Obama-watch

Where did the Prez go to church yesterday? Last week the first fam was at the venerable Nineteenth Street Baptist Church in Northwest DC, a beautiful choice. I was able to read lots about it, and learned lots of new details about a fine, highly-esteemed church. Even the children's choir sang when they visited, which apparently appealed especially to daughter Sasha.

But nothing on yesterday's church-shopping. Maybe the first fam slept in. That would be just fine, and quite understandable. But if they did go to worship somewhere, I'd like to know where. There was lots of discussion about where they might visit and finally settle. Inquiring minds want to know! Or make that nosy church musicians...

Blagoje-watch

Rachel Maddow announced a little while ago that she's having Gov. F-word on tomorrow, Wednesday. Concluding, she said with a wicked little grin, "I love my job."

Rachel, I love your job too. I can't wait to see what He-who-should-not-be-impeached will have to say. So, listen, I'll be playing a drinking game tomorrow during the interview. Please see how many literary, political, cowboy etc. references you can let him slip into his remarks.

Inauguration Music

I've had several folks ask/comment about the music at the inauguration. I heard only John Williams' piece at the oath-taking, so I can't comment on anything beyond that. But while it was being played, I was not all that impressed. It was a nice assemblage of performers but the music seemed uninspired. I came across this article which helped me realize why. I appreciate a lot of what went into the music for the day: understated as opposed to extravagant. I remember the inauguration of the Clinton administration and the presence of the choir from Philander Smith College, and the choral work commissioned by them for the event (I am good buddies with the composer, Marvin Curtis) and premiered there. This situation was different and the scale of the music was about right. So no complaints there, just with the piece itself. Then today I learned that the performers, wisely, were not playing live, but rather finger-synching to a recording. That's all fine and good, but it would have been nice to know while it was going on. Kind of explains why/how Ma was able to mug for his compatriots (beyond what he usually does) the way he did. I am certain that I, being in a similar situation, would have wished for similar consideration in light of the bitterly cold weather. I imagined heaters placed all around the players on Tuesday! Thankfully, they simply had to synch with a recording. Some noticed the ear-pieces the players wore. Those were in-ear monitors: allowing them to hear (in this setting) the recording and pace themselves to it. Use of in-ear monitors is a rapidly growing trend that saves floor space over traditional black box monitors and allows for individualized input from the sound technician for the each performers needs. They are an expensive option, but being wireless, are a vast improvement over boxes and cables strewn around the stage. I did think the presence of the clarinet was under-represented, a recording balance issue. Thanks to Arts Journal daily digest for supplying links to these very helpful articles.

Also: today I (1/27) found a nice explanation of the whys and hows or playing in cold weather.

New Water Heater

Wherein I also expound upon the exact meaning of "24 inches."

When Greg and Kristen were here at Christmas, we noticed on Sunday afternoon after they had left that we didn't have much hot water. This had never been a problem before, so we were a little nervous. I chalked it up to overly long Sunday morning showers, and I told myself that Libby had indeed done a load of laundry just "a little while ago." Nothing seemed overtly out of place in the heater's closet in the basement. But I turned the breaker on and off and by the next day we were back to normal. Then last weekend when Faye and Kristen and Greg were here, we had the same sort of thing. Water was not quite as hot as it usually was.

Finally on Tuesday evening, Eli complained of not enough hot water for his shower. Libby investigated and managed to produce smoke and sizzling sounds by working the breaker switch! We made plans to get a new water heater the next day. I got Melzer M. from church to hook us up with a plumber able to come the same day (he actually appeared within a half hour of when he said he would arrive). While waiting for him to arrive, I made a quick run home to measure the opening to the closet where the heater is located; 24 inches. I then went to Asheville and got a new electric heater from Lowes (80 gallons, anticipating increasing demand as three boys move into adolescence). Dimensions of the heater: 59 1/2 inches tall by 24 inches wide. Notice the manufacturer conscientiously tells us about that extra 1/2 inch of height.

Got the thing home and into the basement and left the plumber to do his thing. Next thing I heard was "we've got a small problem." In my haste I had measured the closet opening only at its midpoint and got 24 inches. Further up the opening and a little lower the width was more like 23 7/8 inches. And lo, the heater: not 24 inches, but with protruding screws and such, 24 1/8 inches. The plumber explained he could probably shove the heater into place, but it would get scratched in the process. We pushed and shoved (I was reminded of Winnie the Pooh stuck in the opening to Rabbit's home). The plumber and I stood back and scratched our heads and fussed together and tried to diagnose how best to proceed (again, visions of Christopher Robin, now, and Gopher conferring on how to get Pooh unstuck).

Ultimately I gave the plumber permission to pull the panel veneer off the opening of the closet, the two sides of the jamb I suppose it is. Not only was it nailed in place, but also "liquid nailed," quite securely. After pulling some of that panelling off, we tried again to shove the heater into place. Still no dice. The facing panelling on the walls within and without of the closet overlapped the opening by "just that much." We had to shave it off on four sides. Finally, the heater would fit, still with a few scratches.

The plumber admitted that he had jinxed the whole project when he surveyed the scene at the very beginning. He had said to himself it would be an easy install, easily do-able with time to get to his other two pre-scheduled calls for the afternoon. He knew better, and now has had a gentle reminder not to make such claims. EVER. I have learned that it is not sufficient to measure one point in an opening when seeing if something will fit. What a difference a couple of eighths of an inch can make.

Christmas Day

Here are some shots from Christmas morning. The day after Christmas we hiked on what was Route 10 through the Royal Gorge between Old Fort and Ridgecrest, NC. Pictures of the hike are in the same album. Here is a link to some of the history. And here's another. And one more. The route recently re-opened as a legitimate hiking trail after being closed for some time. The surface we walked on had been re-paved, so the walk was really easy. We did about 1.75 miles. Gotta try the whole thing before too long.

I've added some pictures (same link, above) by Uncle David Barksdale from New Year's Day in Eden, the first day of our post-Christmas jaunt.