Wednesday, February 27, 2013

Almost Missed February!

I was informed that it's been over 4 weeks since my last post, and that I'd better get crackin'.  And lord knows I can't skip a whole month, even a short one, so here's my February post.  Hold on, it's going to go all over the place...
  • Super Bowl--Didn't really care one way or the other who won.  Was just glad it was a good game!
  • Paperwork--I despise paperwork.  Intensely.  I was brought up on the idea that a handshake was good enough for a contract.  Maybe that's more of a Montana thing.  But there are those who thrive on it.  Like lawyers.  And two people that have made my life much easier.  I mentioned on Facebook that I had a minor accident with the U-Haul before our January concert.  Short story--a gentleman by the name of Robert, who works for the insurance company for U-Haul called me the next day, asked me a couple of questions, and has apparently taken care of the entire matter.  Thanks, Robert!  The other person is Dawn, a social worker at the clinic where I get my insulin from.  Reams of paperwork, but all she requires from me is a signature.  Thanks, Dawn!
  • Valentine's Day--Nothing to report.
  • Father/Daughter Events--Or mother/son events.  I don't recall ever having anything like that when I was growing up.  Dad was involved with Scouting with me, and we all did a lot as a family, but I don't remember any one-on-one time with Mom.  Or my sisters with my dad.  I wonder how much we missed out on.  We all had one-on-one time with my grandfather though...
  • Parents At School--I don't remember anything like this, either.  I would have been horrified if one of my parents (Mom, probably) would have shown up at school just to observe or something.  And as a teacher, I never had anyone just show up.  Again, I wonder how much we missed out on.
  • Popular FB postings--I secretly snicker at some of my FB friends who post a popular meme or a picture or a video that is actually months old.  Makes me wonder where they were when it made the rounds the first time.
  • Speed Talkers--How does one learn to speed talk in the radio commercials where they whip through the fine print and/or disclaimers?  I suspect there's some sort of digital way of speeding it up these days so it doesn't sound like Alvin & the Chipmunks, but before then...how did they do that? 
  • Classic Radio--Speaking of radio, one of the stations in town changed formats from a satellite-fed pop station to a locally produced "classics" station.  Not "classic rock", or "classical".  Music from the late 50s, 60s and 70s.  Dare I say...easy listening?  Not quite.  But lots of the crooners, doo-wop, soft rock, even harder rock. As a musician, I go through phases to cleanse my musical palette.  I can't listen to symphonic music all the time, so I will listen to a lot of country, then jazz, then some Motown, etc.  No rap or hip-hop or what passes as "music" these days.  That's like cleansing with drain cleaner.  But this new station is a breath of fresh air for me.  We didn't listen to a lot of music when I was growing up, but what we did listen to was Mom's.  And it was the whitest music you could imagine.  And this station is playing it all again.  I love it!
  • Pope Benedict--In less than 24 hours, his resignation kicks in.  As a Catholic, it's a weird time.  It's hard to read all the speculation as to why he's resigning, especially from non-Catholics.   Personally, I didn't get the warm fuzzies from him as I did from John Paul II.  I don't think anyone did.  He doesn't seem to be a great 'people' person.  But it'll be fascinating to follow the election of a new pope.  This will be the seventh pope in my lifetime.
  • Concerts--The end of February was jam-packed full of concerts and stuff.  Five rehearsals and 2 different concerts in the span of six days last week.  And the fun is now just getting started for me.  Planning has started for the big summer concert in July, and I was hired as project manager again.  Based on the near-flawless event last summer, I penciled in a 50% increase to my salary (which was eagerly approved), so things are looking up!  I'm certain I'll have lots more to write about this one later!
  • HNT--After hearing from some of you, I'm going to experiment with doing HNT once every three months.  BUT, rather than bothering with your individual blogs, you'll send them in to me and I'll post them all on the OHNT site.  That seemed to work pretty well.  We'll see how that works.  SO...plan on April 4th as being the next time we try.  That gives you a month to come up with something!
So there you go!  Hopefully I'll post a bit in March.  I sort of miss the sound of my own posts!