more of the same

Continuing the train of thought from yesterday -- here's a sample of some Scott Joplin music... "Maple Leaf Rag"... and this was the best YouTube version that I could find.... I don't think my fingers work well enough anymore to ever be able to play it well.  The guy in the video does a great job.

oh! i forgot to tell you the scott joplin story!

I told you in my September 16th blog post about the Piano Club I went to, then the next day I told you about my good friend Elke in Germany and how well we know each other.  But listen to this...

At the Piano Club meeting, the members were playing mostly Beethoven sonatas and such, and for some reason a lady asked me if I ever played any Scott Joplin music.  Scott Joplin was a composer of mostly "Ragtime" music back around the beginning of the 20th century.  I told her I used to play one of his songs, "The Entertainer" (which was the theme music for the Paul Newman/Robert Redford movie The Sting back in the 70s), otherwise no.  She told me she loves playing Scott Joplin and that I should buy a Scott Joplin music book and especially learn to play "Maple Leaf Rag".  I nodded and said I might do that.

Here is the weird part of this story.  Elke, in her email the next day, told me that, in going through her late mother's things, she had found a book of Scott Joplin piano music, and would I like for her to send it to me?

How the heck did she know??  We have never mentioned Scott Joplin to each other -- who thinks about Scott Joplin? -- and I had no idea that her mom had ever even had any piano music.

Coincidence?  Or eerie transatlantic vibes?

mixed blood with a new friend

Facebook has connected people, you know that how story goes, people that you hadn't seen or heard from in decades.  Sometimes that's a good thing, sometimes not so good.  Jerry recently connected with a woman from his home town who had been the sister of his best friend when he was growing up.  Laura is her name, she lives in Texas now, and he hadn't seen her since she was five years old and he wasn't much older than that.

Anyway, they began chatting over the months and that all went well, and she was making a trip to Minnesota to pick up a dog, so she and Jerry got together, not at all sure what to expect from each other in person.  She arrived at the airport Thursday at about the same time we were arriving back from Las Vegas, and I have to say, it was a great connection, a Facebook success.

She's an artist, so she wanted to visit a couple of the museums here, and we took her to a couple of plays, and the two day visit went fast.  And I need to tell you this:  If you are anywhere in the Twin Cities area, you should try to get over to Mixed Blood Theater for their current production of a new play, Neighbors.  It's a show that makes you re-examine your feelings about racism -- is an excellent play.  It's one of those plays that leaves the audience feeling stunned, but in a good way.   http://mixedblood.com.

... anyway, Laura is picking up her new puppy and flying home with it.... and we hope she comes back sometime.

dickens on a kindle

My nephew Jeff generously sent me an Amazon Kindle in April.  The spring and early summer were kind of rough for me and I wasn't doing much reading at all so it's just recently that I've learned how to use and manage it for reading a book.  So many people that I know that are the biggest book readers have switched from paper to electronics -- to the Kindle, the iPad, the Nook -- and these are people whose opinion I value.

But I just don't know if, for me, a book on a Kindle is as satisfying as a traditional book.

I'm trying my first book -- A Tale of Two Cities, Charles Dickens (partly because it was a free download and partly because it's a book I've always thought I should read) -- and it's fine, I guess.  But yesterday on the plane I had a back-up real live book -- A Thousand Splendid Suns by Klahed Hosseini-- which I borrowed from the condo library just in case I overdosed on the Kindle and also because electronics need to be shut off and stowed during take-off and landing.

I just don't know.  I think I can see it as an occasional gadget for reading a book (or, more likely, downloading newspapers or magazines) and not a replacement for what I'm used to.

Maybe I just don't see the point.

LAS to MSP

We all have our guilty pleasures, and I admit to Las Vegas being one of mine.  It's a place I shouldn't like, but I do, too bad.  It's an escape like no other.  But it's also a place that after three or four days, you're saying, "Let me outta here!"

This was a great trip, Jerry has a nice tan, we didn't lose too much money, and, if they give us some more free nights and other goodies, don't we surprised if we're back in a couple months.

disaster strikes facebook again

Here I am, trying to enjoy a peaceful (?)Vegas vacation, when what should disrupt the tranquility? --  Facebook has changed its format again, and my Facebook friends are in a frenzy!.... Everybody wants the old format back, or life as we know it can't go on! -- although not anybody seems to remember that they all hated that old format when it was new.

... and everybody seems to forget one thing -- IT'S ONLY FACEBOOK!  and it's free!

... And sometimes changes turn out to be for the better, you know, once they work out the details.  Here's one as an example:  "DON'T ASK, DON'T TELL", the stupidest law in recent history, has finally been repealed.  YES!  Let's celebrate that positive change that happened this week.

old and youngstown

It's Day 2 in Las Vegas.... Jerry wants to have dinner downstairs at a Japanese restaurant, but it occurred to me that I hadn't blogged yet today, so I had to leave the casino and come up and say Hello to you all before we eat.

This is actually the first time I've been back in the room all day, which is kind of a shame because it's a fantastic room.. The Aria, where we are staying, is maybe the newest of the Vegas super-hotels, very futuristic, very high-tech, we love it...

... but we spent a good part of the day downtown, downtown being "old" Las Vegas vs. The Strip, where we mostly are and where most of the action is.  But we do like downtown too -- it kind of brings  us back into the real world a little -- it's a lot grittier than this pretend-world out here.

Speaking of gritty, our taxi driver this morning lives here in Las Vegas, but he's originally from Youngstown, Ohio, and we talked about what a disaster Youngstown has become. It's one of the cities that makes the bottom of the Money magazine "best cities to live in" annual list.  It's become a city that the United States should have taken better care of and might be a picture of what a lot of American cities will look like before long.  Which isn't to imply that Las Vegas isn't hurting economically too, but it's a whole different kind of hurt.  An uptick in the economy isn't going to help Youngstown.

MSP to LAS

Well, we are on our way to Las Vegas -- three free nights at Aria Casino Hotel, which is part of the new City Center complex on the Strip...

... and, man, do we need it...

Will check in from there...

our modern family

I'm sitting here in the living room.  I obviously have my laptop going as I write to you good people.  Next to me is my niece Ruthie, who is on her laptop too.  On the other side of me is my nephew James, who just finished his homework on Jerry's laptop.  On his other side is Jerry, who now has his laptop back from James.  And in front of us is our widescreen TV, tuned into the Emmy Awards (and occasionally flipping over to the Eagles game)... I mean, really, how pathetic are we?  ... and we find ourselves rooting for certain TV shows -- especially Big Bang Theory (Jerry, Ruthie and me) or Glee (James), but the comedy awards are all going to Modern Family, a show that none of us watch.

But my stuff is all ready to be packed... Jerry and I leave for Las Vegas in the morning, and I am SO in the mood to be gone... as you know.

OH!  Remind me to tell you the Scott Joplin story!  But the pizza guy just arrived... and I think somebody just texted me...

alles Gute zum Geburtstag!

Tomorrow is Elke's birthday, and I'm wishing her a happy one.

Elke has been my friend since 2002, when she posted a feisty comment on my former website, http://needahand.com/, under the name "German Mama".  That website was more or less devoted to the works of John Irving, a favorite novelist that Elke and I shared... (and, if you click on that URL now, it will just forward to this blog).  Her comments on that site led to us becoming email cyber-friends from then until present, and our emails have gotten way beyond talking about what books we're reading.  We have gotten to know each other better in many ways better than friends that we see every day.

The emails led to us visiting Elke in Germany a couple times now (her husband Peter, who speaks no English, is still mystified and nervous that Elke has this male friend in the U.S. that she got to know through the internet), and I'd like to get back over there in the next year or two to see her again if I can.

Elke has had a couple of books published (no English translation of them yet), and, if she writes in German half as beautifully as she writes in English, I know they are good.  Her emails are sometimes masterful.

It's going to be 18 September in Germany seven or eight hours earlier that it arrives here, so I want this to be there when she checks the blog in the morning -- HAPPY BIRTHDAY, ELKE!  xoxo!

escapes and rewards

wow, a wild and crazy week at the office... but did I tell we're going to Las Vegas next week, Monday through Thursday...?  It's coming at a good time.  I need something.

oh, here's something for you:  There is a group at the church that meets every six weeks, sort of a Piano Club, where they get together and play for each other and challenge themselves to develop their skills by working on difficult pieces, pieces that are a stretch.  Well, I decided to attend last night, with the intent of maybe becoming way less of a lazy pianist.  I love my piano, it provides great escape for me as I play for my own amusement, but I find myself just playing the same things over and none of them are particularly challenging.  I know I was a more skillful piano player at age 18 than I am now, and I've decided to work on doing something about that.  Now let me go through my music and find something to work on for the next meeting........

not all the jobs went to china

Yesterday morning, I dropped off some of my dress shirts at the dry cleaner's shop in the skyway nearby.  This shop is part of a chain, but the usual lady working there is fun, and we always kid around a bit.  But this time the counter was turned around and the wall was torn up and something just wasn't right.  "Remodeling? A new look?" I asked.  She told me that what they are doing is making this drop-off/pick-up spot automated, which somehow means that a person won't need to work there anymore -- somehow it will all be done by computer.  So my friendly dry-cleaners lady will be out of a job.

Manufacturing jobs in this country are long gone, replaced to some degree by lesser-paying service industry jobs, and now companies are finding ways to eliminate a lot of those too, I guess. It's hard to imagine what's going to improve the unemployment rates any time soon.

the 27th year and counting

I visited a client of mine, Walt, today.  He's in a nursing home/rehab center today over in Wisconsin, and he just found out, much to his happiness, that he's going home tomorrow.  He's one of those clients that I've had for 27 years, that I've watched grow old and frail.  Every year he updates me on the parts of his body that are failing him and that "this might be the last year I'm around"  (He started saying that about ten years ago).  Meanwhile, in between those gloomy predictions, he always has jokes to tell me -- some clean, some not -- and I'd pass on to you the one he told me today if I could remember it all (He tends to tell long, rambling jokes). Having a laugh with him is what we both needed.  Go home and get well, Walt.

as i scramble to finish my work

Too many thoughts in my mind to settle on just one...

--  Lots of work to be finished before the end of the day this Thursday the 15th...
--  Surprised to ask friends to a movie on a certain day to have them respond with, "well, how about a different day and a different movie"?
--  Realizing it's not easy to be in business for yourself...
--  Heading out for dinner with Jerry and one of my business partners...

Tomorrow will be less scrambled.

and now?

When I started this blog site in 2007, it was all sort of spontaneous and directionless, and I started to name it "What Now??", which reminded me of a song from the '60s, "What Now, My Love?", which I sometimes play on the piano and which had the original French title of "Et Maintenant?" (literally "And Now?"), so I decided to class up the title by going French -- a trivia moment just in case you ever wondered where this blog name came from.

So here, for my Monday videos, are the song "Et Maintenant?" in French, sung by the guy who made it famous, Gilbert Becaud, followed by the English-language version, which was covered by many singers back in the '60s, this one done by a very sweaty Elvis Presley

anniversaries

Today was Rally Day at our church (and many other churches), which marks sort of the beginning of the new church year:  summer is over, the programs are in place, the ministers and choirs are back.  The organist played, as he has for many years on Rally Day, an amazing Toccata and Fugue in D Minor by Bach on the pipe organ -- which always inspires the heck out of me.  And there was a message of peace and love on this date of incredible sadness.

I had a friend tell me that he and his wife picked September 11 to get married, one of those early years after 2001, to reclaim that date on the calendar as something positive.

I remember September 11, 2002 -- one year after the attacks -- I was at the airport in Amsterdam, about to get on an airplane to go home, and a reporter from Dutch television came up to me to interview me, to ask how it felt to be an American flying on that date.  I'm not sure how she knew I was American, but how to answer that question?  Did she expect me to say I was fearful?  I wasn't, not at all.  I said I was just sad, but the sadness of September 11, 2001, is something we have every day, not just on the one date every year on the calendar.  Nobody has forgotten.

nine ten eleven

My friend, Mary O., just sent a Facebook message to me wishing me a happy 9.10.11.  (today's date)... Mary, an accountant and undeniably a numbers person, gets excited over certain cute dates.  Last year there was October 10th (10.10.10), this year January 11 was a significant one for her (1.11.11), now 9.10.11, and in two months a VERY big one for her -- 11.11.11!  Next year, if the world lasts that long, we have a 12.12.12 coming.   After that, she is going to have some disappointing years. 1.3.13 just isn't much to get worked up over.

... and I certainly hope you are having a wonderful 9.10.11 also.

sitting in traffic with the cabin people

I needed to drive into the northern suburbs to a client's office this afternoon, about 3 o'clock, and was surprised how congested the streets downtown and the freeway going north was at that time of day.  I was literally at a dead stop for parts of that drive, and I'm thinking, Why is this?  And it occurred to me, it's a Friday afternoon of a weekend that is predicted to be gorgeous.. People have left work early, and many of these people are heading for "the cabin" up north.

A guy asked me today if I had a cabin.  I said, No.  He asked if I golfed.  I said No.  "Then you sail?"  he asked.

No, I'm a person who will be out on his patio right here in the middle of the city, relaxing.  No cabin to maintain, no golf clubs to lug around in the hot sun, no sails to hoist.

calamari and the boy

James (remember him?), when he moved here in June, had never heard of calamari, and, since he comes from a family not exactly known for being adventurous in trying new foods, I give him credit for even considering it.  A lot of people, especially when they find out that calamari is squid, won't even think of trying it.

... but we might have created a monster.  Now he is obsessed with calamari -- it might be his new favorite food.  Today he discovered the best calamari that he has had so far -- at Zelo's restaurant over there on Nicollet Mall, downtown Minneapolis.  I took him there for lunch today, and he was so crazy about the calamari that he asked the waiter to give his compliments to the chef.  I'm sure the waiter was thinking, who is this kid?

... and tonight he wanted to celebrate that he had auditioned into the Twin Cities Gay Men's Chorus... so where did he want to go?  Back to Zelo's for more calamari. That was his whole meal. Oh geez, help us.

tragicomedy tonight

Call me masochistic if you want, but here I sit watching tonight's Republican Presidential debate.  Not sure how much more of it that I can take.

But how depressing it would be to be a Republican and think that one of these dweebs spouting nonsense is going to be that party's presidential candidate. 

From what I see and hear, this is how I would rank them:
--  The most digusting -- Rick Perry.
--  The most insane -- Michele Bachmann.
--  The most unlikable -- Newt Gingich.
--  The most unbelievable -- Mitt Romney.
--  The most oppressive -- Rick Santorum.
--  The most interesting, in a wacky sort of way -- Ron Paul.
--  The one who knows the most about pizza -- Herman Cain.
--  The one who should be a Democrat -- Jon Huntsman.