So I was driving to Indianapolis, Ind. for a conference and I heard an interesting story on the radio. Apparently, there are some people out there who are claiming that "Need You Now" by Lady Antebellum is a rip-off of "Eye in the Sky" by the Alan Parsons Project.
Now I am familiar with both songs, but I have a hard time believing that there it is a rip-off. There is almost a 30-year span of time between the two songs being released ("Eye in the Sky" - 1982; "Need You Now" - 2010). The chord progressions are the same, but you can't copyright progression. There are only a finite amount of progressions that work well in pop music...or any music for that matter. If that is the only method of questioning the legitimacy of a song, then there has been A LOT of ripping off. Just think of how much royalty money the creator of V-I progression would have received over the centuries.
So if there were a lawsuit and you were on the jury, what would you say? Here is a video comparing the songs. Two things of note:
"Need You Now" had a change in tempo and key to match "Eye in the Sky."
This video was not made by me. I'm not taking credit for it in any way, shape or form.
I am happy to say that I completed my 10th century of the year. We had about 11 people who started out on the ride. Two were only doing about 50 miles, but everyone else had plans to get in 100 miles.
We started out around 8:00 am. The biggest issue with riding this late in the season is temperature change. Today, it was noticeable. When we left, the temperature was in the high 40's. By 11:00, it was in the mid-70's. Not that big of a deal, except determining the right clothing to wear. I opted to wear full leggings today...no shorts...thinking that it would be OK to keep my legs warm and avoid them stiffening when we make a stop . I wore a regular short-sleeved jersey, not being too concerned with the upper body gettting cold. I did bring two sets of gloves; one set of full fingered gloves and another pair wih the fingers cut off.
The day was perfect. Very minor breeze from the southeast, sunny with no clouds, perfect temperature...you couldn't ask for anything more. Starting at Crossroads Church, we rode about 30 miles to our first rest stop at a gas station in Haubstadt. Our second stop was for lunch at a Subway in Wadesville at mile 53. Our last rest stop was a gas station in Evansville at mile 80.
About 20 miles into the ride, I crossed the 16,000 mile mark on my bike. The odometer is still carrying the original battery that I the computer came with. It is due for a new battery very soon. So it's taken me 3.5 years to compile that mileage. I'm very happy.
Outside of a small stretch of rolling hills, I felt pretty strong throughout the ride. Considering I haven't put on a lot of miles this fall and I'm just getting over some sort of illness, I was worried about falling apart halfway through the ride. I finished the day with a 16.4 mph average (which is VERY good for me).
This is the most of centuries I've completed in a year. I met my goal for the year. Pretty happy.
For about the last two weeks, I've been sick which is pretty odd for me because I don't get sick easily. I think some of it has to do with going to the gym, and eating decent food; some of it has to do with the old "teacher mentality" that you go into work no matter what. It took my wisdom tooth being pulled to figure out the best way for me to get miserably sick is to overdose on penicillin.
I'm not allergic to penicillin, although I can't say how many times it has been prescribed to me for whatever reasons in the past. When I was experiencing my first bout of pain with my wisdom tooth, my dentist gave me a prescription for a painkiller and penicillin. After I had it pulled (a little over a week later), that dentist gave me the same prescription. The day after the procedure, I had a business trip to Columbus, Ohio (see prior posting) and grabbed what I thought was a one of each bottle.
I went the whole weekend taking one pill from each bottle, not realizing that I was doubling up on the penicillin. It wasn't until I arrived home on Sunday afternoon that I noticed what I had done, but by that time the damage was done. I came down with something fierce.
I ended up taking Monday off and forcing myself into work on Tuesday, but only because I had another trip planned for Wednesday-Friday to Wisconsin. I made it through the weekend (thank you to Dayquil and Nyquil), but ended up missing work for half on Monday and all of Tuesday.
I tried going to Boot Camp this last week and really paid the price. I also tried riding into work one day and that didn't do me much good either. I'm starting to feel better now as I believe the worst has finally passed.
The moral of the story? 1.) Read the labels before popping pills; and 2.) take the prescribed amount or bad things will happen.
I am really far behind with some of my posts. I've had a busy week, and I got sick after my travel last weekend and then I had another trip. I've been tied up with a lack of time or motivation, but I'm working to get back on track.
Last weekend, I had a unique opportunity on a trip to Columbus, Ohio. I was asked by the national president to represent my Fraternity for an award presentation to the Ohio State School for the Blind Marching Band. Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia presented its National Citation to the band. The National Citation is given to an individual or group who advances the cause of music in America.
I'm sure some of you are trying to wrap you brain around the concept of a marching band comprised of blind musicians. You have to see it to believe it, but, trust me, it was a very inspiring experience.
The band is comprised of over 30 students playing woodwind, brass and percussion instruments. The students have varying degrees of visual impairment. The director is completely blind and is a great role model for all of the kids. The co-director is not blind, but has considerable experience in adaptive music techniques and practices.
Most of the kids have volunteer marching guides who help the students march their field show and hit their marks. Some of them are parents, some are students, and some are community members who wanted to support the band.
Last year, the band was selected to march in the 2010 Tournament of Roses Parade. The route is five miles and both the band and guides spent considerable time building their endurance to march...and play...that length of the route. In speaking with some of the guides, they commented on how it was a tough workout for both them and the students.
As part of the day's festivities, the award was presented twice. That morning, they were a part of the Skull Session at Ohio State University, which is sort of a pep rally before the OSU football game. They played part of their show and received a standing ovation from the crowd (and there were easily two to three thousand people in attendance...if not more).
After a lunch break, they marched their full show during halftime of the Ohio School for the Deaf football game. The award was presented there as well. Actually, we almost forgot to present it. When we remembered to do it, we rushed out to the field, grabbed the microphone, and I started reading my script not thinking that we needed an interpreter. I got about 1/4 through when someone stopped me. Whoops!
Here is the text from the award:
Being a program providing an unparalleled experience to musical students;
And, serving as an example to others by recognizing the value of music even when facing extreme adversity;
And, bestowing confidence, trust and a musical bond among their peers;
And, sharing their gift and talents with thousands during the 2010 Tournament of Roses Parade;
And, opening their eyes of their community by creating new standards of excellence for persons with disabilities.
In recognition of these achievements and their significant contributions to the cause of music in America, Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia Fraternity pays respect and tribute this 23rd day of October 2010.
This was an truly amazing day. Being with them all day and watching them perform made it very easy to forget that I had my wisdom tooth pulled two days earlier and forgot my pain pills.
Here is a video of the field show that I recorded at the football game.
I'm a couple of days behind on the updates because of some travel, so here is my attempt to catch up.
We got some excellent news of Friday. We had our second ultrasound to make sure everything was progressing as it should. The good news for us is that is.
I'm at a hotel right now so I can't doctor that images at all, but you can see the head and torso and make out some arms. As we were viewing the ultrasound, we could see the heart beating AND there were a couple of time where it moved a little bit.
The doctor put us at about 9 1/2 weeks. We'll be moving over to Leandra's normal doctor for all of our future check-ups. The next one is the week of Thanksgiving. We'll see how many times Leandra pukes between now and then. So far, she has only let loose twice (both within an hour of each other).
Some of you caught wind on Facebook that I had an unpleasant weekend. On Saturday, I developed a uncomfortable pain in my lower jaw. For the past couple of months, I had experienced some cold sensitivity with a rear molar and I was hoping that it would last me up to my regular cleaning appointment at the end of the month. Nope. This was painful and sleeping was not really an option.
I was able to get in touch with my dentist on Sunday and he squeezed me in for a quick lookover and x-ray on Monda morning. The proof is in in the picture. (No...this is not a baby ultrasound.)
In a nutshell, I have a wisdom tooth that was never taken care of. While I was in college, the dentist was not high on my "to-do list." Even though I brushed regulary, I never bothered with check-ups until I moved to Indiana.
The wisdom tooth is impacted and pressing against my rear molar. Because of its angle and location, it is very difficult to brush and clean, even when I am consciously thinking about it. The tooth is starting to decay and because of its proximity to the molar, the backside of the mloar is decaying as well.
The fix? Extract the wisdom tooth and then do a root canal on the molar. The extraction will be next week; the root canal is two weeks later (with my regularl scheduled claning in between...weird).
They dropped the bomb in the cost of these procedures. Even with the insurance, my part of the cost will total over $1,000. I mean, after $11,000 for the IVF and another $300 to fix my car (twice), this is just a drop in the bucket.
Now I am headd to bed. With two straight night of worthless, or non-existent, sleep, I'm going to see if I can pass out for the night. So much for paying off our debts anytime soon...and we were so close.
By looking at the title and knowing Leandra and I, you might think "unexpected" somehow goes with "pregnancy." Nope. We've known all along what is going on. BUT, there were two things things that happened this week that caught us off guard.
Last week, we had to take our car into the shop because it wasn't acceleratng properly. Technically, it was accelerating, but it wasn't shifting gears. The autoshop guy said the transmission lines were chewed up and needed to be replaced. $160...down the tubes.
While that wasn't an expected cost on our budget, the bigger surprise came a week later when the same thing happened again! We were told that a mouse was the likely culprit as it was trying to find a warm location since the temperatures have been dropping. The little bugger cost us an extra $130 (we got a discount for the second visit). Needless to say, we are now parking in the garage.
Our second surprise came from a family visit as Leandra's aunt and uncle came through town...unannounced. I got a voice mail around 3:00 pm on Thursday from a "Steve Schmidt." I couldn't think of anyone that knew with that name (with a fairly obvious northern Minnesota accent), until I saw the call location as Duluth, MN. Ahhhhh...THAT "Steve Schmidt."
I give them a call and they ask me where Leandra is. I gave what I thought was the obvious answer. "Work." I asked where they were. In our driveway. ("Crap.") So I gave them directions to Opus 1 Music and called Leandra to tell her to get ready for a surprise. She was on a lunch break so I told her to get back to the store quickly.
She made it back. They found the store. And she got an unexpected family visit for about a half an hour. Yep...I'm sneaky.
I'm a Wisconsin native who moved to Evansville, Indiana after I was hired to work at the national headquarters of Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia, but currently unemployed. I've lived here since 2004 and have had many interesting experiences during that time. I'm looking forward to sharing them with you.
