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This isn't about how I came to be in London to see U2 at Wembley Stadium. Nor is it about why I saw a band twice in two months when I wasn't really even a big fan. Finally, this is not about Bono, RED, politics, religion, or the economy of the music industry.

It is simply my reaction to the concerts individually and my comparison of the two.

First, U2 at Wembley Stadium, August 17th, 2009.

I was tired today. My plan was to take it easy since I walked so much the day before but as it turned out I spent a lot of time walking and exploring, taking two breaks for an hour or so each. Since Katie worked during the day, we met at a train station on the way to Wembley. When we got to our destination we had a long walk and were missing the opening band so I was stressed. Our tickets were at Will Call which I generally prefer because it makes it impossible to lose or forget them. But with a large, unfamiliar venue it turned out to be a mistake. There were two ticket offices on opposite ends of the stadium and we had to find the right one (which took two tries). Fortunately, once we got there, the ticketmaster pickup window had a short line and was quick. Our tickets indicated that we should enter via the Bobby Moore gate. We consulted a map and didn't find any sign of the Bobby Moore gate, so we asked a security guard where it was. We were directed to the gate behind the giant statue of Bobby Moore. I guess if we had known who Bobby Moore was, it would have made a good landmark. Those silly Brits.

Once we found our way to our section, we split up. I got on the beer/food line and Katie went to find the t-shirts. I did my best, buying meat pies and cups of beer. Katie did much better, buying an awesome red 360 tour shirt. We walked to the seats and marveled at the massiveness of Wembley Stadium. I looked over The Claw, wondering if it was there to entertain me or subjugate me.

Once it got dark, the Claw started smoking. The crowd recognized this as evidence that the show was about to start. Sure enough, the Bowie music immediately followed. Next came an intense 24-song set that was a a very good mix of old and new. My favorite was skipped, but having checked out the playlist from recent stops on the tour, I wasn't expecting it. The music was great. That really wasn't surprising - a band that can sellout a 90,000 seat venue two nights in a row is going to be great. The concert as a whole, however, was weird. When I saw signs warning people not to engage in anti-social behavior such a standing up, I thought it was amusing. But being at a stadium rock show and having everyone spend almost the entire time in their seats was not at all amusing. Personally, I prefer sitting down and enjoying the show. I never realized, however, how important it was to have people standing, dancing, singing, and cheering. Without that, it's kind of depressing. A handful of dedicated fans, including the beautiful one in the seat next to me, stood up, but the general mood was dull. Even the crowd walking back to the train station was quiet. No singing.

Flash forward to Giants Stadium, September 24th.

I left work an hour early and drove to NYC to meet Katie, then we took the subway to the train. The wait for NJ Transit tickets was about 45 minutes, but the trip was otherwise easy. We got to the stadium (tickets in hand this time), got a few beers and cheesesteak sandwiches, and found our seats. Once again, nighttime fell, the smoke started, and the speakers piped in some Bowie. Therein ends the similarities. Well, obviously it was the same band playing many of the same songs but it was a totally and completely different concert. The energy of the NY crowd was so exciting. That's what a live show is supposed to be like.

	UK	US	Winner
Initial Excitement	Holy Shit - I'm seeing U2 in London!	I hope this isn't as lame as London	UK
Transit	Easy, cheap, clean	Understaffed, but acceptable	-
Beer	Warm 12oz cups, one brand only	Cold 16oz bottles, many choices	US
Food	Terrible meat pies	Pretty good sandwiches	US
Fans	Quiet and calm	Excited, but not rowdy	US
Band	Perfect	Perfect	-
Shirts	Katie got a tour shirt	Katie got me an Edge shirt	-
Next Day	Tour of Buckingham Palace Tom Stoppard Play	Work	UK

About a year ago, half of the electricity in my house stopped working (I'll save that for another post). As a result, my bathroom was kind of dim. There was a working outlet with a small lamp, but the ceiling light was dead and I was recently made aware of the importance of a well-lit mirror.

I have never liked the mirror/medicine cabinet. First of all, it was made by the previous owners and it shows. It's very crafty (rustic?) and very out of place in there. It wasn't even painted. Second, the mirror itself was too short. I'm 6'3" so I couldn't see myself without bending, and Teddy can't see himself without a stool. I think it was 15" tall. I decided to buy a new mirror, install a light above it, and fix the ceiling light. Silly to do all that and not paint, right? I hit the local paint store, chose a nice pale blue for the top of the walls and some white for the bead-board and ceiling.

Two months later I decided to actually do the job.

Step 1: Fix the lighting. My plan for this was to take the power from the working outlet and use it to rewire the switch and light fixture. This wasn't too hard except for the limited access to the topside of the ceiling fixture. There is a crawl space, but as I mentioned, I'm 6'3". I got the ceiling fixture powered and started to look for a way to access the wall over the mirror. It took me a few trips up and down the ladder to the crawl space to figure out why I couldn't find the wall to drop a wire into. The bathroom is in a dormer that was not part of the original house. As such, the part of the wall where the mirror is an exterior wall with no topside access. Directly behind the mirror is a 2x10 diagonal roof beam. Not something I could run a wire though, nor something I could access without going on the roof. I ended up cutting a horizontal strip across wall, a little bigger than one piece of lathe. I also had to drill a half-inch hole though a few studs, including the corner of the room, which was very tricky. Eventually I made my way to the new switch I added and powered it up.

Step 2: Repair the damage. Cutting a long hole in the wall means having to repair the wall. I had some leftover sheet rock and joint compound from my basement renovation a few years ago but I had to run to the hardware store to get tape. I don't like doing finish work. I am neither neat nor careful. I learned most of what I know about electrics, carpentry, and painting from working in scene shops and on stage crews. Small details aren't as important from 30 feet away. Also, when you're working on scenery, access to the top or back of walls is never a problem. I patched the holes and smoothed the spackle. Sort of.

Step 3: Painting. I primed the ceiling and walls with Zinser 1-2-3, then once they dried, painted them with Benjamin Moore Bathroom & Kitchen paint (mildew resistant). I don't like painting. Well, I guess the actual painting is okay. I don't like removing fixtures, covering appliances and floors, taping corners, or cleaning brushes.

Teddy and I woke up early, packed our bags, packed the car, and were ready to go by 9:00am when Leslie arrived. She was flying from Newark to San Diego on Continental a half-hour before our Continental flight from Newark to Orange County, so we drove to the airport together. I parked in the economy lot ($18/day) and hopped on the next bus to the terminal.

 

The five and a half hour flight was very good. Teddy brought his Nintendo DS and played a Pokemon game for about three hours. Since he was happily occupied, I watched a movie. The in-flight feature was Duplicity, which I had watched on the way to London so I watched Slumdog Millionaire on my Mac instead. The second feature was Confessions of a Shopaholic. Even considering that I was confined to an airplane seat while watching it, I'm sure I could have found a better use of my time. We took a Disney bus from the airport to the hotel ($30), checked-in, dropped off our clothes, then started the 2-mile walk over to Disneyland.

 

We didn't have a plan for today because we weren't planning to go to Disney until Friday. When I noticed that they stay open until midnight, we reconsidered. Our first stop was the Mad Hatter on Main St. I thought Teddy would like a design-your-own ear hat, but he opted instead for a Mickey baseball cap. Then we walked the closest land, Tomorrowland and went to Star Tours, a virtual visit to the moon of Endor. This is a fun ride, with cameos from some familiar Star Wars characters. Teddy and I are both fans and enjoyed this. At the end, Teddy was unsure if "that was supposed to happen" which is exactly the effect the Disney Imagineers were going for. Next stop was Innoventions, a look at the technology of tomorrow (in the literal sense...most of the stuff shown is technology that is available and I could purchase it tomorrow if I wanted to). The structural design of this exhibit is really cool, built in a rotating circular building that guides people though, but doesn't restrict free movement. Microsoft's Dream Home technology is featured and allows for a good amount of hands-on play. It always fascinates me how a digital native like Teddy can use new technology he's never seen without any instruction. We walked into the den of the Dream Home and Teddy approached a control panel, changed the music, and lowered the blinds. Obviously that's a compliment to the designers (probably students of Donald Normal), but also just a generational difference.

 

On our way to Honey, I Shrunk The Audience (which had just crashed and was being rebooted), a young girl gave us two Fastpass cards for Space Mountain with only a half-hour to wait. While waiting we went to explore more of Tomorrowland and found Autopia. As we were getting on line, another kid gave us Fastpass cards for that ride that were already in the valid time slot so we were able to get on within 15 minutes. Contrary to the Walkee description, Teddy was allowed to drive the car. He couldn't reach the accelerator pedal enough to push it down so I kept my foot on the pedal and he steered the car. By the time we were done with this ride, it was time for or Fastpass entry to Space Mountain. The wait was only 10 minutes or so and the ride was amazing.

It's hard not to compare it to Skull Mountain at Six Flags since they are both indoor, dark, family coasters and we did both this week. But really, it's an unfair comparison. Space Mountain is so incredibly cool. I rode the one in at World Disney World in Florida when I was seven and after riding the one at Disneyland, I have the same question: How the hell do they fit all of those lifts, dips, banks, and twists in that tiny building? I know there is a certain amount of magic that goes into the design and construction of Disney rides, but this is more than that. This is Tardis-style engineering. I would love to see the ride with the lights on just to see how they did it. When you hear 8-10 year old kids asking "were we really in outer space?" then you feel the power of Disney.

 

Teddy spent a little while playing with a massive marble sphere, spinning on a water fountain. He is usually drawn in by non-attraction attractions. I enjoy the breaks.

 

Next up was the Matterhorn Bobsleds but I didn't realize at the time that Teddy chose it because he mistook it for Splash Mountain. Good thing he did because I enjoyed it a lot. Again, so much ride in so small a space. Teddy loved it, except for the appearance of a red-eyed, growling Yeti. Teddy is not a fan of a growling furry things even when they aren't showing teeth. We knew we'd have to wait on long lines for the Finding Nemo Submarine Voyage and we were right. It was about a 40-minute wait (short by Six Flags standards) but the ride lasted over 15 minutes so the ride to wait ratio was very high. This is a relaxing but exciting ride though coral reefs, enhanced by underwater animation staring characters from Finding Nemo. The diving and surfacing of the sub was very convincing.

We decided to look for one more attraction since we were both getting tired. We found a few hundred people sitting on the ground facing the castle, so we decided to join them. We waited there almost 30 minutes but then the fireworks show started. The show was fantastic, completely choreographed to Disney music. Tinkerbell flew in to light up the sky and even Dumbo made an appearance. Honda sponsors the show, but you have to really pay attention to catch that. The show must cost at least $30,000 a night so having a sponsor is important. Disney does it tastefully.

We stopped for an egg roll and some drinks on the way back to the hotel, then went to bed.

 

 

 

 

 

Last Friday after work I drove to NYC to start my birthday weekend. We had awesome sushi on the Upper West Side then took a cab to Lincoln Center to see South Pacific. It was a total surprise and I was floored. This girl really knows how to make me smile. One of the leads (Emile) was out that night so his understudy went on for him. The understudy was William Michaels. The version of Some Enchanted Evening I have on my ipod is from William Michael's CD that he gave me when he sang at one of my concerts in the park a few years ago. What a treat it was to see him play the role on Broadway. This was the 4th show I've seen on Broadway this year. The last time I saw that many shows in one year was when I worked for Les Mis and was given free tickets to something once a month or so.

Saturday we went to brunch at Strawberry Place (a little place in Nyack that a friend from high school owns). Then we walked around Rockland Lake. The lake was surprisingly empty considering the holiday weekend. At night we went to see Frankie D. The band played in the bar, so it was too loud for conversation, but was still a lot of fun.

Sunday we went to brunch with my dad and his wife. They chose a French place and we all enjoyed the brunch very much. Especially when the owner and the chef came into the dining room to sing to us (in French). After watching a slide show at my dad's, we came home and watched a movie. We ended with dinner back on the Upper West Side. KFC was closed so we ended up at a Spanish place around midnight.

Monday I met Craig and Jen from CT and Matt and Michelle from CA for lunch in NJ. I hadn't seen them for a few years so it was very nice to see them all.

My friend Julian belongs to a theatre ticket buying club so he gets a single ticket to most shows. He went see Hair with a friend so he didn't need his single ticket. I had no plans for tonight and Teddy is with his mom so I took the ticket. I love the show. The music is great and it takes place in a time that I probably should have lived through.

#1: I started communicating via personal computer 25 years ago. Several of my Facebook friends had not yet been born. Computers were especially useful for me in high school because my handwriting was so terrible that I preferred to type my homework (on the rare occasional that I DID homework). This made teachers suspicious because there were probably only five or six people in my school with printers at home. My handwriting remains illegible, but I can type around 90 words per minute. By 1987 I was using the internet to stalk girls. One of them is now my wife.

#2: My favorite movies are The Odd Couple, The Rocky Horror Picture Show, The Graduate, The Princess Bride, Hair, and The Silence of the Lambs. Like most things in my life, this is an unordered list. These aren't just movies to me. Each one reflects an important part of my life or my personality, either real or imagined.

#3: I play the trombone. I wanted to play the saxophone, but was too poor to rent or buy one. In 5th grade, the band teacher (John Depitrillo) had a spare trombone and offered to lend it to me for two years. I accepted and loved it. I never properly thanked him. Marching Band and Jazz Band were two of the best parts of high school. I still play it occasionally, but only perform once a year during what has for the past 25 years typically been my favorite 90 minutes of the year. I missed it in 2008 and I have not yet gotten over it.

#4: Internet chain letters that either request people to forward them or promise luck (good or bad) make me furious. Anything tragedy that is debunked on snopes.com better not find it's way into my inbox. I have put friends and family on junk filter for emailing me this crap. I often (but not always) give a warning first if the person is new to the internet. How anyone can believe that Bill Gates is going to pay them for forwarding me an email is beyond me. This is why I am not "tagging" anyone to create a list like this, however as an introspective exercise, it can be very valuable and enjoyable.

#5: People frequently ask me how I remain so calm. I do not. I am filled with anger. Lately, my rage is nearly constant and I fear I am loosing my grasp. When I appear calm, it is just that - I simply manage to appear calm. That is due to a long-time unhealthy suppression of feelings (both positive and negative). It does so much damage to my stomach that I take 40mg of Pepcid every day and still have to eat Tums by the handful to quell the heartburn. 

#6: Competition bothers me. I do not enjoy playing or watching competitive sports. I do not enjoy competition between companies either and hate thinking of "the competition" as our enemies. I believe we could work together to better serve customers. A little of that happens in the IT industry where staff of different retailers meet to discuss "best practices" and I appreciate this. I love playing chess and poker, but prefer to play for chips instead of money, and forget who won once the game is done.

#7: Showtunes comfort me. As early as I can remember, I used to listen to my parents' 8-track recording with headphones. I have a photo of me listening to A Chorus Line at age six. I dropped out of college (the first time) to work as a personal assistant to the Production Manager of Les Miz, Miss Saigon, and Phantom of the Opera. I saw those and other shows for free, many times and it was an amazing year. My immaturity ended too soon but mistakes teach us lessons.

#8: Snakes terrify me. Large worms, eels, and some lizards too, until I see their legs. If someone is holding the snake, I am ok. I can even pet it. But if it's on the ground or in a tree and slithering, I lose muscle control and can even collapse. This makes hiking difficult for me, even though I love it so much. I had a friend, Helmut, who used to clear the snakes off the trail for me, but he passed away a few years ago and I have only been on a few short hikes since then.

#9: I trust my instincts very much, especially when I am at a computer. I rarely bother to read error messages or status messages before clicking a button. As a Software Engineer, this often leads to me canceling an important operation or failing to save my changes.

#10: There is nowhere I would rather live than in Nyack, NY. I have lived in four states and had things in all of them that I really liked, but there is something special for me in Nyack that I can't quite figure out. 

#11: I carry a bottle-opener in my wallet. I got it for the equivalent of 75 cents in Moscow in 1988 when I was traveling with my high-school jazz band. In the USSR, there were no twist-offs, so an opener was a necessity. Now I carry it to open bottles of Amstel and to tell the story of my trip to Russia.

#12: Thanks in part to the Internet, there are only three people from my past whom I have not been able to reconnect with. I suspect for at least two of them, it is because they do not want to reconnect. This leaves a hole in my heart. I grow accustomed to people and do not like it when they leave my life. Facebook has soothed me tremendously in this regard. Keep tagging those old photos.

#13: Dunkin' Donuts coffee is my favorite but I only get it once a week or so because I am broke. I think the Zulu term in South Africa is "Asinamali!"

#14: My memory for conversation is nearly perfect. Most people can recite their favorite movies, but I can recite conversations I had a year ago. Conversely, my attention to visual detail is atrocious. If asked to describe a person's appearance, I would be like Col. Pickering in My Fair Lady: "Well, a sort of nondescript, neutral sort of..." In one embarrassing example of this, I could not correctly identify the eye color of a close personal friend of over 20 years.

#15: My super-power is that I am a human lie detector. When people lie, I know. I don't let on that I know, however, because I have no interest in helping people fine-tune their lying skills. I should add that I cannot stand being lied to. When someone continues to lie to me, I usually simply stop talking to that person.

#16: I train in Northern Shaolin Long-fist kung-fu. I started it because it was free (since my wife and son were both enrolled) but I started enjoying it right away. Due to circumstances beyond my control, I stopped going for a while, but cannot wait to get back to my training. 

#17: Except for a little experimentation during my college years, I do not use recreational drugs. This is because of two reasons: fear of jail, and a promise to my wife. 

#18: When I was 16, I crashed my bicycle, breaking both the bike and my arm. It took about a year to save up for a new bicycle and that one was stolen shortly after I got it. It was seventeen years before I got a new bicycle. That "getting back on the horse" helped inspire a new hobby, a new club, and many interesting new people and places in my life. I haven't had a lot time to ride in the past two years, but I plan to make up for it this year and have set a goal of riding at least 1,000 miles in 2009.

#19: I have been enrolled at seven different colleges and universities including Harvard. The classes I learned the most from were at Rockland Community College. This is largely due to the level of experience and dedication of the Professors I studied with there, but also has something to do with class size. Having 30 students in a classroom is very different from having 700 in a lecture hall. I wish someone had told me to skip college, move to California (where it wouldn't have mattered) and start writing software sooner. I would have gotten a jump-start on a career path that I didn't even know existed. I place a little of the blame for that on my college guidance counselors, though I expect it's not an easy job to guide over 100 students each year into the paths that make the most sense for them.

#20: I listen to virtually all kinds of music at different times. When I'm relaxing at home, it's usually Joe Jackson or showtunes. I could probably write an autobiography using only Joe Jackson lyrics, yet I don't usually use them as status updates because they are personal. When I need deeper relaxation, it's Dead Can Dance or some other 4AD artists. When I'm coding and it's noisy, I put on thrash metal or German hardcore, or sometimes 60's Jazz or Bop. When I drive, it's anything I can sing along with. Usually from the 70's and 80's. When it's 2008 or 2009 and I'm depressed, I listen to a lot of Morrissey. When first listened to him in the 80's, I loved the sound and the lyrics, but I didn't really connect with it until more recently.

#21: I do not like surprises. I do not like to feel like I am not in control of my surroundings and my direction. Oddly, a surprise party for my 15th birthday was one of the best days of my life. 

#22: Of the twelve computers I use on a regular basis, my Mac laptop is the one I use most and like most.

#23: I believe in Peace on Earth and goodwill toward men. Not just in a theoretical sense, but I believe it to be possible. 

#24: It's not easy for me to read a single book at a time. Right now I have seven books that I am reading and another three that I am planning to start soon. I read very little, so it takes me a long time to get though books since they all have to share that little bit of reading time. I mostly read books that pertain my profession in some way. Books about software encryption, human interface, project management, etc... I also read some lite science fiction and true crime. The true crime I read is usually related to my profession (cyberpunk, mostly). Five of the books I am reading now probably fall into the self-help category. That is not typical, but lately I need a great deal of help and most people have recommended books to me. Sometimes I do devour a pulp book in a day or two. Recent examples were Twilight and The DaVinci Code.

#25: As much as I love spending time with people, chatting online, and sending and receiving email, I despise talking on the phone. I do not know exactly why. I suspect it has to do with having spent most of Jr. High on the phone with a girl who broke my heart. I don't know how much I credit I give to that kind of psychology. Maybe I just don't like my ear to get sweaty. 


#26 on a list of 25, (for emphasis, Douglas Adams-style): I do not dance.

1. Under what conditions are you most likely to cause injury to yourself?
Probably either on my bicycle (broke my arm once, but am generally careful) or while hiking/geocaching in the winter.

2. What named mountain is nearest where you are right now?
Not sure what qualifies as a named mountain. I'm about a mile from Hook Mountain but that could be just a local name.

3. When did you last eat something with coconut in it?
I had a mini Almond Joy on Thursday when I had to stop by the Customer Service department at work. They usually have good candy there.

4. Who's getting on your nerves?
Anyone who knows me at all or reads this journal already knows that my wife and I are having a lot of problems. I've been asked not to detail them here. I haven't decided for sure that I'm willing to agree to that because I depend on my friends here and their advice, but in answering this particular question, I'd have to say it's her.

5. Somewhere, somebody is asking him- or herself whatever happened to you. Who is it?
I am fairly certain that nobody, nowhere, is asking whatever happened to me. The reason is that I have a fairly unique name and am signed up on every website I find with any kind of social networking features, using my real name as my username. I live in the town I grew up in so googling my name and home town makes it very easy to find me. 

Answering this last question kind of made me sad, because I hardly ever hear from people that I've lost touch with. I'm usually the one who seeks them out. Since I'm so easy to find, this means that nobody's looking. 

Last night was the kickoff for my 20-year high school reunion weekend. We started the party at a Nyack High School football game (where they won 45-0). It was really funny as the crowd started gathering and strangers were all staring at each other to try to figure out if we were there for the same reason. Reminder for next time when planning a large meeting event for people who haven't seen each other in 20 years: have a specific pre-determined meeting place.

At the game, a girl named Laurie noted that if people were all this friendly to each other in high school, it would have made life so much better. How true. Now, twenty years later I am hanging out with, drinking with, flirting with people I didn't dare speak to in high school. 

After the game I dropped Teddy off at his grandparents house, then walked in to town to start drinking. We ended up at Black Bear (a new, trendy bar) because it was big enough for the 30 or so of us who showed up. It was really great to see people and catch up after so long. I didn't drink much because the real party (with an open bar) is tonight. Over 80 people are expected. 

There's a girl I kind of knew in high school. She was a few years younger than me, but she was in the band, so I knew her. Plus, she was beautiful, so I spent a lot of time looking at her. I developed a bit of a crush on her but I was very shy, plus the age difference seemed significant in high school. The first person I admitted the crush to was actually her mom. That was odd, but our Jazz Band was invited to Russia this girl's dad came as the photographer and brought her mom too as another chaperone. I was feeling down one day and her mom showed me some photos of her daughter and it she was so smiley and happy that it really brightened my mood.

Anyway, I noticed recently that she had become friends with a few of my friends on facebook so I sent her a friend request. She rejected it and replied with the following in a private message:


Hi Foster,

I have chosen to just have people I know well or grew up with or work networking as friends. Just want to have a little more control over my facebook page. 

Hope you're well.

That hurt a little bit, but then when I noticed she has 222 Facebook friends, it really made me sad. It shouldn't, I know. I have a great list of friends here, there, and everywhere. But it still left me feeling really hurt and rejected. Kind of like Jennifer not returning my phone calls. That's probably a topic for a different entry. 

40,008,964. That is how many times I've told my son Teddy that I love him. Apparently, he's been keeping count since birth. That works out to about 12 times a minute (assuming I say it in my sleep too). I think it's probably a fair estimate. He's a really great kid.

I took the day off from work so I met Teddy at the bus stop after school and took him out for some shopping and dinner. We bought some Webkinz and a Wolf Cub Scout Handbook. Then we went to the Nanuet Restaurant for pizza. When we got there we bought $10 worth of QuickDraw tickets with our last $10 in cash.

While there I referred to the guy on TV as "The Weatherman" and Teddy corrected me telling me that he is a Meteorologist. Then he giggled as if to say either "how could my father not know that" or perhaps "I bet my father is impressed that I know what a Meteorologist is."

We ate our dinner and won $59. Good thing too because when it was time to pay we learned that they don't take checks or credit cards. That would have sucked not having any way to pay for dinner.