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!