I'm not letting this election spoil my life.

Yesterday, had a good lesson with my dulcimer teacher and he gave me a lot of homework, including suggesting I put together a song to be played at an open mike night. Yikes!

And today I'm going to see Donnie Boudreaux! Woohoo.

arrete

And today I'm going to see Donnie Boudreaux! Woohoo.

arrete

Guys like Boudreaux should relish four more years of Obama. Their material will write itself! <g>

Mike

I'm not letting this election spoil my life.

Yesterday, had a good lesson with my dulcimer teacher and he gave me a lot of homework

I had a good clinic last night. One patient, I could tell from her accent that she was from the Acapulco area. Last week I picked out a Guatemalan accent. I'm getting better at that.

DW has hit a new level of complexity in her guitar lessons and it's proving vexatious. She's just a dozen lessons beyond absolute beginner, so she's at the clumsy and awkward stage. If she sticks with it, it ought to smooth out.

And today I'm going to see Donnie Boudreaux!

With a name like that, he's got to have a southern accent. I'm glad his name isn't Donnie Bob Boudreaux or Donnie Wayne Boudreaux -- I wouldn't be able to take him seriously. It seems like half the males whose crimes I read about in the paper have the middle name Wayne. And that's way up here in the nawth.

And in a related story,

http://www.marketminder.com/a/fisher-investments-obama-take-...

Obama's win likely wasn't a market-moving surprise. Though stocks were volatile on Wednesday (as they were Tuesday), Obama's win was consistent with polls, which were tight but largely predicted Obama winning the Electoral College. Intrade had the odds of an Obama win at or above 65% for many weeks. What's more, Tuesday's win was decisive. Markets prefer clarity, and through the end of 2012, we won't have hanging chads hanging over the market.

The 2014 Senate race structurally favors the Republicans — they have 12 seats up for election to the Democrats' 20, and at least 9 of those Dem seats are in states that are traditionally red but went blue on Obama's coattails in 2008 and 2012. Those will be tough races, and Democrats won't want to face voters who may blame them for a recession.
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Those 9 vulnerable Dem senators won't want to face voters whose utility bills have skyrocketed, either, nor those who are paying $7/gallon for gasoline. Perhaps the Senate won't march in lockstep with Obama and Reid's attempts to undo the country.

--fleg

DW has hit a new level of complexity in her guitar lessons and it's proving vexatious. She's just a dozen lessons beyond absolute beginner, so she's at the clumsy and awkward stage. If she sticks with it, it ought to smooth out.
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Absolutely. Getting better at a musical instrument seems to grow like a step function rather than a smooth line. I remember one breakthrough I had. THere was a little rift that is played at the end of a lot of bluegras. It's almost like an Amen. Everyone knows it and randomly stick at the end of songs (think of "shave and a haircut"). Anyway, i practiced that 2 measure bit for about 45 minutes a day (broken up, or I'd go mad) for a week. Once I broke through that barrier, a lot of my other playing got better, too. Never give up!

And Boudreaux really goes by Don. <g>

arrete

arrete wrote: Getting better at a musical instrument seems to grow like a step function rather than a smooth line.

Steps to competence.

Unconscious incompetency. You don't yet know how bad you are at something. After investigation comes...

Conscious incompetency. You know how bad you are, but at least you know the steps to take to improve.

Conscious competency. You've learned enough to be competent, but you've got to consciously think about doing the task well while you're doing it.

Unconscious competency. You're now so competent that you don't even have to think too much about what you're doing to be good at it.

Unconscious competency. You're now so competent that you don't even have to think too much about what you're doing to be good at it.

I have an unconscious competency for watching TV.

DW has hit a new level of complexity in her guitar lessons and it's proving vexatious. She's just a dozen lessons beyond absolute beginner, so she's at the clumsy and awkward stage. If she sticks with it, it ought to smooth out.

-fleg

Have DW see this on finger picking.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cj4SBVqsPIo&feature=relat...

MichaelR

Have DW see this on finger picking.

Thanks, Michael. That was finger-pickin' good. I passed it on to her.

--fleg