FUBAR Friday

Thank Veritas It's Friday!

"The truth hurting? Yeah, that was my idea. Brilliant, no?"

Tech Headaches

Although I enjoyed my visit with my best friend Skip in Pennsylvania, it was a bit rough on me technologically...

For openers, my Motorola Moto X phone, a first generation model I have had since 2013, experienced an issue on my flight from Philadelphia to Chicago on Wednesday. Something (most likely the change in air pressure) caused the phone's built-in battery to expand, popping open the case. In its expanded state, the battery won't permit resealing the case.





The phone still operates, but now I have to decide whether to have the battery replaced (which will require mailing the phone someplace and being without it during that whole process), or purchasing a new phone. I'm leaning toward the latter option, but of course there isn't anything on the market right now that appeals to me quite so much as my Moto X. Android phones have gotten HUGE since I bought mine three years ago.

I also began having issues with my Moto 360 smartwatch during the trip. Although it might have had something to do with Skip's wireless network,
I suspect there are software issues causing it to completely shut down just minutes after I take it
off the charging cradle.

Now that I'm back home it remains to be seen whether I'll continue to have the problem. I really don't want to have to replace it...




On the very first day of my visit,
my Onn Laptop Cooling Pad stopped working, making it much more difficult to use my laptop without it overheating.

I can't complain, as I got years of good service from a $20 device,
but now I have to shop for a suitable replacement, which is
a royal PITA.

And on top of everything else,
when I got home on Wednesday my DirecTV reception had become so spotty that it is almost unwatchable. The last time that happened meant a service call that took some time.

Having unreliable TV heading into
a weekend full of college footballs and major league baseball playoff action is...sub-optimal.

"Cheer up! You've still got ME to talk to!"

You're making my point for me...

Feast Day

Our Lady of the Rosary, by Charles Bosseron Chambers

Today is the feast day of
Our Lady of the Rosary, also known as Our Lady of Victory.

Originally a celebration of the October 7, 1571 naval victory at the Battle of Lepanto by the
Holy League, which coincided with a call by Pope St. Pius V that all of Europe pray the rosary that day, over time the feast became a more general veneration of the rosary itself. That began in 1573 when Pope Gregory XIII changed the name of the feast day.




Originally a moveable feast celebrated on the first Sunday of October, the Feast of the Holy Rosary was changed to October 7 in 1913 by Pope St. Pius X, and its name was changed to the Feast of Our Lady of the Rosary by Pope St. John XXIII in 1960.

Millennial Coffee-Making

From the delightfully off-kilter webcomic xkcd, by Randall Munroe, which you should read every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday.

Until Next Time...

I spent a fair amount of time thinking about my dad during the flying portions of my trip to Pennsylvania, since that was the only aspect of the trip that caused me much anxiety. My dad, who spent roughly half his life as a maintenance crew supervisor for Trans World Airlines, was always bemused by my aversion to commercial aviation.
I had always enjoyed flying with him at the controls in his Grumman American AA-5 Traveler, but only flew commercial VERY reluctantly during my college years. My last such trip was in the fall of 1977, during my first year of teaching.

As I proceeded through each step of the process of flying to and from Philadelphia, I kept telling myself that dad would be proud of me for overcoming my anxiety after almost 40 years, and I imagined him sitting next to me telling me all about the aircraft in which
I was flying (dad loved Boeing aircraft, and I like to think he'd approve of the 737 Next Generation series planes in which I traveled). I knew, for instance, that he'd have chided the pilot for a relatively hard touch-down at Midway in Chicago on the trip's first leg, just as he'd have applauded the pilot's skill for a gentle landing under windy conditions later that day in Philadelphia.

During the course of my preparations for this section of today's blog, I noticed that it was the anniversary of a recording by clarinetist and bandleader Artie Shaw, one of my dad's favorite musicians. I spent quite a bit of time as a kid listening to dad's Artie Shaw records, and I even used some of Artie's music in play productions I directed, including the Walter Kerr comedy Stardust, which I directed at Bishop LeBlond and again during my time at Atlantic.

"Stardust" (sometimes rendered "Star Dust") was written in 1927 by Hoagy Carmichael, with lyrics added by Mitchell Parrish a couple of years later. It quickly became a popular standard, and has been recorded hundreds of times by artists in every musical genre.

1943 Victor shellac 78 rpm repressing

On October 7, 1940 Shaw and his orchestra recorded a big-band arrangement of the song which was released the following year.

Shaw's recording became quite popular in no small part due to excellent solos by trumpeter
Billy Butterfield and trombonist Jack Jenney. It is widely viewed as the definitive big band rendering of the song.





Today's send-off is Artie's famous recording, in its original form as released in 1941. Enjoy...