Celtic Radio

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I have long been a fan of Celtic music. I love to listen to the Thistle and Shamrock on NPR when I can catch it. DJ Dana is spinning some Celtic music for you this week.

On the turntable this week:

  • Molly Ban — The Chieftains. This is from a Country/Bluegrass/Celtic excursion entitled Down the Old Plank Road: The Nashville Sessions. I love this album. Alison Krauss sings.
  • Maggie — De Danann. This is from The Best of De Danann. I chose this one for the plaintive singing. That, and my daughter’s name is Maggie.
  • The Iron Man — The Chieftains. This is from their album The Chieftains: A Collection of Favorites. I ordered it off the Internet, but it was one of those TV only offers.
  • The Child Deirdre — Mychael and Jeff Danna. This is my favorite song off one of my all-time favorite albums, A Celtic Tale: The Legend of Deirdre. You can learn more about Deirdre here. The Danna brothers wrote this album with the idea that it would be like a soundtrack to the story. Mychael Danna has composed film music before.
  • Ode to My Family — The Cranberries. I love Dolores O’Riordan. Our voices are in the exact same register, so I can sing along with her. This is one of my favorite Cranberries songs, and I think it sounds particularly Celtic. It’s from No Need to Argue.
  • Katie Dear — The Chieftains. Another selection from Down the Old Plank Road. Okay, so this one isn’t as strictly Celtic as the others. More folk song-ish. But I love it. And it has the same theme as “Molly Ban” and “Maggie.” Gillian Welch and David Rawlings sing.

Enjoy!

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Done!

Posted on by Dana
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I appear to have successfully installed Movable Type. It really took a lot of patience. The thing that really bothers me is that my particular server does not appear to allow site administrators to upload folders, only files. Even by ftp. I tried. So I had to manually create each and every folder and directory needed by Movable Type. Then I kept getting all these errors because of case-sensitivity issues. Note I typed in the name of each folder and directory EXACTLY as it appeared in the files I downloaded to my computer. I was very careful to do this. I found the fact that the files were misnamed by Movable Type very irritating and frustrating. The directions were also not very specific. I was putting files in the wrong directory, because the instructions seemed to indicate that only .cgi files went into the cgi-bin. I understand why the files all need to be in the cgi-bin in order to work, but I think the instructions could have been clearer on that point. I am seeing lots of questions on their forums regarding installation errors, and I feel that giving clearer instructions could eliminate the bulk of the problems.

In other news, I hadn’t heard anything from the schools I had interviewed with, so I bit the bullet and e-mailed my contacts. I was thrilled to receive this e-mail:

I, too, enjoyed our conversation at the job fair. I am waiting for the signal from my principal regarding the scheduling of the next round of interviews. At this point, my principal is working on filling positions in another department and he is not ready to move in the direction of language arts. I hope to be in touch in the next few weeks. Thank you for so graciously sharing the product of your research and curriculum design efforts! I will treasure the Beowulf unit plan! It is most impressive. In a conversation with my principal later that afternoon, he indicated that he was also impressed!

That lifted my spirits a bit! I had e-mailed her a link to the Beowulf Teacher’s Guide I wrote, and that is what she was referring to. I needed that little pick-me-up. I had an OCD morning. I couldn’t find anything I was looking for.

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Another Sunday

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Installing Movable Type has to be the most labor-intensive thing I’ve ever tried to do on the computer. I keep getting an error when I try to load mt-load.cgi, so I posted my query to their forum, and maybe I can figure out what I am doing wrong. I am embarrassed by my clear lack of geekitude. I was sitting here, thinking I could install the thing all by myself with no help. After all, I know… stuff. You know. Quit laughing. Anyway, I did what the instructions said, but my head hurt. I don’t think I understand computerese as well as I thought I did. No wonder they offer paid installations. Hell, why not offer the software for free when it takes a computer geek of the first level to be able to install it? They can make all the money they need through installations.

I finished All He Ever Wanted yesterday. I enjoyed the book very much, and I was reminded of Doris Lessing’s short story “To Room Nineteen” and Michael Cunningham’s The Hours. I haven’t read A Room of One’s Own or Mrs. Dalloway by Virginia Woolf (I guess I must do that soon!) or even A Doll’s House (actually, I may have read that one…), but I gather from research that all are similar in theme. I wonder that the issue of having a place, separate from home and family, is something that comes up so much in feminist literature, even today. But back to All He Ever Wanted. As a person with OCD, I empathize with the narrator, even when he does extraordinarily awful things. I know all too well how he feels. I see bits of my husband in both the narrator and Etna. I see bits of me in the narrator, too. I wonder… is this need to get away a common function of unhappy or loveless marriages? I was getting to the point of feeling this way in my first marriage, but I haven’t felt that way about my current marriage, not even with our recent problems. Sure, sometimes when we fight I have an urge to flee, but it isn’t this dull, persistent ache to be elsewhere, to escape. It’s a feeling of gradually suffocating or being strangled. “To Room Nineteen” resonated strongly with me, even though I read it in a sophomore-level British Lit. course when I was so young I couldn’t have possibly related to in on the level I might today. The book reminded me too of A.S. Byatt’s Possession in that they seemed to be written in a similar manner. I couldn’t really put my finger on exactly what it was.

So I’ve moved on to The Other Boleyn Girl by Philippa Gregory. Very good so far. The Boleyns are such a disgusting lot — all their scheming and social climbing phoniness. I think, though, the one thing that is bothering me about this book, despite the fact that it is otherwise very good, is that the characters speak in a rather modern manner. It doesn’t sound “period” to me. Here I’m talking like an SCAdian. It wouldn’t surprise me if that’s the main complaint reenactors and historians have with the novel.

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My Dream Vacation

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This is an entry from my old diary. I always liked this one.

Goals. My husband says he hates when people ask the old question, “Where do you see yourself in five years?” I used to ask my students to write an essay describing their lives at the ages of 15, 25, 35, 55, and 75. Each age was a paragraph – your standard five-paragraph essay. I often got some remarkable stuff. I learned what their dreams were. Where they wanted to be at the age of 75.

When I’m 75, I would like to have lived my life. I suppose one of the reasons I got divorced [from my first husband] was that part of me was empty inside and knew there was more to love than that. And I was right. I would like to just take life by the horns and do some things I’ve always wanted to do. I am taking steps to do that, but some of the things I want to do require money (alas), so they’ll have to wait.
Continue reading “My Dream Vacation” →

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Web Development

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My first web site was a crappy-looking monstrosity wrought using Geocities’ Pagebuilder. Waiting for Pagebuilder to load on dialup was agony. I had every bell and whistle on that site that I now find annoying as hell: tartan backgrounds so busy they caused eyestrain, background midis (yes, I know, and I have seen the error of my ways), lots of slow-loading images, buttons for everything instead of text links, etc. It was truly awful-looking. I was going to link it here so I could prove it, but Geocities appears to have deleted it due to, I’m sure, inactivity on my part and lack of interest on the part of the entire Internet community. I revamped one part of the site and moved it to a new spot, where it still exists. It is a small site in homage to the author Diana Gabaldon. It was done after I gained some valuable web experience maintaining a diary at my old host. The only real problem with this site is it needs to be updated quite badly.

Now I have my own domain, and as soon as we get any content up, I’ll share it with you. Most likely, I’ll be moving my blog over there as well. It’s weird. I don’t claim to be a web goddess, but I have learned quite a bit over the past couple of years. I’m actually pretty pleased with the way my blog looks right now. I don’t know what all we’re going to do with the domain. I know my husband wants to put his blog there. We don’t want it to be one of those cheesy family sites where the little lady shares pictures of her knitting projects (I’m sorry if I offended anyone who does that. I’m thinking I’d like to have my genealogy information up there. Aside from that, I don’t know what sort of content I’ll include. I’ll have fun with it though.

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Posted in IT

Coolest New Blog Toy EVER!

Posted on by Dana
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Yay! I got it up and working finally. Welcome to my new Radio Blog! Right now, there are several classical music selections on the turntable.

  • Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, composer; performed by Academy of St.-Martin-In-the-Fields under Neville Marriner, Amadeus soundtrack; Piano Concerto in D Minor, K. 466, 2nd Movement (Romanza)
  • Giacomo Puccini, composer; performed by Jussi Björling, “Nessun dorma” from Turandot
  • Giacomo Puccini, composer; performed by the Chorus Of the Theatro Nuovo Di Milano and the Hamburg Radio Symphony Orchestra under Napoleone Annovazzi; “Humming Chorus” from Madama Butterfly
  • Claude Debussy, composer; performed by Roger Rundle on Souvenirs; “Clair de Lune” from Suite bergamasque, for piano, L. 75
  • Fryderyk Chopin, composer; performed by Dmitriy Sokolov; Prelude No. 15 In D-Flat Major (Sostenuto)

A little commentary is forthcoming. Many of you are familiar with the movie Amadeus, which is one of my favorite movies of all time. The first piece comes from its soundtrack. The second piece is one of my favorite arias (my husband sings it often) sung by Jussi Björling, one of my husband’s favorite tenors (and the tenor Pavarotti admired and modeled himself after). This recording is older, so the sound quality isn’t perfect. The third piece is the “Humming Chorus” from Madama Butterfly, which I discussed in more detail in yesterday’s entry. The fourth piece is one of my all-time favorites: “Clair de Lune” by Debussy. I think I will always close my eyes and cry as I listen to it. You might have heard it in the movie Seven Years in Tibet (which was a great movie). The final piece is by another favorite composer, Fryderyk Chopin. It is one of his 24 preludes. It makes me think of big, fat drops of rain rolling down the window. If there’s thunder, it is only gentle rolling, and the lightning simply isn’t there at all.

Please give it a listen. I hope to change the playlist about once a week.

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Madama Butterfly

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The Atlanta Opera is currently rehearsing a production of Madama Butterfly. I have to defer to my husband, as he is clearly the expert in this area. In fact, I only know a little more about it than you, probably. And I only say that because I think most of the people who visit me here probably know nothing about opera, and I know something.

I haven’t exactly been able to see an opera. I’ve only heard all or almost all of two operas (though I’ve heard lots of tenor arias from others): La Bohème and Madama Butterfly. My husband likes the former, and he ought to know. But I will always have a soft spot in my heart for the latter. You see, the first time I fell asleep in my husband’s arms, he was telling me the story of Madama Butterfly, almost whispering at times, singing softly at others. Then, I went into labor with Maggie the first time my husband showed me his videotaped version of Butterfly. There is something about that story and about the music that really speaks to me, and I guess you don’t have to be an opera expert to feel that way.

If I ever get a tattoo — and that’s a big if, since I’m not sure I’ve got the courage — it would be a butterfly on my left shoulder in honor of Madama Butterfly.

This evening, my husband sat studying his music while he listened to a CD of the opera — this one, in fact. He held Dylan close and rocked him while the Humming Chorus played. It was perhaps one of the most beautiful, tender things I’ve ever witnessed. And Dylan loved the music.

I hope he’ll always love the music.

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Giacomo Puccini and Madama Butterfly

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I’m Not Nearly Nerdy Enough for This

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I downloaded what appears to be a really good program that enables me to rip music from my CDs and convert them to mp3s. This is cool for a couple of reasons: 1) when I get my domain up, I will have a radio blog, and I can share my CD collection (small though it is right now) with you; 2) I can share my husband’s singing with you as well. He has been asked by others, some of whom may be reading this, if he might be able to share that way, and soon, the answer will be yes. Here’s how uncool I am: I didn’t know such technology existed until today. Why? I didn’t really jump on the whole mp3 bandwagon when it exploded with Napster and more recently with Kazaa. So I haven’t really been following the progress of developments on that front. I’ve ripped four tunes, and they all sound great. If you want this software, you can get it from Audiograbber for free.

Maggie burned her hand today. I don’t know how she turned on the stove, or even if she did. It took us a while to even find out what happened. She was hysterical for about an hour. I treated it with cool water, lidocaine, and bandages. And I feel like shit that it even happened. Why don’t I have a baby gate to keep her out of the kitchen? I’ll be getting one now, you can be sure of that.

I’m almost done with At the Crossing-Places (see Currently Reading on the right). I can’t decide which book on my ever-growing to-read list to start next.

I’m going to get off the computer now. New software toys are dangerous, aren’t they?

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I Am the Master of My Domain

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I have been extraordinarily happy at Upsaid; however, last night, I purchased a domain name. As soon as it is all registered, my husband and I will be moving both of our journals there. I may go ahead and stay with Upsaid and use it to manage my content. Then again, I may go and get Moveable Type. I haven’t decided yet. But having our own domain will allow us to do some more things, as my friends who have one know.

Now. My job interview yesterday. I think it went well. First of all, I have known the woman who interviewed me since I was student teacher. I worked with one of her peers. Second, I showed her a couple of papers I’ve graded. She seemed to approve. I showed her a power point show I worked up to introduce Romeo and Juliet. If you want to access it, I think you’ll have to have a Yahoo ID. She told me that what she is doing is screening candidates for the principal, who will then interview the top few. It is frustrating not to know. It’s also frustrating to think I may have to take still more time off work to complete interviews when I’m not positive I will reap any benefit from doing so. But the school is beautiful. I hope it goes my way. The big metro-Atlanta school district (the one that held the job fair I went to last Saturday) still hasn’t called for an interview. I hate looking for a job.

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Happy St. Pat’s

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It is my half-birthday. I have always kind of thought it was cool that all those Irish people (and wannabes) celebrated my half-birthday.

Kidding aside, I hope you all wore your green. You know, any teacher who doesn’t wear green on St. Patrick’s day is asking for it.

I have the worst bunch of ADD-addled, noisy kids I’ve had all year this quarter. I had to call about eight parents today. For those not in the know, that’s a ridiculously high number. From ONE class, no less. Anyway, let’s hope the parents will follow through and yank a knot in the tails of those little demons children.

On the plus side, Friday, I have a job interview! It was funny. I checked my e-mail after my 8th grade class left, thinking, oh please let there be some good luck, some good news for me on St. Patrick’s Day. And there was an e-mail from the department head at one of the schools I’d applied to. I’m going to try to make another job fair on Friday, too.

Anne always shares the coolest links. I followed one about the history of St. Patrick’s Day that was really cool. Enjoy the last hour and a half of this holiday. Erin go bragh, ya’ll.

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