ElectroLund

Most people know me to be cheap.  How cheap?  Well, I somehow see the logic in buying a broken USB mouse on eBay in the hopes of fixing it, rather than paying fully price for the mouse new.  Don’t laugh just yet.  I fixed it.

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“Arrrgh! I’ve got the bones of a dead man in me leg!” (to be said to future children with a pirate’s voice)

So the fog of knee surgery #2 is wearing off and I’ve got the pictures to prove it.  Fair warning, some are a bit gruesome.  Arrgh.

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Just when I got back on my feet, they drag me back down. I’m going to get another surgery on my knee today. Should be better and stronger than ever. I’m like the $6M man. Only with cadaver bone implants instead of robotics. How cool is that?

Sarah and I just came back from our Maundy Thursday service.  Our choir sang the Rutter Requiem.  It was my first time and I’ll never forget it.

Here is the final movement, Lux Aeterna.

Here are the lyrics. The soprano soloist (sung by our associate pastor) part is in English, while the choir is in Latin.

I heard a voice from heaven saying unto me.
Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord,
for they rest from their labors:
even so saith the Spirit.

Lux aeterna luceat eis Domine:
Let eternal light shine upon them, O Lord:
Cum sanctis tuis in aeternum, quia pius es.
with Thy saints for ever, for art merciful.
Requiem aeternam dona eis Domine,
Grant them eternal rest, O Lord,
et lux perpetua luceat eis.
and may light perpetual shine on them,

It’s a hard thing to describe, singing in a 100-person strong choir. To use your small voice as a string in a large instrument… it’s a moving experience. Then add to that the greatness of a musical piece like Rutter’s. The dark minor sections followed by such pastoral reverie have a way of penetrating your mind and perhaps your soul. To call such times “heavenly” or “divine” isn’t saying it deeply enough.

This is a great visual primer explaining what the heck is going on with the credit crisis:

So by now, everyone knows about Bernie Madoff, the most successful con man in history. His Ponzi scheme has left countless investors bankrupt as he stole about $65 billion dollars. Billion.

So just how in the world Madoff made off with all your money? He’s a child and so are we. Here’s the perfect analogy.

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Fact:

I invented brakes.  With my own two burly man-hands.  I climbed Mount Everest barefoot to forge brake pads in the lava pools of the mountain’s inner molten core. I drank fire and breathed madness in the heart of the abyss’s blazing belly.  And I made them for my woman.

Translation:

I replaced Sarah’s brake pads for the first time.  Was surprised at how well the procedure went.

Julie posted a response to my review of Gran Torino and  I began writing a response.  But the comment became too big, so I turned it into a full post.  Let the discussion begin!

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Last week our choir sang Morten Lauridsen’s composition of O Magnum Mysterium. To say it was moving puts it lightly. It was ethereal.

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Gran Torino is a fine film, but it’s as deeply flawed as some of its characters.  I can forgive its characters for their foibles, but not its filmmakers.

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… or at least probably how Sarah would summarize the original Star Wars trilogy.  Have a look, this is genius:

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For my church choir’s annual Christmas concert two weeks ago, one of the solos was a piece from Bernstein’s Mass, titled “Hymn and Psalm: A Simple Song.”  It’s a very modern sounding song, not at all like traditional requiem masses.  At times, it was very dissonant and haunting, other times similar to big band Broadway.  Nevertheless, Lenny wrote a mass.  And I can’t get it out of my head.

Give this a little listen…

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This one required some knee surgery.  Have a look…

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Here are some pictures of the snowfall we had last night.  Is our new neighborhood gorgeous?!

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My electronics inspection lamp died and I wasn’t sure why.  So I set out to fix it.  Check out the pictures below.  Click on them for fuller descriptions of each step.

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