Dump

I've resorted to making notes on scraps of paper to remember little things to post about. Now if I can just actually post them more frequently... I think I'd like to try posting the way that Maggie does. Usually just one thought. Short and sweet. Not my style, but I might give it a try. However, until I start that, here's my brain dump--

Thursday afternoon was a particularly sucky one in the land of Os. At about 1:15, I started receiving a flood of "email undeliverable" or "delivery failed" sorts of replies on my gmail. For the second time this summer, my gmail account was used to send out spam and/or viruses to all my contacts. Somewhere in the 950 range. The flood I got were the spam filters that kicked it back to me. Or the dead email addresses. Or the numerous people letting me know that I'd been hacked. The upside? I heard from people that I hadn't heard from in a few years! Plus a couple whom I have no idea who they are...

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Then I went to retrieve my car from the shop. My engine temp light has been coming on within a short amount of driving. Spent $65 to have a guy do a cooling system check. By all indications, things were fine. I didn't make it halfway home before the light came on again, so I went back to see him. He checked a little more and couldn't find anything wrong, so it was probably a sensor. I left it at the dealership the next day to get that replaced. When I picked it up, I got the bad news... At the least, it's a leaky head gasket. At the worst, and most probable, a cracked head. Boiled down, it means either replace the engine, or look for a new used car. Doesn't really matter...I don't have the money for either option. Fortunately the situation is in urgent mode, not emergency/desperate mode. It will hold together for awhile for getting to work and back. But it will fail on me...that's pretty much guaranteed. I'm hoping to talk my sister into letting me use Ray's truck until I find something. Or I might talk to her about buying it. Regardless...it's a bit of stress that I really don't want to deal with. I'm glad that almost everything has been paid for regarding BTE's party, otherwise I'd be backing out of that.

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I will say that my mood brightened considerably later on, thanks to a couple of chats and texts that I had. You know who you are...many thanks!

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Speaking of the party...Only a couple of weeks away! I understand there's another confirmation or two from attendees! If you're in the NYC area, you really should consider coming! Just email BTE for details!

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In one week, our big symphony concert will be history. The ten-day weather forecast calls for sunny and temps in the mid-80s. There's no forest fires anywhere near (hmmm...that might call for its own post), so the skies are fresh and clear. The concert's theme is "Spanish Nights", which curiosly, will feature no Spanish composers... Everything points to a fantastic evening, with possibly our biggest crowd ever. We expect no less than 15,000 to show up with their blankets and lawn chairs and picnic baskets. Rehearsals started yesterday, and the orchestra seems prepared. There's that tiny voice in the back of my head that says we're forgetting something, but I'll be damned if I know what it could be! More to come...

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It's been 6 weeks since anyone's asked me a question in the formspring box over there. I think it's served its function. It will probably be coming down unless there's some new activity in the next week.

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Saw the final dance scene of "Footloose" last night. Good lord, the 80s were an embarrassment! I'm curious though. In a town where dancing and rock music were banned, where did the breakdancer and the robot guy perfect their moves? Especially in Podunk, UT???

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More thoughts from watching TV--

• Saw something that made me check YouTube, which got me into watching a marathon of old Johnny Carson videos. Damn, no one will ever replace him.
• The KIA ads with the rapping hamsters (or guinea pigs? what's the difference?)--disturbing, fun or a sad statement on the state of advertising today?
• Finally! A reason to bother watching the MLB All-Star Game! You can vote on the finalists for the new band for FreeCreditReport.com! Doesn't mean I'll watch the game just for the chance to see the finalists, but I think it was a great move on their part! Who really cares about the game?
• I think the World Cup finals are going on as I'm typing this. Eh...
• I was watching CMT's Top 20 Countdown, as I usually do on Sunday mornings. Are you aware of what rock band has been in the Top 20 since June 4th? Nickelback. Yeah...that Nickelback. I suppose if Kid Rock and Uncle Cracker can do it...
• Also caught the CMT Crossroads concert with Kenny Chesney and the Steve Miller Band. This show is actually one of the best things that any of the music channels has come up with. As I was watching, it dawned on me. I think that 9 out of 10 people would not be able to pick Steve Miller out of a line-up. The guy whose greatest hits album of 1978 is one of the top 50 best-selling albums in the US. He's never really bothered with the video aspect of music once it became such a major part of marketing. He sold that many albums because of the music. And not due to the flashy videos. Ah...the good old days...
• I've determined that I need to move to Nashville. At the end of the above-mentioned concert, they took the cameras and followed them to Tootsie's (pictured)--an insanely small honky-tonk just down the hill from the CMT studios and the Ryman Theater. The standing room only crowd of about 100 patrons got to see these two give an impromptu concert on the equally insanely small stage in the bar. The way music should be experienced. Where else, other than Nashville, does that get to happen on a regular basis?