What? You Want a Title?

Living at the corner of two one-way streets isn't any fun. Back when I lived on upper campus, I'd tell people to "turn left here, here, or here," just to see what they'd pick, and which way I'd go home this time. Now, there's really only one way to get here. You can't even approach it from both sides like on a normal street. Boo.

In other news, Daylight Saving Time ends today. There's just something about "November" and "Daylight Saving Time" that doesn't make much sense to me. But that's alright, because it's meant brighter evenings. Granted, having an 08:00 class five days a week, I'm quite ready to shift that hour into the morning, because it's been a bear getting up these last couple of weeks.

Speaking of DST, this is the fourth time I've had to change my alarm clock this year, and the first time I'm actually home to do it. Why four times, you ask? Well, I got the alarm clock for my 17th birthday in January 2005, seven months before lawmakers decided to change the dates for DST beginning in 2007. It had this (then-)great feature of automatically setting itself for the time changes. Unfortunately, the 2005 rules were hardcoded into the clock.

But Tim! Can't you just tell it to ignore DST and change it manually?

I wish I could. However, the manual states that "If you live in an area which does not observe Daylight Saving Time, you will have to manually undo the automatic time changes on the first Sunday of April and the last Sunday of October."

Bah. I guess they weren't worried about selling that model in Arizona.

Anyway, I must change it four times a year now:

• The second Sunday in March - After 01:59 EST, the time "springs forward" to 03:00 EDT (as per the new rules), but the clock ticks on to 02:00 EST. I tell it that it's 03:00, but it assumes it's 03:00 EST. Forward one hour.
• The first Sunday in April - At 01:59 EDT, the clock thinks it's 01:59 EST, after which it observes the old-style "spring forward" to 03:00 EDT... but it's really 02:00 EDT. Back one hour.
• The last Sunday in October - After 01:59 EDT, the clock performs the old-style "fall back" to 01:00 EST... but DST hasn't ended yet, and it's still 02:00 EDT. Forward one hour.
• The first Sunday in November - After 01:59 EDT, the time "falls back" to 01:00 EST, but the clock, thinking it was 01:59 EST and that DST has already ended, ticks on to 02:00 EST. Back one hour.

At the very least, this is a nuisance. But it is an otherwise good alarm clock, and I suppose I can bother to remember both sets of rules. In fact, I have done so with no problem, because I'm amazingly good with remembering dates, as anyone who knows me can tell you.

Anyway, of the four dates listed above, this is the first time I've actually been home to change it. On 11 March ("spring forward"), I was in New York City for the last night before leaving from the Big East Men's Basketball Tournament. The weekend of 01 April ("un-spring back"), I was with my family, enjoying my brother's school musical. This past Sunday, 28 October ("un-fall forward"), I was just returning from the band's trip to Louisville, Kentucky. Granted, I was technically back by 00:30, but I went straight to bed, and I don't really consider myself to have returned until I woke up in the morning. Today is the first time that I will not be going on a trip, only to come back to an incorrect "smart clock."

My atomic wall clock, though, has given me no trouble, as Daylight Saving Time information is encoded in the broadcast signal. Lucky me.

I also realized that I never got around to posting my arrangement of The Star-Spangled Banner from Independence Day. I mean, I wrote it in July, recorded it in August, edited it in September, let it gather dust in October, and only just now converted it to an MP3 in November. So here it is; enjoy:

	(0:52)
The Star-Spangled Banner, arr. Timothy J. Parenti, 04 July 2007. All rights reserved.

Yeah, I know... it's a tad on the "quick tempo" side... I must have been feeling a bit perky that day. Just think of it this way: faster tempo = shorter time = smaller file = less bandwidth used. Although, who really cares all that much about bandwidth anymore?

I feel like I'm running out of things to say, and yet there's a whole month of stuff missing from this blog. Yet I don't want to ramble on and bore you either.

Um. Last time I posted, I had just taken my first OChem exam. Well that one went decently well, and I just took another one this past Monday. I haven't gotten my grade yet, but that one definitely did not go so well. The combination of the trip to Louisville immediately prior and not being able to study much whilst there really didn't help, although neither is really an excuse for drawing blanks so large as I did on Monday.

Oh, well. My only consolation, I guess, is that I pretty much understand all of that material now. Which means I can still build on it for the next exam.

In ChE 0101 lab on Thursday, we did an experiment with a "spinning bowl concentrator." Basically, we took iron shavings and sand, went to great lengths to ensure that all of the iron was magnetic and one size, while all of the sand was non-magnetic and another size, mixed them together, and used complicated means to separate them again in a fluid-based system. It seems utterly redundant, but the point was the process of the separation, which will involve tons of calculations. And in order to do those calculations, we have to know exactly what we started with. Hence making a mixture and separating it immediately thereafter.

My ChE 0100 professor is out of town for the next two weeks presenting at conferences, so the TA is going to teach us. We'll get our professor back for two days before Thanksgiving Break, so it's like he's gone for three weeks! Depending on how you look at it, this could be a good thing or a bad thing. And quite frankly, I'm not sure many people in the class itself know where they stand on this.

Um... Pitt's won a couple of exciting games (Cincinnati and Syracuse), but we've lost a couple, too (Navy and Louisville). Both of the losses were in spectacular fashion, as only Pitt can do.

Well, that may not be entirely true, as I'm sure there are plenty of others who could lose just as spectacularly, but could I really care less about them?

Meanwhile, basketball has started up. I'm pretty excited.

Also, my Uncle Dave from Tennessee was in town this week for a conference of sorts, so we met up Thursday night and had some food at The O. It was a good time, especially since I only ever really see him for Independence Day and Christmas.

Other than that, I don't really see all that much to say. I know I'm going to be kicking myself in a day's time (i.e., 25 hours today), knowing just how important were those things I've forgotten. But you know what? That's the beauty of having this here blog. If I find myself in that position, I can just write more.

So now I'll be like bromine, and do what we pay good leaving groups to do... leave.

Random tangent: Off and on, I've been feeling artsy. I figure I'd like to take a picture every day, as a combined method of release as well as honing of my photography skills. But alas, I don't have the diligence... yet.

O Canada!, Baptism, and Pictures!

I do not know why, but lately I've felt compelled to blog. Compelled to write my thoughts. Compelled to get on my virtual soapbox and speak to the world.

And yet... it's practically taken me forever to decide what to write about. What luck.

Fortunately for you, I've come up with stuff. Yay!

Way back on Memorial Day, I sang with the Girard Ecumenical Choir (which only performs once a year) at Girard's Memorial Day ceremony. As usual, we sang the hymn God of Our Fathers as well as the American and Canadian national anthems. The hymn was written out in four-part harmony, and we were all familiar enough with the Star-Spangled Banner that we could "fake" harmony there. O Canada!, however, was sung in unison straight off of the sheet we were given.

Now, I may not have the most musical ears in the world, but they're certainly trained enough to know that that just doesn't cut it. So a few days later, I started arranging O Canada! for four-part choir. I soon forgot about it, but then on the morning of Sunday 01 July (Canada Day) I realized that there would be no better day on which to finish the project. Working under that self-imposed deadline, I came up with the following composition, which was recorded on Monday and (heavily) edited on Tuesday. Enjoy.

	(1:06)
O Canada!, arr. Timothy J. Parenti, 01 July 2007. All rights reserved.

While I was working on this, I decided that I'll do the same for the Star-Spangled Banner on Wednesday 04 July (Independence Day). I may even do La Marseillaise on 14 July if I'm not exhausted from camp... which means I probably won't be doing it. Here's hoping that once I give my arrangements to the person in charge, they will be received with open arms and hopefully performed next May. Of course, if not, I'll just be proud that I arranged a couple of national anthems. And that's good enough for me.

I mentioned camp just then. While I've got my mind on it, I'd like to say that this will probably be my last post before camp, which starts on Sunday 08 July. Since I'm a counselor, though, I have to be there on Saturday 07 July (07/07/07). Camp continues through the evening of Friday 13 July, and I'll probably return some time the next morning.

I'm going to have to actually set up a voicemail message for my cell phone.

Backtracking a bit (but for a reason), it wasn't all that easy to arrange O Canada! on Sunday because that was also the day on which my great aunt Jana's daughter was baptized. It was a quaint little ceremony with five other babies and their families present.

Afterwards, it was time for a picnic! And since the father of the baptized is a chef by profession, no one went hungry. He cooked burgers, hot dogs, and chicken on the grill, had Italian sausage, lasagna, an array of salads, and quite a few desserts. Of course, there were also cookies and snacks ready as all this food was cooking, so by the time everything was ready, I wasn't really in the mood to eat it. But what I ate was really good, and what I didn't looked good, too.

One of the main "attractions" of the picnic was this elaborate fruit bouquet. Seriously. Whoa. One relative said that some of the chocolate-covered strawberries were "the size of small pears." They tasted amazing, too.

Obviously, this picture was taken with my cell phone, which is why it's not the best quality picture. Ever since about December, I've wanted a real digital camera of my own, but I haven't gotten around to it. I hope to get one in time for camp, but unfortunately, I can't promise myself that.

See, even though my father is usually off on Thursdays, and could take me into Erie to get a camera, he'll likely be too busy preparing our bathroom for the remodeling scheduled to take place, conveniently, while David and I are at camp. Mom's also off that day, but she doesn't really know that much about technology, and she admits it. But definitely in time for band camp. Because quite frankly, these cell phone pictures suck.

But that hasn't stopped me from taking over 700 pictures (of widely varying quality) since I got the phone in December. Here are some of my more recent ones:

Tuesday 01 May The Ocean City Music Pier. Ignore the blatant spelling error.	Tuesday 01 May Beach at Ocean City.	Saturday 05 May Just part of the cookie room at the Italian wedding I attended. Amazing cookies, too.
Friday 11 May An abstract look at my unpacking from college.	Wednesday 06 June Feeding the fish with my mother in Linesville. The ducks weren't walking on them that day, though.	Friday 08 June My grandparents and I toured a replica of Columbus' Niña while it was docked in Erie.
Friday 08 June I'm slightly worried about the one who left this message on the band room chalkboard at graduation.	Saturday 16 June At the Lake City Firemen's Carnival: Bingo?	Saturday 16 June No bingo.
Saturday 23 June Bathroom prepwork before the remodelers come.	Sunday 01 July Cute and recently baptized baby.	Sunday 01 July Amazing cookies. I was so full that mine took me an hour to eat.

Well, hopefully you enjoyed that. I know I sure did. Gosh, I've been treating you to all sorts of media today.

Also, at some point during the baptism on Sunday, my six-year-old cousin Danny, who was in the pew in front of my family, bolted out of his pew, ran into the aisle, and came into our pew. He squeezed past each member of my family until he plunked himself down between my father and I. Dad felt honored that Danny would decide to sit next to him... until he realized that Danny was clinging to me. And he did so all day.

Dad said to "be gracious," and I was, although I still hadn't been expecting such behavior. He started calling me "Uncle Tim," even though I'm his cousin, and sat on my lap on numerous occasions. He also tried calling me "Uncle Phil," but I drew the line there. It was quite adorable, even if it got really annoying when it was time for us to leave. Fortunately, six-year-olds are also easily distracted.

It's nice to be looked up to, I guess. All I know is that my arm hasn't been tugged so hard in quite some time.

See you after camp!

Random tangent 1: My family will be observing its standard Independence Day festivities once again. I mean, when you have a prominent relative who truly was "born on the fourth of July," the tradition kind of forms by default. I'm hoping for a little better weather, though.

Random tangent 2: By my count, there are 666 days until the Heinz Chapel Choir trip to China. Ironically on Independence Day. Good thing I'm not that superstitious, but still... that's freaky.