Moving - Moving - Moving - Moving
I've relocated this blog to new digs. How about updating your bookmarks, please? | #

Schuman Symphony No. 8
This piece is becoming one of my favorites. Right from the opening chord I knew I was going to like it, although I couldn't tell you what the chord is (I never did very well in ear training). My sister gave me this CD with several William Schuman pieces, performed in 1962 by the NYPO under Leonard Berstein, as a belated Christmas present. A while ago I decided I needed learn more of Schuman's work. For some reason, none of my education really touched on him, even though he is considered one of the premier American composers. I guess he is largely overshadowed by Aaron Copland and Charles Ives. An annoying sidenote: When I ripped the CD to MP3 [Note to RIAA: for purely personal use only], CDDB came back and told me the composer was Robert Schumann.
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Hell freezes over; UNH considers parking garage
Well, this is about 15 years overdue: UNH moves forward with parking garage A-Lot is the most likely location ... because it provides maximum access to the planned Loop Road, Whittemore Center, rail station, football stadium, Field House, and future performing arts center... proposed parking fees [are] from $1,000 for a reserved, core-lot [A- or B-Lot] space to $400 for a nonreserved core lot to $50 for a West Edge Lot permit. The current price is $32 a year for faculty and staff. OK, the reserved idea is great, but $1000!!! or, $400 for a chance at getting a spot. For those of you who might not have tried parking at UNH in a while... it is impossible to get a spot, even in A-Lot, after about 8:30am. The "West Edge Lot" is way the hell out on 155A (it might even be in Lee) and is also typically very full. Let's say you work and are just taking one class at 10am: You will need to add another 20-25 minutes on each side of the class to park and shuttle to/from campus. Crazy. | #

Pedestrian Right of Way
I am with Kreblog on his post about pedestrians who think they have the right-of-way on a Don't Walk sign. I drive in downtown Portsmouth almost daily. Most of downtown is a pedestrian right-of-way-no-matter-what free-for-all, but the intersection of Congress and Fleet has Walk/Don't Walk signs. If you are on Fleet trying to cross Congress, the green light is extremely short so jaywalkers can easily make you miss your light. Personally, I try to educate people a little with my horn. (I follow the same education policy at the 4-way stops which seem to baffle people on Pease and Fox Run Crossing). | #

Hey you with the pretty face, Welcome to the human race
Since we have a TiVo I rarely see commercials—well, I see them, but in fast -forward. It has to be something different to catch my eye. I think the latest VW commercials are pretty clever. Chain Reaction and Squares are neat, but my favorite is Bubble, in large part due to the use of ELO's "Mr. Blue Sky". No doubt, ELO is not a cool band to like, but I think they're going to come back in style with the next retro craze. :-) ELO always reminds me of the summer of 1991 I spent travelling between Orleans and Chatham for work daily, in my father's old Chevy Blazer which had a tape player and two tapes: ELO's Greatest Hits 1 & 2. (I even recently bought it used on CD). | #

Only YOU can prevent a double-dip recession
We did our part for the economy: Disney Earnings Helped by Park Rebound Our trip in November is largely responsible for the rebound at the Magic Kingdom. Now you all get out there and buy a DVD player or a computer or a car or something... | #

Great gift idea for your wife!
Wild Women on Wine! Wild Women on Wine is an international non-profit organization (501c4) that offers a program designed to bring women together with wine, cheese and chocolate. OK, well, this web site is not exactly what I hoped for—I was thinking more along the lines of Lettuce Ladies but promoting wine—but it's still great! How many guys would think to(a) form a beer club with their drinking buddies; (b) make the club an international non-profit organization (501c4)? This means members can take a deduction on their taxes for wine expenses, right? [Thanks to 4KMnD for the link]. | #

Bowstreet Tewksbury Industrial Park Software
e-Coast mainstay leaves Portsmouth This week Bowstreet is moving its corporate headquarters out of Portsmouth to Tewksbury, Mass., for reasons company officials weren’t willing to discuss Wednesday. I'm sad to see them go. I always thought their technology was cool, although the two times I evaluated their product for potential purchase, I could not figure out what the product actually was. I don't think they ever did either. It is almost criminal though, how much money they burned through so fast. | #

Peace at any cost—no peace at all
Well here's a fine example of France's "peace at any cost" policy not faring so well. Ivorian Accord Falters, France Ready to Evacuate: Ivory Coast's peace accord neared collapse on Wednesday....Opponents of the deal say Paris pushed President Laurent Gbagbo into agreeing to give too much to rebels... Wow, a demonstration against someone other than the US! To quote Jon Stewart: "I didn't even know other countries' flags were flammable!" The picture on this article is great too: A demonstrator holding a sign: "France USA we need help". I can not quite agree with Granite Rants' comments though: As a recent former colonial power to Ivory Coast, I think France is justified to get involved without a UN resolution, much like we have done in Latin America and the Carribean. | #

Make sure the house has external water, sewer and 220V electrical hook-ups
My in-laws are perhaps the ones most concerned that we buy a house. I think it's mainly because they need a place to park their camper when they visit. | #

Rochester Opera House
I read a bit in The Rochester Times about the plan to bring professional theatre to the Rochester Opera House. They intend to use professional talent from New York for three shows this summer: Greater Tuna, a very funny two-man show about a town in Texas; The King and I and Guys and Dolls. I think it is really great what they have done with the Opera House. It used to be a run-down mess, but they have totally renovated it, put in A/C, and seem to have a full bill of entertainers— and even a good looking web site. Nice to see a city theatre put back into professional use. Too bad Dover's very cool opera house was destroyed by fire in the 30s. | #

Dude, Where's My Driver?
Ashton Kutcher is stoked, because the sequel to Dude Where's My Car just wrote itself. Utility Wires Save Teen Thrown From Jeep: A teenager was catapulted at least 25 feet in the air during an auto accident but grabbed onto overhead utility wires like an action hero and dangled for about 20 minutes before a rescue crew brought him down by ladder...The driver of the other car...came immediately to check on [the teen]. "I just started saying, `Dude, turn off my car.' He looked around at first, he couldn't find me. Then he looked up and saw me," [the teen] said. No, wait, it gets better. "I was told he was hanging on for dear life," [the teen's father] said. "I didn't know they meant he literally was hanging on for dear life." Remember: Accident scene humor is never inappropriate, especially when contacting the family members of those involved. | #

Hysterically idiotic
From Yahoo: Dr. Guiler, a surgeon being sued for branding a patient's uterus with the initials of his alma mater, the University of Kentucky, defended his actions Tuesday as a routine part of a hysterectomy. I don't know what is more idiotic: doing this in the first place or trying to tell us that it is routine. Apparently we need to make medical school harder, so they can weed out people this stupid.
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Dashe 1999 Dry Creek Valley Zinfandel
We tried this wine, which was a gift from a friend who really likes it, with dinner tonight. Wine Spectator scored it an 84 and describes it as: "Very ripe, with candied cherry, grape and cranberry flavors that are fleshy, if lacking in complexity," which I think is right on, although I would have just called it "fruity". This was a good wine but just not my preference in taste. I prefer my Zinfandels spicy, not fruity. I think I liked the lower-scored "funky and weedy" Haut-Médoc we had last week better. (And the label features a monkey riding a fish through space. What's up with that?)
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Job hunting tips from Bangalore
Who would think it is a good idea to merge job hunting with one of the most despised scourges to plague the earth (no, not smallpox): SPAM!? Quite a few people, apparently, because I receive several everyday. If we have an email address on our web site specifically for jobs, why would you also email every other email address on the web site? And why would you write an email that purports to be very specific ("I have reviewed your web site very carefully and feel that I am the perfect match for your company") and yet visibly include hundreds of email addresses in the "To" line? | #

Welcome back BeastEE!
Glad to see WTFIT is off the bench and back in the game! | #

Revitalizing the bosom of downtwon
The Cape has managed to keep the likes of WalMart, Target, Costco and BJ's from crossing the canal, and many towns fight tooth-and-nail to keep Dunkin' Donuts, Burger King and their ilk from opening, but some things you just can't fight: Licensing board OKs Hooters renovations. Actually, I guess they tried: After a number of residents complained about a Hooters restaurant opening in Hyannis ... the 11-member board asked [the] Town Attorney to look into ways to prevent the restaurant chain from moving to Hyannis. Is it me, or does that just seem wrong? Should the local government be targetting a business based upon the complaints of some residents? How many of the "concerned residents" also happen to own bars in town? Let the market decide: If Hyannis, really doesn't want a Hooters, let it open, don't patronize it, and it will close. | #

Gradual demise (again) of the Cape's trains?
That's a photo of the railroad drawbridge over Cape Cod Canal. Built in the 30s, I think it's pretty cool looking. When I was a kid trains were just starting to make a comeback on the Cape to: (a) haul trash off-Cape; (b) bring tourists on-Cape (there's a certain symmetry there). Amtrack even ran a train up from New York, but that stopped several years ago. Now from the sound of recent articles, the Bay Colony Railroad (Rail line seeks bids to truck trash during bridge repairs) and Cape Cod Central (Bumpy ride for tourist train) might be in trouble. It's too bad they can't figure out some sort of vacation train, but it will never work: The lower Cape(?) tracks were torn up and paved over to make a bike trail, but any viable train would need to get tourists to Provincetown.
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