Busy Day

So, I had a nice, busy Birthday. With Alpha meeting on Sunday nights it was a bit different than normal, but good none the less! The light rain kept me inside a bit more than I initially planned, but I got some reading done, which was something I had been hoping to do for awhile.

Tomorrow's back to work, though!

TQ: Music

This week's meme from Mark covers music. This is perfect since I just got back from the season opener of the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra: Bartok's The Wooden Prince.

1. What is your favorite way to listen to music?
Live. OK, beyond that, probably in the car. I'm not so much interested in the volume as the acoustics and immersion factors. Being in a small, enclosed space that has six or eight speakers sounds great. Not as great as it sounded tonight at Powell Symphony Hall, though.

2. What classical composer doesn't get enough credit/airplay in your opinion?
In the spirit of the evening, I'll say Bartok. I must confess I was not at all familiar with him until tonight, but his composition was truly enjoyable. It was a fast paced, varied score that kept a 103 piece orchestra very busy for almost an hour non-stop. While I probably preferred the Mozart concerto that proceeded it, I'm glad to have been introduced to this Hungarian/Romanian composer.

3. What band / artist would you like to see (cough) retire immediately?
Pretty much any rapper, especially St. Louis's very own Nelly. I just don't think a rapper singing explicit lyrics represents the spirit of St. Louis.

4. Looking into your crystal ball, what will replace the mp3 player?
The MP3 player, in as much as one means an electronic player that plays digital audio files from some solid state or hard disk storage, I think the MP3 player is pretty much here to stay. Primarily, I suppose I see the same thing happening to it as has happened to the PDA: it will become increasingly part of cell phones rather than a stand alone device. Perhaps the successors to the 80 GB iPod, and other high end devices, will stick around in independent form, but in 2010, I think most people will use their 100 GB cell phones that can connect to the iTunes Music Store wirelessly for no additional charge.

Note: The questions on this page written by Mark are governed by the Creative Commons BY-NC-SA 2.5 license. I believe my responses are allowed under fair use and therefore are not licensed under the Creative Commons license (I don't want people messing with adapting my personal opinions, thank you very much).

Wow, David Robertson is some conductor! That was spectacular tonight. The SLSO is an amazing orchestra, but Robertson's conducting was simply an amazing performance all by itself. It was a good way to ring out this year; tomorrow's my birthday.

Spinning Wheels

Lately, I feel like I'm spinning my wheels. I rarely seem to get much done, I simply add to the things in progress or work on the things in progress without seeing much of an end. Tonight was sort of like that; I spent awhile on the phone following up on computer technical support issues for clients, yet did not seem to get anything really done.

When I finally took off for the night, around 10:00, I decided to spend some time organizing and cleaning, so at least something would feel like it had been accomplished. And it does. While I still have plenty of stuff to do, at least I feel like I'm doing it in a slightly less disorderly environment!

Late Night Haiku XVII

XXXXVII. Anticipation,
A rushing stream runs by me,
Where do those waves go?

XXXXVIII. Thoughts drift like a kite,
Quiet, lest I stir the night,
Lower from this great height.

XXXXVIX. A fish once read Twain's
Huck Fin. He never finished.
He had finite time.

What a Deal!

American is having a warehouse sale at the moment. I went there today to see if there was anything terribly useful I might need that was on sale (last time they had this sale, I ended up with two Mac Mini's, as some may recall).

Well, I did not find much, but I did leave carrying $0.02 worth of merchandise. No, you didn't read wrong; I said two cents. For whatever reason, American had little kits from Nikon that consisted of a strap to attach to a camera (to go around one's neck), two lithium batteries and a roll of 35mm film. I don't recall American ever carrying a 35mm SLR, but that's what these little kits were intended to go with. At any rate, the strap seemed useful enough, in case my Sony one would ever wear out, and perhaps the batteries could come in handy too, so the Nikon kits had a buyer for one penny a piece.

I probably should have bought a protection plan to cover the purchase…

Amazing, Good News

I'm more than a bit surprised, but it seems that through a series of amazing events, the 11 day old infant that had been abducted over the weekend, in the metro area, was given to authorities and returned to her mother. I have to say I doubted a happy ending to this — what wonderful news! Praise God!

Boo Hoo

Well, apparently, my inner child needs Paxil or something. How about yours?

Your Inner Child Is Sad

You're a very sensitive soul. You haven't grown that thick skin that most adults have. Easily hurt, you tend to retreat to your comfort zone. You don't let many people in - unless you've trusted them for a long time.

Hat tip goes to Michael.

A Meme on Places, Music, Interests and Blogging.

Eduardo tagged me for this fun, wide ranging meme.

1. What do you like most about where you live?
I like that St. Louis is a “big little city.” As the RCGA's new slogan for the city says, it is a city that is “Perfectly centered. Remarkably connected.”

I'm not exactly a big city kind of person. I prefer suburbia. But, I like that I have access to all of the benefits of a big city within a short drive. I also like that I'm only a short drive away from farm country, beautiful river vistas, and other areas that look like they are anywhere other than in the middle of a nearly 3 million person metropolis. St. Louis has the perks of the big city (and beyond most big cities): a free zoo (voted #1 in the nation among zoological parks), free museums (including the world class St. Louis Art Museum), huge parks, one of the best symphony orchestras in the nation, the best baseball team in the nation (hello, Cardinal nation!), internationally recognized bio-tech sector, including the beautiful Missouri Botanical Gardens (and related areas also founded by Henry Shaw), nearly every kind of store and restaurant that you might need or want, the largest outdoor theater in the nation (the Muny), the tallest man made monument in the country (the Gateway Arch), significant history (Cahokia Mounds [of the Mississippian tribes], Lewis and Clark, etc.), and so on and so forth.

In other words, St. Louis isn't just some “midwestern city.” While it long ago lost the race of being one of the big five cities in the country, it remains a city with lots of great stuff that rivals much larger cities. With all that in mind, people still generally see St. Louis as a friendly city too. I like that¹.

2. Is there anything strange about where you live?
Missouri's state slogan or nickname, “the Show-Me State” is kind of odd. The fact that the metro area's namesake city does not belong to any of the counties that envelope the rest of the metro area is also kind of odd. I'm not sure, I don't think we have too many oddities that are occurring to me right now.

3. What’s one of your all-time favourite music albums, and why?
Probably Sixpence None the Richer's eponymous album. I think it has a very nice, even quality to it. I can think of a lot of albums that have favorite songs on them, but what I like about this album is that there are very few times that I do not enjoy listening to this album (even all the way through without shuffling), regardless of my mood. It has a lot of shades and levels to it that allow it to fit most moods. If I'm happy, it has some light airy tunes, and if I'm a bit more contemplative, it has a lot to offer there too.

4. Did you have a passion for something as a kid that you still have now? (If not - what is one of your passions now?)

I'm not sure. I think investigating things, perhaps. I've always enjoyed trying to really understand what this or that really is. As a little boy, I was especially fascinated with the inner details of major companies, and I still find that interesting, though I don't spend nearly as much time researching such as I once did. Nevertheless, I think the basic passion to understand stuff remains.

Like Eduardo and Jorge Luis Borges, I'd agree that Heaven “would be an enormous library.” I've always enjoyed reading, and I just love books. I love being surrounded by books. Even if I don't have time to read all of them right now, I feel comforted by knowing all of that knowledge is at my fingertips should I desire it.

5. What do you like most about having a blog?
Lots of things — I enjoy playing with different writing styles, having a soap box, even answering memes. But probably most of all, I enjoy the community. I consider a lot of you friends, and, short of living in a small town, where we might really have a chance to get to know each other, blogging seems the next best thing. While it isn't a replacement for the brick and mortar world, I would never have met most (or maybe all) of you if not for this wonderful form of communication.

NOW, IT IS MY turn to pass this meme on, which I will happily do. I'll tag Mike, Christopher and Michael to do this meme. I also invite everyone else to participate, should you wish to.

¹ No, I'm not paid by the Regional Chamber and Growth Association (RCGA) to talk about the virtues of St. Louis.

Delays

I've been spending too much time lately posting about posts I'm going to do “tomorrow.” The good news is, whenever you read those posts, tomorrow is still, well, a day away, which means I'm never late. But, on the other hand, I do actually want to finish my Barth series, continue my literary criticism series and post my hot air balloon pictures from last night's Balloon Glow. Oh, and answer the meme Eduardo tagged me for.

I went through my balloon glow photos tonight, but I need to make another pass through my favorites of the 650 so that I can avoid posting too many of them. A lot are duplicates with subtle advantages for one or the other depending on which balloon you are focusing on. At any rate, hopefully by tomorrow (there's that word again!) I will have something to show for my visit to Forest Park. I'm also going to at least complete Eduardo's tag by tomorrow. The rest will come “real soon now.” ™

Balloon Glow

Every year, St. Louis's Forest Park is host to the “Great Forest Park Balloon Race,” the largest (by attendance) hot air balloon race in the U.S. Often times on the Saturday of the race, the balloons will drift all the way to St. Charles, and I'll have the pleasure of observing them float by. This year, however, I saw them up close. The night before the race, there is a “Balloon Glow,” where the balloons are inflated and illuminated (by their burners) for the public's enjoyment. It was extremely crowded, but well worth attending.

I took 600 or so pictures this evening, so I need to sort through them, but once I do, I'll post some of my favorites (including the ever popular Energizer Bunny balloon, which really stole the show).