NoVa Lights Chorale — Vivaldi's Gloria

Another wonderful concert from the NoVa Lights Chorale on Sunday. They performed Antonio Vivaldi's Gloria.

More about the Chorale:

NoVA Lights Chorale is a community-based vocal group based in Arlington, Virginia.

Participation in the Chorale is open to all interested performers in Northern Virginia and the National Capital Region. Welcoming all singers without regard to race, gender, national origin, faith, or musical training, this non-auditioned ensemble sings several concerts each year.

Its free performances include a wide range of musical styles, including popular, jazz, global, sacred, folk, holiday, and classical.

NoVA Lights is an independent corporation, not affiliated with any religious or cultural organization.

In the program handed out Gloria is described as a joyful hymn of praise and supplication divided into 12 relatively brief movements, ranging from festive brilliance to profound passion.

There was also a section on Vivaldi himself. Something I did not know was that although well respected in his time he had faded from music history. That is until the mid '20s when volume upon volume of works were found in an old boarding school. After World War II, Vivaldi's works burst upon the classical music scene.  

Parade of Peanuts Ties — Day 11

Here's day 11's tie. I had to bend down a little so the wrapping paper could get into the picture. That's the reason for the big smile. Also a few more decorations from my office.

Amazing TIme at Nats Fest

I had a great time there. I got there just as it opened and ending up staying for the whole thing. I'll be posting some pictures over the next couple of days.

One of my favorite things was watching Tyler Chippard and Jerry Blevins play Intendo baseball against each other. The Nationals were playing the Nationals.

And an interesting piece of trivia Jordan Zimmermann bats and throws right handed but writes left handed.

Parade of Peanuts Ties — Day 10

This is the penultimate Peanuts tie. All the gang around the Christmas Tree. I usually wear it on my last day of work before leaving on vacation. But we were having the office Christmas party on Friday so I thought it appropriate to wear it to that.

Trouble with Email and More

This morning I started having trouble with my email.

It started on my phone which could not connect to the Comcast remote server. I entered my password but I still had problems. It could not connect to the server.

First thing that entered my mind was that my account had been hacked.

I came downstairs and started up my computer. I was able to log in with no problems. I decided to send myself a test message. It did not come through. I then decided to try and do it from one of my other email accounts. I sent the message and after awhile it came through. I tried another test message from my main account but it still did not go through.

I called Comcast. They said they were having problems on their end and were working to fix that.

I hung up and got ready to go to work. On the way to work the email on my phone started working again. I even got a couple of emails. One from Omaha Steaks and another from the Post. But none of my early messages came through.

I tried a test message from work. Nothing. I got a couple of friends to do the same for me. Nothing.

I did a chat with Comcast. I was sent a message by the tech. Nothing happened. The upshot was this was going to have to sent to up the tech ladder to someone else.

This afternoon at 2:49 pm one of the test messages arrived. I'd sent it at 6:15 this morning.

I got home from work and called. The usual song and dance about verifying the account (I don't understand why the information you provide to the electronic attendant that answers the phone isn't passed on to the operator). They couldn't help. They said it needed to be sent to the next level of tech support.

I said hadn't this been done earlier in the day. Oh yes it had I was told. But this would somehow expedite the process. But it would still take 24 hours from the first report for anything to happen. So I don't know how this second report was going to make any difference.

Someone at work said I should set up a gmail account. That it was much easier then dealing with an account set up by your service provider. I decided to set one up just in case Comcast can't solve this problem. That's what I did. So I have an account in waiting.

I decided I wanted to blog about it. I tried to sign in but for some reason the account associated with my blogger account was linked to the new gmail account. Actually they wanted me to sign in under the new email account. I signed in and my blog was no where to be found. I could set one up but my blog was gone. At first I couldn't figure out what had happened. They it occurred to me that the reason I wasn't seeing my blog was it was associated with another account. I tried to figure out how to get out of the one I was in. But couldn't seem to find how to do that. When in doubt quit the program.

I quit out of Firefox and restarted it. I was then able to sign in to blogger using the correct screen name. Finally got to my blog to write about this.

I do not understand why it is necessary to tie everything together under one roof. Google says everything is all in one place and it's so much easier. Well all I see is a way for Google to easily gather all the information on me in one place. It is like many apps these days they want to access your Facebook account information. When I was going to join Instagram, it wanted all my Facebook information but I didn't see why it needed it so I didn't join.

I don't see why all this additional information is needed. Why all of sudden are programs asking for my cell phone number. They don't need it. So I guess in the future I will be downloading fewer and fewer apps if they continue to ask for information that I find they don't need.

I'm hoping Comcast can solve the problem but I'm not all that optimistic right now.

Laughing with Snoopy

Here are a couple of strips with Snoopy being Snoopy. A fun way to wish everyone happy Friday.

Parade of Peanuts Ties — Day 9

It's day 9. Included in this photo is the cute bobble head ornament that my friend Denis gave to me. I decided since Christmas was two weeks away on Thursday I would wear one of the Christmas ties.

Spectacular Sunset on Thursday

I took these pictures from the Metro platform at Rhode Island Avenue last night. Just amazing!

Parade of Peanuts Ties — Day 8

Here's a look at the tie for day 8. Also a look at some of the Peanuts decorations up at my office.

Did you know that Charlie Brown actually won a baseball game. In fact he drove in the winning run:

In Charles Schultz’s world-renowned comic strip “Peanuts,” Charlie Brown is the pitcher and head honcho of a Little League team that is consistently horrible. They seemingly always lose, and it generally ain’t close. They’ll give up dozens of runs per game—or even inning. As the pitcher, Charlie Brown was known for giving up line drives up the middle that were so fast they knocked his clothes off.

The team did occasionally win games, but rarely (if ever) thanks to Charlie Brown. The team apparently won 10 games in the history of Peanuts, usually when Charlie Brown wasn’t there. A few times they even won by forfeit.

But on March 30, 1993, it was different. Batting against Roxanne Hobbs, the great-granddaughter of Roy Hobbs (the fictional star from The Natural), Brown hits a walk-off home run that wins the game for his team. For the first time in decades, they won the game because of Charlie Brown. No reason to cry “WAHHH!” this time.

Parade of Peanuts Ties — Day 7

A little late with this but here is the tie from day 7.

I can identify with Charlie Brown on this because I think if I ever went skiing I'd never be able to stand up.

A little more trivia about Peanuts. Franklin was the first African-American in the strip. The introduction caused some controversy:

Franklin's introduction in the era of race relations and segregation proved to be controversial. When Franklin was first introduced, many people thought he was added for political means, but Schulz insisted, he was introduced as a normal character. Many newspapers threatened to cut the strip. Eventually, people realized Schulz was telling the truth. In an interview, Schulz remembered a particular letter he received about Franklin from a Peanuts reader "who said something about, 'I don't mind you having a black character, but please don't show them in school together.' Because I had shown Franklin sitting in front of Peppermint Patty, I didn't even answer him".

Parade of Peanuts Ties — Day 6

This is the start of the second week of the Parade of Peanuts Ties.

A little piece of trivia Charlie Brown's father was a barber just like Charles Schulz. Carl Schulz was originally from Germany. He was born there in 1897. He set up his barber shop in the spring of 1918 just as the US was entering World War I. Needless to say he did not advertise that he was born in Germany.

Wrapping up the November Trip to New York

Here’s a little more on my trip with Denis to New York. We did a lot more than just walk along the High Line.

This is what are Tuesday schedule looked like and our assigned roles. My job was to get in line at the half price ticket line and get tickets to see Pippin at 8pm. The bus actually got in early because it was Veteran’s Day.

Denis got in line at the Daily Show to pick up our tickets. I got through the half price line really quickly. I was like the tenth person in line. I headed over to where Denis was. He would only have been able to pick up one of our tickets so it was lucky I happened along. The tickets are numbered and colored. And depending on what color you get that determines when you should come back and line up. There are areas for people to stand based on what your number is.

We then checked into our hotel the Belvedere which was not all that far from the Daily Show studio. We rested for about an hour and then headed back for the taping.

The Daily Show was really well organized in getting people into the taping. There were sections for people to stand in based on the number you had. They took each group in to use the bathroom and then brought them back out. Then again by groups you were let into the studio. You had to go through security. Denis had to leave a couple of things. Then into the studio you went.

Denis at the Daily Show

Daily Show set

As you walked into the studio there was a crew member that told you where your seat was. Denis and I ended up in the center section in the second row. The people behind us ended up some place different. For the opening part of the show there was a camera right in front of me so I had to watch the opening on one of the monitors. But after that I had a clear view.

Here’s what we got to see on the show: New York City is declared Ebola-free, China hosts the APEC summit, and U.N. Ambassador Samantha Power discusses the international efforts to combat Ebola and ISIS.

Here’s a clip from the show.



Taping went without any problems and we got to Pippin on time.

We had excellent seats. Third row center three seats in. It felt like we were on stage. This show had a lot of action in it. Lots of stunts. It takes place in a circus. From Playbill:

The first Broadway revival of the Tony Award-winning 1972 pop musical Pippin opened April 26 at the Music Box Theatre in a new, circus-inspired staging from Tony Award-nominated director Diane Paulus and circus artist Gypsy Snider.

This new incarnation of Roger O. Hirson and Stephen Schwartz’s dark and groovy coming-of-age musical premiered at the American Repertory Theater, where Tony Award nominee Diane Paulus (Hair, Porgy and Bess) is artistic director, last fall. The staging incorporates circus choreography and acrobatics by Snider of the Montreal-based circus company Les 7 doigts de la main (7 Fingers).

It was a very enjoyable show.

After that we went to Carnegie Deli for desserts which are shown below.

My chocolate cheese cake

Denis' red velvet cake.

Wednesday morning we had breakfast at Pigalle. We’d eaten there in August. They make a mean French toast which is what I had. From there it was back to the half price ticket booth.

The booth has a new way to get tickets. You can use tickets from a previous performance that you got at the booth to jump to the front of the line. You have to have bought them in the last week. You show the ticket to the tkts employees and you get a spot right in the front of the line. I think we were about fifth in line. We were able to quickly get through the line and to tickets to see Love Letters with Candice Bergen and Alan Alda.

We had some time so we went down to the High Line. I posted pictures of that part of the trip earlier. Again I have to say this is a really neat park. The Post actually had a story about it a few days ago.

A little from the article:
On the High Line today, the locomotives are long gone, and the pedestrians have emerged the victors. Seven days a week, a shifting throng simultaneously observes and forms its own pageant. By 10 a.m., the early joggers, commuters and yoga students have melted away before the arrival of the walkers, heading up through Chelsea or down to the Meatpacking District. They stop like currents in an eddy for a while, or they find a grassy backwater, but mostly they go with the flow. The polyglot visitors find a trendy destination, the natives a transcendental sidewalk that stretches a mile and a half, now that the third and last segment opened this fall.

Love Letters was really good. Candice Bergen and Alan Alda were in it. The stage is completely bare except for a table and chairs. They both come out and sit down and start reading the letters. They actually have notebooks that they read from. It is well done but ends on rather sad note. Several times in the course of the play one or the other of them gets mad at the other and then there is silence between the two of them. It is an amazing because the theater becomes completely quite. It emphasizes the anger. Then eventually they start communicating again. Really great performances. It would be fun to go back and see it with other actors in it.

The cast changes after a month or so. This is the line up:
Saturday, September 13, 2014, through Friday, October 10, 2014 — Brian Dennehy and Mia Farrow
Saturday, October 11, 2014, through Friday, November 7, 2014 — Carol Burnett and Brian Dennehy
Saturday, November 8, 2014 through Friday, December 5, 2014 — Alan Alda and Candice Bergen
Saturday, December 6, 2014, through Friday, January 9, 2015 — Stacy Keach and Diana Rigg
Saturday, January 10, 2015, through Sunday, February 1, 2015 — Anjelica Huston and Martin Sheen

Then it was off to a taping of the Colbert Report. The set up at the Colbert Report was not as good as at the Daily Show. One thing had happened was that the weather had started to change. It was nice that at the Colbert Report the line was enclosed with a plastic awning which had sides to it.

You had to go through security. You ended up in a waiting room. There was a bathroom there but only had room for one person at a time. It seemed we waited a long time to get because well did. We were seated the same way as the Daily Show. We ended up having good seats.

The Colbert set was really small compared to the Daily Show set. Once everyone is seated a guy comes out to warm up the audience. The funny thing is it is the same guy who does it at the Daily Show: Paul Mecurio. He is very funny. Turns out he’s a writer for the Daily Show and has one an Emmy and Peabody award.

Finally Colbert comes out. He answers questions as himself instead of his on screen persona. Then it’s on with the show.

The pass for the Colbert Show

Me and my pass

It was very funny. There was a segment on drone boning where drones have caught people having sex in the great out doors. So there was video of people doing just that. The final part of the segment should people going at it on the hood of a car.

During a break in the filming Colbert announced that the censors have said part of the drone boning segment needed to be redone. And so they did it again. The car hood sequence was edited out of the second take. In fact the second take was what was used for the final cut of the show. We were able to get to the hotel in time to see it.

In the opening part of the segment Colbert says how people have loved this segment for years which of course refers to the fact this is the second time the audience has heard the material.

Here’s the segment:

The Colbert Report
Get More: Daily Show Full Episodes,Indecision Political Humor,The Colbert Report on Facebook

Finally dinner at our favorite restaurant Tony’s DiNapoli’s.

Denis and I in Times Square

Thursday we headed back to our respective homes.

Another great trip to NYC!

Parade of Peanuts Ties — Day 5

Another tie with Snoopy. Here's a little more about Snoopy:

Snoopy, whose fictional birthday has been established as August 10, made his first appearance in the strip of October 4, 1950, two days after the strip premiered. He was first identified by name on November 10. Schulz was originally going to call him "Sniffy" (as described in the 25th anniversary book), until he discovered that name was used in a different comic strip. He changed it to "Snoopy" after remembering that his late mother Dena Schulz had commented that if their family were ever to acquire a third dog, it should be called Snoopy, an affectionate term in Norwegian (the actual term is "Snuppe").

Parade of Peanuts Ties — Day 4

This one features Snoopy. In fact Snoopy is featured on many of the times.

I read how Snoopy really didn't come into his own until he started walking on two feet. Then what he did in the strip changed and his popularity soared.

This tie also shows the different look of Snoopy over the years.

New Star Wars Trailer

I have to say when I watched this I had chills run up and down my spine. I am a huge Star Wars fan. The first three were great and the next well not so much.

When the original one came out I remember it being on the cover of Time magazine. It opened on Wednesday, May 25, 1977 in 32 theaters. Over the next two days it opened in an additional 11 theaters. One of those just happened to be the Edens Theater in Northbrook, Il. Not too far from where I lived.

Two my friend and I went to the first show on that Friday. There were maybe 20 people in the whole theater.

After dinner that night I drove back down to see what the lines were like. They wrapped around the theater. I got out (how I found a parking place I'll never know) just to get a feel for what was going on. There was a 7 show and this probably a little after 6. But the people in line were in line for the next one at 9.

Just amazing. It is still one of my favorite movies.

I think before I left for college I'd seen it like 9 times. Once in DC I saw it several other times as well. I remember going to a late show during the week at the Uptown where it played for an entire year.

Below is my ticket from the May 27, 1977 show at the Edens. There's also one from a time I saw it at the Uptown in DC. On the back it says Star Wars #10.

Parade of Peanuts Ties — Day 3

Here's the tie for day three.

This features Charlie Brown and Linus prominently so I thought I put in a couple pictures of my Charlie and Linus too.

Lucy and Football

Here's a very funny series as Lucy tries to play football. She doesn't have a whole lot of luck at it either. Sort of reminds me of a team from around here. They don't seem to be having much luck playing football either.

Parade of Peanuts Ties — Day 2

This is a great tie. It has Snoopy visiting all sorts of famous landmarks around the country. There's the White House, Sears Tower, Grauman's Chinese Theatre, Empire State Building, Statute of Liberty, Golden Gate Bridge, the Space Needle and the Gateway Arch. I can say I've been to all of them.

Parade of Peanuts Ties Starts!

Yes, my annual tradition of wearing Peanuts ties to work started today. It is my way of celebrating the holidays. Each day until I leave for the Christmas holiday I wear a different Peanuts tie.

And so each day there will be a picture of me in one of the ties. I always start off with with the group tie with all of the characters with Charlie Brown being most prominent.

Financial Funnies

This isn’t entirely about finance but I liked the alteration of the title.

Here are my two stories.

The first has to do with my bank. If you own a house you know once a year the bank refigures your escrow balance. Invariably there is a short fall in the account. You’re giving two choices. You can pay the difference or have the shortfall rolled into your mortgage payment. I always pay the difference. I don’t want my payment to go up. I just like it that way.

About a week or so ago I got a letter from my bank. It said that they hadn’t properly calculated the amount that I owed. They were correcting that mistake and sending me a check for the difference. Unfortunately I did not keep the letter because I’d love to actually quote directly from it.

On Saturday I got my check. It was for 5 cents. Yes 5 cents. Let me state that again it was for 5 cents. Now I know the original letter was probably triggered by a computer program. But really couldn’t they have just applied the 5 cents to my mortgage balance. What a waste of money for let me write it again 5 cents. I feel like Lucy in Peanuts charging 5 cents for advice.

Now the other financial funny is something different altogether.

I got a little early on Wednesday from work. I was meeting my friend Stu and we were going to go to dinner and then to a GW game. Getting out early allowed me time to go over to the White House gift shop and get the 2014 Christmas ornament. I paid $18.95 for it.

After going to the museums on Sunday, I was heading toward the Metro and I stopped off at souvenir shop. They just so happened to have the ornament. It was on sale for $46.00. If you bought one you could get another for half price. Still more than the cost of the ornament from the White House gift shop. The mark up almost 2 and a half times the actual price. The other thing was that all the ornaments no matter what year they were from were $46. At the gift shop ornaments from other years are usually a couple of dollars less.

And those are my financial funnies.