Finished bathroom

Quick update:
The nice folks at the DIY Cabinet Warehouse in Edmonton gave me good service and managed to fix the cabinet that was not up to scratch. I have managed to get them installed in the bathroom and the mess cleaned up just in time for the family to return. Thank Goodness. I am glad that I had the chance to watch some professionals do it in our old kitchen before I tackled this little project. Even over less than 6 feet the floor was not level...

Next step: counter top. Wonder how expensive that will be?

For addictive, stupid waste of time and Javascript, check out the Flying Hamster Game, complete with Wagner soundtrack.

Steve

Beatbox Flute

Hello Gentle Reader,

It has been a fair space of time since my last update (that sounds vaguely catholic/confessional - nevermind). Things are as usual unreasonably busy. In the past few weeks I have been to Winnipeg and Calgary, and Suzanne and the Kids have headed to Lethbridge to visit the grandparents (and great-grandparents).

Taking advantage of the absence of the children, I have been doing some home-improvement work. This sort of thing invariably takes twice as long as you expect, and this particular project would appear to be no different. I was most dissapointed to discover that the "Kitchencraft" cabinetry that we ordered several weeks ago was not up to standard. One of the three pieces was not assembled very well and will be going back. Needless to say this is going to put the job of having a working bathroom back a couple of weeks at least...

Winnipeg: Cold. I was there for the "New Music Forum" in conjunction with the WSO New Music Festival. The Headline the day that I went (from CBC online) was "Winnpeg Drivers happy: Parking Meters Frozen". No Kidding. I took a ceremonial walk from my hotel to the corner of Portage and Main and can testify that it is a miserably cold and windy part of the world. Good thing my hotel was only a few steps away and I could run back. Now I grew up in Alberta, and live in Edmonton, but this was just unreasonable. There was something about the way the wind swirled around the bank buildings there that made it seem like the wind was coming in your face and at your back at the same time...

In Calgary I had the great pleasure of seeing Famous Puppet Death Scenes by Old Trout Puppet Workshop. Great fun, and on tour so you should try and check it out if it comes near you.

For your entertainment I have embeded a video below... a neat juxtaposition of classical flute technique, jazz interpretation, an 80's television theme, and some late-20th century urban beat-box vocal technique, as well as some very cool harmonics/polyphonic singing. This sort of thing is what gets guys like this famous for a while on You Tube, but he seems to have his stuff together enough that it would not surprise me if he has an actual musical career somewhere.

I am sure this just annoys anyone who is into flute technique or beatbox voice performance. Don't miss the "Axel-F" quote about halfway through.



Best
Steve.