Today's holidays were Thomas Jefferson Day and Scrabble Day. Outside of paying for things with $2 bills, nothing really jumps out in terms of celebrating our third President. Of course, what I just said seems like a novel idea, but I just thought of it now. Quick tangent - my dad would go to flea markets to sell a variety of things, including having someone buy a plain old $2 bill for $3. I kid you not, the bill wasn't from a special printing or year; it was just a regular two-dollar bill he had. In fact, I think he may have pulled that off twice that year. Okay, back on track.
To be honest, I didn't really do much for Scrabble Day, either. I now have Words With Friends on my phone, but I don't want to bombard people with game requests. (If you want to play a game, feel free to send me an invite!) An idea I had was to go somewhere like My Favorite Muffin, take over a table, and have some kind of sign telling people that I would be play Speed Scrabble with whoever was interested. I may do that at some point this summer, so that idea is definitely still on the table.
Since I'm off both today and tomorrow, I wanted to make at least one day new and exciting. April is also Jazz Appreciation Month and the Glenn Miller Birthplace Museum is in Clarinda, Iowa, which is only 40 minutes away, so I road tripped there today. The drive was nice and it reminded me of when my mom and I drove all the way down to Missouri via Highway 71. I first went to a coffee shop/cafe for lunch and if it didn't involve a 40-minute drive, I could easily see myself going there on a regular basis. The Chamber of Commerce was closed, but I was able to make my way to the Glenn Miller museum.
Apparently the current museum is only coming on three years old and it was all in part to volunteer efforts & donations. The tour started with a documentary on Glenn Miller's life. In terms of what I learned today, I didn't realize Glenn Miller was in a couple motion pictures (playing himself, along with his orchestra) AND that there was a movie made about Glenn Miller with Jimmy Stewart in the title role. After the documentary, I walked around in the main building, which included a lot of records, one of the metal bandstands, and one of the four authentic trombones that can be verified as Miller's. (Specifically, it was one of the two trombones Miller played while he was in the Army.) There weren't any other visitors while I was there, so the guy working there walked with me and we talked about the different exhibits and memorabilia items. We also talked about the Glenn Miller festival, which takes place every June and includes the still-running Glenn Miller Orchestra as well as other musical groups devoted to big band/swing/jazz music. (Is it bad if I lump them all in together?)
After walking through the main building, I got to see the house where Glenn Miller was born. Since his family relocated when Glenn was three, part of the house felt anachronistic, with items like a military uniform and Glenn's piano that was used out in New Jersey. However, several of the rooms were furnished in the turn-of-the-century style. Apparently, I was the second person who correctly guessed that the high chair in the kitchen turned into a rocking chair (or at least, the second person for the employee I talked with, but he did say it was over a three-year span). It was really a nifty little device.
Oh, and Clarinda has a sister city out in Japan that is all thanks to a Japanese man really loving Glenn Miller's music and then being so impressed with the summer festival. When the tour was all done, I told the guy about Jazz Appreciation Month and Day (the specific day is upcoming) and he said he would remember that and try to get something together for next year. I decided to end my day trip there, although I do definitely want to go back to Clarinda for the festival (June 13-16). I did make sure to listen to some more Glenn Miller music once I got back home.
My next adventure was building a new computer desk. Okay, it was building *a* computer desk, because up until today, my personal computer was on a fold-out table. I opted for a desk to fit into a corner and building it was a pretty smooth process. Doing these building projects definitely feels like a grown-up version of Lego's, because the instructions are all pictures and all the small pieces have number codes. Of course, I'm not the biggest fan of the thin back panels that you have to nail in with 15-20 nails each. It doesn't help that the instructions include the following message:
WARNING: Please make sure that the BACK PANELS (I) are attached securely. All nails must be driven into the parts straight. Failure to do so could cause instability, product collapse or serious injury.Now, this should translate into something like "make sure the back panels are secure because they keep the corners square and the legs stable", whereas in the moment, it turns into "yeah, that one nail that bent partway through? the whole desk is going to fall on you now. say goodbye to your feet!" Fortunately, the desk has held up for a couple of hours and I'm happy with the new set-up (even if the keyboard shelf is on the verge of being too short).
Since good things come in threes, I decided to actually cook dinner today. I've had food to cook for a while, but for lack of time/effort, they have sat uncooked... until now! I ended up having tilapia, mashed potatoes, carrots, toast, and blackberries; it was all quite good. The one hiccup was that I don't keep regular milk (and you don't want to cook with soy milk) and the vending machine on first floor only had chocolate milk. The mashed potatoes were brown and had a hint of oddity, but still were good. The best part is that I'm pretty sure I have enough leftovers of everything for dinner tomorrow. Score!
After dinner, I watched a movie, played some TF2, and generally relaxed. I don't have any grand plans for tomorrow, but I definitely have to put my bedroom back together and do some dishes. Here's to a fun and productive weekend!
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