Odd Rock and Roll Musical Instruments

I was thinking about this the other morning while listening to music during my morning workout. I've been a music fan for about 49 years I suppose. My Mom used to tell a story about me when we lived in Germany. I was maybe a year old. When I'd hear the old Telefunken radio playing, I'd run downstairs yelling "MockNow, MockNow!" (which was my pronunciation of music?) and sit down with my legs under the radio and listen. As long as I can remember I've listened to music and to this day I appreciate a really good musician, regardless of their style of music (although, I am loathe to call "rap" music).

Anyway, I was recalling all the instruments that seemed to come and go in popular rock songs. Some are still around, some seem to have lost favor or be out of style.

In no particular order:

• Mandolin (new)
• Accordion (Weird Al?)
• Cowbell ("more cowbell!")
• Saxophone
• Violin
• Piano
• Pedal Steel Guitar
• Organ
• Flute (Jethro Tull anyone?)

Seems like I thought of a few more when it was fresh on my mind. Now, not so many.

How many other are there out there? I may review some of my older library of songs to see if there are a few more to add to this list.

Are blogs relevant anymore?

Seems that with the popularity of social networking sites, the poor old blog has lost some of the appeal it once had?

I know I rarely post here these days and do much of my updates on the increasingly evil FB. I'm thinking about just pulling back completely and just writing letters :-) Recently one of my cousins sent a regular old fashioned letter to the house with an update for their travels, family and other items - in the US Post? What? How 1975 of them. But I can go pick up the letter again and read it when I want. No power is consumed. Completely green now that the printing is done, the letter posted and received, etc (even had a cool Christmas stamp, which made my wife check the post mark to be sure it had not gotten lost somehow).

How are you updating your friends and family? Email, phone calls, text messages, social networking?

Finally, an update on my goal to get healthier. The follow up doctor visit was excellent news. My higher than normal cholesterol and tri-somethings all went back to normal/good levels. This proved that in my case, exercise & eating can control them - no special TV ad drugs for me. I've lost about 55 pounds and am close to getting under 200 for the first time in about 20 years. Only down side is having to buy new clothes and that's no down side at all.

Until next time, I have nothing clever to say.

March 2010 - Progress Thusfar

Hello March 2010.

Wondering what happened to January and February. One thing that has been very nice this year so far is my lack of travel for business. Only one trip to Boston and an upcoming trip to New York in 1.5 weeks. Not bad.

On the exercise front, I have managed to only miss 3 days this year - I am currently exercising an hour per day, every day. I alternate between the treadmill and the elliptical. I'm encouraged by the results and weight loss; started January 1 at 249 and am now at 219. I plan to get to 212 or so by the end of March. My follow up doctor visit where they will redo my blood work will be in early April. Hopefully my results will match the weight loss and general better feeling I have now.

Finally; what a winter so far! Lots of snow days, which I love and lots of cool/cold temps. I am about ready for warmer weather so I can walk or run in the park here in Suwanee. Should be good prep for the Peachtree Road Race (?) Not sure if I'm really ready for that or not - but I am considering it.

That's all, back to work.

Hello Old Friend

Wow, talk about not following my 2009 post with anything useful at all :-) See, I said I had nothing clever to say.

So, let me recap 2009 if I can.

The year was consumed by too much focus on work and many long hours. We did have some very nice vacations; Lake Louise, Munich, Salzburg and Vienna again. No matter how many times we go to each location, we enjoy it very much and always find some new fantastic things to do & see.

Then there were the things that did not go so well. More illness in the family than we'd like. Short term, but still it reminds us that we are all getting older, time is short, precious and should be enjoyed to the fullest.

To that end, I finally had a physical and passed with mostly good results. I am overweight, no surprise there. My cholesterol is too high, by 7 points - which is not as bad as I suspected.

I used the visit to the doctor as a launching pad to start using all that expensive gear we have in the basement. I think people call it a "gym" or "workout" - terms that are foreign to me :-) 6 or 7 years ago we sprung for good home quality hardware for the home exercise room. We had gone through the less expensive items from Sports Authority and other stores - they wore out fast and were not great quality. So we started shopping at Fitness Resource and have really good equipment. But I got lazy and sat around too much, put on 40-45 pounds, made excuses as to why I didn't have time to exercise...

Now I'm going at it harder than I ever have and the results are showing already. I'm going to try and stay on my strict schedule and see if I can get back down to 210-215 where I was back in 2003-2004.

Stay tuned...

Happy 2010 folks.