Word on the street is that a new super-collider in Europe has a nonzero chance of creating a black hole that could destroy the earth. One critic filing a lawsuit seeking an injunction against the operation of the project believes there is "a significant risk that ... operation of the Collider may have unintended consequences which could ultimately result in the destruction of our planet."
Well, I'll just have to add that to killer asteroids and every other cataclysm waiting to happen to the list of reasons I always seem to have trouble falling asleep at night. Fortunately, though, I don't have to spend many cycles on this issue, as there are many closer catastrophes that are a lot more likely to occur, like a global food shortage or oil shock. Oops, guess we're already there...
Monday, June 30, 2008
Another concert + inlaws
I got to play with my wife's band again last night. It was blazing hot during the concert; the sun came from behind the clouds shortly before it started and went back behind the clouds as we were playing our encore ("Stars and Stripes Forever;" what else did you expect for a brass band at this time of year?). Nevertheless, it was fun to be able to play in another concert. I may have a chance to play later in July at a concert in southern Utah, but I'm not sure if we can work out the logistics with kids and an unfamiliar setting. We've been fortunate to have my parents at the two concerts I played in, as well as my wife's parents last night, but we probably would be on our own this time around, so I may not get another chance. Once the fall concerts start, they'll have better musicians to sub, plus our kids don't really allow us to both attend rehearsals every Saturday morning. But I'm hopeful I can sub again next summer.
As I mentioned, my wife's parents are in town, but they haven't been staying with us. They've been at my wife's great-uncle's home about 15 miles away since Friday evening. Sometime today, they'll hit our place and be there the rest of the week. Fortunately, I get along with them pretty well, but guests are always a bit stressful under the best of circumstances, so I hope all goes well.
As I mentioned, my wife's parents are in town, but they haven't been staying with us. They've been at my wife's great-uncle's home about 15 miles away since Friday evening. Sometime today, they'll hit our place and be there the rest of the week. Fortunately, I get along with them pretty well, but guests are always a bit stressful under the best of circumstances, so I hope all goes well.
Tuesday, June 24, 2008
Not intended for use at the speed of light
Today, a colleague got a markup of one of our agreements whereby the customer asked for a license to use the software "anywhere in the universe." Our boss told him he should push back that we would cover the Milky Way, but that negotiations were still under way with Andromeda. Since our software excludes aircraft, nuclear, and missile applications, among others, it would be rather difficult to reach other points in the universe, but I told him that we should accept it with exclusions, such as, "Software not tested in zero gravity or black hole conditions," or "Any use of this product at the speed of light voids all warranties herein."
Playing the trumpet
So, I finally got to play with my wife's band on Sunday. I was happily pushed back a week, which gave me more time to practice and get my embouchure back. There were several hundred people at the park, which was nice to see.
Playing in the band was great. I didn't know if I'd ever get a chance to play in a real ensemble again, and this was the finest group of musicians I've ever played with. I only know of one other who didn't have at least a BA in music, and he was also subbing. He's a guy H and I actually used to play with in our college marching band, and he's also better than I am. Luckily for me, the summer concert series is a bit easier, with so much music to perform in such a short time, so with a fair bit of practice, I was just able to keep up. I only had to fake a few measures.
H played the repiano trumpet part for this concert, which is a lot more exposed and difficult than the second cornet part I played, and she did a great job. She got compliments from the band director and the usual repiano player.
Also at the concert, it happened to be baby R's first birthday. We ended up playing "Happy Birthday" for a couple of sponsors at the concert, and right during the song, R, who was sitting with the other kids and their grandparents on the front row, stood up and started walking for the first time! He had taken one or two steps a couple of times, but this time he took six or seven. I guess he was just waiting for a grand stage and his birthday celebration. He is certainly a cute kid, and every concert now total strangers have taken his picture, once for the arts commission and twice just people who wanted to email us cute pictures of him.
Well, I have lot more going on that's kept me from posting, but it's not all bloggable now, so hopefully I have more to report soon.
Playing in the band was great. I didn't know if I'd ever get a chance to play in a real ensemble again, and this was the finest group of musicians I've ever played with. I only know of one other who didn't have at least a BA in music, and he was also subbing. He's a guy H and I actually used to play with in our college marching band, and he's also better than I am. Luckily for me, the summer concert series is a bit easier, with so much music to perform in such a short time, so with a fair bit of practice, I was just able to keep up. I only had to fake a few measures.
H played the repiano trumpet part for this concert, which is a lot more exposed and difficult than the second cornet part I played, and she did a great job. She got compliments from the band director and the usual repiano player.
Also at the concert, it happened to be baby R's first birthday. We ended up playing "Happy Birthday" for a couple of sponsors at the concert, and right during the song, R, who was sitting with the other kids and their grandparents on the front row, stood up and started walking for the first time! He had taken one or two steps a couple of times, but this time he took six or seven. I guess he was just waiting for a grand stage and his birthday celebration. He is certainly a cute kid, and every concert now total strangers have taken his picture, once for the arts commission and twice just people who wanted to email us cute pictures of him.
Well, I have lot more going on that's kept me from posting, but it's not all bloggable now, so hopefully I have more to report soon.
Hymn collaboration
I have a piece of cool non-work news. I am collaborating with an LDS composer and former professor and mentor of my wife's on a piece that could end up being performed at the BYU faculty/staff conference in a couple of months. It's based on Psalm 36:5-10, which is the theme of the conference. I've been working on a series of texts about the Psalms for some time, so it's gratifying to see something possibly germinating from this effort. I'll post whether anything comes of it.
Lord, whose mercy vast as heaven,
And thy faithfulness a cloud,
May thy righteousness, as leaven,
Lift our souls to praise aloud.
Chorus:
Wellspring unto life eternal,
Fountain pure and day star bright,
In thy law is joy supernal,
In thy light shall we see light.
Who can all thy judgments measure?
Who can all thy praises sing?
At the river of thy pleasure,
Shelter us beneath thy wing.
Oh, bestow thy lovingkindness
Unto those who know thee, Lord.
May we wander not in blindness--
To the upright send thy word.
Lord, whose mercy vast as heaven,
And thy faithfulness a cloud,
May thy righteousness, as leaven,
Lift our souls to praise aloud.
Chorus:
Wellspring unto life eternal,
Fountain pure and day star bright,
In thy law is joy supernal,
In thy light shall we see light.
Who can all thy judgments measure?
Who can all thy praises sing?
At the river of thy pleasure,
Shelter us beneath thy wing.
Oh, bestow thy lovingkindness
Unto those who know thee, Lord.
May we wander not in blindness--
To the upright send thy word.
Thursday, June 12, 2008
Carnival
"It's a city carnival ride. How bad can it be?" I thought, ignoring the ominous yellow sign stating, "WARNING: This is a thrill ride producing in excess of 2Gs of force," and warning young kids, pregnant women, people with heart problems, and anyone with common sense not to ride it. After all, my 8- and 9-year-olds had just gotten off, and they seemed to have suffered no adverse effects. I thought my 8-year-old might have had a look of terror on his face during the actual ride, but I couldn't be sure--he was spinning too fast to get a good look at his face--so I decided it must be okay. Besides, my wife wanted to ride.
Yes, it's city festival days again, the time when you trust your life to guys who put large spinning machines together in two days. Sure, most of them look like you wouldn't trust them with your lunch, let alone your life, guys to which every parent with a teenage daughter would bar the door, but that's all part of the fun, right? Luckily, the operator of this ride looked older than the doesn't-look-older-than-13 operator of one of the other rides.
As the ride began to spin, my wife told me how much she used to enjoy this ride as a kid. I, too, enjoyed a similar ride, but as we pick up speed, it seems to go faster than the one did when I was a kid. Not likely, as it's old enough to be the same ride. One of the nearby rides is called "Starship 2000," offering, um, a glimpse of what space travel was like in the recent past? Add the fact that the bolts holding this thing together are 40 years old to my list of worries. As the spinning accelerates and we lift off of the ground, my wife notes, "I'd forgotten what 2Gs feels like." I'm just hoping our unit doesn't detach and fly across the street. Still the spinning gets faster, and I begin wondering how long the ride is and whether I will throw up before or after the ride ends. Something about our inner ear changes as we age, and I find it much harder than I used to to go on rides like this without getting sick. I don't remember feeling queasy at the carnival when I was my son's age.
Mercifully, the ride soon ends, and I stagger off, not quite upright. Happily, I don't throw up, but I feel a little woozy for about 30 minutes afterwards and don't ride another ride the rest of the night. My kids, however, loved it, and my wife seemed fine, too, though I notice she decides not to ride the Zipper with our daughter, after all. Later, we see a teenager with his girlfriend who we remember as a young child from a previous Church ward. He apparently doesn't remember us, but that doesn't stop us from talking to him and telling him how we remember him was he was this small, holding up hands somewhere below our waists.
With my wallet $52 dollars lighter, we head home, and we remind the kids that it's late and they need to get straight to bed. I read my son a quick story from a magazine my mom used to read to me and head to bed early myself. It seems I've turned into my parents earlier than I ever would have imagined.
Yes, it's city festival days again, the time when you trust your life to guys who put large spinning machines together in two days. Sure, most of them look like you wouldn't trust them with your lunch, let alone your life, guys to which every parent with a teenage daughter would bar the door, but that's all part of the fun, right? Luckily, the operator of this ride looked older than the doesn't-look-older-than-13 operator of one of the other rides.
As the ride began to spin, my wife told me how much she used to enjoy this ride as a kid. I, too, enjoyed a similar ride, but as we pick up speed, it seems to go faster than the one did when I was a kid. Not likely, as it's old enough to be the same ride. One of the nearby rides is called "Starship 2000," offering, um, a glimpse of what space travel was like in the recent past? Add the fact that the bolts holding this thing together are 40 years old to my list of worries. As the spinning accelerates and we lift off of the ground, my wife notes, "I'd forgotten what 2Gs feels like." I'm just hoping our unit doesn't detach and fly across the street. Still the spinning gets faster, and I begin wondering how long the ride is and whether I will throw up before or after the ride ends. Something about our inner ear changes as we age, and I find it much harder than I used to to go on rides like this without getting sick. I don't remember feeling queasy at the carnival when I was my son's age.
Mercifully, the ride soon ends, and I stagger off, not quite upright. Happily, I don't throw up, but I feel a little woozy for about 30 minutes afterwards and don't ride another ride the rest of the night. My kids, however, loved it, and my wife seemed fine, too, though I notice she decides not to ride the Zipper with our daughter, after all. Later, we see a teenager with his girlfriend who we remember as a young child from a previous Church ward. He apparently doesn't remember us, but that doesn't stop us from talking to him and telling him how we remember him was he was this small, holding up hands somewhere below our waists.
With my wallet $52 dollars lighter, we head home, and we remind the kids that it's late and they need to get straight to bed. I read my son a quick story from a magazine my mom used to read to me and head to bed early myself. It seems I've turned into my parents earlier than I ever would have imagined.
Monday, June 9, 2008
Hooray, IRS?
In an odd coincidence, I also got my stimulus payment today. Yes, it's a good day for this taxpayer. I do think that the stimulus program is a terrible idea and wonder how much it's costing to send out these payments, but as long as the entitlement has been created, I want my share. We'll be saving much of our money, but we're allocating some for my wife to spend and some for spending money on our family trips this year. And some to the Saudis for the privilege of filling up my gas tank, of course.
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