number nine…number nine…number nine…
This wedding story deserves more than a comment, so I’m going all out with a new post here. There are two aspects to the story - the worst wedding song ever, and the worst mother of the bride ever.
(more…)

This wedding story deserves more than a comment, so I’m going all out with a new post here. There are two aspects to the story - the worst wedding song ever, and the worst mother of the bride ever.
(more…)
My wife and I played for a wedding yesterday (violin and piano, see twistduo.com); it was outdoors, in front of the famous Kleinhans Music Hall of Eero and Eliel Saarinen. We have a track record of no rain in over four years of playing for weddings. Yesterday threatened to break our streak of good fortune. It was overcast for most of the day. Not just overcast; that thick, heavy feeling of overcast where a downpour could happen any second. But the rain held off through the afternoon.
The wedding was at 6:00. We set up the keyboard across the reflecting pool (anyone who thinks Modern architecture was all cold and heartless should read Saarinen’s waxing eloquent about the reflecting pool) from the wedding itself, and hoped (there was no cover for the instruments if rain happened). We played the prelude, the wind giving us some problems keeping the music open and on the stands. The wedding got started a few minutes late, as the judge was delayed. We finally got the thumbs up about eight after the hour, and played the processional music for the bridesmaids. Still no rain. The bridesmaids got to the front, and we switched music for the bride’s procession, for which she had requested “Here Comes the Sun.”
[Sidebar: one bridesmaid didn’t know that The Beatles was the processional music - I think she was expecting “Here Comes the Bride,” or something more, well, nuptual…so, for the first half of the song, she was motioning to me across the water, making horrified faces, and mouthing “BRIDE!” repeatedly, to which I simply nodded my head in understanding, smiled, and continued to play. It took her way too long to figure out that everything was under control and the musicians hadn’t simply run amok.]
So, we played “Here Comes the Sun,” the bride processed, and, just seconds later, a huge cloudbreak happened, and the sun streamed down for the duration of the ceremony (it was a 5-minute “do you? yes. do you? yes. great.” ceremony). It was gorgeous—the wedding party was beautifully reflected in the pool, the dresses sparkled, the judge even looked good.
As soon as the wedding party recessed, the clouds returned.
All in a day’s work.
I have been working feverishly on a project this week (I will post something when it goes live), so I have not taken any time to write for several days.
To celebrate my birthday, however, I have created a colophon for this site. It has a few fun facts about this, the initial incarnation of arkitrave.com (maybe I should give it a name, like “radar” or “proton”. Any suggestions?
If there’s anything you’ve been dying to know, check it out.
Email has been the talk of the town lately, as Microsoft and Yahoo! have both announced new spam-fighting techniques. These new ideas are far better than the tax on every email sent proposed by the not-too-bright Mark Dayton of my former hometown or the spam do-not-call-list [warning: only slightly better language than the snoop-dogg schizzolator…] proposed by Chuck “I love news crews and photo-ops” Schumer of my current state.
Another subject going around is the email paradigm itself. Eric Hahn noted at Inbox a few days ago that the email way of life we know and love is 30 years old. Obviously, it needs to change, as people are on information overload and spam overload. But how?
I don’t think the one-stop-shopping model is the answer. I’m sure Microsoft will try to integrate every media they can think of into Outlook to make it a 21st-century communications center, but this will only lead to more proprietary lockin and less consumer choice.
Apple’s model of late has been many apps, with similar interfaces, which do different things (iPhoto, iTunes, Safari, etc.) I, for one, prefer that to one app that does everything. I think it would be wise, in our sudden realization that email must change, to not go overboard (ala Push). Rather, let’s examine the aspects of email that are not scaling to our needs anymore.
As Eric notes, the key issue is filing. People hate to file. I hated filing when I worked as a temp. And I hate it now, hence the piles of papers on the floor of my office. The put-email-in-file-folder system doesn’t scale.
But the answer to that problem already in front of us. I’m using Opera for email. True, since I think Opera Mac is pretty lousy, I don’t use it for browsing, and it’s a bloated email client, but I couldn’t live without it for email. This may come as a shock - it’s a database! By storing the email in a database I don’t have to move it from folder to folder. I can simply set filters, and have many different “views”. The email shows up in my inbox and in any view it is filtered to, i click “read” after reading, and it goes to sleep in database-land. The same email can be, and often is, in 3+ different views, and I can apply the filters retroactively when I decide I need a new view. Now, a database isn’t a new concept for email, but it hasn’t made it into the mainstream yet. But I own my email now, rather than my email controlling my life.
Unfortunately, I can’t yet convince my wife to give it a try, but I’m convinced it’s a paradigm that can take email many more years without burdening it with Microsoft’s predictable multimedia overload. If it’s marketed well.
Another issue discussed, as a side note, was IM. Well, the reason IM isn’t integrated with email is partly that it’s a newer idea and has taken longer to catch on, and mostly that it is proprietary, unlike POP. If IM gets integrated into Outlook…
What do you think? Does email need a major overhaul? Can we teach grandma to use a database-centered technology? Or is it not going to be enough to solve the email problems for the years to come? Are there other email problems I’m missing?

The line for Mickey was just too long. Mom and Dad had to drag me away kicking and screaming, because they didn’t want to wait. But because I promised a picture with Mickey, and I didn’t want to let you down, I found this lovely topiary of not only Mickey, but Minnie as well, and I’m pleased to present this snapshot of my vacation (at the risk of completely embarrassing myself…)
I’m trying to catch up on sleep and both of my jobs. In fact, I may be able to combine sleeping with one of my jobs. I’m converting a 130 page urban planning report into html. Not the most exciting work in the world, but I’m about 2/3 done.
UPDATE: I am now on the front page of Google for the search term “mickeymouse”. I find this somewhat amusing, and somewhat disturbing. I never though my topiary-photo would be seen my so many people. Enjoy, I guess.