Rainy Sunday

It's a rainy Sunday here in Minnesota. We have 2 friends of the boys over today for a play date. They are all upstairs celebrating "Neurodiversity". I really haven't written much about the fact that both boys have autism.

All fours boys in our house today are part of the autism program at their school. Today is one of those days where I'm really thankful that we live in Minneapolis. Minneapolis Public Schools has a well developed autism program. All four of the boys started in the program before they were in Kindergarten. It's really great for the boys and parents to know other people and families for whom autism is a part of their lives.

The Sven & Ole Computer Virus.

You have just received the Sven & Ole Computer Virus. Because we don't know how to program computers, this virus works on the honor system. Please delete all the files on your hard drive manually and forward this message to everyone on your mailing list.

Thank you for your cooperation.

--Sven and Ole

(I'm cleaning out my email folders and came across this one.)

A poem for Geeks

A geek
Is a geek
Is a geek

Whether one speaks

Of computers
or music
or...

whatever

Napoleon the bomb

At the other end of the spectrum from the Guthrie, Wendy and I tried to get through Napoleon Dynamite last night. We lasted about 35 minutes. It was weird and boring and not funny. Tommy is a bit upset that we did not watch the whole movie. One of his teachers really liked it. Actually it is a good opportunity to explain to him that everyone has their own opinions and that is OK.

The Merchant of Venice

Wendy and I saw The Merchant of Venice at the Guthrie the other night. Wonderful production, but the anti-Semitism in the play was very offensive. The play itself is almost like 2 separate plays. The Portia story was beautiful and fun. The Shylock parts were repulsive. The ending where the “state” decrees that Shylock must become a Christian or lose everything was especially repugnant.

This week

It is springtime in Minnesota. The temperatures are hovering between 50 and 70. The plants are starting to turn green. The boys have major spring fever.

We've gone to the playground a couple of times with the boys. Both boys have a lot of extra energy to burn off—but especially Tony. They have been doing a lot of testing at school these past weeks and I wonder if that is part of the greater need to run and swing and slide.

Interesting news time: a co-worker pointed out to me that Pittsburgh, PA had tied with a number of other cities for 10th place in the list of cleanest cities. He questioned the results of the survey when he read that. I told him of the homestead mill that is now a shopping center (The Waterfront in Homestead). It is hard to shake the James Parton quote that “Pittsburgh is hell with the lid taken off”. It doesn't help that Pittsburghers (myself included) sometimes that a perverse pride in that quote.

But I live in Minnesota now. Land of 10,000 lakes, loons, and chorales.

The Hoax

Wendy and I saw the Hoax this last weekend. Definitely two thumbs up from us. The movie tells the story of Clifford Irving who wrote an 'authorized autobiography' of Howard Hughes--which per the title was a hoax. Richard Gere portrays Mr. Irving while Alfred Molina plays his friend and researcher Dick Suskind. Marcia Gay Harden was so great as Mr. Irving's wife that I didn't even recognized her until half way through the movie. It will probably be forgotten by the time of the Oscars, but it was really a fine grown up movie. (No exploding spider-based spaceships here!)

Month of March

I can't believe the month of March is already gone. We started out with a tiger of a snow storm and end wet. (Not quite a lamb, but I didn't need to use my snow blower on it.)

Wendy finished up with Mikado at the Gilbert of Sullivan Very Light Opera Company. She had a great time singing with them. Last night they had their set strike and final cast party. It was at a Masonic Lodge and that was a first for both Wendy and I. After reading the Da Vinci Code I kept wondering what it would be like inside. In the main hall there were a lot of symbols all around and a beautiful mural on the ceiling. But actually the highlight of the evening was the alternate lyrics contest.

Geek Culture

For my birthday Wendy and the boys gave me the 10 Star Trek movie DVDs and a Star Trek encyclopedia. Since the boys already know the Star Wars saga I think it's time to introduce the "Star Trek canon" of Geek Culture. Tony isn't really into at this point, but Tommy is having fun watching the movies with me in order. So far his favorite is Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home.

Why I love Minnesota

We got A LOT of snow last night--I'd say close to 10 inches. I woke up this morning and looked out the window and noticed someone with a giant snow blower was clearing the sidewalk for our neighbor Barb that I always clear. I thought "Great, all I'll have to do is clear Barb's driveway and our walks and drive way." By the time I got ready a second person was clearing our sidewalks with his giant snow blower. I got out there in time to yell a "thanks" to him.

Still had to clear our walks from the sidewalks to the house and Barb's driveway, but this is what I love about Minnesota. I don't know these guys, but they thought it would be nice to just do a bit of clearing for the neighborhood since they owned the big 3 foot across (more or less) snow blower (instead of my having to to use my 18 inch snow blower over and over again).

The weather was perfect for being outside too. It was hovering just around 31 degrees. Wendy and Tony went out for a while to clear some of the walks too. I was originally going to go to a Composers Forum workshop today, but they cancelled it due to the weather. I'm actually glad they did. It's been nice just to stay at home. Tonight we're going to make pizzas at home and watch the Oscars.

Babel: Thumbs Down!

I'd rather watch Nacho Libre again than try to sit through Babel one more time. If you are going to try to watch it, take Dramamine first.

My son, the comedian

Tommy wakes up this morning. He comes into our bedroom and gives Wendy a kiss.

She says "My dear boy."

He says "Do I have antlers?"

ennoy

ennoy: verb, to disturb or irritate electronically.

We, the Gennaula family, came up with a new word this morning. Spam is ennoying. Pop-up windows are ennoying. Constantly IM'ing someone when they are trying to work is ennoying.
Cell phones in movie theaters are ennoying. Car alarms going off at 2 am are ennoying.

Have you ever been ennoyed?

From a fortune cookie

Success is determined by how and what you think about.

My compositional workshop

I've started another blog for the music that I write. It is called the Compositional Workshop. I'm going to start putting the pieces I write out there along with discussions of the work. The first piece I'm working on is a re-write of a piece I wrote back in 1994. It is called Wisdom is Glorious.

I love IKEA!

We bought a new bookcase for the upstairs last night from IKEA. Although I didn't inherit much of the Gennaula carpentry talent, I can feel that wood in my blood working when I finish up a job like this. I mean, I did "build it"... right? :)

Slowly but surely we're transforming the upstairs from a little boys play room to a pre-teen game room. The kids love their Wii (which proud father can say they bought with their own money!). They used some of their Christmas money today to buy some more games for it.

Christmas time is so great now that my job gives me the time off. Christmas to New Years is considered part of our holiday days off. I would always work through this time at other jobs in order to save up vacation days. But after 2 years of this I'm finding how much I really need the break at this time of year.

Christmas Day

The boys woke us up at 5am this morning to open presents. This is our tradition. The boys were very happy with their video games and lego sets. We just had a quiet day and then had lasagna for dinner (made with fresh mozzarella). What a great Christmas

Let it snow... let it snow... let it... melt?

We got our snow on Thursday afternoon. The airport reported 1 inch. It looked nice, but has already turned to slush. The odds are against lasting till Christmas. On TV they did a piece about the love/hate relationship Minnesotans have with snow. They interviewed a person who in one breath said how bad the roads were and then how she couldn't wait to get home to play in it. It is true: I hated the thought of driving home (it actually wasn't that bad), but loved the idea of seeing the moonlight reflecting off the snow at night.

Wendy in The Mikado

Wendy is going to be singing in The Mikado with the The Gilbert & Sullivan Very Light Opera Company starting in March 2007. The performances run 3/9/07 to 4/1/07. All performances will be at the Howard Conn Fine Arts Center, 1900 Nicollet Ave. S., Minneapolis. Click here for directions. Tickets will be $15 for adults and $8 for children. You can find more information on the show's website.

How can Minneapolis not have a White Christmas?

With the way Minnesotans like to gripe about the weather you'd think we would have Minnesotans for Global Warming Clubs. But how can we live in Minneapolis and not have a White Christmas? It looks like that is what might happen. We have a chance of snow around Friday and Saturday, but it is not looking good. An Inconvenient Truth seems to be leading to a brown and grey Christmas.