On Many Topics

Traffic: Light. No accidents on the 101 or 280.
Weather: Clear skies with a slight breeze. Feels in the mid-60s.
Sports: Giants sweep the Dodgers and have a six-game winning streak.
News: Today is Friday. That's newsworthy, right?

Whenever I go to a 50's style diner that offers a wide selection of burgers, it's amusing to order a salad. The grilled chicken salad at Peggy Sue's isn't bad.

As soon as I got home, I sat down at the piano and opened the cover. I wiggled my fingers and shook my wrists to loosen things up and played an 88-key chromatic scale. It sounded beautiful and in tune. Keys were no longer stuck and major chords no longer sounded minor. A music book rested on top of the piano and I pulled it down to play the first official piece. It was open to "My Foolish Heart" by Ned Washington and Victor Young, a song written fifty-five years ago for a movie of the same name.

Speaking of movies, I'm trying NetFlix for the next two weeks. People have been raving about the service and I was searching for somewhere that had a better selection than the local Blockbuster. The first three DVDs in my queue are supposed to arrive tomorrow, so if anybody sees me hanging around the community mailbox, that's the reason. If the mail carrier happens to deliver them while I'm making a quick Starbucks run (because he or she has been waiting for the strange guy to move away from the mailbox), I'll hopefully find upon my return...

1. Seven Samurai
2. Step Into Liquid
3. The Triplets of Belleville

On an unrelated note, I really like the animated United Airlines commercials. They are warm sixty-second stories set to George Gerswhin's "Rhapsody in Blue" and contain almost no dialogue. My favorite has to be "Interview" by Wendy Tilby and Amanda Forbis, about a man flying to an interview and realizing, too late, that his shoes don't match. The artwork and music make the ad an enjoyable one to watch.