Iced Tea Forever

Wow. If I’d known then what I know now, I’d have posted my limerick masterpiece earlier! Today it rained and rained all day long, it’s still going at it. Mere weeks ago there was maybe a foot of snow on the ground, now all that remains are the remnants of drifts from plowing.

GLO-ry!!

I want some cornbread.

I am working on my Egg masterpiece, it’s just not quite finished yet. However, I have amassed a large archive (probably at least 3 or 4 pieces) of completed poetry and various brilliant writings. I plan to gradually post them as I feel led on this someday award-winning blog.

I wrote this in January ’04, soon after I moved to Indiana. I don’t like cold or snow. Winters in Oregon are pretty mild, a little rain but rarely any stinking snow.

I think it was originally published on the by-log.

The cold and the snow are a pain,
And “Frigid’s” the name of the game.
The roads are a mess
and I am depressed,
I long for a sweet gentle rain.

Tom Troyer
01-’04

I really have much better things to do. I don’t blame you for not believing me, but it’s true.

Listen to my answering machine message (150KB).

Currently listening to: a good CD. Digging back to 1990 for this one, Gaither Vocal Band — A Few Good Men.

This was before they went more in a primarily southern gospel direction. Jim Murray on tenor, Michael English on lead, Mark Lowry! on baritone, and Bill on bass. Great CD.

An item of interest, there are some guest vocalists on the title track. I always knew that, but I just looked to see who they were. The Imperials, Mylon LeFevre, and the Cathedrals. Interesting. Let’s see, Mark Trammell would have still been with the Cats then, that’s about when Ernie Haase replaced Danny Funderburk though, I wonder which one of them it was.

New Wine is track ten. Greater Vision did that song later too. I don’t like that song. Neither do I like the older GVB song (with Larnelle Harris on lead) Can’t Stop Talkin’ About Him. I don’t appreciate songs that compare the Christian life to being drunk.

My word. I didn’t know I was listening that loud. The phone rang and I didn’t even hear it. And it’s two feet away!

Anyway, I prefer their more SG stuff, but this is still a great CD.

I was running a little late, so we didn’t get there early. And Salem isn’t a very large church, so we ended up on chairs in the foyer. We were pretty close to the doors though, I think the foyer was almost filled clear up.

Pretty good-sized choir, around 45 I think they said. Benj did a fantastic job. This was his first real experience actually directing a choir, but his choral background and deft musical hand served him very well.

Being a fairly large amateur choir, I was impressed with their ability to keep phrases light where appropriate (not an easy task). I was also impressed with the dynamic contrast they displayed (that’s not real easy either). Reminds me of something my college music prof told me once (in between tenor jokes), there’s nothing worse than a mezzo forte choir! Meaning of course a choir that sang everything at one volume.

Clean, tight, in tune, they did a very nice job.

Anyway, those things don’t happen by accident, so props (am I hip or what) to Benj!

It was fun when they first filed in. Jewel and I sat there going “Hey there’s Stephanie, there’s Jonny, there’s Heidi, there’s Melody,” there’s him and there’s her!

Of course we were one of the last ones to leave, had a lot of people to talk to.

Guess where I’m going tonight. Anybody? Nobody?

SMBI Chorus is in town, with my bud Benj Good at the helm!

Me and Benj and Kon were the three Russian basses in Tapestry ’03. And did we ever shake floor! What a team.

Oh yeah! Here’s a pic of our Bass II section, right here.

Currently listening to arranging genius David Maddux and his “solo” a cappella men’s chorus album, “Eventide.”

So what comes in my inbox today but a couple of eBay phishing emails regretting to inform me that my eBay account could be suspended. More typos, run-on sentences, confused singular/plural, and sentence fragments.

Then I also receive an official email from Juno warning me about phishermen. To quote, “Be on the lookout for poor grammar or typographical errors.” Ok, thank you, I will.

The challenge: Somebody find me a phishing email with no typos or grammatical errors/misspellings. Thank you.

I’ve received my share of spam, and in the last half-year or so, plenty of phishing emails.

They can be tricky. Even I was suckered on a paypal one in the early days. Anyway, a few days ago I got one “from” Key Bank, which happens to be my bank (I’ve also gotten them from other financial institutions). They swiped the logo and a graphic or two, it didn’t look too suspect at first glance, but take at look at some of the grammar and spelling:

Dear Key Bank customer. Please read this message and follow it’s instructions.

Good lands. If they’re smart enough. Two set up the scam. And harvest/convert on private info, you’d think they wood bee able to do a little proofreading! What a bunch of morons.

Here’s another little gem:

Therefore as a preventive measure we have temporary limited your access to sensitive Key Bank features.

But here’s the crown jewel:

This e-mail contains information directly related to your account with us, other services to witch you have subscribed, and/or any application you may have submitted.

Ha ha ha!! Halloween is over you slackers.

Delete.

Configuring how I’m going to do images. And unlike a lot of deep bloggers I know, there WILL be pictures on my blog.

This is Jewel and I at a great little coffee shop in Goshen. Dutch Maid Bakery or something like that. They have a wireless network, that’s why I like it! Plus they have wonderful soup, salad, and donuts.

Notice my comp, it looks like I just left a profound comment on the by-log.