Have some beans and eat your spinach. This will improve your attitude if not your body.
I have lost 31 lbs. since August 1. I feel better and look better.

Sorry dad. My dissertation deals with local government effectiveness. Trying to focus, but am distracted by a perfect circles passive, most notably from the movie Constantine….
David

Fricken Bum! That sounds like a good song name….like friken trains….how bout some lyrics:
Don’t look me in the eye..
Don’t feed me apple pie…
I just want a little peace…
Like a dolphin in Greece…
Walkin never ending…
Don’t care about the spending…
Don’t think that I am dumb…
Just call me Fricken Bum….

I can see it now at the top of the charts… You can use this one free of charge..
David

David the lyrics writer! Dude! We can split the profit. I can actually still hear Gramma Pechey in my head calling people (not me surely!) bums. I miss that lady.

(hi dad!)
I just thought I’d point out that second link at the bottom of your post is incorrect – it takes you to the fractal guy too.

x

You need to speak to your doctor about this, TODAY. This is not something to cast to the side as a back ache.

I appreciate your concern but as I said in my email I do monitor my health pretty closely. This is minor muscular pain something musicians think quite a bit about. Not debilitating or even that big a deal. But when thinking about how to stay relaxed and performing for hours at a time it catches one’s attention.

I have always liked John Updyke. Always thought of him as an American original, much like yourself.

I can still hear Bullwinkle saying those words. What an amazing show that was!

it may be easier to just renew grandma’s DL. looked on the state dmv website and there are directions on there. just a thought.
david

I’ll check on this.

ok good deal. here is another for ur records….
this one is called pistachio mustachio

heres a clever endeavorer
we walk around with our faces down
looking at the ground for another round
of life satisfaction
without action
for specific faction
but we have reaction
to the perception
of misconception
of our reflection in the water
even though its hotter
than a glob trotter
but we still look
like a crook
without a second took
we find our hair to bare without stare
mainly of our mustachio
must be the flavor of pistachio….

again that one is for free….
david

you know, I had something similar last night Very weird! Maybe its the weather or more likely the angst of the recent events or maybe it is the stress of the season. It was about being prepared for death and the associated organizational stuff with it. The impression was that my Mother was answering the questions and I was nodding in agreement.

Yeah. Weird. Hey. Was the club, “Ramblin’ Rose,” that you owned located on Grand Blanc Road? Last week, I drove past a golf club and barn on Grand Blanc road that really looked familiar….

Yes, that was the place.

I missed your question on your comment section, but the last two days have been extremely busy at school. I did respond positively with your query. I read today’s blog, but am not sure why you dislike business.

You realize the irony is of course that you have always worked for the church that has a distinct sense of business practices. They for the most are tax exempt and I can tell you from experience that major churches are money making machines. For example in LA the catholic church has a business executive who pulls $500K for a salary and works with development companies to expand and invest in business ventures to make the church money serious money. Not to mention the millions of people who give to the church weekly.

I like to think of the distinctions between public and private business practices as a fine, but solid line.

Public business must ascertain public value to provide for demand regardless of profitability. The public outcry for services is what drives the service at any level. For example, the mental health services act in California was an outcry for increased services for the mentally ill, whether it be for the sake of NIMBY or actually wanting to help those in need. That 1% tax on millionaires has yielded vast amounts of money, hundreds of millions of dollars for the sole purpose of providing the service as opposed to profiting from the people.

This is a far cry from private business which should ascertain the demand and meet it with supply for profit. For example in California many of the for profit outfits that are mental health based, produce minimal services (just enough to meet the needs of the public and be within legal guidelines), but there owners and top execs are well paid and much of the funding does not go into the business as evidenced by crappy facilities, care, and low wage earners at the line staff level. This is even true for those pseudo “non-profits” that although are legally not for profit entities, the same holds true regarding high salary owners/execs, crappy facilities, care, and low wage earners.

This is where I would kind of agree with you that private business practices can be very destructive and problematic from the small business owner to the huge industrialized businesses such as pharmaceuticals or private health care. However, it is not for lack of potential business ventures, but rather lack of societal conventional wisdom and ethical thinking.

Sorry. I will get off my soap box now and get back to working on my “dissertation Friday’ stuff.

David

Very interesting and astute observations, Dude. I wasn’t think of public sector so much. And though I, my Dad and my brother have worked for the church for all of my life, none of us have received decent pay by societal standards. I understand what you are saying about larger churches and well remunerated business exec you mention. I find highly paid individuals in the church are usually no better at their job than those of us who are under paid. But my experience is not that vast really.

Thanks for commenting. I’m interested in your soap box observations, believe me.

I think David has made a point that I am in agreement. There is a fine, but distinct line between public and private business. The public includes non-profit and for profit businesses. We hear more about the public businesses than about private. But I think ethics directly effect business outcome. Those businesses that use unethical practices will eventually fail. Those businesses that alienate their customers will eventually fail. No one goes to a business that is untrustworthy. A free society were individuals make choices are critical. So, does the elimination of choice make us better in some intellectual way. I think not. Freedom to choose. The right to succeed or fail based on your own efforts. By the way,the small business owner makes up more than 50% of Gross National Product, but I think that it is actually higher. (There is some assumptions here that are I would question, but that is a digression.) Everyone, comes into contact with a small business every day. Most people are employed by a small business (typically this is 500 or fewer employees). They either provide a product or service and you use them everyday. Lemon Jellos is a good example. The music store which sells a variety of equipment is another. These products and service provide a quality of life that we all enjoy and I believe makes our lives better.
The public sector is I think filled with problems that make it easy to form opinions that are negative. I do understand your feelings about this. I do not understand manipulative hi-bred contracts which are designed to extract money with not enduring function or benefit for the long term. No investor really wants that, but it does happen. Not all people are trustworthy, nor should they be running businesses. Freedom to fail is as important as freedom to succeed. I do point to economists who I think of highly. These include Milton Friedman, Thomas Sowell, and Walter Williams. Sorry to be long winded.

The check is in the mail. errr…well…aaa..a, or I never received the invoice….. or the bird died….. Just remember you are the classical musician working for the masses. Hope you have a great day. And don’t forget you get an extra hour today to prepare.

hey we are thinking about a keyboard for nik for xmass. would like a full size (88 keys), but not sure if its in the budget. any suggestions on smaller (61-75 keys), with all the bells and whiisle? brand? where to get it? size? etc….something to go in his room to practice on…with headphones…
:o)
david