Monday, May 24, 2004

Greetings from Kansas City

I tried to post last week, but for some reason I could not access blogger!

So anyway, I am officially back to work at Honeywell, working on a bunch of new projects that are very cool. I am already learning new and interesting aspects of chemistry and thermodynamics! My mentor Rebekah is great, as well as my other "semi-mentors" Dan and Eric (note: not the Eric*h* from Overland Park Church of Christ). Security is as tight as I can remember... and I'm still never in a lab with windows! Hello cave, hows'it goin'?

My living accomodations are LIGHT YEARS better than last summer! James and Chris' house is wonderful, and I even have a good place to record. (the bathroom!) I have to compliment them, they have helped me to feel right at home! We are going to have a good summer!

In other news... Beth got married last Saturday, she's one of the Madrigal Singers. She asked a few of us singers to sing and me to play some guitar - and Katelyn on short notice played piano for Karen's solo vocal piece. I gave Beth a recording of us doing our ensemble music, plus my guitar stuff, as part of her wedding gift. She loved it, which besides making me feel good also reinforces that people care more about the thought put into a gift than the money!

After the wedding we went to see the opera 'Carmen.' Whoa, that was an experience! Gentlemen, be careful what you watch, whether on the screen or live - that's all I'll say about that. The music was WONDERFUL, though.

Another neat little tidbit - I was asked to come do a follow-up interview for the TV station in Rolla next semester! They want me to come and talk about being a musician while working through an engineering degree. How cool is that?!?!

What words of wisdom can I leave with you after reading this blog post? I don't know. I think a quote from Proverbs is appropriate... Where words are many sin is not absent, but he who holds his tongue is wise! Take care everybody, I'll see you this weekend!

Friday, May 14, 2004

That's all folks...

... and thus ends another wonderful semester at UMR.

Finals are over. The reactor design final was the most difficult test I suppose I have ever taken, but I think I did well. Today's Molecular ChE exam was cake with extra icing. No problem at all...

Unfortunately, fortune did not shine upon the American Literature CLEP exam... I did almost exactly as the CLEP study guides predict - a person with a year of college literature should answer half the questions correctly - but apparently it isn't enough for UMR, as I needed another 5 questions to pass. People, that exam was VERY difficult. Oh well, despite this it was worth the try... Thanks to Jaired and Leon for lending me that itty-bitty review book, and no thanks to the College Examination board for the pathetic online study guide.

I move to Kansas City tomorrow, start work Monday. YEAH!

This is QM, going to have some fun before the packing begins, signing off...

Thursday, May 13, 2004

Look ma, we're on TV...

I just got back from the Collegium Musicum's first ever television interview and performance! The Wynds (recorder) and I had a nice opportunity to play a few pieces for the Rolla Public Access Channel on the Wake Up Rolla show, kind of like Good Morning America, just a lot smaller. Again, we're trying to make the community aware of what we are doing and come to Madrigal Dinners. The recorders played wonderfully, as usual, and I played so-so, but at 8am what can you expect?

One final down, two to go... Yesterday was Process Materials, and I think I will pull off an A in the class provided I didn't do something exceedingly stupid on the fourth problem. Today is Reactor Design, which will be tough, but I'm prepared.

So... It all started with this redhead with brown eyes who I would do anything for... and the rest is just history! ;-) I don't want to say too much about it, but since she mentioned us, now it's my turn...

Wednesday, May 05, 2004

Recording tidbits...

I had a very nice talk with John Francis of KUMR today about recording tips and strategies. We listened to some flat recordings along with the Collegium CD we produced a few weeks ago. He really liked what I did with the trombones, recorders, and guitar - hardly any suggestions. He did have some very good things to say about how I could improve my singers mix. For instance, creating a totally isolated reverb track is a good way to control reverb. Never thought of that! I'm not entirely sure about how that will work with Pro-Tools, but I think I know how it can work.

We also talked a bit about copyright laws and recording commercial discs. I want to begin doing that sort of thing but I still have some barriers to overcome... Lookout world, I'm on the way!

Tuesday, May 04, 2004

We're on final approach... watch your vector...

So here's a quickie short post about the coming week and a half...

I turn in my final linguistic humor paper tomorrow morning, assuming all goes well in my meeting with Professor R. On Thursday I have my music history 2 final, as well as finishing my Unit Operations Lab with a final report. Friday is cake, just a couple of classes and a research meeting.

Then I'm effectively home free until the next Wednesday, because my only three finals are on Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday! Wow, a FOUR DAY WEEKEND!!! So I'll be spending time at home before finals and the KC move... You can bet that CuppaJo will be a big hangout for me next week...

On another note... I think that all you bloggers need to stop being so lazy and post at least once a week. Just let us know what is going on in your life for goodness sakes! Post your thoughts, events, random musings, whatever, just do something... It's fun to hear what's happenin'...