Monday to Home I slept till about 9am and then got up and going, leaving by 10. It was raining cats and dogs all the way home.. a precruser of what we got later that week. Remember that Blog's are done most recent FIRST. So make sure to go down to Friday to read the NEARfest weekend experice in proper order. There will not be any blogs until at least July 10th. Enjoy your time off.
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Nearfest Sunday As much as I had anticipated seeing KBB, FM and OT on Saturday, I really had no idea what I was up against for Sunday. I was very pleased with the day. We got going a tad earlier on Sunday AM from Mark's house so we arrived at Zoellner with plenty of time to spare. And there to my immediate chagrin was the big guy again sitting next to me. However he broke the ice by asking what we could come to some sort of "compromise". I ignored the comment as a terrible way to start a conversation and instead talked about bands and where he was from etc. Anyway we came to some compromise as it were: he sat comfortably and I leaned forward to take pics lol. I also told him after 17 yrs of marriage I was quite comfortable with my sexuality and did not find rubbing shoulders that big of a deal. He laughed. Guapo Golly wow. This band was a super pleasant surprise. Very much RIO or Zuel school of prog rock. Very much ART ROCK. Their set consisted of half of one alb...
NEARfest Saturday. Started with oversleeping as the Hatfield show had gone way late. It was overcast in the morning and ended up being a very pleasant rainy weekend. This kept the temperatures down, but only seemed to POUR during the dinner break on Sunday, so most of us stayed dry. After a pleasant morning and jawing over breakfast Mark and I hauled butt back to Bethlehem only to be confronted on 3rd or 4th ave with the Motorcade for the Puerto Rico Pride day. I did a little U turn and trail blazed a different route to Zoellner. It did get us in a tad late, but just barely. We missed the first few stanza's of KBB's opening song. Totally different people sitting next to me Saturday from the Legends Showcase, which would turn to be a problem later in the day... KBB I am a huge Jean Luc Ponty fan. Have been since 77 or so, his music sings to my soul. So I am always looking for something similar, even though that is a pipe dream considering how unique his talent is. KBB com...
Nearfest Weekend Part One I diddled around the house for much of the morning getting things in order to go. Made sure I had enough prog in my iPod for the trip. I left my house around Noon Albany time and ran errands including picking up film and going to the bank. I was officially on the road to NJ by 1pm. The drive down was a breeze, the only traffic being some congestion on 287 near where 80 meets, mostly slowdowns to oogle the other side (north) which was backed up pretty badly. I got to Bill and Donna's house around 4pm. They were kind enough to have chicken breasts on the BBQ (I don't eat beef) and we had a nice chat for a couple of hours. Adam Holquist showed up fairly soon after I did. I followed Adam out from Bill and Donna's and I got to the venue in plenty of time to meet Mark Clark in the upper parking lot and get down to the seats. My seat was dead center first row Grand Tier, just next to the mounted video camera. Great seats for hearing perfectly and ...
The Friday Five! 1. What is (or would be) your dream vacation? A month living in Paris. 2. What's one thing no vacation can do without? A power inverter from 220 to 110 3. What has been the best trip of your life so far? Tough one... A week in Paris with my wife, 10 days in Italy with my family, and the week in Isreal are all very close to each other. 4. Who was with you on that trip and what is the role of that person in your life? See above 5. What's the worst thing that can happen during a vacation? You didn't use American Express Travelers Checks.
More Exective Powers Abuse While I still cannot decide if the Justice Department overstepped it's bounds in the Jefferson case, this serial abuse by the Bu$hCo administration should not be overlooked. In a NYT article from Sunday Under Mr. Bush, the secrets privilege has been used to block a lawsuit by a translator at the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Sibel Edmonds, who was fired after accusing colleagues of security breaches; to stop a discrimination lawsuit filed by Jeffrey Sterling, a Farsi-speaking, African-American officer at the Central Intelligence Agency; and to derail a patent claim involving a coupler for fiber-optic cable, evidently to guard technical details of government eavesdropping. Does it seem to you that maybe they are stretching the good old exective privilige too far. No surprise the last big batch of so called state secret defences was during the Regan Administration. Good old Republican'ts. Can't fess up to their mistakes. Can't face the sc...
My Grandmother's Obituary can be found here: Marian Boyles Sprinkel Feel free to sign the guestbook if you want. Brother Andrew Apparently he continues to recover and shows no sign of back sliding into the emotional problems he was having before. I had a long talk with my Mom today and she is very hopeful. Still have not gotten an update via my Step-Mom from my Dad but I will post it when I do.
She waited till Mom came home. Grammie died last night at 11pm EST. Mom was kind enough to wait to call till this morning at 615am. Grammie waited till Mom got back to Cali, which is remarkable in itself. A final remarkable chapter in a remarkable life. Mom read to her from the bible and the Christian Science book before she finally let go last night. As Mom said I can celebrate her life personally by getting my credentials. She was very proud of what I am doing, and was satisfied that another generation was teaching (She was a career teacher and my Mom taught for many years before becoming a consultant). There will be no big funeral, her religeon does not allow for that, so I won't be going back to the left coast for anything. Just keeping her in my thoughts.