It's Gonna Be A Hot One
It was just on the edge of being brutally hot today, and the forecast is that by Monday it will be very hot and that the humidity will be rolling in on top of it. And it'll stay that way for the whole week. That'll make biking to work a barrel of fun, no doubt.
But today it was just tolerable enough to go down to Maxwell Street Days on State Street. I have no idea why they're called "Maxwell Street Days", but basically most of the stores set up shop on the street and sell a bunch of stuff off, cheap, and usually have sales on other stuff inside the store. It's usually worth checking out at least a little, despite all the people crowding the street.
I picked up yet more jazz CDs, at a small discount at one store. I grabbed Workin' with the Miles Davis Quintet, Charles Mingus' Mingus Ah Um, and Joshua Redman's MoodSwing. Earl Edwards, one of this journal's regular readers, suggested I check out Redman, and it is a pretty neat album (after one listen-through). Earl also recommended I check out John Coltrane (whom I've only heard through the Miles stuff, and a brief listen to A Love Supreme some months back), but the album I want to buy by him - Giant Steps - wasn't in stock.
And tonight I'm listening to WPR's weekend jazz show.
I also went over to the studios of WORT - which are about a block away from my apartment - to check out "Bedford Street Days", which are basically their sale concurrent with Maxwell Street Days. Unfortunately, I found the sale to be rather lame: A lot of CD overstock, many LPs (which I lack the technology to play), and leftover and old CD players and computer hardware. Plus a lot of generic books. Sort of like a low-end garage sale; disappointing. I still listen to WORT's jazz shows, though.
And later I called Jim Rittenhouse. He and his wife Susan are doing a forced move from one apartment to another in the same complex. Apparently their landlords want/need to do some structural work in their old place, and asked if they could move to a new place. I don't recall exactly what inducements they offered for them to do this, but I think they at least are picking up the tab for the move and maybe even offering a rent cut. At any rate, it's been very hectic since they (read: Jim, who is a fannish packrat) own a lot of stuff. They're gonna be unpacking for quite a while.
(Jim reads this journal. I expect to be getting mail from him over this entry. Once he gets his computer set up again!)
Despite all of which, it looks like I'll be driving down to Chicago in a couple of weeks to visit my friend John - who will be there for a Bridge tournament - and then to spend the weekend with Jim and Susan.
Jim and Susan keep looking to set me up with someone, as they think I'm one of the most eligible bachelors they know. I don't know what they've been smoking. A few months ago we went to dinner with a woman here in Madison that Susan had worked with. (Jim and Susan both work for the EPA.) Nice lady, but we didn't really seem to have much in common. I must admit to being uncomfortable with the notion of being "set up" with someone, and it's particularly difficult seeing as Jim and Susan live the next state over from me, and I ain't all that interested in a long-distance relationship (and Madison-to-Chicago is "long distance" enough as far as I'm concerned).
Well, their hearts are in the right place. I'm skeptical, though. (Jim would no doubt say that there'd be no need for this if I were more aggressive in looking for someone myself. Although I think he enjoys teasing me about it, too.)
Also worked on my APAzine tonight. I think it will be less meaty than I'd intended. I'm finding I have less and less time for APAs these days. Oh, well. I've been into them for over ten years, and that's a pretty good run for any interest.
So I guess it's been an unfocused kind of day. I actually worked on the APAzine on my laptop down in the coffee shop, and also read about half of Neil Gaiman and Charles Vess' illustrated fairy tale Stardust. Not bad, but not outstanding.
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