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I know, I know. Not a lot of updates from me last week. I spent the week (mostly) getting the house ready for winter. I put some plastic up over the basement windows and doors, raked leaves, moved an old freezer, and insulated some pipes. We also took the kids down to the children’s museum one day, and had lunch at the Macaroni Grill. (I had Carmela’s Chicken: grilled chicken, mushrooms, caramelized onions, fresh basil and Parmesan cheese tossed with imported rigatoni pasta and creamy Marsala wine sauce. Yum!) I also spent a morning putting fresh drum heads on my Starclassic kit. They sounded sooo good, I switched out my road kit. Big Pink is now in the basement, and the Starclassics will go back on the road for a while. I also finished a web site for a client: Rockland District Nursing. What else? Well, breakfast at the Brass Compass one morning. A sofa was purchased after about a year of looking. (It gets delivered tomorrow night.) I think that may be all the highlights. All in all, it was a nice vacation; I got a lot done, and didn’t stress out over anything.

1. My favorite food seasoning is pepper.
2. Tasty jazz is music to my ears.
3. Lucky is the name of that leprechaun on the cereal box.
4. Drum tuning is something I take very seriously.
5. Many people kid me about my obsessive drum tuning habit.
6. Winterizing window shrink film was the last thing I bought at the store.
7. And as for the weekend, tonight I’m looking forward to “trunk or treating with the kids, tomorrow my plans include sleeping late (but it hasn’t happened so far this entire vacation week),  and Sunday, I want to lunch at my Mom’s!

I’m taking a week off from the office. The goal is to use the time to get things around the house ready for winter. I need to put some plastic sheeting on the basement windows. I need to get the yard cleaned up. Today, with the help of Barry from the office, I was able to move a 6′ chest freezer out of my basement. It’s been down there for nigh on 10 years, and it never worked. (Note: if someone gives you a freezer that “probably” works, make sure you test it before you move it into the basement!) Today, though, it went to the dump. I also stopped by the office to do a few little things. Gina, since I’m not there, lunch at Kiwanis was chicken picata, rice, asparagus, and blueberry pie. (I ate every scrid!)

I was searching for some new, somewhat macabre desktop today (as many of you know, I have a bit of penchant for the dreary), and I came across this epitaph. Sally Pond died in 1774 at age 31, and was buried beside two daughters (one died at 20 years, the other at 21 days). Sally’s epitaph reads (in my somewhat modern translation):

Under this stone confined doth lie
Three subjects of Death’s tyranny.
The mother who in this close tomb
Sleeps with the offspring of her womb
Whereby we see Death’s cruelty
In cutting of both fruit and tree
Yet all his malice will prove vain
Both tree and fruit will spring again.

A “rubbing” of her stone is here. I dig it!

Check out Mr. Starr here.

Does Ringo owe his fans anything? No. Does he have the right to stop signing things? Absolutely. Did his announcement make him come off as a total jerk? Um, Mr. Starr, there’s a Mr. Rich asking for you on line #2…

Ringo, man, stop with the whole “Peace and love” bit. It only sounds that much more insincere, especially couched in your announcement to “toss” requests for an autograph. While you have a right not to be hounded by fans, your request makes you sound like a pompous, well, you know.

I’m not an autograph type of person. I have one autograph, and that’s from Toy Caldwell after my band opened up for him in Camden 15 years ago. I have never written to a star for an autograph, and never plan too. But Mr. Starr, your video really made me change my view on who I thought you were.

Now, what’s Charlie Watt’s address?