I posted an e-mail to the Theatre Sound Mailing List, which I subscribe to, asking about laser calibration tools for measuring speaker angles. My friend Tim, who is also a subscriber to the list, responds to me privately by sending me a .wav file of Dr. Evil telling Mini Me not to “hump the laser”.

My friends are weird…

I want to publicly congratulate Bryan for finally, after seven years, quitting Brian Kirk and the Jirks, a cover band that he was playing with. It was a good job while it lasted, but it’s good that he’s finally moving on so that he can actually explore his art instead of just getting a paycheck.

Everyone, including myself, loves to make fun of my van and say what a piece of crap it is. Well, that’s really not true when you think about it. In the 4 years or so that I’ve had it, I’ve put almost 100,000 miles on it. I abuse the hell out of it. I’ve driven it up and down the east coast from Connecticut to Virginia and all over New Jersey, Pennsylvannia and New York. Half the time it’s loaded with equipment and it is often carrying far more weight than it was probably intended to. Sure, I’ve had to put some money into it, but it’s never had any major problems with the engine or transmission. It’s taken the abuse I’ve given it, and it keeps going. In truth, it’s actually quite a good van, all things considered.

I’d love to be able to retire it to its intended use as a pimp van and allow an actual cargo van to take over its current duties. That’ll have to wait a bit, though. New house, first…

Sometimes I forget that I have a brother. Most of the time, actually. I guess it’s really more appropriate to say that sometimes I remember that I have a brother. I don’t think about him in the same way that you don’t think about anyone with whom you have no contact. I mean, I don’t really think about Bill Clinton all that often, either, because while I’m aware of him, I have no contact with him. That’s just an example, but you get my point.

The point is, it’s sad. It’s sad that I can forget that I have a brother. I don’t want my daughter to grow up and find out that she has an uncle that she’s never even met. My father has a brother that I wasn’t even aware of for a long time, and who I’m fairly certain I’ve never met. I don’t want that for Cindi. So sometimes I think about that.

Most of the time, though, I guess I end up not really thinking about my family at all beyond my parents.

To elaborate a bit on my previous post…

I found this poem in a book I’m reading. The authors had found this poem elsewhere and were using it to illustrate how you know when it is time to retire. They said that when this poem speaks to you, you know it’s time. I would take that a step further and say that this poem could be of use to those people are still looking for their path, trying to figure out what they want to do with their lives….

If I cannot be free,
To do such work as plesaes me
Near woodland pools and under trees,
You’ll get no work at all;

- William H Davies

Another reason why owning your own business is cool:

Do you remember when you were in school, and you had a day off, or more appropriately a sick day, and you were OUT during the day? Do you remember what that felt like? Knowing that everyone else was at school or at work, but you weren’t. You saw sunlight during the day. Wasn’t that a great feeling? You may have felt it more recently when you had a sick day from work.

I get that every day.