Leaving NYC, thoughts turn to religon

Well this is exciting! I planned this out perfectly. Not much planning went into it at all. I have just boarded a Chinatown bus heading back home from my first NYC weekend of 2008 to DC in just the nick of time. It took off immediately after I boarded, and only one seat was left -- way in the back, opposite the restroom. I can sleep here as long as I closely guard my guitar, my records and my bag of clothes/overnight stuff. But this will be a fine ride, I'm sure. The luck of just making it, and just having enough money for it (with two dollars to spare), tells me I'll be fine. It'll be 11:30 by the time I get back tonight, and I have work at 9 in the morning. But it should be a slow day, so that's all right.

A friend wrote today with an update on her life. She is going through a breakup after a very brief engagement. A sad situation, and I don't know much about how she got into that except for a difference of opinion between her and her short-lived fiancé over religion. The best she described it was in a mass e-mail, informing her closest friends of the breakup only two weeks after she was engaged. At the time, she said she and the guy differed over their praying styles and it was irreconcilable. Unable to overcome this roadblock, they have since gone their separate ways. Now I have no understanding when it comes to thoughts like that. How could religion, something that is intended to give healing and guidance to people, be the source of an insurmountable quarrel within a couple? Both are religious people, from what I know, and they're similar religions, but they express their religion in different ways. Sounds awfully silly and unreasonable to me, but what do I know?

Most of my friends are non-practicing people with Christian upbringings, or self-proclaimed atheists or agnostics. I have my own religious views, but I keep them to myself. They're mine and my own. Some people may share them, and other people won't. But it's not much of a topic of discussion for me. I'm not so convicted in my particular belief system that I believe I'm right and others are wrong. It's like rooting for a sports team. Many people support a particular team in a particular sport; others hate that team and root for its rival; still other people don't take any interest in the sport, or any sport, whatsoever. It doesn't mean any one category is right and another is wrong. It all depends on personal allegiances. Don't take it too seriously. Why can't religion be looked at the same way, universally? Why does it have to cause wars and tear apart perfectly good couples? What is the big deal?

Other things I did over the weekend

My brother Tom is picking me up at the train station in his town in less than half an hour. I'm bringing his wife Lori half a triple-decker sandwich from 2nd Avenue Deli on E. 33rd St in Manhattan. This sandwich was huge! I had to leave half of it, and that's really saying something because I rarely ever leave food on a plate!

Walking down the street from the Chelsea penthouse where I'm staying, I passed Madison Square Garden and stopped inside the Empire State Building to use a Bank of America ATM.

Last night, four of my friends and I took in a hilarious improv act at the Upright Citizens Brigade Theater, three blocks from the penthouse. That was a load of fun. Then again, in a city like this, most everything is a load of fun!

Oh, before we went to the comedy show, we started watching my Third Eye DVD of Led Zeppelin's reunion concert from Dec. 10, 2007. The audio source on that recording, produced from a DAT recorder in the audience, is really nice but not quite as good as some other sources I've heard. Still, it is adequate in the bass department and sounded good being pumped through a meager pair of computer speakers. That was good since the guy most interested in watching the show, after me of course, was a bass player (a member of the Building Science Boogie Band I play with every August in Massachusetts), and he was impressed with the show (and also with the sheer fact that I had it so soon after the concert). But until an official DVD is released of the concert, I don't think you can get better footage of the show than what is on this Third Eye disc. We darkened the room to view the performance projected directly on the wall. It couldn't have been much cooler! Everybody was duly impressed with the performances of these guys aged 59 to 63 plus that of their 40-year-old counterpart. After the opening three-part assault of "Good Times Bad Times," "Ramble On" and "Black Dog," one of my friends commented, "Seems like they've still got it!"

I'm gonna miss NYC. It's a shame I have to head back to DC to get back to work tomorrow, but it was a great diversion to come up to NYC for a fine three-day weekend. Plus, since Monday is a federal holiday when I go back to work, it should prove to be a pretty quiet day. I did hear there would be 30-minute delays on the Red Line due to construction work between Metro Center and Gallery Place. Maybe they're finally putting in that underground pedestrian walkway they've been talking about for years!

Well, now that half hour has turned into a few minutes. I'm gonna be getting off the train in just a couple to go visit my brother's family.

Oddly enough, my phone just vibrated for the first time in about three weeks! It had stopped ringing and vibrating sometime in December or January. Strange that it chose my brother's phone call just now to work again for the first time.

Vinyl shopping in NYC

Yesterday afternoon, I went to Bleecker Bob's, which is the record store in Greenwich Village where both Jimmy Page and Jim McCarty are said to have bought The Underground Sounds of Jake Holmes during separate visits the day after he opened for the Yardbirds and played a set that included "Dazed and Confused." It was my intention to buy the same album, but they didn't have it. I bought another of his instead, So Close, So Very Far to Go.

Across the street from Bleecker Bob's is the Blue Note jazz club, where the previous night I went with nine others in my party to see the McCoy Tyner Trio featuring Joe Lavano on sax. After I told the storekeeper about the concert, he showed me the jazz section where I could find some McCoy LPs. I ended up buying one called Echoes of a Friend, which is a five-song solo set of his, recorded in Tokyo in 1972, and including some pieces John Coltrane made famous. It opens with "Naima," one of my favorite pieces of Coltrane's.

Since I've been listening to early Donovan, I wanted to look up some early Buffy Sainte-Marie. I couldn't find her debut album, but for $15 I was able to pick up her 2-LP Best Of, Volume 2. Not particularly the older stuff I was looking for, but I won't complain.

Speaking of the Yardbirds, three of the original members reunited in the 1980s under the name Box of Frogs and released two LPs. I bought their 1984 self-titled effort, which includes guest appearances from one-time Yardbirds guitarist Jeff Beck and also Rory Gallagher! There may not be any memorable songs on this album, but I bet I'll enjoy listening to it.

Now in my collection is Any Number Can Win by Hammond B-3 great Jimmy Smith. When John Paul Jones mentioned his name to me on Dec. 10, 2001, it wasn't the first time I had heard his name, but it was the most impactful on me. This will be a great album to try out!

The members of Led Zeppelin said the first version they ever heard of "In My Time of Dying" was by Josh White. I bought a record of his called In Memoriam, with "I'm Gonna Move to the Outskirts of Town" as the second song. The first side was recorded in a 1950 session, and the second side was recorded a year later. As I was paying for my LPs, I asked the shopkeeper, "This Josh White record is gonna make me cry, isn't it?" He said I could take a record by Josh White Jr. for free, for comparison purposes. This is called Sing a Rainbow: Josh White Jr. in Concert.

But the prized possession of this trip is a mint-condition, unopened collectors limited edition high-quality colored vinyl of The Velvet Underground & Nico, produced by Andy Warhol. I bought this because the previous night, my friend Gary said he liked my singing in my lower register, and my friend Mike said I sounded like Lou Reed. I honestly haven't listened to enough Lou Reed, so now I can rectify that.

I bought these eight LPs right after coming from the building featured on the cover of Led Zeppelin's Physical Graffiti. That is in my vinyl collection at home. I have now touched the building.

I'll be heading home sometime today, likely after a visit in Maplewood to see my brother and his family.

Counting the cars on the New Jersey Turnpike

Just got onto the NJ Turnpike, and the words of Paul Simon immediately popped into my head.

Brought a little bit of work with me to do on the road since I have all this free time aboard the bus. I'm calling up the op-ed editors at several regional newspapers across the country to see if they got the piece I e-mailed them yesterday with hopes they will consider running it. Making a little progress with that list.

Looks like I may see some family in New Jersey on Sunday. My sister-in-law's birthday was Thursday, and some folks are going to her place early Sunday afternoon. I might end up showing up there too. She and my brother have two daughters under age 3, and they and their older sister can be seen at www.TheSauerGirls.com. I haven't held the youngest one yet. In fact, I have met her only once, on Christmas.

It was a bummer I didn't get to play that gig in Virginia last night, but at least I'm scheduled to play again at the end of the month. I'll have to write some songs between now and then so I can at least impress myself. I brought my guitar with me on this bus and will have it this weekend while I'm relaxing. Playing an instrument other than my first, keyboard, forces me to approach music differently. Maybe it will result in some songwriting!

Last night instead of the gig, I played my acoustic guitar while my roommate Duncan narrated some true stories about his life I had never heard before. I was accompanying him at his request. That was fun.

I boarded this bus today about two minutes before it took off. I was lucky to get on and get going at 1 p.m. I'll be in the Big Apple soon, and when I am, I will be hungry. Haven't had anything to eat today. When it plants me down in Chinatown, I'll be ready for just about anything!

Gig canceled

Tonight's show was just canceled on count of snow, but I am now scheduled to play two weeks from tonight, which is Thursday, Jan. 31.

Ask, and you shall receive

After work today, I asked if I could take tomorrow off in observance of Dr. Martin Luther King's birthday. I was told yes! Now I will be heading up sometime early tomorrow to NYC for the weekend. It should be a lot of fun.

Big Apple? Here I come!

But first, I have to get to Manassas for tonight's gig. That ought to be fun.

My third concurrent band

Well awesome! I've just become a member of the Usual Suspects! I'll be playing with them at their next show, Feb. 16 at the Fish Head Cantina just outside Baltimore in the world-famous Halethorpe/Arbutus area.

W-w-wh--where???

Never heard of it.

It's a gig! Supposedly a pretty cool place. And definitely a good group!

All these options! But so many questions

There certainly isn't a dearth of musical opportunity for me. If my luck holds out, I'll soon be playing in three bands:

1. World Peace Party - my over-rehearsed classic rock covers band that hasn't gigged since 2005 but is now trying to make that happen again
2. Indiana - my developing (drummer-less) band that just this month decided it wants to change direction and play originals and will start rehearsing regularly again in February
3. the Usual Suspects - a covers band, for which I auditioned on Sunday and believe I passed, although a member complains they aren't getting paid gigs because of the material

I just don't see what's wrong with playing covers that a band can't get gigs. Whether it's "Gimme Some Lovin'" from 1967, "867-5309/Jenny" from 1982, or "Dammit (Just Growing Up)" from 1997, isn't this what people want to hear? From my experience playing in bands, it's really tough getting people to pay attention to originals!

I honestly don't think I'm overextending myself by proposing I could be playing in three bands. For one thing, World Peace Party doesn't need me to rehearse the same material anymore. I don't want to rehearse with them anymore until there's progress on getting a gig. It's a waste of my time, and obviously I'll have less available if I'm playing with these two other bands. I'll gladly show up for a gig and maybe put in some time just ahead of it to make sure our sound is tight. But until then, they'll just have to get used to the idea of playing without me -- or, if they would prefer, they can replace me with somebody else who will want to sit around and rehearse with them for three hours every weekend for the next three years.

By joining the Usual Suspects, I could just be setting myself up for another band that gigs infrequently. If the fact is that it's tough to get gigs for a covers band, then it would also be a waste of time.

If that happens, then I'm left with only Indiana, a band whose reputed original material so far is all stuff that has been created in the absence of half the band. I haven't ever heard any of it before. On top of that, the last time the four of us all played together, or even saw each other, was in November. Oh, and don't forget that we don't have a drummer yet!

Things were a whole lot simpler when I could just show up onstage with Alowishious Farhatt, to a gig they'd had booked for months, and jam with them -- having never rehearsed -- and spend 20 seconds figuring out what song to play next and then launch right into it. Those days are gone!

Oh well. I have a gig this Thursday night in Manassas where I'll be doing that -- with myself.

Music is so much fun, it's ridiculous

I have a few things I want to write about, like the gig I played Thursday night, the ongoing search for a drummer for my newest band project, and the awful music I saw bands playing live last night. But my most recent thoughts about music are eclipsing my desire to chronicle those events in full detail.

In full disclosure, I'm also a little sidetracked by a Jeff Buckley DVD right now. I illegally downloaded his EP Grace off the Internet about eight years ago and never bothered to purchase a legitimate copy of the CD I ranked among my all-time favorites, until this week. Since Thursday morning, Buckley is all I have been listening to at work. I'm definitely in a Buckley obsession mode at this precise moment. And this DVD, my first time watching it, isn't helping me kick the habit at home today (a Saturday). This is the bonus DVD that comes in the Legacy Edition of Grace, issued in 2004, 10 years after the original EP.

Buckley is one of those guys who makes music look so effortless. In the footage of him recording his vocal or guitar parts, or performing onstage, there isn't very much he's doing. Yet he's playing very complex chords on his guitar and producing some of the most imaginative music I have ever heard in my life.

Joe Bonamassa is another one of those performers, in my opinion, who can do so much skilled work without making it look like he's doing a lot. Karlin and I were sitting around watching some music programming on Comcast On-Demand -- Radiohead's "Paranoid Android" video, Karlin's first time seeing it; plus live performances of "The Ocean" and "Immigrant Song" by Led Zeppelin from 1973 and 1972, respectively -- and I said we should watch the Bonamassa piece. There wasn't much music in it. He was just talking about his album, Sloe Gin. It wasn't mentioned that Jason Bonham plays drums on it. But the only music in it is when Bonamassa started playing some slide guitar riffs just to illustrate a point he was making. And man, he played some vigorous riffs in a few different players' styles, and looked absolutely relaxed when doing so.

Relaxed. At home. Natural. Comfortable. That's what I want to be with music.

"Home, home again. I like to be here when I can. When I come home cold and tired, it's good to warm my bones beside the fire." (Those, my friends, are the words of Pink Floyd, from an album that has sold Iike a gazillion copies.)

I do feel at home when I'm playing music. Last night, I walked up to a large upright piano in the front upstairs room at the Rock and Roll Hotel and proceeded to own it for about an hour. I was playing along with the DJ's disco music permeating the entire second floor. There weren't any songs I know, but they were chords I know, which is why I'm able to play along. It's no different from the girls dancing to it. They don't have to learn the song before they can dance to it. They just hear the rhythm and let their bodies sway. They know how to do that. I don't. I do know how to play it though, so that was my form of expression. And I did so absolutely freely and relaxed. The only thing the music was intruding on was my Pabst Blue Ribbon consumption, but I can obviously play a few bars one-handed while I pour a can into my mouth.

Downstairs at the Rock and Roll Hotel were a few bands. The Points was one, Adam West was another, and there had to be at least one other but I didn't catch any names other than those (see clarification in my comment). It wasn't the bands that were horrible, just their music. Their music was simple. Too simple. Music can be simple and enjoyable, like that disco stuff blaring upstairs. But this stuff the bands were playing was deafeningly amplified riffs made up of -- I'm not kidding -- two notes in one song, four notes in another. Laughably simple. So simple I could never enjoy it. Obviously, it's some folks' cup of tea, like the person who was seated with the band merchandise. That guy was singing along to every song one of those bands played. So evidently the music is good enough to that guy that he has bothered memorizing the lyrics, which often requires repeated listenings. You're entitled to your opinion, and if you like that music, good for you. But I see absolutely nothing in that music, apart from maybe the drums, that is worth my time -- or the $20 cover I paid for Karlin and me to go in and hear it (The rest of the establishment is free admission).

Good music, to me, is something entirely apart from anything those bands had to offer. I have been fortunate to meet many musicians who are capable of making good music, and I'm also fortunate to have made numerous friends out of people who recognize many of the same traits I believe make music good. And I'm making more of these friends all the time, especially since drummers have been contacting me based on an ad I placed on Craigslist seeking a drummer to complete a classic rock fivepiece. Of the nine folks now in the running for the gig, I have connected with nearly every one in a few sparse communications by phone or e-mail. Good signs, I believe, that we're networking even if they aren't all going to be drummers in this precise outing. There's some kinship among likeminded folks.

"Somebody asked me what I wanted to do, and I just said I wanted to, just to give back to it [music] what it's given me, and to meet all the other people that are doing it, and just to be in the world really."

—Jeff Buckley's closing words in The Making of Grace documentary, included on the DVD

When I owned that piano for an hour last night, I had been playing along with the disco music for only a few minutes when I suddenly looked around me and became aware that about six people were watching me, just to see what musical idea I would come up with next or to check out how percussively I was playing (ever see a guy play piano like Pete Townshend's windmill guitar?). Or maybe they thought I was just making music look effortless. Maybe they got from it what I get from Bonamassa and Buckley. After all, these folks weren't downstairs with the Points and Adam West, were they?

And the one thing I haven't mentioned is how Thursday's solo gig at Okra's Louisiana Bistro went. Well, there was a poster on the door of the men's restroom with my name on it, promoting the date and time of the performance. So already I felt appreciated. The manager, who booked me only because he'd seen me play with Alowishious Farhatt, said I could do whatever I wanted. Whatever songs. I could sing or not sing. I could play originals or covers or make up stuff. I could entertain everybody, or just myself, or even nobody. Well, he didn't say all of that. But he did give me musical freedom. And as a result, I felt like I was at home. About a dozen people were there to see it. I liked the gig. The next one is in a couple of Thursdays, on Jan. 17. The admission price, like the music, is free.

My 2007 recap (long, boring)

My luck held out for another whole year, and I once again made it 365 straight days without going to jail or being on probation. There aren't many of those lucky years, you know!

In this post, I just wanted to write a personalized year-in-review to revisit the year that was while seeing how close I can come to evoking sage wisdom, prophetic predictions, societal parodies or self-deprecating toilet humor.

PROFESSIONAL MILESTONES
My biggest news this year was my change in careers. The last week of June marked my last day at my job of five years, where I was editor of a monthly trade newspaper covering some niche branch of science. Professionally, I was achieving some great personal milestones at that job. I was conducting some great investigative reporting. I was hopping on flights to attend and write about conferences in places around the United States that were all new to me. I was making contacts wherever I went. I was learning about writing and editing through practice, and I was learning about science and health by osmosis.

The first week of July was the start of a new chapter in my career. No longer was I in charge of a publication, and no longer was I writing straight news about a niche branch of science. Now, instead, I would be ghost-writing opinion pieces about a different niche branch of science and submitting that material to various newspapers around the country for publication. This has gotten my words printed for a handful of markets, and as I improve in this style, you'll be seeing my name more often. The nonprofit that pays me is launching some ambitious campaigns in the new year that will be sure to keep my coworkers and me busy, gainfully employed and happy. Plus, I love bragging that I work two blocks from the White House! It makes me sound important, the legitimacy of which is debatable.

An educational future? I'm thinking in general terms about possibly going back to school for a graduate program in either journalism or health. Or maybe I'll go back to high school and get a second diploma. Anything is possible!

VOLUNTEER OPPORTUNITIES
This year saw my ascension to, and subsequent resignation from, the presidency of the Alumni & Volunteer Corporation for the chapter of the Sigma Phi Epsilon fraternity at American University. I started out the year as its vice president of relations, and I seemed the natural successor when the president before me stepped down. A lot of people have been better leaders than I was, but I held the group together for several months and tried to do right by the principles of the fraternity. When I was done and a better candidate for the position came up, I forfeited the reins and resumed my previous role as vice president of relations, which demands some of my stronger attributes. Like drinking and partying.

This year also saw the birth of a movement nationwide to create area alumni groups for members of the fraternity. The one we created in the D.C. area is a dues-free loose-knit group whose core members devise and promote social and philanthropic events, and things like that. The members are bonded only by (a) their past involvement with the nation's largest fraternity and (b) their current geographical location. Groups like ours are in their infancy in several other places across the country. It's good to associate myself with the foundation of this movement, as I believe it is a good one!

MUSIC, BOTH LIVE AND OTHERWISE
As the year began, I still had a weekly gig playing at a piano bar on Capitol Hill. The routine ended as I received a pink slip following the liveliest medley of Who songs ever performed. I went without any gigs for most of the first half of the year. No one knew my name anymore, and I was driven to drink. Better than drinking and THEN driving. But as the year progressed, my luck increased, and a personal recommendation led me to one cool high-profile gig. I found myself being paid -- actual legal tender, believe it or not -- to play for members of Congress and the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff at a cocktail reception at a ritzy D.C. hotel. I blew all the money at a bar that night next to Ted Kennedy. And don't even get me started on that dude Larry Craig...

Whereas in 2006 I went to a ton of live music shows, I barely saw anybody in concert at all in 2007. To my surprise, I spent the second half of the year playing at shows with Alowishious Farhatt, a band I first saw play in April. I first played with them in June, and between now and then we racked up a dozen or more shows together, with the final one being last night. We were in the middle of "Riders on the Storm" when I realized the New England Patriots had indeed attained the NFL's longest undefeated regular season on record. Believe me, if I could find some deep meaning to why that song was playing as the clock ran out, I would tell you.
It had been way too long for me being up on stage playing the music I like. Playing with Alowishious Farhatt made me realize how much fun it really is to be in front of an audience. Just as Warren Zevon's advice on life was to "enjoy every sandwich," I now believe my advice to every onstage musician is to "enjoy every song."

My being onstage seems to have really made a positive difference for those guys in Alowishious Farhatt. They say I make them sound better. They say they remember what it was they enjoyed so much about music when they first started playing together six years ago. Because of this, they've realized they ought to see about doing this full-time, and they're looking for an environment that might allow them to do that and to succeed in doing that.

In a couple of weeks, all three members of that band are leaving their homes in Northern Virginia to head on down to that fabled music city that is Nashville, Tennessee. They will soon have a new studio album to promote, and it will bear my musical mark on three songs I was lucky enough to record on one Sunday afternoon last month. Their move thankfully coincides with their decision to change the band name from the unique but forgettable mouthful "Alowishious Farhatt and the Soapbox Derby Revival Band" to the much improved (at least by comparison) "Anita Torpedo." I wish them luck in their pursuit of stardom!

After one of my gigs sharing the stage with Alowishious Farhatt, two obvious Beatles fans approached me, said they liked my style, and asked if I would like to jam with them and perhaps form a band if we were able to groove together. I brought in Karlin, the bass player from my classic rock cover band World Peace Party, mostly for security; he's a big dude, and I figured he would be able to take these two if they turned out to be psychos or something.

Well, it turned out that these ax murderers can really play! So, the four of us started a band called Indiana (only our main singer has any connections to the state and its university of that name), and once we get a drummer in the new year, things should be taking off. In the meantime, I am seeing what connections I made in the process of playing some of the finer establishments of Northern Virginia. Maybe there's room for either of my own bands to take over the vacancies Alowishious Farhatt is leaving! I have some shows booked on Jan. 3 and 17, both Thursday night solo sets, at Okra's Louisiana Bistro in Manassas, VA.

In 2007, I also started playing more guitar. Keyboards will always be my primary instrument, but acoustic guitar is still my favorite to hear. And messing around on it is great too! I'm not good enough to play in front of an audience of course, but I am better than I thought I ever would be! Which doesn't say much...

SOCIAL INEPTITUDE
This April, I became reacquainted with a woman I had dated late in 2006, and we hit it off a little better this second time around. But she told me to get lost after I went a weekend without calling her to see what was up. She wasn't already seeing somebody else at the time, which set her apart from many of the other women who interested me this year. Why is the woman who connects so well with me often mired in some complicated relationship she admits is not the best for her? Why do I keep falling for women who are already taken or otherwise preoccupied? Whenever I encounter the exception to this rule, the woman who is truly single, it is I who announces I am unable to commit for some reason.

Lately, I've been attentive to (which is not the same as adhering to) the advice of one of my new coworkers. In addition to being a fine guitar player, singer, songwriter, poker player and lobbyist, this Matt guy delves out a lot of choice advice on relationships. That doesn't make him right by any means, although he thinks it does. It's just fun to listen to a different perspective before I throw out everything I've learned from him and just go and humiliate myself in the dating scene on my own terms.

LONG-DISTANCE GETAWAYS
My best weekend road trip of 2007 was one in March that took me from the D.C. area to Ohio with a couple overnight stops in PA on the way there and back. During the stops, I caught up with a business colleague and his wife, who let me spend both Friday and Saturday nights at their place. On Sunday morning, they took me a few miles away to the makeshift memorial launched in a field nearby the 9/11/01 crash site in Shanksville. I enjoyed a beautiful scenic ride back to the D.C. area in my rental car.

But the high point of the weekend was what I did on Saturday in Ohio: I paid a visit to my grandfather. It had been over a year since I'd seen him last, and there was a lot I wanted to fill him in on. The timing of the visit was great. It was the old Irish American's 90th St. Patrick's Day on this planet, and we were able to watch Ohio State claim another March Madness victory in the NCAA basketball tournament. It was so great to see him that day. He died this Christmas Eve, about a month after my siblings and I went out to see him one last time. We didn't know it would be the last time, but that's the way it goes.

HOBBIES
This year saw the resurrection of my online persona dedicated to Led Zeppelin. I revived the newsletter I sent daily between 1998 and 2003, writing editions a little more often. I also launched another Led Zeppelin site in August dedicated to tracking the latest news involving the band's members. It was pretty well timed because I was able to reestablish my place online just in time for the announcement of the group's reunion concert. A worldwide furor over Led Zeppelin was heightening just as my interest in the group had once again taken form. It was a great time to be launching my own new domain names: www.LedZeppelinNews.com and www.OnThisDayInLedZeppelinHistory.com. My older domain name, www.StevePSauer.com, now hosts a silly little unfocused blog that even I ignore most of the time.

The 2007 baseball season was my first as a season ticket holder with the Washington Nationals. The team, formerly the Montreal Expos, had finished its second season in D.C. in last place in its division, so when I boasted about my season tickets to my brother-in-law Kevin, he rained on my parade by saying, "Yeah, I bet those were hard to come by!" But check this out: Having a 20-game plan this past year allowed me priority seating in the new ballpark that will open this coming March. That place is gonna rock. And now that we're no longer the cellar dwellers of the NL East and have an even more interesting lineup, we'll be playing better games and drinking better beer in better seats in a better stadium! It's a fine investment to enjoy America's pastime in the nation's capital.

THOUGHT OF THE YEAR
Earlier this month, I was digging through some old stuff that I had last touched when I was cleaning out my desk at the job I left in July. In the pile of stuff was a single packet of microwave popcorn, which sounded like a fine treat for that late hour. I checked the expiration date, and it warned, "Best by Oct 2007." But it's in a sealed package, and how would they have been able to predict so many months ago when it would no longer be any good? I said these thoughts aloud to my roommate, Duncan, who's older and a little bit wiser, so I asked for a second opinion. He said, "Eat it. It says it was BEST by October..." He was right. It might have been better in October, but that's OK. I didn't get sick.

CONCLUSION
And that's the year that was. Here's to the year to come! Happy New Year, one and all!