Dinner With Mom

It's a beautiful, sunny Sunday. The humidity has dropped considerably, but it is sunny with a slight breeze. My mom is settling in nicely. Visiting family members have departed today, after helping get my mom moved in. We are joining her for dinner this evening.

10:28 PM
We went over to my mom's for dinner. It was a nice time. It's so cool to have her around. She has a great new apartment in a retirement community right around the corner. The last couple of days we have been meeting some great people. A guy named Jacob joined us at our table for dinner in the dining room. He is from Holland, and he had some amazing stories to tell. He's eighty-four, speaks about four languages, has been to about forty countries in his lifetime, and is an excellent Chess player. So good, in fact, that some people in the community don't want to play him anymore. He even played a game with Bobby Fischer.

I can tell you that it's going to be great going over for dinner on a regular basis. Not only is the food excellent, but the people are awesome, and I think my mom will be happy and make all sorts of interesting new friends. So will I.

My Mom's Birthday

It's my mom's 82nd Birthday today. She has also moved to town just two days ago. This represents a big change for her. It will be nice to have her around. We are all going out for dinner this evening. It looks like about ten of us will be in attendance. Then we will all convene at my house for some cake and coffee. It should be a nice time.

Man, it just started raining like the dickens. It got all dark and windy, and before you knew it, it was just gushing down. As hot as it is, I hope it gets rid of some of this dreadful humidity.

Immersed In Music

I'm going through some music files, and getting organized to send a batch of songs to mastering. I can say that mixing is done, which is quite a relief. I did all of this myself, so it has had some fits and starts to say the least. I've pretty much done the best I could do, and now it's time to move this thing to the next level. These songs are what they are. I can't wait to share them with you.

Fried

My ears are fried this evening due to listening to a mix repeatedly last night. I have a bit more work to do on this particular mix, and then I am done mixing the CD. I intended to be done on this song tonight, but I think it would be counter-productive to the mix and also to my hearing health.

Grand Strand Blogger Meetup

The meetup was a lot of fun. It was a nice, warm day, and we met down at Bummz Beach Cafe. My brother Roger (standing, left) and I (standing, right) met up with Dave Slusher, seated, right) and Andre Pope (seated, left), and hung out for almost a couple hours. It was super cool hanging out with these guys. For you folks that missed this go-round, there's always next time, but you missed a good time. It was awesome to meet Dave and Andre. Dave is one of the original podcasters, if you don't know that already. He is one of the guys that got me interested in the podcasting thing when I read an article in the Charleston Post and Courier about podcasting almost three years ago. It's hard to imagine it's been that long. It's mind boggling to think of the changes that the podcasting medium has gone through in the last couple of years. It's interesting to see it evolve. The media playing field has been leveled in multi-faceted ways. Every aspect of content production and delivery has experienced a major paradigm shift. And the keys to the kingdom have been given to each and every one of us.

Dave is a catalyst, and I appreciate his efforts on behalf of this community.

Thanks to Andre for his generosity this afternoon. You shouldn't have man!

Seeing's Believing on Evil Genius Chronicles

Dave Slusher was kind enough to play my song, Seeing's Believing on his podcast, EGC Clambake for June 23, 2007. Thanks so much Dave!

Happy Summer

I just wanted to say Happy Summer to everyone! Today was the official first day of summer.

Grand Strand Blogger Meetup

I copied this from Dave's blog, Evil Genius Chronicles. Be there or be square!


Grand Strand Blogger Meetup

from Evil Genius Chronicles by dave

I pulled the plug on the original date for the Grand Strand Blogger meetup because for one I had dog care issues and for another, it was unbearably poor form to hold it on Father’s Day. Even though no one seemed to mind, I just didn’t like the idea so we scooched it one week back. If you are driving distance and want to come, please do and invite your friends. You need not blog or podcast or videoblog, even having a vague interest that you might want to one day is enough. Just come.

Here again is the announcement:
—–

In the spirit of ongoing attempts to crystallize a blogger community here in the Grand Strand, I’m organizing a get together. If you are a blogger, podcaster, videoblogger or interested in any of the above, come and hang out with us. Here are the specifics:

Sunday June 24th at 3 PM, Bummz at 2003 N. Ocean Blvd, Myrtle Beach, SC
Phone number of the joint: 843-916-9111
Google Map to the restaurant

We’ll be at a table outside as close to the beach as we can get. If you are interested in coming, please send me a non-binding RSVP via email just so I can keep you abreast of logistics and make sure we have enough table space reserved. Feel free to forward this information around, tell your friends, tell your neighbors, blog about it yourself. Bloggers now do this kind of thing all the time in Charleston, and we’re as good as those people. Just like they found out in Charleston that when they got together they had a critical mass they didn’t realize existed, let’s try to get the same thing going in our part of the state. Let’s rock!

Podcast 6 - Shrimp And Grits

Listen Here.

This is a quick ramble down in Charleston this morning.

Shrimp and Grits. MMMMM!

Tommy Condon's

I was saddened to hear of the tragedy that occurred there last night. I didn't hear about it until I got home. My heart and prayers go out to the families of the fallen firemen that died in the line of duty. May God bless them and be with them in this horrible time.

YAHOO

I just found out that I now have unlimited storage on my Yahoo email account. That's awesome! I suppose gmail will soon follow suit. I have had my yahoo mail account for years. I also have a gmail account, but I prefer yahoo so far. Maybe it's a question of what I'm used to. I have everything set to forward to Yahoo anyway, so I suppose I have the best of both worlds. I do not use a desktop mail app. I don't see a need for it. Maybe there's something I don't know. If anyone can give me some advice about outlook or Thunderbird, please let me know the benefits. I have never used Outlook. Is it worth the time? Is it better than a web-based account?

Unlimited storage. Wow. Things have really changed.

Tangent

Wandering thoughts have always been my undoing. They sometimes take me where I don't want to go, and once there, I am sucked in by the undertow. Many times I go off on some kind of tangent and get all worked up for all kinds of useless and insignificant reasons. Despite the best of intentions, I seem to get muddled up somehow. I am truly my worst enemy. Of course, when in the depth of such thoughts, one can mine the ore of lyrical vision at the storehouse of imagery. Might as well bring something back if you're down there anyway.

Cool Comic strip!

Happy Father's Day!

Happy Father's Day all you dads out there!

My daughter surprised me on Thursday with an early Father's Day gift. She got us a pair of tickets to the Ben Harper show at House Of Blues. It was absolutely awesome. Tom Morello, who billed himself as The Nightwatchman, opened the show, which was a great surprise. The place was packed, and the energy and love between the artists and the fans was incredible.

Great show! But the best part of it all was being there and experiencing it with Katie. Thanks Peanut!

Sopranos?

What am I to gather from the ending Sopranos scene?
Is it open ended?
Or is the blackness at the end to symbolize finality?
Happily never after?
Did the entire family get it?
Or Tony only?
I'm thinking everyone.
What do you think?

Upgrade

In lieu of being impulsive and ordering a MacBook Pro on credit, I decided to go ahead and give my little Compaq Presario a little makeover. I bought an extra 1g of ram, a high capacity battery to replace my old and defective one, and a wireless mouse. I am happy to report that the memory is installed without a hitch, the battery is in place and receiving its initial charge, and the mouse is ready to go and performing very well. I think I've made a fiscally responsible choice and I am glad I did.

I still want to get a Mac, but I have decided to wait until Leopard comes out and gets its bugs out. This gives me time to actually save some money. It is my intention (like my car) to run this little lappy into the ground. I've only had it for a year and a half, but gear lust gets a hold of me pretty bad.

This little pc has really been a good little machine. There's a lot of life left in it, and storage concerns are nothing that my external drive can't remedy.

Dave Ramsey would be proud!

Friday Afternoon

It's Friday afternoon. I'm home and blogging while sitting at the kitchen table and looking out the patio doors. It's really hot and humid outside, but it's nice. I am listening to Dave Slusher's Evil Genius Chronicles podcast. I love Dave. You should check him out.

I am looking forward to a nice weekend. Time to relax, and to do some music work. I need to get some mixes done. I have two songs left to mix for my CD project. Everything seems to be coming together nicely.

Tonight is Graduation at Myrtle Beach High School. Next year will be Katie's turn. Tonight she is there as a Junior Marshal. The kid amazes me. She's got a serious brain. Must run in the family!

Betsy and I have gotten in to the habit of renting a movie on Fridays. I don't know what we'll be seeing tonight, but I'll let you know tomorrow.

My Mom Is Moving To The Beach

My mom came to town today with my sister and niece. My mom came to look at a beautiful retirement community here in town called Eagle Crest. She will be moving to town in a month or so, and I am looking forward to having her close by. We haven't lived in the same city for a very long time, many years, to give you an idea. It will be lovely to hang out together and just be close again.

Time goes by way too fast. I aspire to live every moment in the now, and to cherish the people that I love.

Light and Shadow

Sometimes the world bums me out. When I see and understand how money is the motivating factor for just about everything it brings me down. Money, acclaim, fame, success. A glimpse in to the darkness of striving and envy and revenge. It all boils down to being noticed, loved, and affirmed as a human being.

Sometimes the sadness is a real crusher when I see what people go through. The things we all see on the same scale. The little heroics of day to day. The rising above the mundane. And all the silly things we do to numb ourselves or distract ourselves. Sometimes it's hard to face the cold light of day; the stinging glare of a reality gone so desperately wrong.

And then I see a flower...Or hear the laughter of a child, and I am reminded again of joy.

SAND SCULPTURE

Check out this cool sand sculpture. It was made in front of the newly renovated Imax Theater here in Myrtle Beach...

Katie's Pre Prom Pics