Gadget’s Airstream Chronicles

Bullion, butt cracks, and Blue Men. That sums up some of yesterday’s B’s.

First off, if you haven’t noticed, the commodity markets are going crazy.  Basic food crops are becoming amazingly expensive, oil is challenging old ceilings, and the metal markets are pushing the envelope.  What does it all mean?

Bullion (gold, silver, platinum, etc) are normally a hedge against inflation.  Unlike the US dollar, you can’t “print” more metals.  Only so much exists above ground, so you can quantify the total amount and assign real value to it.  The bullion markets are telling us what’s around the corner.  The last massive rise in prices came on the heels of our fun experiment with stagflation…….

Now, the rest of the day…….

After working all day I met up with Sadira.  Months ago she’d gotten tickets for a concert in Prescott Valley.  Yes, we’ve actually got a really big place for concerts, hockey games, and the rest here.

Well, we headed into the stadium early, and took our seats.  As the crowd filled in we had some folks sit down in the row in front of us.  And one of the people in the row in front stood up for a moment.  Sadira signaled me to take a quick look to my left, and I really wish I hadn’t.

Have you ever had a moment when you throw up, just a little, and choke it back down?  Yup, I had that moment last night.  As I looked to my left I couldn’t miss what Sadira’s shocked face was trying to tell me.  One of the people in front of us was barely wearing their pants.  The belt line had to be 3/4’s of the way down this person’s backside.

I said nothing, but made my standard shocked face.  Quickly I fished my cell phone out of my pocket, and turned it on.  See, I’ve got a camera phone……..

Just as I got ready to shoot, our mooning friend sat back down.  And through the chair their backside was still TOTALLY EXPOSED.  Wonder if the person was cold at all.

Be glad I didn’t snap the shot!  Be glad today is a day without photos!

We giggled for a bit as other people filed in, and sat right behind our perma-mooner.  We also tried to figure out if the mooner was male or female.  Longer hair, studded pants (pretty little studs which men normally don’t wear), and an uncertain profile.  With each glance we rolled between male and female.  I’m still not sure what our multi-gendered mooning friend really was.  Honestly, I don’t want to know.  That moon should have stayed hidden.

I don’t think I’ll ever understand people’s comfort with wearing their pants 3/4’s of the way down their butt.  Seriously, I know it’s a fashion trend now, but how the heck do you walk???  Oh, and if you’re going to dress that way please put some underwear on!  I do not want to see what you’re showing!

Finally for the day……The Blue Man Group!  In Prescott Valley.   We were apparently the start of the “How to be a Megastar Tour.”

Just about 1 decade ago I saw Blue Man in Boston.  After building out Sprint’s first digital wireless network, the employees of the New England region got a treat.  We deserved it too.  Years of network planning, installation of experimental voice mail platforms, tearing out those platforms, setting up 911, hooking up cell towers, trouble shooting everything, and more, we finally launched the network.  And as a treat, we were all taken to Blue Man Group.

At the time, Blue Man was playing at the Charles Playhouse.  A super small venue, so the entire theater was reserved for us.  And the show we saw was amazing, absolutely amazing!  When the show was over we all wanted to go right back in!  It was like the best amusement park ride I’d ever taken, but in musical and stage show form!

As a side note, shortly after that launch party every regional engineering group across the US was let go by Sprint.  That was our thank you for building the network out ahead of time…..

Last night’s performance was as amazing as the first show I saw.  Classic Blue Man group, only with a new show, a bigger band, great songs, and even more than I can describe.  I don’t think you’ll ever get the total picture of how one of their shows works.  You’ve just got to go.  That’s why I put the tour link up earlier.  You’ve got to see the show!

It was a shame to see about 1/3 of the seats unfilled last night.  People don’t know what they missed.  I can tell you, missing the mooner would have been fine, but if you didn’t see Blue Man last night  and you live in the area, you missed out big time!

This entry was posted on Friday, January 11th, 2008 at 7:00 am and is filed under Notes from Gadget.You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.