Foul Weather

I have to leave for work soon - a slightly different schedule this week than normal. One of the guys that I work with needed today off because he had a family commitment. He asked me if I'd be willing to swap shifts with him so that he could be there, and I agreed. So instead of working a reverse 24, I'm working a regular 24 which means I'm off at 7:00AM instead of 5:00PM tomorrow. On one hand, it's inconvenient because I miss the time with my wife. However, on the other hand I'm off for nearly 3 straight days.....

It's been just plain soupy so far. Since Friday it has been really humid and hazy. My wife has asthma, and she's had a real increase in her work of breathing because of the air conditions. Even for myself it has been a little bit of a challenge to breathe well, and I don't have any sort of respiratory or pulmonary condition. I feel terrible for people who do, though, because nobody should have to work hard to take a breath. We haven't put the A/C units in yet, but I suspect that will get put on my "honey do" list soon.

Last night I watched a documentary on Starz about jazz pianist Herbie Hancock. Made in 2006, following him work on a project involving numerous musicians, including Annie Lennox, Paul Simon, Carlos Santana, Wayne Shorter, and Sting to name a few - the list is actually quite long. It was really fascinating; I have always liked Hancock's music as he is one of the most prolific musicians to walk the planet, and it was really enjoyable to watch him work with these other musical heavyweights. It took me back to my roots as a musician, if only for a little bit, but it was worth watching.

Thundershowers rolled through here last night. It was nasty as it seemed that the core of the shower activity was in my back yard for a bit. Some spots had hail; nickel and dime-sized pieces were shown on the 11:00 news. Our power went out for about two hours, just long enough for me to have to pull the battery our of our CO detector and to have to reset every clock in the house when the power came back on. Could have been worse, though; we could still be without power, and I am thankful that this isn't the case.

This is a little shorter than normal, I know, but I have to sign off now or be late for work.

Later.