This is why I use a macintosh laptop, with their cooler running powerpc processors. Okay, maybe it's not the only reason, but it is a very important reason!
Of course today, after having snow over the weekend, it was in the 50s. I like this business of having unpredictable weather. They don't have that in Oakland. I rode my bike today and was sweating with just a wind breaker on. Crazy.
Last night I went to my second Irish session (the first one I've played at). I've been scouring the web (and the reader) trying to find every session around. I've compiled a list of sessions that I'm planning to find out about, and probably go to. I guess I should have a goal for getting to all of them, but for now I'll just let it happen and see if I do it. Anyway, that list might prove helpful to someone, so I'll link it here and maybe Google will pick it up.
Irish sessions are very interesting to me coming from a jazz background (just like jazz was interesting coming from rock). They encourage beginners to play. I've been playing bodhran about a month now, and I was able to sit there and play with one of the best Irish guitarists in the world (so I'm told): Dennis Cahill. This doesn't happen in jazz that often. Of course, neither does it happe in jazz that you're sitting there with twelve other people, all playing the same head over and over again, without anyone taking a solo. Everyone is there to learn. It's cool.
The whistle player who was leading the session, Pat Finnegan, was really friendly, and played great as well. I can't tell the difference between people who are really good and people who are world-class at this point; my ear doesn't have the training. Either that, or they're all great. I know it's working out for me, though.
Meantime, my drum set playing is going pretty well. I've been working on transcribing solos and breaks from Tony Williams (Seven Steps to Heaven) and Philly Joe Jones (Ah-Leu-Cha) lately, really digging into what they've done, working on stickings and getting every detail right. The goal is not to sound exactly like either of them, but to try to capture the concept and expand my vocabulary. It's a great thing to do, and I wish I had done it more previously.
Now, just what the hell is this? They don't have this stuff in Oakland. Someone remind me.
Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets is a fun movie. The Onion's review of it, while largely positive, complains of it being way too action-packed, the pace too fast. I think the movie is a fun and faithful representation of the book with lots of great stuff. [Insert favorite artsy movie here] it is not, but that's also definitely not its aim.
I am, however, dismayed to discover that there's something extra at the end of the credits that we missed. After the ILM credits rolled (go Dave!) we ducked out, and apparently we missed something amusing. Ever since seeing Ferris Bueller's Day Off, I've tried to stick around until the very end just in case any little goodies are there. We missed it today. Sigh.
We tried to go to Uncommon Ground this evening to check out someone that Lisa knew in high school. Alas, there was no room for us except to stand, and the cover was more than we felt like paying to stand around.
I got tired of my slow-loading image on the home page, so I learned how to generate thumbnails automagically in PHP using the internal methods, and then again using ImageMagick. Both methods were very easy to do, less than an hour from deciding I needed to do it to making it happen. The home was always pretty fast loading, but now it's going to be a bit more bandwidth-friendly. Even though I'm a DSL snob again, I still feel the pain of the modem.
I'm gradually trying to phase in some of the stuff I'm learning while reading Building Accessible Websites, a full review of which will come shortly after I finish it. One thing I'll say now: it's very helpful and is worthwhile reading for any moderately serious web designer.
Whatever else is happening in the world, today was a good day in Geekland, a place I have the misfortune to inhabit sometimes.
First of all, we finally got DSL (from Speakeasy). Not only that, but it worked immediately with the wireless gear I bought months ago thinking I'd be able to use it soon. Ha ha. It wasn't soon at all, but it does work, and it's very nice.
Then a new version of BBEdit came out. It's a rather expensive upgrade, but the trial works for 24 launches or so (which can last a long time in Mac OS X), so I may have a while to stall before buying it.
I got some work done, too. All these things are good. In honor of all this nerdiness, I've tinkered with the site a little bit. Now there are RSS feeds available for this journal and Literary Conquests. This means you can finally (and I know you've been dying for this) read our regularly updating stuff in NetNewsWire and other lesser RSS aggregators. Considering this is the way I read almost all the news and web logs I read anymore, this is the way to go.
And of course (speaking of geekness), they both validate: journal, books.
Lisa's brother has been staying with us for the past couple of nights, which has been nice. Having an extra person in the house is always something to contend with when you're a night owl like me, but he's excellent company, so it's really a good thing.
Be sure to vote tomorrow. No matter what your political affiliation, it's very important.
Yes, voting is very important. I'm not convinced, however, that campaigning is as important as voting, in particular if you happen to be the current president of this great country. I think it's silly (at best) that Bush is out campaigning. Yes, he's facing a problem if a Democratic majority happens in Congress, but let's face it, it's not that big a problem in this era of centrist Democrats. It's certainly not big enough of a problem for him to be taking time off doing his duties as president.
This isn't Texas, Mr. President. This is the whole country you're supposed to be working for, and we don't have a "weak president" system of government. You have responsibilities now.
Speaking of responsibilities, the No War Blog looks to be a good, and extensive, source of information and opinion from people all over. I'm going to make it my responsibility to read it.
Yes, I'm feeling a bit snarky.
However, my bodhran class is fun, and I think I'm doing well with it so far. It is just another drum, after all.
The Old Town School, where I'm taking the class, is very cool. It's basically what the Jazzschool will be in many years, assuming everything goes well. The building is huge and beautiful; there's an art gallery, music store, café, dance studio, and lots of classrooms; the classes offered cover almost every instrument used in folk music (and that includes the folk music of other countries like India and Ireland); and it has great concerts. Overall, it's clearly a jewel in the crown of Chicago's music scene.
I'm way behind on the book blog. I've read a whole bunch of stuff that I'd like to review, and haven't done it yet. Trying to keep my job afloat, trying to play more music, trying to plan a wedding, and lots of other things are taking up space in my head that I wouldn't mind spending elsewhere. Still, things overall are quite good, so it's hard (or silly) to complain, so why bother?