Record Mode

Pete LaBonne Invitation
Pete LaBonne House Concert Invitation

Pete and Shelley are here so we decided to follow in Rick Simpson’s footsteps and have a house concert. Show time is 40 minutes away. Some of the email invites went out only a few hours ago. We’ll see who shows up. Two guests are already here. The sun will be setting behind Pete LaBonne when he hits the stage in our living room. We have the Sony mini disc in record mode and Peggi plans on videoing.

The Stones movie was sensational. The sound was better than any concert or movie I have ever been too. This was the first movie we’ve seen at the Imax theater in Gates. We had the best seats in the house for the 9:40 show and felt like we sitting on the stage. Mick was in full aerobics mode and the band looked was clearly having as good a time as we were.

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The Pain Of the Church

Pope on TV at Dr. Cupolo’s office.
Pope on TV at Dr. Cupolo’s office

I had to set the alarm last night to make sure I got up for my dentist appointment and I wasn’t quite awake when I sat down in the waiting room. I could hardly believe what I was seeing on tv. Good thing I had my camera with me.

“I acknowledge the pain of Church in U.S. from sex abuse scandal.” The pain of the Church?

We’re headed out to the Imax theater to see the new Stones movie at 9:40. I will report back.

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The Pope Is A Creep

Pope Paul VI birth control poster
Pope Paul VI birth control poster

Papal infallibility covers a lot pigheadedness and downright criminality but it can’t disguise this Pope’s creepiness.

From today’s paper – “It is a great suffering for the church in the United States and for the church in general and for me personally that this could happen,” Benedict said, adding that he would work to keep pedophiles out of the priesthood.

Good luck. Isn’t this how we fight drug addiction and illegal immigration. And you have to feel a little funny dumping money in the collection basket when the church has already spent over two billion bucks fighting or settling with sexually abused parishioners. The Pope covers up crimes, discriminates against women and gays and claims that Christ is speaking through him.

The first LSD I took was from a guy who lived in my dorm. I had no idea what to expect or how long it would last. I was hanging out with friends and they all went home. I was up all night watching and listening to a Pope Paul VI poster. I think it was this one (above) although this seems more anti-Italian than anti-Pope. I haven’t done any more of that stuff since 1969 but having to look at the Pope and Bush in the same shot is like a bad flashback.

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Big Ball

Peggi with big green ball.
Peggi with big green ball.

Hoffman Road dead ends down at the park. It gets real low and wetland like at the end. There’s a creek that flows under the road and when it rains real hard it flows over the road. All sorts of stuff floats down the creek and gets stuck trying to get through the big pipe. We found a day plastic day glo sword a few weeks ago and big green ball the other day. We kicked it all the way home.

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Buddy Is Always In The Moment

Eric Taylor Performing
Eric Taylor performing at Rick and Monica’s house concert

We watched Eric Taylor load his car this morning while we were drinking our coffee. He was wearing shorts and he sort of looked hungover. We took our walk early and I tested the sepia movie mode on my new Nikon. I’m liking this little thing. The coolest thing about it is the black magnesium body with the rubberized grips. It feels like you could dangle it from your fingertips and not drop it. And it fits comfortably into my front pants pockets. I don’t worry about the geeky overloaded pockets look anymore. I come prepared. I’ve got three or four pens (mostly drug company or paper company freebies with brand names on them), a swiss army knife, my keys with a drum key on the chain (I’ve still got copies of Sparky’s garage and shed keys), a small note book and now my new camera.

I guess I’m keeping this thing. I have seven more days to decide. I talked to a tech women at Nikon this morning about the their bullshit download software. She told me that it was embarrassing for her but Nikon has not updated the “Nikon Transfer” software to work with the newest Mac system. She said, “Don’t feel bad. It doesn’t work with Vista either.”. So they designed a brand new camera that you can’t get your photos off of with the USB cable. They instruct you to install their cd of their garbage and it’s not compatible with current operating systems. They let you have this maddening experience right off the bat. I do like the little Sony card reader that I had to buy so I’ll stop complaining.

Eric Taylor is a pro. During his first set in Rick’s living room we heard a bunch of stories that he must have told hundreds of times. I was wondering if he was just going to go on this way or get in the moment and then Buddy the dog walked through the room. He made a few jokes about Buddy that sounded like he had told them before but of course he couldn’t have. He has a beautiful, hypnotic, finger picking sound and I really enjoyed drifting off to it.

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A Healthy Histogram

Invasive species with healthy histogram
Invasive species with healthy histogram

In my last post I referred to a histogram and Steve asked what it is. I’ve included Photoshop’s view of a histogram of the above photo. Spot the invasive species.

Rick and Monica’s Living Room
Rick and Monica’s Living Room

Our friends and neighbors have their living room in concert mode. They like singer/songwriter stuff and they saw this guy, Eric Taylor, perform at SXSW in Austin a few years ago. They contacted him and asked if he would be interested in doing a house concert the next time he was up this way. Today is the day. Peggi was out pruning our cherry tree when he pulled into town. They priced tickets at $15 and sold out. There will be fifty people there tonight.

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Kindle This

Nikon P5100 error messages
Nikon P5100 error messages

While reading reviews of the cameras I was considering buying, a few things occurred to me. It is just too easy to be critical. Some sites do reviews as link baits. Some experts don’t know what they’re talking about. Digital cameras take three steps forward and one step back every time they make a move. Features that you grow accustomed to disappear. I like looking through a view finder. It blocks out the rest of the world for a bit while you frame the shot. Its hard to find a camera with one anymore. My little Sony had a histogram in the preview window when you were manual mode. With the Nikon you have to take a shot and then preview it before you can see the histogram. Who engineered that? And you have to take the battery out of the camera and put it into a charger to recharge it whereas the Sony and my old Kodak allowed you to recharge it in the camera. But I won’t focus entirely on the bad. I have more than twice the megapixels and I can shoot without the Flash in low light.

Now back to the bad. Why can’t I download the photos from the camera without using some clunky Nikon software? I took a my first batch of photos and plugged the USB cable into the camera and nothing showed up on the desktop. So I installed the Nikon software from the cd (notice I have not read the directions yet) and plugged the camera back in. The “Nikon Transfer” software launches and crashes and at the same time a window pops up to tell me a new version of the software is available. I go to Nikon’s site to download the update the software and it says I am not registered so I can’t download it.

So I went out to Target and bought a card reader, shoved the SD card in it and it mounted fine. Why couldn’t Nikon let you get at the files directly from the camera? I have ten days to decide whether I’m going to keep this thing. I’ll try some shots tomorrow. I may even read the manual.

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I Believe in Evolution

Peggi under the bridge on Culver 1998
Peggi under the bridge on Culver 1998

I bought my fourth digital camera today. The photo above was taken with my first camera. Peggi was under the bridge on Culver in 1998 while I documented the underside. 4D designed the t-shirt she has on for Writers & Books.

My first two cameras were Kodaks, a one megapixel and a three. My father worked for Kodak and they came out of the employee store there. Both were refurbished and sold for about half price. My friend, Duane, worked for Warner Brothers Records and Sony bought them so he bought my third camera from the Sony employee store. That was a Cybershot DSC V1 and I loved it. It was five megapixel with a 4X optical zoom. The firmware is shot and it destroys memory cards so I gave up on it. I looked around and was ready to make a move on a Canon PowerShot SX100 IS until I held it in my hands. I felt light and cheap. The salesman at Rowe showed me a Nikon P5100 and I loved the way it felt. It has 12 megapixels and 3 1/2 X optical zoom. I’m charging the battery now.

My sister-in-law from LA just pulled in the driveway with my mother-in-law. They are here for dinner. We plan to have salmon (the wild stuff not the farm raised) and a salad. I have have to get out there and make that. I ‘m letting the girls get caught up.

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Forgive But Never Forget

Paul Dodd protesting Viet Nam war. Photo by Kim Torgerson
Paul Dodd protesting Viet Nam war. Photo by Kim Torgerson

Here’s one of the protesters in San Francisco as the Olympic torch passed through town. No, wait. That’s me protesting the Viet Nam war in Assembly Hall on the IU campus. No one would look that dorky today. I think Kim Torgerson took this shot.

We watched a very cool movie last night about letting go. Eva Mozes Kor, one of the Mengele twins who were experimented on at Auschwitz, stars in this documentary about her decision to forgive the Nazis for killing her family. She gets a lot of flack from people who can’t go that far but she holds up well. Margaret Explosion played at the Little last night and I was sort of expecting to fall asleep during this one but “Forgiving Dr. Mengele” was really well done and completely engaging.

I couldn’t help but think about another Jew’s plea as hung on the cross and of course that whole “turn the other cheek” thing. I looked up “forgive” this morning to see if it really is that simple. It is. Forgive “Stop feeling angry or resentful toward someone for an offense, flaw or mistake.”

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Items To Post

Janet Williams painting entitled "Wite Out" 2007
Janet Williams painting entitled “Wite Out” 2007

There was a note from Janet Williams in my in box today and she attached a photo of the sensational painting that I referred to in yesterday’s post. I hope you like it as much as I do. She currently has three paintings in a show at the Oxford Gallery.

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Lamp Left On All Night

A few months back I took the tunnel between the new downtown library and the old library building by the river. There is usually some art on the walls there and this time it was Rochester Public Library employees. I scanned the walls as I walked but came to a screeching halt when I spotted this lusciously painted typewriter. It was the paint itself that stopped me. I realized it was a typewriter after a minute or so. And that is not because it was abstract. It was alive with painterly expression and raw beauty. The painting was by Janet Williams and I knew that she worked here but I had forgotten. I didn’t have my camera with me or I would have grabbed a shot. It doesn’t seem fair to inadequately describe something that I was knocked out by with showing it to you. Maybe Janet will send one along.

We were extremely busy with 4D Advertising work last year and we are extremely slow now so I thought I would update the woefully neglected Refrigerator. There is such a backlog of items to post that I have been researching content management systems to help me out. I found a few paintings by Janet from last year in the “Items To Post” folder. Here is a beautiful one called, “Lamp Left On All Night”.

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Speed Isn’t Everything

Turkey in the woods Irondequoit NY
Turkey in the woods Irondequoit NY

Turkeys are almost too big to fly and even though they have wings it seems they would rather walk. Occasionally we come up on a group of them and they will all take off but that is only if we have really taken them by surprise. Otherwise they just walk a little faster to get away form us.

Alice asked to see my recent paintings last night and I expressed or tried to articulate a problem that I thought I was having with a few of them. I feel like I am ill equipped to fine tune some them that started off full of energy but are now bogged down. Bogged down because I’m trying to attend to poorly executed details. As I fumble my way through addressing these problems I feel like I’m over polishing and loosing the original energy.

Alice pointed out that speed isn’t everything and if the problem was really severe I could paint it out and start over. She made me realize that the choice is entirely mine as to whether I like the painting or not. And if I do, it is worth whatever it takes to finish it. The time frame is dictated by the situation and is really irrelevant to the finished piece.

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No Tiny Feet

Deer in the woods.
Deer in the woods.

I made a fire this morning even though it was near sixty and sunny. I was crumpling up yesterday’s paper and Peggi was reading Frank Rich’s op ed piece aloud from today’s paper.

“. . . a mini-Tet that belied the “success” of the surge. Even fewer noticed that the presumptive Republican nominee seemed at least as oblivious to what was going down as President Bush, no tiny feat.”

“Can you read that last sentence again”, I asked. She did and I looked down at my feet. “I don’t get the tiny feet part” I said. She read the line again and I finally got it. Do other languages share the same pronunciation of differently spelled words? I’ll ask Julio, a native of Spain, when I see him later for dinner.

Last night was the annual “Jazz Night” at Mountain Rise United Church of Christ in Pittsford, NY. Peggi’s mom belongs to this church and she invited us out. This is the same UCC organization that Obama belongs to. I wanted to tell the minister at this church that I pretty much agreed with the Reverend Wright but I resisted.

Parishioner and piano player Rob Blumenau put a great band together. He said their average age was 43. The bass player was an Eastman student, the guitar player was still in high school and the other two weren’t giving their age up. But Rob did say the the drummer, Brad Paxton, brought the average up more than he did. And the drummer was a wild man! He has played with a long list of famous performers. He and Rob were having a great time. We did too.

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Sonic Background to the Din

Last night’s opening of “Electric Florets” was really well attended. Geri’s son Paul worked the bar while simultaneously hanging out with his friends. The big wall with a grid of sixteen oil pastel mandalas was most impressive. Geri’s painting teacher, Fred Lipp, was there engaged in deep conversation with Alice. Another fellow classmate, Lorraine, slipped in and out while we provided a sonic background to the din in the room.

During our break Katherine Denison told me the band sounded “really tight”. I told her that “tight” was a word I would never apply to Margaret Explosion. And she said, “I know. I’ve been at the Little when it’s been real loosey goosey”. That’s more like it.

Pineapples went up a dollar at Wegmans. They were $3.99 each all winter and are now $4.99. They are one of the only produce items left with a flat cost attached to them instead of a per pound cost. With most produce I enter the 4 or 5 digit code and the scale computes the cost based on the weight. But with pineapples I put the fruit on the store scales just to see which one is the heaviest and then buy that one. I can usually find one that is over six pounds. I think limes are sold this way too.

It is a beautiful day here, sunny and headed toward sixty, a perfect day for painting in the basement.

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Electric Florets

Geri McCormick Electric Florets
Geri McCormick Electric Florets

OK. So it’s raining. No excuse for not taking a walk. If you don’t get out there you won’t see the robins gorging themselves on worms or the one legged turkey doing the turkey hop. And you won’t find any golf balls along the golf course and you’re never gonna find any empty 24 ounce Bud cans along the road. I picked up two today and had them in my hand when I waved to a neighbor who drove by. She’s probably thinking, “So that’s the guy that’s been dumping all those cans down here.”

Geri McCormick asked Margaret Explosion to play at her opening tonight of “Electric Florets” at the Genesee Center for the Arts.

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Dynamic Pages

24 ounce can of Budweiser
24 ounce can of Budweiser

Andrea’s Burma Shave bit seems to be having an effect. We only found one 24 ounce can of Budweiser today.

I spent most of the day yesterday doing php and MySQL experiments with Bill Jones. And then at our Margo gig last night Bob told me I should checking out the open source content management system called Joomla. I’m ready to try some dynamic pages. We had friends over for dinner and we got a really late start for the Margo gig. I loaded the car while Peggi made some soup. We were almost there and Peggi asked me if I put her sax in the car. Whoops.

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Pop

Old pop bottles. Rochester NY
Old pop bottles. Rochester NY

I found these pop bottles in the woods near our house. I’m guessing some neighborhood kids left them down there a long time ago. I bought a bottle washer at Home Depot and scrubbed them clean with Mr. Clean before taking this photo. Now all I have to do is get that “Mr. Clean” jingle out of my head.

Pop bottles looked like this when I was a kid so they must all be fifties vintage. The empty Qualtop bottle is really heavy and it holds only 6 and 1/2 ounces of liquid. The Miller’s bottle with the slogan, “Short and Good”, holds 6 ounces and the 7-Up bottle with the “You Like It. It Likes You.” slogan holds 7. These are all a long ways from today’s “Big Gulp”.

All three bottles have “Rochester, N.Y.” printed on them. The Miller’s bottle has “Rochester Soda Water Co. Inc.” on the back and that brings up this whole “pop” verses “soda” thing. We call it “pop” in Rochester but in New York City they call it “soda”. In Detroit, where the accent is nearly indistinguishable from the Rochester accent, they call it “pop”. And it was “soda” when we lived in Indiana. I like “pop” better.

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Mr. Budweiser. We Have Your Number.

Snowman remains in April.
Snowman remains in April.


That’s the head of the snowman from yesterday’s entry on the left.

Apple was up six today. Somebody sees some light at the end of this tunnel but we’re still worried. We’re considering making extra house payments with the cash on hand instead of playing the horses. That way “if the market does go to heck in a hand basket”, as our ML guy likes to say, we’ll be protected from the rain.

I’ve been experimenting with hummus recipes that I’ve found online. I thought it was spelled “humas” at first and apparently a few other people did too. I made a batch of “humas” with jalapeños that was quite good. I’ve made four different kinds in last few weeks. I had a hummus, onion and spinach sandwich for dinner. I don’t like it when the first hit tastes like tahini. Three of these recipes have called for too much tahini vs. the chick peas. And the garlic gets overpowering fast. I like lime juice in there. Today I made the mistake of dumping all the gooey ingredients into the food processor without first putting the blade in there first so I had scoop it all back out. I’ll have my own recipe tweaked with a few more trials.

Note to the dude that drives down the dead end, Hoffman Road, and throws his 20 ounce Budweiser cans out the window: We have your number. Most of the snow disappeared today in the near 70 degree temperature and we found ten tall Bud cans along the side of the road. We are talking of making Burma Shave-like signs and sticking them in the ground down there. First one would read, “Mr. Budweiser”. Second one would probably get us arrested if we said what we thought.

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What He Most Loved, That I Most Hated

Snowman at end of March
Snowman at end of March

My sister stopped by today and we were talking. Actually she does most of the talking so that sort of makes it easy. One of her daughters goes to a conservative church and she told us that our other sister is concerned about that. The sister who stopped by says, “What does it matter. My daughter is all grown up and she’s happy”.

I was thinking of this Frederick Douglas (a Rochesterian) quote that I read last night. This was in connection to something much more serious (the relationship of slave to master) but it kind of explains how the world keeps from getting lopsided.

“What he most dreaded, that I most desired. What he most loved, that I most hated. That which to him was a great evil, to be carefully shunned, was to me a great good, to be diligently sought.”

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You’re A Bad Dog Whimsy

We walked through the woods today and came across four different parties of deer. The skies were pure blue and the snow was disappearing under our feet. When we got to the park we decided to walk up Log Cabin Road to the Wisner. We were asking for trouble here because dog people drive to this intersection and then let their dogs run free (i.e. take a dump on the road).

As we walked we watched an oversize woman bend over and call her dog from her over sized husband in a US Army sweatshirt. He had just let the big black dog off its leash. The dog came right at us and the women chided the dog with, “Well I guess you would rather go home with them than us.” A little further up the the road we ran into Whimsey, a Golden Retriever, who walked in circles around us while sniffing our bodies. With raising her voice or applying an inflection, the woman said, “You’re a bad dog Whimsy. You’re a bad dog Whimsy.”

About ten years ago I made the mistake of putting the back of my hand out for a stray dog to sniff. It grabbed my hand and and mangled it. I spent the afternoon in Emergency getting injections of Human Globulin directly into the wounds and then stitches. And there was a month of rabies shots at regular intervals. I couldn’t play drums for weeks. Dogs aren’t all that cute any more. Except for little white, wiry things and Dachshunds and Basset Hounds and our neighbor’s dogs. And that one that bit me.

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