I am back.

It's been a couple of weeks of postmodern purgatory for me, friends. As mentioned in my previous post, way back on October 12, my old computer went bad on me and it took me all the way up until yesterday to get a working system put together. GGRRREAAAAARRRRGGGGHHH!!! (There, I let it out, I am almost ready to move on now...)

The delays, obstacles and frustrations I endured to get to this point are too numerous and tedious to recall. Suffice it to say that I've learned a few lessons about why it doesn't pay to go cheap when ordering computer parts and putting the pieces together yourself. I'm on my third motherboard now, my second processor, one of my new 256 MB RAM chips is bad, I'm unable to use my CD-R and DVD-RW drives (which might just be fried from the original computer failure) and I still don't have any sound even though I followed the directions for setting it up perfectly and downloaded the latest drivers from the website as an extra step to get my music back. That's kind of OK, I want to get a decent soundcard anyway so I'll just go ahead and do that soon.

The main point here is just to let you know that I'm ready to resume blogging again. I have never been without a computer during all this - my son has one here at home and I've got plenty of access at work. But the thing that held me back from blogging and emailing as much as I normally do was just that sense of not having my own place to do those things - sitting in someone else's chair or doing that stuff on the job just didn't cut it for me - I could never really settle in and let the thoughts flow from brain to fingertips to keyboard to internet the way I'd like.

But I'm getting there. I still have to get things back to the way they're supposed to be on my fresh, bare, pristine computer. I don't like having to recreate my iTunes collection and I definitely lost a lot of good music that I didn't have backed up, but oh well. It's not like I'm lacking for listening material or anything! And I kind of like having a fresh, clean hard drive which will only have my stuff on it. The old one had a lot of residual programs from my kids that they don't use anymore but kind of lingered on anyway.

Well anyway. So much for that. I have more to say about all this in terms of technical problems I encountered but I won't presume that you're interested in all that unless someone cares to leave a comment. Now I have to get ready for work - but IT IS GOOD TO BE BACK!

And Happy Halloween too. (I guess the picture fits the theme of the day...!)

My Posts Are Gonna Be Scarce For Awhile

I want to let anyone who checks in on this blog regularly know that I don't expect to keep it up as frequently as I have in weeks past. Mainly because I am in the process of putting a new computer system together. Even though I still have home internet access through my son's computer, my own PC is currently in a state of disassembly. Using Brandon's computer is "okay" but it just doesn't feel like my space. My digital camera isn't hooked up, I don't have the same selection of music at my disposal, I'm sitting in somebody else's computer chair... The whole equilibrium is just thrown off. I think most of you should be able to understand my plight.

As for what I'm doing about the lack of my own computer... My Shopping Cart at NewEgg.com has a motherboard, an AMD Sempron 2600+ processor (yeah, I'm on a bit of a tight budget, but I don't need some beastly ol' gaming system anyway) and 512 MB of memory standing by waiting to be ordered so that I can get up and running again. I just have to get a little more information about whether or not the memory I have selected is the best option (two 256 MB chips or one 512 MB?) I have an email into my son Curt, who put the package together for me, to see why he made the choice he did, and once I settle that, I click the button and the shipment will soon be on its way.

Julie and I are also doing some budgetary reconfiguring, which has me looking at alternatives to our current phone/cable TV/internet arrangements. All too tedious to cover in much detail here but significant to our family.

In any case, maybe I will find time and opportunity to post here a bit more - I have been doing some interesting things lately... like another conference on Spirituality and Health at GVSU this afternoon. I didn't take many notes on it this time, but the topic was basically a review of research that demonstrates that regular religious practice has a beneficial effect on lengthening lifespans and reducing rates of remission for a number of diseases and health conditions. The speaker was Dr. Harold Koenig, who seems to have a lot of knowledge and experience in this field.

Here's a link to the magazine that he helps produce: Science and Theology News. Now I have to go and watch the baseball playoffs!

Please Stand By. We Are Experiencing Technical Difficulties.

This past Sunday, my computer stopped working properly, so I was unable to post my comments on the Randy Travis concert I worked the previous night. I've also been mostly off-line since then, as I'm now dependent on my son's computer for an internet connection. I've also been busy since Sunday afternoon, returning Curt to Spring Arbor and having a full slate to deal with at work and home yesterday. So that's why I've been quiet.

Quick updates then. It looks like my secondary hard-drive, the one with all my music on it, may be fried. That's pretty dreadful but I'm not feeling much emotion about it. The most important music from that collection is already backed up on CD's, but it does disappoint me to lose so much of what I've downloaded or gotten from the library. Maybe I will just have to be less musically omnivorous once I get my system working again.

The Randy Travis concert wasn't much to speak of. He's a fine traditional country crooner, but he attracts a very sedate crowd and performs at a relatively low volume. We could still hear the music across the way in the concession stand but it didn't fill the space like most other bands do. I also got the impression that his voice is not as strong as it was when he was in his hit-making prime. You know how he has that rich, snappy twang on "Forever and Ever Amen"? Well, it wasn't coming across quite as clearly, even when I snuck in my obligatory peek at the stage (which was moved up to about where center-ice would be so that the crowd he drew wouldn't seem so small.) Maybe he is now moving into that middle-aged phase that country music is able to offer its stars more comfortably than other pop genres. It seemed like he was taking it pretty easy out there - George Strait projected a lot more energy and enthusiasm when I saw him several months ago.

I should also mention that this was a benefit concert for some local homeless ministries: the Mel Trotter and Guiding Light missions, and DeGage, a kind of cafe' for street folks in the lower downtown Heartside district of Grand Rapids. So I respect and appreciate the gesture on Randy's part. He seems like a good, decent guy.

Running About To and Fro

I've put a lot of miles on my Taurus the last couple of days. Yesterday I had to drive down to Spring Arbor to pick up Curt. It's Homecoming Weekend at Wyoming Park High School and Curt thought this would be a good occasion for him to come back home, visit family and friends and just check in on things after being gone for the month of September.

So I had a nice opportunity to leave work early and enjoy a beautiful autumn afternoon cruise down the freeway for a couple of hours. Of course I made significant progress on my "listening to all the #1 songs in a row" project. The focus of yesterday's trip was 1973 and '74.

Here's what I listened to:

Crocodile Rock	Elton John
Killing Me Softly With His Song	Roberta Flack
Love Train	O'Jays
The Night The Lights Went Out In Georgia	Vicki Lawrence
Tie A Yellow Ribbon Round The Ole Oak Tree	Dawn Featuring Tony Orlando
You Are The Sunshine Of My Life	Stevie Wonder
Frankenstein	The Edgar Winter Group
My Love	Paul McCartney & Wings
Give Me Love - (Give Me Peace On Earth)	George Harrison
Will It Go Round In Circles	Billy Preston
Bad, Bad Leroy Brown	Jim Croce
The Morning After	Maureen McGovern
Touch Me In The Morning	Diana Ross
Brother Louie	Stories
Let's Get It On	Marvin Gaye
Delta Dawn	Helen Reddy
We're An American Band	Grand Funk
Half-Breed	Cher
Angie	The Rolling Stones
Midnight Train To Georgia	Gladys Knight & The Pips
Keep On Truckin' (Part 1)	Eddie Kendricks
Photograph	Ringo Starr
Top Of The World	The Carpenters
The Most Beautiful Girl	Charlie Rich
Time In A Bottle	Jim Croce

The Joker	Steve Miller Band
Show And Tell	Al Wilson
You're Sixteen	Ringo Starr
The Way We Were	Barbra Streisand
Love's Theme	Love Unlimited Orchestra
Seasons In The Sun	Terry Jacks
Dark Lady	Cher
Sunshine On My Shoulders	John Denver
Hooked On A Feeling	Blue Swede
Bennie And The Jets	Elton John
TSOP (The Sound of Philadelphia)	MFSB featuring The Three Degrees
The Loco-Motion	Grand Funk
The Streak	Ray Stevens
Band On The Run	Paul McCartney & Wings
Billy, Don't Be A Hero	Bo Donaldson & The Heywoods

I have comments and opinions on each song but I will wait to see if anyone's interested before I lay them out here. Just comment on the song of your choice and read what I have to say about it later.

When I got back, we went to the Homecoming Parade (pictured above) and then from there we went to the football game, which Park won over the other high school here in Wyoming, which is called Rogers. It was a blowout, 42-14. Park's team is bigger, stronger and deeper than Rogers, who didn't have enough kids on their squad to form a separate offense and defense. So yay for our side.

Then this morning I drove Derek up to Big Rapids, about an hour north of here, for a weekend church youth group retreat at the Cran Hill ranch. Another chance to listen to music, getting into 1975, but I won't bother listing them all now. I'm in a hurry. I have to drop off Brandon at work (Curt's out in Brandon's car socializing for the night), then it's off to Van Andel Arena to work a Randy Travis concert. Full report due tomorrow!