Music on TV

I was channel surfing for something to watch while I had a snack, and discovered http://www.pbs.org/live-from-lincoln-center/home/ on PBS.  I had seen it advertised earlier, but it did not really catch my eye.  However, I did watch the last half of New York Philharmonic New Year's Eve: La Vie Parisienne
Thursday, December 31 at 9 PM (8 PM Central.)  It was good timing.  I heard a rendition of Edith Piaf's La Vie En Rose  http://www.metrolyrics.com/la-vie-en-rose-lyrics-edith-piaf.html and Ravel's Pavane  Pour Une Infante Defunte       http://www.classicfm.com/composers/ravel/music/maurice-ravel-pavane-pour-une-infante-defunte/#qFgI9OsFv8AbY9rP.97. Both are songs I like very much, so my timing was good.  Now I will go back to reading. 

New Year's Eve Tradition

Fireworks are okay, and I thought I heard some earlier, but they usually go off closer to midnight.  With the snow, I am not sure how much business the fireworks stands have done.  But people are determined.  And will probably think that with all the snow around, the fire danger is minimized.

My two traditions are black eye peas, a nod to the South http://aggie-horticulture.tamu.edu/archives/parsons/vegetables/blackeye.html, and pickled herring (Sledzie) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pickled_herring, which the Polish eat at Christmas or Easter.  I have morphed it into a New Years tradition for myself.  And, if true Sledzie is available in Lubbock, I would not know it.  So, I buy a commercial product that is herring in wine sauce (still a pickled brine.) I usually eat about half of a small jar, and then it sits, often until Easter.  (Pickled herring does not seem to go bad quickly.) 

I rarely go out. I often have champagne, and start my "midnight celebration" at 11 PM.  Often, this is one night of the year I do not make it to midnight.  One of the big reasons for that is the State of Texas gives us the day off. So, unlike a regular work day, I often rise very early, and by early evening, I am tired. I did so today.  The weather was too cold to sit out, but if I do, being in the fresh air helps me to sleep better, and sooner, also.  But, if I make it to midnight, central time, I toast the New Year in a second time. 

I tend not to do resolutions. 

In 2014, I set out to read a book a week, a goal I accomplished.  I did not have a goal for 2015.  And, I am not imaginative enough to come up with a goal for 2016 (the book a week was a goal one of the book club members had for 2013.  She shared it, accomplished it, and it sounded like fun.) It was.

I am trying to read more non-fiction. But do not have a specific plan for that.

I am enjoying a quiet night. TV off and on.  No vested interest in any sports tonight. 

A good book will do.

Killing Patton

I am reading Killing Patton by Bill O'Reilly and Martin Dugard   https://www.billoreilly.com/killing-patton.  Some of the reviews of this book are not favorable.  I have just started it today, and it reads like non-fiction, although it is historical.

Gen. Patton is a figure in history I find fascinating.  I guess in part because his ego was larger than life.  In part he was a paradox of a man:  he was a horseman, and helped to save the Lipizzan Stallions https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lipizzan but was noted for the poor treatment of the concentration camp survivors, especially the Jewish people https://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/post-partisan/wp/2014/10/06/bill-oreillys-lame-excuse-for-his-awful-killing-patton-blunder/.  He had a superego, but in large part, his soldiers admired him because he was often seen at or near the front.  He infamously slapped soldiers whom he branded as cowards https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_S._Patton_slapping_incidents.  And he comes across as mixed regarding the use of Black soldiers https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/761st_Tank_Battalion_(United_States), mostly accepting them out of dire necessity, but once preventing a lynching in El Paso. 

I think Gen. Patton is a complex man, and like many figures in history, is not all good or all bad.  It will be interesting to finish the book.

The Winter Storm

The winter storm is long gone, but the snow remains.  Although Monday and Tuesday were beautifully sunny, little melting occurred, and the residential streets are still a mess, even today, but now passable. 

Today, it was above freezing, but grey, overcast. That is probably good.  If it were warm and sunny, the snow would melt so fast there would be some flooding.  A slower melt is actually better.  We have had some light dusting of snow, but no accumulations and the wind has not been so bad.

The big problem is that it freezes overnight, so what melted during the day freezes at night creating large patches of frozen slush and black ice.  This is dangerous.  And, it takes until mid or late morning until the melting occurs again.  Fortunately, I do not have to get out tomorrow.  

We may get some freezing drizzle over night, but it  should be sunny tomorrow,

I will plan to go to the Texas Tech men's basketball game (complementary tickets from work) Saturday afternoon, and add a trip to the library before that. I did my weekly shopping today, though in anticipation that if there is another storm, I am not unprepared.

Sports

This is a Texas Tech http://www.texastech.com/gameday/ sports day.  This afternoon, the Texas Tech Red Raiders are playing basketball against Richmond.  The Red Raiders are winning but there is still plenty of time in the second half.   I wonder when Richmond came into town.  Travel has been bad, and there are a few spectators at the game, but travel in Lubbock is still very dangerous due to the winter storm we have experienced.

Later tonight the Texas Tech Red Raiders football team will be playing against Louisiana State University http://www.lsu.edu/ in the Advocare VI00 Texas Bowl http://www.advocaretexasbowl.com/. 

Tomorrow night, the Texas Tech Lady Raiders will play TCU http://www.tcu.edu/ which is a Big 12 Conference Game http://www.big12sports.com/.   I doubt I will go.  The weather has been bad, and unless tomorrow really warms up and the snow and ice melts off the streets in a big way, it will more treacherous driving than I want to do.  But, I will watch the game on TV.  I wonder how TCU will get into Lubbock, with travel being as spotty as it has been because of the snow storm that hit Texas this week.  Hmm.

It Was a Stroke of Luck, Not Planning

On December 21, 2015, Monday, after work, I went to Wal-Mart http://www.walmart.com/ ostensibly to pick up a few items.  By the time I got into the store, I decided to do what amounted to my weekly shopping for non-perishables that I would normally do on 12/26/15.  Because I did not want to be in the store on Saturday the day after Christmas. 

Saturday, the 26th, I stopped at Market Street http://www.marketstreetunited.com/ to pick up a few items.  The lines were horrible.  All of Lubbock turns out to the grocery stores when a storm is predicted, and of course, one was predicted for that night and the next day. 

It was a piece of luck, not planning or genius, that I had done my regular shopping on a Monday night, well in advance. 

Here it is, Tuesday a week later, and I am well situated for most everything.  And there is nothing essential that I do not have.  

That was a piece of luck.

Power Outages

We are having a winter storm in Lubbock, and one of the absurdities of the situation is what is being broadcast on TV.  People are being instructed, on TV to contact Lubbock Power and Light http://www.lpandl.com/ if they are experiencing power outages. This is ludicrous.  I understand that some people may be able to access this information on their smart phones, by accessing the TV channel apps, but what about the people who do not have smart phones, and do not have power?  How are they supposed to contact Lubbock Power and Light? Come on, this is not a sane instruction for people who have power outages. Let's face it, if they do not have power, are they going to be able to watch TV?  Duh!  LP& L needs to be a lot more responsible than this.

Snowbound December 2015

So, with ample warning, we knew the snow would start late Saturday night, December 26, 2015, decrease Sunday early, then ramp up Sunday afternoon.  Lubbock City has been declared a disaster area http://www.kcbd.com/story/30836950/mayor-robertson-declares-state-of-disaster-for-city-of-lubbock. And, Lubbock County http://www.kcbd.com/story/30839065/lubbock-county-declares-state-of-emergency has done the same, to enable the access to state resources to assist with recovery efforts. The major roads, loop, interstate, and state roads are cleared first, but the residential streets are rarely plowed, the snow and ice is just allowed to melt. This makes travel dangerous.

My work was cancelled today, and as of a few minutes ago, we have been directed to arrive late tomorrow, 11 AM, to allow for improved driving conditions.  In the past, if I thought the emergency did not warrant the changes in work times, I have ignored them.  I will do the same this week.  I will also change my work times, if I think the official warnings and changes do not reflect my sense of safety.  I hate to not report to work, but I will not endanger myself for official reporting times. 

I hope everyone exercises good judgment and stays safe during the storm.

The Winter Storm

The winter storm started as predicted on Saturday night, December 26, 2015.  It started with sleet and freezing rain, but progressed to snow.  There was a lot of wind.  Overnight, it was tough, but not awful. It subsided Sunday morning, but by late Sunday morning, the sleet and rain started, and later, the snow began. The wind was of blizzard proportions.

I work for Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center, at the John T. Montford Prison, TDCJ.  Tonight, at about 5:00 PM, the emergency alert system sent out the notice that the Texas Tech Health Sciences Center will be closed, due to the storm on, December 28, 2015.  This means, as a social worker at the Montford Prison, I am not required to report to work, as social workers are not essential personnel.  This is a blessing.

I am sorry for the officers and nurses who have to report as essential personnel.  I hope all of them traverse the roads safely and report to work in one piece. But I am thankful I do not have to traverse the treacherous roads during this winter storm.  I am thankful that the administration at TTUHSC has a compassionate understanding of taking care of their staff

Safety first.

The Sleeting Rain Has Started

A while ago, I saw some lightning.  The sleeting rain has started, about 940 PM.  We can expect the weather to get worse, not better. 

I will continue to watch the weather. 

Taki was unnerved by the sound of the weather  After a brief time in my lap, she decided she was okay.

There are already delays and closings in businesses and government offices. This is wise.

It is amazing.  What a storm.

Winter Weather

We are anticipating a winter storm this weekend.  The worst front was supposed to hit about 6 PM.  But mid-morning, the temperatures dipped slightly.  And stayed down.  The wind blew in and has continued to blow hard all day.  It is very cold out, with the ambient temperature, before windchill, at 32°. The snow has not started, and is predicted to start about midnight, slow in the morning, and get heavy in the afternoon.  We will keep an eye on the weather. 

This will be an interesting situation.

My New Shredder

I have a little shredder.  I have been trying to get caught up with the shredding that I needed to do, and this poor little shredder kept conking out.  To the point that I gave up on shredding. I was beginning to feel like a hoarder, with the collection of paperwork that I had, waiting to be shredded.  It was oppressive.

Today, as a Christmas presents to me, I purchased a larger, much better shredder.  I have been shredding tonight.  What would have taken me many shredding sessions over weeks has been shredded into micro bits in the course of a couple of hours, during commercials, while I am watching TV.  It is like a weight has been lifted from me.  This is a blessing.

A Christmas Moon

This is not the thing I would normally pay attention to, but I became curious.  It seemed to me I could not remember remarking when the full moon was on Christmas.  And, really that is because it does not occur all that often:  http://www.space.com/31471-rare-christmas-full-moon-guide.html. 

I was out last night, and the moon looked full to me.  I will have to be sure to step out to night and watch it.  Or at least look out the east facing window, as I usually have a good view of the moon rising through that window.  

New Traditions

Some friends of mine are in transition and decided to start a new tradition for Christmas Eve.  Their grown children may or may not be around; the extended family they usually spend Christmas Eve with have changed.  They had a small party for friends and neighbors, and I was invited.  In years past, I might have declined. I do not do well in social situations.  My house is not well kept these days, so I cannot reciprocate.  But I went anyway.  I had planned to stay an hour. I stayed 3. The hosts are people I enjoy.  There were people I knew, and people I had met before.  It was a nice outing.

Thank you for this blessing.

The Sound of Music - Sing Along

One of my most favorite movies is The Sound of Music.  As with so many of my favorite movies, I know the words to the songs and much of the dialogue.  Well, tonight, ABC is doing something different.  They are airing The Sound of Music http://abc.go.com/shows/movies-and-specials/listings/the-sound-of-music-singalong as a sing along.  That's right, they are airing the movie, and they are showing the words on of the songs on the screen so viewers can sing along.  This is wonderful!  What a delightful way to show a musical.  I hope ABC does this again with other musicals.

The All Region High School Band Concert

The son of a friend of mine is a freshman in high school, and has achieved wonderful accomplishments in the high school and regional bands.

Today was the "All Regional High School Band Concert for Region XVI" for the Texas Music Educators Association  http://www.tmea.org/. I went to the concerts:  There was the TMEA Region 16 Freshman Band, the TMEA Region 16 Symphonic Band, and the TMEA Region 16 Honor Band.

They were wonderful performances.  The concerts were brief, less than 30 minutes. They started practicing on Friday morning.  What they accomplished in that short period of time was amazing!

There were three conductors:  Dr. Brandon Houghtalen, from Abilene Christian University who conducted the TMEA Region 16 Freshman Band, Eric Rath, from the Canyon Middle School who conducted the TMEA Region 16 Symphonic Band, and the final conductor, for the TMEA Region 16 Honor Band, was Brian Britt, University of Oklahoma.

Mr. Houghtalen talked about the financial assistance that is available at universities for music majors.  Mr. Rath talked about the opportunity to work with students, and share his compositions (which were wonderful!). Mr. Britt said it was unfortunate that there was no news media present, to record the positive accomplishments of these students.  I agree.

This was a wonderful experience. 

A Storm is Moving In

It was a grey morning, and a windy afternoon.  This evening, as I sat at the computer, facing  north, I saw some lightning, and heard some thunder.

It was supposed to be cold today, but that did not happen.  It is supposed to be cold tonight and tomorrow, we will see.

There are winter storm warnings and advisories in the area, but not in Lubbock.  We shall see what happens.

No Wonder!

It was one of those days.  I was racing all day, trying to get too much done, and feeling overwhelmed.  Then, I was given a large chore to do. 

I stayed late at work, and then ran an errand before coming home.

When I got home, I was upset with myself that I had forgotten that the Lady Raiders and Red Raiders http://www.texastech.com/index-main.html had a double header basketball game tonight.  I looked on TV and on the radio, and just could not find the game.  I gave up.

Just a few minutes ago,  I got on line to check the scores. And lo and behold, the games are not until tomorrow night!  Well, no wonder I could not find them on TV or the radio.

Changing Feeding Habits

I have changed my habits for feeding Haiku and Taki.  They get the dry treats they want, and then, depending upon their demeanor, and my schedule, I feed.  So, for example in the morning before I go to work, I feed moist food, human tuna, and liver for Haiku.  At night, they get dry treats, and when they ask for something else, I try one food after another, for Haiku starting with smashed liver, and both get moist food, and human tuna.   Sometimes, I will add deli sliced turkey or chicken.  On the weekends, as I am around, I do the same.  I am not trying to deny them food, but I think because I was giving them so many choices, they just did not decide what they wanted.

Additionally, they have three kinds of dry food available at will: Indoor Friskies; Hairball Meow Mix, and Special Kitty Gourmet (which Sake really liked.)

Operator Error, Once Again

So, one of my TVs had stopped working: it turned itself on and off at will.  It was time to upgrade.  I did some searching for a new TV stand.  When I realized how low weight the smart TVs are, I did not want to put such a TV on the TV stand I had, because the cats could easily bowl it over.

I did order and get a TV stand that I thought might be adequate. It is a stand that has a mount for the TV, vs. a "table top stand." I picked that up Sunday. So, I assembled the stand.  The next day, I purchased the TV.  The clerk was sure I could set up the connections as needed.  I had some trouble mounting the TV to the stand, but two trips to Home Depot on Monday night made the mounting adequate.  (I actually went back a third time on Tuesday to get what I really needed.) 

I connected the TV Monday night, and was able to get just one channel. No matter what I did.  I sent a request to Samsung http://www.samsung.com/us/ (the brand of the TV I purchased) for help, but they are not available 24/7.  Incidentally, I did not receive a response the next business day, as I expected. I purchased a Samsung based on the advice of a trusted Wal-Mart employee who knows her electronics. 

I called Suddenlink http://home.suddenlink.net/ , and the technician I connected with went out of his way to try to help me to figure out why I was not getting channels from the cable connection. I was double sure that I had made the correct connections, and he and I reviewed that several times.  Our interaction took almost 2 hours. Can you imagine. It is not even a part of his job! He was wonderful.

So, I thought I would wait to hear from Samsung, but that did not happen, so I decided I would upgrade my set top box to access High Definition TV, from Suddenlink. (I had this plan in the back of my mind, anyway.) I did the latter, and when I turned in my old box, the technician thought I could not access anything because I was using the TV remote vs. the set top box remote.  Dah, that made so much sense.  So, I traded boxes at Suddenlink, and went home, and after remounting the TV, I connected everything, and using the Suddenlink remote, I had access to the cable channels I should have had access to.  Yeah!  I felt so dumb.  But the good news is that although I was not originally motivated to get a new cable box that would give me High Definition access, with the connection problems I had, and accessing the new box, I did get HD!  I am paying for it, so you know what, I should get it.  Yeah!