On The Fly

“Its more than a feeling, when I hear that old song they used to play (more than a feeling). I begin dreaming”. . . . Allow me to set the stage for you. Bradley University, Saturday night, 1977, Peoria, Illinois, the rock band Boston had just released their first album the previous year titled “Boston.” I wore that album out, playing it repeatedly. When Boston played that night on stage, it was magic. We were there! Musician and mechanical engineer Tom Scholz was the first to recreate the exact sound of their hit album live. We were impressed. I fell in love once again with the art of playing the guitar. So, 40 years later, I’m playing the intro licks to Boston’s most famous song, More Than A Feeling. Sounds a little crazy at my age, but this year Santa finally brought what I’ve always wanted: an electric guitar. “Santa knows; he always knows.” It’s a beauty. A Fender Sunburst Stratocaster. Well, technically, it’s a Squire made by Fender, but who cares - it’s magnificent. And ...

“There are over 3,000 known minerals. About 150 gem minerals. They are classified as: Group, Species, and Variety.” For example, “Can you identify the green stone now on the screen? Remember, there are a lot of possibilities.” Recently, I was invited to do a presentation on gemstones for two local North County San Diego clubs; Treasure Seekers of San Diego, and the Temecula Valley Prospectors. Their principal hobby is panning for gold. However, some dabble in mining gemstones. We had enthusiastic audience decidedly interested in learning more about gemstones, a proverbial “gold mine” for educators if you will. So, we dipped our fingers into some gem identification, discussed possible treatments, and reminded them to always suspect glass or plastic when they found something. I popped up a slide, gave them a few clues then asked the audience to identify the stone. Thankfully, this technique involved no awful smells from the use of refractive index liquid. The crowd lov...

“I didn’t do it!” Sounds like something a seven year old child would say when caught in the act of perpetrating a misdeed doesn’t it? Well, you’re close it was my 80 year old mother-in-law when she stained our brand new living room carpet. The word OBLIVIOUS explodes in my mind; lacking remembrance, memory, or mindful attention. I’m trying to be civil. But with absolute certainty, it’s lack of mindful attention!  You see each year my mother-in-law invites herself for the wonderful Thanksgiving dinner Lori so lovingly prepares. Then proceeds to stay until after January of the new year, anyway . . .  This whole episode started in late October, our aquarium leaked and ruined what was left of our carpet. It was a slow leak and wasn’t noticed for a couple weeks. What a mildew mess. So now we have no choice but to replace it. Without hesitation we shopped around and found just the perfect carpet, at a great price, in hopes of having it replaced before Thanksgiving. Sa...