Day in the Life of an Idiot

Mason and I have been busy.  On Friday, we went to Minneapolis' Peavey Plaza to take in Macy's Day of Music.  They had four (or maybe more) stages both inside and outside of Orchestra Hall, over three hundred musicians, and 24-hours of music.  We got to see a very cool brass band called Jack Brass Band.  I thought the tuba player, in particular, was a whole lot of awesome.  Mason and I bought their latest CD, which we then listened to much of Sunday.  

Some of the other musicians that Mason really liked were:  Janus Percussion, a sextet string ensemble (whose official name has unfortunately escaped me), Ellis, and a million other acts including Latino/World music, "gypsy" fiddling band, and a international concert pianist.  Plus, they had all sorts of venders out on the plaza, and -- the coolest part -- Macy's provided complimentary water.  So, Mason and I could eat icecream and have, as us Minnesotan's call it, "a little lunch" while watching live performances of music.  It was really cool.  The thing that constantly amazes me is how many things I do with Mason, that I would never do myself.  I'm not sure I would have sat through all of the Janus Percussion show, but Mason was riveted -- plus, we had spotted the timpani (kettle drums) and were desperately hoping they were going to play those, they never did, but they did do a piece that was written for Peter Criss of Kiss fame, which kind of made my day.

The rest of the weekend was about errands and working on my revisions for Tate's third book (which continues to kick my butt. See my wyrdsmith's post for details, if you're interested.)

Also, quicky fishy update:  Mason and I just added new substrate and water to the 5 gallon tank that has been the cause of much misery.  Happy, the shrimp, finally gave up the the ghost/glass ghost and so we cleaned out the tank on Sunday with a touch of bleach to hopefully kill off any remaining "ich." We let it air dry outside in the amazing weather we've been having here in Minnesota, and then this morning we filled it up with the idea that we might actually have a working "hospital" tank again.  I've been kind of waiting for Happy to go so that the tank would be completely empty of occupants (outside of the Malaysaian needle snails, which, alas had to go with the substrate.)  

That's all the news that's fit to print.