Friday, November 30, 2007

not so bad...

except that a cranky, sleep deprived maggie probably isn't the best to fill out a novel of a juror questionnaire. seems they called a lot of potential jurors for this case:

Dallas County District Attorney Craig Watkins said Monday that he will seek the death penalty for a man accused of killing Dallas police Senior Cpl. Mark Nix in March....



soooo, I got to write some about what I think about the death penalty. hopefully it was legible but I doubt it. my handwriting is atrocious. and no I'm not going to fix it. ;D I'm guessing my relation to a law enforcement officer isn't going to put me at the top of the list. At least that's how it's usually worked for my bro-in-law.

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cause I needed more stress....

I've been called for jury duty tomorrow (today, whatevs) which is fine. usually. i had to decide whether to take the choo-choo downtown (free!) or drive (pay for parking, if I can find a space, blah, blah, blah). so I go to the DART website and they have this handy trip planner and it can tell me how to get to the court building (without having to first drive to the train station), but apparently I can't come home the same way. on top of that I don't know how long I'll have to be there and depending on how late I have to be there, coming home may not be an option before rehearsal. so I'm thinking I'll be driving myself. at least I'll feel more in control of something tomorrow.

staying on the stress theme. I'm heading into tech week for the tech nightmare show from heck. so I may be pretty quite for the next week or so.

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snoozin' kittehs


mmmm, puppy bed.



mmmm, empty couch.



I'm necktie free!

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Tuesday, November 27, 2007

Tuesday recording

Christmas Organ and Chimes - Ken Grisson on the Pipe Organ and Larry Daniels with the Bethlehem Chimes: I tried to see if there was some story behind the "Bethlehem Chimes" but I'm not finding anything (except this seemingly now defunct blog about records it's fun if you scroll down to the bottom of the page you can see his recording set-up, it's much more serious than mine) anyway the title pretty much covers. you've got yer Pipe Organ and youv'e got yer Chimes and they're playing Christmas music. all carols, no pop stuff. and the chimes seem kinda a sluggish sometimes, like they're too heavy to keep up and the pipe organ is not slowing down for nobody.

The Great Songs of Christmas By Great Artists of Our Time Album Three: This is one of those Goodyear special thingers. I didn't find it as entertaining as my favorite but there's still some good things here. Percy Faith, Julie Andrews, Robert Goulet, Andre Previn, but I think I liked the New Christy Minstrels best. They sing Snow in the Street and Joseph Dearest, Joseph Mine and close out the album with Wassail, Wassail All Over the Town. I don't think I've ever heard Snow in the Street before, and it segued into Joseph so well I thought it was just some odd part of that tune I wasn't familiar with. There's also a lively arrangement of Carol of the Bells directed by Leonard Bernstein. That song usually annoys me, but this one made me pause and listen.

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Monday, November 26, 2007

more animated Superman

MK: ya know, I always thought they should have done a better job of making her legs a different color.

RTO:

MK: ya know, so you know she's wearing pants.

RTO:

MK:

RTO: she's wearing pants?

MK:

RTO: I figured it was just a long jacket....

MK: um, I'm guessing there's pants....

RTO: darn

MK: it's a cartoon, hon.

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Monday recording

The Organ Plays at Christmas - Ken Griffin: first off, the title amuses me. I feel compelled to respond, "the yellow dog barks at midnight". anyhoo, just some nice traditional Christmas tunes here. Nothing fancy. couple of things I've never heard, Silver Bell and Kringle's Jingle. I also like how the write up on the back states "Strangely enough, the most enduring Christmas music has come from the lands of the North. Such thoroughly religious and musical regions as Italy, Spain and the Latin American Countries have contributed only haphazardly to the great body of Christmas music..." get with the program you slugs! anyhoo, this one was in pretty bad condition so I decided to use the clean-up tool and it took forever to save it, so this is it for today.

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random Eddie pictures

before they get really old and I get new ones....


he's such a sweetheart.



anyhoo, we were out at the in-law's for Thanksgiving and they had some kittens but they weren't very people friendly. Well, one was cause he was kinda sickly and had been handled a lot to medicate him. Thought about bringing him home, but I can't afford a sickly kitty.

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Sunday, November 25, 2007

Cuisinart round 2

MK: what the? YOU'VE GOT IT ON THERE COMPLETELY BACKWARDS!

RTO: what backwards?

MK: the whole thing!

RTO: what do you mean backwards?

MK: the thing won't come on unless the post is lined up in the back and the cover is locked on on top of that.

RTO:

MK: I swear you have to watch the DVD before you touch it again.

RTO: I don't need no stinkin' DVD

MK: yes you do.

RTO:

MK: plus, it RAWKS!

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Thursday, November 22, 2007

fun annoying RTO

MK: *looks up at Superman the animated series* Race Bannon!

RTO: that's Metallo.

MK:

RTO:

MK: you didn't tell me Race was Metallo.

yeah, just try to rope me into a discussion about the electoral college again.

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another step towards modernity... I guess....

I'd never purchased anything from itunes til tonight. The song I don't know from Beauty and the Beast has been kickin' my backside, so I thought i'd see if they had it and they did. and the whole musical soundtrack for much less than I'd seen in a local store, so I got that instead of just the one song (Human Again, it wasn't in the movie, and it's the only "not in the movie" song I have to sing) anyhoo, perhaps it will help shore up some other bits as well. except that Mrs. Potts botches uses a different line before one bit, I suppose when you're on the original cast recording you can do that.

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Wednesday, November 21, 2007

Wednesday recording....

They let us go early from w*rk so I recorded the Burt Bacharach Hal David Treasury with Terry Baxter his Orchestra and Chorus. mmmm, chorus singing Bacharach with the occasional harpsichord thrown in. they didn't sing on every song and I'm not sure how they chose which ones to sing. heard some more obscure things here. such as They Don't Give Medals to Yesterday's Heroes. anyway, with Thanksgiving being tomorrow I think I'll start recording some Christmas stuff, whenever I get a chance to record again.... so long as it's before Christmas. we'll see.

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Tuesday, November 20, 2007

why does everything break at the same time?

It's like Christmas has come early. and I got a coffee maker and a garage door opener and probably a vacuum.

we're debating about how long we can go without the vacuum.

Monday, November 19, 2007

Sarahk, smokin crack...

or at least that's what I'd need at this point . Anyhoo, here's hoping they have an uneventful move across the country.

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Sunday, November 18, 2007

"salad" update...

RTO: *reads my previous post* GOOD GRIEF! you ate the wrong one....

MK: what?

RTO: I made you your own salad because I knew you wouldn't like the dates or apple.

MK: oh, not raisins? they tasted like raisins, but looked funny...

RTO: I didn't put any in your salad.

MK:

RTO:

MK: well you must have, because I ate some.

RTO:

MK: in the small plastic bowl right?

RTO:

MK:

RTO: and you don't like carrots!?

MK: eh, I'll eat them I guess.

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Sunday records

Cocktail Piano Time - Records 5 and 6: finished up this set today, nothing really grabbed me, but then maybe it's just too early on a Sunday for me. RTO and his brother are fixing the garage door.

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Friday, November 16, 2007

just so RTO knows I tried the "salad" he made....

Things that should not ever be together in the same dish again? bacon and raisins. RAISINS!? with BACON!?! the spinach and bacon and egg and olive thing was tasty. this, not so much. I really don't like fruit. or carrots.

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stuff we (usually)do on Fridays...

post cat pictures...



convert records...
see, this day a took a pic to remind maggie how nice I was letting her sleep undisturbed in the comfy chair.


but no records today because I just got home. because I goofed off today, visited a half-price books and got my allergy shots and a peppermint mocha.

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Wednesday, November 14, 2007

since wordpress doesn't seem to be letting me comment today....

my "quote of the day" from Sarahk.

I love financial accounting and spreadsheets the way Hillary Clinton loves to eat the souls of little children.



that's love I tells ya.

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Tuesday, November 13, 2007

hmmmm, I would have guessed a leeetle bit later, but okay....

WE ESTIMATE THAT YOUR "NATURAL" BEDTIME IS AT ABOUT 1:15 AM.

I have been trying to aim for 1:00 since RTO's been home, but it hasn't always worked. anyhoo, the subject of Seasonal affective disorder has come up lately in therapy so I've been doing some reading today. went through the self-assesment questions here. I'm thinking light therapy might be worth trying, I'm getting progressively later for work and the days I don't work I keep pushing back my "start time" and the couch is calling for nap time more often. probably the cats would like it too. heh.

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Tuesday recording....

Cocktail Piano Time - Record 3: Things I've learned- Falling Leaves is not the same as Autumn Leaves and I do know I Don't Stand a Ghost of a Chance. oh, and the song called Flamingo isn't nearly as entertaining as you'd expect a song with that title to be. There are a couple of tracks featuring Rosemary Squires (All I Need is You and Mean to Me), but i haven't decided yet if I like her style or not, probably more just ambivalent.

Record 4: or "All about Autumn" well, they give each side a title so we have Autumn Leaves and Autumn Nocturne. Autumn Leaves kicks off with the Third Man Theme. we watched this movie a few weeks ago so it was still fresh. It kinda works in a piano quintet. Reg Guest plays the peppiest arrangement of Nature Boy I've ever heard, NTTAWWT. and side one closes with a bombastic arrangement of On Green Dolphin Street by Ronnie Price. Price is probably the runner up for my favorite in this series. a bit more lush sounding than Horrox, but his arrangements still feature some interesting rhythmic choices. side two, um, I zoned out, Canadian Sunset was almost unrecognizable and nothing after it really grabbed my attention.

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Monday, November 12, 2007

Friday/Monday recording

Prima Donna: Great Soprano Arias from Purcell to Barber - Leontyne Price: well this was a nice kick in the pants after Friday's lesson. According to Wikipedia she recorded five "Prima Donna" albums. This is the first one. Way back in college I sang the Hermit Songs for my senior recital so I grew pretty familiar with her recording of it with the composer, Samuel Barber and if I had to guess I would have said it was recorded later than this album. and I would be wrong. her voice sounds so much lighter and smoother on this recording but maybe it's just because of the difference in style, I don't know. The album closes out with Do Not Utter a Word from Barber's Vanessa. But before that we hear Depuis le jour and Io son l'umile ancella. I'll definitely be on the lookout for the other four albums. (I know, the whole thing is available on cd for.... sixty bucks!? and that's not new... it must be out of print. I paid three dollars for this record)

Cocktail Piano Time - Record 1 and 2: there's six albums in this set and if the first two are anything to go by I'm going to love them! so far it's a good mix of small ensembles with piano and piano with orchestra, ten pianists in all and a few vocalists as well. So many standards, As Time Goes By, Misty, The Girl from Ipanema, Snowfall. Anway the guy that I keep going, "who's playing that?" is Frank Horrox, which the record 1 jacket describes as having a "ringing brand of today-sounding jazz and a vital, textury sound". "today" being 1970? doesn't strike me as 70's-ish, but oh well. He has that nice crispy sound I like whether it's with orchestra or "his Quartet".

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Sunday, November 11, 2007

It's that time of year again.... (New posts below)

The Project Valour-IT competition kicked off today. (Oct 29)
Project Valour-IT, in memory of SFC William V. Ziegenfuss (Captain Chuck Ziegenfuss' father), provides voice-controlled software and laptop computers to wounded Soldiers, Sailors, Airmen and Marines recovering from hand and arm injuries or amputations at major military medical centers. Operating laptops by speaking into a microphone, our wounded heroes are able to send and receive messages from friends and loved ones, surf the 'Net, and communicate with buddies still in the field without having to press a key or move a mouse.


Matt and Jim of Blackfive are heading up the Army team.








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Friday, November 09, 2007

it's ovah!

I said something over the weekend about how I liked Starbucks' peppermint mocha, which they had last holiday season , and my sister emailed me earlier this week to let me know they were in stores now. I looked at their website and didn't see them, but I stopped in today and sure enough, they had them. I'll try to limit myself to one a week. no really.

I deserve today's peppermint mocha because I feel like pig poop. still went to my lesson, but just goofed off and read through some show tunes. really, I had some weird tension thing going on today and my head hurts and it's full of snot and I even took an extra sudafed last night to try to clear it out so of course I didn't sleep well either. it's just a craptacular time of year for me, I know it, but I still get cranky every year. okay, okay, enough whining.... here's Roxie enjoying some yogurt. she looooooves yogurt.



I tried to catch her with her nose in there, she pauses ever so often to sniff it and make sure there are no molecules of yogurt left, but my timing was off.

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Thursday, November 08, 2007

the magical birthday post....

Happy Birthday, Lola!

ha ha! Sparky quit moving for a while.... and I caught him.


I really did think of this earlier.... not that anyone will know now.... yay for posting options!

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Tuesday, November 06, 2007

Tuesday recording

Finishing up the Pop Organ Varieties box.....

Happy Hits with a Beat - Harry Stoneham athe Lowrey Organ: interestingly enough they add some normal percussion rather than relying only on the organ. He does so much noodling on Georgia on My Mind it took some effort to recognize it.

Record 3 - Bob Benson at the Baldwin Organ: the titles for each side were so long I didn't want to type them out and bold them. so there. side two was supposed to be all moody and I just didn't hear it, either Mr. Benson was lazy or the Baldwin isn't very versatile.

South Sea Island Magic - Richard Wayne at the Lowrey Organ: some very familiar sounding things here and even though I don't see a scratch on the thing, side two so far hasn't yeilded a non-skipping track yet. grrrrrrr. and the bird noises were so nice at the beginning of Bali Ha'i.

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Monday, November 05, 2007

Monday recording....

Faust - Gounod: sung by Corelli, Sutherland, Ghiaurov and some others.... London Symphony Orchestra. I prefer the other recording of this that I've got. Sutherland would not be my fave in this role, sometimes she has this kind of odd covered sound thing going on and it just doesn't work for Marguerite. for me anyway. and then there's some interesting musical decisions. (reading the Amazon reviews, one notes that it's a German version with extra music in the final scene) I mean there's an extra record here! heh.

Pop Organ Varieties - Golden Organ Million Sellers - Richard Wayne at the Hammond Organ: woooo, a boxed set of organ tunes! This album has Tico Tico and Lady of Spain and one of my favorites, Summer Samba. I may already have that one on CD, a couple tracks here sounded familiar. Anyway, bout what I'd expect from an organ album.

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Sunday, November 04, 2007

just got back from Norman so you know what that means!


EDDIE!!!!

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