Been awhile ~

My, time has been slipping by since last I posted. My lack of industry has been due to a reasonably miserable existence: fighting off a mild cold and sinus infection while labouring away my days at the komputer, first writing my part and editing the rest of the 40-page LPBA Journal Winter edition, and then immediately swiveling the guns around to my semi-annual spasm of Ethics-article writing, with which I have a love-hate relationship. Make that hate-hate, come to think of it. It is tedious to research and only a shade better than that to write these 8,500-word tomes, which I then read as speeches. Attorneys have to get annual ethics hours and not many speakers are willing to do the talks, so I have a steady diet of three to four a year. Because this winter's two, LPBA and the Embry Riddle meeting, will be in Palm Springs and Orlando, respectively, I'm going to use the same one for both. Which is good, because the two papers and the winter Journal always come due about the same ttime. Sitting here for days with a sinus headache tussling with the sometimes-maddening speech-recognition software that enables me to crank these things out is not my idea of Fun.

Awright, enough griping already. On a brighter note, see:

http://wydaily.com/read_article.php?article=1453

This is a link to a review of the Three Jolly Coachmen library concert a couple weeks back; two affiliated local radio stations give away a free dinner and concert tickets to listeners who promise to write reviews of each. Not sure the second winner kept up his end of the bargain, but the first certainly did.

Tomorrow we do Grand Illumination Celebration shows at noon, 2:00 and 4:00 in a theater that is part of the DeWitt Wallace museum in Colonial Wmsburg, appearing in tandem with locally renowned musician Tim Seaman and his group October Sky, which happens to include our very own Peter Budnikas. We're each doing about six songs, all of ours being from the Trio's fabulous C'mas album, "Last Month of the Year," only one of which we've ever done on stage and none of which we've ever done with Tim et al -- as in, no joint rehearsal! I figger by the third show we'll have it sorted out. We're taking the A/Bus over as a hangout for the day, since M&I will stay around for the fireworks and festivities. After my hand cramps at the library shows, I've been snarfing down bananas like a crazed Curious George for two days and plan to shower in warm Gatorade in the morning. I shall be Mister Potassium, limber as a lemur.

In other newz, Ms Caroline is enjoying an extended Winter Holiday after her employer made swift, deep, unannounced layoffs mid-week due to the collapse of the financial markets in general and investment banking in particular. She is philosophical and resilient about it all, and this requires only minor revisions to her Life-Plan Spreadsheets, which of course account for the possibilities of the Viscissitudes of Capitalism. And most of the revisions will doubtless be positive, as the Lord has an amazing history of turning dipsy-doodles in her Road of Life into launchpads for her Next Big Thing. In the meantime, as she says, "I think I'll be doing a little more skiing than I'd planned." She's investigating opportunities in, among other things, "microfinance," a field which sounds like it would embrace my checkbook.

Andrew, meanwhile, is toning up his cerebral muscles as he prepares for grad school in January, and/but mostly winning kudos for his enthusiastic embrace of the job of running the Extended Allen Family Gimme-Christmas SpreadSheet, which documents the shamelessly materialistic side of Allen Christmas celebrations. I think his latest missive directed at Certain People who'd failed to provide their lists bears repubishing:

Hello there! How are you? That's good, moving right along, I want your lists. I want them bad. I dream about them, and then every morning I wake up, heartbroken at the knowledge that they do not yet exist. I know it's difficult to desire anything in life when you've already got me, but you have to try! I believe in you, Brady/Holly/Mom. I know you can summon up the requisite greed. Brady, get on Bass Pro Shops' website and don't leave until you start wanting things. Mom, go to a public library, I'm sure you'll have two dozen books you'd like to read in half an hour. Holly, are there really no chick flicks or horror movies that you simply must have? Is there no new music on iTunes?
We're a consumer economy, people, and our economy is in bad shape. Don't just do this for me, do it for America!

Right on, son! Boo would be proud.

Speaking of C'mas, I have noted here previously my infatuation with Roombas and the inherent risks of any male giving such an obviously kewl and useful gadget to his Significant Other unless he knows her really, REALLY well. This following link takes the consequences of a gaffe in this department to the Next Level:

http://www.metacafe.com/watch/2077360/video/R/CFD_1002/

Well, the grandfather clock has just chimed tomorrow in, so I'd best hit the hay. Happy Sunday ~