Changing Plans

My wife has a luncheon to attend today and I had made plans to pickup my grandson and spend the afternoon working on some projects around the house not the least of which is the need to finish the fog light installation on the truck. Had it all planned out and he just called to tell me he is confining himself to his room today as he isn't feeling very good and there has been overnight issues that are too nasty to discuss in a family forum. Suffice it to say......he is sick.

So I will move on alone. We had planned to go to Gold Bar this weekend but when I came home last night Mia wasn't very interested in going and she said it was going to rain so I called Zach and made arrangements to do other stuff. Then the call came that he isn't doing well. There is a lot of stuff that needs to be done around the house so I will get up and get to work after my next couple of cups of coffee and reading the news.

Hope everyone has a great Saturday and you team wins. Unfortunately, my team has a bye week.

A Visionary Lost

We have lost one of the worlds greatest visionaries. Lost to cancer, Steve Jobs was without doubt someone who had a vision of what consumers wanted, built it and presented it in a way that made us want it. I have never had the Mac or IPhone or IPad but I do own an IPod and I use ITunes. Now instead of tapes or discs I have a memory that stores 3,000 tunes and I can call up most any of them with ease. And it is stuff I want to listen too, unlike the stuff that gets air time on the radio.

It will be interesting to see how Apple goes with loss of Mr. Jobs.

He made it perfectly clear that you needed to find what it is you love doing and do it. If you weren't doing what you loved then you need to keep looking until you find it. Don't give up.

R.I.P

Great Day

I had a great day today and came home to have a great evening with my lovely wife. Dinner will be ready soon, followed by a piece of Costco pumpkin pie for dessert. It might be raining, dark and dismal outside, but it is warm, light, and great here in my living room.

Hope you had a great day.

Amazing Recovery

Surprisingly you can't keep a good person down....and Grandma is no exception. It is amazing the difference between this evening and last night. She is doing so go we went shopping at Costco after work tonight.

Have a great Tuesday..

Mt Si with Grandma

Yesterday evening during the wedding our grandson reminded Grandma that he was planning on making the 4700 foot climb up Mt Si in North Bend. She got up early this morning and went over to pick up Zach and head off to the trail head.

At around 4pm as I noticed the weather was starting to turn bad (dark, cloudy and rain), i started to try and call people to see if anyone had heard anything from either of them. All I got was voice mail until Zach called me around 4:30pm and let me know they were nearly back down to the trail head. Grandma got home around an hour and a half later and she is not doing well. Lots of stuff hurts and she is thinking maybe it was a mistake.

Just going to have to support her and hope she gets better quickly.

Weddings and Football

Yesterday my wife and I attended the wedding of the son of a very close family friend. My son has been friends with the groom since we moved in next door to his family when he was four. His family became very close friends and I suspect they are a good portion of the reason we have a lot at Gold Bar. They had been there for years and kept trying to get us to join them. When the kids were young it was a fun family place. The wedding was wonderful and we wish the bride and groom the very best for years to come. It was a very long day for me as I was up at 2am to go to work and start the process of ending the month of September.

Unfortunately the Huskies had to play a late game yesterday. The wedding started at four and so did the game. Luckily others attending the wedding had various types of wi-fi phones and I was able to keep pretty good tabs on the game as it progressed. The Huskies came out victorious and are now 4-1-0. Very happy numbers if you are a Husky fan. Week after next my grandson, son and I will attend the Colorado game at the old Husky stadium for last time. Next year Husky stadium will be redone and the Huskies will play in the Seahawk stadium in the Sodo district of Seattle.

As a sports fan of a baseball team that has seen its share of ups and downs I have to somewhat sympathise with the fans of the Boston Red Sox team now officially eliminated for the run to the World Series for 2011. At least THEY made it to the playoffs. You should hear the banter about the Mariners here in Seattle. The manager of our team says he is "confident of the future of the Mariner organization". Where have I heard this before? Oh well, as most baseball fans will say, "there is always next year".

Music

I have loved music since I was a kid. My mother used to love to listen the classical music and especially loved to listen to MALE (not females) tenor singers. She had an expression for female singers that wasn't very nice and I really don't think I should post in on a family oriented blog.

I learned to listen to everything. I enjoyed classical and even took up the Viola in junior high. I enjoyed (still do) singing and stood in front of an audience and sang "Smoke Gets In Your Eyes" in a grade school talent show. I sang in the school choirs and during church (when we went). I should tell you....I can't sing for beans. When I was younger (grade school) I had a high voice and could carry a tune but I never invested much time in studying or learning to sing. Did I stop, hell no. Ask my family, I still sing even though most agree, I can't. But I love the music...I really love the music. All kinds of music. I can listen to pop, rock, country, some rap, classical, classics, instrumental, blues, jazz and the list goes one. I love to sing along to a lot of different songs and I have always loved the singers who sing for the song and the singing. Those that use glitz, explosions, lights and all the extra stuff that fills stadiums doesn't really get me going. There are a few artists who do all this stuff that I do enjoy but I believe in the end they are truly in it for the music and the showmanship comes when they have to pay all those bills for all the equipment and people that move around the country with them.

I know, get to the point. Well my wonderful wife and I watched a movie the other night and I was impressed. Even though movie got stinky reviews and didn't do well in the box office it serve to remind me of times gone by. I am speaking of "Country Strong" a movie where a singer doesn't sing and the actors do. The acting is really thin but the story brought back some memories and made me remember that it used to be for the music. I really think that Gwyneth Paltrow was an alcoholic singer that has long forgot why she is doing what she does. Ms. Paltrow has a wonder voice. I offer this link as proof. She sings with Vince Gill at the 2010 CMA Awards Show.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ctknlgZfXN8

But I digress as usual. What reminded me of the singer, his instrument and the music was a co star played by Garrett Hedlund. He plays a singer who is in it for the music and just enjoys singing in the bars and dives with no glitz. He gets roped into going on tour but is never really happy with decision. But the music he sings reminds me of singers gone by. Those that sit in a small auditorium and with their guitar in hand, make personal music for their audience. Don Williams, Ed Bruce (he was in Country Strong and didn't sing), Waylon Jennings, Bonnie Riatt, Bob Dylan, Sinatra just to name a few. Anyway, here is Garrett singing in the movie.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hBCXvTKeVhM&feature=related

I love music...sorry to bore you to death with this stuff.

Off to do errands, clean up and go to a wedding..

Have a great Saturday