CSO Concert in the Park

Once again it was that time of year to see the Colorado Symphony Orchestra summer concert in the park. Megan packed an excellent picnic as usual for me, herself and Stephen to enjoy.

The menu included:
Champagne, White wine
tomato and mozzarella caprese salad
blueberries
bread and boursin cheese
chicken salad
shrimp cocktail
gourmet chocolates, Pepperidge Farm cookies

The CSO performed:
Rossini's "Overture to Semiramide"
Bizet "Symphony in C"

Unfortunately it was rained out after these two pieces. The good news is that we had finished the picnic!

Harry Potter

Don't worry, no spoilers, but I felt like I should do a blog entry on the final book. I thought it was great. I love that the characters visited many of the locations from previous books. It will make for a good, but perhaps long movie. I actually went Friday night at midnight to get a copy. I haven't done this in the past but thought for the last book I should. I ended up in line at the grocery store at 11:55pm. The line was the entire length of the cereal aisle. I was about halfway down the line. When I got to the front of the line, I checked back again and it was still the entire length of the cereal aisle. I guess that's not surprising since over 8 million copies sold in the US in the first 24 hours. When I think about how many words J.K Rowling made up when she wrote the series - it's very creative yet the story is somewhat simple. I wish I could have thought of it, and then I'd be a billion dollars richer. And yes...I was finished with it by 8:45 am on Saturday. It reminded me of when I was a kid and would stay up all night reading. It's fun to do every once in awhile.

Fur Elise Slightly Different

I found this on YouTube awhile back. How awesome are these guys?

It's so pretty.

The piano has arrvied, and I love it.

Flowers Update

My last post about planting flowers was on May 27th. It's been about a month and a half now - time to check in on that survival of the fittest theory. The boxes of flowers are doing really well. You can compare this picture to the one I took on May 27th. It's the same flower box just turned around.

Not all of the plants have been so lucky. You can see in the pot on the left here that one of them got a little too toasty in the sun. I tried Miracle Grow, but I couldn't revive it.

Critical Condition

I recently read "Critical Condition: How Health Care in America Became Big Business & Bad Medicine" by Barlett and Steele. The book covered all the problems that you hear about in the news these days - medical errors, expensive drug costs, insurance claims, etc. Mostly though it focused on how market-driven health care is not working.

The last chapter offered a solution which we hear about often from politics - universal coverage run by a government council. Supposedly we could pay for this by standardization and "efficient computer technology". I loved this sentence: "To reduce medical errors dramatically, the council could oversee creation and operation of a single information technology system that links all health care players - hospitals, doctors' offices, pharmacies and nursing homes." Right (sense my sarcasm)... Currently there are RHIOs (Regional Health Information Organizations) working on this. Usually this means a couple of states are trying to coordinate their IT efforts. This is also a huge debate. I heard speakers last semester that were eagerly working on the Rocky Mtn region's RHIO, then I heard another speaker talk of how it is a waste of time because there are too many objectives and no incentive for any one organization to pay for it. I don't necessarily think gov't run universal coverage is a bad idea, but it is much more complicated then these authors led on; they are also very naive regarding IT systems.

The big health care debate is always summed up by considering access, cost and quality. One of the most interesting speakers I heard last semester said that all other countries have picked one of these as their main objective and that the US system won't improve until we decide what is our priority. Michael Moore recently released his new documentary on the health care system. I haven't seen it but have heard he focuses on how supposedly other countries have gotten it right - Canada, France, England and Cuba. From what I can tell - they've all chosen "access". However access may mean you're guaranteed coverage but go stand in line and wait for it.

Digital Piano

I was determined to buy a digital piano this weekend. I realized recently how much I missed playing, and I think it's a better use of my time then coming home from work and sitting in front of the TV. I went to 3 different stores in Denver to try the various brands. My favorite was a Roland HP-207 at Rockley Music Center. The difference was that the keys on that model of the Roland were made of wood. And the material they use on top of the wood is moisture absorbing. It felt more like a real piano. Plus they modeled the outside to look more like a real piano. You can have an orchestra accompany you. It is so sophisticated I think someone could not know how to play a piano and still sound good on it. If you click on the link to the piano, they have video demonstrating the features. It's amazing where technology has taken music.

I am ultimately going to buy an acoustic piano, but for now I'm sure my neighbors will appreciate that I can wear headphones and play.

The Art of Clear Thinking

A speaker in a class this past semester, Jeffrey Bauer from ACS – Healthcare Solutions recommended the book "The Art of Clear Thinking" by Rudolf Flesch written in 1951. He said it was the best book written on critical thinking.

Some interesting points from the book:
1. All thinking is the manipulation of memories. Even 'inspirations' are based on your experiences and nothing else. Don't forget that everybody, including yourself, has only his own experience to think with.
2. Your memories are more or less distorted. Your brain registers experience differently from everybody else's.
3. Translation helps your thinking because you use two sets of nerve patterns instead of one. This includes translation of English into other words.

Translating is the ideal form of intellectual exercise. Whenever we translate, we are forced to abandon the mental patterns we are used to and get the hang of others completely alien to our thinking.

Wedding Celebration

I attended Kerri and Travis' wedding celebration. They got married in Mexico over a month ago. The lunch was held at the Mt. Vernon Country Club which is near lookout mountain.

Business School Dinner

I was invited to attend CU-Denver Business school's Celebration of Success dinner. It's the annual fundraising event for student scholarships and faculty fellowships. Around 1,000 people from local businesses bought seats. I was invited because I've received a scholarship in the past. I was impressed. It was held in a ballroom at the Performing Arts Complex. I had no idea the business school had support from so many Denver businesses. Each year they invite a speaker. In the past, speakers have included Colin Powell, Rudy Giuliani and Mikhail Gorbachev. This year it was the former US Secretary of Labor, Robert Reich.

Flowers

I decided to try and plant flowers on my patio this summer. Hopefully to cover up my view of the construction they're doing next door.
I don't know anything about gardening; my only experience is planting flowers during volunteer activities. I'm pretty sure I planted everything too close together. I'm considering it survival of the fittest, whichever plants get biggest get all the water. I planted Begonias (white and pink), Impatiens (red) and Bugleweed (blue flowers).

Edgar Meyer

I attended a Colorado Symphony Orchestra concert. The guest soloist was Edgar Meyer. I had not seen him perform since 1993, when I spent the summer in the small town of Sewanee, Tennessee for the Sewanee Music Festival. I've seen a lot of soloists over the years at music camps, and I don't remember the name of a single one of them except for Edgar. I think it's for 2 reasons. One, bass is an unusual soloist instrument and two, he's just that good. He performed a concerto he composed himself with a percussion instrument him and a friend invented made of PVC pipe.

The CSO also performed my favorite piece - Rhapsody in Blue by Gershwin.

Another reason I like Denver: I woke up at 6:30pm from a nap, took a shower and still made it downtown in time for the 7:30 show that I only had to pay $5 for a student ticket and had an excellent seat.

Another Note: Speaking of Sewanee, it inspired me to look up my old clarinet teacher, Bruce Dinkins (who was also a conductor at Sewanee). While I was in highschool he had moved from Georgia to South Carolina to be the conductor at Irmo High school. In college I met a girl that had gone to the highschool and knew him. Looks like he has moved on to a high school in Austin, Texas but is still conducting some in the summer at Sewanee. I remember that he would wander through his house during my lesson, but I never doubted for a second that he was listening because then he would holler like a drill sergeant from another room with corrections. At Sewanee in the cafeteria, he put his finger in my brownie and then asked "don't you hate it when people put their fingers in your food?". Interesting sense of humor but definitely one of the best clarinet teachers I ever had.

California Trip

We started the trip in San Francisco. On the way to the wine country we stopped at Muir Woods. Here's the family walking around the park.

The Wine Country was awesome. We visited both Napa and Sonoma. This picture is from Heitz. We also stopped at Beringer, Hall, V Sattui, Gundlach Bundschu, Buena Vista and Gloria Ferrer.

We went to Yosemite National Park. It was very picturesque.

Graduation

It's official. Nins is a doctor. The best part of graduation was that cap.

Un ballo in maschera (A Masked Ball)

Megan and I went to Verdi's opera "Un Ballo In Maschera". It's the story of King Gustav and his friendship with Anckarström. Their friendship is put to the test when a love triangle surfaces before the famed masquerade ball. It takes place in Sweden in the late 1700's. I hadn't seen an opera since Megan and I went to see Carmen. This one was entertaining but not one of my favorites.

Muddy Buddy

I was looking through old photos and ran across this one. Funny pics like this just need to be shared. It's from 2003 when I participated in the Muddy Buddy race. You have a buddy and throughout the race you switch off between mountain biking and running. Between each switch you complete an obstacle. At the end you wait for your buddy then go thru the mud pit together. Georgia red clay is not good mud. It was gritty and I tore up my knees. I was laughing through most of this though. In case you were wondering I pretty much threw away everything I was wearing (except the helmet). I noticed the race will be in Boulder, CO in August of this year. Something to consider.

Kelly and Harold's Travels

I mentioned back in January that Kelly was engaged and going on a year long trip through Europe, India and Asia. The trip has begun! I've added a link to Harold and Kelly's blog on the right.

Catching Up With Old Friends

Eileen and I met up with Megan at Zengo for dinner.






When Eileen and I showed up at this restaurant, the Valet asked if we thought it was a little early in the week to be needing a happy hour. I told him we were there to catch up with an old friend. Then Megan came, and he asked her if she was there with the 20 person party. Megan said she was catching up with old friends. The valet said "the old friends" were already inside.

Easter Brunch

We started our brunch with fruit and mimosas. Eileen made two different fruit dips. I made Ham puffs (ham, swiss cheese, onion, parsley in crescent roll dough in mini-muffin pan). Eileen got really creative and also made ricotta cheese pancakes. It was all excellent.

We then got to egg decorating. Eileen kicked it up a notch this year with her internet research. We were using rubber bands and electrical tape. Someone brought up the idea that putting the eggs in snow would display them best. I don't know... It was snowing.

Copper Mtn Weekend

I spent the weekend with Eileen, Joan, Ellen and Fred and Vicki were in town. We stayed up at Copper Mountain. Eileen and I got 2 good days of skiing/boarding in.