Wildfire

We were driving to Norman this evening and listening to 104.1 FM, where they're having a 70's weekend. They played Wildfire, a song I haven't heard in like, oh, forever. Beautiful, still, and I wondered what the story was behind the song.

Well, clicking on the link will tell you what Wikipedia gave up for me so no need to quote it here. I'd known that Michael Murphy - sorry, Michael Martin Murphy, because of his small work in the movies - had been admitted to the Cowboy Hall of Fame here in Oklahoma City, and I knew, too, his cowboy song tour comes through town fairly often. He's 65 now. And if he had done nothing but Wildfire in his career, that would have been enough. Lucky for us, he decided to do more.

Tom Coburn Tells Conservatives How We Should Live in an Obama World

The unmistakable mandate from the 2008 elections is one that applies to both parties in equal measure--it's time to define a "new kind of politics" not just with our words but with our actions. If anything, a "new kind of politics" means elected officials putting aside their careerist aspirations in pursuit of solutions that work.

Coburn has a reputation for being a straight-shooter so it's good for Conservatives to listen to him.

However, contrary to the visions of some on the left, the election was hardly the end of conservatism. The president-elect did not seek an ideological mandate, nor did he receive one. This election was unquestionably a change election, but unlike in 1994, the mandate for change was not organized under any particular ideological banner like the Contract With America.

Coburn's not conceding anything and neither should the Republican party. But as loyal Americans, we Conservatives should give President Obama the respect his office deserves and do what we can, without compromising our beliefs, to see that he succeeds. We owe it to the country.

I'm On The Radio

The Internet radio, that is. I have a client who has a syndicated radio program with an audience above a million about business and he interviewed me for a segment. I'm afraid he didn't have much to work with but Chaz, ever the professional, managed to pull me through it.

Click here to listen to me hem and haw and stammer and stutter my way through 15 minutes of advice about home-based businesses. You'll be informed. And thrilled!

iPod Shuffle Post #13

671. The Association Requiem For The Masses
670. U2 Stuck In A Moment You Can't Get Out Of
669. Sting If I Ever Lose My Faith In You
668. Bach Mass in B Minor
667. Santana Maria Maria
666. Peter Gabriel Kiss That Frog
665. The Beatles All You Need Is Love
664. The Beatles All My Loving
663. Barenaked Ladies Get In Line
662. Don McLean Dreidel
661. Hem All The Pretty Horses
660. Beck Jack-Ass
659. The Beatles Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band
658. Moby First Cool Hive

Track 671 is piffle when you compare it to Track 668. (Then again, everything is piffle with you compare it to Bach so maybe that's unfair.) But track 671 starts with faux classical voices and turns into some 60's treacle about the common man and anti-war and other 60's themes. Dated, to be sure, and unserious.

The iPod shuffle had a theme of farm animals going there for a while with tracks 660 and 661 but it gave up. I wonder how many other titles I have with animals in their titles.

Rachel's Recital With The Oklahoma Youth Orchestra

You can't see her - she's waaaay in the back - but here's Rachel and the Oklahoma Youth Orchestra with their first recital this past Sunday:

I've got video but I can't post it, of course. Something to do with the Sony format. It's beyond my blogging skillz to figure it out.

Their program was about 30 minutes long. All highly complicated classical music, the more thrilling to hear because these kids sounded so good doing it. The violin soloist alone played a full 10 minutes by memory and during rehearsal he seemed able to drop in at will at any measure the conductor wanted.

An amazing afternoon. They have another concert coming up in February. We're looking forward to it.

Emily and Pepper's 3rd Obedience Training Class

Emily's third class. She's getting a little pre-class workout here.

Tonight's lessons: heeling turns, the random recall, and heel. Though haven't we learned how to heel already?

Sent via BlackBerry by AT&T

UPDATE: The class went very well. Emily's good with Pepper and Pepper follows along for the first part of the class but the class is an hour long and Pepper's attention and enthusiasm starts to fade. Still, I think she and Emily are doing just as well as anyone in the class, and better than most.

iPod Shuffle Post #12

657. Red Hot Chili Peppers Fortune Faded
656. The Lovin' Spoonful Darlin' Companion
655. Paul McCartney & Wings Daytime Nightime Suffering
654. Nanci Griffith Tell Me How
653. Eurythmics Who's That Girl?
652. Wilco Wishful Thinking
651. The Band Loving You Is Sweeter Than Ever
650. Paul McCartney & Wings Every Night
649. The Beatles She's Leaving Home
648. Jackson Browne Lawyers In Love
647. James Taylor Bittersweet
646. Hem Stupid Mouth Shut
645. Billy Joel This Is The Time
644. Alison Krauss & Union Station New Favorite
643. Hem South Central Rain

Two tracks - 643 and 646 - make this a great session.

Track 647 brings me back to my back-to-college-to-earn-my-accounting-hours-to-sit-for-the-CPA days. Part of the soundtrack I'd play to and from school. CDs back then. CDs! And that was only a few short years ago. Already life before iPod seems quaint and strange.

Post-Election Stock Slump

Uh, oh:

The stock market posted its biggest plunge following a presidential election as reports on jobs and service industries stoked concern the economy will worsen even as President-elect Barack Obama tries to stimulate growth.

I've been advising that the stock market will settle down after the election; I still think it will, so this may not necessarily mean anything. Yet. Still, it's ominous that this is the biggest drop following an election. It's not getting much press - and for good reason, considering the other news behind it - but I wonder how the news would be covered if McCain had won.

My advice remains the same: diversify and invest for the long term. Try to ignore the day-to-day news.

November Weather

It's been unseasonably warm for November but that may come to an end. A cold front's coming but it's been windy and warm all day, just like Spring. And just like Spring, the approaching front looks ominous.

This is looking north from the parking lot of my office building. The clouds look full of tornadoes to me, though that's unheard of in November, right? Right?

Update - Well, it turned into a real Spring storm all right: wind, rain, lightning, hail, tornado warnings. Didn't let up until nearly 10:00. But no harm done and now it really looks like Fall around here: the bright leaves on the trees have been stripped off revealing the broken and shattered branches from last year's ice storm.

Video of Rachel and The Westmoore Color Guard

I'd promised to post some video of Rachel's Color Guard performances but that was when I was confident I'd be able to find something uploaded on Youtube and I could steal it from there. Well, I was wrong. The only videos I could find were from last year. Drat.

Ah, but all isn't lost. From the Westmooreband.com, the Band Boosters site, I bring you this. It's a video of the Westmoore Marching Band's performance at the Putnam City Classic back in September. I can't guarantee the link will work so you may have to go the site itself and I sure as heck haven't been able to figure out how to imbed the video in a post. (I could do that stuff from Youtube.)

Anyway, Rachel's among the Color Guard moving to and fro and tossing their flags in the air and catching them. She, and they, are very good.