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March 9, 2011:

DANDER UP, DANDER DOWN

Bruce Kimmel Photograph bk's notes

Well, dear readers, I get awful cell phone reception in my home environment. There, I ask you, where else on all the Internet can you read such an opening salvo? Nowhere, that’s where. But the truth of it is, I get awful cell phone reception in my home environment. The best case scenario is two bars. Worst case is no bars or “searching.” If the phone rings I can answer it but hear nothing and no one can hear me. It’s been very frustrating. Until yesterday. Yesterday, the cell phone reception in the home environment changed drastically and I’ll tell you how. Over the weekend, I received a letter from AT&T. Normally I don’t even open those things but for some reason I did. Inside was a little note that AT&T was offering me a free MicroCell tower. And what this MicroCell tower was purported to be was like a miniature relay station that would bring strong signal to those who desperately needed it. It asked that people who were already getting good reception to not get one, but knowing people as I do, I’m sure they’re going to get one anyway, just because it’s a new gadget – and I’m sure that in so doing that AT&T will probably run out of them and people who need them will have to wait. What else is new? Anyway, I went to the AT&T store on Monday but they hadn’t gotten their shipment in. I asked the fellow if he’d hold one for me and he was quite uppity about it. I then found a more sympathetic employee and she took my number and assured me she’d hold one as soon as they came in. True to her word, she called and I went over and got it. They did the activation part at the store (you can also easily do it online). I was very hesitant about setting it up myself, as I am quite stupid in matters technical. However, I read the booklet and it didn’t seem too difficult. It did, however, involve unplugging the modem and the router, which always makes me nervous. But I realized that I needed to do it while there was still time to get people on the phone if there was a problem. So, I girded my loins and actually my loins girded me back, which was kind of amusing on some level, and I plugged the yellow Ethernet cable into the MicroCell tower. I then unplugged the modem and router, plugged the other half of the Ethernet cable into a port on the back of the router (you can also do it on the modem but that seemed scarier, as it involved unplugging the modem cord and putting it into the MicroCell), fired up the modem, then the router. They came back on, found each other, so that part made me breathe easier. Then the tower lit up and began configuring itself. According to the instruction manual, that process would take ninety minutes and would result in all solid green lights on the various and sundried icons. However, within about eighteen minutes I had solid lights, after which I immediately received an e-mail saying everything was working perfectly. Oh? Really? With some cynicism, I went to my cell phone and woke it up and lo and behold and also behold and lo I had FOUR BARS! I could not believe it. Absolutely perfect reception where a few moments earlier there had been absolutely lousy reception. So, I am thrilled with my new MicroCell and many kudos to AT&T for offering it free of charge (you do have to re-up for a year, but I wasn’t going anywhere anyway). These will also be sold for two hundred bucks, and if you’re plagued with bad reception, it may well be worth the investment.

Prior to that, I’d gotten up at around four for no real reason and went back to bed at four-thirty, fell back asleep around five and woke up at ten-thirty. So, somewhere in there I suppose I had a decent night’s sleep. I answered e-mails, returned telephonic calls, and then went and had a chopped Eyetalian salad at the Studio CafĂ©. It’s quite a nice salad – not that big, and just turkey, a little cheese, lettuce, and garbanzo beans, and I use the balsamic vinaigrette for my dressing. After that, I went to the mail place and picked up nothing important and was told there were no packages. I told them that I was definitely getting an amazon package, but they reiterated to me nothing was there. I got home, went to amazon and tracked the package and it had been delivered an hour before I got to the store. I called and gave them a piece of my mind, and then had to go back there to get the package. I did some other errands and whatnot, then came back home and began writing liner notes for our next UK cast album release, which is a couple of weeks away. I ended up finishing the notes and getting everything to the designer. I then finally sat on my couch like so much fish.

Last night, I watched the Academy Award-winning documentary, Inside Job. I’d heard it was going to get my dander up and it did, in spades. In fact, my dander was up for a couple of hours after I finished it. Here’s what I wrote in last night’s posts:

Just finished watching Inside Job. If this film does not finally get people to understand what has been going on in this country then this country deserves what it will most surely continue to get. It is infuriating, nauseating, moving. It will have you shaking your head; it will have you yelling out loud. And anyone who thinks our dear president is doing one single thing about the problem other than keeping the staus quo, will learn otherwise, oh, yes, they will learn otherwise. They will either be alarmed by it, or ignore it. I remember the debate here when the bailout happened – several of us were very opinionated that the bailout money would help only the rich, which it pretty much did. And yet, there are those who will not see what’s in front of them. The taxpayers’ money has gone into the pockets of people who did not need their stuffed pockets stuffed anymore. There is only one place that something should have been stuffed and it wasn’t their pockets and the stuffing should have been something a lot stronger than money. When will the sheep awaken and do something? The government is run by the financial industry – if enough people quote Mr. Paddy Chayefsky and shout “I’m mad as hell and I’m not going to take it anymore,” and then actually stand up and DO something about it – by the MILLIONS – only then will things change for the better.

The documentary is very well done, although I did tire of its musical score – the film is dramatic enough not to need music prodding the viewer. Watching these smug, smirking people who caused the horror of 2008 is truly sickening and not a one of them has ever been called to task, ever been arrested, ever even had their hand slapped. Instead, they all got to keep their obscene amounts of money and walk away – and several of them still work for our government and are still causing the kind of harm that led to the meltdown. The transfer is excellent, as you’d expect. I watched some of the extras but they really weren’t that interesting. A must-see film for anyone who cares about how financial institutions have taken this country into the toilet.

After that, I got some popcorn from Gelson’s, and listened to a CD I got yesterday. When I’d been doing research to see how many recordings there were of Knoxville: Summer of 1915, I came across one with Kathleen Battle. But it was the rest of that CD that was of interest to me – a setting of Toni Morrison words to music by Andre Previn, written especially for Miss Battle. Well, they’re wonderful pieces, sung beautifully, and filled with Mr. Previn’s soulful and rich music, tinged with jazzy blues. I’ll be giving those songs frequent hearings now. She also does I Loves You, Porgy and Summertime – both fine readings. Her Knoxville is a little too studied for my taste, but the orchestra under Previn plays beautifully (it’s the same orchestra that played for the Dawn Upshaw version).

Well, why don’t we all click on the Unseemly Button below, because I really must get my beauty sleep as I have a long day ahead of me and sleep will help get my dander, which is currently up, down.

Today, I have a lunch, and then we’ll have the first of The Singer’s rehearsals, which will probably take up most of the afternoon. Otherwise, I have some errands and whatnot to do, hopefully a package or three to pick up, and then I can relax and watch a motion picture.

Tomorrow and Friday I have some Kritzerland things to do, and we’ll probably have another rehearsal in there somewhere, but mostly I have to pull the music for our next Gardenia show, make CDRs, and finish casting – only two people and a guest star to go and am hoping to lock down one person today.

Well, dear readers, I must take the day, I must do the things I do, I must, for example, eat, have a rehearsal, do errands and whatnot, hopefully pick up a package and then relax. Today’s topic of discussion: It’s Ask BK Day, the day in which you get to ask me or any dear reader any old question you like and we get to give any old answer we like. So, let’s have loads of lovely questions and loads of lovely answers and loads of lovely postings, shall we, whilst I hit the road to dreamland, where I shall hopefully sleep in peaceful slumber with lovely dreams and I shall awaken feeling refreshed and with dander down.

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