Men are from Mars and Women are from...

Pluto. Yeah I know the conventional wisdom is Venus, but I think it's a bigger divide than that. Lately a few of my good friends from college and I have been talking about dating and relationships and it always seems to come back to the same topics about interpreting the person you're interested in to see what they're thinking, feeling, etc.

Obviously we're almost all too shy to outright go up to the person of interest and say, so I like you, do you like me. Although wouldn't it be nice if we all had the guts to do that and didn't have to play the interpreter game? Many books are out there to tell us that men and women don't communicate verbally the same ways and of course when you go to mostly non-verbal cues, I think we might as well be two ancient interstellar runes that the other has never seen.

So the interpretation continues onward as we analyze every move of the person we're interested in. In fact I would say we probably for the most part over analyze them. For example, a simple difference between whether or not the person initiates a conversation or if you do, can end up being the fodder for endless debate amongst friends. Or another example would be deciding whether the other person was flirting back or even if you were unconsciously flirting to begin with.

I think it all boils down to Men and Women being like the United States and the United Kingdom. As the playwright George Benard Shaw said, "England and America are two countries separated by a common language."

Spit Balls!!!

Ok so we all know the theory about how spit balls work right? Well when I came across a trumpet site that recommend that I use spit balls to clean my trumpet I had to dig in deeper to figure out what they were talking about. Today my local music store got my order of spit balls in so of course it was time to give them a try. I know, those of you non-brass players or ignorant brass players like I was are going, "You bought spit balls? Why not make them." I guess at this point I should explain what a spit ball is when used in the context of brass instruments. A spit ball is a foam plug designed to fit into the tubing of a brass instrument. It is soaked in a cleaning liquid. When blown through the horn, it cleans the walls of the horn and leaves a protective coating behind. Needless to say this is a lot easier than snaking a cleaning snake through all the tubing (although that's still necessary on occasion). Now the only thing I want to know is why no one told me about these things before now. Oh and if you're interested, you can buy them here.

What type of Woman Will I Fall For?

What Kind of Girl Will You Fall For?
	You will fall part for the cutie. You like girls with a personality. She's got to have a nice smile and a sense of humor. Although she doesn't have to be a model, she has to be that girl-next-door.
	You will fall part for the independent woman. You like girls that'll put up a fight with their words and their fists. Her conversation must be stimulating and controversial. She's got to have her own friends, her own car, and her own place. Most importantly, she can't be a "barnacle-on-a-whale" type.
Find Your Character @ BrainFall.com

Which Peanuts Character Are You?

Which Peanuts Character Are You?
	You are Charlie Brown. You are always optimistic and persistent, and everyone appreciates your simple sweetness. Sometimes, however, your anxieties get the best of you, and life's mysteries can confuse you.
Find Your Character @ BrainFall.com

Support Our Troops!

The Department of Defense has setup a text messaging program for us the American people to show the troops that we support them during the holidays. All you have to do is text your message to 89279. The message will then be delivered to troops around the world.

Lyrical Thought #55

Cartoons

Chris Rice

Chorus:
I was thinkin' the other day,
"What if cartoons got saved?
They'd start singing praise
In a whole new way..."
Yeah, I was thinkin' the other day,
"What if cartoons got saved?
They'd start singing praise
In a whole new way..."

Fred and Wilma Flintstone
Sing "Yabba-dabba-do-lu-yah"
Scooby-doo and Shaggy:
"Scooby-dooby-doo-loo-yah"
And the Jetsons' dog named Astro:
"Rough-ray-roo-loo-yah"

(repeat chorus)

Teenage Mutant Ninga Turtles:
"Cowabunga-loo-yah, Dude!"
Then there's, "Kermit the Frog here, singing,
High-ho-le-loo-yah"
And that little bald guy, Elmer Fudd:
"How-ay-woo-yah"

(repeat chorus)

Oh that big old moose and his friend Rocky,
"Bullwinkle-loo-yah"
And our favourite bear named Yogi,
"Hey, Boo-Boo-loo-ya"
Then there's all those little blue guys
And they'd sing, "Hah-la-la-la-la-la-la-la-la-lay-loo-yah"
How about Beavis and that other guy?
"Nah!!"

Now, there's a point to this looney-tune
I'm not an Anamaniac
But there's a lot of praisin' to do
And cartoons weren't made for that
It's our job
So, let's sing hallelujah

Updates from the Front

Ok, so it's been a long time since I've posted anything of substance on my blog and I guess it must be time to do a post. Either that or I'm hopelessly lacking motivation to do anything else right now.

Lately the main focus for me has been my work situation. As some of you know, I took a foray into looking for a new job this spring and got an offer from a company in Springfield that I had worked with as a customer back in High School when I was working for my school district. At the time a big project of interest to me finally got approved at Dot so I stayed put for the experience. Now as that project has been delayed and mismanaged I've decided that I can't put myself on hold forever and am looking for new opportunities again. Ideally I think I would like to find a networking job in Springfield and move back to the Springfield area closer to friends and family.

Outside of work, life is kind of boring lately. I've been doing a lot of TV on DVD like NCIS, M*A*S*H and Scrubs. I have really grown to feel like Dr. Cox's character on Scrubs a lot around work. Sometimes my smart alec comments in my head take on his voice which is mildly amusing to me. The Catholic young adult group in Springfield has kind of fizzled now that I'm the only non-married member (Young adult groups shouldn't have an odd number of members!).

My main pursuit lately has been music. Monday nights I'm playing with the Lincoln Land Community College jazz band. I've been doing this for a year and a half now. It's quite challenging for me because I never really got to do jazz in high school and I'm surrounded by guys that have been doing it for years. My chops are finally close to where they were in high school and hopefully they'll continue to get better. If you're in the Springfield area, our concert for the semester is November 26th at 7:30pm at the First Christian Church. Admission is a food donation for the food bank.

Music Ministry is my other musical pursuit. I'm playing trumpet, singing tenor (I'm the only guy right now in the choir.) and still cantoring for Mass. It gives me something to do on Wednesday nights.

If anyone feels like road tripping or meeting up in random midwest cities, let me know. I'll probably be game. Time for some fall/winter adventures.