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The problem with regularly doing fun things like rock climbing or Kung Fu is that they tend to become the norm. They don’t lose their fun factor, but they do lose some novelty. Granted both climbing and Kung Fu are continuously changing and re-challenge… but the basics are the same.

I think the intention of Fun Club should be to introduce novel fun to the group.

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Comments are off. E-mail me with the answer if you figure it out.
MikeDiDonato AT gmail D0T com

Last night I woke up at 3am… totally freaking out about work and a few personal things. It was enough to keep me paranoid and wide awake. At one point, I gave up… did some tax error checking and some laundry. After two hours of mild freaking out, I managed to fall back to sleep.

This morning, after breakfast and a trip to starbucks… all those concerns seem pretty mild. Certainly nothing to get crazy about.

How is it that night amplifies worries?

It’s like my emotions are the PRS and night is a hot 350W Marshall Mode Four stack plugged in and ready to melt your face off with volume.

In celebration of getting my new guitar, I have recorded some guitar solos that really accentuate the unique capabilities of my new axe. Your task is to identify the tunes.

This one is hard, but not as hard as the first one. I give it approximately a 38 D

Guitar Mystery!

For the past few weeks, I’ve been reading the book “Slash” in my spare time. What an amazing book, what an amazing guitar player, and what an amazing impact it’s having on my outlook on life!

I’ve already started practicing guitar for 4 hours straight every day (I get up at 2, so I can practice before work), but I’ve been prompted to change my life even more radically.

I usually like to consider myself “thrifty,” although some have gone so far as to call me “cheap.” Well, friends, cheap no more! Slash has inspired me to live the hedonistic, extravagant lifestyle I’ve secretly always wanted. Some of you might remember when I was too cheap to do laundry; after running out of clean socks, I began wrapping my feet in paper towels from the WPI bathrooms.

From this day forth, I am going to purchase a new pair of socks every day, wear them once, then throw them out (or sell them on Ebay when I become as famous as Slash). The House of Rock is getting a jacuzzi. In the living room. I am retiring the Bench Warmer and buying a Bentley. Remember earlier today when I traded in my PRS? Well, I just bought two more. Two, in case I forget where I put the other one! Oh, and I just bought a Roller Derby team — the DiDonators. Awesome!! Thanks Slash!!

In celebration of getting my new guitar, I have recorded some guitar solos that really accentuate the unique capabilities of my new axe. Your task is to identify the tunes.

I give this one about a 36 C

Guitar Mystery!

In celebration of getting my new guitar, I have recorded some guitar solos that really accentuate the unique capabilities of my new axe. Your task is to identify the tunes.

This one is hard. I’d give it about a 34 B

Guitar Mystery #1

As most of you know, I spent this fall researching guitars, looking to replace my old guitar with something of much higher quality. After talking with dozens of people and doing hours of research, I finally settled on getting a PRS 513. It took five months to get here.

However, for the same reasons that I switched from my old CC Clark to the PRS, today I have done the unthinkable — I traded in my PRS. Don’t get me wrong, PRS makes a fine guitar, with smooth action, and solid neck. The problem is, it’s holding me back; the poor 513 simply can’t rock as hard as I can. So, I traded in.

Behold, my new guitar!!

The main difference between this guitar and my PRS is that this guitar is being ripped in half by a scythe. It also has a skull instead of neck pickups, which gives the guitar a slightly “quackier” sound.

Overall, I am very pleased with this guitar, it is way better than my PRS, and I think, a wise purchase.

On Saturday night I headed into Boston with a wonderful group to see Alicia perform with the Firebird ensemble and the Boston Modern Orchestra Project.

The Cast:
Me.
Ryan Schenk
Ruth
Math Tim
Chef Sarah
Kelly
Chris

The Arrival

We all arrived in Boston at different times. Ryan, Ruth, and Math Tim met me in town around 6:40 for beverages . Chef Sarah, Kelly, and Chris came a bit later. As I walked these three up the stairs to our balcony seats Kelly asked…

“What type of music is this anyway?”
Mike D: “Modern.”
Kelly: “Modern?”
Mike D: “Very modern. It could be really strange.”

The show.
The event started with the world premier of a piece composed by Alejandro Rutty called “The Conscious Sleepwalker Loops.” It was fantastic. The music was sweeping and epic with some A+ percussion. Ruth spent much of the first song leaned forward looking over the balcony rail at the drum player who was rocking out.

The second piece was the world premier of a piece by Derek Hurst. The music is described on the bmop website as “a precarious balance between visceral solemnity and muscular jocularity.” The Firebird ensemble was featured and really? it was very strange. The beginning was really powerful and had the stringed instruments of the Firebird ensemble plucking their strings aggressively. I looked over towards Ryan Schenk who gave two thumbs up. After that the song became a bit more academic, and it was very tense and got me feeling a bit uncomfortable.

Intermission came and went and the second half started with the music Ken Ueno with yet another world premier. This one called “On a Sufficient Condition for the Existence of Most Specific Hypothesis”

DANG!

Ken is an overtone singer. and I was BLOWN away. He generated these powerful deep growls from within his throat that would occasionally be coupled with really high squeals. Behind his intense singing was some really wild string work which had the musicians sliding their hands up and down the strings creating a sensation of the music slowing and speeding. The other members of my group were not as thrilled with the vocals - they thought it seemed too painful or sounded too much like something you’d hear out of a horror movie. For me? I couldn’t be more awestruck. It was brilliant.

The final piece was a premier of a song composed by Lisa Bielawa called simply “Double Violin Concerto.” It was a very beautiful piece. The two violinists really worked well off one another. There were two things that were especially unique about this piece. The first was that there was an accordion player (yes!) The second was that the featured female violinist sang while playing. I don’t know how hard this is, but she did a pretty bang up job.

Overall, the event was really fun. It’s always a little weird going to these events, but definitely worth it to get a few new experiences.

Ben suggested that we all check this out. It’s a link that allows really easy sharing of mix tapes. If you make one, share it with the rest of us!

I’m on a short business trip today. But I have all sorts of exciting things to share.

Firstly, I went to a dermatologist yesterday. They did a biopsy on one of my funky birth marks. How did it go down? Pretty nasty. First a nurse injected me with some sort of local numbing agent. Then the doctor went in. I couldn’t feel a thing so all I got from the goings on was the conversations between the doctor and his helpers.

Doctor: “we’ll need some towels. he’s bleeding a bit”
Nurse: “I’ll grab some.”
mike d thinks: towels?
Doctor: “go grab Janet to do the stitches”
mike d thinks: stitches?
Janet: “well, I’ve seen worse.”
mike d thinks: awesome?

Actually, it all came out pretty good. I have to go back in ten days for stitch removal and biopsy results. But the whole thing was really very fast, and the dermatologist seemed to know what he was doing. I was in and out in an hour with a full review and minor surgery. For anyone looking for a dermatologist in the New Haven area, I recommend Savin.

The other exciting news is that last night I had my very last class for my mechanical engineering degree. Class… meaning… class. I still have an independent project that I must complete, but no more classroom time! Yes!! This is a huge life savor. From this day forth I will loose one less night a week to academia. Rock!

A user has asked for input form the MikeDiDonato.com readers.

Is this shirt awesome? or is it totally lame?

Here’s a close up of the fabric

Sweater Thursday! An idea that I got from Darcy. BUT! It just so happens that today is also the anniversary of Mr. Roger’s birthday. (and coincidentally, today IS kurt’s birthday - happy birthday kurt!)

All the more reason to wear something warm and comfortable.

Irene in her radioactive lab. (note the signs)

Ryan Schenk looking nautical.

Alicia sent two glorious shots depicting the versatility of her sweater.

Kurt likes to celebrate his birthday with a heaping jar of Hellman’s! Good for you Kurt!!

Jesse contributes with a fantastic sweater. Double guns complete the image.

Here’s Andrew! If Waldo of “Where’s Waldo?” had a myspace page, this would be his picture.

Jocelyn goes argyle. Shown with left hand thumb up.

I decided to go for a red sweater. Shown with right hand thumb up.

Did you wear a sweater today? Send an e-mail to me with a picture and I’ll throw it onto the website.

Meet Darcy. She works in Irene’s lab. She invented something called Sweater Thursday. Let’s join in the fun tomorrow by all wearing sweaters. Take a picture of your sweater self and send it to me: mikedidonato AT gmail D0T com. I’ll pass it over to Darcy and we’ll all be one fun internet community of sweater wearing people.

Jesse sent me a typing test. Take it here. There are five different typing tests. Each is three minutes long. Upon completion, the website will report back your Net words per minute (WPM), % Accuracy, and Gross WPM*

If you find yourself with a spare 15 minutes, give it a shot. Take one attempt at each and report back your results here.

My results:
Zebra
72, 91, 78

Typewriter
94, 95, 98

Irrational
91, 97 ,93

Wizard
91, 95, 95

Tigers
76, 95, 79

Averages:
84.8, 94.6, 88.6

Not too shabby. I found the first one tough as I tried to get used to the format. I found the last one technically challenging for my exhausted fingers.

*Net refers to the amount left over after deductions are made. Gross in inclusive of words typed in error.

Yesterday morning I grabbed my lunch bag, my coat, and my gloves and walked out the door. I instinctively clicked the handle lock on the way out and upon closing the door realized… my keys were still on the counter. I had locked myself out.

I went into the garage and tried to find a tool that would allow me to enter through the basement door… no luck. After about 10 minutes of struggling I finally just called and woke up Shaun L.

Shaun came down and let me in. I grabbed my keys… and zipped off to work.

::time passes::

Last night I had to go to Kung Fu. I grabbed my bo staff and my equipment, clicked the handle lock on the door, closed the door, and promptly realized I’d done it again. I had locked myself out of the house.

Twice. in the same day.

This time, no one was home to let me in. So I went and grabbed a ladder from the garage, climbed up onto the roof, and started checking windows. Miraculously, I had left a window in my room open.

Ugh. Yesterday was just one of those days.

Last night I got back from Pittsburgh around 8:30 and zipped over to the climbing gym, figuring I could get a little time in before the doors closed. Irene, Kay, Chris, and Joel were there amongst others. After the gym we all headed over to ‘The Dublin’ in Wallingford.

What a neat place! They had authentic Irish music and authentic Irish people there. The rest of the crowd got beer and wings and we sat chatting and listening to the band. The band isn’t there all the time, just on occasional planned Thursdays. Regardless, I hope this place becomes a more regular destination for us. It was a really nice off-the-beaten path place. I need to find more niche places like this in CT.

One thing is absolutely true about flying. It gives you plenty of time to read. Today I hope to finish up the book “Tipping Point” which I started last week and make some progress with the Rock thriller Slash. I don’t have too much time before classes start hitting me with heavy homework again, so the more I can take advantage of the time now, the better.

As we look towards the weekend, I think things will get pretty fun. I have class on Friday and Saturday, but on Sunday I’m meeting up with the rest of the DiDonato clan for a cooking class. Actually, Tom and Mykal are coming too and that should be way fun - I haven’t seen them in many moons.

The recipes to be made in the mass cooking extravaganza are:

* Tuna Salad with Green Beans and Tomatoes
* Minestra (Escarole and Meatball Soup)
* Zuppa di Cozze (Mussels in Spicy Tomato Sauce)
* Arancini (Rice Balls)
* Bistecca Pizzaiola or Braciole
* Veal Scaloppine Marsala
* Baked Chicken with Potato, Lemon and Oregano
* Linguini with White Clam Sauce
* Manicotti with Marinara Sauce
* Verdure alla Griglia (Grilled Veg)
* Struffoli (Honey Balls) * Biscotti Regina (Sesame Cookies)

Bang. Italian delicious. I will of course report back.

Hopefully I’ll be able to squeeze a band practice into the weekend too. We’ll see.

This past Saturday was a blast. After a moderately intense kung fu class (we did conditioning… I’m sore), I headed over to the rock climbing gym with Irene, Tony, and Paulette. Where… wait for it… I started work on my first 5.13.

5.13’s are extremely hard climbs.

I didn’t finish it. In fact, I didn’t get much further than about 12 feet off the ground, but that alone is far better than I’ve ever performed on any 5.13 that I’ve tried in the past. Also, it should be said that I am still not a comfortable 5.12 climber. There’s a 5.12+ which is royally kicking my butt and a handful of 5.12-’s and 5.11+’s that cause me considerable grief. Still, getting on a 5.13 and working the moves feels really amazing. I’ve been told that the crux of the climb is actually at the top… very far from where I am. But have faith! I’m climbing harder than I’ve ever climbed before and I think that this route may be something I can accomplish. I’ll keep working it.

Sunday we had band practice. We started working on a Soundgarden tune (My Wave) and dang. Let me tell you: Soundgarden does some truly amazing things. My Wave is in 5/4 and has some really intense transitions. We sounded pretty good. I’m hoping to be ready for a show by June-ish.

After the band rocked out, I came back and put together a monster turkey feast for the roommates and our Roller Derby crowd. Chris, Irene, Keller, and I went over to check out the CT Roller Girls. Check out the review over on the left. The bout was incredible. Keller and I ended up staying at the After-party until about 11:30pm. It was a good time.

The next bout is on March 16th. It’s an interleague match and CT’s stepford sabotage will need our support. Let me know if you’d like to join our group.

This was a strangely busy weekend. I say ’strangely’ because despite a somewhat busy schedule, I got a lot of stuff done and managed to close Sunday out with a little relaxation. Friday was the final class in my supply chain course, Saturday concluded Ethics. Both courses were okay, I’m not a huge fan of either topic so I’m glad to see them concluded. Let’s look at the progression charts.

Not too shabby.

Saturday night I helped Shamus move into his new place up in Vernon. Prior to going to his place I picked up a few things at guitar center including the “Guitar Grimoire” which, so far, has been quite a challenge. The Guitar Grimoire is a collection of scale exercises that should help to improve my speed and comfort with performing sick absurd riffs. The exercises themselves aren’t overwhelming, it’s just getting over the habits that I have already developed and learning new picking techniques.

Sunday saw some academics with Pete, a couple hours at work, and then some climbing. I finished a 5.12 that would best be described as “pretty darn hard.” After climbing I made some delicious Goulash, practiced guitar for an hour or so, and then got into some reading and half of a film that came highly recommended from Jess.

The book: The Tipping Point.
it describes the point where trends, illnesses, and ideas go from small to huge. I really like the ideas presented. I’ll write a more comprehensive review upon completing the book.

The movie: Everything is Illuminated
A Warner Bros independent film that, so far (I’ve only watched 45 minutes), is pretty excellent.

And now it’s Monday and we’re back in business. This year is zipping by rather quickly.

68!!

Beat it here.

Yeah, it took awhile. But the Meriden Public Library just got back to me. They now have the book Slash for me. Ready to read. Unfortunately, they are closed today and Sunday… and unfortunately I have class tomorrow. So I’ll probably have to pick it up Monday.

Either way, I’m stoked.