I made it!  

I had planned to try to get to 100 podcasts before taking a break. One way to rationalize away your slackerosity is to change the rules. But real champion rationalizers know that changing the unit of measure is the only way to go if you want to completely trick yourself. Now I get to say, "I did too make it to 100." In base 9. It wasn't hard at all to persuade myself that a hundred in base 9 is an ever so much more lyrical and centered place to stop.

Passing things on 

I came upon the sweetest scene this morning. My little guy (16) was playing Caesar III. I think you might describe the game as something like SimCity in a classical Roman motif. He had WinAmp set to play "We Built This City" over and over.

Here is a confession. My head is gratified that my son loves many of the books I've introduced him to, but it may mean more to me that he likes my music.

Maxed? Dirty? PCEP? 

Do you like peeks into subcultures you're not familiar with? I do. I especially enjoy lingo that's a mystery. Plus, I think it's instructive just to remember there are so many worlds out there besides your own.

This from a high school marching band message board. The poster is a kid doing some scouting as bands move from super-regionals to nationals.

8. "RE: St. Louis, MO Finals Results"

In response to message #0

Even so, I have a few questions.

How much further can Lawrence C's show grow?

What's the major difference separating Carmel/LC?

Is Broken Arrow about maxed?

Did Marian Catholic do their full show? Was this their first performance with it? How dirty?

What's going on with Lake Park?

Minnesota, represent! What the ##### happened there?

Congrats to all.

Those are pretty agreeable pridictions, Sergio. What is up with Owasso this year? How good are they? Also, I'd like to see Bellbrook in a regional... have they been to any this year? I've had unconfirmed reports that Ben Davis is not quite the band they were last year. I've heard nothing about Castle, but they were pretty good last year. I saw Northmont's placement from Pontiac. Top 3 in that line up speaks well for them, but their score was not terribly high. Looking at the recaps from that show, it looks like they did quite well visually but lacked some in music performance. Even so, their GE scores were decent... so if this band gets the music cleaned up, who knows... Weirder things have happened. I figured Centerville would win the regional... they win all of their regionals. I saw them very early in the season and was not terribly impressed with their show design. PCEP was close behind... I have heard that they are once again looking like "classic PCEP". I expect them to be a major player at GN this year. Good for them, I have missed them.

The copy factory 

Whoa. Dave's on a roll this morning. Pumping out the soapbox stuff. I like it when he gets that way. I sit here and talk back to my monitor, as if that's the source of the rhetoric: "Yeah. That's right, sing it Dave. Tell em brother."