better bees than bears

2009-10-28T08:30:00.000-07:00

It's fall and I'm nostalgic. And it can always be wrapped up like that for me. There's just something about this time of year that "brings it all back". Back to "what" exactly, I don't know, but what I do know is that I'm fiercely traditional. I guess that's a funny way to describe my traditional nature since I'm not really violent about it, but you get the point. What I really mean to say is that I have a lot of rules in regards to my traditions. One of them is that we don't play Christmas music until Thanksgiving weekend, the reason being that we love it so much we don't want to wear it out before the season even hits. Which brings me to something else: Christmas decorations. I love 'em. I love going into stores and seeing everything all done up, whether it's Target, Macy's, Pottery Barn, Crate and Barrel, Nordstroms....you name it. And they got me in the grasp of their consumers hand, too. I want that cute Christmas tree mug from Starbucks, that set of eight snowflake place settings from Pottery Barn, that Santa Claus bundt cake mold from Williams and Sonoma and the reindeer hot chocolate mix from Sees Candy. I LOVE IT ALL!

Sorry.....I'm stepping over my Traditional boundaries by talking about Christmas when we're still three days away from Halloween. Now, I've always loved Halloween, but it's kind of been more of a bridge to Thanksgiving for me than anything else. Don't get me wrong, I love all the spookiness, kookiness, candy and greed as much as anyone, but just knowing that Thanksgiving is around the corner with all of the fighting and bickering getting ready to begin...well...its hard for me to contain my excitement.

I love it all.

2009-10-12T14:30:00.000-07:00

I'm a Luddite in reverse. Very little interest in new technology, but a huge interest in older technology, which at one point was new technology. I don't know. I have a Blackberry, and it serves it's purpose. I get emails during the day that allow me to multitask and take care of two or three things at once, but truly, that's where it ends. I mean, except for the calculator. And I had the phone for ages before I delved into that thing.

So on Sunday I'm at church setting up a long overdue meeting with a friend. He writes down the appointment in one of those big day planner books, types it into his phone, sends a text via satellite to remind him on the day of, programs a home alarm system to go off approximately 30 minutes before he has to leave for the meeting and then places an advance order for a triple Americana to be ready exactly three minutes after he arrives. OK, that last one might be a slight exaggeration, but here's what I did: texted my wife and told her to grab a post it note, write down the time of the meeting, and stick it on the computer. I like post its, man.

Now, there have been and currently are quite a few people in my life that don't accept or believe this about me at all. Because of the fact that I've written, programmed, produced and created electronic music over the past 20 years, people tend to think that I'm on the cutting edge of hi-techiness from sun up to sun down. Of course it's completely untrue. One glance at my Tesla-era studio, outfitted with wax cylinders, theremins and WWII military grade oscilloscopes should be enough to convince anyone that aluminum Mac books, MOTU interfaces and the latest version of Logic 9 have no place in my life. And yes, I had to do a Google search for that last sentence.

Excuse me while I get up to change the channel on the television set now, because old technology is stubbornly fun.

2009-10-10T20:52:00.000-07:00

Wife - "Are you going to start this blog or what?"

Me - "I don't know. I need a name that fits."

Wife - "You've been saying that for weeks! You don't really want to do this, do you?"

Me - "Umm, not really. But I probably should. I just need a name."

Wife - "I've literally never seen you stall on something like this before. If you don't want to do it, don't do it!

Me - "No, I'll do it, I just need a name I'm comfortable with."

Wife - "Um, yeah, I know. Just call it 'Better Bees than Bears'.

Me - "It sounds too twee. And I hate referencing one of my songs."

Wife - "I like it."

Me - "It doesn't mean anything".

Wife - "Yeah it does."

Me - "Uhh....what?"

Wife - "It's like two things that are potentially harmful, but you'd still prefer one over the other. I think it's one of your more clever lines."

Me - "Gee, thanks."

FOUR WEEKS LATER

Wife - "Ok, this is insane."

Me - "I know."

Wife - "You've come up with a dozen names....just pick one....who cares? You really care that much??"

Me - "No. Which is kinda the problem, don't you think?"

Wife - "Then just pick one. I've had the page set up and all ready to go for DAYS!"

Me - "What was that first name we thought of again?"

Wife - "SIGH. 'Better Bees than Bears'."

Me - "Oh yeah. Alright, go with that."

Wife - "GEE, THANKS."

Me - "I don't think I like blogging."