Wednesday, January 26, 2005
First the Valley's gasoline supply breaks down. Then two substations burn and everyone has to turn their thermostats up until a new transformer can be delivered from Washington. Then the gas supply is shut down again. Now everyone in Phoenix is being told to boil their water and avoid showering because most of the city's water plants are either out of commission or offline for maintenance.
This place is coming apart at the seams.
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I heard a rumor at the Songwriter's Gathering that the Phoenix Folk Festival might not be held in Encanto Park this year, due to rennovations being made at the park. That'll be a first, at least during the almost ten years that I've been going to the Festival. Encanto has a nice ambience, expecially in March, with inside & outside venues, and the folkies mixing with the birthday parties, wedding receptions, and geese out on the lawns. At Andy Hurlbut's "Inspiration in Songwriting" circle on Saturday, one of the songwriters, egged on by the rest of us, started a song with a ruanchy chorus - but keeping the volume down due to the wedding party having photos taken across the courtyard. Alas, it was for naught; just as we reached the audience-participation part (yelling "you bitch!"), I glanced up to see a flower girl and smiling papa who had come over to listen to the pretty music. Needless to say, the chorus suddenly became an instrumental at that point.
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Tomorrow I have to sit and listen via telecon to a 10-hour meeting being held in Minnesota.
At least I didn't have to fly there.
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Rain today! Rain tonight! Hurrah!
1 comments
This place is coming apart at the seams.
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I heard a rumor at the Songwriter's Gathering that the Phoenix Folk Festival might not be held in Encanto Park this year, due to rennovations being made at the park. That'll be a first, at least during the almost ten years that I've been going to the Festival. Encanto has a nice ambience, expecially in March, with inside & outside venues, and the folkies mixing with the birthday parties, wedding receptions, and geese out on the lawns. At Andy Hurlbut's "Inspiration in Songwriting" circle on Saturday, one of the songwriters, egged on by the rest of us, started a song with a ruanchy chorus - but keeping the volume down due to the wedding party having photos taken across the courtyard. Alas, it was for naught; just as we reached the audience-participation part (yelling "you bitch!"), I glanced up to see a flower girl and smiling papa who had come over to listen to the pretty music. Needless to say, the chorus suddenly became an instrumental at that point.
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Tomorrow I have to sit and listen via telecon to a 10-hour meeting being held in Minnesota.
At least I didn't have to fly there.
--------------------
Rain today! Rain tonight! Hurrah!
1 comments
Monday, January 24, 2005
dammit.
The TV switched over to 12 News a few seconds late last night, but I knew the only reason they'd be running Johnny Carson clips at the top of the broadcast would be as an obit.
We'll miss you, Johnny. Merry meet again.
0 comments
The TV switched over to 12 News a few seconds late last night, but I knew the only reason they'd be running Johnny Carson clips at the top of the broadcast would be as an obit.
We'll miss you, Johnny. Merry meet again.
0 comments
Saturday, January 22, 2005
Arizona Songwriters' Gathering
Oops, I forgot to send this out to my mailing list - but there's still time to nip out to Encanto Park in Phoenix for the Annual Arizona Songwriters' Gathering. From 10:00 to 4:00 today there'll be workshops, a ballad tree, and two tracks of the Valley's songwriters doing 10-minute mini-sets. Look for me in the Clubhouse Ballroom at 1:20!
Encanto Park is located off 15th ave. south of Thomas. The Gathering is in the northwest corner of the park in the Clubhouse and Boathouse; the same area where the Phoenix Folk Festival always takes place.
0 comments
Oops, I forgot to send this out to my mailing list - but there's still time to nip out to Encanto Park in Phoenix for the Annual Arizona Songwriters' Gathering. From 10:00 to 4:00 today there'll be workshops, a ballad tree, and two tracks of the Valley's songwriters doing 10-minute mini-sets. Look for me in the Clubhouse Ballroom at 1:20!
Encanto Park is located off 15th ave. south of Thomas. The Gathering is in the northwest corner of the park in the Clubhouse and Boathouse; the same area where the Phoenix Folk Festival always takes place.
0 comments
Tuesday, January 18, 2005
Tie me kangaroo down, Freud...
I've heard it said that people don't stop dreaming as we get older; we just don't remember our dreams anymore. Recently I've started remembering my dreams, and now I think I know why I forgot them before. Four nights in a row, I've dreamt of going to Australia. Not too horribly surprising, considering that I'm considering Australia as my next big trip. But it's been four nights in a row now, and each time it's something stupid going wrong with the tour, like the whole tour group is crammed into one hotel room, and my bed is in the shower. Or the kangaroos disappear as soon as I get my camera out. I demand a better quality of surrealism from my subconscious!
1 comments
I've heard it said that people don't stop dreaming as we get older; we just don't remember our dreams anymore. Recently I've started remembering my dreams, and now I think I know why I forgot them before. Four nights in a row, I've dreamt of going to Australia. Not too horribly surprising, considering that I'm considering Australia as my next big trip. But it's been four nights in a row now, and each time it's something stupid going wrong with the tour, like the whole tour group is crammed into one hotel room, and my bed is in the shower. Or the kangaroos disappear as soon as I get my camera out. I demand a better quality of surrealism from my subconscious!
1 comments
Monday, January 17, 2005
I was drawn by the sirens of Titan...
January can be a bleak month in Phoenix. But we just had the most gorgeous weather this weekend; sunny, 70+ degrees, with just a bit of a breeze. I spent a pleasant Sunday in the back yard, putting up a new cast iron trellis that Carrie and Keith helped me assemble Saturday evening, against the north wall. The most involved part was disassembling the patchwork of rotting planks and landcaping wire supporting the vines; the herdenbergia in particular was pretty intimately wrapped around the wires (and itself), so I had to leave some of them in. The Lady Banks rose, once untangled, looked pretty gangly, but hopefully with more room to spread out it will plump up this season.
I've started my tomato seeds under the gro-lamp in the spare room. This year I'm trying the following varieties from Totally Tomatoes:
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Last night I sat down to spend about an hour on the Stardust County arrangements after dinner, but things really caught fire and I wound up working past my bedtime and - save for polishing - finished up The Whole Distance and the Denoument! It was one of those rare sessions where, as soon as I finished up a phrase in one instrument or part of the score, I knew exactly what the next phrase needed to be. Well, I did choose The Whole Distance because of the relatively simple arrangement making it a break from Stardust County Line. Once I polish these guys, it's on to Less Than a Hero, which is going to be a real bear.
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Some of our local legislaters are back at amending the Arizona State Constitution again. It seems that the existing "Official English" laws aren't Englishy enough for them. My opinion is that we should worry about translating the Arizona State Income Tax instruction books into English before we start worrying that city community centers might print circulars in Spanish or some other non-English language that the legislators can't read and therefore probably are calling them boogerheads behind their backs. I'm all for new immigrants learning English. But I'm also aware that no-one learns English as a second language instantaneously, and for most people who pick up a new language as adults, or even as seniors, the first language is always going to be the easiest. Our country has had many waves of immigrants; German, Irish, Chinese, Vietnamese, Hispanic - each group has had its own challenges and its own way of adapting. Why tie that hands of future state and local government by prohibiting them from using what they deem the most efficient methods of communicating with the people they serve?
Or just make the official state language Tohono O'odham and be done with it.
0 comments
January can be a bleak month in Phoenix. But we just had the most gorgeous weather this weekend; sunny, 70+ degrees, with just a bit of a breeze. I spent a pleasant Sunday in the back yard, putting up a new cast iron trellis that Carrie and Keith helped me assemble Saturday evening, against the north wall. The most involved part was disassembling the patchwork of rotting planks and landcaping wire supporting the vines; the herdenbergia in particular was pretty intimately wrapped around the wires (and itself), so I had to leave some of them in. The Lady Banks rose, once untangled, looked pretty gangly, but hopefully with more room to spread out it will plump up this season.
I've started my tomato seeds under the gro-lamp in the spare room. This year I'm trying the following varieties from Totally Tomatoes:
- Rainbow Cherry Mix
- Sunmaster (heat tolerant - supposed to set fruit at 90 degrees (F)
- Rainbow (no relation)
- Cherokee Purple
- Brown Berry
- Tomcat Hybrid (free with the order, so I thought I'd try it)
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Last night I sat down to spend about an hour on the Stardust County arrangements after dinner, but things really caught fire and I wound up working past my bedtime and - save for polishing - finished up The Whole Distance and the Denoument! It was one of those rare sessions where, as soon as I finished up a phrase in one instrument or part of the score, I knew exactly what the next phrase needed to be. Well, I did choose The Whole Distance because of the relatively simple arrangement making it a break from Stardust County Line. Once I polish these guys, it's on to Less Than a Hero, which is going to be a real bear.
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Some of our local legislaters are back at amending the Arizona State Constitution again. It seems that the existing "Official English" laws aren't Englishy enough for them. My opinion is that we should worry about translating the Arizona State Income Tax instruction books into English before we start worrying that city community centers might print circulars in Spanish or some other non-English language that the legislators can't read and therefore probably are calling them boogerheads behind their backs. I'm all for new immigrants learning English. But I'm also aware that no-one learns English as a second language instantaneously, and for most people who pick up a new language as adults, or even as seniors, the first language is always going to be the easiest. Our country has had many waves of immigrants; German, Irish, Chinese, Vietnamese, Hispanic - each group has had its own challenges and its own way of adapting. Why tie that hands of future state and local government by prohibiting them from using what they deem the most efficient methods of communicating with the people they serve?
Or just make the official state language Tohono O'odham and be done with it.
0 comments
Tuesday, January 11, 2005
I tried the back way in to/from work today, over the Country Club bridge and across on McDowell - much much faster! ...One of the remaining gasoline lines into the Valley has been temporarily shut down due to the flooding in California, but we shouldn't have a shortage unless the people who panicked, started hoarding and drove up the prices last time do it again. Which I don't think is likely; those people are too busy right now driving into flooded washes.
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And now, when too much free time collides with too many marshmallow bunnies: The Lord of the Peeps!
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And now, when too much free time collides with too many marshmallow bunnies: The Lord of the Peeps!
0 comments
Monday, January 10, 2005
Every move you make, every lamp you break...
I came home this evening expecting to do my usual monthly hunt-for-stuff-the-housekeepers-put-away-while-tidying-up, to discover my devil-cat/angel-cat pair - two statuettes that hold votive candles - had been re-arranged. One was facing the wall, and the other had a sheet of toilet paper draped over its face. Apparently someone doesn't like being watched! Maybe they were feeling guilty, after breaking the light fixture in my entryway. The manager called to say that he'd be out tomorrow trying to find a replacement globe for the fixture. I'm almost temped to tell him not to bother, and replace it with something with a little more character, or at least a design that doesn't require two people to change a light bulb. I'm skeptical that he'll be able to find a replacement; it's original equipment to the house, which is 20 years old now.
Fun Peruvian Fact:
On its domestic flights, LAN Peru caters to an international clientele by showing "silent" comedy and variety short features - therefore no need for subtitles.
0 comments
I came home this evening expecting to do my usual monthly hunt-for-stuff-the-housekeepers-put-away-while-tidying-up, to discover my devil-cat/angel-cat pair - two statuettes that hold votive candles - had been re-arranged. One was facing the wall, and the other had a sheet of toilet paper draped over its face. Apparently someone doesn't like being watched! Maybe they were feeling guilty, after breaking the light fixture in my entryway. The manager called to say that he'd be out tomorrow trying to find a replacement globe for the fixture. I'm almost temped to tell him not to bother, and replace it with something with a little more character, or at least a design that doesn't require two people to change a light bulb. I'm skeptical that he'll be able to find a replacement; it's original equipment to the house, which is 20 years old now.
Fun Peruvian Fact:
On its domestic flights, LAN Peru caters to an international clientele by showing "silent" comedy and variety short features - therefore no need for subtitles.
0 comments
Thursday, January 06, 2005
I live about six miles from work, so normally it only takes me about 15-20 minutes to get from my door to my desk. However, with the flooding, for the past three days I've had to jump on the 202 for about 3 miles of that trip in order to get over the River, along with half the people who live in the East Valley. It wasn't too bad Tuesday and Wednesday, but for some reason - possibly because the Alma School bridge has been closed - this morning the traffic was absolutely obnoxious. That 3-or-so-mile trip took half an hour this morning! Half an hour! I finally understand the high incidence of road rage in L.A. - if I had to deal with a commute like that twice a day, every day, I'd go mad within the month!
It's made me realize how lucky I've been to have always had a job relatively near where I live. The longest commute I've ever had was less than 10 miles, I think. I did interview for a job, once which would've involved telecommuting most of the time and flying out to San Jose a couple times a month, but the dot-com bubble burst while they were drawing up my job offer, and I wound up staying where I am now.
2 comments
It's made me realize how lucky I've been to have always had a job relatively near where I live. The longest commute I've ever had was less than 10 miles, I think. I did interview for a job, once which would've involved telecommuting most of the time and flying out to San Jose a couple times a month, but the dot-com bubble burst while they were drawing up my job offer, and I wound up staying where I am now.
2 comments
Tuesday, January 04, 2005
What has happened here is the wind has changed
We're in the middle of the second big storm from California; hopefully this one won't wash Sedona back down Oak Creek again. The Salt River has water in it for the first time in about ten years, consequently the McKellips river crossing is flooded, along with all the streets that dip into the Scottsdale greenbelt, making driving more fun and exciting than usual. Still, this is pretty tame compared to the last wet cycle, which started sometime in the 70's and wore itself out by the late 80's, just a few years after I'd arrived in the Valley. In 1980 or so (I wasn't here and I'm too lazy to look the date up), the flooding knocked out all the bridges but one over the Salt; people who lived and worked on opposite banks were getting up at 2 in the morning to get into the long line that led over the Mill Ave. bridge - I can't imagine what that would be like today, with 3X the people in the Valley now compared to then. Interestingly, since most of last week's rain fell in the Verde River watershed where there isn't much cachement, the media are now blaming our water shortage on the Indians and environmentalists who blocked the building of additional reservoirs. Gee, and here I thought it had something to do with living in the desert.
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I'm back to working on Stardust County arrangments, and coincidentally I got a note from Jeff saying that he'd finally gotten the job offer in Cupertino, so things will eventually be settling down to where we can regroup and work out a new production schedule for the CD. Yay!
1 comments
We're in the middle of the second big storm from California; hopefully this one won't wash Sedona back down Oak Creek again. The Salt River has water in it for the first time in about ten years, consequently the McKellips river crossing is flooded, along with all the streets that dip into the Scottsdale greenbelt, making driving more fun and exciting than usual. Still, this is pretty tame compared to the last wet cycle, which started sometime in the 70's and wore itself out by the late 80's, just a few years after I'd arrived in the Valley. In 1980 or so (I wasn't here and I'm too lazy to look the date up), the flooding knocked out all the bridges but one over the Salt; people who lived and worked on opposite banks were getting up at 2 in the morning to get into the long line that led over the Mill Ave. bridge - I can't imagine what that would be like today, with 3X the people in the Valley now compared to then. Interestingly, since most of last week's rain fell in the Verde River watershed where there isn't much cachement, the media are now blaming our water shortage on the Indians and environmentalists who blocked the building of additional reservoirs. Gee, and here I thought it had something to do with living in the desert.
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I'm back to working on Stardust County arrangments, and coincidentally I got a note from Jeff saying that he'd finally gotten the job offer in Cupertino, so things will eventually be settling down to where we can regroup and work out a new production schedule for the CD. Yay!
1 comments
Sunday, January 02, 2005
Fleh.
Today was one of those days where your list of things to do gets stuck at #1 when a 1-hour task turns into an all-day task. In brief, I've been installing a solar-powered light in my garden shed, which involved 2 trips to Ace Hardware as the kit came with the wrong mounting screws, and some ingenious application of tools to get through the tough, weather-hardened wood of the shed. I had a pile of stuff to do in the backyard before the next storm blows through, but it ain't gonna happen.
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The old New Year's Eve gang is getting, well, old. Half the party pooped out before midnight Friday, and I was the only person who used the jacuzzi. The food was delicious - Ann & Marty even brought a Stout's apple pie from Willcox - and thanks to Pete & Donna I now have a copy of Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone in Spanish in addition to my Icelandic copy. Ironically, A&M were in Phoenix all week, except for Thursday night when they rushed home to feed the puppies, which I could've done had we been co-ordinated, since I happened to be in Willcox Thursday night coming back from the Chiricahuas.
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I 've been watching the extended Return of the King DVD and, maybe it's just me, Aragorn's first reaction shot to the appearance of the Mouth of Sauron just cracks me up.
1 comments
Today was one of those days where your list of things to do gets stuck at #1 when a 1-hour task turns into an all-day task. In brief, I've been installing a solar-powered light in my garden shed, which involved 2 trips to Ace Hardware as the kit came with the wrong mounting screws, and some ingenious application of tools to get through the tough, weather-hardened wood of the shed. I had a pile of stuff to do in the backyard before the next storm blows through, but it ain't gonna happen.
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The old New Year's Eve gang is getting, well, old. Half the party pooped out before midnight Friday, and I was the only person who used the jacuzzi. The food was delicious - Ann & Marty even brought a Stout's apple pie from Willcox - and thanks to Pete & Donna I now have a copy of Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone in Spanish in addition to my Icelandic copy. Ironically, A&M were in Phoenix all week, except for Thursday night when they rushed home to feed the puppies, which I could've done had we been co-ordinated, since I happened to be in Willcox Thursday night coming back from the Chiricahuas.
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I 've been watching the extended Return of the King DVD and, maybe it's just me, Aragorn's first reaction shot to the appearance of the Mouth of Sauron just cracks me up.
1 comments
