I'm tryin' to tell you somethin' 'bout my life

[mshray]

I don't know how the rest of you have been feeling, but I have been going through a rough patch lately.  And as such I have been very appreciative anytime I see or hear something that helps in any way.  In that spirit I want to share the following, which is in the same vein as St. Francis' Serenity prayer.  It was passed to me as a photocopy, but hopefully I have transcribed it accurately here.

Something We Should All Abide By
by Mother Teresa

People are often unreasonable, illogical and self-centered;
Forgive them anyway.
If you are kind, people may accuse you of selfish, ulterior motives;
Be kind anyway.
If you are successful, you will win some false friends and some true enemies;
Succeed anyway.
If you are honest and frank, people may cheat you;
Be honest and frank anyway.
What you spend years building, someone could destroy overnight;
Build anyway.
If you find serenity and happiness, people may be jealous;
Be happy anyway.
The good you do today, people will often forget tomorrow;
Do good anyway.
Give the world the best you have, and it may never be enough;
Give your best anyway.
You see, in the final analysis, it is between you and God;
It was never between you and them anyway.

[Gazoo]

I don't know how the rest of you have been feeling, but I have been going through a rough patch lately.  And as such I have been very appreciative anytime I see or hear something that helps in any way.  In that spirit I want to share the following, which is in the same vein as St. Francis' Serenity prayer.  It was passed to me as a photocopy, but hopefully I have transcribed it accurately here.

Something We Should All Abide By
by Mother Teresa

People are often unreasonable, illogical and self-centered;
Forgive them anyway.
If you are kind, people may accuse you of selfish, ulterior motives;
Be kind anyway.
If you are successful, you will win some false friends and some true enemies;
Succeed anyway.
If you are honest and frank, people may cheat you;
Be honest and frank anyway.
What you spend years building, someone could destroy overnight;
Build anyway.
If you find serenity and happiness, people may be jealous;
Be happy anyway.
The good you do today, people will often forget tomorrow;
Do good anyway.
Give the world the best you have, and it may never be enough;
Give your best anyway.
You see, in the final analysis, it is between you and God;
It was never between you and them anyway.

This is fantastic, Mark; thanks.  I'm not having a very good week myself, and there are some good reminders here.

[RGMike]

Dunno if we need a separate "overheard on the street (on BART, on MUNI)" thread, but walking home tonite from the gym, on Valencia St., I heard one black guy yell at another black guy: "Don't play me, nigga! I'm serious as a heart attack!"

Wow, I thought people only said stuff like that in the movies...

[Lightnin' Rod]

I am out of here for the next week, gone fishin'.  Y'all have fun 'round here tomorrow and next week -- I'll be back the 29th.

'vacation, all I ever wanted...'

[ggould]

My daughter Grace is getting married on Sunday down in Memorial Park near Pescadero, so I'll be pretty busy for a few days!

[RGMike]

Damn -- have fun, Rod, and best wishes Geoff! 

Meanwhile... shortly before noon today, I started getting pop-ups on my work computer: "VIRUS WARNING!" "YOUR COMPUTER MAY BE INFECTED!" etc.  The thing is, they weren't from McAfee, which is what we use at Kaiser. Our IT folks had me shut down ("don't use your PC until we send someone to look it over!"). As of 3:00 I was still waiting; my boss ran out of make-work projects and I went home an hour early. So I've been out-of-commish and may be tomorrow as well. (I was able to use a cow orkers PC but I wasn't at liberty to web-surf.)  Fingers crossed that tomorrow isn't a wasted (and unconnected) day. I'm bringing a radio so I get to hear AL's 10@10 if nothing else -- hoping for that "Welcome Summer" set.

[RGMike]

Well, it officially 24 hours since my PC freaked out and I'm still waiting for IT to come; luckily it's been slow, work-wise.  But I'm still limited in what I can do using a cow orkers computer, so It looks like I get to go home early. Assuming IT doesn't come before I finish eating lunch, I'm outta here -- most likely off to see the sci-fi indie Moon (the one directed by Zowie Bowie, er, Duncan Jones).  Happy Vinyl Saturday/Father's Day/First of Summer/Geoff's Daughter's Wedding!

[Gazoo]

I'm on a very large number of music-related mailing lists: publicists, venues, ticketsellers, artists, and a group called the Pho list that discusses in great detail the many issues surrounding the intersection of music and technology.  It's far more reading than I can keep up with - and I found my various inboxes had over 1,000 unread emails.

So I at last purged this morning.  I'm sure I missed a lot of things that would be great to know for my life and career, and I'm sure I've pissed off a few publicists by not replying to their notes.  But if I dwell on that, the enormousness of the backlog would only become paralyzing.  (A sort of digital hoarding, I suppose.)  Feels good to be getting that under control.

As for the October trip - I'm fairly sure I'm going to do it, but still don't know exact dates.  The meditation conference I want to attend in Santa Cruz is October 16-18.  (Anyone know offhand how one gets from SF to Santa Cruz and back without a car?)

[ggould]

I'm on a very large number of music-related mailing lists: publicists, venues, ticketsellers, artists, and a group called the Pho list that discusses in great detail the many issues surrounding the intersection of music and technology.  It's far more reading than I can keep up with - and I found my various inboxes had over 1,000 unread emails.

So I at last purged this morning.  I'm sure I missed a lot of things that would be great to know for my life and career, and I'm sure I've pissed off a few publicists by not replying to their notes.  But if I dwell on that, the enormousness of the backlog would only become paralyzing.  (A sort of digital hoarding, I suppose.)  Feels good to be getting that under control.

As for the October trip - I'm fairly sure I'm going to do it, but still don't know exact dates.  The meditation conference I want to attend in Santa Cruz is October 16-18.  (Anyone know offhand how one gets from SF to Santa Cruz and back without a car?)

My daughter went to UCSC, and I think she took a bus over the hill, then the train to SF.

[Alicat]

Can't find the tech help thread...
How do I get iTunes files into a format for input to Win Meida Player?

[Tinka Cat]

Can't find the tech help thread...
How do I get iTunes files into a format for input to Win Meida Player?

I use mp3 files for my itunes, and I'm pretty sure the Win Med Player can play those. 

what kind of files are in your itunes?  highlight one, right click and then view "properties" -- that should give you some info.

[urth]

Can't find the tech help thread...
How do I get iTunes files into a format for input to Win Meida Player?

You mean files you've purchased on iTunes? I believe files from the iTunes store are in the AAC format, which is an Apple proprietary format and will play primarily on iTunes and iPod players. (There may be other digital audio players now that play AACs, I haven't been keeping up.)

There are converters to change the format from one to another. I assume you're using a PC, yes? I just did a quick search on Download.com (old habits die hard) and came up with this one:
http://download.cnet.com/Switch-Sound-File-Converter/3000-2140_4-10327491.html

Never used it, can't vouch for it, but it's been downloaded over a million times and users rated it an average of 3.5 out of 5 stars, so must not suck too badly. And it's free. We like free.

[RGMike]

So, who's where for the holiday weekend (assuming you have Friday off)?

I thought I was working Friday, since the 4th is not an official "observed on Friday when it falls on Saturday" holiday, and Kaiser is the only place I've ever worked that doesn't give the Day After Thanksgiving (!) but apparently they're giving us off.

Curious if AL will be doing a 4th of July Set of some kind -- hey, if she plays "Fourth of July" by X it will be on its way to becoming her first Katrina!

[Gazoo]

So, who's where for the holiday weekend (assuming you have Friday off)?

I've got a 4-day weekend starting now, with no idea what to do with myself.  Neglected to make any plans.

[urth]

So, who's where for the holiday weekend (assuming you have Friday off)?

I've got a 4-day weekend starting now, with no idea what to do with myself.  Neglected to make any plans.

I've gotta take Sarah to the airport Friday morning early, but I hope to be back here shortly after 10. And like Gaz, I have few plans for the weekend. There's a free blues festival in Portland, but I'm not really feeling up to dealing with the kind of crowds that's going to draw.