Wistful.

What does it say to you?  Here’s a review by someone on Amazon that I thought was very descriptive.

This album is my very favorite instrumental album ever! Inspiring, moving, emotional- there aren’t enough adjectives to describe the depth of Jesse Cook’s music. The music is a blend of percussion and flamenco guitar, with a Gypsy-African-World sound that is totally different from the common stuff out there. And can the man play guitar! He is truly gifted. I personally play this CD constantly, and when people come visit, they never fail to ask me for the name so they can get it for themselves. Everybody likes it! Now one of the things I especially enjoy about it- it is excellent backround music for activities. I put it on whenever I have to accomplish something- and the job flies! I heard tracks from it several times during the ice skating competitions at the most recent Winter Olympics, which doesn’t surprise me at all. The music is so passionate and exciting it lifts you off your feet and makes you move without being totally intrusive. I recommend this album highly. Take a chance - you won’t be disappointed.

Jesse Cook
Play Cafe Mocha

02-cafe-mocha

• James Taylor/ Wichita Lineman/ How To Make A Slide Show With Your Favorite Music
• David Cook/ American Idol Winner
• Jordin Sparks/ Tattoo
• Memory Game
• Productive Blogging Day

But this is what it’s like at the beach sometimes.  I kind of like it.

Click on the photo and something should happen.

• Nice Note From Someone
• Part III/ Installing NextGen Gallery/ First Unzip Her
• My Foto Buzz/ New Blog/ Photoblog/ Dark Theme
• RSS Feeds Up This Morning/ Happy Valentines Day
• A Way To Structure A Blog And Send Readers Deep Within / Plan For Virginia Breeze

Play It Keeps You Runnin

08-it-keeps-you-runnin

• Black Friday At Amazon.com/ Stay Home And Be Safe
• Amazon MP3
• Amazon Videos
• Happy Boss Day (October 16th) Or Any Day HEY-HEY
• Westwood Club/ I Should Have Had The Chicken/ Lee Ann Womack/ Baby It’s Cold Out There

Table of contents for 20/ Writing

1. An Extraordinary Video/ Deliver Me/ Sarah Brightman
2. Purple Friday Ruminations/ The Highly Sensitive Person/ Elaine N. Aron Ph.D.
3. Purple Friday Tragedy/ Wal-Mart Employee Trampled

I couldn’t believe this when I saw it but it’s true.

It’s bad enough to be working in  Wal-Mart aka Walmut at four am on Purple Friday.  I really feel for this guy and his family.   I have been having some better thoughts about humanity lately but this could test all of that.  Watching all those lean and mean runners at the Richmond Marathon made my heart glad.

But this is the other side of the coin.  A young man died in the rush to save a few coins.

Of course this sort of thing has happened several times before in soccer stadiums around the world.  And it happens in night clubs when there is a fire.   Panic sets in and people in the back push to get out in some cases.  The push is amplified like a wave to the front of the crowd who are squashed by tons of pressure into whatever immovable object prevents the free flow of people.

The Story

But this horrible event probably was not started by panic.  People started pushing because they were in a festive mood perhaps.  Or they were mad.  Or drunk.  Maybe they stayed up until 4 am and were drinking to pass the time.   Friends sometimes wonder why I have such a difficult time dealing with crowds.  This is why.  I see everybody.  And often I don’t like what I see.

In the front you probably have the earliest arrivals.  These were probably people who planned out this adventure and were willing to wait awhile.   They may have been more patient and among them could have been mothers and grandmothers and other shoppers ready to save some money.

So it’s a mixed bag.  I wouldn’t blame them all.  Some of them were probably fearing for their lives too when things got going.

If I was a worker at Walmut and a mob came through a plate glass window I would have headed for the back of the store.  No questions asked.  I am almost sixty years old and have seen enough violence in my life to know when it’s time to retreat.  I might have picked up a kid or two and plopped them in a shopping basket on the way.  But that’s it.

And shame on Walmut for letting this happen.  If you go to an amusement park like Disney and stand in line you will see the customers in lines that weave back and forth and separate everybody.  That’s really much more pleasant than being all smashed together.   And it stops people from trying to worm their way forward in line.  Walmut needs to set up lines around the parking lots in situations like this AND hire lots of police to keep people from crashing the line.  It’s not that difficult and they can afford to do it.

I am afraid that the store manager in this case will probably lose his job.  Maybe he didn’t follow safety guidelines.  But maybe there aren’t any guidelines for crowded parking lots!   If that’s the case Walmut can look forward to having some for next year.

And if there were injuries to many in the crowd who are shown to be victims of the mad rush they can look forward to much more than a few holiday bargains.   They have just been through a life changing event as their lawyers will be quick to tell them.

So after doing some writing and thinking about it I will resist the impulse to downgrade my estimation of humanity in general.  There are bad actors here.  But a crowd is made up of many parts.  My lovely mother could have been in this crowd if she was still on earth.

Fortunately she is in a better place.  And probably welcoming 34-year-old Jdimytai Damour  there as well.

• TheJoys of Autumn
• French Restaurant And Walking Back to the Hotel
• My Sister’s View
• The Universe Is Putting Me Through A Patience Exercise
• Where Do I Vote ?

Yesterday my younger son Zachary showed me a video he made and I would share it with you except for a couple of things.  First of all it’s on Facebook and I have no idea how to link to it or embed it.  It’s as if they want to suck stuff in like a vaccuum hose but not share any of it with the world.

Maybe that’s unfair.  I don’t know.  But from my technologically unsophisticated point of view this is what it seems.   And I do believe that I have just achieved some sort of record when it comes to putting a large number of syllables into two adjoining words.

But who cares?  I don’t.  Because even if I could share this video I would be concerned about sharing it.  It has so many photos of such hopelessness I would risk pushing some poor, hapless person over the edge upon which they are trying to balance at the moment.

So we viewed his video yesterday.  I saw photos of  little black children in Africa who must be around six years old holding machine guns and smiling.  See?

And after it was over he told me that he plans to work for UNRWA when he graduates.  UNRWA is The United Nations Relief and Works Agency.  His specific area of interest is the Palestinian refugee situation.

And while I am proud of him for wanting to help impoverished people I am also scared to death about him going to an area where there is a lot of violence and he is a big target.

Here’s a link to UNRWA in case you would like to take a journey into another world.  I think he told me that half the world (or maybe it was more) lives on a dollar or less per day.   It’s just unbelievable in any case.

I spent many years working with homeless people and people with debilitating psychiatric and/or drug problems in THIS country.   So all I can say to him is put your idealism in your back pocket and prepare to stuggle with some very real demons.

They  are so young our children.  And THANKS VCU for encouraging my son to do this. Beware the tenured professor who will take your money and your child and encourage them to join various battles throughout the world.

It reminds me of that little kid with the  machine gun for some reason.

Play Bleeding Love

01-bleeding-love

• Black Friday At Amazon.com/ Stay Home And Be Safe
• Summer Flower In November/ The Doobie Brothers/ It Keeps You Runnin’
• Amazon MP3
• Amazon Videos
• Happy Boss Day (October 16th) Or Any Day HEY-HEY

Table of contents for 20/ Writing

1. An Extraordinary Video/ Deliver Me/ Sarah Brightman
2. Purple Friday Ruminations/ The Highly Sensitive Person/ Elaine N. Aron Ph.D.
3. Purple Friday Tragedy/ Wal-Mart Employee Trampled

Why is it always a black day when the stock market tanks or people are buried underneath their fellow shoppers at Walmut?  I like the color black.  And if I was black I would probably like it even more.  It would irritate me to have  a really bad day associated with my beautiful skin.  Because I’m a sensitive person.

So from now on it’s going to be Purple Friday around here.  And if the stock market tanks AGAIN it’s going to be WHITE WITH FRIGHT Friday.   Or GREEN THIS IS SO OBSCENE Wednesday.

If something really good happens (and it could let’s not forget)  it’s going to be YELLOW I”M A HAPPY FELLOW Saturday.  Because I like to associate Saturday with good stuff.  Like sleeping late or going out and partying in the evening or having some eye to eye contact with the one I love.

I am reading this book called The Highly Sensitive Person/ How to Thrive When the World Overwhelms You by Elaine Aron.  It is available from Amazon.com for just a few clam shells.

Here’s the test at the beginning of the book to determine if you are a highly sensitive person (HSP).  If you answer yes to 12 or more questions you. . . . .may be. . . . ..a highly sensitive person.

I seem to be aware of subtleties in my environment

Other people’s moods affect me.

I tend to be very sensitive to pain.

I find myself needing to withdraw during busy days into bed or into a darkened room or any place where I can have some privacy and relief from stimulation.

I am particularly sensitive to the effects of caffeine.

I am easily overwhelmed by things like bright lights, strong smells, coarse fabrics or sirens close by.

I have a rich, complex inner life.

I am made uncomfortable by loud noises.

I am deeply moved by the arts or music.

I am conscientious.

I startle easily.

I get rattled when I have a lot to do in a short amount of time.

When people are uncomfortable in a physical environment I tend to know what needs to be done to make it more comfortable (like changing the lighting or the seating).

I am annoyed when peoople try to get me to do too many things at once.

I try hard to avoid making mistakes or forgetting things.

I make it a point to avoid violent movies and TV shows.

I become unpleasantly aroused when a lot is going on around me.

Being very hungry creates a strong reaction in me disrupting my concentration or mood.

Changes in my life shake me up.

I notice and enjoy delicate or fine scents, tastes, sounds, works of art.

I make it a high priority to arrange my life to avoid upsetting or overwhelming situations.

When I must compete or be observed while performing a task I become so nervous and shaky that I do much worse than I would otherwise.

When I was a child my parents or teachers seemed to see me as sensitive or shy.

*   *   *   *

So take the test if you like and let me know how you did.  I definitely qualify based on this criteria.  And I may refer to this book from time to time as we go along down the road.

• Mental Map For Self Improvement
• A Fun Way To Sail
• Middle Of The Week/ Lost In Richmond
• Why I Enjoy Writing
• Hovnanian Houses Update

Table of contents for 11/ Writing About Blogging

1. Blogger and Huge Photos
2. More Gator News/ Plugins The Culprits?
3. I Am Addicted To Themes
4. Virginia Breeze and the Chamber of Commerce
5. Watching The Sunset Together/ Giving Thanks

Who cares that you’re not writing a mass market newspaper? The point is not to show up on a list, the point is to start a conversation that spreads, to share ideas and to chronicle your thinking. That’s the work of an author, and I think rather than kissing author blogs goodbye, someone should just start a new list.

-Seth Godin

http://sethgodin.typepad.com/seths_blog/2008/11/death-of-the-pe.html

I think that we are too wrapped up in lists sometimes.  I don’t use them very often.  And, as a consequence, I am not as organized as I could be. But I really like what Seth Godin says in this post about personal blogs. They are important even though they may not be the most popular blogs out there.

It may be more difficult to make a blog very successful if it is a personal blog. In the sense that it may take more hours of work to do it.  Maybe it takes  three years to make it very successful instead of two.   (When you buy a car do you worry very much about whether you get a two year loan or a three year loan?)

But I think it would be much more difficult to create and maintain a blog that is about news, sports or the latest electronic gadget.  That would be a job.

I like writing posts that have no defined beginning, middle and end before I write them. I like writing about what I feel and think but I also seek to merge with my reader’ s thoughts and feelings in some way.  It may not even be a conscious goal sometimes. But hopefully there is a conversation going on in some sense about something that interests us both in some way.  Even if there is no comment at the end of it.

Hopefully there is a conversation whispering its way through the wind.

I realize the results are uneven. Some posts are much less popular than others (this one?  Who knows. . .) But now we are starting down the path of lists again.  Wordpress Stats are (is?) a list.   Success may depend more  on who is on the other end.   Maybe there’s one person on the other end who really enjoys a particular thought.  It’s almost as if he or she looked up just in time to see a meteor streak across the sky.

Timing is everything.

What I think is really cool is that a post I wrote over a year ago could meet up with someone on the other side of the world tomorrow. And there could be a merging of the minds for about one minute and forty seconds.

Or maybe it will be a photo of a sunset. Hopefully this sort of thing brings us closer together. Hopefully it helps us understand that even in a world that holds billions of busy people we are still not numbers and we can be something more than a name on a very long list.   And we can watch a sunset together or, at least, a photo of one.

I have noticed that people I know or meet treat me differently if they have read my blog.  They seem more relaxed and open.  Apparently they have seen through the introverted shell I carry around.  It  is a  costume made out of numbers and it is sewn together with lists.

I’m so glad I found a way to go out in public without it.

Personal blogs will do well in the future because they are a conversation between casual friends.  But this conversation is open to strangers too.   They can listen in without feeling awkward.

I worried when I started blogging that I would make mistakes.  Now I see myself making mistakes every day and don’t care.  I don’t keep stats on them.  And my readers are kind enough not to point them out 99 percent of the time.

So on this Thanksgiving I give thanks for many things.  But in this space I would particularly like to remember and appreciate those who read blogs and encourage their authors.  You are helping your brothers and sisters to grow.

YOU are the meteors that streak across the sky.

*

More Writing About Blogging

• PhotoLinkLove New Project
• Technorati Authority/ How To Increase It/ Increase Traffic Too
• Working With YouTube/ Fitting Players Into Posts
• Blogging Contest/ Tips And Tricks
• Links And Page Rank/ Reaching Out To Readers/ RLS And Understanding

Table of contents for 19/ Writing

1. Dreaming About Taking Great Photos/ Photo Presentation Options
2. Westwood Club/ I Should Have Had The Chicken/ Lee Ann Womack/ Baby It’s Cold Out There
3. Share What You Have/ Love What You Do
4. Library Of Congress/ Playing Baseball And Football In The Buff / Thomas Dekker/ Brett Favre/ Black Friday
5. Drinking Fast Food Coffee/ Coffee Stains And Darwin

This morning I needed a cup of coffee fast so I ducked into a fast food restaurant when no one was looking and asked for a medium cup of coffee with three creams.  No sugar.  They will put the cream into the coffee so you don’t have to mess around with the little dairy creamers.  Just ask for the coffee and creamer  together.

So I was sitting in the car drinking this thing and coffee was landing on the front of my coat.  There were little dribs and drabs of coffee all the way down the front.  How could I be such a slob?  This happens all the time.

What am I doing wrong?

Well the coffee gets caught in the gutter that goes around the coffee lid.  And then when you tip the cup it goes out of there and into space.

Until it hits your clothing.  Gravity comes into the picture unfortunately.  But why would they design a coffee lid with a reservoir?

It seems to me that it’s really a design to give the coffee a place to cool off before it ends up on you.

This is my opinion.  No more million dollar lawsuits!

Charles Darwin

Wait a minute!  Is it  possible I  have all these light colored clothes with coffee  stains and freaking laundry bills because this restaurant is trying to protect me from it’s coffee and avoid a lawsuit?

I was so disturbed by this possibility I looked up the history of coffee and lawsuits.  Why so hot it needs a reservoir between you and it?  And here is what I found:

Judge Frank Easterbrook wrote a unanimous 7th Circuit Court of Appeals opinion affirming dismissal of a similar lawsuit against coffeemaker manufacturer Bunn-O-Matic. The opinion noted that hot coffee (179 °F (82 °C) in this case) is not “unreasonably dangerous.”

The smell (and therefore the taste) of coffee depends heavily on the oils containing aromatic compounds that are dissolved out of the beans during the brewing process. Brewing temperature should be close to 200 °F [93 °C] to dissolve them effectively, but without causing the premature breakdown of these delicate molecules. Coffee smells and tastes best when these aromatic compounds evaporate from the surface of the coffee as it is being drunk. Compounds vital to flavor have boiling points in the range of 150–160 °F [66–71 °C], and the beverage therefore tastes best when it is this hot and the aromatics vaporize as it is being drunk. For coffee to be 150 °F when imbibed, it must be hotter in the pot. Pouring a liquid increases its surface area and cools it; more heat is lost by contact with the cooler container; if the consumer adds cream and sugar (plus a metal spoon to stir them) the liquid’s temperature falls again. If the consumer carries the container out for later consumption, the beverage cools still further.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/

So they are trying to have it both ways.  They want to coffee to start out at almost 200 degrees F so it will beat the competition in the taste category but they also know that if it’s too hot it will also burn you up.

Those first few sips are very hot.  And when it touches your bottom lip you have two choices.  You can stand tall and let your bottom lip take the brunt of the injury.  Or you can back off a little and let the steaming brew fall into the trough.   That’s why they put it there.

It cools as it runs around and it will not burn you.  But it seems to me that it  will fall on you and your clothing the first chance it gets.  Unless you can somehow manage to suck it out of there and still enjoy your coffee drinking experience.

Nice.  What would Darwin have to say about this?

I’m sure there’s more to this than I have shared in this post.  And I don’t know what it might be.  But if I buy a cup of coffee I would like to have a lid that keeps the coffee inside the container or allows it to go directly into me.   All of it.

In the meantime watch what happens next time you drink some of this stuff.  See if you can avoid wearing some of it after awhile.   And be sure to share the details with me.  Taking coffee out of beige sweaters in not much fun.

http://davidnotes.com/2008/11/23/extraordinary-video-deliver-sarah/

• The Consumer Not Feeling Well/ Needs A New Life
• Nice Fall Day
• Horse Carriage/ Victorian Design (click to enlarge)
• Restless And Cramping Legs/ Restless Legs Syndrome/ Ease Suffering
• Blog Rush Bonanza

Table of contents for Amazon.com

1. Amazon Videos
2. Virginia Breeze And Amazon.com
3. Amazon MP3
4. Black Friday At Amazon.com/ Stay Home And Be Safe

Soon

Very soon it will be time. . .

Black Friday At Amazon.com

*

• Summer Flower In November/ The Doobie Brothers/ It Keeps You Runnin’
• Amazon MP3
• Amazon Videos
• Happy Boss Day (October 16th) Or Any Day HEY-HEY
• Westwood Club/ I Should Have Had The Chicken/ Lee Ann Womack/ Baby It’s Cold Out There

Table of contents for 3/University of Richmond

1. Photos And Pain
2. UR Suspect Confesses/ Lunacy In The News
3. Autumn Photos From the University of Richmond

It will be time soon for some Christmas photos.  And I have noticed that there have been a lot of search engine requests for last years photos this past week.

People are getting ready I guess.  They want to see Christmas photos even before Thanksgiving.  And one of the nice things about having a blog that is over one year old is that you can provide holiday photos prior to the holiday.

But I am still a little bit hung up about autumn leaves.  They are still desperately hanging on the trees and I feel for them.  They have lost their beauty.  And in a way I guess I identify with them in my old age.  Because I was (after all) such a beautiful youth.  Cough.

Youth is beauty.  I guess that’s what I’m trying to say.  Certainly it seems so when we take photos of our children and our grandchildren.

So I went for a walk over to the U a few weeks ago and took some photos.  But when I looked at them I was very discouraged.  Looking back I think it was the glare.  I usually forget to put the little hood on the end of the lens.

And what do you get when you forget to do that?  Trouble!   But sometimes you can go back after awhile and get a new perspective.  Your mood changes.  Maybe you felt rushed.  Maybe you were just disappointed and tired so you didn’t really try to dig down for the gold.

Maybe later you do the digging and see something shiny.  Maybe it’s gold.  Maybe it’s just bronze.  But it’s something worth saving.

So here they are.   Perhaps there is a high school student out there who will look at these some day and make a decision about going to this school.

Maybe he (or she) will look at the colorful leaves and feel good about being young and ready for adventure.

Never thinking about leaves that are drained of their color and ready to blow away in the icy winds of November.

[Show as slideshow]

RANDOM POST

• Mad Duck Looking For You
• Poetry/ Love Thyself
• Autumn Leaves
• One More Photo Of Christmas
• Suggestions For The Twelve Days Of Christmas (5)/ Gratitude For This