Monthly Archives: September 2011

Date Night

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Life does not come with any dress rehearsals or curtain calls, but fortunately for theater, the stage does. Tonight Anne and I do dinner and a show, the show being the Rep’s season opener, “Red”. Writing this post before viewing, I offer the following, The Rep’s synopsis:

“Red” exposes the tormented mind of abstract expressionist painter Mark Rothko. As he nears the completion of a series of murals for New York’s famed Four Seasons Restaurant, the questions of a young assistant force Rothko to examine both his motives for creation and his place in the pantheon of great artists. Urgent, all-consuming and fascinating, this 2010 Tony Award-winning play is a searing portrait of the ambition, vulnerability and agony inherent in the art of making art.

Dinner too should be as big as the sky, Big Sky, being my favorite restaurant in Webster town. All our friends have seen this show by now and are already looking forward to the next one, but for us, this is opening night. For the actors and the behind the scenes personnel, tonight should go like clockwork. They have done it all so many times before. For me, I’m expecting a performance like butter. Soft on the outside, but cold and harder as the knife cuts deeper.

Confessions of an Engineer

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Hello, my name is Mark and I am an engineer. [Hello, Mark!] I work with many other people and most of them are engineers too. Being an engineer, I know that I am susceptible to the ravages of the terrible and debilitating curse of CNS. For those readers that are non-engineers or as we engineers like to refer to you as, civilians, CNS or Classic Nerd Syndrome is both the promise and the price that modern technology exacts upon America’s engineering class. As an engineering occupational hazard, CNS touches almost every one of us.

Some of us are able to rise above its most debilitating aspects and live almost normal lives. Some even marry, sometimes even to civilians. The most courageous of us even dare to have children. This is an especially dangerous proposition, because there is no test for CNS that has been approved for children. When you as an engineer first hold your new born baby in the delivery room, both beautiful and full of promise, a nagging fear can claw at your mind. Will this child have CNS? Boys are more susceptible to CNS then girls are, but somehow it is even more tragic in women. This is not sexism. Men with CNS have a much more robust support system than their female compatriots enjoy.

The cause of CNS has been discovered. The explanation of this cause is somewhat technical, so please bear with me. I’ll use an analogy, just to make it clearer to you civilians. Think of the human brain as a computer. Try to envision a PC inside your head. Not a Mac mind you, because we have all seen those I’m a PC/ I’m a Mac commercials and we are speaking about CNS. So, your brain is a PC and inside your brain is a motherboard. I warned you that it would get technical. For people with CNS, somewhere on their motherboard is an open slot. This open slot is where most people have their social awareness chip, but for sufferers of CNS there is no chip in the slot. 

So you have CNS, where do we go from here. You are still human and you feel the need for human interaction. You could hangout with other CNS sufferers, but you already do that all day at work. One advantage of CNS is the ability to earn a good wage. You could buy social interaction. I know, this smacks of prostitution, but I’m not talking about sex, yet. Volunteer. Take care of people less fortunate then yourself or champion other social causes, especially the ones that we can all get behind. No one gets fired from a volunteer organization, unless they are truly obnoxious.

How about exercise? I know what you are thinking, CNS sufferers as jocks? It has worked for me. Maybe not immediately, but as a CNS sufferer gets older, that 98 pound high school frame begins to pay some dividends, when the average weight of your graduating high school football team approaches three bills. I’ve chosen bicycling and it has worked great for me. That this sport has a high technology quotient is only serendipity. In the end each of us people with CNS must find are own path. I’m here to help you find yours.

The pictures with this post are from our first stop on last Saturday’s ramble. The Green Homes Festival was just kicking-off at the Missouri Botanical Gardens. We eschewed our normal, but still always choice bicycle parking spaces, a mere 100’ from the front door, for valet bike parking. It is only right; don’t you know when yours are the two greenest two vehicles on the lot. Last weekend’s Green Homes Festival is really just the warm-up act for this coming weekend’s Best of Missouri Festival. Green Homes erected the first pair of tents. Best of Missouri will have four of a kind. Still it is a fine festival on its own and an even better warm-up act. The pictures show various electric vehicles that were on display. US made plug-in hybrid cars, who says that CNS is debilitating?

Wild Cards!

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Last night, before the Canon photography class started, I stopped in the hotel’s bar. I had misjudged the traffic and had arrived at the facility way too early. The bar was pretty empty; two businessmen had settled down at one end of the bar with their cocktails and were busily engaged in a conversation. After the bartender served me a glass of wine, I asked him when the Cardinal’s game started. “Seven”, he said.

That question was all the invitation that one of the businessmen needed. He explained that they both hailed from Boston, and then went on to commiserate about his Red Sox’s fall from grace this month. I said that I was hopeful about the Cardinal’s prospects; because in 2006, they had started post-season with an even worse win-loss record and then went on to win the World Series. This confused the Boston businessman, because he thought that I was referring to the 2004 series in which the Red Sox’s humiliated the Cardinals and broke their venerable streak. I corrected him with, “No, that was the Jimmy Fallon series”, a reference to the movie, Fever Pitch, “2006 was against the Tigers, remember, Hit It to the Pitcher?” To this, he just nodded.

His acquiescence empowered me to begin to boast, “You know, I hope that the Cardinals end their season in a tie with the Braves. That way, we’ll have a special playoff game here on Thursday.” This intrigued the businessman and he asked about tickets. I couldn’t help him, because I didn’t know, but at this point the bartender spoke up and told him how he could find tickets. This conversation concluded with the one businessman telling his partner that he wasn’t scheduled to return to Boston until Friday, so he just might catch that game.

This all took place before last night’s games, but true to form, Boston lost and is not in a tie for the wildcard birth. Plus, the Cardinals won and tied Atlanta for the National League’s wildcard birth. Tonight’s games could easily make this entire supposition mute, but as of writing that Boston businessman could see a game here on Thursday.

March of the Penguins

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These pictured cuties, were one of the tap dancing acts that we saw last Saturday, as part of Dancing in the Streets. What is that writing on the plaque in the background of this post’s photo? For those of you who are not Rey, “Spes Mea In Deo Est” means “My Hope Is In God”. It is a common Latin Masonic motto that appears upon the Saint Louis Scottish Rite Temple’s parking garage.

Christian, Greg and I attended the Schiller’s Canon EOS class last night. It was a good class and I learned a lot. I’ve had my 5D for almost a year now, but frankly have felt a bit intimidated by it. I’ve used it on a few dedicated photo-shooting outings, but have primarily continued to rely upon my Canon SX10, Canon’s best point-and-shoot, at least at the time of purchase. For Anne and me, our normal photographic outing is bicycle driven. So, for the heavier 5D, lugging it about town and country is not a forgone conclusion. It can get very heavy after a long ride, I know. I am also concerned about the safety of the 5D, while piloting it on the back of a bike. On its last bike outing, the balloon glow event, I snagged the camera’s shoulder strap with my foot. I was kicking my foot over the bike; it snagged the camera strap and pulled the camera out of my messenger bag. Fortunately, the camera didn’t fall far and landed on grass. Finally, there is the gravitas that such a camera brings to any picture-taking party. This class won’t help with the camera’s weight or safety, but it did make it seem a little less intimidating. I especially liked the interweaving of Saint Louis shots in the examples of various techniques. It allowed me to acutely gauge my aptitude versus the professional.

I find myself obsessing about this blog, its hits, comments and likes, but that is an after the fact obsession, much like the criminal must return to the scene of the crime. When I first started this blog, I use to get comments like, “Great Picture!” These complements always left me wanting to ask, “What about my writing?” I think that my lack of thankfulness for those complements was derived from the effort it took me to string two sentences together, let alone a cogent post. Besides the unanswering silence to that unasked question was answer enough. That was then, this is now. Once tongue-tied in front of the keyboard, I can now blather with the best of them, that is, if all you want to read is blather. With the lodestone of writing shed, I have found renewed interest in other abilities. I do not purport to be a great photographer, or even a good one. I only say that I can adequately photograph a subject or scene. I would like to do better, hence, I took the photography class last night. Here is a toast to great expectations!

Peabody Opera House

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On Saturday, as part of the Taste of Saint Louis, the Peabody Opera House held an open house. Anne and I attended this sneak peek and were amply rewarded for having done so. I always use to call this venue the Kiel Opera House, because it shared its building with the much larger Kiel Auditorium. It was open when we first moved to Saint Louis, over thirty years ago, and we attended a few events there, but for the life of me, I cannot remember anything about them. It closed shortly after we moved to town and remained closed for thirty years. This Saturday, is its premier show, since it was extensively renovated. Jay Leno will be headlining a variety show. Unfortunately, our schedule does not permit us to attend this inaugural event, but we will be on the lookout for an opportunity to see a show at this splendidly rehabilitated palace.

This evening, I am taking a class, a photography class, a Canon EOS photography class. A couple of the guys at work clued me into to this opportunity, so I decided to tag along. I hope to learn some of the features of the 5D camera that I bought from Chris last year, pick up some creative techniques and hopefully avoid the inevitable up-selling that is sure to come. Unfortunately, the $25 class fee can be recouped with a matching $25 coupon, good for Canon merchandise at Schiller’s Camera. I feel like a lamb being led to slaughter. 🙄

Mythopoetic Psychocosmology

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We think of wakefulness & the mythopoetic psychocosmology of dreams as separate states; however they interoperate in curious ways.

I offer a hat tip to Dan for the title of today’s post and by consequence, the steer to the above quote. Both are quite suitably obtuse. Their origin is the marketing department for a new video game, “Sword and Sworcery”. It is currently only on the iPad, but an iPhone version should be out before the next “solstice”, just in time for Christmas. Can you wait until then, Dan?

Artist, Bob Cassilly, was found dead Monday morning. Mr. Cassilly, 61, is best known as the founding spirit of the City Museum [2] [3], a Saint Louis icon and a national treasure. Cassilly was found in the cab of a bulldozer at the site of his latest project, Cementland, on Riverview Drive. According to a Post-Dispatch article:

Bruce Gerrie, curator of architecture at the City Museum and Cassilly’s friend for more than four decades, arrived at the accident scene after Cassilly’s death. Gerrie said it appeared the bulldozer had slid off a rocky hill and flipped a few times before landing upright. “He’s lived on the edge,” Gerrie said. “Bob lived a life of excitement and I’m glad that he didn’t have to suffer from anything. He went out as he was.”

Mayor Slay tweeted, “The City has lost some of its wonder. RIP Bob Cassilly.” Both the police and OSHA will be investigating his death.

I never met the man, but I have enjoyed the work that he inspired. Dan once had the opportunity to work with Cassilly, but a previous commitment prevented him from taking up that opportunity, now he never will. Cassilly also created Turtle Park, which Dan did get the opportunity to play in, while he was still a child.

The photographs with this post are of a couple of the dancers from Quixotic Fusion, a Kansas City group that headlined this year’s Dancing in the Streets Festival. Quixotic Fusion incorporates music, dance and aerial performances on stage and backs them up with original composition, choreography and visual design. This was Quixotic Fusion’s first performance in Saint Louis.