

Cy. is doing more teaching, yesterday in P's classroom, which I think they both enjoy. Definitely feels busy around home.

At work we have 'monthly random lunches' where groups of 4 are picked, somebody is put in charge of picking the date & place...works out nicely, get to meet people that otherwise might be someone you pass in the hall for five years and never get to know. Had one of these yesterday; nearly always good conversations.

Studying for patent bar exam. Easy for this to get crowded out with the new job, it's all good learning but at the same time there are plenty of urgent things that come up. I'm finding that it's by far best to ask for advice sooner rather than later, sometimes saves considerable time and effort (i.e. 'wheel spinning'). Good experience for one who has typically tried to solve things solo.

Enjoying the early morning light. Daylight savings time starts this weekend, which will reset some of the recent progress in light at this time of day. Beautiful blue sky with high vague clouds. Sparrow on the bird feeder. Well, not a sparrow, but something close (need to know my birds better).

Time to roll.

P. S. Just used the spellchecker here and found 5 mistakes! (along with good replacement options - helpful tool)

20070306 (pm post)

Was at the dentist's today - got there half an hour early (forgot that I'd already put an extra half hour onto my calendar to leave time for the trip), and noticed the New Yorker magazine. There was an article about poets, how they write mainly for other poets to read, and how different that is from Shakespeare, who (it was claimed) understood his audience.

Interesting.

20070306

Wishing for some drums lately. First real drumset was in 8th grade, $100, I paid half, my mom paid the other. She could see that I desperately wanted to play - I'd made a set out of plastic ice cream buckets, pan lids, and the finishing touch was the metal top from a coffee-can with copper rivets installed around the edges. I'd spend hours in my room playing this makeshift set along with the radio. So it was quite exciting to finally get a 'real' set of drums, comprised of two drum sets really, two slightly different shades of blue sparkle. Two bass drums. And I spent countless hours playing along with In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida, like any self-respecting kid playing drums at the time.

20070305

Neighbor's car tail light glowing red through dark pine branches. A flag gently waving through the trees and power lines. It's Monday morning, first one in March.

Surprisingly, an eagle doing upward spirals on an air current from who-knows-where (certainly no cliffs here). That was a treat, if omen-like.

Laid in bed a bit too long, that old Deep Purple song 'Lazy' running through my head (wonderfully cheezy midi version here complete with harmonica solo :)

Time to roll. Full day at the office, band rehearsal, homework helper after that. And maybe read more of PD James book (about 1/3-1/2 through - main suspects being interviewed - enjoying this story).

Another version of Lazy - live, from 1972

20070304

Up early, and staring at a bag of cans headed for recycling. Life has those mundane moments. Dark outside - I can see the outline of roofs piled thick with snow.

Did pick up a copy of P D James' "Original Sin" from the library, a mystery. Such a break from reading technical stuff. Need to take time to explore areas like this.

Ms C. pushes herself pretty hard - need to make sure she gets a break somehow. The lifeguarding work is going fine, but her time is getting quite constrained.

Cy. & N. went 'birthday present shopping' most of yesterday - nice for the two of them to have the time together. N. also pretty busy with college classes, especially the labs which can eat up big chunks of time.

R. has it a bit easier, good at this age - this summer we start the driving lessons!

And P. had a great day yesterday with friends and a snow fort:



Today: more reading, writing, possibly get some recording done for band CD project, and maybe shovel some snow...

20070303

Welcome - I'd offer you some tea, if there was a way...this morning the sunlight is brilliant off the fresh snow.

Music last night was, as expected, sparsely attended - a few loyal folks who often show up, fellow musicians mostly. Nice to see them.

Ah, the weekend ahead. I often spend a bit of time planning on Saturday mornings, it gives a sense of hope that things will all get sorted out. Usually by about 2 pm I've wandered far off course, but at least some of it gets done.

To be a writer...a good writer...a whole brain writer. Need to give the whole brain a chance to participate, I suppose. Sounds difficult, if not undefined.

Possible criteria for good writing:

people spend time reading it
people ask other people if they've read it
and, might as well admit - people spend money to read it

By those criteria, we end up with popular trash being good writing, which is clearly a grinding sort of definition.

The dialogues of Socrates - I used to love reading them, and I suppose they are well written. They are loaded with explorations of definitions that typically leave common assumptions in shreds. They are popular with some, but I don't meet many who have (1) taken the time to read them, (2) asked others if they've read them, or (3) spent money to read them. But I doubt that many would seriously claim that Plato's dialogues of Socrates are not good writing.

The works of Shakespeare - never mind, you get the point.

Some write simply because they can't not write. There is too much to say in one short life.

My daughter C does well at writing. She can sit down at the computer late at night, after working or babysitting or time with friends, think of a topic and write a pretty decent paper for class the next day. There's a kind of ability to focus and sense the parts that need to come together. It's nice to see, biased as I of course am.

I should be careful about singling out one of the children, that is always fraught with comparison. My defense is that they are all different, all have their own strengths, and I need to take care to recognize and encourage each of them (This is clearly disclaimer language).

OK, on with the morning plans, more thinking about writing later.

20070302

More snow. A good dose of real winter. Has its own kind of beauty.

Quiet at work today, many opted to stay home. I was able to work relatively uninterrupted, which is quite nice sometimes.

Playing music tonight, so just a few minutes here to update the log. I doubt many will come to listen since the roads are not so good.

R is out doing some shoveling as the light is failing. Bit of meat cooking on the stove. Home comfort.

20070301

N's birthday! So grown up...the other day I was over at her university, helping with a study session, I really like being around there - wouldn't mind teaching someday, probably (if possible). Enjoyed spending the time with her and a couple fellow students slogging through chemistry problems. Memories.

Today at work, someone was cleaning out an office and was trying to unload unwanted books - one of them happened to be a chemistry text written by a couple of the professors I had, so I grabbed it and put it on the shelf with the rest of my chemistry museum. Two shelves-worth. Might be useful again someday.

Was reading an article tonight about drug discovery and how chemists have turned more strongly again to using plant natural products as the starting points. Reading through it made me realize how immersed I've been in thinking about drug research, and now spend loads of time "getting my arms around" processes involved with managing a business's patent portfolio. Quite different worlds!

So, today the blizzard came at last, the schools got closed down, will be closed tomorrow as well. Tricky driving on the freeway. Had a music practice tonight partly in preparation for a memorial service tomorrow - a young person who had cancer several years...tough for everyone involved.

Car repaired today - a sensor failed, requiring a significant part replacement and corresponding cost. Been a good car, though, overall.

Still snowing. Plenty of shoveling ahead, though no big hurry given our situation.

More tomorrow...