Those Lower Back Blues

Lower back problems. In case you didn't know ..... not much fun!! It all stemmed from a framed pictures re-arranging and hanging session and attempts to extend and reach areas of the wall not easily reachable. I initially thought it was just a minor strain until the initial re-aggravation took place ..... And every time over the past week that I thought it was getting better, I did something dumb to re-re-aggravate the condition, each instance seemingly more painful, crippling and for a longer period of time than the times previously. I'm guessing as well, that weight and age are major contributing factors to complicating the healing process. It also seems to affect the fingers as I seem to be dropping more items then usual that result in the act of bending over to pick them up off the floor requiring experimentation in new methods of undertaking said act.

You learn the difficult way that healing the back is a slow, gradual process. One sudden wrong movement can offset four or five days of improvement. In the blink of an eye it's back to the beginning ..... or further.

Playoffs

These Trailblazer's playoff games can be tough to watch. More than once now I've caught myself thinking: "Can't we just skip forward to the final minute and see how this turns out?" ...... In the first quarter even!! Every possession seems to become a separate stress filled event. They go up 2-0 in the series and I worry more than ever about game three. (Which they lost.) It's like after two close and thrill filled games won on the road, how can they (and I) possibly hope for those same end results now that they are playing at home?

I've decided after game three that I'm not going to bother reading online articles and opinions. (Well see how long that lasts.) People's opinions just piss me off. A two point game and people spin it as one team being dominant and the other being hopelessly out-manned and weaker. The reality is that each of the first three games could have swung the other direction on an almost infinite amount of factors. Many of them seemingly small factors. A bounce of the ball, an extra inch of a reach or a second in timing could be the difference in so many cases. These players are all immensely skilled.

RSD Once Again!

Record Store Day was yesterday. I eventually made my way down to Ranch Records. They said that they had thirty people lined up outside the doors at 4:00am. I didn't know that they exhibited that sort of behavior for Record Store Day. I guess it doesn't matter what the release, I would never stand in line for hours for anything. Especially for doors to open. I asked what the big seller was that had all those people in line at such an hour and failed to recognize the titles. Proof I suppose, that I am old, unhip and out of touch.

Another Record Store Day

"Record Store Day" and all its special limited edition releases ..... I love the concept. I just wish it was a little less expensive. It's coming around again this weekend. I'll be participating. But probably not when the doors open. They've backed off by six months the Neil Young release ("Time Fades Away"), that I was so looking forward to. It's pissed me off royally!! I'm searching for a way to protest! But Neil doesn't seem like the sort who might care.

When I moved a few years ago, there was a voice or two in my world encouraging me to simplify things, de-clutter and lighten the load by losing the vinyl record collection that had been put together over approximately forty years. For five or ten hazy minutes their words actually made a weird sort of sense. A compromise was eventually reached where I decided on 15-20 records that I didn't need any longer. The remainder made the move with me. I told those voices that I would require no assistance and would carry all the records myself. Similar notions will no longer be given consideration as long as sanity rules.

Life Story

I see things ..... images that get deep inside and stay with me, returning to my thoughts at any given moment. I wonder what his life is like? I wonder what he's writing? Had he wanted to tell his life story, I would have stopped and listened. We all have a story just waiting to be told. Often waiting for the slightest indication of interest.

The "R" Word

I look around work these days. Occasionally it dawns on me that my time is limited. It doesn't seem possible after so many years that there might be a time when I'm no longer a part of the place. Do I have five or ten more years left in me of being able to physically perform my duties? So many years pass by and it never enters your mind. Then suddenly the realization is present.

Five or ten years at my age, flashes by in an instant it seems.

I'm told that Miguel is 81 years old. He rarely misses a day. He seems happy working each day. What's his secret?

I've never been good at walking away from known and comfortable circumstances for the final time. Not that I have much experience at it. But there have been a few occasions .... St. Vincent's, high school, my job with the city. It was never my choice. Maybe the city was somewhat. Maybe I could have hung around doing the occasional odd job for them but the reasons I originally became involved had been washed away in a series of budget cuts. They called a few times afterwards with a few hours that I turned down ..... I ended up just kind of fading away. Never formally informed that I was dismissed, never formally quitting.

I think I saw that time approaching after realizing well after the fact that several key changes in management had taken place. I had no idea what was going down during that final year. Not that they were obligated to inform me of upcoming changes but normally I would have been in the loop just by being around and talking with people. The old gossip around the water cooler. But more and more I had taken to performing the majority of my office chores at odd hours, coming and going when most people were at home. In a way, slowly backing away from it all.

Funny how some people spend their final years at work almost obsessing about retirement while it never seems to enter the mind of others. In Frank's final year or two, I doubt a day went by where he didn't mention it. He was concerned if he could make it work financially but the closer he came to his announced date, the more excited he became. He claims now to have no regrets.

I've see them go at all ages .... 50's, early 60's and later. Hopefully I'll know when it's my time.

Photo Sharing

No description needed. One of those photos that grabs my attention through color and feel. Maybe late evening. Alone with ones thoughts. Or possibly the calm before the storm. Maybe a sense of awe and wonder? A place that I'd like to visit .... in my dreams if nothing else.

The image is not mine though I'd surely give credit if I knew who the photographer/artist was.


Behind the fog and haze nothing is clear or certain. There's a search for answers. Reminds of Peter Gabriel's video for his song, Mercy Street.

The Search

Don't some of these countries who have engaged their navies in the search for the missing Malaysian jet, have super-geek, high-tech nuclear submarines that can troll the depths of the suspected area in the Indian Ocean? They are seemingly not too busy right now launching nuclear missiles or doing whatever other run-of-the-mill stealth activities they generally perform ..... maybe a few can break away for a day or two to assist in the search? There must be more than a few secretly patrolling and stationed in the area anyway. How long has it been now since the jet went missing, three weeks? A month? Find the damn thing!!! I'm growing tired of viewing CNN's map of the oceanic area on their studio newsroom floor

Random Notes

Further notes on this and that .....

• Getting real tired of post-game television interviews with members of the victorious team and hearing that "No one gave us a chance to win this game." It should be more like: "I chose to misinterpret every opinion that was thrown out there for consumption."
• Why bother to have referees and umpires any more if they are going to stop the game and review every questionable call? They are not really needed for the obvious calls. Everyone can just agree to agree on those and then let some master computer in New York decide the others. MLB is already set up for that possibility. Get rid of the humans!! Orrrrrrrr get rid of the replays which I am actually for. Maybe keep the review process for the last ten seconds of a game or two outs, ninth inning situations. 
• Or put a timer on the officials. If they can't decide within 30 seconds of reviewing the replays ..... or from two different camera angles, then go with the original call. 
• Apparently one local Subway is attempting to re-define the submarine sandwich and give an extra push to their salads. Why else would they be constantly running out of bread in the middle of the sub eating day? Bread, I've always assumed, is kind of a high priority required item for a sandwich place.  
• In the opening moments of the movie from the 1940's, "Bataan," there's a scene where people and soldiers are evacuating a town in the Philippines and suddenly a Japanese plane appears overhead, dropping bombs and inflicting numerous deaths and destruction. The three main soldiers in the scene dive under cover. When the attack is done they resume their trek, laughing and joking just as before despite all the wounded, dead and dying civilians and fellow soldiers, all around them ..... like they're oblivious to it all. That's always bothered me. What was the director thinking?  

Looking Into You

Looking Into You, a tribute album to the music of Jackson Browne was released this week. I read a review that was somewhat down on it because many of the efforts sounded too much like the original versions. That's just fine with me. I grew up with all those songs. They were at the very top of my listening choices from 1972 through the mid-1990's. For me, there's emotions and life stories mixed in. I personally don't want to hear a Reggae cover of "Rock Me On the Water." Nor do I care to give a listen to a Punk Rock version of "Running On Empty." Close and true to the original is exactly what I would hope for in this case. Feel free to experiment in the progressive mode and take liberties with the music of some of my other favorites but not this. This is too close to my core.


These annual Public Library book sales are a madhouse!! People will bogart their way into the smallest spaces between two other people and then slowly and methodically nudge you over inch by inch until you suddenly realize that you are five feet away from the space that you had previously occupied moments earlier. It dawned on me today that maybe the best strategy to insure that others respect your personal space would be not to shower or bathe for three or four days beforehand.

See Ya

The neighbors moved out ..... a good thing in my estimation. Though you can never be quite sure until you see who moves in next. Being a former kid and all you might expect different from me but I'm not a big fan of having kids residing next door. Especially the combination of middle school boys and six year old girls, bouncing around my car, leaving their skateboards and dolls laying about and the older the boys get, the more I worry about my place while I'm away. Especially when the mother appears to be a grade A airhead, unaware of much that's going on around her except for looking pretty for the parade of male visitors regularly coming around ...... including the semi-regular UPS guy who parks his UPS truck in front of my driveway like it's his. I can't say that I'm sorry to see them go.

I admit that I let little things bother me. It pisses me off when in the middle of winter, when I'm paying a $300-plus electric bill, I see the neighbors with their front door wide open for extended periods, in sub freezing temperatures ..... like wasting energy and paying their electric bill is someone else's concern. Like maybe a handout from some government agency. Or the six year old girls who think my name is "Frank" .... until they decide later that I'm the "landlord." I guess that I'm snobbish that way but their mom needs to pay attention and correct that. How the hell did they come up with either idea?

Jewels and Gems

Sometimes you just have a couple of fruitful days where you stumble across things in $2.00 bargain racks, previously unheard of and off your music radar. The previous owners can rest assured that their former recordings have found a good home.

• Mark Olson - Many Colored Kite
• The Greencards - Movin' On
• Railroad Earth - Last of the Outlaws
• Tim O'Reagan - Tim O'Reagan
• The Dead Reckoners - A Night of Reckoning
• Red Rooster - Walk
• Various Artists - The Great Blues Men

A heavy emphasis towards the Bluegrass/Newgrass genre and Americana or Alternate Country sounds. And with Olson and O'Reagan specifically, their sounds while spinning off from their band, The Jayhawks. Dead Reckoning Records is a record label that leans towards the Americana sound. "A Night of Reckoning" is several of the labels artists getting together for a live performance.