I have to admit this is NOT my favorite time of the year, at least weather-wise. I know, most people get excited about the promise of spring, but I'd really rather it be February all the way until May (besides the NCAA basketball tournament!) This kind of weather just beats down on my already crappy sinuses.
In other news - Erin can actually win money in both the NCAA pools I "forced" him to enter - and can win one of them (go Michigan State!) Hello Dolly is into week 3 now - and going pretty smoothly. The ISU Women's Basketball team, near and dear to my heart after being in the pep band for 5 years in college, lost to Stanford in the Elite 8 last night. The bad part isn't that they lost (they made it a lot further than expected) but that the Stanford Center, Jayne Appel, scored 46 points...the whole ISU team scored 53. Appel was leading some of the game. Oh well...
Tuesday, March 31, 2009
Thursday, March 26, 2009
Handbells for 1
Yesterday at my church's weekly Wednesday Lenten Service (held each Wednesday of the Lent season) I did my first handbell solo, with music director Kristy playing the piano.
I got a bit nervous leading up to the service, so much so that I actually got a little queasy (I think part of it was having a bad work/sleep schedule going on the past few days because of work stress). I realized that I haven't actually done a true "solo" of any sort since I was a senior in high school and played saxophone solos for our district music contests. And boy did I get nervous with those.
I've never been nervous playing handbells though, so I guess I wasn't expecting it. Fortunately once I started, I just focused on the music and it all went fine. I didn't "miss" a single note (I did actually substitute a few notes over others but no one listening could have possibly known that - oh maybe I should have kept that secret to myself :)
In total I played 23 different bells during the song. Almost all the people in the bell group were there, including one of the kids who had graduated last year and was back for spring break. And Erin was there to cheer me on too. It turned out well - I will probably do it again.
I feel very lucky to be a part of such a great musical array at my church - the rest of the service was just such a variety of styles and talent - it was a really nice service.
I got a bit nervous leading up to the service, so much so that I actually got a little queasy (I think part of it was having a bad work/sleep schedule going on the past few days because of work stress). I realized that I haven't actually done a true "solo" of any sort since I was a senior in high school and played saxophone solos for our district music contests. And boy did I get nervous with those.
I've never been nervous playing handbells though, so I guess I wasn't expecting it. Fortunately once I started, I just focused on the music and it all went fine. I didn't "miss" a single note (I did actually substitute a few notes over others but no one listening could have possibly known that - oh maybe I should have kept that secret to myself :)
In total I played 23 different bells during the song. Almost all the people in the bell group were there, including one of the kids who had graduated last year and was back for spring break. And Erin was there to cheer me on too. It turned out well - I will probably do it again.
I feel very lucky to be a part of such a great musical array at my church - the rest of the service was just such a variety of styles and talent - it was a really nice service.
Tuesday, March 24, 2009
Hello Dolly - Update
Several people have asked about what dates I'm going to be playing in the pit orchestra for "Hello Dolly" as I mentioned in a previous post. The dates are:
3/28 (Sat), 3/29 (Sun), 4/4 (Sat), 4/5 (Sun), 4/10 (Fri), 4/16 (Thur) , 4/17 (Fri)
The Thursday shows start at 7:30, Friday and Saturday at 8:00 and Sunday matinee at 2:00.
Also, I'm going to do my first handbell "solo" (with the piano) on Wednesday night at the Lenten service at my church at 5:45. I have never done a solo before, and this one is very easy, but it will be interesting. I practiced it last night with Kristy our music director and it went pretty well. Wish me luck!
3/28 (Sat), 3/29 (Sun), 4/4 (Sat), 4/5 (Sun), 4/10 (Fri), 4/16 (Thur) , 4/17 (Fri)
The Thursday shows start at 7:30, Friday and Saturday at 8:00 and Sunday matinee at 2:00.
Also, I'm going to do my first handbell "solo" (with the piano) on Wednesday night at the Lenten service at my church at 5:45. I have never done a solo before, and this one is very easy, but it will be interesting. I practiced it last night with Kristy our music director and it went pretty well. Wish me luck!
Monday, March 23, 2009
The Answer
Yesterday I was on my way to the show and saw a car with the following two bumper stickers RIGHT next to each other:
"Jesus is the Answer"
"I'll keep my guns, money, and freedom, you can keep the change!"
Now, political commentary aside, to me this represents the biggest problem with religion and Christianity today. It is apparent that this person either hasn't actually read the bible, is just ignorant, or has been the victim of a contradictory bumper sticker attack (I'm ruling out the last one). While people argue all the time about some of the things that the bible says, anyone who has read about the life of Jesus would know that Jesus would not want guns and money, and would never advocate guns, violence, or war as a solution to ANYTHING.
This is why religion alienates so many people - because this is what they see.
"Jesus is the Answer"
"I'll keep my guns, money, and freedom, you can keep the change!"
Now, political commentary aside, to me this represents the biggest problem with religion and Christianity today. It is apparent that this person either hasn't actually read the bible, is just ignorant, or has been the victim of a contradictory bumper sticker attack (I'm ruling out the last one). While people argue all the time about some of the things that the bible says, anyone who has read about the life of Jesus would know that Jesus would not want guns and money, and would never advocate guns, violence, or war as a solution to ANYTHING.
This is why religion alienates so many people - because this is what they see.
Sunday, March 22, 2009
All good things...
Friday night was the end of a small "era" for me and a group of my friends - the final episode of "Battlestar Galactica" (2003) - the rebooted version of the cheesy sci-fi show from the 70s. In many ways, Battlestar was one of the first in a new generation of science fiction - more drama and characters, less "geek". While I certainly love the geek-loving shows like the Star Trek series', I have to say that I loved Battlestar from the first time Chris had me over to watch the mini-series that started it all. The ending was particularly good - the whole show was a commentary on humanity - and the final episode was very insightful (as well as action-packed). Most of my die-hard Battlestar friends were over to my house Friday to say farewell.
Other odds and ends -
It's March Madness! I took Thursday and Friday afternoon off and hung out with one of my friends and 3 TVs watching games both afternoons. Some good games, not a lot of upsets this year. I'm of course doing horrible on every pool I'm in except the free one.
Thursday night I got to see the preview show of "Hello Dolly" at the Rochester Civic Theater, the show that I'm playing in the pit orchestra for. I have to say the show is great, particularly the actress playing "Dolly" - she is SO entertaining. I played on Saturday and Sunday, so far so good (4 more weekends to go!)
We have been enjoying showing off our hard work on the game room. Still have to put up shelves. We also have seedlings going for our upcoming garden this summer.
Other odds and ends -
It's March Madness! I took Thursday and Friday afternoon off and hung out with one of my friends and 3 TVs watching games both afternoons. Some good games, not a lot of upsets this year. I'm of course doing horrible on every pool I'm in except the free one.
Thursday night I got to see the preview show of "Hello Dolly" at the Rochester Civic Theater, the show that I'm playing in the pit orchestra for. I have to say the show is great, particularly the actress playing "Dolly" - she is SO entertaining. I played on Saturday and Sunday, so far so good (4 more weekends to go!)
We have been enjoying showing off our hard work on the game room. Still have to put up shelves. We also have seedlings going for our upcoming garden this summer.
Wednesday, March 18, 2009
Hello Dolly
Shameless self-promotion...I will be playing in the pit orchestra for the Rochester Civic Theater's production of "Hello Dolly" which officially opens this Friday, March 20th. The show will run 5 weekends, on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday nights and Sunday matinees (excluding Easter sunday). I'm splitting time playing alto/soprano saxophone with a very talented friend of mine, so I'm doing 9 of the 18 shows.
You can purchase tickets online or calling the RCT box office.
You can purchase tickets online or calling the RCT box office.
Game Room Online
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| From 2009 Game Room Painting |
I meant to post this Monday morning and here it is Wednesday already. This past weekend, Erin and I spent lots of time (and a little money) on the "game room" project we've been planning. With the departure of cousin Andy's furniture, we had a completely empty room downstairs and decided a "game room" (read: video games) was in order. As the planning went on, Erin suggested we do the room in Husker colors as I have always mentioned wanting a room like that. And this weekend we did the major part of the work - painting.
First, to Home Depot to pick up the needed supplies. Besides the usual (brushes, rollers, drop cloths, tape, etc.) we also went ahead and got the official Glidden "Team Colors" paint in Nebraska Husker Red and Nebraska Husker White (which is actually just plain white, a key part of the later story). Our "design" was to paint the top half of the room white and the bottom half red. We additionally decided to paint the closet red too.
Saturday morning, we taped everything up, removed all the outlet covers, and put on a coat of primer. Let that dry a few hours (eating lunch and watching "House" episodes), and then put on the first coat of white on the top half, which went pretty quickly. It was obvious it needed a second coat (we already knew this would probably be necessary), so next coat on. We ran short on white, so Erin ran back to the store and got another quart of white, and another gallon of red, knowing now we'd need that. Meanwhile I did some spackle work where it needed it. When he got back with the paint restock, we noticed the white didn't have the same label on it. Thinking that "Nebraska Husker White" must be different than plain white because the first one had a special label on it, we went back to the store, only to have the snooty paint lady point out that the label on the first can just had zeros on the color added section. Back home to finish the white - at that point we were dead tired and off to bed.
Sunday, up for coffee and then to the red. We had to tape a perfect straight line all the way around the room to separate the red from the white. Not as easy as it sounds - we started out trying to do this with a level and a pencil mark, and it worked on one wall but not the others. So, being the engineer I am, we refined our process and did a combination of measurements from the ceiling and a level, and were able to get a nice perfect tape line all the way around (I got great joy out of our successful process refinement, I don't think Erin really saw the joy though :) Coat #1 of red - looked awful. You could see a combination of primer, the white paint underneath from the overlap (we didn't tape off anything on the white coat) and the old tan color. (Erin also had fun painting grafitti in the closet while he was doing the corners before I got in there with the roller). We then knew this would be a bigger job than just 2 coats. A few hours of drying, lunch, and "House" and we did coat #2. As we had dinner plans for the evening (new restaurant in the Raddison "Pescara" - great food!) we cleaned up and decided to finish up after we got home (which turned into waiting until the next day after having drinks at "Pescara").
Even after 2 coats it was not looking too good. I had to work Monday, so was planning to do more when I got home, but Erin was off Monday and took the initative and did 2 more coats. WOW, what a difference! The color really looked good, and our straight line was really VERY straight. We have been debating whether to put some sort of divider trim or black swashes or something but at this point, it looks nice enough where we might not have to.
An added bonus, using red and white colors, is that all of the outlet covers, vent covers, and closet shelves are white, and look SUPER sharp against the red paint.
With the red/black game chairs we bought, and the white shelf we used to put the TVs and game systems on, you can see we now have a complete game room. We are still going to put up a row of shelves around the top of the wall and probably hang my Husker flag and/or posters around.
The complete photo gallery is here:
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| 2009 Game Room Painting |
(you can see the cats tried their best to help, we had to keep them out most of the time though for fear of little red and white paw prints getting all over the house)
Thursday, March 12, 2009
Online payment services
I feel like I have to share information concerning computer and internet-related security when I get it because it's an interest of mine, and because so many people are now affected by what's going on online.
I have used PayPal for over 9 years - initially because it was easy and convenient for eBay purchases, and now because many sites use it. PayPal (or at least the concept of a third party service like PayPal in general) is a GREAT online security concept for financial transactions. Instead of giving every site you buy something from your credit card number, you give one site (PayPal) your credit card number, and the other sites get the money you authorize PayPal to give them, and that's all. Reducing the number of places your credit card number is stored is a very good thing.
Additionally, because many sites still don't take PayPal directly, PayPal now offers one-time credit card numbers - meaning they will give you a one-use number that you can use to buy something online at a site that, to the site you're buying from, works just like a Visa or Mastercard or whatever, but once it's used once it expires - so, even if the number got out or someone else tried to use it, it wouldn't work. Great idea.
PayPal has also started into further trying to lock down user accounts by offering them a one-time password-generating token (back-ended by Verisign), so that when you log in, you not only have to know our password, but your "token" (either a keychain dongle or a credit card sized thing) gives you a six-digit number you have to type in as well, and it's different every 30 seconds - so only your token and PayPal know what the number is - so even if someone got your userid AND password, they still couldn't log into your account. Cool, huh?
BUT....here are all the down sides (you knew this was coming, otherwise why would I be posting this?) Credit Card companies like Visa and MasterCard are extremely good at, and are required by law to give buyers complete buying fraud protection. If you buy something with a credit card online, and don't get it, or the site was fraudulent, or whatever, the card company takes care of it. Period. They may ask you for more information or investigate, but it's off your hands. And they also have pretty sophisticated mechanisms for detecting if something fraudulent is going on. Ever buy something and then get called by your card company verifying that you actually bought it? I have and I know many people that have - in most cases it's something big or out of your usual buying pattern, or you've travelled somewhere and are using the card there. (scary that they can figure all this out, but also cool!)
PayPal, on the other hand, is not as strictly required by law to do all this stuff, is not as motivated (legally, and because they really don't have any serious competition). They do back purchasers 100%, but as I've now found out first-hand, the process is much longer and drawn out, and I'm not yet sure there's a guarantee that it's going to work - I am in the middle of a month-long dispute over something I bought on eBay and never received - even though eBay themselves told me the listing was fraudulent. I will probably get my money back. I hope.
PayPal's security key option (the keychain dongle or credit card shaped thing), while a fantastic security feature on the surface (I've read about it and know the internal workings and it's really cool and a solid security algorithm) is not as "secure" as I originally thought - not because of the technology itself, but because PayPal does not strictly enforce its use. Yes, you may need to log in without it - if you legitimately lost it or don't have it with you or wahtever - but they make it WAY too easy - all you have to do is call a number and tell them your last name and last 4 digits of the credit card you have registered, and they deactivate it - so all you then need is your password. So really, it's worthless. I was really disappointed when I found this out. I'd at least like to have the option to say "NO, never let me log in without this thing" and suffer the inconvenience later. At least I know someone can't log in as me.
So...I guess I'm back to not having a strong recommendation :) Be careful and be aware.
I have used PayPal for over 9 years - initially because it was easy and convenient for eBay purchases, and now because many sites use it. PayPal (or at least the concept of a third party service like PayPal in general) is a GREAT online security concept for financial transactions. Instead of giving every site you buy something from your credit card number, you give one site (PayPal) your credit card number, and the other sites get the money you authorize PayPal to give them, and that's all. Reducing the number of places your credit card number is stored is a very good thing.
Additionally, because many sites still don't take PayPal directly, PayPal now offers one-time credit card numbers - meaning they will give you a one-use number that you can use to buy something online at a site that, to the site you're buying from, works just like a Visa or Mastercard or whatever, but once it's used once it expires - so, even if the number got out or someone else tried to use it, it wouldn't work. Great idea.
PayPal has also started into further trying to lock down user accounts by offering them a one-time password-generating token (back-ended by Verisign), so that when you log in, you not only have to know our password, but your "token" (either a keychain dongle or a credit card sized thing) gives you a six-digit number you have to type in as well, and it's different every 30 seconds - so only your token and PayPal know what the number is - so even if someone got your userid AND password, they still couldn't log into your account. Cool, huh?
BUT....here are all the down sides (you knew this was coming, otherwise why would I be posting this?) Credit Card companies like Visa and MasterCard are extremely good at, and are required by law to give buyers complete buying fraud protection. If you buy something with a credit card online, and don't get it, or the site was fraudulent, or whatever, the card company takes care of it. Period. They may ask you for more information or investigate, but it's off your hands. And they also have pretty sophisticated mechanisms for detecting if something fraudulent is going on. Ever buy something and then get called by your card company verifying that you actually bought it? I have and I know many people that have - in most cases it's something big or out of your usual buying pattern, or you've travelled somewhere and are using the card there. (scary that they can figure all this out, but also cool!)
PayPal, on the other hand, is not as strictly required by law to do all this stuff, is not as motivated (legally, and because they really don't have any serious competition). They do back purchasers 100%, but as I've now found out first-hand, the process is much longer and drawn out, and I'm not yet sure there's a guarantee that it's going to work - I am in the middle of a month-long dispute over something I bought on eBay and never received - even though eBay themselves told me the listing was fraudulent. I will probably get my money back. I hope.
PayPal's security key option (the keychain dongle or credit card shaped thing), while a fantastic security feature on the surface (I've read about it and know the internal workings and it's really cool and a solid security algorithm) is not as "secure" as I originally thought - not because of the technology itself, but because PayPal does not strictly enforce its use. Yes, you may need to log in without it - if you legitimately lost it or don't have it with you or wahtever - but they make it WAY too easy - all you have to do is call a number and tell them your last name and last 4 digits of the credit card you have registered, and they deactivate it - so all you then need is your password. So really, it's worthless. I was really disappointed when I found this out. I'd at least like to have the option to say "NO, never let me log in without this thing" and suffer the inconvenience later. At least I know someone can't log in as me.
So...I guess I'm back to not having a strong recommendation :) Be careful and be aware.
Saturday, March 7, 2009
Odds and Ends
I got scammed on eBay for the first time in the 11 years I've been on eBay. I will likely get my money back because PayPal has 100% fraud protection, and eBay already says it was a fraudulent auction, but it will be a month. It also saddens my eBay experience :( I may quit using eBay altogether.
I can no longer sleep in no matter what the day or stress level. :(
I have to reboot my phone every time I want to sync it with my computer. Probably because my phone runs Windows.
We are creating a game/Husker room downstairs in the non-bedroom. We found out the Behr color "Grenadine" is pretty much a spot-on match to the official Glidden "Husker Red" and is way cheaper.
We were online shopping for gaming chairs for the game/Husker room, and the "official" Husker chairs were $129/each while the much nicer/higher quality/comfortable-looking plain black and red Husker-colored chairs were $84.99/each...I'm sensing a theme here.
My new PC compresses DVDs in the actual amount of time the show or movie actually is - i.e. it took 44 minutes to compress a 44-minute show. That is WAY cool - given that my last one took at least twice that long and ate up all available processor and memory. I compressed an entire season of "House" in 17.6 hours.
When both of your 250GB DVRs are full, it may be time to stop recording so much TV :)
I can no longer sleep in no matter what the day or stress level. :(
I have to reboot my phone every time I want to sync it with my computer. Probably because my phone runs Windows.
We are creating a game/Husker room downstairs in the non-bedroom. We found out the Behr color "Grenadine" is pretty much a spot-on match to the official Glidden "Husker Red" and is way cheaper.
We were online shopping for gaming chairs for the game/Husker room, and the "official" Husker chairs were $129/each while the much nicer/higher quality/comfortable-looking plain black and red Husker-colored chairs were $84.99/each...I'm sensing a theme here.
My new PC compresses DVDs in the actual amount of time the show or movie actually is - i.e. it took 44 minutes to compress a 44-minute show. That is WAY cool - given that my last one took at least twice that long and ate up all available processor and memory. I compressed an entire season of "House" in 17.6 hours.
When both of your 250GB DVRs are full, it may be time to stop recording so much TV :)
Friday, March 6, 2009
Oh que le temps passe
(literally translated it's "oh how the time passes" - the title of one of our salsa songs which seemed appropriate today)
I feel like I'm so out of it on blogging - I see my last post was February 19th. I've been absent from the blogosphere with good reason - I've been working...and working...and working...and working. I'm not complaining - for one thing I love what I'm working on, this has been a great change for me over the past couple of years. And having lots of work to do is never a bad thing in the current economic climate.
So, I'll summarize highlights of what's been going on over the past few weeks. Work. Lots of going-away lunches and retirement coffees at work :( Playing at the Blue Moon to a great crowd on February 20th. Helping friend Michael out with setting up a Ubuntu Linux server where he works (which was probably WAY more fun for me than him!) New haircut. Battlestar Galactica (tonight is the 3rd-to-last episode of the series *sniff*) Seeing my nieces (and the rest of the family) in St. Paul last Saturday for lunch before they went to the Children's Museum - love you guys! Seeing the movie "Taken" with Erin (pretty good!) New tires for my car (holy expensive Batman!) Playing handbells for the Wednesday lenten service at church a couple days ago. And last night, the first rehearsal of the pit orchestra for "Hello Dolly" at the Rochester Civic Theater - running 5 weekends March 20th-April 19th - get your tickets now. :) (I'm playing 9 out of the 19 shows)
That's it in a nutshell. I still manage to get lots of playing time with the kitties and watching movies and episodes of "House" with Erin (I may have gotten myself hooked on all the medical shows I've been ignoring for the past 10 years - first "Scrubs" and now "House" - next? E.R.? Grey's Anatomy?)
I feel like I'm so out of it on blogging - I see my last post was February 19th. I've been absent from the blogosphere with good reason - I've been working...and working...and working...and working. I'm not complaining - for one thing I love what I'm working on, this has been a great change for me over the past couple of years. And having lots of work to do is never a bad thing in the current economic climate.
So, I'll summarize highlights of what's been going on over the past few weeks. Work. Lots of going-away lunches and retirement coffees at work :( Playing at the Blue Moon to a great crowd on February 20th. Helping friend Michael out with setting up a Ubuntu Linux server where he works (which was probably WAY more fun for me than him!) New haircut. Battlestar Galactica (tonight is the 3rd-to-last episode of the series *sniff*) Seeing my nieces (and the rest of the family) in St. Paul last Saturday for lunch before they went to the Children's Museum - love you guys! Seeing the movie "Taken" with Erin (pretty good!) New tires for my car (holy expensive Batman!) Playing handbells for the Wednesday lenten service at church a couple days ago. And last night, the first rehearsal of the pit orchestra for "Hello Dolly" at the Rochester Civic Theater - running 5 weekends March 20th-April 19th - get your tickets now. :) (I'm playing 9 out of the 19 shows)
That's it in a nutshell. I still manage to get lots of playing time with the kitties and watching movies and episodes of "House" with Erin (I may have gotten myself hooked on all the medical shows I've been ignoring for the past 10 years - first "Scrubs" and now "House" - next? E.R.? Grey's Anatomy?)
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