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Showing posts from April 7, 2013

Elliott Brack

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I went to Elliot Brack's funeral yesterday. He was a friend. And he was quite a character. He was one of the first people I met outside of work when I moved to Georgia. He was sort of a variation of the main character of Tom Wolfe's "A Man In Full". I used to say that Elliott and I had a 50-50 relationship. He told me what to do and I did it. His 50% was telling me. My 50% was doing it. He was a fixture at my church and involved me in all sorts of things. Including organization of our "Civic Breakfast" where we invited leaders from the community for information and opinions of the community. It goes on and on. There were 260 people attending his funeral. He will be missed. https://www.crowellbrothers.com/obituaries/Elliott-Earl-Brack?obId=48440319
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I am still studying Portuguese (Eu Estudo Português). If you are studying Spanish the following Reggaeton song might help. Nevertheless, you will probably like it anyway. I have a neighborhood party at my house this Friday. I am looking forward to it. I am speaking at a conference somewhere next week and I am taking a couple of days of vacation after that. The weather here in Atlanta was fantastic today. Spring has been a real treat here on the lake. I am taking pics of blossoms that I will post. I had a bit of a tragic event here. My 1970s vintage Macintosh Power Amp leaked just a little bit of smoke out of of the number one magic music generator stack. I had to slip the Dynaco in its place for the party this Friday. We are going to run the Macintosh into the depot for a full diagnostic and refurb. Luckily, I was home and managed to capture some of the smoke in a bag. The Dynaco runs a little hotter, but it gets the job done.
As I become more and more internationally minded I find some interesting insights emerge. For example, I have determined that Countries are very much like dairy farms, The cows are the citizenry. Some counties squeeze the cows harder than others, some farmers make the cows feel better than others. Citizens are owned and branded by their countries. Good cows give more milk (money) and there will always be dry cows. How the farmers treat their livestock is a matter of principle not always profits. The parallels go on and on, have some fun with these thoughts.
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Spring is coming on strong here in Duluth. Between the good job, low cost of living, my house on the lake, short commute and good weather I like it here. I am having a Neighborhood party this Friday at my House. I figured it is a good way to meet my neighbors. Our Neighborhood Association has a beach on the lake, a swimming pool, clubhouse and events of different types including CLIFs, (Cardinal Lake its Friday). The blue trees are part of an art project the next town over. It originated in Australia. I think it will catch on and spread more and more around the world. Blue Trees The other tree behind the glass is my orange tree that has been with me since 1997 when I took an orange seed out of my mouth during lunch, and planted it in a styrofoam cup in my office in Rochester NY. Now it is with me in Duluth, it is asking me to spend more time outside. Things sure have changed, but I enjoy my tree.