DClog

Due Date Calc

I added a little javascript calc routine to the sidebar of this blog. If you want to you may copy and paste it into your Myspace page or any HTML page. (Of course, you can change the date and description to any important date you would like to count down the days to.) Here's the code...

<SCRIPT LANGUAGE="JavaScript">

date = new Date("July 26, 2009");
description = " Ruth's due date";
now = new Date();
diff = date.getTime() - now.getTime();
days = Math.floor(diff / (1000 * 60 * 60 * 24));
document.write(days+1 + " days until " + description);

</script>

Shiny New Box

My ancient desktop still functions, slowly and only partially, but a new machine is long overdue. Santa brought the wife a fast and sleek new machine this year so she should be OK for a while.

Through the years I have purchased several laptop computers for daughters going to college but I have never owned one personally. I can't rationalize or afford a high-end gaming or business machine so I found a good deal on a mid-level box. Pulled the trigger and will probably get it in a week or two.

Dell Studio 15

Intel 2.20GHz
4GB memory
320GB Hard Drive
256MB ATI Mobility Radeon
CD / DVD Burner
Wireless 802.11g
15.4 display w/ camera
Integrated Finger Print Reader
Windows Vista Premium
Midnight Blue

Total (including tax): $846.93

Review forthcoming...

Christmas Stockings

The Christmas stockings were hung and the family gathered to celebrate.

I Don't Get It

Here's a little blog entry where a teaching artist gets philosophical about the rewards (or not) of being a dedicated artist Fishing in the Bathtub.

With a somewhat similar theme, below is a blog excerpt from Adam Myerson, a bike-racing friend of mine who got punched in the head at cyclocross nationals last week and blogged about it.

Bike racing is just a stupid little game we play as a way to make our lives mean more than the drudgery of day-to-day existence. Our lives really aren’t that hard, just boring. Work, shopping, eating, cleaning – those things are tedious and monotonous and unfulfilling for most of us. We need our lives to be difficult for them to have meaning, and bike racing, like most games or sports, is a way to set up an artificial, safe, inconsequential construct that lets us experience a struggle that feels real, feels meaningful and emotional, but has no actual consequences. No actual consequences, that is, until one person punches another over something that happens in the game.

What makes some people want to work hard with little-to-no hope of pecuniary compensation, especially in this society where most people gauge success and failure by dollar amounts? Why pedal a bike thousands of miles every year, why train and compete? Why study and play jazz guitar? To those who don't "get it", it appears to be a senseless struggle and a stupid way to live a life.

Maybe I can't explain it but to those folks who think that simply winning the lottery or inheriting a fortune will make them successful... well, I don't get it.

My Buddy, Miles

This one follows me around and lays at my feet, always ready to serve. Just in case I ever need a dog for anything he is ready 24/7.

Miles

Sunlit Dogs

Soaking up the warmth of the morning sun.

Django looks up, behind Miles lays under a chair

Miles does his best "Sphinx pose"

Nothing But The ... wha?

I released this live CD back in 1998 and sold several thousand world-wide. This evening, just out of curiosity I Googled "Dan Coy Nothing But The Truth" and discovered that this CD is considered very rare and some used copies are available on Amazon.com for $68 each!

Also there is a MP3 service that will let you download some songs from the CD for $29.95 per song!

I was even more surprised to see tracks from the CD on the playlist of some radio stations. Frequently and regularly played on WBCX 89.1 FM broadcasting from Brenau University in Gainesville (NE Atlanta) Ga

Serenading the Beluga Whales

The trio played at the Georgia Aquarium this afternoon and we were setup right next to the white beluga whales. They are very friendly creatures and often swim to the glass checking out guests face to face. Maybe it was just my imagination but the whales really seemed to enjoy certain songs, "The Girl From Ipanema" for one.

John, Mack and Dan

The Club Band

Chuck spent several days in the hospital earlier this week so he said he's now joined the club with Keith who also had a visit to the ER recently. John is 85 years old and as we listened to Keith and Chuck compare ailments, he told me that this is what is known as an "organ recital", old folks do it all the time.

Keith Runfola, Chuck Harvey, Dan Coy, John Snellings

Here's a blast from the past. A photo of the same guitarist, drummer and bass player as in the photo above 35 years ago back in 1973!

The Perception of Coincidence

Someone really spent a lot of time figuring out this one...

Abraham Lincoln was elected to Congress in 1846
John F. Kennedy was elected to Congress in 1946

Abraham Lincoln was elected President in 1860
John F. Kennedy was elected President in 1960

Both were particularly concerned with civil rights.
Both of their wives lost their children while living in the White House.

Both Presidents were shot on a Friday.
Both Presidents were shot in the head.

Now it gets really weird.

Lincoln 's secretary was named Kennedy.
Kennedy's Secretary was named Lincoln .

Both were assassinated by Southerners.
Both were succeeded by Southerners named Johnson.

Andrew Johnson, who succeeded Lincoln , was born in 1808.
Lyndon Johnson, who succeeded Kennedy, was born in 1908.

John Wilkes Booth, who assassinated Lincoln , was born in 1839.
Lee Harvey Oswald, who assassinated Kennedy, was born in 1939.

Both assassins were known by their three names.
Both names are composed of fifteen letters.

Now hang on to your seat.

Lincoln was shot at the theater named Ford.
Kennedy was shot in a car called Lincoln made by Ford.

Lincoln was shot in a theater and his assassin ran and hid in a warehouse.
Kennedy was shot from a warehouse and his assassin ran and hid in a theater.

Booth and Oswald were assassinated before their trials.

And here's the kicker...

A week before Lincoln was shot, he was in Monroe , Maryland
A week before Kennedy was shot, he was with Marilyn Monroe.