Some miscellaneous thoughts:
Dusty’s last day…
Our neighbor’s foster dog Dusty (purebred Golden Retriever) has finished his year of puppy training to be a Guide dog for the blind. He leaves tomorrow for his next stop — a year of intensive training with a different family before he is certified to become someone’s guide dog.
Long may you run, Dusty. We’ll miss you, but know you’re going to be a great guide for someone.
Cool Music Interlude
Last night I was feeling hot, tired and sorry for myself. T, having given up on the prospect of our family ever being able clear all the schedules and get away, decided to take this weekend and go down to Corona del Mar to visit his sis. I was insanely jealous, but Dancergirl and I had a Sunday morning church commitment we couldn’t weasel out of, A was playing the Ventura County Fair on Saturday and the only person who had free time was T, so off he went.
Around 7 I started hearing some of the most awesome live rock and roll I’ve heard in a long time coming from the park across the street. I knew there was a Saturday night concert — they have them every 2 weeks here during the summer, but usually the series is pretty slow-paced. But when the Eagles started blasting in my bedroom window (yes — I’m a shameless live-in-the-past Eagles fan, among others), I grabbed the dog and the kids and headed for the park double time.
The band playing was headed up by Steppenwolf’s former bass player and they ROCKED. They didn’t finish till 10 (which in this neck of the woods might as well be 2AM), and they didn’t let up at all. From the Eagles to Janis Joplin to Jimi Hendrix to the Stones to Steppenwolf, they rocked on. All of a sudden, I was kind of glad I’d stayed home. It set the mood for a really cool Saturday night. Kudos to our Arts Council for putting on a really great concert! Even A liked it (he likes performing better than watching), because they played almost all of his drum teacher’s “Required Top Ten Tunes That All Drummers Must Know If They Want To Perform”.
At the end of the day, The Pug was exhausted and so was I, but it was well worth it.
On the CSS Learning Curve
For the past four months I’ve been struggling to master CSS so that I can redesign the high school band website the way I want it to be – clean and cutting-edge. (I’m not even going to link it here because I’m so out of love with it right now). My deadline is rapidly approaching – band camp starts on the 15th and I have been so out of inspiration for graphics and even basic layout that I’ve been knocking my head on a wall and doing anything I can to avoid wrestling it.
I’ve been working through Eric Meyer’s 2 books and just bought “Zen Garden, the book.” They’re all great and easy learning, really. But I STILL can’t figure out what to do with that doggoned red and black theme that someone else hasn’t done and done better. I’m still hoping for some inspiration out of the Zen Garden book and I always work best on a deadline.
The Countdown begins…..
