Progress Report: Piano Lesson #9

Today will be my 9th lesson with Kathy Cooper of Kathy Cooper Studios. So far so good!

As with all lessons, of any kind, there are those disheartening moments where you wonder "what's it all good for, anyway?", a quiet act of desperation built from years of self-doubt and self-deprecating behavior.

Then I go have a lesson and Kathy asks how it's going, I tell her this, and the next thing I know I'm talking about all the music I love, showing off the things I've learned and how good I'm getting at things I just started learning 9 weeks ago...then I'm BACK! I know why, once again, why I'm doing this thing. It's not to impress a girl, although I'm always wanting to impress my girl (girls if you count my step-daughters!), it's not to be a rock star (although if I could get into a band of like-minded folks again, that would be great!), it's not to win awards, or get attention or any of those other things. It's because it makes me happy and I enjoy it!

May 25th is Towel Day! Honor Douglas Adams and Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy Fans Everywhere!

Get your towels ready you hoopy froods everywhere, Wednesday is Towel Day! The day that we celebrate our love of Douglas Adams and Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy.

From chapter 3 of The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy:
A towel is about the most massively useful thing an interstellar hitchhiker can have. Partly it has great practical value. You can wrap it around you for warmth as you bound across the cold moons of Jaglan Beta; you can lie on it on the brilliant marble-sanded beaches of Santraginus V, inhaling the heady sea vapors; you can sleep under it beneath the stars which shine so redly on the desert world of Kakrafoon; use it to sail a miniraft down the slow heavy River Moth; wet it for use in hand-to-hand-combat; wrap it round your head to ward off noxious fumes or avoid the gaze of the Ravenous Bugblatter Beast of Traal (such a mind-boggingly stupid animal, it assumes that if you can’t see it, it can’t see you); you can wave your towel in emergencies as a distress signal, and of course dry yourself off with it if it still seems to be clean enough.

More importantly, a towel has immense psychological value. For some reason, if a strag (strag: non-hitchhiker) discovers that a hitchhiker has his towel with him, he will automatically assume that he is also in possession of a toothbrush, washcloth, soap, tin of biscuits, flask, compass, map, ball of string, gnat spray, wet-weather gear, space suit etc., etc. Furthermore, the strag will then happily lend the hitchhiker any of these or a dozen other items that the hitchhiker might accidentally have “lost”. What the strag will think is that any man who can hitch the length and breadth of the galaxy, rough it, slum it, struggle against terrible odds, win through, and still knows where his towel is, is clearly a man to be reckoned with.

As a long-time fan, I'm so glad to have a way to show my love and appreciation of what this great, genius of a man, writer, comedian and thinker did in his life's work.

One of my step-daughters is in love with the series and is on her third book of the "trilogy" (as he called it but there are actually 5 books!)

So, if you're a "believer", grab your towels and show the world that you are clearly a person to be reckoned with!

Towel Day Wiki
towelday.org

G.A.S. Report — ACQUIRED: Akai SynthStation 25 for iPhone

I picked this up on a lark. Truly! I don't even remember how I found it. I was actually buying some Elvis Costello sheet music and ended up on Buy.com. I guess it was listed as a suggestion...Well, it worked! I bought it.

It was a "discount" house that had this one for a much lower price that is listed elsewhere, PLUS Akai is running a $20 rebate right now! It looks like the only reason this one was "discount" was due to some of the screen printed words were smeared. No biggie and doesn't affect operation = DEAL.

Square Everywhere - Accept Credit Cards with Square

I just got this, FREE, from square after I heard that Apple is fully endorsing it. Currently I don't really have any use for it, but if I start doing Guitar repair or custom design again, website building that isn't barter or if my wife decides to sell some of her sewn, quilted, felted wares at Gainesville, MO's Hootin' n Hollerin' Bluegrass festival this year and someone wants to pay with debit or credit, we can take it right there!

It also allows you to take a picture of the invoice, person or product as you make the transaction!

The little device is super lightweight, requires no batteries and is easy to use!