It has been a few years since I last attended a concert, as, to be honest, there are very few performers that I’d be willing to pay to see these days. But that string was broken on Saturday night, when we went with a couple of friends to see the group Styx in concert with the Jacksonville Symphony Orchestra. It was … OK.
OK, so what’s the deal with curling? How did this bizarre combination of bowling, bocce, and shuffleboard become an Olympic sport, one which uses domestic implements to clean an already clean surface, and includes at least one pregnant competitor? And why does it seem to be on the air EVERY TIME we tune to this Olympics this week?
It’s been a few weeks, and there have been so many interesting things going on … the start of a new decade, a significant election result in Massachusetts, Colts and Saints heading for the Super Bowl (a registered trademark, used without permission - uh, oh), a life-changing new product from Steve Jobs and Apple … but today I want to talk about the nine iron that Tiger Woods took to the head.
We had an interesting experience last night. For the third time this season, Sue and I went to a Jacksonville Jaguars’ home game (NFL football, for those not able to make the immediate connection). For the only time among those three games, the Jaguars lost, but it was a very entertaining, fun contest against the still undefeated Indianapolis Colts. There aren’t very many 35-31 finals in the NFL any more, and certainly not many games where each and every score results in a lead change. But that was the case last night.
Yesterday was the 10-year anniversary of a significant event for me. It was on November 29, 1999, that I became an employee of APPX Software, Inc. The way that came about, and what transpired on that day, are worth looking back on. Well, at least they’re worth writing about in this blog.
Wouldn’t it be appropriate for me to post something about Thanksgiving today? Well, it seemed so, but then I thought that I might have done so previously. And you know what? I did. A year ago. And it was pretty good. So today, I’ll just provide a link to that blog: http://blog.appx.com/2008/11/26/nobody-asked-me-but-41/.
If you read it before, I hope you’ll enjoy it again. 
Tomorrow is Halloween, a holiday that seems to expand in its scope every year. Trick-or-treating on Halloween, along with stuffing your face and watching football with family on Thanksgiving, may be the two most singular American cultural experiences we have. Certainly, the exchange students we’ve come to know over the years enjoy these holidays, and even if Halloween is recognized in their home countries, it is nothing like it is here. In fact, it seems that it’s nothing like it used to be right here either.
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Are you ready for some football? I can’t sing it as well as Hank Williams can, but at this time of year, it’s an appropriate topic for some blog ramblings, don’t you think? I’ve got some thoughts on a variety of football issues. So let’s kick it off with …
Traveling is such a wonderful experience. All the travel documentaries that are available on cable TV can’t begin to enrich an individual the way that stepping outside one’s local area can. Of course, like anything else, too much travel can become overbearing - there was a time many years ago when I found myself in a new city every week, sometimes several times a week, and I would literally wake up and wonder what town I was in. Nowadays, my travel is more limited, and perhaps because of that, more enjoyable. So let me tell you about my September travels, two trips down, one to go.
It may have been 20 years ago today that Sergeant Pepper taught the band to play, but it was 40 years ago this week that changed music and culture forever, as almost half a million young fans (some called them “hippies”) descended on farmland belonging to Max Yasgur in Bethel, New York, for the Woodstock Music and Art Fair. Billed as “Three Days of Peace and Music,” the festival may have served as a coming out party for a generation, and, dear readers, I had tickets.