Musical Wanderer

Years ago, I found myself in Kent, Ohio studying music as a 30th birthday present to myself.  At first I was just studying voice aiming for a bachelor's degree, but after a while I was also studying ethnomusicology (basically anthropology for musicians) and choral conducting for a masters degree, because I heard everyone was looking for people with masters degrees in choral conducting and ethnomusicology (but I may have had a few drinks that evening).   As is my way, I always found ways to get distracted from what I needed to be doing, and one was wandering around Kent with my friend Wendy and taking pictures of a large stuffed dog.  The dog appeared in my group house one day.  'Not exactly sure where it came from or who brought him in, but he was accepted into the house readily because he was not an annoying flute player like one of our previous housemates. Wendy and I wandered town with Bear (not sure why he was christened "Bear") a couple days before ...

As a kid, I loved the Winter Olympics and watched every minute I could.  My interest flagged as an adult and I didn't watch them for a long time.  In addition, I didn't even have a TV for a while and every time I was in a bar with a TV on during the Winter Olympics, the events seemed to be either figure skating or curling.  I liked watching ski events, both alpine and cross-country, but they tended to be shown at 2 a.m., so I didn't bother watching.  Until this year. I started watching this Olympiad during the second week, when, while idly passing a Saturday afternoon, I flicked on the TV and saw the Women's 15k Biathlon.  I love Biathlon.  The combination of skiing and shooting reminds me of Finnish ski troops whooping Russia's ass during the initial stage of Russia's invasion of Finland in 1939 and 1940.  I didn't even know they had women's biathlon events now (Title IX reaches across borders).  The event was won by Darya Domracheva from Belar...

Every December holiday season, people journey home to be with family.  Though it feels like a duty at first, it can be a pleasure to spend time with relatives.  The only problem with the family assemblies is the crazy relative (every family has at least one) with views so different from the rest of the family that conversation is either stopped dead by their comments or turns into a brawl.  Many a meal has been consumed in grim silence after a wild comment from Uncle Walter or Aunt Mary.  Whether the comments were about religion, politics, or a combination of the two, families suffered through the holiday in the past, knowing they only had to endure the strange views for a day or two, then hug everyone goodbye and return to normal life. That has changed with the growth of Facebook.  Everyone wants to connect with friends and family online, but there's a catch.  Those crazy relatives you patiently endured for one day per year before tend to post their craz...

Yippee!  Woohoo!  Yea! 
Um, anniversary of what? 
Well, it's not a big anniversary.  It's not my marriage anniversary.  Not even a friend of a friend's work anniversary that linked-in keeps notifying me of.  It's been one year since I started this blog with comments about Beyonce lip syncing at the Inauguration .  'Wrote a fair bit since then.  Some was even read.  According to the statistics kept by blogger, these are my most viewed posts: MPC Miniature Military Vehicles: 1960s toys - about miniature plastic toy tanks from my  childhood Sharing my name - about the guitar player from RATT and his sharing or taking over my name for all eternity A year ago, I buried my parents - on the anniversary of my parents' death Important Baseball Statistics - End of Regular Season - about the money and team performance in the MLB Come on in the Cathedral--if you have $10 - thoughts on the Cathedral charging an entrance fee ...

I am an avowed day trader of toy soldiers, as can be seen in previous posts about stuff I've traded recently ( here and, oh my, here ) as well as my past history of day trading .  I have to crow about another great find, this time about toy army vehicles  Not sure which I like more, subsidizing my hobby, or discovering new stuff out there by accident. A week or so ago, I was cruising the ads of toys on ebay, looking for stuff the seller doesn't realize can sell with a little bit of research.  I found one called "Military Toy Lot."  A lot of stuff for an opening bid of five bucks plus shipping. Much of the time, the used toys for sale on ebay is crap, cheap soldiers or tanks recently manufactured in China.  Reviewing the picture I saw a couple things I recognized, Roco Minitanks as well as a Tootsie Toy vehicle and a Marx soldier.  I wanted one small item among the hodgepodge, so I bid for the lot and won, paying $16.50, including shipping.  I fi...