Wow.

January is seventy-five percent gone, and I still have a job. I supposed that’s a good thing. If I had a job that I enjoyed, it’d be a better thing; beggars can’t be choosers. So what’s been going on in my little life since I last got bored enough to post an entry to this thing? Not a great deal. With a title like, “Stuff Nobody Reads,” that’s pretty much a given for this blog; but I probably should try to think of something. I mean, I’m assuming that this thing will be a vital tool for the hordes of biographers who are certain to be researching my life in 10 years or so – after I’m rich and famous.

Beats the hell out of having to read the backs of envelopes to find, say, The Gettysburg Address, or trying to interpret really poorly-drawn paintings of stickmen killing stickbison on some cave wall in France in order to establish that “Bob Neanderthal was here.” Biographers and historians of the future probably will have no idea how easy they’ve got it.

But I digress.

Last Friday we had a conference call during which we were informed that we’re basically working for no reason. Can’t say much about it (with my luck, the entire legal staff of every telecommunications company in the world reads this daily in order to see if I divulge any proprietary information), but it boils down to this: we can continue our market trial for the next year or so, but our product will never actually go on the market. Begs a couple of questions, right? Like, “Why?” and “Come again?” And the ever-popular, “What the hell am I doing here?” Eh bien. Having spent the last 16 years of my life navigating fairly stormy corporate waters, I guess I can sit back and wait for the maelstrom to start up again later this year. What else would a gadabout like me do for fun?

I had a concert with the Georgia Brass Band last night at a church in Lawrenceville. It was the 4th or 5th time we’ve played there. Always a good crowd (in terms of quantity and appreciation), so it was fun. There was a minor downside to it: I had a solo. Actually, it was a duet between me and a baritone, but it was still far too exposed for me. Made my way through the first half of it somewhat shakily and only cracked one note on the back half. I got a bit of a pick-me-up after the concert when our lead cornet player admitted to me that he gets extremely nervous when playing solos (not that you can tell when he plays). I realized that I don’t really get jittery playing in front of crowds anymore. My nervousness when playing exposed passages with the GBB is due to the fact that I realize that everyone else in the group is better than I am. It’s one thing to play for 1000 people who wouldn’t know if you played a wrong note or had thin tone. It’s quite another to play in front of 27 instrumentalists who know exactly how badly you suck.

But they were all nice about it and I enjoyed the concert. Our encore was from the William Tell Overture and the folks in the church really got into it.

Don’t know if I’ve mentioned it before or not, but my roommate is most definitely being deployed to Iraq at the end of March. She is understandably somewhat nervous about the situation. She’s also looking forward to the extra bucks she’ll get. Her orders, received a couple of weeks ago, imply that she’ll be in country for 18 months; but thanks to a recent rules change, there’s really not a limit on how long she’ll have to stay. As she put it, “Great. I’m being sent to work with a bunch of disgruntled soldiers.” Still, she’s taking everything in stride and doing a great job of getting organized (packing her storage building up to be put in Army storage, arranging for the care and upkeep of her houses in PA and TX, spending time with her kids….updating her will). Her boyfriend, currently in Pennsylvania, isn’t faring so well. After two tours in Kuwait himself (at least one of which left him with Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder), he is quite upset with the whole situation – which isn’t really helping her nerves.

I’ve been spending a lot of time recently recreating my flagship website. This time, I’m putting it on a Linux server (have never done anything other than Windows) and basing it in PHP (have never done anything other than ASP). It seems to be going rather well, and I’ve got about 30 folks testing it out for me. Hopefully I’ll be able to launch it for real in about a month. Until that time, I’ve got a really steep learning curve to deal with. PHP absolutely baffles me. So does MySQL (the database that runs the site – I’ve never used anything other than Microsoft Access). Fortunately, there’s a host of online support forums and prepackaged code out there, so I should be able to get some sort of product working before I really need to start customizing it for my own purposes. And the experience will certainly help me should I decide to start looking for new employment in the IT field.

My XM radio continues to be a wonderful little thing for my nerves. I find myself spending most of my in-car time switching between the 70’s station and the Broadway station. Don’t know if that means I’m a disco freak or gay; it does make the traffic jams seem a trifle less aggravating.

It has been quite chilly in Duluth for the last several days. Chilly for the deep south, at least. The nights have been in the high twenties and we’re getting afternoon highs in the high thirties to low forties. Last night we had a fantastic amount of wind. Naturally, I had to open my bedroom window when that started up (I love wind), but was forced to close it after about 5 minutes, when the thermostatically-controlled space heater in my room started having convulsions. I toyed with the idea of just shutting it off, wrapping myself in a blanket and sleeping with the window open; but nixed that idea because 1)I’m sure my furnace would’ve had to kick on if I left it open (furnace is currently set to 57 degrees), and 2)I figured my roommate would freeze (she’s in a separate room, people. Enough already!). Anyway, it was nice to listen to it through the window.

That’s about all I can think of at this point. Taxes are coming due so that’ll be fun. And my bonus this year (the last one I’ll get, probably) is going to be the highest ever awarded in the history of BellSouth. Maybe I’ll write something after I get it. Like, “Hey. I need a new job.”

TWD

It is now 2007.

I became acutely aware of this at midnight last night, in spite of the fact that I went to bed at 10:30. I learned it in much the same way that I have for the last 8 years: the people who live in the house behind mine fired off enough explosives to destroy South Dakota.

After the bombardment subsided (approximately 15 minutes – and this is in a state where fireworks are illegal), I reassured myself that my house was not on fire and tried to go back to sleep. I’d almost managed to do that when my cell phone rang.

By the time I’d managed to locate it and answer it, the caller had hung up. It turned out to be my roommate, who I’m sure was calling to say, “Happy New Year.” I did not attempt to call back; but at 2:45, said roommate sent me a text message: Happy New Year and Happy Birthday. I did respond to that – then went back to sleep. People my age need their rest.

For those of you keeping track: 41. Isn’t that the answer to everything?

My trip north was quite enjoyable, in spite of the fact that Vermont had no snow and the temperature seemed to approach tropical numbers. It was still nice to be home, and I made a pretty decent haul from under the tree. Cy surprised me with a Danske kettle that I’ve coveted for several years, and that was sandwiched among t-shirts, socks, chocolate, books, and a varied assortment of other cool stuff.

Cy, “T,” and I were entertained by “T’s” sons, Chris and Jamie, on the 25th and 26th. After Chris departed, Jamie pulled out the poker chips and the four of us (joined on the 28th by Karl and Diane Neuse) spent every evening attempting to recreate the World Series of Poker in front of a roaring fire. I also got to visit quite a few towns in Vermont – Middlebury, Brandon, Whitehall, Leicster, Rutland, Ferrisburgh, Shoreham, Vergennes…to name a few.

On the way to Vermont, and also on the way back from same, I stopped in Lansdale, PA, to visit with a friend. We managed to take in a nice Chinese dinner, play some pool in a tiny little bar in North Wales, PA, act as chaperones (or so it seemed) at a club which catered to the fake ID crowd, watch some television and just catch up on each other. Good times.

It was actually while we were at the pool pub that I received word that the AT&T/BellSouth merger was approved. Let the countdown begin. Reading a follow-up story yesterday, I learned that 10,000 jobs will be lost over the next three years due to the merger.

I just hope I get a decent severance package. Let me get out of debt and I’m moving north, dammit.

Greg and Lisa and their angry pack of children are expected to arrive at my house late this morning in anticipation of a visit to the Titanic exhibit in downtown Atlanta. Should be fun, but I have no idea where everyone is going to sleep tonight. My roommate and her boyfriend are also expected by this evening. It’ll be Thanskgiving all over!

Rehearsals with the GBB kick off again tomorrow night, and we’re into our NABBA schedule. 31 rehearsals between tomorrow and the end of March. That’s basically every Tuesday, every Thursday, and a few weekends.

More than likely, I’ll also have some Wednesday night sessions with a brass quintet and I’ve pretty much promised the church that hires me a few times every year that I’ll start playing with them on Sundays. I’ll be playing more than I did in college.

Maybe when AT&T drops the hammer I’ll finally be able to live out my dream of gigging for a living.

The weather right now is a rather balmy 50 degrees and clear – quite a change from yesterday’s offering of 40’s with anything from drizzles to downpours. I have no idea what the forecast is, but I’ll roll with it.

Kind of like the year in general. Here’s hoping it’s good for everyone who reads this – and for the guy who wrote it.

TWD