It was most unexpected to see my friend Sahira open up for Beans Barton and the Bipeds at Dan Electro’s on Saturday.
She’s a great dancer and member of Urban Gypsy.
I think my favorite was a duet dance she did with another member of the troop that was set to tune of Dueling Banjos.
Last night was a bit of a treat.
Arrived at the Continental a bit early and had a nice chat with Bill Shirley.
On the bill at the CC was Ted Roddy’s King Conjure Orchestra.
The evening was a tribute to the Elvis of the 50’s.
I am not a huge Elvis fan, but something about a 11 piece orchestra with a horn section and female backing vocals kicking out the jams in that space made me a fan for the night.
It was a great crowd. The cool thing was that, while they played Elvis songs, Ted Roddy was not an Elvis impersonator. He did, however, sing in the 50’s Elvis style. It was a true rock and roll party.
Thanks to Katie for this link.
She says it’s her favorite web comic. First impressions are good.
More installments at www.weebl.jolt.co.uk
Thanks, Katie. Now I want pie. How many Weight Watcher points do you suppose I can spare?
How about ZERO!
The soiree I attended with the Latin theme combined with Cynthia’s ongoing Spanish lessons have sparked an interest in familiarizing myself more with Latin music.
The party featured a soundtrack that was most pleasant. I was even sent home with a mix CD. Thank god I am finally onboard with Kymberlie’s whole mix CD philosphy after legal counsel from Katie.
A co-worker just loaned me the Buena Vista Social Club CD featuring Ry Cooder, Ibrahim Ferrar, Ruben Gonzalez, Compay Segundo and more. It’s a very good CD and I am enjoying it at my desk right now.
And yes, I am aware that Ibrahim Ferrar has recently passed away. At least the recordings live on.
My co-host, Barrett, has always been a fan of compact, mobile computing. On of the things he has evangelized is Knoppix.
From their website:
KNOPPIX is a bootable Live system on CD or DVD, consisting of a representative collection of GNU/Linux software, automatic hardware detection, and support for many graphics cards, sound cards, SCSI and USB devices and other peripherals. KNOPPIX can be used as a productive Linux system for the desktop, educational CD, rescue system, or adapted and used as a platform for commercial software product demos. It is not necessary to install anything on a hard disk. Due to on-the-fly decompression, the CD can have up to 2 GB of executable software installed on it (over 8GB on the DVD “Maxi” edition).
Very cool.
Now Barrett has found something else quite interesting. I saw that he had posted to the forums at geekradio.com a blurb about Realm Systems new device, the Realm Mobile Personal Server.
From their web site:
The Realm MPS is the worlds first and only easy-to-use, secure, USB powered computing device that can be used any place, any time, on any operating system.
Basically, you can carry a Linux server in your pocket that can be connected to the USB port of any PC.
The cheesy promos they have done with Jon Lovitz not withstanding, this device looks to be quite interesting.
Ok, it’s official. I am on a diet. Weight Watchers to be exact.
My first goal is to lose 22 pounds.
Should be doable.
I am not all that tall so being overweight tends to make me look a bit like a furry beach-ball so I have some incentive.
On the plus side I don’t drink much, especially not beer.
Yesterday I stayed within my WW point allotment. I resisted a double-meat Whataburger with all my will. It was a colossal struggle to be sure. The victory growl in my stomach heralded my triumph of will.
I chose, instead, to polish off my remaining 9 points with a shrimp salad from Berry Hill and a Lonestar at The Big Top after the show.
GO JAY!
Katie was responsible for tipping me off about the shrimp salad.
I am finding a lot of support for this lifestyle change which is a HUGE plus.
Speaking of looks, it has again been brought to my attention that I bear a resemblance to Lee Arenberg, you know, the bald headed guy with the broken thumbs from Seinfeld?
I guess it’s better than looking like the dwarf he played in the Dungeons and Dragons movie or Pintel from Pirates of the Caribbean.
I had my physical this week.
Mostly good.
I am still waiting on the results of the blood work but I remain optimistic.
A little bit more distressing, though, was a stern recommendation from my doctor. Since my father died of liver cancer which spread from his colon I have to get one of those check-ups, the one usually prescribed for men over 50.
My doctor knows a specialist who performs the procedure while sedated (I will be sedated, not the doctor).
I have a consultation next week and will probably have the procedure in within the month.
It should also be noted that I have been medically declared overweight by my doctor. This means changing my diet. Something I have been meaning to address anyway. Plus, many friends have started eating healthier so I am not alone. Cynthia and I bought lots of fresh fruits and vegetables while shopping this week and even selected some Weight Watcher meals for my lunches. Yum!
I found this picture in my surfing recently.
If I lose 40 pounds I can laugh at it without feeling like a hypocrite.
Saturday I got to spend some time supporting my good friend Greg at his art exhibit opening.
Based on the attendance I would judge the event a success.
Family, friends and even casual acquaintances were gathered in abundance.
It’s important to support events like this.
Finally caught up with Bill to give him back the DVD I borrowed so long ago.
He gave us back our Rick Steve’s Amsterdam guide.
Bill and Cynthia had an opportunity to swap European vactions stories.
Later that evening I caught up with The Allen Oldies Band.
Before they started playing I got to show Landis Armstrong the photo I took of him that is hanging in Sig’s Lagoon with a few other of my photographs.
I enjoyed a few songs and then moved on.
