Educator, Thinker, Consultant
“The most important conversation is the conversation you have with yourself each day.”
Hymn of a Summer Night by Jesse Terry is the song of the day. This song is on the When We Wander album. Reflective of growing up, friendship, and returning home.
We discovered Jesse Terry at 20 Front Street (a terrific venue to see intimate shows). Discovering artists like Jesse Terry is powerful. Go to those local music spots with original singer/songwriters.
Adults can’t be punished into greatness. Neither can children.
Song of the Day
Vultures by John Mayer is our song of the day. Vultures is on the Continuum album. It has a nice mid-range tempo that makes if very easy to listen to. The vocals are similarly constrained.
The lyrics of the song are personal for John Mayer. Lyrics denoting how to strive for success and deal with the “vultures”, those hangers on and try to ride the coattails. But the song can have meaning for all of us. All of us want to experience success, we don’t want to just hold on.
Some of us, we’re hardly ever here
The rest of us, we’re born to disappear
How do I stop myself from
Being just a number
How will I hold my head
To keep from going under
“Life instantly improves when you don’t blame other people and focus on what you can control.”
Lonely People by Styx is our song of the day. Lonely People is one the seminal Paradise Theater album. Paradise Theater was a concept album that was part of my youth. I was a big fan. The entire album was good. Lonely People starts out with a short “street scene”. The song quickly turns to things being past their prime or not being what they seem.
Oh my god, well we both are empty paradise and me
Do you believe I’m still chasing rainbows
This was close to Tommy Shaw and Dennis DeYoung leaving Styx (who are apparently still touring – Tommy Shaw has returned).
Still some good music from Styx. Enjoy this one.
“And who knows what Romance, what Adventure, what Love, is lurking around the next turn of the road, ready to leap out on us if we’ll only travel that far?”
–Inscription in George Sterling’s copy of The Road, March 26, 1914
Pink Houses by John Mellencamp is our Song of the day. The song is an upbeat song which has frequently been misinterpreted as “feel good, America is great” song. Those into “cheap patriotism” think the song supports the American dream. In reality, the song is pretty “anti-American”.
“This one has been misconstrued over the years because of the chorus—it sounds very rah-rah. But it’s really an anti-American song,” Mellencamp continued of “Pink Houses.” “The American dream had pretty much proven itself as not working anymore. It was another way for me to sneak something in.”
- https://americansongwriter.com/the-meaning-behind-pink-houses-by-john-mellencamp/
The line of “Ain’t that America” is one of the reasons that fake patriots misunderstand that song.
Ain’t that America, the singer taunts. A country that runs on the efforts of the working class, and yet makes sure the “American Dream” is just out of their reach, ain’t that something to see, Mellencamp asks.
It’s a great song. Great feeling. Great meaning.
It is a funny thing about life:
If you refuse to accept anything but the best,
Very often you get it.
Haunt from the album “See Here, I Have Built You A Mansion” by Josh Ritter, is one of those catching songs that just sticks with you. Wonderful music, interesting lyrics.
Destiny is not a matter of chance,
It is a matter of choice;
It is not a thing to be waited for
It is a thing to be achieved.
Today’s Song is “Brazilian Stomp” by George Benson and Earl Klugh off the stunning Collaboration album. No vocals, just some great smooth jazz. Long one of my favorite albums for just putting on and enjoying (whether focusing while working or getting lost in great sounds), I’m sure that you’ll be seeing other songs from this album as a song of the day.
The real menace in dealing with a five-year-old is that in no time at all you begin to sound like a five-year-old.
Today’s song of the day is “Why Aye Man” by Mark Knopfler. I’m a big fan of Mark Knopfler and his songs. I love his music and the stories that his songs tell.
Why Aye Man is about the mid 1980’s in England and the recession they experienced. Specifically, the song is about the dignified working-class and the determination to survive and thrive.
Some of the lyrics include:
We had no way of staying afloat
We had to leave on the ferry boat
Economic refugee
On the run to Germany
and
There’s English, Irish, Scots, the lot
United Nation’s what we’ve got
Brickies, chippies, every trade
German-built and British-madeThere’s plenty Deutschmarks here to earn (why aye, why aye man)
And German tarts are wunderschön (why aye, why aye man)
German beer is chemical-free (why aye, why aye man)
Germany’s alreet with me (why aye, why aye man)
Sometimes I miss my river Tyne
But you’re my pretty Fräulein
Tonight we’ll drink the old town dry
Keep our spirit levels high
Great guitar playing as always. I love the theme of working hard, enjoying life (even if it’s hard), and making the best of the circumstances.
There are some stories that the song was written for a TV show, but in an interview, Mark states that he had written it separately. The song’s genesis was the line “keep your spirit level high”, which has a wonderful dual meaning.
The challenge for this week is Beautiful View!
We took my mother-in-law out on a lobster boat. This was one of the pictures that I grabbed.
The pulley hangs from a brace on the lobster boat. In the background is the Portland Headlight lighthouse.
Well, after a good bit of thinking, I’ve fixed the Volunteer Form. This was the form where I created a way to track Volunteers. Since there is someone who needs to print the form, it needs to be visual and a way to select a day. You can read the write up on the Volunteer Form Update to get a bit of background.
I started by wondering if I could add a SORT command into the validation formula. That led me to thinking about this a little differently. What if instead of trying to sort all the rows and columns, I created a column that pulls from that range? So, I added a column and added the following formula into it. Then, I needed to make sure that was one column. Thus, I added FLATTEN as a command. This basically puts all of the dates into one column.
=SORT(UNIQUE(FLATTEN($M$2:W)),1,FALSE)
What this formula does is to grab all of the dates in the range (cells M2 through the end of column W) and sorts them in reverse chronological order. The UNIQUE part makes sure that I don’t have duplicate dates (because there are lots of duplicated dates). Now I can use this column for my data validation.
I still need to pull data from each of the other rows and columns, so I use the following formula for that.
=FILTER(‘Form Responses 24/25’!C2:H,(‘Form Responses 24/25’!M2:M=A2)+(‘Form Responses 24/25’!N2:N=A2)+(‘Form Responses 24/25’!O2:O=A2)+(‘Form Responses 24/25’!P2:P=A2)+(‘Form Responses 24/25’!Q2:Q=A2))
This is a basic formula that uses multiple filter criteria (basically one for each column needed).
Together, this has cleaned up the Volunteer Form to be much more user friendly.
This is also a transferable strategy. This same process can allow me to create forms and then present that information by date. I’ve used this to create an Announcement process to collect announcements. These can then be sorted and presented by date.
I found a post about shaving being too expensive from the wonderful Thought Shrapnel by Doug Belshaw. This struck me as I switched to shaving with a “safety” (double-edged razor) several years ago. The reasons that I switched included: to cut down on waste, be more ecologically responsible, save money, and get back to basics. There is something satisfying about small processes that take attention. (This is true for making coffee for me as well. I generally make coffee in a French Press. I like the intentionality of the process.) I also prefer using shaving soap instead of shaving foam. Shaving foam always felt weird and fake to me. Shaving soap feels much better and more natural. Again, there is an intentionality involved. It doesn’t take much longer, but it certainly feels better.
I’ve realized that there are several things that I prefer to have intentionality. Things where I prefer the “old” way of doing things. For example, I still drive a car with a manual transmission. This may be my last car with a stick, but I enjoy the process of driving.
John Whiles has an interesting article. It really reminded me of how important intentionality is for me.
Troy Patterson
This hCard created with the hCard creator.
© 2025 Troy Patterson
Theme by Anders Noren — Up ↑
