Speak in Code

May 16, 2012 at 2:29 am (Misc., Work)
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Since anyone can post anything online, I thought I’d add my two cents and talk about Eve 6′s new album, Speak in Code.  (Ok, it came out April 24th.  But I have a lot going on.  Which I may as well also discuss.)

I love Eve 6.  I’ve loved Eve 6 for a long time.  I’ve seen them in concert several times, my favorite shows were the ones at the Norva, although I have to say the last time I saw them (May 2010 in Va Beach) was the best because I finally got to meet them!  (Well, I got to meet Max and Tony.  Jon wasn’t back yet.)  And also, my sister and my niece were with me.  I’m happy to say that Eve 6 was the baby’s first concert.  (She was 3.)  So of course I was thrilled they had a new album.  I patiently waited until my birthday, and Tara and the baby gave me the CD as my gift.  I’ve listened to it quite a few times in it’s entirety now, especially since I had to drive out to Pulaski last week.  (That’s important but I’ll get to it later.)  I do like the album, although out of all their albums, this one has the most songs I could skip.  Really, that isn’t many, about 3 in all.  I think the sound is quintesentially Eve 6 and for that I’m glad.  A few of the songs (the 3 I could skip, particularly B.F.G.F.) made me think that their earlier albums were more mature.  And there was something else I couldn’t quite put my finger on until I read some reviews.  The sound is Eve 6 yes, but with “over production” according to one review.  I listened to the album again and realized that’s what I was picking up on.  I don’t know the proper terminology, I have no idea about making albums or music or anything, but they seem to mess with Max’s voice an awful lot.  I’m not sure why.  He has a great voice and they should just let him sing.  I listened to their debut album again after Speak in Code and yes, they really do stuff to the songs much more on the latest album.  The first album (probably my favorite) is just them-the guys playing and Max just sings which is perfect.  (At least, that’s what I hear, but again, no ear for music here.)  So that’s my main beef with the album, call me a purist.  But, I do enjoy the album, my favorite song is Lost and Found with Curtain and Situation Infatuation close behind.  Situation Infatuation is a great example of lyrics you really have to pay attention to.  (I’m standing at attention, thinking things I can’t mention?  Very clever Max.  Took me a couple of listens to catch it and realize what it meant.)  And catchy, clever lyrics is also something Eve 6 is good at, so I’m happy to have that back on the new album. 

The other reviews I read (by people who have a much better idea of what they’re talking about than I do) were mixed.  Some were negative, but there was a lot of positive in there as well.  Overall I’m pleased, and glad the guys are back together.  Now if only they would stop in Virginia on their tour.  It would be fantastic to see them play the Norva again.  And of course I’d love to meet them again and have Jon add his signature to my old school Eve 6 shirt. 

And I fortunately can cross one more thing off my list.  I got a call in early May to meet with the superintendent of Floyd County Public Schools.  So I drove out last Thursday and met with him Friday morning.  I thought it was a second round interview, but he made me a job offer!  Of course I took it.  So I’ll be teaching Social Studies at Floyd County High School next year, which is where I hoped to be.  I’m not sure what classes I’ll be teaching yet, although I do know that at least one of them will be dual enrollment.  I’m (impatiently) waiting on my latest transcript from ODU so I can get that to the Director of Instruction.  Then she’ll get together with the community college and they’ll figure out what I can teach and set up training for me over the summer.  I’ve got a few other things to do, papers to fill out and turn in, etc., but the contract should be in the mail today so I can sign it and send it back.  After that’s done I’ll let work know.  I haven’t told anyone yet, I wanted to hold off until it was official.  But I’ve started packing up my office and of course I’m ready to plan for next school year which is difficult to do before you know exactly what you’re teaching.  I’m crossing my fingers I find that out soon. 

My thesis defense date is May 29th.  I hope I’m ready and that I pass.  I also hope that I don’t have a whole lot of editing to do after the defense so that I can get started on the formatting and submit the final copy to be bound.  Once I get the thesis crossed off my list that just leaves selling the house.  And moving the rest of my stuff I suppose.  But things should actually slow down for me for awhile once the thesis is finished.  I hope. 

 

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Slacker

April 23, 2010 at 2:28 am (Photography, Poland, Work)
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I have been such a slacker.  Several things have happened recently, although not all of them are very happy things.

First, for Poland, another tragedy to add to their already lengthy list.  Most of their high ranking government officials, including the President and his wife, were killed in a plane crash in Smolensk, Russia, on their way to a memorial for the Katyn Massacre, in which thousands of Poles were killed by the Soviets 70 years ago.  I followed the story pretty closely, although I didn’t get to watch much of the funeral.  I did see the procession carrying the coffins to the crypt at Wawel Castle.  (I think this is the same crypt we visited?)  There was some controversy about this decision, but they went forward with it.

The funeral for President Kaczynski and his wife was held at St. Mary’s in Krakow, which sits right on the town square.  This was probably my favorite church that we visited the entire time we were in Poland, and we visited many, many, many churches.  St. Mary’s was within walking distance of our hotel in Krakow, and seeing as how we spent a lot of time in the town square, we saw it often. 

While I have nothing really of value to contribute, other than my condolences to the people of Poland, it is extremely sad for them to lose their President in this way.  But Poland has gone through a lot, and the Poles have proven before they are a tough people, and I know they’ll get through this tragedy as they have the many others. 

A personal unfortunate incident occurred a few weeks ago, and I will let this be my final rant about it.  Along with the Germany trip, I applied for a week long seminar in Colorado, at the Crow Canyon Archaeological Center.  You get to participate in an active excavation, alongside professional archaeologists, and learn about the profession, with the focus of the workshop on the lives on the Pueblo.  Archaeology interests me greatly, and I’ve even gone so far as to research the archaeology MA program at William and Mary. 

I was accepted for this institute.  How exciting.  I received the notice on a Thursday, the Thursday before Spring Break began, which was lucky since I had to submit my acceptance by the Monday of Spring Break.  I flew to speak to my boss. 

He said no.  The seminar was scheduled for August 1-7.  That’s the week I go back to work.  So I will not be given the time off work.  I had to fax in a letter declining the offer. 

Angry doesn’t quite cover it.  I know I shouldn’t be, I’m going to Germany for free after all.  And then being given the opportunity to tack on a very affordable trip to Croatia onto the end of that trip.  So I should be content, and let it go, but I’m not.  I’m very angry and annoyed, and I want to go learn about archaeology first hand.  And what if now I have a black mark next to my name, so that if they were to offer this seminar again and I were to apply, they wouldn’t accept me because I turned it down in the first place?  That possibility frustrates me. 

But I’ll leave it at that.  I can’t change it, so I just try not to think about it.

I focus instead on my trip to Germany.  I got my new camera, it is very lightweight, so it won’t be such a burden this trip.  I haven’t gotten to play with it much yet, but I hope to this weekend if we get any decent weather.  I need to become familiar with the settings before I go of course, and I can’t wait to figure out how to tag the photos and have them automatically upload to various sites.  I’m looking forward to that the most.  I’m hoping it will save me time in the evenings when I’m trying to upload photos and blog before bed. 

Speaking of, that’s where I should be.  We’re down to the last three weeks before SOL testing.  Everyone is in a frenzy and running around like crazy.  The only upside is that I know the next 3 weeks will fly by, and I’ll be that much closer to visitng Deutschland!

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My books, Mud, OBX, and the Holocaust

August 12, 2009 at 9:05 pm (Running, Work)
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After the ASYMCA Mud Run at Little CreekThis past Saturday I did the ASYMCA Mud Run at Little Creek Amphib base with Jeff and 3 friends from HRR.  (HRR is the Hampton Roads Runners, a running group to which I belong and am an assistant organizer for.)  We were “Team Clean Freaks.”  It was an awesome race and I’m glad we had a team together.  (Last time I did this individually, it was so much nicer knowing I had teammates who were suffering as much as I was.)  The weather was perfect, not too hot, and some cloud cover which really helped.  First mile was entirely on soft sand with some berms.  To me a berm is a method of torture, to other people I guess it’s just a hill.  A lot of the race was on soft sand, there were a few spots here and there on trail or pavement which was nice and where I felt like I knew how to run.  I do not feel like I know how to run when on sand. 

There are mud pits and obstacles.  The obstacle that worries me most was the 5 foot wall, since I don’t work my arms at all and must have the weakest arms in the world.  (Don’t worry, I’ve decided to work on them during cross training for the OBX Half.)  I figured one of the guys on the team would have to boost me over.  The two I was with however, leapt over it before me and I was left on my own.  I managed just fine, and got myself over.  Big accomplishment. 

An hour and 22 minutes later we collected everyone on our team and crossed the finish line.  Several pieces of pizza and a wade in the bay, and we headed home.  Good start to Saturday!

My package containing all my books and papers from Poland arrived yesterday.  I was pleased to see everything intact.  I took everything on the Holocaust to work with me, since I know for sure that I’ll do a lesson plan on the Holocaust.  It’s hard to decide what to focus on though, so I emailed Shelby for help and she called me!  It was nice to hear from her, and a big surprise.  She had a few good ideas, we brainstormed a little, and once I get my lesson finished I’ll share it with her.  There’s just a lot of information to get across to the students, and I don’t want to just focus on the horrors of the Holocaust and the camps because I don’t want to finish the lesson and have a room full of kids who have decided they don’t like the Germans.  Hopefully what I come up with will give them a good understanding  of what went on. 

And lastly, I guess since I’m an assistang organizer for HRR, that makes me the automatic organizer whenever the people I usually run with decide to do anything as a group.  Several of us are running the OBX Half Marathon in November and thought it would be nice to rent a place in Manteo together.  I’ve been working on this for about a week now and have finally received the lease and am hopefully close to getting the thing booked.  But then I may have another immediate project (besides remembering to get the balance of what we owe in on time) and that is another Mud Run in Roanoke in September.  This is a better Mud Run than the one we just did, because when you finish you are actually covered from head to toe in mud.  It’s a long drive for a short race, but we’ll see.  There are people interested and I would really like to do it, but first I’ve got to finish booking the house in Manteo.

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