Just pulled out my viola for the first time in several years and, after a bit of time spent finding a way to make my computer play notes for me to tune against (and breaking the A string while tuning, though the note was flat when it broke so it was probably just because it was an old string), managed to pick out the viola part to El Torro in its entirety. Most memorizable song ever. Well, maybe ode to joy, starting on F# so you play the entire thing on the D string is easier, but that’s cheating since it’s just the super-simplified version of the song. I’m trying to remember, I think I played El Torro in… seventh grade? It might have been eighth. Definitely middle school. I know I’m not the only one who remembers it either, because the last time I remember playing through it was before a YSSO concert with Mandy and maybe Sarah (I know there was a cello, i just don’t know who).
Anyway, I’m going to root around when I’m home over christmas break and see if I can find all of my viola music so that I can add “trying to remember how to play the viola” to my list of little things that I’m working on at the moment. I’m going to put it away now though because it’s after midnight and if I keep this up I’ll be far too tempted to move beyond light, light bowing and pizzicato and then my neighbors will get all displeased.
Sometime after between April and late September of 1999 there was a dramatic increase in the number of unemployed little green magical elves. Millions of these loyal workers were unceremoniously sacked without warning. “But why?” you might ask. “What company would do such a thing?” Well, I’ll tell you: eBay.
Prior to this great round of layoffs, the elves dutifully managed eBay’s proxy bidding system. This is the system by which you can specify a maximum price that you are willing to pay for an item and have bids placed automatically at the minimum increment until either you win the auction or reach your limit. Nowadays, this is all handled by computers, but it used to be the job of the elves. An elf was personally assigned to each and every eBay user to act as their proxy in the great online bidding process.
Presumably, when eBay’s membership grew beyond a point that could be economically handled by the elfin workforce, the entire department was disbanded and the process was transferred to a digital system. Talk about your drastic outsourcing measures.
Don’t believe me? You don’t have to, there’s a full confession in the Internet Archive. Also mentioned are Umpa-Loompas that handle other operations at eBay. Presumably these fine workers have also been given the ax, as they too are absent from eBay’s present help system.
[This post comes from a combination of oregon-trail-fueled nostalgia and the release of Amazon’s mechanical turk.
The yearly signs of Autumn have been popping up all over Portland in the last few weeks. Brisk winds, fiery leaves, misty mornings, and a change of clocks all have heralded its arrival, but the final key element has only just recently dropped into place. Coffee Time has started serving hot apple cider.
I couldn’t be happier. In my mind, apple cider just might be the most wonderfully perfect hot beverage ever to flow from the mugs of humanity. Just the spicy aroma of this amazing concoction is enough to warm the senses after a long walk in the biting wind. The taste is sweet, but not artificially so. Most of all, unlike so many other beverages in the world, cider has that fleeting texture that can only be obtained by mercilessly squeezing real fruit.
So here I sit, wrapped snugly in a sweater, sipping my cider, listening to the Duhks, gazing out at the early darkness, and wanting to grab some good friends and go on a hay ride.
