Tuesdays with Media: Lewis & Clark

When I first started my career as a technical writer with my internship while I was still in college, I started a habit that I still employ today: listening to instrumental music while in the office to block out distractions.  The music blocks out other noises around me (like conversations) and the lack of words means the language center of my brain won't be busy while I'm trying to write.  A convenient way to do this is to go to Pandora and type in a musician that I like.  A nice bonus of doing this is that I discover new artists that I can appreciate.  That's how I came to know the music of Tommy Emmanuel.

Tommy Emmanuel is an Australian virtuoso guitarist that proves that the guitar can be the most versatile instrument on the planet in right hands.  He first became a professional musician at age six (he's nearly sixty today), so I think it's safe to say that he's well-practiced.  I often link to other songs that I also like so that you can discover more of an artist's catalog, but I honestly haven't come across anything from Mr. Emmanuel not worth listening to, so instead I'll link to his YouTube channel and invite you to explore what he has to offer.

Today's song is Lewis & Clark, who you'll probably recognize as the American explorers tasked by President Thomas Jefferson to explore the western United States and make it to the Pacific Ocean.  So, why did an Aussie write a song about American historical figures?  I can't say.  What I can say is that the song is beautiful and the name fits the music.  The first minute is spent on the introduction, but every journey requires preparation.  Once the song proper starts, the tempo picks up and there's a real sense of excitement and adventure, but there's also some uncertainty and trepidation in there because when you're starting a new adventure, that often means heading into the unknown.  This song fits all of these emotions perfectly and still shows off Tommy's skills (watch closely and you can sometimes see him strum with his pinky while still picking with his other four fingers).

I hoped you enjoyed the return of Tuesdays with Media and all of the songs featured during this month dedicated to instrumental music.  Are there any themes or genres you'd like to see me tackle in the future?

Birthday 2015

Today is my birthday, but if you're reading this blog, you probably already knew that.

On Saturday, I celebrated by taking Ian to lunch.  That's right, I asked to buy lunch for my brother.  I've been living close to the edge of my ability to cover my expenses for so long that now that I have the means to pay for someone else's meal, I wanted to give it a try.  It wasn't bad; I'll have to do it again some time.

After lunch, we picked up Clara and Henry from their playdate and, after some running around outside with the dog, we went bowling.  I have to admit that it was kind of funny that, even with the bumpers up, Henry and Clara beat both Ian and I (for the record, I got last place).  It was a nice reminder that games, while competitive, are fun because of the people you're with, not because of your final score.

Finally, we had dinner back at their place followed by birthday cake.  Ian had asked me to make my own cake since I'm the baker, but that seemed a bit wrong; instead, I asked my good friend Lori Simcik to bake it for me and she enthusiastically agreed.  It was a delicious German Chocolate cake with old fashioned icing that's much better than the stuff you get from stores or restaurants these days.

Thank you to everyone that has, and surely will, send well wishes my way.  This birthday is during a transitionary time for me, which makes it all the more appropriate: after all, what is a birthday if not a transition from one year to the next?

Parable

I wrote today's story over a year ago.  I wrote it to help me better understand the struggle of having someone close to you dealing with something as terrible as addiction.  Now with major changes happening in my life, I wanted to share why things lasted as long as they did when it was pretty obvious that we were headed to ruin.

The Sadder Thing

On Monday, I took some time off of work, went to my county's Clerk's office, and filed for divorce.

Yeah.

While I was standing in line, directly in front of me was a couple waiting to get married.  Not applying for a marriage license but actually getting married.  I thought to myself, What's sadder, filing for divorce or getting married in jeans with no family present?  But even after just a few seconds, I realized that I was harshly judging this couple.  It was 9 am on a Monday morning, so all of their friends and family were probably at work.  And maybe they didn't dress up not because they didn't care, but because they're poor and didn't have anything nicer.  They were both wearing white tops and they looked well-groomed, so they took at least some care.

So, I realized that the question that I sarcastically asked myself pointed to the simple fact that joining your life to another person's, even in less-than-ideal circumstances, is an expression of love and hope.

And getting divorced is just sad.

Tuesdays with Media: Sahara 72

There are a lot of different subgenres of jazz.  Some these are ignored and end up fading into the background of history.  With today's example, that happened, but it only applies to the subgenre's title.

At the time that "Sahara 72" was released by the Bobby Hughes Experience on the album Fusa Riot, acid jazz was still a viable form of jazz.  It is generally considered to have been around since the '80s, but in the last decade or so, the name has become less favorable, with many artists opting to call their music jazz funk or jazz rap, or even neo soul.  It's the same kind of music, with elements of funk, hip-hop, and electronica, just with a new name.

Now, I hope that you listened to the song posted today because I'm about to share something that should surprise you, but only if you heard the song: this song is by a Norwegian band.  "Bobby Hughes" is a pseudonym of Espen Horne, who likely thought that he'd be more popular in America if he had a more familiar sounding name.  His style has a nice funk sound to it, but it's also a nice fusion of other genres with some soul-grooves, some Latin beats, some super smooth stylings, and some stuff that I don't even know how to categorize except that it's awesome.

I should point out that to me, all of these songs sound unique and original, but I've been listening to jazz for years -- to the less experienced, it may all sound more similar than I think it is.  That's not a dig at the uninitiated, it's just that I've had more time to notice nuances that others might not.  It's like how my artist grandma can look at a painting and notice techniques and colors that were used that go completely unnoticed by me.

Still, if you want to add some variety to your playlist with some funky Nordic fusion-jazz, I honestly can think of no other options.  But with a band like the Bobby Hughes Experience, what other options could you need?

Chastain Dinner

Once a year, my ward puts on an event called the Chastain Dinner.  The name came from a family that used to live in the ward in some place called Chastain that did the same sort of thing, so we named it after it's birthplace.

What is a Chastain Dinner?  It's an adults-only dinner where all of the attendees are put into groups ahead of time so that they can plan their theme.  Once a theme is decided upon, we're encouraged to decorate our tables, dress up in costumes, even plan our table's dinner menu according to the theme.  My table decided on the Lego Movie as our theme and we did build-your-own tacos (both in reference to "Taco Tuesday" mentioned in the movie and to go along with Legos being a building toy).  I made the taco meat (both chicken and beef), as well as fresh guacamole and pico de gallo.  (Quick side note: I've never made pico de gallo before and I wasn't sure how much to make for eight people.  I diced up 16 tomatoes and then added enough onion, garlic, cilantro, jalapeno, lime juice, and salt until it tasted right.  It tasted great -- I got lots of compliments -- but I made nearly a gallon's worth of salsa.  Everyone took leftovers with them, so I guess it worked out.)  We also had cheese and crackers cut to look like Legos and brownies with colored icing and M&Ms on top that also looked like Legos.

And then there were the costumes.  We had an Emmet, a Wyldstyle, a Vitruvius, a Batman, a Good Cop/Bad Cop, a Benny the Astronaut, an Abraham Lincoln (me), even a Unikitty.  I'm working on getting some pictures of our table, but there was a lot of care taken in making everything look right.

Other table themes included a Hawaiian luau, a Peruvian Barbecue, March Madness, and being stuck at the airport.  After we'd had a chance to eat and socialize, we announced our table's theme to the rest of the group and got a chance to vote on which table we liked best.  While we were allowed to vote for our own table (a change from last year), I decided that it would be more fair if I kept the candidates to the other tables.  Even so, the Lego Movie table won by a landslide.

The Chastain Dinner is one of those things that's kind of hard to explain unless you've been there already, but it's a lot of fun and I'm glad that I participated again this year.

Gaining More Than Losing

On Wednesday night, I was asked to participate the following night in what my ward calls "shepherding."  It mostly consists of visiting less active members and letting them know that we miss them, but we have the advantage of having the appointments made for us ahead of time.

When I was asked, I hesitated.  I've been under a lot of stress with the divorce and working out has been an important relief that I've come to rely upon and Thursday was a day I had scheduled for gym time.  After some ruminating, I reluctantly agreed, with the caveat that I might be late since I'd need to make it home in time to eat dinner and then make it to the church.

At work yesterday, there was a luncheon meeting, with lunch provided.  I was not part of this meeting, so I ate my regular lunch, but there were leftovers that were up for grabs.  That meant that I didn't have to worry about dinner, which certainly made things easier.

Once I got to church, I was teamed up with one of the full-time missionaries.  I had had a tiring day at work, so I wasn't in the best of moods to go out with some bright-eyed kid.  Surprisingly, it was exactly what I needed.  He asked a lot of questions about me, which gave me a chance to let off some steam, and neither of the appointments we had answered their doors, so I didn't have to awkwardly introduce myself to someone that wasn't really interested in meeting me.

While I still take my gym time seriously as an important way to manage my stress, I don't mind that I gave up one day to serve the Lord and His children.

Breaking the Fantasy

On a recent episode of Elementary, the case in the episode involved the stealing of a refrigerant that is being discontinued, known throughout the industry as R22.  (All refrigerants are assigned a code starting with "R" for "refrigerant" and a number that does mean something else beyond being random numbers, but I haven't picked up all the details yet.)  Anyway, in the episode in question, R22 was stolen because, according to the show, it's getting harder and harder to come by.

Except that it isn't.  While it's true that R22 is being phased out, it is still used in a lot of systems.  Also, the show said that eventually the fluid would be illegal to use, but that's not true either.  It will be illegal to manufacture, but if you have a system that uses it, you're fine to use what's available.

Why does this matter?  It doesn't really, but I thought it was pretty cool that I noticed some false information in a fictional program.  Often, as audience members, we just take what characters say as factual, especially if they're someone with authority, like Sherlock Holmes, who is authority an on practically everything.  But actually, the writers just googled some information on the matter and put in some details they thought would make the story more interesting.  I'm sure that the vast majority of viewers didn't catch the error, just like I don't catch other errors on other subjects; but I caught this one.

So, I've been at Danfoss for about three and a half months and I already know enough about refrigeration systems to ruin an episode of a crime drama.  Like I said, I think that's pretty cool.

Tuesdays with Media: Piece of Mind

Remember how I last week's entry was about a song that I said didn't fit the time period it was from.  The opposite is true about today's song.

I don't know about you, but my sideburns feel longer from just listening to that.  It just sounds so much like the seventies.  Seriously, close your eyes and imagine that part of it is used for the opening sequence of some TV show.  This show would have everyone in polyester, at least one person in a jumpsuit, and no fewer than three mustachioed men.  That said, I love this song.

"Piece of Mind" is a song that brings to mind feelings of both peace and excitement.  Perhaps the "piece of mind" that's being shared is good news.  I feel like this is the kind of song that should be playing in the background when I call to tell people that I'm going to be a father -- it's full of hope,  joy, and barely contained enthusiasm.

The song is by jazz legend Idris Muhammad.  When I first heard this song, I was surprised to learn that Mr. Muhammad was a drummer since this song does have times where it focuses on the horns, the sax, and the organ, but there's not a single drum solo.  Maybe he wanted to give his collaborators a chance to shine.

While I can't always see the appeal of a type of music, I really dig the whole album this came from, titled, appropriately enough, Power of Soul.  If you enjoyed this song, I recommend listening to the rest.

Where Indeed?

This past weekend I stayed at the Larsen's to help celebrate my nephew Henry's birthday.  It was nice, as always, to spend time with him and his sister, as well as their dad.

To make things go a little smoother, I arrived Friday evening and stayed the night.  I wore my contacts most of the time I was there, but I did switch to my glasses after the kids went to bed on Friday.  When I came home on Saturday, I discovered that my glasses' case was empty.  I sent Ian a text, asking if he had seen them.  He replied back with "Where would I check?" and the following pictures:

I hope they turn up.

Two Years

On this day in the year 2013, I moved to Maryland.  A lot has happened in the 730 days since I first became a Marylander.  For those of you who are just joining us:

• I've been employed by six different companies, two of which were temp agencies.
• Despite all of the companies I've worked for, I've gone through two long bouts of unemployment.
• I've made some very good friends in my ward.
• I've been to the ER thrice.
• I've had a seizure.
• I've had multiple beards and grew my hair down to my chin.
• I've acquired a roommate.
• I've really developed my skills as both a baker and a chef.
• I've improved my credit enough to finance my own car for the first time.
• I've been a Gospel Doctrine teacher for over a year.
• I've received many significant personal revelations.
• I've decided, along with Allison, to move forward with getting divorce.

That's a lot of things.  Some of them are really, really good and some of them are very unfortunate.  Regardless of where they fall on the spectrum of positivity, all of these things have shaped me into the man I am today.  And while it can be debated what kind of man that is, one thing I can say with certainty: I am a better man today than when I first moved to Maryland.

Maryland's motto could be, "A place where men become better."

Skinny Slacks

For the last two months, I've been running hard at the gym and eating as little food as I could stand, but you already knew that.  What you didn't know was that it all paid off.

One of the big reasons that I was working so hard to drop some weight was that I was preparing for a health assessment at work (that I recently completed).  It was pretty basic with a simple blood test to check my cholesterol levels (all better than average) and measuring my BMI.  If I was determined to be healthy by the nurse that took my vitals, I would be given a discount on my health insurance premiums.  Now, a BMI of 25 is considered overweight and my recorded BMI was 26, but even if I had had a 29, I'd still be considered "healthy."  And just so you know, for me to be considered a healthy weight according to BMI, at 6' 1" I can't weigh more than 188 lbs, which is a bit ridiculous.

The other reason that I was working on losing some weight was that I was embarrassed when I started working again.  My business clothes were bought for a smaller-sized Jordan, so they were tighter than I'd like.  In fact, I couldn't even fasten one pair of slacks because I was too large.  I don't think of myself as vain, but it's tough to literally be too big for your britches.

Well, yesterday I decided to give those pants a try again.  As you can probably guess, they fit.  It wasn't a terribly exciting achievement, but it was satisfying.  Now, they were still a bit more form-fitting than when I bought them, but I could button them without causing myself physical discomfort, so I'm counting it as a win.

Tuesdays with Media: Miserlou

Sometimes a song is released and it defies genres so hard that no one knows what to do with it.  That's how I feel people must have reacted to first hearing "Miserlou" by Dick Dale.

"Miserlou" was originally released in 1958 but it sure as heck sounds more recent than that.  The guitar is fast-driving, the only vocals are just enthusiastic shouts, and it has a sort of Persian sound to it -- none of those are things that really fit the vibe of Rock and Roll when it was still in its infancy.

I was introduced to this song in 1994 when it appeared in ads for Pulp Fiction and I assumed it was a modern song -- it certainly feels more like a Grunge song than early Rock, at least in my mind.  Maybe it just feels more timeless since it was heavily influenced by a traditional Middle Eastern folk tune, just with fast guitars.

If we're being technical (hint: we are), "Miserlou" falls into the sub-genre of surf rock, which may be a decent fit, but it's still weird seeing kids from that era dance the twist to this song.

Whoever directed this performance was a legitimately bad cinematographer.

"Miserlou" may not fit in well with other songs of it's kind, but it's still a great song that's a lot of fun.

Secretly Famous

Something really cool happened this last week: something I wrote was sent to every employee at Danfoss.  It was a very basic email detailing a simple cosmetic change to a product, it was based on an internal memo written by someone else, and my name wasn't even on it so no one knew I wrote it except for about four people.  Even so, I got really excited the next morning when I had a very familiar email appear in my inbox.

I guess that's where a technical writer finds his satisfaction: in doing a good job and having other people read it.  Or ignore, as I'm sure a lot of people did, but that satisfaction is still there.

Succinct

At work this week, I requested some material so that I could write some documents.  When I received what i needed, I sent back a quick email to let the other person know that I got it.

[Name of person],
Cool.
Thanks,
Jordan

Apparently, he thought my short response was amusing, so he replied back that I certainly didn't have a verbose style.  I wrote back a fairly wordy response explaining why I had adopted that particular style, but before I hit send, I edited down to one line:

Verbosity is for poets.

Digital Assessment

Thumbs.  You got to have thumbs, man.  Some people use the fact that we have an opposeable digit as proof that we're not animals.  Seriously, if all you had were thumbs, you could still do alright.  You use them to pick up stuff, hold stuff, put the car into gear, answer the phone, grab onto your belt.  The possibilities are endless!

Index.  After the thumb, this guy right here is the most useful.  You use it point (some people even call it the "pointer finger," like that's all it can do), to press buttons, to finger paint, to click the button on a computer mouse.  If the thumb is Captain Picard, the index finger is Commander Riker.

Middle.  This one's gotten a bad rap because it can be used to perform an obscene gesture, but it's really only offensive if you take it that way -- in a lot of cultures, doing the same thing is meaningless.  For most people, the middle finger is their longest digit, so it works great to interact with a touchscreen, though usually without the other fingers completely curled back.  Also, it's pretty strong on it's own, which can be helpful to hold something and your other fingers are busy.

Pinky.  The littlest digit, yes, but the most refined as well.  You raise this one while drinking from a glass and suddenly you've gained some fancy-points.  Plus, when paired with the thumb and/or index finger and you have the symbols for "hang loose," "rock on," or "I love you."

Ring.  This digit's whole purpose is for wearing jewelry.  Pretty useless, if you ask me.  If I didn't need them to type my own name, I might consider donating them.  I certainly don't need the left one, always reminding me with its uselessness by how bare it always is.  But like I said, I need it for typing, so I'll keep it ... for now.

Tuesdays with Media: Powerhouse

I want to get back into my weekly review column by dedicating the month of March to instrumental music.  This week's song is one that everyone knows, even if they don't know the name of it.

"Powerhouse" is the name of a popular dance song from the late 1930s by the Raymond Scott Quintette.  There's a really frantic feeling to the music, but in a way that's still light-hearted and fun.  Plus, the bridge in the middle is almost like a completely different song, making it feel even more unique.  You can tell way people liked dancing to it.

Not long after the song's release, the record company that owned the song was bought by Warner Bros.  Now that they had the song in their catalog, they could use in their animated shorts for free.  And use it they did.

By my count, that's 12-15 different cartoons that use the same song, and that's just in that one video.  Which is certainly the reason why I always thought of the song as the "Acme Factory Theme."  That's what's really fascinating to me about this song: it's still known to the world today due to the appropriation of it by a different industry -- animation.  And while it's likely that some fans of early jazz would know it, it's almost certain that it wouldn't be so well known had that appropriation not occurred.  I can't speak for Mr. Scott, but I think that's the best thing an artist can hope for: for his work to be known by as many people as possible.

Inner Dialogue

Immune system: There seems to be some foreign agent present in the body.  Too early to tell if it's a virus or some kind of bacteria, but just to be safe, let's produce a lot more mucus.

Brain: Won't that make it hard to do anything since we'll be sneezing and coughing and blowing our nose a lot?

Immune system: Probably, but we got to get this foreign agent out.  Just to be safe, let's also have a mild fever.

Brain: What percentage of calories should go to making the body feel like absolute garbage?

Immune system: I don't know, all of it?  No, wait.  Can we make it so that the body is exhausted, but still wakes up in the middle of the night from other symptoms?

Brain: I don't see why not!