My fingertips are a little tender, which will make typing at work today interesting. They’re tender because I’m sick of not playing any music, so I decided to pick up my mother’s old guitar, which is now mine, I suppose, and learn it. (While I previously played the trombone, I decided it was not as appropriate. A guitar stands on its own much easier.) The new strings arrived while I was in New Orleans, so I replaced the old (really old) ones, and I’m off. Given my near-pathological avoidance of physical labor, my fingers need to grow some calluses. Hopefully this won’t take too long—learning an instrument requires pretty regular practice, and I’d prefer to keep a regular schedule and not have to stop to heal. I’ve managed to get in a bit of practice every day since I returned. The internet is a wonderful thing—it can teach one just about anything.
It turns out that my inherited guitar, a Yamaha FG-75, is pretty well-regarded in the guitar community. It seems to have a reputation as an excellent value with good sound and durability. I can vouch for the durability—the thing is about as old as I am—though admittedly it hasn’t been played much in its 30-or-so years of life.
Today I return from New Orleans. It was a great visit, but I’m looking forward to seeing my cats and my own bed. Here are some more NOLA photos.
This kitten can be adventurous:
I rescued her shortly after that last photo.
Have a great weekend!
Now is the time that everyone and their dog is looking back and forth at their lives. I am not excepted from this festival of navel-gazing, but I will refrain from making everyone who reads this (both of you) suffer through it with me. Suffice it to say that my permanent goal of self improvement remains unchanged. (I’ve mentioned before that I’m not a fan of new year’s resolutions.) As part of that, I think I’ll focus a bit on getting into playing music a bit more. I could return to the ole trombone, but I think it will be easier if I go with a new instrument. After looking at a couple pianos on Craigslist, I think I’ll get some new strings for the guitar I inherited from my mother and go with that one. We’ll see how it goes.
Tonight was pretty fun—I spent New Year’s Eve in the French Quarter. MackenzieMom and I (J was not feeling well) went first to a little wine bar in the Quarter. Two years ago, it was new and very empty on New Year’s. This year, it was established and quite crowded. Though we had to wait for a table, it was still pretty good. We had several excellent appetizers, and some not-bad wine. Then we went to The Kerry, an Irish bar also in the quarter. They seem to have the same cover band (Rites of Passage) every year, so it just wouldn’t be New Year’s in New Orleans without going to hear them play. The only down side is that we arrived near the end of the set, so the band took a break and we didn’t hear as much as we’d like.
After that, it was time to mosey on down to the river, where the fireworks did play. We got a really good spot right up front, maybe a hundred yards or so from the boat from which the fireworks were launched. It was a pretty decent show for New Year’s. I think the 4th of July show in Cheyenne, and probably New Orleans, for that matter, would be better. But overall, it was a pretty good job.
So right now, I’m at my mother’s dining table with a glass of wine and some cheese, and will be crashing pretty soon. Overall, a pretty good time.
I wish you and yours a happy and healthy 2009.
Like many modestly tech-savvy people, visiting the family is a time to address various technological problems. My mother recently got a new notebook computer, so there really haven’t been any problems. That’s always nice.
Unfortunately, MackenzieMom got a Dell Mini 9 netbook computer for Christmas. This doesn’t sound too bad, but it runs on Ubuntu linux, with which my mother is wholly unfamiliar. Plus, though I’ve used linux on my main machine from time to time over the years, it is a fast-moving area. So when the speaker sound stopped working after some initial updates (but headphone sound was fine), the solution was not immediately apparent to me.
First, I tried searching for sound problems in Ubuntu, and more specifically the Dell Mini. There were a lot of problems discussed on the ‘Nets, but none seemed precisely right. Plus none of the solutions worked. Eventually, I decided to just wipe the OS and install the newest “retail” version of Ubuntu.
The problem started when I was unable to figure out how to get the Ubuntu installation to run from a thumbdrive. It was a required step because the Mini has no CD drive, and we don’t have an external one. While I eventually found a simple way to do it (to which the cognoscenti will probably say, “duh”), the process took a very long time. Part of the problem was that I was trying to use a 16GB drive, which made it hard to format into FAT-16, which was apparently required under several guides that I found, etc., etc.
Anyway, eventually I got it working. The new netbook is now running Ubuntu 8.10, and it appears to be stable and happy. For those interested, I highly recommend Ubuntumini.com. It has all kinds of information on running Ubuntu on a Mini, naturally. And its instructions are all completely clear with excellent photographs when appropriate.
One of the greatest moments occurred when I saw step 4 of installation. It is entitled, “Get sound working.” I’m not sure if this would have fixed the original problem, but it would have been worth trying. Either way, Step 4, which was a very simple step, worked like a charm.
All together, I think I spent around ten hours on getting everything to work perfectly. I’m preparing for more tech service calls as MackenzieMom runs into linux problems. We’ll see. The point is, it’s set for now.
Tonight: New Year in the quarter, with free music and fireworks. Then Friday, back to Wyoming.
Yep, I’m still on vacation, and it’s still awesome. As usual, seafood has been the order of the day, which I’m very enthusiastic about. Also, J’s birthday was last week, so I baked a cake. I had a piece for breakfast. I’m definitely going to have to go on a food plan once I return, but I don’t mind. If I get to splurge once per year (and I do), it’s worth it.
In other news, my home cats appear to be doing well:
In other news, I’m disappointed over the legal wrangling behind the Watchmen film. I think there’s little chance that the release will be delayed—WB just has too much invested to allow that much loss. I feel certain that the result will be a settlement payment to Fox. Still, it’s extremely irritating.
Because I am away from home, I get all sorts of exposure to foreign cats. Without further ado, here’s Jackson.
Have a great weekend!
It’s Christmas in New Orleans, and man is it hot here. That wouldn’t be so bad, but it’s also muggy. Everyone around the house is quite lethargic, and a couple of us have had a nap already.
In addition to Christmas, it is also my friend J’s birthday. I made a cake this morning, and in we’ll get to it later, after dinner. Of course, dinner may be leftovers from last night’s Christmas dinner. We’ll see.
Speaking of Christmas dinner, it was overall pretty awesome. We had a bunch of guests. We had planned on dinner being later than usual because J didn’t get off work until around 6, but it really ended up being served around 10. I’m not sure anyone really noticed—the conversation was quite spirited.
We did notice that the food was excellent, however. I think that was one of the best holiday dinners in my memory. Really great.
Anyway, it’s on to enjoying the rest of my little vacation. That, of course, means food. We’re going to Commander’s Palace tomorrow for lunch, and to Mittendorf’s (thin-fried catfish) at some point this weekend. It’ll be great.
We went out last night—it’s the thing to do when in New Orleans. Pretty good music, but loud, and we were also talking pretty much the whole time. It was loud, and we had to yell. As a result, my throat is pretty trashed this morning. But on the plus side, I can now belt out The Future with near-perfect mimicry.
Also last night, my friend J. took me and my mother to a Thai restaurant. It was really good. And either my tolerance for spiciness has gone up, or they’ve scaled down the heat a bit. I had “hot,” which was one down from the maximum, “Thai-hot.” I would call “hot” more of a medium. Next time, I’m going for “Thai-hot.” Still, it was great, I had a calamari stir-fry, and it was perfectly prepared. I guess I’m continuing my tradition of nomming down the seafood when I visit the coast.
