Steak, Lobster and Chick Peas

I am at Max's Kansas City tonight listening to the House Band. Which is to say that I went to work, went to parent teacher conferences, picked up Chinese take out (beef lo mein, orange chicken, general tso's and veggie fried rice),dropped a kid off at play practice (she took the lo mein), got the others started on homework, washed the breakfast dishes and initiated my Happy Birthday turn table (thank you, Bill!) with some Velvet Underground. Bill worked late.

I spent part of my day researching electronic notebooks and writing a procedure for paperless (I prefer the term Less Paper) bankruptcy files. My biggest issues are my interview notes and phone contact notes. I upgraded my electronic Post Its. I experimented with electronic bulletin boards and tried to find something visually like what I use but with more sharing potential and less clutter.

I usually listen to my ipod at work - radio, playlists and podcasts. (Though I also have a turntable in my office (my office Lou Reed is limited to "Rock N Roll Animal" since that's one of the six records I keep there.).)

So, a typical work day, parent stuff, take out and dishes. I put on 'The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan" while I cleaned up the kitchen, and when Side A ended, I had to dry my hands and walk in the other room and flip the record over.

It is the consciousness of records that I love. I think about the song that ended. I want to hear more. I stop what I am doing and I flip the record. (And if you have something that you loved on vinyl, you know the end of Side A when you get to it even if it's a CD and it just plays through, don't you? :-) )

In a related area of my life, I have become a total convert to the Kindle. Though I have noted that it is also less conscious in some ways. I forget the name of the book I am reading and I have no idea how long it is or how much I have read (though there is a percentage-y thing in the corner). An e-book has a different being than a paper book. It lacks some character, but totally makes up for it in convenience and readability. I like the convenience of being able to download a new book immediately, but I have found that I need some breathing room to digest what I just read.

All of my work research is now done electronically. It's funny to me that we still take "professional" pictures in front of law books, even though we haven't updated the books in years and no one uses them except to take pictures. We recycled a ton of paper recently and got rid of a lot of law books. We kept a shelf of them for a photo backdrop. It seems like we could just photo shop that in...

Later tonight I will head to the studio to dance to my latest play list of Electronic Klezmar Balkin and hip hop/classic rock Mashup. Not available on vinyl. And besides, the needle would skip when I jumped around.

I am really coming to the conclusion that I am the perfect age for all of this - embracing the past and present and future - using them all when needed. (Also, NanoNovel Idea - A Christmas Carol in techno - "A Techno Carol" - Scrooge is visited by a typewriter, a computer and ? or record/cassette/CD/mp3.)

"You can dance if you want to," suggests Lou.