Wednesday, 4. November 2009, 15:45:23
Music, Astronomy, The Four Seasons
I’m not normally given to writing song lyrics, but back in
the 80s I came up with the words for a punk rock song. Here’s
the song:
“Write One Song”
by
Edward Piercy
Write one song and play it to death
Write one song and play it to death
Write one song and play it to death
Write one song and play it to death
Write one song
Play it to death
Write one song
Play it to death
Write one song and play it to death
Write one song and play it to death
Write one song and play it to death
Write one song and play it to death
Write one song
Play it to death
Write one song
Play it to death
Following upon the success (in my own mind) of that song,
I wrote another one:
“Write Two Songs”
by
Edward Piercy
Write two songs and play ’em to death
Write two songs and play ’em to death
Write two songs and play ’em to death
Write two songs and play ’em to death
Write two songs
Play ’em to death
Write two songs
Play ’em to death
Etc. etc etc. I think you get the idea.
I never did write a third punk song for some reason. Though
I’m pretty sure that I could.
Also back in the 80s I wrote a song called “Heart Parasol.”
I wrote it while visiting my sister and brother-in-law at
their house near Grissom AFB in Indiana. My brother-in-law,
John, ended up setting the words to music. And eventually,
recently, he recorded it. You can listen to the song on
John’s MySpace page if you care to.
I don’t remember the lyrics to that one. So I can’t put them
down here. I do remember vaguely what my life was like back
then, what I was thinking and feeling. Lots of ancient Roman
history. Lots of beer. Xanax. Echo and the Bunnymen. And of
course the seemingly ever-present depression over some girl
or another.
It seems like so long ago. But of course it wasn’t. It always
gets me when people meet and one will say “Gee, it’s been a
long time.” And the other person will respond “Yes, it has
been. Too long” or something to that effect.
But it hasn’t been a long time. A billion years, now that’s a
long time. All our time is but the blink of a star’s eye.
The Corona Borealis super cluster of galaxies, located
approximately 1 billion light years away from us.
Friday, 30. October 2009, 13:09:03
Technology, The Four Seasons
Somebody please remind me to brush my hair next
time before I get a photo taken.
As some of you may already know my Dell laptop died on 9-9-09
(kinda creepy, yeah?). Since the laptop was my backup computer
for the desktop that died last Winter, that left me with no
computer whatsoever. For a while I did the best I could to keep
plugging with the blog posts and blog rounds working from my
Blackberry. But it eventually got to be too much -- just more
frustrating and depressing than anything else. Worse, it looked
like I wouldn't be able to come up with enough money for a new
computer until January.
So I decided to quit for a while, to get away from the blog and
to a great extent the internet altogether. I'm afraid that my
last post (which I have since deleted) wasn't very clear on
these matters, and perhaps was made worse by turning off the
Comments -- I don't quite know what I was thinking on that one.
But I would like everybody to know that it was not my intention
to cut anyone out of the loop. For that I apologize.
I'm not exactly a cool headed private eye who keeps a level head
and knows what to do in any tough situation. In fact even my
fictional private eye Pat Maginess isn't that type of person.
When dealing with stressful situations I can sometimes freak out
a bit. In the past I've had my girlfriend or other friends there
at my side to help, saying "It's okay, Ed. It'll be all right"
and sort of mentally patting my shoulder. But those friends are
gone or are fading. And I have really no one to help like that
anymore. I guess I'm going to have to learn to do that kind of
thing myself.
In any case, I didn't have to wait until next January. Through
the auspecies of my brother-in-law John, who took pity on my poor
computerless state, I was able to arrange financing for a new
laptop. So to John I would like to say -- thanks a million, bro.
Without you I would still be piddling away my mornings watching
soap operas.
For those who are into computer stuff, here are some of the
tech specs.
Model: HP Pavilion
Screen: 17"
Keyboard: full size with numeric keypad
Processor: AMD Turion X2 2.2 Ghz
RAM: 4 GB DDR2
Hard Drive: 500 GB
CD Drive: DVDRW
Ports: 4 USB, SD/Memory Stick/MMC/XD card slots
Webcam: integrated 2 MG
OS: 64-bit Windows Vista SP1
It's very fast. And to quote Donald Trump, it's HUGE, a real
desktop replacement. In fact I had to move my desk lamp from
the center of the desk where it has always been to the left
side to get the computer ergonomically right. It's also far
too heavy for me to take anywhere. But I wasn't planning on
being a road warrior with it anyway.
It's not really necessary to name a computer unless it is on
a network, but I typed in a name anyway. I call it "Gladiator"
-- seemed to fit somehow with the shiny bronze color of the
computer. "I have my books / and my poetry to protect me /
they are a mighty armour." (Paul Simon)
Now. Let's see what I can do with this blog. Probably just
more of the same -- but who knows.
Saturday, 3. October 2009, 20:14:30
Sasha, The Four Seasons
Today is Sasha's 1st anniversary. She has now
been my little girl for one year.
I love her so much! And we're having a party.
She will get a snack and a new ladybug squeaky toy.
Sunday, 27. September 2009, 20:13:00
The Four Seasons
My mom happened to mention that our property
manager told her the other day that three tenants
-- one at our apartment building and two in another
one -- were going to be evicted because they weren't
paying their rent.
"You mean, we don't have to pay the rent?!" I said
to her. "Wow. Think of all the extra money I'll have!"
Which reminded me of an old episode of Mystery
Science Theater 3000 in which a movie had this old
skinny farmer crossing this field of dead cows and
they had him supposedly say, "You mean, we're
supposed to FEED the cattle?"
ROTF.
Saturday, 26. September 2009, 18:22:41
The Four Seasons
You know I was just watching one of the cartoon channels,
Nickelodeon, and I guess that today is the Worldwide Day
of Play. So they are suspending cartoons after 12:00 noon to
encourage kids to go outside and play.
Anybody want to come over and play pitch and catch with
me? Or maybe a little 4-square? I have to admit that it really is
a nice day for it here in Spokane for that type of thing.
Friday, 25. September 2009, 00:16:12
The Four Seasons
I was reading a post by Dirk earlier today
in which the
question was raised as to what we would do if we could do
something and be guaranteed that we wouldn't fail.
My thought on the matter there was that I normally don't
think about failure -- I just do it. Which sounds very much
like an old Nike commercial but I guess that's the way I think.
Well that mode of thought has led me recently to go
back and do a review of General Chemistry. The thought
behind that mad plan is that I'd like to go back and do the
3rd quarter of GenChem that I didn't do a decade ago. The
fact of the matter is that I miss chemistry, have missed
it ever since I last took it. I miss its purity and its beauty, the
way it makes me look at the world in an ever fresh way.
So I have gotten my old textbook out and have started in
on it. Chapter One mainly deals with units, significant
digits -- mostly math stuff. Today I covered a section
in the chapter dealing with the factor lable method. I went
through the sample problems and felt positively brain dead.
Math is one thing that is NOT like riding a bicycle. If you don't
use it, you lose it. And I found that my main problem was
my ignorance dealing with exponents. I kept working at it
and kept getting the wrong answers. Finally, after 2 hours
with it, I finally got a problem right. At that point I decided
to quit while I was ahead.
Quit for today, at least. I'm sure there are a lot more dragons
lying in wait for me tomorrow. In any case I made dinner and
ate. And tonight I will watch a little television and try to
rest what is left of my brain after all these years.
Tuesday, 22. September 2009, 21:18:28
The Four Seasons
Made dinner yesterday -- fried eggplant.
Also experimented with a tomato, green pepper
and cheese casserole that was pretty much a
spontaneous idea of mine to get rid of a green
pepper that needed to be used. And it turned
out great.
Saturday, 19. September 2009, 19:14:38
The Four Seasons
I got up this morning not feeling all
that great so I grabbed a good cup of
coffee and just sat on the loveseat for
a while. As I was sitting there it
occurred to me that it didn't really
make much difference whether I was
feeling good or not -- after all it's not as
if I had to go to work or repaint the
house.
Which reminded me suddenly of my
days as a kid. Saturday morning was
my favorite day of the week: No school
as on the weekdays, no church like on
Sunday, and best of all cartoons on till
noon. And then it would be lunch time.
Would my mom make grilled cheese
and tomato soup? I sure hoped so. And
some pickle slices with it too perhaps.
I guess it's not so much different for
me now. Except that now it's college
football instead of cartoons. And I think
I'll have a grilled cheese too -- if I can
talk my mom into making it for me. 
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