Clearing a Path

Finally got the time and motivation and cleaned out the boxes and assorted spare parts which had been blocking the path from the computer room door to the bookcase which holds my huge collection of snapshots and slides. The space looks so empty now.

Part of the motivation is I met someone at Baycon who reminded me of a long-time friend with the same name, and somewhere in that bookcase collection is the color print which popped into my mind's eye as soon as I met this person at Baycon. On top of the bookcase, which I could have reached without having done the clearing, is a series of 11x14 B&W portraits I did of the friend for her high school yearbook picture in 1974, but I didn't bother to pull those out because the one I took of her at a reunion in Utah in the early 90's is a closer match, I think, to the person at Baycon. It may not be the image as much as the personality the photo conveys.

About a year ago I bought a labelmaker which attaches to the computer with a USB cable, for the purpose of labeling all my photo albums and the wiring from my A/V equipment to my PC. I had labeled the albums many years ago, but used address labels, which are now falling off because the adhesive has dried up. I never labeled my wires because they change every couple of months.

I'm not very good at routinely doing That Which Needs To Be Done. Just one more reason I'm still single.

The biggest box was the one my 19-inch flat screen monitor came in. Inside it was my old 17-inch flat screen, which I would like to sell, but don't want to ship. And I may have a use for it later. There was also the box for the new printer I got just before Baycon so I could print directly on DVDs. It also does excellent photo printing and is also okay for plain paper print-outs. Inside that box was the small Canon printer I replaced. That's another item I want to sell, maybe I'll put it up on eBay - won't get much for it, though. And there's a DVD ROM combo drive, too. The PCI wireless card and antenna are still on the floor, I'll chuck them into my used parts box because I know I'll need them again sometime.

Desperado and Hotel California

I didn't like Hotel California when it first came out. I didn't like the sound of the singer's voice, the semi-dark tone of the music, the guitar riffs which at the time sounded to me like just so much noise.

And it was so unlike Desperado, which I thought The Eagles did better than anyone else when they put it on their album in 1973. I guess that figures - when I looked up the songwriter credits, it's by Don Henley & Glen Frey, two of Eagles' members. Peaceful Easy Feeling was on their 1972 album, it made good background music.

I was living in Thailand in 1975 when their One of These Nights album came out. I didn't like the title song much, but I couldn't get enough of Lyin' Eyes, which was on every juke box in Bangkok. Every time I heard it, it sounded like the US of A to me. A waving American flag would pop up in my mind when I heard that tune. I also loved Take It To The Limit, though I don't think I actually heard that tune till I got back to the States.

Hotel California came out in 1976, the title song of another album which was released when I lived in Thailand. The only tune on that album I had any interest, and it wasn't much, was New Kid In Town.

Times change, tastes change. Yesterday on the commute to work, Hotel California came on the radio, and I actually listened to the lyrics this time. Pretty clever, some of them. And the dark music fit the words. And so did the singer's reedy voice. It must be Ka, this morning the last tune on the radio as I pulled into the parking lot was Desperado.

I still don't like Witchy Woman which my warped brain always translates into "Windshade Woman". But I still like Tequila Sunrise for some reason I can't figure out.