Journal
Chameleons "Winterrest" Performance Helps Raise Funds For New Orleans Work
Submitted by ptemples on Wed, 02/10/2010 - 12:08
As we've done now for over a dozen years running, the Chameleons performed at the Town of Chelmsford's Winterfest/Winterrest festivities at the First Parish UU Church on February 6, 2010. I've included photos taken by myself and Ariel of the event.
This year was especially rewarding, as our music helped the church volunteers raise almost $500 for the church youth to plan a trip to help with post-Katrina repairs in New Orleans.
Our new sound man, Ken Porter, did an incredible job. His equipment was unique--all speakers were mounted on a monopole behind us on stage. It allowed the performers to hear ourselves in exactly the same way our audience did.
As always, I'm a nervous wreck during these performances. But the rehearsals leading up to the show were certainly a lot of fun. I enjoy the comradeship with my steadfast friends.
[Shown here: Phil and Ken form the "locomotive" and "caboose" for an imaginary train for one of the child story-songs.]
Icon From The Past
Submitted by ptemples on Sat, 01/02/2010 - 10:17
I watched the movie Autumn the night before last. It was quite entertaining; it highlighted the rise and fall of a fictional Dot Com company called Landshark founded by two brothers--one, a computer techie-genius; the other, a sliver-tongued snake-oil businessman/CEO.
There's one scene from the movie that I especially liked--the business brother arrives at the startup company's offices to find every staff member huddled in the conference room around a laptop. When he enters, they try and hide what they've been looking at. It's the web site, FuckedCompany.com. FC's tagline was, "the official lubricant of the new economy." Anyway, in the movie, Landshark had made it onto FC; it reportedly had only a few weeks of operating capital left. As in the real world of the early 21st century, the report of the fictional company's demise in the movie plot is uncanningly accurate. Reports were more often supplied by insiders who had intimate knowledge of a company's upcoming F-d status.
When I tried calling up this iconic site this morning, I was greeted with a rather humorous statement from FC: "Fuckedcompany is... sorta fucked." Seems the FC is kaput. Sigh. It, along with the other iconic symbol from the movie--Omni Magazine--have been relagated to the /dev/null of history. I did find all the old archives of FC on archive.org. In fact, it appears that FC remained in business up until about August 11, 2008 until it, too became, well, F*cked.
Giving Thanks
Submitted by ptemples on Wed, 12/02/2009 - 08:47
Thanks god for the simple things in life.
I still remember the day that Ariel showed me how I could double-tie a knot in my shoe laces after she heard me complaining that they never stayed tied. I can only image the number of accumulated hours saved where I'm not bending over in awkward public places to re-tie my shoes after they've become undone.
Attending a fabulous performance: "A Cappella Masterpieces" in the Sanders Theatre at Harvard right now.
Submitted by ptemples on Sat, 10/31/2009 - 20:08
ptemples: Attending a fabulous performance: "A Cappella Masterpieces" in the Sanders Theatre at Harvard right now.
See original: 
Attending a fabulous performance: "A Cappella Masterpieces" in the Sanders Theatre at Harvard right now.
A Twitter "Close Encounter"
Submitted by ptemples on Sat, 10/31/2009 - 16:19
While sitting in my local Panara Bread restaurant in Watertown this morning, I was reviewing twitter posts when I came across one that caught my eye: I'm at Panera Bread (Watertown) (321 Arsenal Street, Watertown).
I thought to myself, "Hmm. Will I be able to recognize this person?" After all, the icon on the post showed a clear photo of this fellow, John Haydon. I turned to my right. No one looked familiar. Then I turned to my left. Not more than three feet from me sat the poster, a person bearing a remarkable resemblance to John Haydon sat, sipping down a latte.
"Excuse me. John?"
What followed was a very delightful conversation with this unique person who makes his living from social media, and advising small businesses and non-profits on using Twitter and other social media tools to grow their business.
We spoke of Tweet-ups, charitable organizations, Twitter lists, and other sundry items. I'm constantly amazed by the power of the internet. Rather than isolating us, the internet draws us together--when we let it.
True story: my Unix username in the mid-70s at Purdue was "!". Obviously this was before the days of UUCP.
Submitted by ptemples on Sat, 10/24/2009 - 11:19
ptemples: True story: my Unix username in the mid-70s at Purdue was "!". Obviously this was before the days of UUCP.
See original: True story: my Unix username in the mid-70s at Purdue was "!". Obviously this was before the days of UUCP.
Saw a guy in Brighton walking an animal on a leash. Could have sworn at first it was a pot-bellied pig but it was a Pug...
Submitted by ptemples on Tue, 09/08/2009 - 17:56
ptemples: Saw a guy in Brighton walking an animal on a leash. Could have sworn at first it was a pot-bellied pig but it was a Pug. Butt-ugly!
See original: Saw a guy in Brighton walking an animal on a leash. Could have sworn at first it was a pot-bellied pig but it was a Pug...
Concluded one circuit around Fresh Pond Reservoir (2.2 mi.). Saw 2 dog fights. There must be 3.4 canines for every 10 humans ...
Submitted by ptemples on Mon, 09/07/2009 - 13:05
ptemples: Concluded one circuit around Fresh Pond Reservoir (2.2 mi.). Saw 2 dog fights. There must be 3.4 canines for every 10 humans on the path.
This week's episode of #trueblood was a real cliffhanger. How the heck did the imprisoned Godric show up to save Sookie in ...
Submitted by ptemples on Tue, 08/04/2009 - 08:00
ptemples: This week's episode of #trueblood was a real cliffhanger. How the heck did the imprisoned Godric show up to save Sookie in the nick of time?
See original: This week's episode of #trueblood was a real cliffhanger. How the heck did the imprisoned Godric show up to save Sookie in ...
Entered the Globe's cartoon caption contest for the umteenth time. Odds favor me to win sometime... http://temples.com/node/4828
Submitted by ptemples on Sun, 07/19/2009 - 11:46
ptemples: Entered the Globe's cartoon caption contest for the umteenth time. Odds favor me to win sometime, right? http://temples.com/node/4828
