Monday Meandering - 2.16.2018

Random thoughts:

Olympics have been fun. Skiing, skating, curling. Jen Hatmaker said about curling, “I don’t care about this game. I don’t even get it.” Three hours later: “The skip should blank the end and retain the hammer! Use your strategy! I could coach this.” 

But the flame has been extinguished and it's time to move on. The Women's National Soccer Team squares off against Germany, England and France in the SheBelieves Cup starting Thursday. Goooooooaaaaalllll!

Things that don't go together: Whataburger and "au jus." I'm sorry, but if I wanted a Swiss-Mushroom burger with au jus sauce, I would go to the Foo-Foo Burger Bar for Pretenders.

The family heirloom clock (Tempus Fugit) and I are are about the same age. Should I be concerned that after a good run, the clock now needs major surgery? Checking out my options. The best one may be a total organ works transplant. Would it still be the heirloom clock?

The sun came out Sunday afternoon for the first time in two weeks. Two. Weeks. If I wanted to live where it was cloudy and drizzly all day I would move to Seattle. I'll bet they even have a Foo-Foo Burger Bar there.

Tomato plants are showing up at the stores; time to think about planting the garden. Which in our case may be 2 jalapeno bushes and some Butterfly-friendly plants.

And this may be the last winter that the Avocado plant can winter indoors.

 

We're not sure how old this plant is. Barb sprouted an avocado seed in the traditional seed-suspended-by-toothpicks-over water many, many years ago for some class demonstration and the timing was such that she stuck it in a small pot and it continued to grow. And grow. It has been lopped off once or twice before and that may need to happen before it gets to come inside next winter. 

Leaving it out is not an option, lest it end up like the huge broad-leafed philodendron (that we nick-named "George") that sat outside a cafe we frequent. George got too big to shelter inside and the 2-day freeze in early January took a devastating and fatal toll. Poor George.

Monday Meanderings - 2.19.2018

I experienced my second African wedding this weekend, as always, from behind the sound desk. I have mentioned before that we enjoy a diverse international membership at Westover, including a large contingent of Africans from several countries.

I wrote about the 1st wedding here. It was an interesting experience. Since this was my second, I was better prepared for what to expect. Like, for instance -

Don't expect any information about what will happen during the ceremony. That's because there is no plan. That means there will not be a rehearsal, as there is nothing to rehearse. The happy couple will (finally) arrive at the church, and they will get married. Oh, and some other people might be a part of the wedding. Or, they might not.

Expect to operate on African time. That means that for a 2 o'clock wedding, a few people - mostly white Americans - will show up by 2; a handful of folks will be there about 2:30. The majority will be there by 3 - but not necessarily the wedding party. They didn't show up until 3:15. Some folks came wandering in after the ceremony was over.

Expect surprises. A week ago the event coordinator at church said, "Some girls will sing. They said they can come at noon for a sound check." I was not surprised that they weren't there at noon, but I was surprised to find a guy setting up a keyboard. He also had a bass guitar with him. And he
confirmed that there would be some singers - maybe 2, maybe 6. I'm good with that. I can handle keyboards, guitars and singers.

Surprisingly, the girls did show up in about half-an-hour - and there were 6 of them. Then a keybooard player and a bassist showed up and we had a real rehearsal. Surprise! Then the keyboardist asked to have his laptop plugged into the sound system; he had some backing tracks and other music he intended to play during the service. This was a surprise and I had to scramble to do that with the setup I was using.

Expect a lot of singing and dancing. Dancing down the aisle, dancing by the singers. Dancing by all when the minister invited everybody up on the stage - to dance! And most especially, dancing back up the aisle. Sorry that it's so hard to load a video in a blog. I have some fun footage.

And, like every other one of the hundreds of weddings I have worked, expect the bride and groom to go home married when all is said and done. Congratulations Patrick and Augustine.

Monday Meanderings - 2.12.2018

Busy week.

Olympics, of course. If you know me, you know I'm an Olympic junkie. Though we didn't get around to watching the opening ceremonies until Sunday afternoon, I have been following the curling late-night, however. The rock is in the house.

Friday and Saturday nights I was busy with sound for the Central Texas Medical Orchestra. The guest virtuoso for this program was a renowned classical guitarist. FYI, classical guitars do NOT plug into the sound system - they must be miked and there is a wide variety of opinions on how best to do this. If I may say so, I think I nailed it.

I'm on chapter 22 of 27 in my current audiobook. See, I am getting better at this whole process. Except I now have a significant problem. Borborygmus. If your low-carb, high protein diet does not fill your stomach (not even close) it signals loudly that it is unhappy and recording comes to a screeching (or gurgling) halt.

We are really excited here in North Austin that TxDot has begun a massive construction project to add new fly-overs to the intersection of IH-35 and 183. We pass through that intersection multiple times during our daily travels. Joy.

Monday Meanderings - 2.5.2018

Joining the millions of Americans who are calling in sick today. Me? I'm suffering from a quesover.

Go Eagles.