Three hours later…

You may have noticed that I’ve put a surprising number of posts up for this early in the day. That’s simply because I’ve spent the past three hours watching Windows XP chew through security updates, software patches, and other sundry changes to the OS. Running a web browser was about as intense an activity as I wanted to tax the machine with during that process.

Now, three hours later I can finally get to work doing what they pay me for — but that’s only because I got sick of watching a stalled progress bar, force-quit the Windows Update program, and told it to sod off. My security updates were done anyway, it was just chewing on some less critical patches, so I’m not too worried.

Frustrated, and quite willing to toss the computer out a window, if only I had one.

But not worried.

I was the height of fashion, I tell you

Me and Minh, my RA at CTY in Claremont, CA

Dori Smith mentioned today that her son Sean just returned from a session of CTY. CTY is a program for Jr. High “…students whose SAT I scores place them in the top one-half of one percent of their age mates.” I was accepted when I was in 7^th^ grade after taking the SAT, through the recommendation of my PACT (Program for the Academically and Creatively Talented) teacher, and went to summer CTY sessions for three years running.

The first year Royce and I both went to a session in Claremont, California (where the picture attached to this post was taken — thanks go to Royce for sending that particular little bit of embarassing history my way — I actually remember that shirt, too, those are little mother-of-pearl snaps instead of buttons…ugh…), and the following two years I went to sessions somewhere in Pennsylvania. They were a lot of fun, too. The CTY sessions are a few weeks long each, and are combinations of summer camp and summer school (summer camp for geeks, I guess). The first year I took Spanish (which I remember precisely nothing of), and the next two years were writing classes.

The best thing those summer sessions did for me, though, was to get me into an environment where I wasn’t ridiculed because I was smarter than your average bear. All of a sudden, I wasn’t the oddball — instead, I was surrounded by other people who had some of the same interests I did, who laughed at the same jokes I did, who knew as much Star Trek as I did (and were equally apprehensive about this new “Next Generation” of Star Trek that was being talked about — a blind pilot? A kid on the bridge? And a bald captain? Oh, come on!?!). Some of them even probably shared my impeccable fashion sense! And most importantly, they allowed me to start the long, long process of coming into my own, and discovering that I had a personality of my own. It was many years afterwards before I was fully able to realize that potential, but had it not been for the open and accepting atmosphere of the CTY program and the possibilities that it opened up to me, I may never have broken out of my shell at all.

It’s a great program, and if you ever have a child who has the chance to participate, it’s a wonderful experience that they really shouldn’t have to miss out on.

Everybody cut Footloose!

Today as Prairie and I were wandering up Broadway to return a couple movies I’d rented (last week — I owe another firstborn child now), we noticed that the marquee for the Broadway Performance Hall at Seattle Central Community College was advertising the stage production of Footloose, the Musical. We figured that that’d be fun, and were both curious about just how the movie had been translated to stage, but didn’t think much more of it.

A little further down the street, however, we were stopped by a gentleman who asked us if we liked musical theatre. We allowed that we did, and he asked if we’d be interested in free tickets to the afternoon matinee of Footloose — which started in about twenty minutes. It turns out that the production was being put on by Broadway Bound, a local children’s theatre organization for children 5-18. I was a little hesitant at first (I’d been feeling a little under the weather this weekend), but the guy was a good sell (as any good parent of one of the performers should be!), and we decided that it’d be a fun way to spend the afternoon.

As it turns out, the show was a blast. These kids did an excellent job with the show, and the audience was really into it, cheering and clapping along with more than a few of the numbers. Having been involved with theatre and music (and sometimes both) for many years as a kid, I could really appreciate the work that went into the show. Very impressive, all the way around, especially Brendan Griffin as Willard (the country hick that Ren teaches to dance in the movie) and Ryah Nixon as Rusty (Willard’s love interest, and the best friend of Ariel, the female lead). All of the cast did quite well, but these two were the standouts, in my opinion.

The costuming was a real treat, too. As the story itself isn’t really tied to any one time, I wasn’t sure if they’d keep the 80’s feel of the original movie, but they did indeed. From off-the-shoulder sweaters and legwarmers to 80’s prom dresses that some thrift store must have been thrilled to finally sell, to the metallic shirt and skinny tie that Ren first shows up in, the outfits fit right in with the original mid-80’s setting of the movie.

What was really fascinating for me was just seeing how the story of the film was translated into a stage show. Overall it ended up working out really well — all the hit songs from the soundtrack of the film were incorporated into the show itself as musical numbers, most of them requiring just a little bit of lyrical re-wording in order to ensure that they moved the story along. The second half of the show does drag a little bit — all of the slow, introspective, “what am I doing?” numbers end up there, and the pacing suffers a bit for it — but when the big high-energy numbers kick in, they bring the house down.

Highlights for me included “Somebody’s Eyes”, which went from a song about a jealous ex-girlfriend to the paranoia of an entire town watching for someone to screw up; “Holding Out For a Hero”, as Ariel, Rusty, and their two girlfriends daydream about their perfect men; and what was probably the biggest showstopper, “Let’s Hear it For the Boy”, where the cast teaches Willard how to dance at a country dance club just out of town.

All in all, a great show, and many kudos to all the cast and crew — it was an entirely unexpected way to spend the afternoon, but both Prairie and I had an absolute blast.

Starship and Kickshaw

If you get a chance to see Starship perform, and it’s cheap, and you don’t have anything pressing going on, it’s not a bad show. The band, of course, is entirely different, and it’s just Mickey Thomas providing the voice that really lets them use the name, but they do a decent job. Not stellar — the drummer wasn’t always on, the harmonies often weren’t very harmonious, and the duets just aren’t the same without Grace Slick — but not horrid, either. Even when it’s not dead-on perfect, it’s still fun to be able to hear “We Built This City on Rock and Roll” live.

You know you’re in trouble when someone’s doing their nails during your set.

— Mickey Thomas, pointing out an audience member during Starship’s set

Now, if you get a chance to see Kickshaw perform, you should, with absolutely no qualifications whatsoever. This local acapella powerhouse is flat-out incredible on stage. The things they can do with their voices are just mindblowing, they’ve got great stage presence, and each time I’ve seen them, I’ve thoroughly enjoyed it. Definitely recommended if you get the chance.

Running away…

Just a quick note right now — about to head out to the Taste of Edmonds food festival, about half an hour outside of Seattle, to see Starship and Kickshaw. Kickshaw was actually the reason I wanted to head out there, getting to see the current incarnation of 80’s band Starship (nee Jefferson Starship, nee Jefferson Airplane) is just an added bonus.

Good luck, Reed

I got this e-mail yesterday from my friend and ex-roommate Reed Dyer.

From: Reed Dyer
Date: Wed Aug 6, 2003 11:54:53 US/Pacific
Subject: going into Iraq

Well tommorow I leave and go into Iraq for two months to secure the convoy routes. Were going were the most ambushes have been happening and it is kinda scary and exciting. I won’t be able to E-mail while I’m there but I wanted to keep you all updated.

To my knowledge, this is the first time that someone I actually know has been shipped over to Iraq. It’s kind of scary — especially considering that Reed and his wife Kerry’s new baby girl just arrived two months ago.

Best of luck, Reed. Come home safely.

Almost there!

One of the nice things about my temp agency is the way they handle vacation pay. For every 1000 hours worked, you get a week’s worth of vacation pay (which works out to roughly every six months), and they just drop the extra check into your weekly envelope.

I got my latest vacation check today. So, adding that to what I already had saved up in my PayPal account, I now have just over \$2000 saved for my new computer! I’m aiming for the mid-range Power Mac G5 (1.8GHz PowerPC G5, 512MB DDR400 SDRAM [PC3200], 160GB Serial ATA – 7200rpm, NVIDIA GeForce FX 5200 Ultra, SuperDrive [DVD-R/CD-RW]) which retails for \$2399, so I’ve only got roughly \$400 left to scrape up, and I’ll be able to order my new computer.

‘Bout damn time!

Flash Mobs…so what?

Maybe it’s just me, but this whole flash mob meme is already getting old. In my mind, it jumped the shark when Scoble publicly organized one on his weblog (no offense, Robert!).

When the flash mob thing first started getting talked about, it was cool precicely because it was a technology-enabled “underground” event. Seemingly at random, a large group of people would appear somewhere, mingle or do something silly for a few minutes, then disappear again. Fun, harmless, social hacking. Now, though, it seems like every time I turn around, another weblog is trying to jump on the flash mob bandwagon. It’s passe.

Pros and cons to our über-networked society, I guess. Cool ideas can form, break big, and then become old all in the space of a week or two.

Or maybe I’m just being overly cynical.