This link came to my attention today. Jennifer Lester, the founding music director of The Seraphim Singers and a friend of mine, was interviewed about her 15 year tenure at the helm of Seraphim. It’s a great read and I recommend it for you music nerds out there, and I know you’re out there. Also, there’s a concert coming up. More about that after the jump.
Continue reading “The Seraphim Singers make the news and some more music”
Now that the nightmare is over, I can tell you about our escapades of the past week. It all began with Kelly noticing that the toilet was taking too long to flush last Wednesday while I was at work. Then suddenly the tub was taking longer to drain too, with the tub actually starting to fill during a shower. So obviously something was wrong. We just didn’t know right away how wrong. So don’t read this if you are a little squeamish, although I will try to not get too graphic.
Continue reading “Adventures in Plumbing, or Raw Sewage is NOT Your Friend”
That means that it’s time to save a life.
Yes, it’s possible that person might be me, but in this case it’s a t-shirt designer.
Continue reading “Someone is clearly tired of the election hype”
The source of overpriced pizza for a vast swath of yuppies across Massachusetts has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy. I suppose it was just a matter of time. Now, for those of you with memory as good as mine*, that means that the company Kelly and I don’t like much anyway because of the way they treat their employees** is having yet more problems.
*That is code for my memory is actually pretty bad. Awful, in fact.
**And their prices. And their terrible tomato sauce.
That was the name of the black tailed prairie dog that I worked with for years in my museum job. She passed away a few years ago at a good old age, but I still miss her. She was a bit pudgy even by prairie dog standards, but she was a cute little thing.
She loved to snack on nuts of different types, she was always amusing on stage when taken out for educational programs for kids and adults alike, and she loved her chin scritches. She was full of personality, quite content to tell you to bugger off when she didn’t want to be bothered, loved to make up her own comfy sleeping spaces, and was a little tyrant when she felt like it. I learned a lot about prairie dogs because of her, so when I received the following email from the HSUS I knew that I needed to talk about it, and talk about Clayton, here.
For those of you who haven’t figured it out yet, I am a geek. On a scale from 1 to 10, with 10 being the maximum, I am probably a 6 or maybe a 7. Not sure how objective I am about that, but anyway, yeah, I am a geek. I mean, most people don’t find a way to incorporate Tolkien into their wedding, but we did. And as a history geek I got Abraham Lincoln too.
That being said, I do have my limits. And one place I would draw the line is something like this post on craigslist.
This time we had a full group of about 15. Most of them seemed pretty enthusiastic although there was one guy who must have been along for the ride, because he didn’t seem to be into it while the woman with him asked me a lot of questions. Probably the most unusual thing about this tour happened when I brought the group by the Julia Ward Howe and Samuel Gridley Howe home on Chestnut Street. After describing how Julia was inspired to write new words to the tune of “John Brown’s Body”, and how the new lyrics became tremendously popular, a woman on the tour asked if I could sing it for her, and then a bunch of the other women on the tour chimed in too. So I went ahead and sang the first verse. I got a round of applause, hopefully not for comedic value and/or pity.
-Geoff
We’ve all seen the photos that float around on the internet. They show soldiers in Afghanistan or Iraq with their German Shepherds curled up together after a long day of work. The MP off duty with helmet for a pillow, her dog sitting dutifully by her side.
What you may not know is that the military currently classifies these animals as “equipment” and that when their working careers are over there is no guarantee that they’ll end up adopted or go home with their handlers.
No, not Black Cat Awareness Month, Black Cat Appreciation Month. Just ask Geoff how much he likes the phrase “raising awareness“. Go ahead ask him, I’ll wait.
The Books are Taking Over... 