Dale Miller

Last night was the first of two “Messiah” concerts by the UALR community chorus. I think we did a good job, but it was hard to tell from the audience. I was disappointed that so few college-age people were watching us. I should have expected that, since our campus is not known for participation at any event, much less an artistic one. Nonetheless, I had hoped for more campus attendance. Of the people there, many looked to be enjoying it, but others seemed to be on the verge of falling asleep. Maybe I’m just bad at interpreting facial expressions.

For my part, I wasn’t sure I would be singing or not. I had planned to head down to the DSC after work, take a shower, change into my tux, grab a sandwich, and head on over to the fine arts building early. Midway through my shower it occurred to me that I had forgotten to pack my tux shoes. I didn’t think my white tennis shoes would work all that well. “Not a problem”, thought I, “I’ll just finish my shower, put on my tux, and dash down to Payless on Asher to pick up some cheap black shoes”. That was not to be, as Payless on Asher has closed and there is now a plasma center in its place. “Okay”, thought I, “next stop will be University Mall, where they have several shoe stores”. A few minutes later as I turned off of University Avenue into the mall, I realized from the fence across the road that it was closed completely. Grrr… My next stop was Park Plaza Mall, where I did, in fact, find some black shoes (and a sandwich), and made it back to UALR in time for the 6:45 call. I’m glad I had intended to be quite early, or I would have ended up quite late.

Idea: Pin a note to my tux reminding me to pack shoes.

I took this morning off so that I could sleep in after a late-night choir rehearsal. When I wake early and then climb back in bed I have some of my more interesting dreams.

Imagine that lights at major intersections turn red in all directions for pedestrians to cross. Now, consider the possibility that during that cycle two kickball teams run into the middle of the intersection, make one kickball play, and run back off, awaiting the next all-red cycle to continue the game. That was the basis of this morning’s dream. The whole thing isn’t all that far fetched, except that I had it happening at the intersections of Markham and University and 28th and University. Due to the hills, those would have to be two of the worst possible intersections in Little Rock to try this.But it was an interesting dream.

Remember, if you hear about kickball suddenly breaking out in major intersections, you saw it here first.

1. What side of the heart do you draw first?
   right.
2. Can you dive without plugging your nose?
   Dive, yes. But if I go in feet first, that nose is plugged.
3. What color is your razor for shaving?
   The one in the bathtub is pink, the one in the shower is black.
4. What is your blood-type?
   O+
5. Who would you want to be tied to for 24 hours?
   I probably shouldn’t admit, because she might read this.
6. What is a rumor someone has spread about you?
   I’m sure there are several.
7. How do you feel about carrots?
   Raw, not cooked.
8. How many chairs at the dining room table?
   I have no dining table, but my kitchen table has two.
9. Which is the best Spice Girl?
   I have no idea.
10. Do you know what time it is?
    In fact, I do.
11. What would you do if you were stuck in an elevator?
    It depends on who I was stuck in the elevator with.
12. What’s your favorite kind of gum?
    I’m not a big gum person.
13. T or F: All’s fair in love and war?
    False.
14. Do you have a crush on anyone?
    Of course. Several, in fact.
15. Do you know how to use some words correctly, but not know the meaning?
    Doesn’t everyone?
16. Do you like to sleep?
    Not really, but it’s a necessity.
17. Do you know which US states don’t use Daylight Savings Time?
    I know of Arizona and part of Indiana, but I think there are others.
18. Do you know the song Total Eclipse of the Heart?
    Certainly. It’s on the kickball playlist.
19. Do you want a bright yellow ‘06 mustang?
    Free? Of course. Even better if it’s a convertible.
20. What’s something you’ve always wanted?
    A really nice house on top of a mountain.
21. Do you have hairy legs?
    If I don’t shave them.
22. Would you rather swim in the ocean or a lake?
    Whichever is convenient.
23. Do you wear a lot of black?
    I go through phases.
24. Describe your hair.
    Slowly getting longer — still curly.
25. Do you have Entomophobia?
    No.
26. Are you an adult?
    Physically.
27. Where is/are your best friend(s)?
    I’m not sure I really have a best friend.
28. Do you have a tan?
    Not at the moment.
29. Are you a television addict?
    Absolutely not.
30. Do you enjoy spending time with your mother?
    I did when she was alive.
31. Are you a sugar freak?
    Lately, a bit too much so.
32. Do you like orange juice?
    Very much. Tropicana Grovestand, baby.
33. What sign are you?
    Yield! (Okay, pisces)
34. Where do you wish you were right now?
    On a warm beach with a lovely lady.

My fortune cookie from tonight reads:

Remember three months from this date. Good things are in store for you.

I shall hope the fortune-writer is correct. While “good things” covers a lot of ground, it rarely hurts to be optimistic.

I have often commented on people not reading signs/labels/etc. I must admit that I am occasionally guilty of doing the same myself. I was on the phone with Mark yesterday while trying to remove a UPC label from a flashlight I had bought and he mentioned using WD-40 to get rid of the glue. “WD-40?”, I queried, “Are you sure?” He was, in fact, sure. It says right on the label that it can be used as a cleaner to remove grease, tar, and adhesives. It works quite well in that regard. I now have a way to clean that stubborn glue from garage-sale or Savers tags. I’ll have to pay even more attention to labels in the future.

On a completely unrelated note — I seem to have one casualty from the power outage on Wednesday. My (cheap, RF) doorbell no longer works. It emitted a loud noise when the power came back on, but unplugging it and reapplying power silenced it, apparently forever.?? It’s not as if I really need a doorbell, but I like to maintain the illusion that someone might someday come visit me.

According to AT&T’s web site, it’s no wonder that cell phone reception at my house is a bit spotty.

The pushpin is, of course, my house.

A big storm blew through central Arkansas this afternoon, causing my power to drop several times. Sometime after the rain stopped and I had assumed that everything was quiescent, I settled in to take a bath and read before heading to Wal-Mart for some groceries. While I was relaxing, the power went off and stayed off. This was annoying principally because I was re-encoding a movie on my laptop, and it still had several hours to go. I got out of the bath, went upstairs, shut down my desktop machine, plugged the laptop into the UPS and settled back down knowing that I had at least three hours before I needed to deal with it. When I finally finished my (long) bath, I called the First Electric trouble-reporting line and was told that it was a known problem. That done, I realized that I might be without power for a while and, being daylight, it would be much better to go out to my storage building and dig out my generator now than waiting until after dark. Upon digging out the generator, I considered the fact that I hadn’t started it in several months, and it had been over a year since I last used it under load. Since it was a nice day, I filled it with gasoline, wheeled it up to the house and plugged it in. Wonder of wonders, it worked just as it is supposed to. I love it when that happens. So — my refrigerator is cool again, my water is hot, and my laptop isn’t going to run out of power (oh, and I have Internet access again). I still need that trip to Wal-Mart, though, and probably shouldn’t go off and leave the generator running. I just don’t fully trust it. I should just shut it down, keep my trip short, and deal with power when I get back home.

I’ve known for a couple of months that I had a paper due in my tap class tomorrow. I knew several weeks ago what format it needed and had suggested material to review. I decided over the weekend what video I was going to use for the review. Finally tonight I actually sat down to write the paper. It’s not like it was particularly difficult, I just didn’t want to do it. That is, unfortunately, the way I do many things in life. But, the paper is done, and I can still catch most of a night’s sleep before my alarm sounds at 5 a.m.

Okay, really dreams I wish were prophetic. From a doze/wake cycle this morning, I slightly remember two dreams. In the first I randomly proposed marriage to a young woman I know, she accepted, and we set about planning a wedding. In the second, the same woman and I were signing up to attend a b&d convention. The latter was really more about how not to construct a registration form — negated questions (which of these are you not interested in, etc.) and questions that were split across page breaks with the meaning changing it you didn’t catch the first part. I would like to have either of these dreams come true, but it’s not going to happen.

During my early years, whenever I wanted to shine up something metal, I would dig around under the kitchen sink and extract a can of metal polish. This particular stuff was kind of like cotton batting impregnated with some chemical that seemed almost magic in the way it would clean. The can finally ran out about the time I turned 15 or so, and was thrown out. Many times during my adult life I have wanted some of this polish, but although I can still remember the general look of the can, I couldn’t remember the brand name (note to marketers — don’t change can designs). Imagine my delight when I was looking over Wired’s Saddest Cubical Contest and spotted a can of Nevr-Dull. Yes, that’s it, the can from my childhood. It’s still being made and sold (and supposedly available at my local Wal-Mart). If you haven’t ever tried this product, I recommend it.