Preakness

I have taken my Dad to the casino to watch the simulcast of the Preakness Stakes. Theoretically we could have swung up to Pimlico for the race, but I've never braved those crowds. I hear the infield is a big drunken party. My Dad is 90 years old, and not up for that kind of rowdiness. Laurel was an option, but that place is diggity-dank. Delaware Park at least has been upgraded to a slots/casino atmosphere, which is relatively more swanky. We've got a nice pair of marble cubicles with individual TV's and lots of big screens on the wall. Hopefully we can pick a few winners. I'm not much of a gambler, but I don't think my Dad would get to the track on his own at age 90. He sold his car (wisely) and pretty much relies on family to ferry him around when needed. He is pretty self-sufficient however, getting up at 7am every morning and doing 500 situps. In fact, he called me before 8am this morning and woke me from my slumbers. That is pretty bad when a 90 year old man has more energy than his daughter.

Sent from Stacie's "super hot" new iPad
"Stay Positive and Love your Life!"-Nick Hexum

Flickr Photostream

Can't figure out to fix the broken "gadget" which linked to my Flickr Photostream.

May update

This month I have to do some home renovations, but first I feel like organizing the mess that is my iTunes libraries (plural). While I am loading CD's I can start dealing with the mounds of paper surrounding the computer. Ahh, computers were supposed to eliminate the paper mess. I guess it reflects the cluttered brain in my skull. It seems almost superfluous to bother with the iTunes matching service since Spotify is so great at supplying music on demand. I guess I just want iTunes to organize what music I have so I can make better sense of it. One thing I like is creating a playlist in iTunes based on comments I have made, such as instrumentation or subgenres. These playlists are then exportable to a few third-party programs which do a pretty good job of making Spotify playlists. A bit easier than doing it all manually. Then you can scrobble it all to Last.fm. That is one way to share your music listening habits outside of Facebook, and discovering other people's habits, though you can see that within the Spotify app as well. More than one way to cook an egg, I guess.

New leaf

It seems a day off always turns into some major project! I decide to set up a new printer. That is good, after all I paid for it, but didn't imagine it would take almost 2 hours on the phone to HP. Well, they were professional (and native English speakers), and didn't fumble around. While it took time to accomplish all the goals of wireless and ePrinting (and Airplay), their were no major glitches. Glad to have that task off my list and I can move on to  more important things.

Speaking of English, versus other languages, I enjoyed reading Murakami's 1Q84, though I'm not sure that I ever would read another of his books without the recommendation of several friends. This book by itself probably wouldn't entice me to want to read the author, but I do have some fascination with Japan that would tend to drive me towards reading him again. All the mentions of Japanese food and places reminds me of the reason I initially applied for a Passport, in order to visit Japan. It is probably time to crack open those books on learning Japanese, though Spanish would be more practical in my dad-to-day existence.

I joined a first-class gym today, though I haven't used the facility per se. I will probably go tomorrow morning and do a light workout. Or I just might go over with a bathing suit and soak in the hot whirlpool spa. Just another day of turning over a new leaf.

I have been so lax about this blog!

I had the chance to visit some cousins and an Aunt in Missouri! It was my first time in the midwest and the first time meeting my cousins, They are wonderful and intelligent people, have great spouses and get along great with each other.

Kansas City, MO was an unlikely place for a monumental bagpipe seminar and concert, and it exceeded my expectations. I will return to Missouri again and again.

Loving this 311 concert in A.C.!

Power Play

Apple genius bar says my latest Mac problem was a power-management issue, i.e. the computer wasn't sending enough power to the gizmo
managing WiFi & Bluetooth. The phone tech didn't mention leaving it unplugged for a full five minutes, hence he sent me on a useless errand. Everything seemed OK at the store. Just have to trek back through the rush hour & check it out. Next time I'll try the unplug trick and save the drive.
Sent from Stacie's iPhone