Haven't posted much lately. Sorry.

Thanksgiving Weekend was great. For the first time in a long time, Lisa and I really did as little as possible (of course it helped that the previous week was a high intensity burn to get the downstairs clean enough for company). We finished cleaning about 9:00 PM Wednesday - I also cooked for the better part of the day to make the next day easier. The menu:

roast beef (with horsey sour cream & dill sauce)
sweet potato
mashed potato w/asiago cheese
corn
asparagus w/garlic, olio, proscuitto & lemon
squash (by my mom)
onion bread (by my aunt)
chocolate pie (by my mother-in-law)
wine (by my cousin, including a good Malbec)
shrimp & cream cheese appetizer (by my friend's mom)
cranberry fruit compote

14 people all told, including my sister-in-law and her daughter (who insisted that she read to me after lunch - how could I resist). My s-i-l is getting divorced, and it looks to be a pretty messy thing. Her in-laws are base, mean people and are going to be downright nasty, so we're trying to do our best to support her and her daughter.

The day was quite relaxed, I was up at 7 to start putting things together and setting the table (I didn't dare do it the night before, as the cat likes to sleep on the table). The beef was a bit overdone for my tastes, but no complaints overall. My cousin was late, as her beau had convinced her that taking the Mass Pike on Thanksgiving Day was a good idea. In case you're wondering, it's not.

So, I cleaned up and put everything away by 6:00 PM and we settled in for a weekend full of James Bond on Spike TV. I felt more relaxed than I had in a long time.

On Friday, we took some time out to have an annual post-Thanksgiving spaghetti dinner. I had the guitar in the trunk, as I usally do, and was convinced to bring it out. The folks at this party are almost all old folkies, so it was inevitable. I demonstrated a bit in NST, played a couple things (Hope, Eye of the Needle, Asturias) and explained a bit of the "cult", the tuning and the work. Not too much, but enough. Gave the YGP and GC web sites to a woman who was there that works in a school that is always looking for people to come in and show the kids some of the outside world. Perhaps another opportunity wil become available.

Saturday and Sunday were more of the same, though I had to cook, since we had pretty much blown through the remains of the beef.

Monday was a shock, back into the work grind, though it could have been worse. Fortunately, my boss had a vacation day, so it stayed quiet. I'm still putting away parts of my office, and finished some financial stuff (expense reports, p-cards, etc.). Late call from another manager to go over a couple proposals, which need some rework.

A day working form home, awaiting a plumber to address a shower that doesn't completely shut off. Looking at it myself, the only solution would be to replace the valve which requires a) disassembling the shower, or b) cutting a hole in the wall behind it. Neither is appealing.

So, a few things to address around the performance last Sunday at the Rockwood Music Hall (or Music Box, as it is otherwise known). Cozy little place with a very good crowd. Good energy on the way in.

Set list:
Overture
Unbound
Growing Circle
Columbia
Witness or Kingpin?
squeaky
Eye of the Needle
One of a Thousand Regrets
Immanent Grace
Havre de Grace
Reunion
Asturias

Some positive items: the owner & bartender, and the crowd (and for us, it was a crowd - many friends of the team who work/live in the city). The sound was great (really wonderful to have a monitor). The stage was *just* big enough for the six of us. Overture was very strong, and personally, one of my better stabs at a cohesive solo in Unbound. Just about the fastest Havre de Grace I can remember doing, but still very together, cohesive and the buzz-saw part was well balanced (at least in the monitor). A good clean, intentional pass of the solo part in Columbia to Marc, and a good fade (not quite as good as at the HVFG the week before). I had no hands for squeaky at the pace we took it.

Some not so positive items (but learning experiences):
- The pro-Tools setup was, in this case a hopeful, bright idea. Too much time spent on getting it working. If we had been the 7:00 act with all the time in the world to set up, probably not an issue, but for a 15 minute change-over between acts, not so good. Perhaps better to have a simple 6-channel mixer to feed out. The energy from this situation set the tone for me for the performance - rushed and a bit frustrated. No space to collect ourselves, and frankly (the biggest mistake made, for me) no effort made to collect ourselves before beginning the performance.

- Tuning was an issue in the space and the time, but that was more of a later issue as the heat from the lights affected us. Pleasantly surprised at how in tune we were for Overture.

- Eye of the Needle. Ugh. Began well, went off in the middle (me in 13 and Marc in 4/4 made for an interesting re-intro), almost rescued it for the end. But not quite. Experientially for me, even with the more egregious mistakes, it wasn't terrible. It wasn't good, but it wasn't pissing on the altar either.

There's other stuff, good and not so good from the performance, but I'll leave it for now. Ken (the Professor) was kind as we left, as were most of the crowd. I had no real sense of how we were being taken, but I didn't feel a whole lot coming back from the audience, positive or negative. Basically neutral, but perhaps that says more about me than the audience.

Well. That was an interesting couple of weeks.

The week of October (my fingers wanted to type "Icktober") 24th was spent in Vegas at a conference. I was in the sunlight for a total of 90 minutes on Monday the 24th, after which I saw the inside of the hotel. I did occasionally get out, just not during the day. The conference was like drinking from a firehose - lots of information flying at me, but good overall. Got to see the LV Speedway and have some fun there. Also learned to play poker - did pretty well there, won some money, made to 12th in a 30 person tournament. Not bad for a virgin. Also, lots of detail practice on Havre de Grace, my new part on Overture and Witness? or Kingpin.

Last week was swinging back through work for a few days and then to the Intro to NST. The place we were at for the course was spectacular. It's called the Round House, and you have to see it to believe it. Bekki is a Personality, and the space she has created is amazing, and in tune with the work that we do. The course was a lot of fun, and we focused on the First, Second, Fourth and Fifth primaries (really a lot in about 56 hours). There were 3 true intro sudents, one who had no experience with the guitar. Another 18 or 19 year old who appeared to have memorized the aphorisms, and a third older and experienced guitarist looking for another way into music. Ther rest of us were the Kalkae, Tony G., and most of the GCNE, including Victor. Some very good words from V- on practice and how to approach it.

One very interesting thing when I got home though - I had a minor meltdown, and I have a degree of impatience today that really surprises me. It usually takes much longer for everyday life to pull me out of a course.

So, on the way in this morning, it turned out that I had a flat tire. So, my lunch today will be entirely taken up by getting new tires. One drawback to owning a pretty cool car: the bits and pieces are more expensive.