Tuesday-New Music Releases

It is a good day when it is Tuesday and new music comes out. It is an especially good day if the music being released comes from Mark Knopfler.

Today is a wonderful day because the new one from Mark Knopfler and Emmylou Harris "All The Roadrunning" is released. The new Bruce Springsteen project "We Shall Overcome," where we get his take on Pete Seeger tunes, also comes out today.

I picked up my copies but have not yet had the chance to hear them. The reviews are good, though and I can't wait!

Back from the beaches and ocean water...to a basement full of water.

Well, I'm back and none too happy. We had a great trip and all that, couldn't snorkel, too windy but pretty good nevertheless. At least the kids were not eaten by 'gators (and we saw plenty).

We came home to 2-3 inches of water in our basement. We are drying out but I expect many posts will follow about insurance companies, opportunistic repair companies, mold, electricity bills, etc.

We would like to thank ServPro for coming to our rescue and helping with mitigation.

All of my books from library school and binders of the work I had done for classes got soaked. I have not needed to look at any of that stuff since graduation in 2002, but it is sad to know that if I did want it, it is all wet and smelly. Maybe they will dry out enough to be usable. The one I'm most sad about? Patrick Jones: Connecting Young Adults and Libraries : A How-to-do-it Manual for Librarians. Luckily we have a copy in the library.

Leaving, on a jet plane...

Well, the boy is well enough to travel so we're off to (hopefully) sunny Florida for the week. I'm not sure how much we'll be checking in so I'll just say "fare-thee -well" until we come back to Zion.

The Real None More Black...

After trying to find a suitable place to take a picture of my guitar, I finally found one ready to post online. This looks exactly like the resonator my wonderful wife surprised me with this past Christmas. My fretboard might be darker. I give it a big thumbs up for playability. It sounds good plugged in, especially with a little distortion. It sounds wonderfully jangly for the blues and for bluegrass. Now if only I could play like Mark Knopfler or Jerry Douglas...

General nastiness is negative...

Good News! The Pertussis tests came back negative. The boy should be on the mend. The mask was a good precaution but we are happy to know we have not been spreading around Whooping Cough!

The boy is excited; the ER doctors gave him a few of these surgical masks. He wants to film a video for the "Weird Al" parody "Like a Surgeon."

I have been so worried and concerned for the little guy. I have felt so helpless. I can't think of anything worse than that feeling that you can't catch a breath.

Ahh...Spring in Utah...Again...

So here we are, the 5th of April. The sun was shining this morning. I went out to find our first daffodils. My house faces North and the neighbors across the street have had blossoms for more than a week now. It is now almost 10 am and it looks gloomy and ominous outside. I've heard we might get between 1 and 4 feet of snow in the mountains today. Will it ever truly be Spring?

Had to take my boy to the emergency room last night. They fear he might have Pertussis (Whooping Cough). He sure sounds like he might have it. Made for a late night with lots of worry. The doctors and nurses were very nice. Dylan was pleased to discover that the real ER was nothing like the television show or on Gray's Anatomy.

My daughter has begun the process toward braces. I had to take her to get a tooth pulled this morning to make room for an incoming Canine. So here we sit, Dylan is coughing, Lauren is in a little bit of pain as the novocaine wears off. We are all a little tired, especially Dylan after his late night.

Lauren says she is ready to go to school so we are off.

Dreaded phone call...

I got the dreaded phone call today at work. You know the one, "I'm sorry, but your son has been coughing so hard that it made him throw up. Can you come right away to get him?"

So, of course we got him. My wife picked him up from school and brought him home. I came as soon as I could and now will spend the day working at home and trying to help him feel better.

The art is his from a few days ago. He was working on cartoons of facial expressions. I thought this was an especially good expression. Sort of the way I feel quite often.

Have a Manager's Retreat tomorrow. I need to find a pertinent article. I will post something of what I find and also information about the book we read for this meeting.

Ahh, Spring in Utah...

This picture was taken by my wife the morning of March 26, 2006, just outside our back door. I am very ready for Spring. Today is April Fool's Day and during my 9 hours at the branch we had wind, rain, snow, sleet, hail, lightning, thunder and even the occasional pocket of sunshine.

Tonight we "Spring Forward." The clocks at the library are already done. The computers, with the exception of one old non-networked dinosaur running Windows 95, will fix themselves during the dark of night. I don't like Daylight Savings Time. The clock says 9:28 but this time tomorrow night it will be 10:30. How do I convince the kids it is really in their best interest to jammy up and get ready for bed?

Well, the time has come. I need to get them going and start changing all the clocks and replace the batteries in the smoke detectors.

Oh, the boy got me with an April Fool's Day prank. He has been fighting a cold the past few days. Had a fever last night. I came in from work and was informed he had thrown up. Mary said, "At least it all went on his dinner plate." I went in to check him. His poor head was resting on the toilet seat. He looked terrible. He turned to face me, cracked a big smile and said, "April Fool's." I thought I would be taking him to the after hours care center. At least it was a happy ending.

None more black...

My resonator is similar to this one pictured. Mine has f holes instead of the round vents. My wife Mary surprised me at Christmas with this fun instrument.

I have been enjoying learning some classic songs and giving them a bluegrassy element by playing them on the resonator. I'm currently learning "Blackbird" from the Beatles and songs from Pink Floyd's Animals: "Pigs (Three Different Ones)".

I've been thinking a lot about the color black. When I read Johnny Cash's autobiography, Man In Black, he said he wore black "because it's better for church." In the movie Walk the Line, Joaquin Phoenix as Johnny Cash, when told he "looked like he was going to a funeral," said, "Maybe I am."

On the VH1 Storytellers concert and CD featuring Johnny Cash and Willie Nelson, Johnny ask Willie if he would like a drink of water. Willie takes it and surveys the offerings, "We have water, coffee, and hot chocolate. What's this going to do for our reputation?" Johnny answers, "As long as we keep wearing black, it won't matter."

Christopher Guest as Nigel Tufnel, lead guitarist in This is Spinal Tap, when finally getting a look at the band's new album says, "It's like, how much more black could this be? And the answer is none. None more black."

Some people I admire a lot prefer black. I remember in 7th grade, my science teacher told us that the color black was all of the colors combined. I think there is something to that.