Solonor's Inkwell

Hot on the heels of the passage of Don Knotts comes news that Darren McGavin has died. McGavin’s Kolchak scared the piss out of me when I was young, mostly because he played the part like he was having the piss scared out of him, too. And, of course, the title of this post is from one of the best Christmas movies ever.

Knotts was a funny guy for a lot of years, not just as Barney Fife, but as Mr. Furley on Three’s Company and a bazillion character voices in cartoons. He was the nerd’s nerd way before the word ‘nerd’ was invented.

Yes, they lived long, productive lives (both were over 80) and blah, blah, blah, but this isn’t about them. It’s about me! Every time one of these guys dies, like Curt Gowdy, or retires, like Christopher Glenn, it reminds me that I’m getting old.

Enough of this getting old crap. It’s time to nip it. In the bud.

What a long, boring day.

It snowed last night on top of the ice, leaving things a wonderful mess. The wind is whipping, and the temp is around 13 degrees (-8 wind chill).

I ventured out of the hotel cocoon to go across the parking lot to the IHOP for breakfast, and I almost broke my neck five times. After that, I figured that getting into the car and driving anywhere would be pretty stupid. I have no coat, gloves or hat. So, if I slid off the road anywhere, I’d pretty much be a Solonor-sicle until April.

On the positive side, it’s given me a chance to catch up on blogs and some work stuff. I also signed up with CD Baby to sell my cd. It’s getting pretty serious now, as I have an official UPC barcode for it and everything! (Now, I just have to finish it and send them some stock to sell.)

The www.lesternorton.com site has some preliminary graphics from the arteeste department, and it looks really cool. Hopefully, I can put up a sneak peek soon.

Yep. It’s time to get serious about this thing.

Holy crap. I just got to the hotel in OKC. The plane was almost an hour late getting in to start, but then I made the fatal error of telling my wife that I only had about a 30 minute drive to the hotel. Ha! Little did I know the city would be under the grip of an ice storm. Freezing rain. 20-degree temps. Traffic was totally screwed up on the highway with a wreck every 1000-feet. And it’s supposed to be like this all weekend. Yuck.

But I made it here alive, and I’ve got free wireless and HBO. Life is good. Covered in beveled glass…but good.

I suppose I should write something in this space, if I’m not gonna rent it out. It’s funny how I’ve had a week’s worth of nights sitting in a hotel room, yet I haven’t found a moment to update the blog…

So, here I am, sitting in the Knoxville airport waiting for my flight to Oklahoma City via Cincinnati. (Maybe I should just rename the blog to “Wandering WiFi Blog”?) I am heading straight to OKC from here, rather than heading home tonight, then turning right around leaving again tomorrow.

I’m starting to think that this wasn’t a good idea. Even a few hours home would feel good right now. Not that I miss my family or anything…heavens no! I just feel like playing guitar. Besides, my wife has totally forgotten how to make coffee for herself. I need to get back before something terrible happens at her place of employ.

In her caffeine-deprived state, it’s hard to say what calamity might occur. For example, what if the Vice President walks in and asks for a book on quail hunting? She might give him the wrong one, and he could wind up shooting someone!

Anyway, I don’t have anything to do tomorrow. So, does anyone have any recommended movies to see? I’m leaning toward The Matador, but I think I like going to movies alone even less than I like dining alone.

And just so I give Dragonleg a link to rip off, I can’t wait to get home and try out the iTunes Profile Maker that I ripped off from That Geeky Chick.

Airport wireless is the bestest invention since the self-flushing toilet.

Sitting in the Pittsburgh airport, waiting for the flying bus to arrive. There’s another 2 or 3 hours before lift off, but I have a smidge of laptop battery left, and I am only half-way through Team of Rivals (not to mention a whole book of sudoku).

This stretch of travel has put a lid on recording the last two songs of my CD, but the quiet nights in the hotel room have provided some time to write a few more. As soon as I get some suitable photos taken, my art director is going to launch my music site at www.lesternorton.com (which is already registered and ready).

In other musical news, I now covet the relatively affordable Martin DX1. So, buy me one for my birthday, willya?

As it turns out, I have fabulous access to the internets here in Pittsbrrrrrrrrgh. Not only that, but I have been dealing with happy Yinzers. In fact, they’ve pretty much left me to my own devices, as most of them have wandered off to some big party downtown. (I think they said one of their sports teams won a bowl of soup or something.)

Anyway, I’m perusing my e-mail, and found that Google has introduced something I never realized I never wanted. They will now give you the opportunity to log all of your Google Chat conversations inside Gmail. Just what I need… a permanent record of the number of bad puns and 12-year-old blather I engage in with Bran, Busy Mom, Dawn, Kevin, my brother and my daughter.

We’ll be turning that sucker off faster than you can say, “ayt?”.

Oh, and I guess we’ll be in the market for a new car. As I was heading out the door, yesterday, I learned that my wife and kids were in a car crash. Everyone is fine (other than some air bag bruises). The worst part is not being there for the Mrs, so she can let her guard down. She goes into “Super Mom” mode instantly in a crisis (I think she should have been an EMT). Hopefully, she’s had a chance to turn it off and get some rest. But I doubt it.

So, everyone give Mrs. R a virtual hug, please.

And if you want to toss in an extra one for Whiny the Elder… poor guy was sleeping with his head on the dash when the air bag went off in his face. Ow.