Saturday, April 22, 2006

another tune, another ear full

What a long weekend this is...

Arctic Monkey --- I think they are the Violent Femmes of 2006.

I bet that you look good on the dancefloor

I don't know if you’re looking for romance or...

--Arctic Monkeys


Here is the new trend, the band has a myspace site: --Arctic Monkeys

Hmm, why buy songs, when you can go to the band's myspace and stream it.

I still say, go --Pandora.com, and make your own radio station.

going for the long drive to SL, then I will do the ESL and then dinner with some friends. I think a nap is out.


What a long weekend this is...

Arctic Monkey --- I think they are the Violent Femmes of 2006.

I bet that you look good on the dancefloor
I don't know if you’re looking for romance or...

--Arctic Monkeys


Here is the new trend, the band has a myspace site: --Arctic Monkeys

Hmm, why buy songs, when you can go to the band's myspace and stream it. The band sounds like someone, I guess the infectious angst is infectious angst. I can never figure it out

I still say, go --Pandora.com, and make your own radio station. I wonder if bands can send in music to pandora, that would be the smart thing. I guess you would have to profile your music, so it would have some kind of 'tags' that would put it in places that would get it listened.

going for the long drive to SL, then I will do the ESL and then dinner with some friends. I think a nap is out.

I just read in a blog that "That 70's Show" is going to end. Who ever thought the 70's would end? There goes my adolescence, dang, what am I going to do with all my angst! -- rock on doode.

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The chatter goes nowhere and then down the drain

I have been finding that blogs tend to be as boring ad you would imagine. I remember reading a line in an Irwin Shaw book. It is about the cliché that everyone has a book if them, if they took the time to write it. One of the characters in the book says something like: "Some people don't even have a paragraph." A lot of people are willing to post proof of that on the internet.

So far, related to this, I am proud of the fact that I have been coming up with pretty good subject headings. I think a good subject heading is one that sounds like it could have a whole blog called that. For example: I don't have the patience to be a snake, "Mitts and Monkeys Dancing" or "The Beauty"



Irwin Shaw is really one of the authors that got me hooked on reading. He wrote amazing short stories. He also would appear on the The Tomorrow Show hosted by Tom Snyder.

I think there are two periods of my past that is kind of mythological: The late 1970's and the late 1960's. I think it is why I really like the the two tv shows: "That 70's show". and "Wonder Years"

Another trip to Saranac Lake planned tomorrow --- well today, depending on when I post this. Hopefully I will have talked to everyone about doing June 15, at the Mohawk Casino.

Okay, off to read some. I rode my bike for about a half hour --- outside!!! --- so I am continuing to work on fitness.

hmmm hmmm, the Detroit Redwings won tonight, lets hope the Tigers do the same.

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Friday, April 21, 2006

Silk on Silk

Things of interest, perhaps only to me:

  • The Detroit Tigers actually came back in the later innings and won 4-3.
  • I love wearing silk shirts.
  • Lady bugs.
  • A fish jumping out of a lake or pond.

    Getting there is almost always harder than being there. This is pretty much true to me for any sporting event, at any level. I could watch 10-year-olds playing any sport, I just don't want to go there. I don't like having to get home.

    My book club met last night and it is about a two hour drive from here to there, and basically the same two hour drive back. However, once I was there, I really enjoyed being there. why there aren't about five book clubs every month, I don't know.
    The reason why I read:

    5) I like stories
    4) To expand my mind.
    3) It's what I do for a living
    2) I have to.
    1) I am going to talk about/discuss a book.

    The last three are kind of the same and --- admittedly --- not really good reason. I would have to say, once I have read the book (taking the trip) and I am going to discuss the book (the event) I am glad to be there.

    Getting to the club (it is called Adirondack Book Club) was a nice drive on a beautiful day, driving home was a little taxing. I would have spent the night in Saranac Lake, if I was not watching the dogs.

    One of the participants was discussing how he had to steel himself up to get to the group because he really is shy. It was a surprising revaluation to me (it has to be a 'revaluation,' the guy is a minister). In many ways, he was saying what I think about getting there. As they say, half of life is showing up.

    I will have to come down from TV. I complain a lot about TV watching, mostly in the conversations I have in my head, yet at the same time I can waste days on the internet.

    The passive activities that fill our life is much of the reason why we never show up. It is easier to be at rest, than to be moving.


    I can see why Imus and Stern don't like each other. If your whole bit is based on insulting people, why wouldn't you dislike the guy who insults you.

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  • Thursday, April 20, 2006

    The beauty

    It's a wonderful day.

    Going for a ride to Saranac Lake and Lake Placid for my book club. The book is Frank McCourt's "Teacher Man." A good book that is perfect for the group, since there are several educators in the group.

    Going to haul some junk back and forth. Mostly going to enjoy the air flowing through my thinning hair.

    I exercised more yesterday --- maybe about 20 minutes. Taking today off, unless I find a place to take a short walk.


    Vacation is going way too fast. Perhaps partly because I am spending too much alone time with dogs, who like to sleep more than I do.

    I have been enjoying the view and since it is just cool enough to use the wood burner, I have been enjoying that as well!


    Here is a cool little site, it finds where records are stored for you:

    Archive Grid

    Or as they define it: " ArchiveGrid is an important destination for searching through historical documents, personal papers, and family histories held in archives around the world."

    Of course the results don't have links to the various sites that have the information and records.

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    Wednesday, April 19, 2006

    I don't have the patience to be a snake

    Not sure if

    I was looking at the ice that had melted in the sun, I was a little chilly since it was warmer in the sun, than in the house. To warm up I would have to stay still in the sun, like a snake.

    The ice melted faster than I could watch.

    The week is rolling on quite fast, which is no pun on my exercise. I rode the stationary bike four about 10 minutes yesterday. Hopefully I can achieve the same today. The trouble with riding a stationary bike is you are going nowhere and you don't have to come back.

    Often I will have rode my bike further than I planned and then I have to ride back further thank I planned. It's so easy to give up on the trainer, though I admit, once I get to the target time, like 10 minutes or even 30 minutes, it is easy to go a few more minutes.

    It's funny, I was thinking about riding with kids --- a bike club --- when I first thought about coming to school. Now I would just be happy if I could ride my bike and not have a heart attack!


    TV has been consuming me. I was watching Bonds on Bonds on ESPN and thinking, well this is kind of lame, as the pundits said it would be. Then I thought, wait a minute, if there was no question of steroids people would look at this show differently. It would be just as boring, but people wouldn't care how borning it was, they would be excited for the chase to be on.



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    Tuesday, April 18, 2006

    finding a fixation

    It's another nice day and after a nap, I am on the porch. There I have had it with the 7 foot by 2 foot patch of snow slash ice.

    I go get my shovel out of the truck and start flinging solid water. Mainly I am just tired of looking at it. It is about 52° and it is what is left of winter. I was tired of looking at it --- mostly because it doesn't seem to be disappearing.

    I guess that is exercise. so I have exercised two days in a row. Hopefully most of that ice will be gone tomorrow and I will be a better person for it.

    MarsEdit: Easy weblog editing. MarsEdit is making these posts much easier, but then the more I learn, the more I find I need to learn...

    Like the technorati tags that I added below, but have no clue what exactly they are



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    The dogs have a stronger will than I

    I have been getting up around 7 a.m. the last couple days. I hear the dogs prancing around downstairs and get up to let them out. Like a lot of people, I think, once you get started, you are rolling.

    My intention is always to go downstairs and them them out, but them I feed them, which requires me to let them out again. And once the boys are out, then I feed Lilly, who is like 100 years old. Then I let the boys in and try to block them from stealing Lilly's food.

    And now it is 8 and I have eaten and am ready to go.

    I think there are two kinds of blogs: blue ones and all the rest.


    That is one of my favorite jokes, used in various forms. I think I first heard it in Logic 101 at the University of Toledo. Then in the Tom Robbins' novel "Even Cowgirls Get the Blues." I am paraphrasing, but he wrote: "There are two types of people: those who believe in two types of people and those that don't fall for such follies." I think I have it completely wrong, but I am not some place where there the ability to do a quick google.

    Funny, when I was at UT, I used to hang in the library and made friends with the librarians on the fifth floor (partially because I had a crush on one of the librarians. Now I have a crush on a different librarian..or librarian graduate.) Never thought I would end up as a librarian

    I am the kind of person who likes to add the links to my journal, but how relevant those links are is kind of preposterous! I often just kind of add them, after a serendipitous search, to do what seems to be done. I am guessing lots of people do that. I know a few people will stumble upon something, then write about it (Like a timely snow) ...mostly I just add them with a tongue in cheek.




     Maybe I started an exercise program yesterday. I exercised and maybe I am rolling. I don't know.

    I might have annoyed someone yesterday. The phone rang and no one spoke, so I hung up. Why anyone would NOT have 'block telemarketing' I don't know. I think that it should be the opposite. I think if you want telemarketers to call, you should have to ask for it. Why is it we live in a world that if you don't want something, you have to be proactive.

    I wonder if that would be difficult. It would also imply that if you move somewhere you would have to say I want junk mail delivered. But I also wonder, if whey you got a phone you would have to say: "I want residential calls, and business --- that I have called --- to return my calls." I guess it is easy to get convoluted.

    So when I get a call and there is a pause after I say, 'Hello,' I hang up. So if someone was eating a cookie when they called me, I end up hanging up on them.

    Monday, April 17, 2006

    here with a mug of coffee

    I could write most places, but I have to get comfortable. --- Though some places are more appealing than others.

    I often thought I would like to write a play in a store front. I seem to remember reading about a writer working like that and thought it would be fun. Mostly I liked the 'tourist' or 'performance' aspect of the scenario. Where you are working, but people might be walking by to see you. Perhaps waiting to see the finished product and to eventually go see the show (read the novel).

    I thought of this as I started to write this where I am watching the dogs, the previous blog was mostly written t here, but posted from the home where I have internet access.

    So I come here to write. Since I have the week off, I have more time to think about writing an entry, which is how I am enjoying my time off.

    A week from now will be school again, that will be a short week, since I have a conference to go to at the end of the week. I went to the SLMS (School Library Media Specialists). I went to the one that was in Buff of low when I was in school. It was kind of fun, but interesting when I ran into the librarian who over saw my practicum.

    I, by most accounts, had a bad experience with the librarian at the elementary level. After one week she turned me over to the students and had me run the classes for three weeks while she planned her vacation to Florida. When I tried to eat lunch with her so she could 'teach' me. I was told that she likes to spend time alone.

    Well alone time was mostly sitting with the phys. ed. teacher and complaining about other staff members. After one week, I asked her to give me some input on how I was doing. Her response was: "how do you feel?" I told her how I felt, but I really needed feed-back from her. She changed the subject.

    perhaps this says a lot, I went to her web site and she lists some things about herself, like:

    • Favorite Color: Black

    Ironically, I thought it was a great experience. I got to plan three weeks of lessons, which was helpful in the real world. I saw how you DON'T interact with your co-workers. When I asked her about making out lesson plans, she said: "Don't ask me, I have tenure and I don't make out lesson plans."

    So.…. after I had gone through that and found out she had given me a bad evaluation, it was kind of funny to run into her at the conference. She showed up at the conference is a lace bustier, a little pink jacket and capri slacks. The colors worked, nice for a lady of pleasure. It was funny to come face to face with her and she kind of acted antsy. I suppose what made the moment was when one of the professors, at the UB booth, called me aside and said: "is that the elementary librarian?" Which means nothing, if you don't add the 'eye roll' that went with it.

    I feel that I was very instrumental in the future of her family. She took off much of last year for a pregnancy leave. I am guessing she planned that trip to New Smyrna so well that her family expanded.

    I almost always feel that the more difficult things are, the more you learn. Although the teacher who over saw my High School practicum was so helpful, things she taught me, I am using today. Many of those things I still try to incorporate into the library now. I guess there is the easy way and the not so easy way to learn.

    The way I really think about it, if you turn a cup up, it will fill up; if you turn it down it remains empty. So if you create the right environment, something will happen. The difficult thing is making sure your students are cups up and not cups up.

    Sunday, April 16, 2006

    All the technology

    I am in a super duper excellent home and view. As good as the place I usually stay at, this is about three times better. For one thing it has a wood burner and the view is from an elevated setting.

    It is raining, but it is a beautiful view. I can't ever remember thinking how enjoyable the view was in Toledo, OH --- where I lived for the first 35 years of my life.

    I am here on a rainy morning, the dogs have me up earlier than I would like, though it is already about 8 a.m. I was going to turn on NPR, but early on the weekend they play a format that makes me wonder how any one could contribute to them.

    So I start with TV, but there is a satellite disc, which means to find something that might be enjoyable you have to go through no less than 300 channels. Then I remember at the end of the dial is xmradio. So I scan through the stations and the fifth one I come to is 'The Joint,' a reggae and dancehall station. Sweet.

    But now I want to be in the Caribbean. For the last 14 years I have been living in the Adirondacks --- a place where many who can afford it head south for Easter break. Usually I could care less. Three years ago when the winter was so brutally cold that you couldn't go outside to snowshoe or ski, I lusted for the Caribbean, but for the most part I like the spring here. So many people leave and head out, that it becomes a little more private place. A warm spring day (in the low 70's) is one of the most wonderful things, but I think you have to endure winter to make it enjoyable.

    As I dance back and forth between computers, I have an older iMac at the house sitting site, I am moving files around. Using this time as an opportunity to clean up the older computer and save files. It is interesting to find something that has ben removed from your memory. Well not removed, but misplaced, and when you see it it comes back. It is sort of like hearing The Joint. It seems like there is a common strain in reggae music to take music that may be a pop song and make it a reggae song. Not just a cover. Often when you hear the song you have to think about it.

    Someone did the Police song: "Every Breath You Take" and made it a different type of song. Not just genre, but the message of the song. I think many people thought of the song as a song of devotion, but I read somewhere that it is actually a song about stalking. The reggae version is a song about a fight for freedom (or perhaps sex), with the added lyrics: "the hotter the battle, the sweeter the victory."

    hmm, I guess I rambled a bit too much. All brought to you via the applications we kind of take for granted.

    Like a blog without a view.



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