Sephy’s Platzish

Sunday, 14th October

One of the horses in the field alongside the road.

It was cold and wet, but that didn’t keep me from walking; unlike just about everyone else. All I know is that I didn’t see anyone else while walking…

Total distance - 6299 steps, 5.03km

Monday, 15th October

Two of the whole bunch of turkeys that crossed the road in front of me.

It was a bit warmer, but still cool enough to need the windbreaker for a while. However, I did wind up taking it off while in the park because I was getting way too warm. Asked if I was warm enough without the covering; yeah, I was, otherwise I would have had the jacket on, yano?

Total distance - 5834 steps, 4.66km

Tuesday, 16th October

Some cut wood at the bottom of one of the valleys; there’s a house up above the road level not too far from these logs; I’m not sure how they get down there; the hill seems pretty steep…

Today was a little bit warmer, but still gray and wet, though I caught a break in the rain to go walking. As I rounded the corner for the house, the sun came out but went away after a few seconds.

Total distance - 5534 steps, 4.42km

Wednesday, 17th October

Some of the fall colors seen behind one of the benches in the park.

Again, it was threatening rain, so I brought the umbrella along with me; I didn’t need to use it though. I’m trying to walk some different routes, and having fun exploring even more parts of the park that I hadn’t gone to even when I was extending the lengths of my walks.

Total distance - 5963 steps, 4.77km

Thursday, 18th October

More colors; this time with the leaves from another of the trees having fallen onto the path.

The weather was really warm today, and I took too long to wait for my walk and wound up walking while we were in the middle of a Tornado Watch. I got up to the parking lot of the park and discovered that they’ve done preparations for the winter including covering up the bubbler and removing the larger port-a-john (the smaller one is still there for now). As I started to head back, I heard the one sound you don’t want to hear as you’re walking - the cracking of thunder. Luckily I didn’t see any lightning and it only rained for a few minutes.

Total distance - 5672 steps, 4.53km

Friday, 19th October - All Day counting

Water in the field where the horses usually are, which is well below road level, ripples as the strong wind hits it.

Well, this time I counted more frequently during the day. The walk was in a really windy condition, and it was raining ever so slightly, but the umbrella was nearly useless thanks to the wind.

Total distances -
11.36am: 1677 steps, 1.34km
3.04pm: 2027 steps, 1.62km
4.56pm: 3822 steps, 3.05km
6.22pm: 9275 steps, 7.42km
end of day - 10459 steps, 8.36km

Saturday, 20th October

The one in-focus shot of the planes that I got; sometimes using the constant autofocus isn’t an optimal thing…
The sun was actually out for the whole walk! Also, it was a really nice and comfortable day for walking - not cool and not hot either. While I was walking, two planes and a train came through within about 2 minutes; I got pictures of all of them.

Total distance - 5801 steps, 4.64km

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In other news, this is the big week for the first appointment for the mental health place. I won’t lie about it - I’m a bit apprehensive about it, though I know that it is definitely for a good cause. I got trapped in the temporal vortex (by the way, I’m wondering if the person who created television knew that Temporal Vortex has the same initials? ) a couple of times this week, but on the balance, I feel that I am improving.

I also got the opportunity to (finally!) make the first steps towards driving properly - I took time to sit down and get the mirrors all in a place that should be right for me, and get the seat set so that I’m comfortable in the seat. I spent about 15 minutes acclimating myself to the left side of the car. Now, to actually drive.

I think that for this week, my goal will be simple - take advantage of my new desk and location to maximize my efficiency

I’m not moving house, but I have moved my computer, and all of the peripherals (save for the TV box, I have a little bit of rearranging left to do for that).

In fact, I’m using a different desk now - one that we’ve actually had for quite a while. It’s been in our garage for over two years and now it’s in the place where I said I’d put my new desk when I saved up enough to buy one. This desk is a little bit smaller lengthwise, but it is a deeper desk than the other one, while being the same height from floor to surface.

Something that I had forgotten when I was discussing moving the computer over to this spot the other day is that this is where we had put a computer quite a few years ago. The computer is to the left of me, under an adjacent table with all the cables tucked neatly (well, as neatly as you can tuck cables ) away down there.

The best part of moving the computer is that I didn’t have to totally rearrange the cable modem and router since the cable I’m using is long enough to reach and not be completely taut - safe and efficient I think.

I’ll have some pictures for y’all soon.

Have you ever heard the old rule about searching - “You’ll find it when you stop looking for it?” To me, that is the one law that is true about finding things (though something about it not being where you think it is also applies at times).

This post has its roots in last week’s Friday music post. As I was searching for the jewel case to the album (because I had seen it not too long ago, but kind of forgot where I had seen it), I went into a box where I knew I had put some CDs in a long time ago. All that I had remembered about this particular box was that it had this bunch of CDs in it, mostly because I wasn’t using them frequently and it was a good place to store them.

Basically, there are layers of jewel cases in there, some slimline cases which old discs I’ve burnt such as the recovery discs for my computer and archived emails from years ago, along with archives of my photos from both the Sony and the Minolta digital camera. On the bottom layer, there are other burnt discs, along with various program discs and a whole bunch of music CDs.

As I was going through this stack of discs, I started finding things that I knew I had but the whereabouts of which I had totally lost track of. Among those discs was one that I got as a Christmas present from my brother. That disc is probably one of the most niche CDs you’ll ever find in a person’s collection. What is it, you ask? Classic TV Game Show Themes, on the Varese Sarabande label. As I write this, I’m listening to it for maybe the second time since I got it in 2000, and I have to say that some of the themes are really good (particularly the original Jeopardy! theme with the sax riff in it), while others are downright strange (Tic Tac Dough and The Wizard of Odds come to mind). This is definitely an album that you wouldn’t want to listen to every day.

Two of the discs are ones that I picked up when I was on my trip to Washington DC and we visited the (as it is known now”) Fashion Centre at Pentagon City (in the picture, you can see the Washington Post Store where I purchased an umbrella from). This was at the same time that the Ken Burns Jazz series was running so you saw the albums available in music stores, and I happened to pick up two of the albums at the Sam Goody there - Charles Mingus (which has a couple of really good track names - including “Eat that Chicken” and “The Shoes of the Fisherman’s Wife are some Jive Ass Slippers”) and Miles Davis. There’s a whole series of discs featuring a kind of best hits album for 22 musicians, along with a five-disc set that covers the history of jazz.

The next discs were ones that I got as freebies from one of my teachers in high school as rewards for work well done in an extracurricular activity (Academic Decathlon). The first, now that I think about it, wasn’t part of this pile. It’s a Louis Armstrong disc, the name of which now escapes me. The other is Count Basie’s classic April in Paris. The case for this is unique in that it’s not an all-plastic case, but made of a material that’s similar to cardboard (it probably is that, but there’s nothing saying what material in particular it is). Like most reissues, this has some extra tracks (7, including two versions of “Magic”).

Two more discs were ones that I purchased on that fateful trip to the Jazz Record Shop at 444 N Wabash in Chicago. However, these two albums certainly have not has as much playing time as the other disc I bought there. One is a Dizzy Gillespie disc simply called Night in Tunisia, with the shortest track being 3 minutes, but the average length is closer to ten. However, there is no information in either the liner notes or on the case itself that clues me in on more information on the recordings. The other disc of this set is a compilation set of Louis Armstrong recordings - “The 25 Greatest Hot 5s and Hot 7s”. These songs were recorded between 1926 and 1928, and unlike the Dizzy album, there is very detailed information about the exact makeup of each grouping of musicians for every set of tracks. The most interesting thing is that this album is actually an import - it was made and printed by ASV Ltd. London W14.

Also in the stack were two discs from a box set of Louis Armstrong discs. I have the cases, but the discs aren’t there - “Please Don’t Talk About Me When I’m Gone” and “When The Saints Go Marchin’ In”. These are from the same album manufacturer who produced the Night In Tunisia disc, and again the information is pretty sparse, though on the Saints disc, it does mention being recorded in 1968. I guess we can have the odd miracle, no?

It is here that I must disclose something - I’m apparently a fan of Miles Davis. He’s the artist I have the most albums of, though I don’t recall ever listening to much of the music on those albums. Aside from the Ken Burns Jazz best-of compilation, I also have Birth of the Cool, Kind of Blue, his All-Stars live in 1958-59, featuring John Coltrane, and (this wasn’t in the box, but I know I have it), the complete Decca recordings. I suspect that the reason that I got these albums is that there was this girl who, although she was taken already, I fancied and she mentioned that she really liked some of Miles’ music. However, that whole story is one for another time I think.

Before I get to the last CD, there are some that I put back into the box - including a Time Life collection called “Sax by Candlelight” and some Christmas albums, one of which featured Elvis’ Christmas songs.

Ah, the last CD….you’ll likely remember the craze over a song called “Everybody’s Free to Wear Sunscreen”. It’s based on a commencement speech, apparently given by Kurt Vonnegut to graduates at MIT. It was then picked up by the Chicago Tribune and published here. However, there are other tracks on this disc from two movies that, at the time I hadn’t seen (and if I had actually checked out the album, one that I hadn’t ever heard of at the time we got this album). The films? Strictly Ballroom and Romeo + Juliet. Two films which I have now seen, I might add.

The album is Something For Everybody, a set of remixed tracks which were featured in Baz Luhrmann’s theatre and film productions through 1996. There’s even a track that was used in the work he did for the TV launch of the Labor party’s campaign for the 1993 elections (track 17, Jupiter (edit) [From The Planets], written by Holst).

Just to close the book on the hunt for the jewel case to 3 Suites. I did find it - it was in my desk on the lower shelf which itself is full of other CDs and DVDs that need some going through. How else would you have expected me to get a picture of the cover to post on here?

I’m just wondering if something similar has happened to you in the past, and have you found CDs that when you got them, it was only for one song, but in the future found out that it had songs from something you’d been exposed to between the time of getting the album and the time of its rediscovery?

An interesting thing happened to me the other day. On Saturday, I had set myself a list of tasks to do (of which I did accomplish all but one of them), however there was one slight problem. I forgot to include an item called “random other things I’d be asked to do during the day”.

Because of this, I got very annoyed at being asked by my mom to do multiple things that weren’t on my list. At one point, I just said something like “you know, why don’t I just clear my to-do list and let you write one for me?” After that, I could have sworn that she thought I was from another planet; it’s not like she couldn’t have seen me having a to-do list coming, as I’d mentioned to her a couple of times about the lack of day planners at Wal-Mart.

Now, I think she has come to the acceptance that I do have these to do lists and that I’m willing to do things, the only thing is that I have to be told that these things will happen before the day that they’re to be done. For example, she’s mentioned to me that on Saturday, we’re going to do some work around the yard. Is it a big deal for me on, say, Tuesday or even all the way up to Friday, to put it on my to-do list? Not at all.

I think I’m also fine with things being asked of me to do on the same day, just so long as it is only one or two things and not a whole bunch of items. Where I have the problem is when I’m asked to do a whole laundry list of things on that day within a short amount of time.

Another thing that I’m not sure is understood is that when I’m trying to focus on something, I don’t like to be interrupted. That is probably why when she’s using her computer, I just cannot seem to concentrate on whatever it is I’m trying to do. I know that eventually she will say something that will distract me from the task at hand.

You’re probably thinking along the lines of “why not close the door and just say I’m trying to focus”. Well, I would do that, but there are only three doors on the main level of the house. One is for the bathroom, the second is for the utility room (where there is an opening where a window used to be) and the other is between my bedroom and her bedroom.

There is the option of putting a door on the entry of my room (where there is currently a curtain), but that brings up another problem - lighting. Whenever I go into my room during the day, I have to turn on the light as the only natural light comes in via an opening where a window used to be and it only illuminates about a quarter of the room.

Admittedly, I like having the natural light to work with as it not only cuts down on electricity usage (we have a plan where power is more expensive during the day and cheaper at night), and it also allows me to have a view of what is going on outside.

I know that when I get a new desk (and now a new chair as well since the one I’m using is kind of on its last legs and has been for a while), I’ll have the opportunity to change around the area I work in. One of the changes I’m going to do is move the desk from where it is right now, right in the middle of the room; if I turn around, I can see all the way into the kitchen and if I’m in the kitchen I can see the monitor.

The most likely place that I’ll go with my workstation is to the corner by the window into my room. the only slight hitch with that plan is that the desk may jut out into the main walkway which is used for our entry in the winter - though that can be solved by moving some of the stuff on the other side of the room around to adjust for the walkway.

An advantage of having the desk on the other side of the room is that it should be quite a bit warmer in the winter - partly because there’s a register for the heat right above that location, but also because I’ll be facing an interior wall.

Of course, I can take this plan for a test run by setting aside a day to move my desk as it is now over to that side of the room, just to see how it would be over there.

I know that this has gone from talking about my to-do list to how my office is being set up, but I think that I’m currently working in a spot that can be at times detrimental to focusing on the tasks on my to-do list. The only way to fix it is to change the environment that I’m in to improve my focus.

While it’s a show that I’ve seen from time to time on Bravo, there is one segment that quite a few folks are familiar with - the ten questions. I know that I’ve seen Robin Williams answering one of the questions in the past, though.

Snoskred has put out a challenge to anyone willing to take it to answer the questions. In return, you get a link from her on Sunday.

Without further ado, here we go…

1. What is your favorite word?

Nice, or as I’ve been known to say or type it a few times, “Noice”. It’s such a versatile word, equally good for both sarcastic and non-sarcastic purposes. All you have to do is change the inflection slightly.

2. What is your least favorite word?

Right now, that would be a TV term - “Draft Track”. It’s one of the most asinine phrases I’ve heard which has an accompanying graphic that is just about as useless as the term itself.

3. What turns you on [creatively, spiritually or emotionally]?

Simplicity, especially in the learning process. If something comes with a good set of instructions or is easy enough to figure out on its own, you’ve got me.

4. What turns you off?

Unnecessary interruptions when I’m focusing. This kind of leads into tomorrow’s post, but when I have a set list of tasks to do for a day, and I get stuff piled on to do, it’s really frustrating. Also, when I’m focusing and have to stop for something it really throws me off of my focus.

5. What sound or noise do you love?

The rumbling of a train on the tracks. Sure, it’s quite loud, but it’s a sound that grabs my attention and creates a nice diversion (even when I’m focusing, yes) for about a minute or so. They used to blow their horns, but they took the crossings away which ended that practice.

6. What sound or noise do you hate?

Complete silence - whenever I’m doing something I need to have some sound, even if it’s the sound of passing cars, to stimulate me, otherwise I just don’t feel totally comfortable.

7. What is your favorite curse word?

Call me simple, but I’m all for the f word. What George Carlin said about it is so true - it can be used just about everywhere, even embedded in words. (fanf–kingtastic, anyone? )

8. What profession other than your own would you like to attempt?

Truckie, or as we’d say here in the States, Truck Driver; however, I have some other issues I have to sort out before I can do that…December 4th is all I’ll say…

9. What profession would you not like to do?

Politician, definitely. I don’t think I’d mind doing some kind of part time post like being on the school board, but being a career politician is definitely not my cup of tea.

10. If Heaven exists, what would you like to hear God say when you arrive at the Pearly Gates?

“Welcome. Enjoy your stay.”

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Quite a few folks have done this already, so make sure you check Snos’ blog on Sunday for the full list (or just read the trackbacks on the original post. )