“The rain will be poppeling on the roof…” — Jack, age 4
June 17, 2013
June 14, 2013
Liverpool: A Day in the Life
Click here to see a neat 2 min video: a day in the life of Liverpool
I love the shot at about 1:09…that’s the Liver Building from about the Atlantic Tower Hotel or thereabouts.
June 12, 2013
Who is it?
I read his bio years ago and there are some remarkable stories in there.
June 11, 2013
Stay classy MLB
Why is Cano the HR Derby captain AGAIN? For the 3rd time, is it? He failed to hit even a single home run last time and didn’t pick Billy Butler when the game was in KC. Stay classy. I find it hard to believe that MLB can’t get a better guy to do this. Don’t forget to tell your kids NOT to play like Cano, who NEVER runs hard to first base. I’ve never seen a big leaguer try harder to look cool while playing the game than Cano. He’s obsessed with how he looks when he plays. Oh well, it’ll be hard for him to do worse than he did last year–zero.
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Marco Scutaro looks to have broken his hand tonight on a HBP. A shame. I love to watch Scutaro play. His postseason and world series MVP last year was amazing. Get well soon, Marco.
The Giants have also lost the Panda for a period of time to a possible broken foot. Another crazily talented guy who’s fun to watch. I guess I’ll watch Cano “run” to first while they’re out.
Vogel out too. At least Gaudin has thrown well. A bright spot.
How’s the Yankees’ plan for getting under the luxury tax mark working out? They over 230 million now? Oh the humanity.
Let’s talk a bit about Jeter. I know he’s sacrosanct. I know we’re not allowed to question him in any way (or the Yankees’ crack medical staff). But how did the guy break his ankle? How? He took a step, folks; a basic step! For cryin out loud! I have NEVER seen a guy break a bone doing virtually nothing. I broke an ankle playing soccer and let me tell you, it was an act of singular violence. There was no mistaking it. There was NO putting weight on it. I don’t want to hear this HOOEY that somehow, [breahtless] “the captain” has a high pain tolerance and he played on an ankle already broken…bulls***. Not only can you not put one iota of weight on a broken ankle, but the pain is the kind of pain that makes you sick to your stomach. So I’m not buying the “heroic” line they are pushing.
And how did it not heal? How? This guy was operated on and saw doctors and took care of it. HOW does it re-break? No one has any explanation for this. I would not be surprised if it emerges that the guy has some kind of health problem that has contributed to this. I hope he’s all right–I’m not wishing anything bad on him, please don’t misunderstand, but I am saying that I would not be surprised if he turns up with some type of rare Dx for a bone malady that might cause this, because it does not make sense. And if he were ANY other player, they would actually be allowed to write about it.
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Went up to Rhinebeck, NY to see WWI weekend. Saw the Spad fly. Saw the Fokker D-7, the only plane specifically mentioned in the Versailles treaty. The D-7 did things I had trouble believing if I did not see it!! Amazing things that an airplane is not supposed to be able to do. Also saw the Fokker triplane. They had an Albatross–beautiful. And a Neuport but those did not fly.
I have been to the RAF Museum at Hendon and to Boeing and the Smithsonian and I’ll tell you, you will see all these planes there, hanging from the ceiling, but Rhinebeck is the ONLY place you will see them FLY.
June 8, 2013
Atlanta office: 10 things I learned on my vacation
10 things that I learned from my vacation out west:
1- Most people from AZ are super friendly;
2-A 14 year old male can out hike a 46 year old male any day of the week;
3-The Grand Canyon is more impressive looking up from within than looking from the rim down;
4-Las Vegas is a dirty city in every definition of the word;
5-Listening to Cowboy Junkies is better than listening to Portishead while driving through Death Valley;
6-I could spend a year in Yosemite NP and not get bored;
7-Giant Sequoia trees are fun to hug but they do not know how to hug back (see pic);
8-Smoking a big cigar while riding a bicycle across the Golden Gate Bridge will yield some really strange looks and interesting comments from those you pass;
9-Drinking a liter of Coke Zero at Pier 39 on Fisherman’s Wharf without knowing where the restrooms are is a really bad idea;
10-Even though care arrangements were made, cats left at home think that they can get out of a house by tunneling through carpet and floors.
June 6, 2013
June 3, 2013
June 2, 2013
The Crave still sounds good
Here is the original version of The Crave, a tango by Jelly Roll Morton that swept the country just under 100 years ago. Fantastic tune, tremendous playing.
Here is the Midi version so you can see the difficulty of the piece.
May 25, 2013
Is it Mozart? Or Joplin? Or Thomas Jelly?
Thomas and I decided to write a song today for piano. He had been noodling on some chords (something he probably saw me do) E, B C# or something. I showed him my old Finale Guitar software for authoring music. Now, understand I’ve never had formal training and don’t really read music. I just know enough to be dangerous. But since Thomas has his first little piano lessons at age 5.5 I am trying to teach him things.
He has had trouble with quarter note and half notes. You know, duration. So the software, I thought was a great way to SHOW him the length of the notes. He played his chords and I showed him how we could “write” it down the way the real guys do. He was interested and we had a lot of fun. But, like most 5 year olds, he was on to other things and I got really into it! I bounced phrases off of him and he had some strong opinions, but after about the 4th measure, it’s all me.
Anyway, I was amazed at what I was able to lay down in about an hour, maybe a bit more. I drew on my knowledge of Scott Joplin and how one hand does one thing and the other does something else. How you throw in a rest to stagger the beat between hands. It’s probably really hard to play in spots, but Thomas is excited to try. I was glad I was able to use it to show him the bass clef and the fact that the two hands are working together but doing different things.
Now understand that I can’t play the piano. And I can’t read music. And the idea originally, was Thomas’ and have a listen. It’s a shockwave flash file played off of my website as WordPress will not accept a *.swf file. It was played on Finale and recorded with Jing. I’m not playing it–I can’t. The computer is playing. Click here to launch it. What do you think? I had a ball!
The best ice cream soda possible
Here it is. Don’t substitute ingredients!
A&W Rootbeer.
Blue Bunny Vanilla Ice Cream.
Whipped cream.
Cherry (optional)
These ingredients blend. You will not be able to tell where the cream, root beer and ice cream end and begin. That’s what you want. And, with Blue Bunny, you will not have ice crystals in the glass. Don’t believe me?
