1000 Paces: home to office
February 16, 2010
Here is an unprecedented look at my morning commute! The assignment was to walk 500 paces from your home and take a picture. That’s the big one in the middle. But I learned something unexpected—it is exactly 1000 paces from my home to my office coffee pot.
100 paces: I’m almost to the sidewalk along Cedar Avenue. That’s neighborhood institution Palmer’s Bar across the street and the Riverside Plaza highrises in the distance. (Pop culture note: In the Mary Tyler Moore Show, those highrises were where Mary moved to from her first apartment in the large house.)
200 paces: I’ve crossed the street and am walking along Cedar Avenue. On my right out of frame is the blue side door to one of the neighborhood mosques.
300 paces: Cutting through a parking lot at the edge of the highrises on my way to the light rail station.
400 paces: Taking a short cut through the driveway and between two other apartment buildings. (Pop culture note: some tiny indy movie was filmed here because these buildings were deemed to look like European apartment blocks. It’s more striking when you’re close-up, and I don’t know the name of the movie.)
500 paces: On the other side of the apartment building. There isn’t usually a truck blocking my way.
600 paces: About to cross onto the Cedar-Riverside Station light rail platform.
700 paces: I’m on the train!
800 paces: I’ve just left Nicollet Mall Station downtown and crossed the street.
900 paces: Approaching my work building which is out of frame on the right. I purposely looked to the left a little so that I could include the Shubert Theater in the frame. You may remember the Shubert Theater as a character in one of my early posts.
1000 paces: In the building, up the elevator to the 11th storey, into my office, and through to the kitchen. My coffee pot is the little one. In the almost fifteen years that I’ve worked for my company, I remain the only person who drinks decaf. But that’s in the morning. I enjoy regular coffee after lunch.
And there you have my ten minute journey. That was fun. I might have to do a series of these 1000 pace walks.
The Stuff of Thought
February 9, 2010
I don???t read many books because television and the computer got in the way, but my friend kept referring to this book and it sounded pretty interesting. His last mention of it was the straw that broke the camel???s back. I was just going to check it out of the library, but the library that???s in the next block from my office wasn???t one of the branches that had it available. So to get my instant gratification, I instead trotted down to Barnes & Noble, where I was prepared to pay about $16 for the softcover copy they said they had. When I got to the store, I discovered that the hardcover edition was on the bargain table for $6.
Steven Pinker is the author, and the subtitle is Language as a Window into Human Nature. The summary on the cover flap is pretty dry; a reader review on the B&N website says, ???This combination results in a curious reading experience: Pinker’s lively style, many anecdotes and extreme lucidity pull you forward in the text, but the difficulty of the questions he raises could stump you for some time.???
That sort of sums up my impression of the book so far, now that I???m a whole 18 pages in. The first ponder that he presents is to think about how many events happened in the 9/11 terrorist attack(s) in New York City. Was there one event, a terrorist attack on America? Were there two events, two different airplanes hitting two different buildings. Were there more, including the Pentagon and the Pennsylvania field. You never really thought about that before, did you? Insurance payouts hinge on the answer.
I think this will be a pretty fascinating read.
My dad is an amazing musician
February 7, 2010
This is an article that ran in the local paper, profiling the Dixieland jazz band that my dad headed up when he was in high school. That’s my dad on clarinet and my uncle on piano, both at the left in the photo. My mom gave me this photocopy a couple of years ago; it landed on my fridge and there it has stayed. I don’t remember now if it’s an old article that she just unearthed or if it’s a recent reprint. At any rate, it’s a fun and interesting thing to have.
Stepping away from the familial connection for a moment, just look at those boys. Do kids who start comparable groups these days have uniforms? Would kids even have a jazz band, or do they just go for—oh, I don’t know—some hip hoppy, dancy thing that they could present on So You Think You Can Dance or America’s Got Talent?
Yes, I am out of it.
But apparently my dad and the fellows were not. They played such prestigious events as intermission at a square dance, the straw hat promotion day, the West Side picnic, a meeting of the Young Adult Klub. I’m not poking fun here, but how much more wholesome can you get? Do we long for those innocent days when children were named Vernon and Myron? I just might. People were nicer to each other and didn’t go barreling down the freeway in their Chevy Suburban gas hogs thinking everybody better get outta their way.
My grandfather—my dad’s dad—was fairly musical in an informal way. As a kid and young adult, I remember Grandpa often strumming his ukelele and singing (with a deep voice that would hold about twenty Tiny Tims), or producing a unique double-toned whistle that I could never imitate. My uncle still plays and was a piano tuner by trade. My dad is just about the most incredible musician that I know of.
Although he played the clarinet in his youth, my dad is very much a keyboardist. My parents both always played piano, and my dad was pretty adept at the pipe organ for a while, too. His first career was as a professor of music at the small liberal arts college in the town where I grew up, and he moonlighted as the Methodist church organist for a while. Then he became a piano and organ salesman, which he still is, though the organs have evolved into digital keyboards, and the pianos as well are just as likely to run on motherboards as have hammers that strings.
As a salesman with a storefront, my dad has ample opportunity to “demonstrate.” This puts his playing skills on display whether in the presence of customers or not. The talent that my dad has that I never developed is that of improvisation. He doesn’t need to read music and it seems like he can sit down and play anything.
Every now and then, he gets a piano-playing gig. When my grandmother was still living, her fellow residents would always look forward to his visits because he would sit down at the piano and provide some dinner music, just because he enjoys playing.
I began piano lessons when I was six or seven and added the flute in fifth grade. For one of my college graduations, my parents gave me a digital piano. I’m ashamed to say that it’s been unused for too many years. Maybe I will dust it off one of these days in conjunction with this mini-creative renaissance I’m having.
The roaring silence
January 21, 2010
I don’t remember ever not liking music. One of my earliest music memories is from when I was probably about four and my mom parked me in front of the console stereo (you know, the big hulking piece of furniture with AM/FM tuner and room to store some records all under a lid or sliding doors) to listen to Peter and the Wolf.
My parents held on to first that, and then a newer, console stereo. It was at least the mid-1980s, perhaps later, before they bit the bullet and got components instead.
As a kid, I was glued to the transistor radio. Initially, I listened to a small turquoise model that lived on the kitchen table. That was eventually supplanted by a larger (though still single speaker) model. This was during the time that “shoebox” portable cassette recorders were popular. I would cozy up the cassette recorder to the front of the radio and record my favorite songs. When I was a kid, I listened to CKLW on AM from Windsor, Ontario, during its Top 40 days. They tuned The Big 8 in at the swimming pool, too.
The radio/cassette pairing gave way to record albums of my own. I don’t remember doing too much recording off the radio once I got into records. That took me through high school.
Then I got my first stereo components. I still have the gigantic floor speakers. Generally gigantic, not guy audiophile gigantic. I was never much of an audiophile. I just enjoy listening. That’s sort of why I was never a good English major either. I like reading, but I don’t have to analyze every nuance to derive pleasure from it.
I returned to recording off the radio, this time FM and in stereo. I still have a lot of those tapes. I continued to buy records, but I never embraced the prerecorded cassette tape.Then compact discs came along. I rebought many of my favorite record albums on CD, though many more simply were never manufactured. It is for that reason that I must acquire one of those turntable-to-digital deals one of these days.
And, of course, I made the inevitable migration to mp3s on first my iPod and now my computer and a little bit on my iPhone. Most of my music listening is done on either my work or home computer, and these days, it’s just as likely to be a music streaming service such as Pandora or the streaming audio of a radio station, as something my lowly mp3 collection (the majority of which is, by the way, all of my CDs ripped).
The devices I have listened with the most all of these years are my good old ears.
Things that make me happy
December 23, 2009
I only had to come up with five, but once you think of one you think of 100. Here are the top pleasure-givers in my life.
The best First by default are Robbin, CJ, and Dasie. Even if they’re not doing any of the innumerable cute and sweet things they do, I only need to look at any one of them to feel better. I treasure their companionship. The other top vote getter is working out at Curves. Not only is it good for me but it makes me feel good. Really good! I’ve become a believer in endorphins, because for a good two hours afterwards, I’m very joyful, regardless of how my day had been going previously. The rest in no particular order (well, in a little bit of order) Writing this blog Good beer (the two pictured are my favorites), and related to that, a nice wine buzz Pizza “Dancing with the Stars” — Say what you want to about reality tv, but you just can’t beat this show for feel good escapism, especially when people experience life-changing personal growth, like Kelly Osborne did this past season. The show is a joy to watch. Anthony Bourdain — when I watch his tv show I just want to eat and drink. It’s fun. Craig Ferguson — the man is a comic genius. The thought of moving to London Travel in general, especially long car trips by myself — Particularly effective if I can stay off the interstates and just take state and U.S. highways and go through towns. Going to baseball games Pigeons — I love pigeons. There are a couple of flocks that I encounter frequently. The one near my home has lots of mottled and white members. Mother Nature — When she throws up a rainbow or shows me tracks in the snow, or one lone tulip in a random place, or Maxfield Parrish colors in the sunset.It comes with centipedes and a nice draft in winter
December 17, 2009
I had no business being given a mortgage. I wasn’t even UN-seriously looking for a place. Yet two months later, there I was in my very own condo.
It all started with simple curiosity. The Twin Cities, like most places, had been going through condofication for a number of years. The majority new construction, but a lot of the old apartment buildings were being converted from rentals to condominiums. There was one such building in my old neighborhood, and I was very curious to know the asking price on an apartment that was for sale in it. I was not entertaining any notion of buying it or anything else, but I just wanted to satisfy my smug self that it was going for far too much. In the course of trying to find its listing, I came across the listing for my place. I was basically convinced immediately upon seeing the character of the exterior of the building. I met the estate agent to see the interior, which was just fine, and had plenty of character of its own. The building is a Swedish row house (Minnesota is the land of Scandanavians), and the apartment was long and narrow with no interior walls (no distinct rooms) except for the bathroom and three good-sized closets. I explained to the realtor the realities of my financial situation and that I was pretty certain that I wouldn’t actually be able to make a purchase. She gave me the name and number of a fellow who she said might be able to help me. Turns out he was a miracle worker. I have been in my place for about four years now. Whereas I used to be completely squeamish about spiders, I now squish centipedes with aplomb (even the ones with inch-and-a-half long bodies) and scoff at puny spiders. It helps that centipedes aren’t crunchy. The building was, apparently, constructed in the 1890s. Although the interiors were redone relatively recently, there’s still no denying its age. The building is constantly in motion and my floor has an ever-evolving contour (I’m on the ground floor, “garden level” as it’s quaintly called), so there are ample little cracks for frigid winter air to draft in. The windows are in good shape, but I’ve found that it nonetheless helps tremendously to seal them off with the 3M shrinkwrap stuff. When there’s a north wind, I watch the plastic over my bedroom window “breathe” and am pleased that I neither feel that breeze nor have to pay the extra heating bill. My building is also part of the Minneapolis music scene. Morris Day and the Time shot their debut album cover photo ON MY FRONT STEPS! They were a Prince spin-off who established a reputation in their own right. Although there are reasons why I wish I didn’t, I know the prevailing opinion is that it’s sensible to own rather than rent. Yay.
Why I love the movie ???Legally Blonde???
December 3, 2009
On the surface you’re all, this is some dumb chickflick about a little sorority Barbie who wants to get her boyfriend back. But it’s really a tale of amazing determination and personal growth. I find it inspiring.
The scene pictured above (©MGM, no doubt) is when Elle Woods decides that to regain the respect and interest of said boyfriend, she has to become a serious law student, the kind of girl the boyfriend’s brother is engaged to. She doesn’t give any thought to how impossible it seems to everybody else that she thinks she can gain admission to Harvard. She doggedly sets about the various tasks that need to be accomplished in her mission, and the next thing you know, there she is at Harvard orientation. After a few more setbacks, her determination kicks into overdrive and she gradually becomes the person no one gave her credit for ever possibly becoming. What I love about the character is that regardless of her misguided reason for making her decision in the first place, she sets a daunting goal, makes it happen, and as a result has incredible personal growth. I can learn a lot from Elle Woods. (The sequel wasn’t nearly as good.)What???s your musical guilty pleasure?
November 27, 2009
What artist are you ashamed to admit that you like? What gets your toes tapping that shouldn’t? What sends you into an irrational revery? For me, it’s the Russian group ???????? (t.A.T.u. for their English-language releases).
I like what I like and I’m not embarrassed to admit it. There is so much out there and you never know what’s going to catch your fancy. ???????? is a band that most people would probably think unlikely that I’d enjoy. But I do! I like them better when they sing in Russian, but I always find their English lyric versions to be interesting and wonder how the literal meanings compare between the English and the Russian.
I learned of ???????? one day at work while I was researching school uniforms for the children’s book series I was working on. I came across their video for ?? ?????????? ?? ?????? / All The Things She Said (Russian version / English version). The music instantly hooked me. I watched a few more videos and found those to be oddly interesting, too, with the sexual and violent themes that seem to be ????????’s trademark.
I bought both the Russian and English versions of their debut album (200 ???? ?????????????????? / 200 km/h in the Wrong Lane). There’s a killer cover of the Smith’s “How Soon Is Now” on the English version.
You???re gonna make it after all
November 24, 2009
I was talking to a new friend yesterday who wondered if maybe I wasn’t being a little unnecessarily hard on myself with all this talk of laziness and lack of motivation and sitting on my bum like some big old theater that’s been languishing without renovation for the last 10 years. So tonight I thought that, instead of regretting that I hadn’t written a proper entry last Friday when the topic was “Take something apart” and I had planned on that something being myself, I would try to look at myself a little objectively in the other direction and maybe see what he does.
[As a completely unrelated aside, those were two pretty long sentences. One of my current work projects is writing about science for six- or seven-year-olds. We must keep word count per sentence as small as possible, and vocabulary as simple. I feel very decadent with those two opening sentences written for adults!] It’s human nature to be hard on yourself and to have difficulty believing that you measure up to anyone else. In the end, you are your own worst critic. So what have I done for myself lately? As detailed in “Work out, work hard,” I have managed to keep up a workout regimen for eight months now. That’s pretty amazing. How many people do you know who buy the gym membership, go for a couple of weeks, and then just throw away the auto-payment every month? Maybe you’re one of them. GO TO THE GYM! Another unexpected achievement is how I’ve kept up with writing this blog for the last few weeks. Granted, I missed a few days last week, but that’s because my work schedule has gone into warp drive until the end of December. I try to do a little overtime on the evenings I’m home, and last week I had just gotten so tired that I had to mind my health and go to bed rather than stay up for another hour working on this. It’s been very exhilarating writing again. Part of the reason why I’m anxious to keep up with the daily entries is because I see it as practice for my second career as some sort of writer. And I see my second career as some sort of writer as part of what will facilitate my move to London. I may be deluded on that point but I don’t care. I’m having fun! HAVE FUN! I guess to an outsider, all the kids’ books that I’ve written for work might seem a little noteworthy. To me, it’s just what I’ve been doing every day for 12 years. I am completely blasé about it. But when I look at this photo of all of the books that I’ve authored together on my bookshelf, even I smile, cross my arms, and nod to myself. GIVE YOURSELF CREDIT! Maybe even my avid participation on the TweakToday.com website could be viewed as achievement but I think that’s stretching it. Still, DO SOMETHING NEW EVERY DAY! Okay, that’s all I’ve got. * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * The inspiration for tonight’s entry was the assignment of photographing a local public sculpture. I chose the bronze Mary Tyler Moore on Nicollet Mall, which is near where I work. The title comes from the lyrics of the theme song for the tv show, which I wanted to include in the vein of positive self-affirmation; I found a couple of videos of an early version (note that Mary’s driving a 1970 Ford Mustang—I wasn’t the only girl who liked them!) and a later version of the opening montage instead. In the Wikipedia entry about the show, I learned things about Mary that are now kind of interesting since I’ve lived in the Twin Cities for a long time, including that the deluxe apartment that she moved on up to was in the complex of now-not-glamorous high rises in my current home neighborhood.My world and welcome to it
November 14, 2009
Today I lived my life vicariously through some people I don???t know. I???m learning about them as a result of frequenting the same online social space. I know them about as well as this drawing is similar to a photograph.
That doesn???t mean it isn???t fun or satisfying. In the real world, I???m not good at staying in touch. I???m even worse at getting together. So this online business works for me. I get some social interaction without as many demands on my inertia. I get to develop friendships with people who like me back in the same way. Sometimes I even feel popular.
I???m an only child, and I???ve always been good at amusing myself with no outside help. As the years go by, I seem to be getting better and better at it. Now I would adapt that statement to say that I???m very good at keeping busy with little face-to-face interaction. Maybe I???m becoming one of those antisocial internetter statistics. Maybe in 10 years I???ll be up to 42 cats.
I???m not saying I don???t like being around people (well, maybe a little). Sometimes I do just want to go out and do something. Some of you will remember a few weeks ago when I was wailing about not having somebody, anybody who I could call up for a spontaneous outing. Usually I am pretty okay with keeping to myself. I felt lonely that night.
I would say I have two generations of online friends. My first-generation circle consists of people who are friends with someone I actually know in person, who moved to California a few years ago. There is him, and also the people I think of as his first tier of friends because they do stuff together all the time. Then there is what I think of as his second tier, the friends of the friends who he doesn???t hang out with as often. I have met the first tier in person. And I have someone in the second tier to give a great big thank you to for introducing me to the website where I am now getting to know my second generation of online friends.
I don???t really know where I???m going with this. I like getting to know my online friends better; today I had a video chat via Skype with two of my second generation friends who are in London. I thought that was pretty exciting, and it provided a small consolation for the impossibility of my being able to join the group for their evening outing. Some of them in more geographically friendly circumstances are taking advantage of the opportunity to meet each other in person.
The drawing is how I imagine the evening might have gone.
Kelly’s Unnecessary Blog 