Month: May 2001

In a desperate attempt to maintain a life, Spike has sort of made plans for the weekend. On Friday night, he is probably going to see Moulin Rouge. Spike covertly and inadvertently switches from third to first person. Saturday I’ll be spending time near Cowtown, New Jersey at the Appel Farm Arts and Music Festival, seeing the likes of Dar Williams, Erin McKeown, and probably some other performers. And what of Sunday, you ask? (Well, maybe you didn’t, so I asked for you.) I’ll be going to Maryland for some work-related stuff. Band parents and stadiums and whatnot.

Did you know there is Whatnot in Maryland? You learn something new every day.

So what are your plans for the weekend? Everybody answers this time. I want to know what’s going on in your life; I grow ever weary of writing about mine without knowing what my readers are up to.

You can’t actually see my current home in this picture, because the aerial photograph was taken before the development was conceived. You can see my old Cranbury Manor abode in this one, though. Here’s a 1995 aerial view of where I work. I’m still looking for a site with live, real-time Geological Survey satellite maps, but I might have to wait a few years for that.

Please stop emailing me that “virus warning.” The SULFNBK “Virus” is a Hoax. Read about it here. Here’s a word of advice for some: If you get an email warning you about a virus, always look it up on McAfee’s Virus Information Library before mass emailing it to everyone in your email address book. Hoaxes are just as infectuous as viruses, but only because users willingly spread it.

While you’re at it, let’s stop the email petitions, too. They’re worthless. Educate yourself about internet “urban legends.”

Darren noted what I thought was one of the most important quotes from a book I gave him to read.

It’s Monday afternoon now, and I’m sitting here listening to the recording of the Memorial Brass concert. [DELETED]

I finally received my tax refund a few days ago, directly deposited into my bank account. It’s only about $50, but I’m happy to be getting anything back.

I guess there just isn’t much interesting going on. So why write then? Here’s what’s been on my mind lately, and I’ll list them in my stream of consciousness style. Buffy is dead. Ideas for two songs popped into my head today. Hopefully I’ll get somewhere with these ideas. I feel a concept album coming on. My brother “rocks.” (He’s “Pitchshift,” check it out.) I’m working on a new compilation CD for myself, drawing inspiration from the likes of Destiny’s Child, Moulin Rouge, and Shaggy (Reggae, not Rogers). Big event coming up this weekend. I guess that’s it for now.

I haven’t had too much time to write lately. We are preparing for some events at work, and every day I find more bugs in the new work website.

Unrelatedly, I’m finding that I am more and more fascinated with pop music. I spend the time in my car scanning for radio stations, trying to take in different kinds of music. I’ve discovered that a little bit of it is pretty good, while most is awful. Of course, I don’t know what the names or who the artists of any of the songs are since the deejays never tell you. They just assume you know. After all, they play most of the songs several times a day. The callers they broadcast are just as weird as the deejays.

I feel some ideas for a new mix are coming to me. I think it will start off with the quadrumvirate remake of Patti LaBelle’s Lady Marmalade. (Heh, one caller on the radio station pronounced the last syllable as “laid” instead of “lahd” like it is in the song. That was funny.) Reminds me of the old Syd Barrett tune, Baby Lemonade… only, not.

My home computer is on the fritz lately. I need to back everything up and reformat. Someone want to do that for me? Voulez-vous coucher avec moi (ce soir)?

Actually, it’s nice to do normal things. I wouldn’t go so far as to call myself normal. Today I finally had a chance to wash my car. Darren helped, and we took care of my Honda as well as his huge van. We washed, waxed, and listened to some music in the process. Unfortunately there’s still construction going on in his development with lots of dust flying everywhere, so the cars won’t stay clean long. It is a nice change, though.

Today Darren’s and Ali’s families will be coming over for a Mother’s Day dinner. There’s gazpacho soup involved, that’s all I know.

In 1981, CBS released an album of children’s songs, called In Harmony 2. (More information is here.) I’ll have something special for anyone who can find me this recording, or MP3’s of the songs included, or anything else that will help me re-create this album.