The Inside of Outside

Today is the first Father's Day since I lost my dad. 

That's a hard one. Here's hoping you had some time to sit, think, and remember him yesterday.

Live last night - Paul Simon at the TD Garden.

First arena show in many years.

Booking now.....

"Dirt", the Motley Crue tell-all. I don't see myself finishing this one.

Kinda like playing one of their records.

Live this past Sunday night: M. Ward.

Was originally disappointed that he was opening for The Decembrists. Did not pull the trigger on a ticket because I did not want to spend $ on 45 minutes of M. Ward (not a big Decembrists fan). Sunday morning, an announcement from the venue says that The Decembrists show has been cancelled due to a case of laryngitis. An hour later, an announcement that M. Ward wants to still play, so they announce a $15 show at a smaller nearby venue. A great spur-of-the-moment show!

Deeper Down.

I was driving and tuned into public radio on Saturday just as Chris started talking about his love of YHF. That was a solid version of IATTBYH that they played!

Sorry to hear that.

My hope is that you get to where there are good school administrators, or good school administrators come your way!

(says a school administrator, hopefully not a bad one)

Here's hoping you get that run of good news/good luck, and that it starts with your mom coming home and being pain-free soon.

I need to make more popcorn. We're getting to the good part.

This cracked me up.

Looks/sounds like a lot of fun. What a ridiculously lovely set list. I love "Who Were You Thinking Of"!

This should point out that not all mass shootings occur at schools ( probably most don't). So doing things like "fortifying" schools or arming teachers are just a false cry and will do nothing to prevent things like this.

As someone who works in a school, I have been saying this for some time. This is not a school issue; it is a societal issue. School-based actions will not solve it; societal actions will solve it.

That is a cool thing. A reminder of all that is good in the world.

It makes me happy to hear that Jeff and Gary played a couple of old songs together again. Two of my favorite musicians. Radio King is a classic.

Good looking set list.

It went great! Kind of an interesting situation. I've taught for 25 years at a junior high in the district I grew up in. I've loved nearly every minute of it. There have been a few changes that I haven't liked recently. When I saw the posting for a position at the high school, I was surprised to feel a need to go for it.

 

The interview went GREAT! My main concern is that I have fairly limited certification. After I earned my degree and certification, the state added an "all social studies" certification. Without that, my ability to teach their openings may be limited. They're hiring two position, so it will depend upon matching the right candidates to the right courses.

 

My former principal is now the principal at the high school. He's retiring at the end of the year, so I wasn't sure if he would sit in on the interview. He did. I know how he feels about me (all good), but I don't know how much of a voice he will have.

 

It's both nerve-racking and fun to go through this process again! Thankfully, I have a job that is still mostly very satisfying if I don't get this position. I hope you're in the same boat!

Great to hear about your interview. It is such a good feeling to walk out of a positive interview experience.

If you want to relocate to suburban Portland, Maine, and teach 8th grade Social Studies/Science, we have an opening. Great district, and you'll have at least one colleague who is a big Wilco fan.

I am heading out next Saturday morning to get me one of those 8500 record albums.

I watched it on the news last night. I, literally, get none of the Rockies games due to the basic DirecTv package my wife has us on. I need to change it.

 

The Dock Ellis documentary was a fun watch. Todd Snider has a neat little tune in honor of the event, as well, called "America's Favorite Pastime."

 

And The Baseball Project's homage to Dock: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wSJ4Yc7Ensg

As the title suggests, the song is about the time Dock beaned (or attempted to bean) the first 5 Reds batters in a game in 1974. Murtaugh took him out after 11 pitches, all of which were at the first 5 Reds' players.

One of my favorite BP songs - great, heavy guitar riff.

I was not. I love this record, insert art or not. "If I Only Had A Car" is worth the price alone.

Let’s Go (So We Can Get Back) By Jeff Tweedy 

https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/541712/lets-go-so-we-can-get-back-by-jeff-tweedy/9781101985267

 

A treat for us during this time off from the full band touring.

 

 

Otherwise I'm not sure what's going on and I don't know if Daryl and Neil did either when they shot it.

That sums it up for me.

I think you are right about the coming labor unrest.

I have a really hard time thinking that a guy who is set to make $110 million over 5 years is a good candidate to protest the system (or even a guy who gets a two-year deal for $13 million, like Mitch Moreland). So teams are being more careful with the amount of $ they will spend and the number of years in the contract. Seems like a smart move by them.

The players can say that their careers are only so long - that in a few years, they will be out of baseball and thus need to make their money now. The average salary is $4 million. It will take me 40 years to make what the average major league ballplayer makes in a year. That is just about a lifetime of work for me. I think the system rewards them pretty well.

Maybe someone like Jake Arrieta is upset that he is only making $10.7 million this year. It is about 100 times what I make. I understand, he had a better year than I did last year, but dissatisfied with making millions of dollars a year? Really?

I love baseball, but good luck with that labor unrest, ballplayers.

Today (well actually 2 days ago) I learned that I'm going to be a grandmother in November. I never have been before so I hope I don't blow it. Brennan and Mariela are giddy with excitement...so cute to watch.

That is awesome! Another generation on the way.

So it was day before yesterday, and not today, but I thought I'd share a brief story here.

I went out to eat with my wife and another couple, and walked into a surprise 50th birthday party. I was particularly surprised because my birthday was 5 weeks ago. There were friends there from my high school days, college, work, plus family. My kids were there (two came home from college), and a number of people flew in for it. It was great fun.

One person there was a former student, who I taught over 20 years ago. He and his wife and two-month old son drove up from NYC. Before he left the party, he encouraged me to open his gift. It was a framed, signed Wilco poster from the Portland, Maine show from this past summer. He told me the story behind it - he emailed Wilco's management that he was going to this surprise party for a former teacher in Maine who he had not seen in years, and he wondered if there was something signed that he could get for it. They replied back that they had a signed poster from the Portland show, and they sent it to him.

And now it is on the wall in my office.

I love Wilco.

That will be a good one to get on vinyl. That alone makes the upcoming RSD a winner.