Sunday, February 24, 2013

Happy Birthday Sam!


Sam turned 16 on Friday.  Man is he an ambitious kid.

The current big adventure he's planning for is a trip to Germany next summer.  This summer we're hosting an exchange student named Florian then next summer Sam gets to spend a few weeks with Florian's family.  Man has Sam latched on to the whole "Germany is cool" thing.  He's even looking into how he can attend University there.

Sam is also looking for a job.  He's been networking like a madman and lined up babysitting gigs several times.  Other than that, the most promising prospect at the moment is a frozen custard place called Culver's.  They actually called him back for a second interview.  Can you believe it?  A fast food place that conducted multiple rounds of interviews?  But hey, Sam got to the second round.

His big past time is creating electronic music.  He participates in online forums dedicated to it.  Spends a lot of time at his keyboard playing.

"Hey dad, you know how I wanted to learn more about music theory and how to improve what I make?"

"Yeah?"

"Well I found some colleges that offer free online courses on the subjects and signed up for three."

"Wow. That's a big load to take while still going to high school."

"Oh, not at the same time.  Just one at a time."

"Ah, whew.  What colleges?"

"Like, Berky?  and Emmy?  Or something like that."

"You mean Berkley?  and Emory?"

"Yeah, those are them."

"Wow, those are some impressive schools."

"Are they?"

"Umm, yeah, Sam.  They are."

Turns out the course he's taking is at a Berklee College of Music, not UC-Berkley.  Not being part of that scene, I had to go look it up.  Apparently it's pretty impressive in its own right, having graduated a large number of big name music stars.

So between a trip to Germany and music production equipment, Sam's future paychecks are already spent.  But well spent, I'd say.  He's a cool kid to have.

Tuesday, February 12, 2013

Happy Fat Tuesday

I know. First post in too long and I'm pulling a total cop out. Just reposting a story I heard elsewher.

It made me happy though. Go listen to this NPR story. Or if you want the abbreviated version:

Some guy, inspired by that art book that seemed to be in every classroom back in the '70s, decided to put gnomes on the utility poles on his block. He happens to live near a grade school and watching kids make up stories about the gnomes as they walked home he decided to expand the project to the neighborhood beyond his own block. Then watching a young girl get soooo excited about her father picking her up from school for the first time ever... excited because she could tell him about the gnomes, their names, where they came from, what they do... he realized just how much joy his little hobby could bring. So he started going out secretly at night putting up gnomes all over the city.

Or something like that as best I remember it after nearly two weeks. The summary really doesn't do the story justice. Go listen to it.

Just when it seemed like there was nothing worth listening to on the news. Every story just got me frustrated with obstructionist politics, angrier at the NRA, man. It was so nice to hear a story that was just happy.