tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-63948882012-01-26T02:22:16.356-05:00Ronhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04492102090858438772noreply@blogger.comBlogger201100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6394888.post-27115528564040511192008-11-05T07:44:00.011-05:002008-11-05T11:20:11.201-05:00

Okay. I'm going to adopt an optimistic view of what this American Victory means. I've generally had a pessimistic view of politics - a leopard cannot change its spots. But, in the speeches of John McCain and Barack Obama, last night, I think I may have spotted the seam in the leopard's coat. McCain's speech wasn't filled with self-pity or parting shots, it showed us the hand of one man reaching

Ronhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04492102090858438772noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6394888.post-17680337524048589872008-11-04T02:33:00.002-05:002008-11-04T20:12:06.041-05:00

According to Barack Obama's website, "Middle class families will see their taxes cut – and no family making less than $250,000 will see their taxes increase. The typical middle class family will receive well over $1,000 in tax relief under the Obama plan, and will pay tax rates that are 20% lower than they faced under President Reagan. According to the Tax Policy Center, the Obama plan provides

Ronhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04492102090858438772noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6394888.post-4173594289829513122008-11-03T23:30:00.001-05:002008-11-03T23:30:02.206-05:00

"Barack Obama wants to 'spread the wealth around' and is more interested in controlling who gets your piece of the pie than he is in growing the pie." John McCainWhat's odd about that statement is the notion of growing a pie. Never heard of such a thing. I've made plenty of pies and seen pies made, but I've never seen one grown. Maybe McCain means making the pie bigger. I guess he fancies that a

Ronhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04492102090858438772noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6394888.post-48067493330209301602008-11-02T23:07:00.001-05:002008-11-02T23:07:40.720-05:00

Irrefutable evidence now shows that I DO have a backbone. I have been blessed with many genetic traits, some good, some not-so-good. On the good side, physical characteristics aside, I have a generally pleasant disposition and demeanor, I possess (some have said) superior musicianship (despite not having arrived at Elton John or Billy Joel status - sorry, Eddie, it ain't gonna happen), I tend to

Ronhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04492102090858438772noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6394888.post-31754844620171053502008-11-02T22:30:00.000-05:002008-11-02T23:09:01.292-05:00

Wow. What's that saying? Time's fun when you're having flies?Pair-O-Legal, my adventuresome geocaching avatar, logged his 100th find on Aug 21, 2008 (In Honor of Rusty: GC1FE57 - you need to register for a free account in order to see the cache or my profile). P-O-L also completed his first cache-by-watercraft with the help of fellow geocacher, timebandits. This fall, P-O-L placed his first cache

Ronhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04492102090858438772noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6394888.post-12756421326758476022007-11-08T07:02:00.000-05:002007-11-08T07:16:20.425-05:00

Michigan is living up to its reputation of becoming rather gloomy, just in time for the holidays. I'm one the road a lot, this week, trying to tackle some of my farflung tuning clients. Bloomfield Hills on Tuesday, Pinckney on Thursday. I hope things slowing down in the next week or two. I'd rather be out in the weather than looking at it from indoors. Oh, and my new mobile firepit is just

Ronhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04492102090858438772noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6394888.post-35670281889204300352007-10-18T16:25:00.001-04:002007-10-18T17:33:24.260-04:00

My racquetball buddy, Neile, is gone. She packed her bags into her rabbit (with a little help from her friends) and drove west on Monday. She's in Santa Cruz, CA, far, far away.I'm left struggling with the absence of a regular, reliable racquetball partner at the beginning of SADD season. Crap.Racquetball anyone?

Ronhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04492102090858438772noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6394888.post-20610880295438541602007-01-03T23:30:00.000-05:002007-01-03T23:29:45.597-05:00

I'm pretty peeved at General Mills. When I was out running, today, I happened upon a squirrel whose head was completely encased in one of those tapered yogurt cups. The squirrel had just narrowly escaped being squashed by cars and trucks as it dashed across a busy street before crashing into a curb and catapulting itself onto the running path. Luckily, the critter had the sense to hold still

Ronhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04492102090858438772noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6394888.post-62445551399125554812007-01-03T17:30:00.000-05:002007-01-22T10:03:26.199-05:00

Found out, yesterday, that I may not be getting an office with a window any time in the near future. On the bright side, though, the rationale is based on the hope that a new building is in the offing. Looks like the move will happen within the next week - gotta get "shopping" for a new desk (that gray military-issue thing ain't stayin'!), and an area rug. Lino floors are yuck. We're all

Ronhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04492102090858438772noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6394888.post-1166499492468568352006-12-18T22:20:00.000-05:002006-12-18T22:38:12.583-05:00

Got an email from my sister-in-law, last week, and finally getting around to seeing photos from that clan's latest trip to Disney, it looks like Gannon (one of my many nephews) had a great time. (Mind the volume, if you go to the Disney link!)That's my younger brother, Chris, on the left. Next to him is my sister-in-law, Tee. My youngest brother, Matt has Gannon ("G") on his broad shoulders and

Ronhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04492102090858438772noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6394888.post-1166117414528416612006-12-14T11:45:00.001-05:002008-11-05T10:24:27.070-05:00

Happy to report that, as of Dec. 13, I am back into the piano tuning & repair business! My occupational therapy began, this week, so I figure the hand must be strong enough to push and pull on a tuning hammer. I have tunings scheduled well into January, so if you're hoping to get your piano tuned, better email me ASAP.My TorrellaSystems email account became the dumping ground for incredible heaps

Ronhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04492102090858438772noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6394888.post-1164005706624380252006-11-20T01:23:00.000-05:002006-11-20T02:20:54.140-05:00

I ran, today, for the first time since the DFPM-Relay on Oct. 29. It felt pretty good although I was a little slower than I was at the race. Today's (Sunday's, that is) splits were 8:56 per mile on a 5.5 mile run "around the block." No complaints, here. I did miss the Ann Arbor Turkey Trot, this year. I wasn't particularly interested in running with a half-cast that I'd been forbidden to remove

Ronhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04492102090858438772noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6394888.post-1162445004520056852006-11-01T22:33:00.000-05:002006-11-02T08:41:00.460-05:00

As I've reported, elsewhere, on TorrellaSystems.com:On Thursday, Oct. 26, while on my noon run in Barton Park, I tripped over a chain spanning the access road to the Barton Dam and the Barton Nature Area. I landed squarely on my right hand, the result of which is a comminuted, intra-articular fracture of the distal radius - the impact crushed the lower end of the bigger bone in my arm.I am

Ronhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04492102090858438772noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6394888.post-1136098080926901792006-01-01T00:15:00.000-05:002006-01-01T01:48:00.950-05:00

Amazing, in a word. I started out 2005 as a university piano technician on medical furlough - unsure about what the future held in a way of a career for me at the University of Michigan, unsure about what the Dickens was going on with my hands. By about April, I was aware that the problem in my hands was not going to go away. The hamate and lunate bones in my hands (bilateral) have what I learned

Ronhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04492102090858438772noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6394888.post-1110686802415237242005-03-12T22:48:00.000-05:002005-03-12T23:06:57.693-05:00

Well, bloggers, I'm in a holding pattern at the U. The worker's comp folks didn't raise the work restriction.My super's gallbladder started throwing stones and took the man down for the rest of the term. I'm alternating between two, maybe three, discrete jobs: coordinator of piano technical services, interim administrative assistant and ad hoc administrative assistant to an associate dean. I'm

Ronhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04492102090858438772noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6394888.post-1108613012339659182005-02-16T23:04:00.000-05:002005-02-16T23:03:32.343-05:00

Holy moly. Where has the time gone?The elections came and went -- I'm not satisfied, but then I wasn't going to be satisfied with either candidate. We'll see what happens in 4 years. Maybe Howard Dean will manage to convince the Dems that they really need an all-around appealing candidate. Why the hell can't we get a woman in the White House?Physical abuse: I managed to run and ride the summer

Ronhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04492102090858438772noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6394888.post-1091158674666276462004-07-29T23:40:00.000-04:002004-07-29T23:42:14.726-04:00

Watching Edwards' speech, yesterday, may have explained a cartoon drawn by political cartoonist Chuck Asay. Edwards' hair was perfect and his visage had a very round aspect to it. Nice guy, that Johnny E. But his speech was an awful lot like Tee H. Kerry's, the night before: Unremarkable, uninspiring. Still waiting for that "spark," I braved Kerry's speech. What am I supposed to think about

Ronhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04492102090858438772noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6394888.post-1090991547234019322004-07-27T23:59:00.000-04:002004-07-28T01:12:27.233-04:00

Well, that was a rather long speech -- and not terribly exciting. My Beloved Spouse said I was falling asleep. Wuuuhl, yeah. I was. Tee's speech aimed at hitting the pitches that Pres. Clinton swung at and hit ("Strength and wisdom are not opposing values...."), but she missed. ("My only hope is that, one day soon, women - who have all earned the right to their opinions - instead of being

Ronhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04492102090858438772noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6394888.post-1090961460578525942004-07-27T16:36:00.000-04:002004-07-27T23:58:56.813-04:00

What I did last summer....hard to believe that there are only a few weeks left before school starts up again and I still have so much work to get done at home. The Big Deals, this summer, have been Geocaching, Running (look for me....I'm there!), and Biking (100 miles, baby!). The big election machine is finally starting to crank up. Nothing looks particularly good, as usual. It would be

Ronhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04492102090858438772noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6394888.post-1075266259119824392004-01-28T00:02:00.000-05:002004-01-28T00:06:29.373-05:00

Well, this is my first blog post. I just want to make sure it's going to actually work so I'm not going to say a whole lot. In fact, that's enough for now. I'm going to post this trial balloon and then go to sleep.

Ronhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04492102090858438772noreply@blogger.com0