Happy New Year, Everyone!

New Things

-I now have a calendar to keep me occupied for the next year:

I have already started perusing it, and my new favorite word is "shamocrat," a word from 1889 that means "One who pretends to be possessed of wealth, influence, rank, or indeed any quality which is only conspicuous by its absence."

-I am old now. I had to get glasses. Granted, the prescription is very mild and I only need to wear them infrequently to see distances (apparently being able to read the tiny notes on the page while playing my violin is an important thing), I still feel old for having to get them.

-I am apparently catching up with the times after getting an iPod. Don't worry about me getting too with it, though: I requested the Nano, and refused the Touch. Plus I'll probably be listening to Lileks and Soucheray podcasts anyway, so I'm not in danger of acting too young for my age.

-I think my favorite Christmas gift is this (which probably makes me a big dork because I asked for them - thanks, Dad!):

Merry Christmas!

The Nativity by Gerard van Honthorst (1590-1656)

Savior of the nations, come;
Virgin’s Son, here make Thy home!
Marvel now, O heaven and earth,
That the Lord chose such a birth.

Not by human flesh and blood;
By the Spirit of our God
Was the Word of God made flesh,
Woman’s offspring, pure and fresh.

Wondrous birth! O wondrous Child
Of the virgin undefiled!
Though by all the world disowned,
Still to be in heaven enthroned.

From the Father forth He came
And returneth to the same,
Captive leading death and hell
High the song of triumph swell!

Thou, the Father’s only Son,
Hast over sin the victory won.
Boundless shall Thy kingdom be;
When shall we its glories see?

Brightly doth Thy manger shine,
Glorious is its light divine.
Let not sin o’ercloud this light;
Ever be our faith thus bright.

Praise to God the Father sing,
Praise to God the Son, our King,
Praise to God the Spirit be
Ever and eternally.

This song has an interesting history: the version above is the one that everyone knows and sings. The piece was originally written in Latin by Ambrose of Milan, circa 397 A.D. (Ve­ni Re­demp­tor gen­ti­um). Many different people have translated the work over the years, the most famous of whom is Martin Luther (1523). Then, in 1851, William M. Reynolds translated the piece from Martin Luther's German into English, and this is the result. There are several other versions of the song - a couple transferred from the Latin directly into English, and I think there's at least one more version of the Latin-to-German-to-English.

Even more important than the song's history, though, is its meaning: God the Father sent Christ the Son to earth as the Word become flesh. Christ's entry to this world and his very purpose for being here - to overcome death and hell on our behalf - is both an example to us of true humility and a cause for rejoicing. It is because of our Savior that we give praises to God. I pray that your faith is strengthened through this 2008 Christmas season.

Merry Christmas!

More Fun Ways to Waste Ti....er, Enrich Your Brain.

New discovery.

Christmas Week

-This is the first time in years that I've actually gone into the office during Christmas week. I figured a five-day weekend this week, and another five-day weekend next week would be sufficient time to adjust to the idea of a new session beginning on January 6th.

-I found myself laughing on Sunday evening as some guy in my neighborhood was trying (rather unsuccessfully) to chase down his dog, Maddie. I laughed because it was so cold out and she was definitely giving him a run for his money, and by the way he was attired, he had obviously been unprepared for her to run away when he let her out.

-Drivers in MN need to stop tailgating during snow storms. I don't care if you have snow tires and grew up around here: you still make me nervous when you follow people (or worse, me!) too closely. Especially when there's someone fishtailing just ahead of you, because he too, was following someone too closely and was trying to switch lanes while braking.

-The city of Minneapolis finally decided to plow the streets. Yay! It only took them a month of it snowing every other day to finally take some action. Although now there's a snowpack of about 3-4 inches on most sidestreets (even after the plowing), so when it finally warms up (in March? April?), it'll be a few inches of ice instead of snowpack. In some ways, the colder temps have been better for the ice pack factor. I can't believe I just said that...I'd rather the temps be above zero.

-I'm done with Christmas orchestra concerts now! I only have the Christmas Eve service at church left to play.

-Working out four or five days a week means you get to eat more Christmas cookies.

-Stories like this one ("Where'd the Bailout Money Go?") drive me absolutely crazy. Stories like this one ("SantaCorp Pleads Case for Bailout") make me laugh.

-I finally watched Ben Stein's Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed this weekend, and highly recommend it. (Although it did cause a bit of frustration on my part; but I'm still glad he made the film, and I was happy to watch it.)

Celtic Christmas? Or Alien Christmas?

I listen to Pandora. A lot. Recently, I've had a lot of Christmas music playing, and every once in a while, one particular song comes on my station that causes me to pause and think, How weird is that?

The song, according to Pandora, is sung by Michelle Amato on Celtic Ladies Christmas. After doing a bit of googling, however, I believe it was actually sung by another of the Celtic Ladies, Michelle Lindahl. It's an extremely bizarre version of What Child is This? that confuses me because, each time the song begins, it sounds like The X-Files released a Christmas album.

I attempted to find a free clip of it for you to enjoy, but all I found was a clip on this page, and it doesn't include the weird X-Files intro. Otherwise, you could try pulling it up on Pandora, and see if I'm right.

A day in the life.

Good thing: Brakes that no longer grind
Bad thing: The cost of replacing four brake rotors on your car
Good thing: Driving in snowy conditions with new tires and new brakes
Bad thing: Driving in snow, period (Well, it's more annoying than bad. My theory didn't exactly work out on Tuesday - It still took an hour to drive ten miles post-evening rush hour.)

Good thing: Homemade chili, conveniently made a while back and taken out of the freezer for today's lunch
Bad thing: Spilling the chili on your pants at lunch time because the napkin on your lap was not nearly the size it needed to be
Good thing: Managing to keep your cream turtleneck free of the substance

Good thing: A Charlie Brown Christmas
Bad thing: Being stuck in traffic (due to falling snow) both times it's aired on broadcast TV this season
Good thing: Receiving A Charlie Brown Christmas in the mail from Netflix
Bad thing: Falling asleep on the couch three minutes into A Charlie Brown Christmas
Good thing: No due dates with Netflix

It is so cold out...

...that the shampoo and conditioner sitting on the window ledge in my bathroom were frozen solid this morning.

(No, it doesn't feel cold inside, but the windows and sill are old and not very efficient, I guess.)

It is finished.

I am now done playing The Messiah this year - four times in eight days. Not bad. And even now, I'm not sick of it. I'm listening to it on Pandora...

Also: I am not the biggest fan of being the only first violinist in a "chamber" orchestra that really is just a septet. I don't know how those woodwind and brass players do it, with no one backing them up, no one to share a stand with, no one else to help count the nearly infinite number of rests there are in a piece like Handel's Messiah. I am grateful that my head did not explode those three times I played it with no other firsts, and I am even more grateful for that fourth time playing it when it really was a chamber orchestra and there were three other first violinists playing so it wasn't just me. That is challenging, to say the least.

I also survived a Christmas Juletide concert last night (complete with The Nutcracker and March of the Toys) and playing at church yesterday morning. Although I have to admit that the playing wasn't really the surviving part of my day - I think driving all around town in freezing rain, dropping temperatures, snow and wind had more to do with the whole surviving idea.

A Post for [Some] Things Christmas

There really is a union for everything: The Amalgamated Order of Real Bearded Santas. Who knew?

My new favorite candy is this most delightful Hershey's product involving mint, white chocolate and tiny bits of delicious-ness. (See middle, right.) It's quite tasty, and I've decided to go see if my local market sells a bag with just those in it.

Quotes of the Moment: Government ≠ Utopia

"Nothing is less productive than to make more efficient what should not be done at all." --writer Peter Drucker (1909-2005)

"What has always made the state a hell on earth has been precisely that man has tried to make it his heaven." --German poet Friedrich Holderlin (1770-1843)

Make a Move in the Snow

I have decided that, in the future, I will do exactly what I did last night when we are supposed to get six inches of snow at rush hour. After work, when it took me quite a while to even exit my parking ramp onto the street, I went to the club, worked out, left for home after rush hour would normally get over, and ended up spending less time in traffic than I would normally during a rush hour without any inclement weather conditions. It was awesome! Sure, I was only going 40 on the freeway (it WAS still snowing, after all), but that's way faster than normal rush hour. Plus, I worked out, which has the advantage of lowering blood pressure instead of raising it...Gotta remember this in the future.

And now we have snow. (Well, it's actually been snowing an inch or so every other day for a while, but this was real snow. The kind that comes in multiple inches at a time.) And it appears it will be here for Christmas, so that's always nice. The problem is it will probably be here until the beginning of April. I hate scraping off my windshield every day. *sigh*

Signs That Prove You Need to Go to the Grocery Store

• You consider salad croutons by themselves a good snack...or worse, dinner
• The "pantry" in your office at work is better stocked than your kitchen cupboards
• The only vegetables in your house were used as an ice pack for your knee two weeks ago
• You start considering herbs and spices as a serving of vegetables
• You think about counting the lemon drops your co-worker offers you as a serving of fruit
• You eat grilled cheese sandwiches every day, only you ran out of bread several days ago (so I guess it's just a slice of cheese)
• You prefer when you watch the children of some friends that they pay you in cheesecake (preferably pumpkin cheesecake - that's a vegetable, right?)

I guess this means I will have to go to the store soon - even if the only spare time I have these days to run such an errand is around 11pm each day.

Proving that people will vote on anything.

A vote to see if votes should count. Is America's attention span really that horrible? Yes, I guess it is.