Missing Gene

There must be a cleaning gene that's missing in my DNA. I'm perfectly content to just let dust and papers cover the furniture and dishes pile up in the sink . . . until expecting company.  Then I feel compelled to straighten up the mess, dust, and vacuum.  This trait can't possibly be laziness because I'm always busy doing other more important things such as email, Facebook, tweeting, or reading, etc.  No, it has to be that missing gene.

I just wish scientists would hurry up and announce the existence of the cleaning gene (or absence thereof) so I'd have some validation.

Sick Meeting Syndrome

Have you ever come out of a large meeting with a headache and wondered why?  I know why because I'm like the canary in a mine, I have Multiple Chemical Sensitivity (MCS).  

Each person usually has at least six scents from soap, shampoo, conditioner, deodorant, detergent, and fabric softener.  Each of these scents comes with toxins, some of which may be on the toxic waste list. If you multiply six times 100 people in a closed in environment (meeting room) then it's no wonder you may have a headache.

For someone with MCS a bad headache may be only one result of attending a large meeting.  Usually I also have an irregular heart beat, nausea, and dizziness.  Hopefully it will never occur but I'd hate my death certificate to say I died due to an irregular heartbeat from attending a meeting.  Funny as that is, it could happen.  For me even attending a small meeting wearing a mask can be hazardous.  

Do yourself and your family a favor and think about the toxins you're exposing them to with your choices of products.  If you experience even mild symptoms such as I described, wear a mask to meetings.  People will think you're protecting them from your cold.

Fantasy in Lights in August?

Yesterday we were surprised to see a cherry picker used to put up what looked like Christmas lights in the trees on East Lindsey Drive. We went out later and that's exactly what they were. Wouldn't be so unusual if it weren't August.

Today they were all gone.  Can't for the life of me figure out what Callaway Gardens is up to. After all we're located at least a 45 minute drive from there.

Atlanta Concert

We were hoping the rain we've experienced nearly continuously for the last three months would hold off for Josh Groban's concert at Chastain Park Ampitheater with the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra on 8/18/13.

Well the rain didn't clear up but the nearly sold out audience sat in drizzling rain during the entire concert and nobody left. A true testament to the quality of the performance.

 We got to the venue a little after 3 pm so were able to park in the first handicapped spot immediately in front of Gate 1.  Heard the orchestra rehearsing as soon as we pulled up and a little while later Josh started rehearsing for sound check. Both sounded great.

The Chastain staff were over an hour late opening the gates to start scanning tickets of the near capacity crowd so Josh, band, choir, and Atlanta Symphony Orchestra (85 people) were held up for 22 minutes since people were still pouring through the gates and needed the lights up to find their seats. Very poor organization in my opinion. They might get away with that crap in a poorly attended performance but not for a Josh Groban Sold Out concert.

I sincerely hope Josh Groban never appears at Chastain Ampitheater again since the staff clearly are not capable of handling the capacity audience he attracts.

Logistics aside, the combination of Josh Groban, his superb band, a choir, and the ASO provided a truly memorable performance. Josh was, as usual, very funny answering audience questions.  His depiction of an old Nintendo Kung Fu game kicking and punching then going a few steps forward was far more hilarious than I can possibly describe.

Josh's singing was, of course, outstanding and even more majestic with the orchestra behind him. I did think he felt rushed trying to end the concert on time even though starting late. He had to forgo his normal song introductions and started Sincera with no intro and no music, just his voice. The band and orchestra managed to blend in very smoothly, however, so maybe that was planned. I've never seen him not introduce a  song though, particularly one he wrote.

We're looking forward to In The Round concerts in Tampa and Orlando in November. If you've never seen a Josh Groban concert then you're missing out. His voice is so versatile that he crosses genres as easily as we cross the street. Also he'll have you laughing your head off with his wacky sense of humor.

I managed to get one not so good picture that shows how far we were from the stage.