All's Quiet On The Beethoven Front

[Shapley]

Hello, my silent friend,
Has this forum found its end?
Are there no topics to discuss?
No reasons now to praise or fuss?

Where, now, are my virtual friends,
Have they wandered to Earth's ends?
Has Shos in projects become engaged?
Has Barfle, to some distant place been paged?

Of Trumpetmaster, what's become?
Does he now march to the beat of a different drum?
For Operatenor, from whom #1 was wrung,
Has the fat lady her aria finally sung?

And Piqaboo, his spouse, with Altoid raising;
Can she find no topic worth the praising?
And Navneeth, from India afar,
has he hitched his cart to another star?

Tanja, life has tried to breathe,
breaking the silence with a short reprieve.
But she, to facebook, strayed as well,
tho' I bear guilt for dragging her to that Hell.

Haggis, my friend; is his business booming?
Keeping clients from threats there looming?
Jamiebk, to some distant mountaintop,
has he hiked to do the Misty Mountain Hop?

And Selma, is she buried in a book,
upon her Kindle, or on a Nook?
Where Bignaf, who started the longest thread?
Does he to this board now fear to tread?

And Serenity, absent now so long,
have we, in our posting, steered her wrong?
And Giant Communist Robot, of the tropical isle,
has he found our discussions no longer worthwhile?

Dai Bread, from the Southern Hemisphere,
Why, oh! Why? Is he not found here?
And BigJon@Work, is he now retired?
Or in some project deeply mired?

Marye, in Toronto, has she departed?
Will she address this thread I've started?
No pin drop, no sigh, not e'en a grunt.
All is quiet on the Beehthoven front.

[dai bread]

Oh dear. I really do feel I should write something deep and meaningful in response to this heartfelt plea, but life is fairly humdrum at the moment.

Winter sets in and I don't feel inclined to go outside in what, for me, passes for cold. I had a good outing yesterday though, and achieved a few things that have been annoying me for a while, like taking down the VHF tv aerial ( I use digital UHF) and raking the leaves off my driveway. But yesterday was clear and sunny. Today is cloudy and bleak, with drizzle slowly clearing. The temperature outside my office is 48.8F.

As far as FB is concerned, I'm on it because that's the only way I will ever find out anything about the lives of my nieces and nephew, and it keeps me in frequent touch with one of my overseas sons. The other one flatly refuses to use FB.

Musically, the only thing of interest is a performance of "Rigoletto" in Auckland. It's 2 hours drive there, 2 hours back, and I have the opera on DVD by the NY Met, so don't feel inclined to make the effort. Besides, I dislike "updates" where a period story is told in modern dress. That's probably not much of a problem in opera, but for plays it's appalling. This performance has been re-set to modern Italy.

I may have some more to write about in a month. I'm off the the U.S. again at the end of June, but only to Montana this time. I'm going with my daughter and her son, and she doesn't want to rush around like #1 son and I did last time. So I expect to have a nice quiet time sunning myself in Montana sunshine. And I'll get a real American 4th of July. I'm looking forward to that.

[Trumpetmaster]

Oh my....

Trumpetmaster is alive and well.
Always listening (when at my desk and not in a meeting) to B.com Stream.

The past year or so has been crazy. You all have heard the new buzz words... "Do more with less"............

WELL... I have been given numerous assignments here (good thing) but it keeps me so busy.... days are a blurr..........
I cannot believe we are in June already.......

Playing has been good. next tuesday, I am subbing with a new band and will most likely be offered the principal trumpet seat
as they have been looking for someone..... I hope the group is at least as good as the band I currently play with....

I will be soloing with my Brass group in August - Leroy Anderson - Trumpeter's Lullaby.... then we segue right into Bugler's Holiday.
I had my choice to do Bugler's with the other trumpet players in our group or the Lullaby.... I chose.. the solo route

Will be going to Georgia at the end of July to celebrate my dad's 80th B-day....
Today is actually my mom's B-day (have to remind myself to call her later) I told you .... I take a deep breath and the day is over....

Jenny is doing remarkably well. She will be 15 1/2 August 6.
Each day with her is a blessing!

anyway.... that's about it for now...

Hope all is well with everyone...

TM

[Trumpetmaster]

Oh my....

Trumpetmaster is alive and well.
Always listening (when at my desk and not in a meeting) to B.com Stream.

The past year or so has been crazy. You all have heard the new buzz words... "Do more with less"............

WELL... I have been given numerous assignments here (good thing) but it keeps me so busy.... days are a blurr..........
I cannot believe we are in June already.......

Playing has been good. next tuesday, I am subbing with a new band and will most likely be offered the principal trumpet seat
as they have been looking for someone..... I hope the group is at least as good as the band I currently play with....

I will be soloing with my Brass group in August - Leroy Anderson - Trumpeter's Lullaby.... then we segue right into Bugler's Holiday.
I had my choice to do Bugler's with the other trumpet players in our group or the Lullaby.... I chose.. the solo route

Will be going to Georgia at the end of July to celebrate my dad's 80th B-day....
Today is actually my mom's B-day (have to remind myself to call her later) I told you .... I take a deep breath and the day is over....

Jenny is doing remarkably well. She will be 15 1/2 August 6.
Each day with her is a blessing!

anyway.... that's about it for now...

Hope all is well with everyone...

TM

[Shapley]

I'm busy, as well, so I have less time to post.
But, I still manage to post more than most.

I grow increasingly frustrated with facebook's changes,
Its revised formats, its page rearranges.

But, 'tis free and, like Dai, my family is there.
Or, at least, most. The rest, who knows where?

I use it to post photos to share with friends,
thus, a necessary evil, or means to my ends.

I check the bulletin board here daily, or try at least
for the comments from friends are truly a feast.

So, let us not lose this good thing what we've found,
and check in now and then, so we'll know you're around!

[barfle]

Let's just say that the job situation has been, well, a bit dynamic. Out of work for 18 months, then underemployed for 12, the last six have been quite rewarding, although the commute through DC traffic is about as bad as I have experienced. Unfortunately for my musical entertainment, I spend about seven hours a day NOT in front of a computer.

I've posted a few times over the past few months, but the "projects" thread has been a bit stagnant due to my PWP provider no longer supporting FTP and having a remarkably neutered way of authoring content. In other words, I can't upload pictures.


I have to say I miss the conversations I've had with the likes of OT, shos and Haggis. I also miss the face-to-face lunches with Bones and Strav. But I sure don't miss the Patent Office.

[Shapley]

Well, it's good to hear that you've found gainful employment!

[BigJon]

Yep, you nailed it.Too many projects and a nephew in pro baseball keep me away from many of the internet fun I used to have. Not to mention that they got rid of the other guy who did what I did at work, so I am working crazy hours now.

[Shapley]

Still pretty quiet here. But, it's been quiet on facebook and on our local newspaper board, as well. I reckon everybody's too busy to talk these days.

[dai bread]

I check in daily, more or less, but often I have no comment to make or the topic is really none of my business, particularly American politics and economics, which are so different from ours.

And I gave up long ago trying to discuss s*c**l*s*d h**lth c*r*.

[jamiebk]

yeah ditto...not as much time as I used to have. Work hours have shifted and just not as much time online

[Trumpetmaster]

Yep, you nailed it.Too many projects and a nephew in pro baseball keep me away from many of the internet fun I used to have. Not to mention that they got rid of the other guy who did what I did at work, so I am working crazy hours now.

seems the new corporate buzz words are "do more with less"
I keep hearing that all over...

I too have been given more assignments
when I'm working on priority 1.... the teams work who is priority 1A screams.... then told to shift and work on the other project....
then priority 1 team complains.... then told to go back and work on priority 1 teams work....

sux
never get any traction on the efforts and nothing gets completed.......

[Shapley]

I had to run to Las Vegas. Okay, well, actually I flew.

It was a business trip. However, like most such trips, the actual business takes less time than getting there. So, I asked my wife to go along, since she's never seen Las Vegas, and I haven't been there in about thirty years (except to pass through the airport), and we stretched the trip out for an extra day.

We had time to see the Strip, drive over to Hoover Dam and see the dam and the new bridge. It was an enjoyable trip. Flying, however, has become more of a chore than a pleasure, in my humble opinion.

[Schmeelkie]

Shapley - what? no lines for me and soon-to-be MommyMonkeyMD? At least she's got a good excuse - I'm thinking baby should have arrived or her arrival is imminent... But, as the Aussies say, no worries, mate.

Between Bella missing 15 (!!) days of school mostly between November and March, (thus work time being VERY precious) spending much of the spring helping out surveying some of our now 22 schools in the big study in NY, deadlines for grant applications and getting some more papers out, I've been pretty busy. And now I have to compete with the kids for internet time at home in addition to my husband... Will likely give in and get a smart phone this summer so I can do quick surfing without having to get on the main computer. And, I'll admit it, FB is taking more of my time.

So far, my bosses have been able to cover my time despite two grants ending and nothing new approved - not sure what's going to happen come the end of September, but at least have high hopes for a grant we just submitted that would start March 1, 2013 (3-year). Still enjoying my job and while funding has been a little in the air, am working on many papers and my total number of pubs is likely to double within about 18 months.

Can't believe we'll be at 10 years in Rochester as of this August (8 years at my job) and I turn 40 this year! Crazy! Except for the poor quality of students in the new grad program in my husband's department, he's happy with his teaching and research output and the fact that tenure gets him out of his least favorite committees.

Pumpkin is 8.75 - right on target for his age with the obsession with destruction, poop jokes, pig latin, teasing his sister, etc...you fill in the sterotypical boy stuff. Finished 3rd grade with stellar marks, found the state tests easy, but still has to work on his time management (he's a perfectionist like his dad). He's still into snakes and his knowledge on them and a wide variety of other reptiles is getting pretty encyclopedic. He's a total sponge of knowledge, reads a ton of both fiction and nonfiction and is getting much more confident in his physical skills (they did swimming for about 6 weeks at the end of the school year and he's getting really good). Just need him to get up the confidence to ride his bike - he avoided all last summer, then got new bike without training wheels and he's still pretty scared of it...(not quite to Calvin levels...)

Bella, other than all the illness, including a bout of pneumonia in January, has had an amazing year. She started out a little behind, but caught up in Kindergarten - hit all her benchmarks around the same time as the other kids (possibly earlier with math skills, surprise, surprise) had a great year and just didn't want to leave Kindergarten! She's gone from just liking to wear some of her brother's hand-me-down clothes to really being a tomboy. Although about once a month she surprises me and wears 'girly' clothes. Even voluntarily wore a dress for her 'end of year celebration' as she didn't have any boy-y dress up clothes. She still loves superheroes - Spiderman is her favorite, Harry Potter and Star Wars. She will watch some 'princess' movies, but, without any urging on my part, seems to prefer the ones where the princess is more proactive (Beauty & the Beast, Princess & the Frog).

I don't want to stop writing on here. I like learning about others, books and being able to talk about my relatives without fear of them seeing it on FB. (for example - last weekend my step MIL told me the entire plot and ending of the Hunger Games after saying she read it because her one granddaughter likes it (she's 10), and wanted to find out why. But it gave her nightmares and at first, I thought she was just going to tell me what was disturbing about the book, and by the time I realized she was going to tell me everything, I couldn't really find a polite way to make her stop. I still want to read it, but it's a bit ruined for me now... I see the woman, at most, twice a year and she always does something to drive me crazy!) Anyway, the anonymity of b.com is one of it's attractions for me...
to quote the Terminator, "I'll be back"

[Shapley]

My most humble apology

for neglecting to compose for thee

a line, a rhyme, or a verse

I could certainly feel no worse!

[Shapley]

We're toasty warm here, and still rather busy at the moment. Two days in Vegas seems to have put me four days behind.

Still dry as a bone, waiting for some rain. I don't want to wish a hurricane on anyone, but I do hope the Gulf hurricanes bring some moisture this way. For that, we need some Gulf hurricanes. Sorry, Mississippi...

[dai bread]

Here I am to keep the pot boiling. Question: if I have a holiday in the U.S. now, is it a summer holiday or a winter one?

Anyway, I'll put a little comment on the Summer Vacation thread and that will be the last you hear from me for two weeks or so.

[Shapley]

I would say it's a Winter vacation, since I would think you measure that from your point of origin, but I could be mistaken.

Our schools release children for Spring Break and Summer holidays with no questions asked about where they are going to spend them...

[Trumpetmaster]

Where is everybody?
TOO QUIET.
Hope all is well with everyone!

TM

[Schmeelkie]

Busy summer - travelling, stuff going on each weekend, and really busy at work. Now September has come and gone in a blur and it's mid-October already... Didn't quite get the smart phone - went with the Samsung Brightside - can do a little web surfing and maybe email, but mostly it's MUCH easier to text, which I'm doing a lot more for work. Finally feeling like I have a breather at work - keeping up with everything and didn't have to cut back hours thanks to a couple of contracts. Bella had her first sick day on Monday, but I'm hoping this year isn't as bad as last year.
I'll try to update my current reading sometime soon...

On a random note, my SIL's family that has been in Papua New Guinea is relocating to outside of Brisbane, Australia, so I'm thinking maybe Christmas 2013 or some time in the next 18 months or so we'll be visiting down-under! Bella will be 6 in Nov, so I'm thinking a long flight will be doable soon!