Fun with Place Names

We were just having fun with Oconomowoc, WI. There was only one vowel available when they named that place. Or, a trapper comes out of the woods on an extremely cold day. They ask him where he came from and he' only able to mumble Cnmwc. That's the Arabic spelling.

How I find my music

I've gotten to a crotchety old age where I do not listen to music radio. The radio now is for talk, conservative talk.

But, being a singer and heavily drenched in popular culture, I have to have music in my life. I listen a lot in my free time. With my Borg bluetooth headphone in one ear, people probably think I think I'm some high powered mover and shaker (I really do more ducking and bobbing, dodging and weaving than shaking and moving.) But, the headphone is just so I can listen to music and it is mostly when I ride my bike. (I do also listen to other audio, scriptures, conference talks, devotional talks et al.)

So how do I find new music to bring into my rotation? A lot I get from soundtracks. I have been fascinated with them for 30+ years. I could make a case for their being our current "classical" music. The operas written since Puccini's death are mostly tripe.

My young adult kids do expose me to some music that I adopt. But, I bring music to them as well.

A couple of months ago I watched online a Filmology 2010 compilation video. The background music was quite fun. So, I looked up the content and purchased most of the songs. One that has really stuck with me is called "Little Baby Pines" by the Sunbears! on the Dream Happy Dreams Album. Now, don't those titles just make you feel good! Little baby pines has really stuck with me and the kids love it. You should check it out.

I once wrote that music embeds and invokes memories on a level with the sense of smell, because it attaches to our psyche in many places. It is not unlike the scriptures of Isaiah. There is substance and meaning and appeal on several levels.

What a blessing we have in Music.

Recital

Yesterday Shazia and Ameer had a recital at Gram's house. They both did admirably (he on violin and she on voice.) Shazia packs more volume per pound than anyone in the world and she has great resonance. As she trains and improves her technique will get even better. Ameer was nearly perfect with his fingering and is able to draw a very nice sound out of his instrument. Its funny that most of the music that gets performed at recitals is "showy." It's a little like, "look l can sing this note." Or "I can do this run or this melismatic passage really well."
There were at least two numbers meant to show as well as entertain a more plebian audience like me: "I remember snow" (Sondheim) and "I dreamed a dream" (from Les Mis).

Very well done kids.

Marathon Bike Tour 2011

I did the Marathon Bike Tour again on Saturday. This was the third time for me. It went okay. But, it could have been better.

I went for a ride the evening before and in retrospect, that probably hurt me. I tried not to push hard and I kept my heart rate down. But, I think It made a big difference.

Saturday morning I just didn't have the legs. I was a mile slower than my two previous times at this. I did a lot of riding by myself. A couple of groups came along that I managed to hook up with and hang with for a while. But, I couldn't stay with them longer than a mile or two.

AG Laney

Laney recently participated in the local JA City affair (Junior Achievement City) something like Boys Town I figure. There were kids from a couple of grade schools participating. She was busy with anticipation during the run-up. She set her sights on different roles she could play and tried to keep her expectations low in case her role didn't rise to the level of prestige that she wanted. She went to the interview fully prepared. She was asked if she could do the job of a bank teller. She responded, “why, yes! I can say, Sir there are insufficient funds to cover this check.” As it turned out she got the prestigious role of Attorney General. and had a great time during the activity. Ailsa also went and helped chaperone the kids.

Good Article Having to do With Agency

Especially this part:

LDS scholar Terryl Givens explains: “(T)here are appealing arguments for God as a childish projection, for modern prophets as scheming or deluded imposters, and for modern scriptures as so much fabulous fiction. But there is also compelling evidence that a glorious divinity presides over the cosmos, that God calls and anoints prophets, and that his word and will are made manifest through a sacred canon that is never definitively closed.”
... If humans had incontrovertible secular evidence for the existence of God, they would be unable to freely choose whether or not to accept God.
... “that there must be grounds for doubt as well as belief in order to render the choice more truly a choice. ...
“The option to believe must appear on our personal horizon like the fruit of paradise, perched precariously between sets of demands held in dynamic tension. One is, it would seem, always provided with sufficient materials out of which to fashion a life of credible conviction or dismissive denial. We are acted upon, in other words, by appeals to our personal values, our yearnings, our fears, our appetites and our egos. What we choose to embrace, to be responsive to, is the purest reflection of who we are and what we love. That is why faith, the choice to believe, is, in the final analysis, an action that is positively laden with moral significance.”

Jensen's Version of "Hey Diddle Diddle." (Laney and Cissy as models)

The little dog laughed to see such craft...

Health Care

With the way things are going, we won't have to worry about defeating or de-funding the Health Care law. By the time it comes to fully implement it, everyone will be waivered out. Seven hundred plus companies and four states have gotten waivers! That's appalling. If it was so good, how come no one wants to be subject to it? and how come the Government is letting people get out of it?

Early Jensen Painting (Ailsa as Model)

Slip Sliding Part Two

A couple of weeks ago there was a fairly good snowstorm. We were sent home from work a little early. We got a dvd from Redbox and went to Little Caesar's for pizza. Lane and I took the Blue Explorer. The rear tires are not that good. But, I checked it out a while ago before Jensen took it back to school and it seemed fine. We drove to the pizza place with some snow falling and some on the road and in the parking lots and the temperature dropping. I parked right in front of the store on a SLIGHT incline. We were at the register paying for our order when a lady said, “Is that somebody's Explorer out there?” I turned and saw the car sliding out of its parking space. The front wheels were turning. But, the back wheels (bearing more weight because of the SLIGHT slope) were locked with the transmission in park. The tread on the rear tires wasn't enough to hold it in the parking space. I went out of the store and re-parked it on the flat. Later that night after we watched the movie we went out to the car in the driveway and it had slid about 5 feet again. We are trying to make these tires last until next winter. Reminds me of: “My old man's spare tires were actually only tires in the academic sense. They were round, they had once been made of rubber.” -- from a Christmas Story