av8rmike

Apparently last Wednesday was my 5-year LJ birthday, and I completely forgot to mention it. Not like anyone pays attention to things like that anyway, but it's hard to believe I've been posting here for so long.

It's a significant week for 20th-century music, as yesterday was the 100th birthday of American composer Elliot Carter. I had no idea he was still alive and still composing.

This past Wednesday marked the 100th birthday of Olivier Messiaen, who died in 1992. One of his best known works, "Quartet for the End of Time", was composed while he was in a prison camp during World War II. There are a few interesting YouTube videos related to Messiaen, which I'll have to post when I'm not at work.

People often ask in Support about Twitter badges they can use on LJ layouts. Most of them use JavaScript or Flash, which isn't allowed on LJ and will get stripped from styles. One day, in my Googling around, I found this link:

http://bunnyherolabs.com/twitter/

It's just an image inside of a <div>, so it should work on LJ. I can't suggest it in the context of Support, but there's no reason I can't make a gratuitous entry about it!

Since chasethestars wants some actual content and not just notes ;), and since I fall into her second category of friends (the actively informed ones), I feel compelled to weigh in on the current situation.

I first saw the story here in no_lj_ads about Anton Nossik, the "Chief Blogger" of SUP (our Russian overlords) being interviewed for a Russian Internet site. The original is in Russian, but there are translations here and here. In it, he's dismissive of the concerns of these striking users, labels them "idiots" and the tactics "blackmail", and confirms the removal of new Basic accounts was done because they were not profitable.

Linked to in the_lj_herald is a statement in Nossik's own journal, in which he claims he was misrepresented as the head of SUP. He denies making the claims attributed to him, calls himself a "Social Media Evangelist", and basically tries to absolve himself of any responsibility of speaking for SUP. He also refuses to list what his actual capacities are in someplace appropriate and visible, such as his userinfo page; instead, he tells people to seek out that information on the Internet in general, then criticized it as being out of date.

Here's the thing that gets me, though (as if that weren't enough). Anyone who has been in a sufficiently large organization should know that there is supposed to be one avenue of communication. It might be a dumb example, but in my fraternity days, we were always told never to claim to speak for the house. If a reporter wanted some kind of opinion, always say "no comment" and refer them to the chapter president. That prevents one guy from making the entire organization from looking bad. Nossik can't have it both ways; he can't grant interviews to reporters, trash the users and the site's founder, then claim he's not empowered to speak for the organization and say "it's just my opinion". As one of Russia's "most visible bloggers", a SUP employee, and a longtime LJ user, he has to know that reporters are going to ask his opinions and that they will be representing the company. Either he is the company spokesperson, or he shouldn't grant the interviews.

Specifically, the 10 Weirdest Kitchen Gadgets, as presented by PC Magazine. Unnecessary, maybe, but as for "weirdest", I'm sure they could have found weirder than a coffeemaker that knows the weather or a digital timer with remote beeper. The latter actually sounds pretty handy.

The electronic meat sniffer is pretty weird, though.

I've never heard of this "Juneteenth" thing before, but apparently, you don't want to drive anywhere near it:

Angry crowd kills passenger in car that struck child (Austin, TX)
Man pulled from car and beaten in Milwaukee

I don't have much to say, nor do I want to re-hash my petty rant from last night's rehearsal. I'm just glad to have a night at home tonight to do some things I want to do.

Here's one way to keep me entertained. I'll answer in a follow-up entry.
[Poll #849374]

If you don't want to do the poll, then enjoy some cats that look like Hitler.

Man, who ever thought that city Board of Public Works meetings would be boring? Not with a guy like Schaefer attending. When he's not sexually harassing staffers, he's raking Governor Ehrlich over the coals:

At yesterday's Board of Public Works meeting, the first since Comptroller William Donald Schaefer lost the Democratic primary, Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. was planning the same kind of pick-me-up he had employed time and again to stay on his ally's good side: a freshly baked cake from the Government House kitchen.
One of the governor's aides stood in the wings at the start of the meeting, holding a plastic-wrapped pound cake (the chef's grandmother's recipe) with a yellow bow on top.
But Schaefer's opening comments blasted the governor and his staff for not taking responsibility for the voting problems in the primary election and blaming them on state Elections Administrator Linda H. Lamone.

After that, the aide left, taking the cake with her. No mention of where it went or who got to eat it, but you can bet it wasn't Schaefer. At least the Governor didn't splurge and go to Charm City Cakes. If he had, maybe we'd have seen the aftermath on TV.

In case anyone actually wants to know what was going on all weekend.... but rather than type it all up myself, I'll just excerpt from Jamie's journal and change the relevant pronouns. What was that about great writers just steal? ;)

Thursday - Jamie's (rescheduled) flight got in around 1:00 in the afternoon. We mostly puttered around my place before dinner. We went over to [my] dad's house, where [Jamie] got to meet [my] dad, stepmom, brother Phil (who took the train down from NYC), and [my] very eccentric cousin Gibson (who was visiting from the UK). After a very delicious steak dinner, we retreated to the room with the creepy doll and piano for a jam session. [Phil] plays viola, and played for us the Telemann Viola Concerto, which he's using for an orchestra audition this week. [Jamie] and I played the 2nd movement of the Bach Double, with Gibson playing the orchestral accompaniment on piano. That was a lot of fun. [I] played a number of pieces with Gibson accompanying, including The Lark Ascending, and a Brahms violin sonata. [Jamie], Phil and I played a trio arrangement of the Sinfonia from Handel's Messiah that [her] friend Diana was kind enough to arrange for us, and [she] enjoyed playing it so much [she] asked if we could play it again! ;) Sometime way too late, we left and drove back up to the city and eventually crashed for the night.

Friday- Started bright and early (relatively speaking) by going down to pay Roger, [my] luthier, a visit, as [Jamie] is still on the lookout for a new violin. We spent over an hour playing at least a dozen violins, and [she] ended up leaving with a Sofia violin on trial. That afternoon, [I] took [Jamie] to the music library at Peabody Conservatory, and [Jamie's] mind just about went 'asplodey being surrounded by the thousands of music scores there. We went to the Little Italy neighborhood for a fantastic dinner at [La Scala]. We had a grilled Caesar salad that had a smoked flavor to it from the grilling, and I was surprised at just how good it was. Spicy croutons, too! After dinner, we made our way to the Fells Point neighborhood, and I got to see part of the harbor (though not the Inner Harbor) and other neat stuff.

Saturday - [Jamie] got to see the Inner Harbor, including the USS Constellation, and lots of what I presume were Mennonites handing out "Be Saved!" literature in their white bonnets and long dresses. We headed over to Lexington Market, which is somewhere [her] friend Bruce told [her she] should go. [She'd] never quite seen anything like that. That night, [I] had a string ensemble concert. [She] enjoyed the concert a lot, especially the Corelli Concerto Grosso, and the Boccherini Cello Concerto in [G] major, which was performed with cello soloist Jason Love, who also happens to be the music director of another orchestra [I] play in. He was fantastic; it was quite a treat to see. [Jamie loved the second movement, especially watching me play and wear a tux. ;)] A little excitement ensued during intermission, when the bassist decided to take a swan dive to the floor. (It was really terrible. She was apparently suffering from post-concussion problems and fainted -- fell right to the ground. Not with her instrument, at least. Intermission lasted a little longer while we waited for the ambulance to come and take her away.) We had a late dinner at a tavern close to home after the concert, seated next to three guys who were quite openly gay. As much as [we] tried not to eavesdrop, [we] couldn't help it, and when they started talking about dressing up as a washer and dryer for Halloween ("We could be the stackable washer and dryer." "You'd be on top!") [Jamie] just burst out laughing. Luckily, this amused and didn't upset them.

Sunday - Sunday morning we headed down to the Baltimore Farmers' Market. Fresh produce, butter, cheese and baked goods, along with prepared food dishes, crafts and a trumpet player who apparently only knew four notes. We split a strawberry and Nutella crêpe, and a cinnamon chip scone for breakfast, which was quite delicious. [Jamie] got a chocolate macaroon brownie that was just about the size of the state of Delaware for [her] plane trip. Headed back to his apartment, and did some violin playing. Well, [I] did most of the playing, and [Jamie] spent a lot of time trying to get over [her] fear of playing in front of [me] [but she did very well-- she shouldn't get so worried =)].
After deciding that she couldn't keep the Bulgarian violin we'd borrowed, I had to take her to the airport, where the only meal we could get in time was a plate of tri-colored nachos. Regrettably, her flight wasn't delayed or cancelled or anything, so we had to say our good-byes. I went over to Dad's afterwards, but I think they were just tired of too much company. I did get to see Becki's neat pictures from Vegas and the Grand Canyon.

Woman Bakes Cookies on Dashboard of SUV

BBQ.

Crazy at work earlier in the week, and now too tired to do much else besides veg when I get home. Although, I did cook a nice swordfish last night.

I think this may be a weekend to sit and get caught up on a bunch of stuff at home.

Well, moderately productive, at least. Yesterday morning I got up a little late but still made it to Harvest Table for the French toast with the running club. Several of my friends were there, and it was good to talk to them again. Afterwards I went to Arundel Mills initially to look for new running shoes. I ended up going to Bed, Bath, and Beyond and walking out with a 10" Calphalon omelette pan to match the rest of my set. A few more trips and I should have everything I need that they make. Next up: the covered saucier/"chef's pan".

To make up for not running with the club, I walked all the way down to Fells Point last night, to the Sound Garden and Uncommon Grinds. Now I have all three Star Wars movies, used! =P

Today all I did was go to the Farmer's Market downtown and buy a bunch of produce for myself and to take over to Dad's. Two weeks ago he gave me a guilt trip (all in jest) over not bringing him anything, so this time I bought raspberries, peaches, green beans, and cucumbers for my stepmother to pickle. I did a little practicing, went over for dinner, then came back here to veg again and watch videos on YouTube.