Tuesday, February 27, 2007
Bay
Bay
Originally uploaded by jpfxgood.
Hung out with L and friends at the Coronado Bay Resort in San Diego after a conference that my company had there. Very nice place, the food, service, and spa all very good. Had a massage with hot rocks, which at first makes you feel like the pig at a luau, but it turns out to be very relaxing...
Tuesday, February 20, 2007
I know how she feels
I know how she feels
Originally uploaded by jpfxgood.
Ah business travel...I hold my head a lot too when I'm in the midst of it. This trip hasn't been too challenging so far, I got from Boston, through JFK (which I have a cursed history with) and then to San Diego without major issues.
Wednesday, February 14, 2007
Splat
Splat
Originally uploaded by jpfxgood.
Wretched weather today and the birds were hanging around under the feeder overhang. The cardinal got a big drip right on the beak as I took this one.
Saturday, February 10, 2007
Portland
Last weekend we went up to Portland, ME to have brunch with our friends A and J. One might think Portland, ME in February, brrrrrr.... And yes it was quite cold, but the brunch and the company was great.
We went to Bintliff's American Cafe
(below right.) Everything we tried pancakes, Eggs Benedict, coffee, all excellent. And just hanging out with A and J was a lot of fun.The picture above of the mosaic floor is from a store that apparently used to be the board of trade. I really liked the colors and I always like mosaics... The motto below the fish is "Resurgam" because Portland has been completely destroyed and rebuilt a number of times in it's history.
Friday, February 9, 2007
Jazz
Shortly after Thanksgiving my niece J who is in her 20's asked me to give her a selection of Jazz tracks because she like the music I was playing from my ipod at dinner. I was very excited, a new potential Jazz fan, and it was my responsibility to not screw this up by scaring her off. I was then paralyzed for a couple of weeks by indecision, there are over 3000 tracks on my ipod, and every time I thought of an approach, chronological, thematic, stylistic, it would send me back to the beginning.
Finally I got a list of about 130 tracks down, still way too many, at the end I made it to about 35. It was very difficult because I kept coming across things that were great. In the end I tried to focus on people who would lead to everyone else if you follow who they played with and started listening to them. My particular bias is the piano, and that makes my take on Jazz a little different from folks who come at it from the more traditional trumpet, saxophone angle. I like some progressive modern Jazz, but I thought that as a starting point, I'd stick to things that were more traditional and classic.
J says she really likes them and is listening to them a lot, I hope it inspires her to branch out from here...
Here is the list that I recommended:
Finally I got a list of about 130 tracks down, still way too many, at the end I made it to about 35. It was very difficult because I kept coming across things that were great. In the end I tried to focus on people who would lead to everyone else if you follow who they played with and started listening to them. My particular bias is the piano, and that makes my take on Jazz a little different from folks who come at it from the more traditional trumpet, saxophone angle. I like some progressive modern Jazz, but I thought that as a starting point, I'd stick to things that were more traditional and classic.
J says she really likes them and is listening to them a lot, I hope it inspires her to branch out from here...
Here is the list that I recommended:
| Name | Artist | Album |
| The Surrey With the Fringe On Top | Ahmad Jamal | The Legendary Okeh & Epic Recordings |
| Bags' Groove | Al Haig | Al Haig Today! |
| Tea for Two [Live] | Anita O'Day | The Diva Series |
| Mayreh | Art Blakey Quintet | A Night at Birdland, Vol. 1 |
| Tiger Rag | Art Tatum | Elegie |
| St. Louis Blues | Art Tatum | Piano Grand Master Disc 1 |
| Waltz for Debby [Take 2] | Bill Evans | The Complete Village Vanguard Recordings, 1961 Disc 3 |
| Sweet Rain | Bill Evans, Chick Corea & Stan Getz | Stan Getz: The Best of the Verve Years, Vol.1 |
| Lush Life | Bobby Timmons | This Here Is Bobby Timmons |
| Ornithology | Bud Powell | The Amazing Bud Powell, Vol. 1 [Expanded] |
| Poinciana | Cal Tjader & Eddie Palmieri | El Sonido Nuevo |
| Zingaro/Caminhos Cruzados | Cedar Walton | Live at Maybeck Recital Hall Series, Vol. 25 |
| Brasilia | Chick Corea | Solo Piano, Pt. 1: Originals |
| Fantasia Cubana | Chucho Valdes | Fantasia Cubana: Variations on Classical Themes |
| Parisian Thoroughfare | Clifford Brown and Max Roach | Clifford Brown and Max Roach |
| One O'Clock Jump | Count Basie | Count Basie's Finest Hour |
| It's A Raggy Waltz | Dave Brubeck Quartet | Time Further Out |
| In the Land of Oo-Bla-Dee | Dizzy Gillespie & His Orchestra | Greatest Hits |
| Mack the Knife [Take 1] | Earl Hines | Tour de Force Encore |
| Una Rosa Espanola | Eddie Palmieri | The Sun of Latin Music |
| Misty | Erroll Garner | Erroll Garner's Finest Hour |
| Red Clay | Freddie Hubbard | Red Clay |
| Softly As Morning Sunrise | Hank Jones | For My Father |
| Maiden Voyage | Herbie Hancock | Maiden Voyage |
| Song For My Father | Horace Silver | Song For My Father |
| Original Jelly Roll Blues | Jelly Roll Morton | Greatest Hits |
| My Favorite Things | John Coltrane | One Down, One Up: Live at the Half Note Disc 2 |
| What's Your Story Morning Glory | Mary Lou Williams | My Mama Pinned A Rose On Me |
| Illuminations | McCoy Tyner | Illuminations |
| La Habana Sol | McCoy Tyner | Mccoy Tyner And The Latin All-Stars |
| Blue In Green | Miles Davis | Kind of Blue |
| Georgia on My Mind | Oscar Peterson | Night Train |
| Hymn to Freedom | Oscar Peterson | Night Train |
| Sweet Georgia Brown | Oscar Peterson | Solo: Live |
| Basin Street Blues | Oscar Peterson | Tracks |
Labels: Jazz
Thursday, February 8, 2007
Shoulder Redux
So, I went for my follow up appointment, and I don't have a torn rotator cuff, I have a torn labrum. The labrum (noted on the image above) is cartilage that the shoulder socket rides in. Apparently when I fell I dislocated my shoulder and tore the labrum. Fortunately this happened without damaging the ligaments and the shoulder is tight and strong. I don't have to do anything for it, it won't likely get worse, and in fact the shoulder might just grind up the torn piece and run smoother. They can also go in with a scope and remove it with a minimal recovery time of a few days. For now I'm going with the do nothing approach, if it starts to hurt more frequently I'll have them do the scope thing.
Friday, February 2, 2007
Shoulder
A couple of years ago I was running down a steep hill and I fell and broke my fall by extending my left hand. Big mistake...I hurt my shoulder at the time and then didn't go to the doctor about it. It has hurt off and on since then. Recently I started working out more and it started hurting more, so I went to an orthopedic surgeon and he said it was most likely a torn rotator cuff, the group of tendons that go over the top of the shoulder.
So, I had to go today to have an MRI to have a look to see how torn it is so we can decide what to do. It was my first MRI and it was really cool, I didn't mind being wedged into the tunnel and the noise wasn't too bad. I brought a CD with a bunch of Bill Evans tracks on it and I would have gone to sleep except they kept talking to me every five minutes or so. L came along to keep me company and watch my back while they had me stuffed in the tube...
So here is a picture inside my shoulder, they give you a CDROM with all the pictures and a viewer to animate through them and you can export them as I've done above.
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