New England is full of people with interesting jobs and such. Sunday I ate lunch with a man who is a fourth-generation gardener - he sells flowers and such wholesale to distributors. Today I heard of a man who earns his living buying leather in exotic places like India and China. The leather is turned into shoes, and as part of his fee for collecting the goods, he ends up with hundreds of pairs of shoes, the least of which cost several hundred dollars a pair. Today I’m staying with a man who is involved in the customer service for IBM’s processor manufacturing plant here in Vermont. Yeah, I didn’t know they had anything up here, either. But they do, and he makes a nice living building the chips that end up in the Xbox 360 and other gaming consoles. So far I’ve really enjoyed my time up here. The people are pretty genuine and candid folks - they know what they know and are eager to learn more…at least from what I’ve seen from the folks with whom I’ve interacted.
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mounty here (just so you know it isn’t someone else) blogging from the metropolis of Portland, Maine. I say metropolis - Portland is (generously) 60,000 strong, which I understand is massive for Maine. I found it pretty quaint, personally, but my host, who is from a lot farther north in the state, tells me it’s huge. Perspective is everything. It’s nice, though - reminds me of a house I stayed in when I was in Philly for a few weeks working with Urban Imperative. Feels like home.
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I promised a more complete itinerary, so here’s the scoop:

Sunday AM - Church of the Open Bible, Burlington, MA
Sunday PM - Cornerstone Baptist Church, Scarborough, ME

Monday AM - Cornerstone Baptist Academy, Scarborough, ME
Monday PM - Trinity Baptist Church, Williston, VT

Tuesday AM - Trinity Baptist School, Williston, VT
Tuesday PM - Faith Baptist Church, Palmer, MA

Wednesday AM - Hartford Christian Academy, West Hartford, CT
Wednesday PM - Valley View Bible Church, Telford, PA

Today was entirely on the road. The 400-page book that was supposed to last the whole week lasted nine hours - the amount of time it took me to actually finish the book in one sitting…so now I need to find a new 400-page book for the ride back. It was also raining over the face of the whole planet today, apparently - the rain has yet to let up and we’ve traveled 550 miles. So basically there’s absolutely nothing to report except that there’s nothing to report.

I think i’m done packing. Maybe not. I mean, I just did laundry, and instead of putting my clothes away, I folded them and put them right into the suitcase. The occasion? Chamber Singers is heading to New England for a nearly-week-long vacation tour. I had our itinerary in class this afternoon, but I have no idea where it went. I can tell you that we’ll be in Scarborough, Maine; Williston, Vermont; somewhere in Burlington, Massachusetts (HT - the roomie); Hartford, Connecticut; and Telford, Pennsylvania (the commonwealth that always seems to get stuck last on these kinds of trips). I’m sure there are other places, but I’m pretty sure those are all the states, at least. I note on my Clustrmap that I have a good reading audience on the eastern half of the country, and I expect you all to do your homework and come find me.

Sadly, I can’t expect internet everywhere I go. I will do my best to check in as often as possible, just because blogging on the road is so much cooler than blogging from my room. Even sadder is that, after these trips, I typically end up with a few hundred (not exaggerating) emails to read when I get back. So if you find yourself thinking, “Maybe I’ll email Tom…” and you have my cell phone number, and you want to hear back within the next decade, you might want to call me instead.

Finally, I note that it is currently four degrees warmer than tomorrow’s projected daytime high of 44°. Nice.

Here at mounty’s corner, we’re always proud to spotlight published articles about BJ folks, especially if that BJ person was our sophomore Basic Aural Skills teacher. Much (well, at least some) has been written here about Dan Forrest, up-and-coming choral composer - he writes great stuff for choir, and that stuff has gotten him some notice the past few years. And since I’m in Chorale, I can say that we end up being guinea pigs occasionally for a piece he’s composing. Not that we mind - I’m always up for trying new things. Anyway, HT goes to Sharper Iron for the link to the article at LJWorld.com. And for the record, I do believe that the recording of “Hallelujah” came straight out of the BJU Chorale’s “New Voices” concert first semester last year.

IE 7 has lifted itself from the dank pit of beta-ness and is now a full-blown piece of software. And what better way to usher in the newest release of Microsoft’s not-quite-as-standards-compliant- but-still-better-than-its-older-brother browser than with the first security hole in Microsoft’s everything-I-just-said browser? Doesn’t that just warm the cockles of your heart? I guess M$ was in a rush to release a new version before Mozilla did. They’ll probably deny it.

Gripe as I may, it’s still a massive improvement over IE 6, and if you must use IE (and some of you must) you’re highly encouraged to download the new version. Beware though - I’ve been on some sites using IE 7 that say something to the effect of “you must view this page with IE 6 or higher.” But that’s not IE’s problem (for once).

Firefox 2 is in the final stages of release candidacy, and it’s über-cool. This blogger will be sticking with Firefox, thank you very much, but he’s still happy to have a new and shiny version of IE to play with.

Aaron Dickey, of Digital Equinox fame, recently sprouted his own blog, imaginatively called Digital Equinox - Blog. And I would like to state for the record that the words “digital” and “rhythm” are really hard words to type quickly. Finally, the obligatory link to BJBloggers.

I need a backpack like this.

My roommate and I are having one of our deep philosophical conversations (we’re both in bed with our laptops…well, he’s with his and I’m with “mine”). I just came up with the most memorable quote of the night:
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Sometimes having stats that some NFL players can only dream about isn’t enough. Props to the kid for an outstanding effort, though.

http://msn.foxsports.com/other/story/6061674

Someone using IE 6 check the single post pages and tell me if that grey bar is lined up right. Looks good in IE 7, but I don’t have IE 6 here to test. Someone check it out and report back, PLEASE!!! I think I got it - I added a position: relative; height: 1%; declaration to the rightbar post_wrapper div, and that appears to have solved the problem.

UPDATE: Apparently it’s only fixed when there are comments the post length hits a certain vertical height. If there are no comments, then it’s not lined up right. I’m close…I can feel it…

UPDATE 2: Now I think it’s fixed. Tip of the hat and mad props to Brade for suggesting that 1% hack. Remains to be seen what IE 6 and other browsers do with it, so please do comment.

I’ve got one more addition for you folks - Matthew Sims (et al) run Under Sovereign Grace, a blog on some spiritual topics - from my perusings it kinda looked like an online blog-commentary. (Not a commentary on blogs, but a commentary in blog format.) You should check it out at the list.
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Question: what does a Philadelphia-native Republican candidate for PA’s Congressional District 13 do when he’s bored?
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A few months ago I had signed up for a free three-month trial of Amazon Prime. The cost is $80 a year, which means free regular shipping and greatly-reduced second- and next-day shipping. Their policy is to automatically charge a credit card on file for $80 after that three-month period, without any further emails for verification or warning purposes. Admittedly, I should have checked to see when I needed to cancel the trial. But I’m a busy guy, as I suspect most people are, and checking that just slipped my mind. So I wrote an email to them complaining that they never warned customers after the initial confirmation email and were banking on the fact that most people would forget after three months. I steeled myself for a bit of a battle with them, expecting the usual “it’s your own fault for not cancelling the subscription, blah blah blah.” In less than an hour, I received this response:

Thanks for writing to us at Amazon.com.

Your Amazon Prime membership has been cancelled.

Our records indicate that you have not used your Amazon Prime membership benefits, so I have requested a refund of $79 for the membership fee. The refund should be processed within the next 2-3 business days and will appear as a credit on your next credit card billing statement.

Please know that we value your business, and we hope to see you again soon at Amazon.com.

That’s it. No hassle, no complaining, nothing but “we’ll cancel the subscription and refund you right away.” Nice. My faith has been restored. Thanks, Amazon.com, for the quick follow-up and compliant customer support.

Yesterday I was with the Quartet in Hampton, VA. Thankfully, the church parking lot was in range (barely) of an unprotected wifi signal, which I used to catch the first quarter of the Ealges’ game against the despised Cowboys. Now, mind you, Dallas has, for the last 30 years at least, been a hated rival of the Eagles. I don’t know why, really. They’re both in the same division, so I suppose that has something to do with it, but as far as anyone cares to recount both teams have always been at each others’ throats. Sunday you could have probably cut the emotion in the air with a knife. Not only were the arch-rivals coming to town, but they were bringing the man that every football fan in town loves to hate - Terrell Owens. Remember him? The guy that wanted attention so badly that he was willing to take pot shots at the town’s #1 hero, Donovan McNabb? Yeah, that guy. And he’s showing up with a big star (or bullseye, depending on how you look at it) on his chest to boot. So this was more than just another game against Dallas. This was for all the marbles, NFC East-wise. This was for control of the division. This, for Philly, was to prove they could beat teams in their own division. This was the return of quite possibly the most hated man in town. This was big.

There was a circus leading up to the game. Every major network had their NFL Sunday Countdown/Preview/Whatever in Philly. The talking heads were jabbering about The Return to the exclusion of everything else. This was supposed to be the main attraction. Would Owens steal the show? Would it come down to the wire?

In the end, Owens delivered a seriously underwhelming performance. I hope Dallas fans and staff will see what they paid $10 million for - a big mouth with nothing to back him up. He was thrown to a grand total of 11 times. He had less than 50 yards receiving, no touchdowns, and no plays made. All hail the greatest receiver in the NFL! (As far as he’s concerned, at least.)

Instead McNabb did what he’s paid to do - use every weapon in the book. Westbrook didn’t have a stellar running night, so he received instead. Reggie Brown and Hank Baskett got a little love in the form of touchdown passes. And credit the defense, too - they stopped Dallas in a big way, putting scads of pressure on Drew Bledsoe (who was a statue in the pocket) and allowing him no time to think, let alone throw. And finally, the “flashback of the century” award goes to Lito Sheppard, who, with seconds left in the fourth quarter and the Eagles clinging to a lead that looked soon to evaporate, channeled James Willis by picking off Bledsoe (Aikman) three yards deep into the end zone on a pass intended for #1 receiver (running back) Owens (E. Smith) and returning it 102 (108) yards for a touchdown. And Merrill Reese sounded exactly the same yesterday as he did in 1996 on that play.

Be sure to catch the video highlights of the game, as well as read all the articles lauding the Eagles on the Eagles’ website. But before you go, I leave you with two things: a picture and a song.

He might not have been depressed two weeks ago, but he sure is now.

Eagles Fight Song - Fly, Eagles Fly!

Thursday being Chamber Singers rehearsal at 5 and laundry at 6, I typically eat off for dinner. Today saw me at the local Sonic drive-in. It could have been a scene from the 50s - a contemporary of Elvis on the speakers, cars lined up in rows, and carhops bringing out food to the cars. (Let me say that their onion rings are incredible.) But there was one little addition - a credit card reader on the menu screen next to the car. I imagine if I had grown up during the heyday of drive-ins, that would be a little disconcerting, like seeing a best friend smack dab in the center of a mid-life crisis. On the other hand, it does away with the awkward “do I give this person a tip for bringing my food out to me?” moments. My carhop was barely there long enough to drop the food in my window. Good food, good times…and a test tomorrow that I really don’t want to study for.

I’m sure it’s not my life calling, but even still there’s something theraputic about writing. Whether it’s writing a grad thesis defending what John Williams calls the “epic film score” (that is, film music that is orchestral, not pop, in nature) as legitimate, yea verily the only classical music of the 21st century…or just writing about why one should always carry a pencil, I guess writing is a way for me to be funny as I define funny. Thankfully a few people I know share my opinions of humor, which is why they stop here. Visits apparently range from raking one’s eyes across an RSS feed to see if anything new has come up, to lighting candles around the monitor and sitting zen-style reading and savoring each word.
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Today brought some discouraging news, at least in the short term. As you (might) know I’ve been struggling with a back injury that’s kept me sidelined from life for the last two months. It’s all paid for through worker’s comp, but the downside is that the wheels of corporate medicine grind but slowly - I figured out today that every action that I’ve needed has taken a month to actually happen. It was a month after the injury before I was allowed to see a doctor under worker’s comp; it was a month after that before the MRI (tomorrow); and today’s news was that it would be yet another month before the follow-up visit with the doctor, currently on the books for November 1.
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