Stacy Horn

I heard a bunch of people screaming outside my window last night, but I often hear that. It’s usually a bunch of kids partying or having a drunken argument. I live across the street from a parking garage and people tend to fight at the end of the night when they’re picking up their cars. Except the screams felt more … urgent. I don’t know the backstory, I didn’t look right away, but when I did this guy was laying on the street, not dead, not bleeding, and the police were there questioning everyone around them.

The FDNY came and put him on a stretcher, but no one seemed in any hurry about it. I don’t know what to make of it. I don’t know if this guy is a victim or if he was the source of the trouble.

Finney was crying, so you’ll also hear me periodically telling him it’s okay.

My phone broke. My scanner broke. My camera broke. My doctor dropped my insurance plan (except she might get back on). My teeth are hurting under my new bridge so something it going on (hopefully it won’t involve root canal).

But the results from my CT scan came back and they found absolutely no sign of lung cancer, so YAY. Take that, bad week!! Woohoo!

Also, my camera seems to be unbroken. I just took this shot of Finney and it seems to be working again. Crossing my fingers. Scroll down to see the shot which made me believe my camera was broken.

See? It seems like a possible issue with the shutter? I took this because it was the first Halloween decoration in my neighborhood (non-commercial, that is).

WGBH in Boston is going to premiere a new choral show called Sing That Thing!, “a juried singing competition that will showcase the best amateur choirs in Boston and beyond. Church choirs, high school groups, glee clubs, community choruses, college ensembles — you name it — will be invited into our studios to perform.”

It looks like they’ve changed their plans. It was originally going to premiere in December, but they’ve pushed it back to 2015. Also, there was a link to help fund the series, but I can’t find it now. In any case, it’s a great idea, American Idol/The Voice for group singing! I really hope it happens!

[Video removed because the link no longer works.]

And I only started thinking about what I’m going to wear a couple of days ago. I know the women are going to be wearing dresses for dinner but I’m going with a pair of dressy skinny jeans and a pretty top. A pair of killer boots would clinch it, but I do not own any alas.

What did you wear to your last reunion? Did you even go?

A miracle. Finney and Bleeck resting in the sunlight, in close proximity to one another.

A few years ago Michael Brewer, a conductor/PHP/PostgreSQL developer, started leading what he called Geek Choirs at various open source conferences.

From an article about women at the 2014 OSCON conference:

“One of the most memorable of those moments was during Geek Choir, a Birds of a Feather session on Wednesday night. Approximately 16 of us gathered to sing a cappella, starting with simple warm-ups, and moving on to a simple song in unison, and then finally, to more complex songs, sung in rounds. To end our session, we sang Dona Nobis Pacem in a three part round while standing in the large atrium of the convention center. It may have been my most enjoyable moment of the whole conference.

“That I was a woman at a tech conference (or that there were only three of us in the Geek Choir) didn’t matter. What mattered was that we all collaborated to produce beautiful melodies, no sheet music necessary.”

I could see conferences of any sort benefiting from having open choir sessions like this. It’s a great ice-breaker, it’s both relaxing and energizing. Brewer tries to select music than anyone can do, but shouldn’t bore more experienced singers. I know that Dona Nobis Pacem round, for instance. It’s very simple, but so lovely it’s irresistible. After singing people would go back out into the conference more connected to each other and buzzing from that post-singing high. A better conference would be had by all, I’m sure.

Here is Michael Brewer talking about the Geek Choir.

[Video removed because the link no longer works.]