A challenge to my fellow patriots

There's no question that this election has been intense. It's probably been the most emotionally-charged (if you don't count the vote-counting disasters) in my lifetime. So I have a challenge for every American who, like I, considers themselves a patriot.

On November 5th, go find someone--preferably a stranger, and in your neighborhood--who voted opposite you. Buy that person a drink. And find something to agree on.

I don't know what will ultimately solve our problems as a nation. But if each one of us can buy a drink for someone who disagrees with us, we'll be a part of that solution.

Buy that drink, toast our democracy, and work WITH your neighbors. And please let me know how it went.

Words fail me

This was the scene at the musicians' union (Local 47) in Hollywood at about 6:45 tonight. Of course when I went in to the rehearsal room and told my bandmates about it, I got a chorus of blank stares. Bastards. ;-)

Gotcha!

An unusual noise got me to look up toward my next-door neighbor's tree, and fortunately I was able to grab a camera and my long lens quickly enough to get *ONE* shot off before this guy split. No time to adjust exposure, unfortunately, so I did some rough editing using the curves tool in Photoshop to bring him out of the shadows. A more careful pass is probably warranted.

Jet-lagged in Amsterdam

So the blog has fallen nearly into disuse. I get it.

But hey, better late than never, right?

So it's a few minutes after 6am and I've been up for two hours because I'm an idiot and I never follow my plan to NOT crash immediately after stepping off my flight in some European city. Slept from about 12:30-6:30pm, then showered, went out for dinner, walked around, and crashed again at 11pm. And now I'm awake, hungry again, and wishing I could not hate myself for paying €3.75 for a small tube of Pringles from the minibar. Normally I keep a granola bar or two stashed in my computer bag for between-classes emergencies, but I've gone through all the pockets to no avail. Damn me for being stupid.

But at 7:00, SOMETHING should be open, so I just have to hold out a little longer. Meanwhile, I should catch up on life since my last blog post was months ago. Hmm. Classes start this week, and I'm teaching Strategic Management again, using an updated version of our strategy game that I haven't actually tried yet. Should be chock-full of frustration, given the bugs they found in beta. What else? Oh yeah... been subbing on a few pro bands, which is fun, but nerve-wracking as hell when I'm the new kid in the room, playing with a bunch of folks I go to clubs to see. Got my butt kicked this past week subbing on Roger Neumann's band in rehearsal, but it was after nearly three solid days of oh-my-god-don't-f***-up-the-part sightreading on similar bands, and I guess I just got too mentally exhausted. I'm not sure whether being on this trip for four or so days without horns will be good or bad for my chops, but I suppose I'll find out.

Not much else happening and I'm tired of listening to my stomach growl, so it's off to find a shop--or at least a vending machine--somewhere. More later...

A study in contrasts

Just.... wow.

Need recycling help?

Was wondering whether I could recycle old CDs tonight, and stumbled on the Internet Consumer Recycling Guide, maintained by the folks over at obviously.com. Especially helpful is their page, The World's Shortest Comprehensive Recycling Guide. Good for posting on the back door (or wherever stuff gets sorted in your house).

I can haz microcar?

Been lusting after these cars since I first saw one in London in 2003, and when I learned early last year that Daimler was *finally* going to make them available in the U.S., I signed up and anxiously awaited the car's launch.

So... about a year later, I finally get to drive my own smart fortwo. And boy, is it cool.

A few specs: This car has a 1-liter gasoline-powered engine. It's a two-seater that weighs in at about 1800 pounds, and is just under 9' long by 5' wide. The EPA mileage rating on it is about 42/highway, which is better than every gas-powered car sold in the U.S. except for two: The Toyota Prius and the Honda Civic hybrid. However, *this* car doesn't come with the $23,000+ pricetag those do, and... well... let's just say it's WAY more fun to drive.

Oh yeah... you can just about park it on a postage stamp. :-)