Musical Update

I now can recognize the notes A, B, C, D, F and G on the musical staff and I know the fingerings and an alternate fingering for B. I've attempted to play ' When the Saints Go Marching In' with a small bit of success. I played it for Awesome Chick and when I was done I told her what it was. She quickly responded something like "Oh yeah it took me just a second but I knew what it was." She is such a kind person.

Today was the day I learned F. This is the first note that will require me to finger with both hands. Previously all notes I've played have been done with just the left hand.

I've noticed that repetition, repetition, repetition is the key to remembering my notes and fingering. I also find that if I practice two or three times per day for like 10 minutes it is more productive than one long 30 minute session. The biggest problem I face is that the "interface" between me, the music on the sheet and the fingers on the Recorder is VERY slow. Unfortunately that interface is my damaged brain. To see a note on the staff, recognize what that note is, remember what the fingering for that note is and get my fingers into position is a very very loooooong time.

I am fortunate that I come from a VERY musically gifted family. Both of my parents have Bachelors Degrees in Music Theory and my Dad also has a Masters in Childhood Education. He was a teacher for 30 years. Several times I've been stuck on something and asking them gets me unstuck. One idea my dad had that was REALLY helpful was to start out by putting numbers for the number of fingers a note requires to be played below the note on the page. This helped me just concentrate on learning the fingering and I gradually started to recognize the notes and I could do away with the fingering hints.

Well I'm off to go practice "my music". Jingle Bells is the next song I get to massacre.

Information about Recorders

Intermediate Goals

I'm beginning to seriously think of intermediate goals that I would like to meet on the way to my July 7-8 MS-150 attempt.

I first started on an indoor trainer 15 minutes per day, three days per week. When I started with CTS roughly 10 weeks ago I started training 4 days per week. I had to do all my rides on the indoor trainer as I wasn't conditioned enough to ride on the road. Then I began to ride the first "portion" of my rides outside and finished them up inside on the trainer. I gradually increased the amount of time outside and decreased the amount of time inside. My very first goal became to be able to ride outside 4 full workouts in one week.

This week I achieved that goal, or at least I expect to. It is only Thursday and I have 3 days left to get my 4th ride of the week in. So with that in mind I've come up with the following intermediate goals.

W/E Apr 1	4 rides 4.5 hours	Achieved
W/E Apr 8	4 rides, 4.5 hours	Stay here while I get used to new bike and gearing, I went from a triple to double chain ring.
W/E Apr 15	5 rides, 5 hours
W/E Apr 22	6 rides 5.5 hours
W/E Apr 29	6 rides 6 hours

This leaves me with the entire months of May and June to increase the number of hours that I ride each week using a 6 ride per week plan. As I've noted before, my goal is to be fit enough to finish the ride and enjoy the entire thing. I have more lofty goals in mind after this one.

House Heats Up Over Bill to Give Illegal Immigrants In-State Tuition - washingtonpost.com

In this piece an irrational Democrat Melvin L. Stukes becomes irrational and compares refusing citizen rights to Illegal Aliens, to being a black slave in the 19th century.  What a slap in the face to African Americans that can truly trace their ancestry to slaves.  What a cowardly and back handed way to "play the race card" in a way it should not be played.  It's interesting how "undocumented immigrants" as the article calls aliens who are here illegally have no problem documenting they have lived and worked in the state of Maryland for a time when it means getting discounted tuition rates.

"Do I need anyone to remind me of the mind-set that existed then and still exists today, that some people were considered three-fifths of a human being?" Stukes asked, his voice rising. "Are we still saying that some people are less than whole? I don't think so."

Source: House Heats Up Over Bill to Give Illegal Immigrants In-State Tuition - washingtonpost.com

 

del.icio.us tags: Illegal Immigration

Technorati tags: Illegal Immigration

Catholic Group Wants Marquette Prof. Reassigned

 I suppose Daniel Maguire would argue that the Holy Spirit couldn't pass a theology exam.  It is the duty of the Churches Magisterium to faithfully and without error pass on and interpret Church doctrine in matters of faith and morals.  (CCC 890)  Mr. Maguire does not have any protection from error in his teachings.  In fact his teachings can be completely false and come from the devil himself and he and no other theologian has any charism of protection from error or inspiration by the Holy Spirit.  Come on Maguire, if you don't believe what Holy Mother Church teaches go shopping in the cafeteria and find something that better suits your current flavor of the day.

"I've always felt that candor was the better part of valor," he said. "The bishops are saying they are the only authentic teachers in the church and that all theologians are subordinate to them. But most bishops could not pass a graduate exam in theology."

Source: wfrv.com - Catholic Group Wants Marquette Prof. Reassigned

 

Technorati tags: Marquette University, Catechism of the Catholic Church

Tony Snow

I've enjoyed watching this guy for years. He's smart and logical in his thinking. He's once again fighting cancer. You can go to the White House and leave a message for him. click It is on the upper right hand of the page.

Music to my ears.... Oh Really?

This post is a follow up of my (click here earlier post). That post is dated yesterday but I posted it a couple weeks ago. Yesterday I realized it was posted as a draft though so I "undrafted" it.

Anyway the first song I play on my recorder was to be 'When the Saints Go Marching In'. Well according to the music notes and my fingering that is exactly what I did. It sure didn't sound like any version of that song I have ever heard. YUK! Our two Beagles started baying like the Hounds of the Baskerville. I thought I was Basil Rathbone in the old movie.

Oh well that's the point of trying to find something fun and interesting as well as therapeutic. You don't mind going back to it as much when at first you don't succeed.

Feeling good today

I feel pretty good today considering I had a hard ride yesterday. The adrenaline of being on a new bike I think caused me to push myself a bit hard. I rode all the way to Golf Course Hill at Fox Hollow Golf Course. I actually couldn't make it up the hill, I only got half way up. The reason is conditioning and the Opal only has two chain rings. Welcome to the big legues!

I was also a bit sore today, in a good way. I can tell my body isn't used to the new geometry of the Opal. I also heeded the WRC persons advice and concentrated on keeping my shoulders down, back flat, bend at the hips and elbows bent.

By the way, this is a picture of my new ride.

Unbeliculously Great Maiden Voyage

This post actually begins last Friday morning or maybe even Thursday. You see all day Thursday I was PMS'ing, Pre-Migraine Syndrome. My strokes were kind enough to leave me with frequent migraines but I know when they are coming on because ahead of the big ones I have what they call non-specific seizures and sometimes I even see little Oompa Loompas. When the Oompa Loompas come to visit I know it's time to hunker down because most of the time a real head banger, brain searing migraine is about to come on. This time though Mr and Mrs Loompa were wrong. So, I woke up Friday morning to find I was feeling pretty good and my wife, Awesome Chick, who from now on will be known as THE Awesome Chick had stayed home from work. I thought it was because she was concerned about me. That was until she practically bulldozed me into getting showered and out the door. You see she knows the problems I've been having with my 10 year old bike that doesn't fit and I can't get replacement parts for.

She took the day off to take me around town looking at and test riding bikes I had been reading about and looking at in bike shops and generally drooling over for the past three years. What I didn't know is that she had received a nice bonus at work and she intended to use it to get her StrokeBoy a new ride!

The sales lady at the bike shop we ended up at was great. We had a fun time and laughed a lot because I could only go up and down the sidewalk in front of the store on my test rides or I'd get lost. On top of that my short term memory is so bad I couldn't remember one test ride from another. I can recreate a lot of things like this because I'm constantly writing in a journal and I have a small digital voice recorder I dictate my day into. So we worked out a system of the sales lady taking notes of exactly what I said when I got of the bike, I would use my recorder and Awesome Chick would take digital pictures of me riding for me to look at and jog my brain into remembering what the ride was like. Well anyway Friday extended into Saturday and Sunday but when it was all said and done I had my new ride. Awesome Chick got me an Orbea Opal, full Dura Ace, Mavic Ksyrium wheel set and new shoes.

Today was the Maiden Voyage. I feel like I went from driving a VW Bug to a Lambragini. I'm used to a triple so the double chain ring showed me I have some work to do on my strength. But hey I have a lot of time. Now maybe I'll be able to keep up with Awesome Chick when we ride. She got her bike a couple years ago.

Stroke Boy

P.S. Unbeliculous is a word my wife and I made up. We were always saying things like "that's unbelievable" or "that's ridiculous" so we combined the two. Unbeliculously Great translates to "unbelievably, ridiculously great".