On the ground at LibertyCon

 

We arrived safely on Thursday afternoon after a relatively pleasant journey.  The Interstate between Nashville and Chattanooga is often so busy that it can take two hours or more to cover the distance, but for some reason we were blessed with light traffic and good weather.

The convention kicked off today (Friday) with all the usual pleasures of meeting and greeting friends whom we hadn't seen for a year or two.  It looks like I'm not alone in my medical woes, as several people I'd hoped to see here have begged off while they recover from their own troubles.  Funny how that seems to happen more and more often as we get older...

I'm taking it easy, being gentle with myself, and wearing a back brace while walking around, to make sure I don't overstress the damaged areas of my spine.  It's not comfortable, particularly if one goes outside into midsummer humidity and heat, but it's better than the alternative!

So far, plans are to leave Sunday afternoon and get home late on Monday.  That may change depending on Alma's commitments, but we'll see.  Meanwhile, please keep the prayers for safety (traveling and otherwise) coming.

Peter

On hiatus for LibertyCon

 

My wife and I, along with friend of long standing Alma Boykin, are headed out this morning to attend LibertyCon in Chattanooga, TN.  We'll get there Thursday evening, and be back home on Monday evening next week, God and the traffic permitting.

Blogging will be sparse during our absence.  I'll try to put up an article or two during free moments, but conventions typically don't include many of those!  Therefore, please amuse yourselves with the bloggers in my sidebar.

I'll see y'all on the other side.  Prayers for traveling mercy will, as always, be greatly appreciated.

Peter

I'm not a happy Safelite customer right now

 

I'm extremely fed up with Safelite, the windshield replacement people, at present.

I called them last week to replace my vehicle's windshield after a large crack developed.  They handled the initial appointment, insurance issues, etc. without difficulty.  However, when the technician arrived at our home to do the installation, we noticed immediately that the replacement windshield was much, much thinner glass than the factory original.  I queried this, but the installer assured me it was just as good as the original.

He took a couple of hours to replace the windshield, then left.  Less than an hour later, I stepped outside to find that a crack had developed in the center of the new glass, from top to bottom - worse than the initial crack I'd asked Safelite to repair.  Irritated (to put it mildly), I called Safelite at once, but could not get a human being on the line at all - everything was referred to their app or their Web site.  I was eventually able to get an appointment for "warranty service" last Saturday morning.

Lo and behold, on Friday afternoon Safelite canceled the Saturday appointment, with no explanation given.  We had to drive through the weekend in a vehicle whose windscreen I didn't trust not to develop further cracks.  At any rate, yesterday morning I had a call from their technician (at last).  He proceeded to inform me cheerfully that they couldn't replace my replacement windshield immediately, because the glue they used had to dry for at least a week before it was safe to remove it.  Why that information couldn't have been provided last week, instead of making, then canceling, an appointment for work they knew they wouldn't be able to do for that reason, I do not know.  Grrrr!

I pointed out that my wife and myself were leaving for Libertycon on Wednesday, and that the delay would mean we'd have to hire a vehicle for the journey, because I certainly wasn't prepared to trust their cracked windscreen to remain intact over a few thousand miles.  I informed him that I expected Safelite to pay for the hired vehicle, because it was due to their botched repair and delays in fixing it that the hire was necessary.  He told me that Safelite would not cover that cost, as it was their policy never to do so.  We'll see about that.  If necessary, Small Claims Court, here we come!  I think he passed that on to his bosses, as I had a couple more calls later yesterday all trying to tell me that Safelite wasn't responsible for any further expenses.  We'll find out.

Anyway, today I have to pick up our hired vehicle, hoping against hope that we can get the size we need at an affordable price.  We've had good results from Enterprise, so we'll be using them again.  Tomorrow it's off to Chattanooga with a carful of family, friends and luggage, to catch up with friends we haven't seen for some considerable time.  Meanwhile, my vehicle will just have to bask in the North Texas sunshine, waiting for our return before the repairs can proceed.

I'm not impressed by Safelite so far.  We'll see whether they can regain my trust and my future business, or whether it will be better to look elsewhere.

Peter

Memes that made me laugh 317

 

Gathered from around the Internet over the past week.  Click any image for a larger view.

Sunday morning music

 

Many readers will know of Nightwish, the Finnish symphonic metal group.  It's on hiatus at present, to allow several of its members to focus on solo albums and opportunities.  However, its keyboardist Tuomas Holopainen and multi-instrumentalist Troy Donockley, along with Holopainen's wife Johanna Kurkela, formed a progressive folk band in 2017.  They named it Auri.  The group isn't nearly as well-known in the USA as Nightwish, but it's gained a dedicated following in Europe.

In an interview with Blabbermouth, members described Auri's genesis as follows.

On the origins of AURI:

Tuomas: "2011 was when the seed was planted, so to say. That's when Troy made the first song called 'Aphrodite Rising'. And, that's a whole different story, but already back then, we knew that at some point that the three of us, we needed to be doing music together because the way we think about music and life, everything, it's so connected. It's such a rare thing that we need to come together and see what kind of music we would be able to create between the three of us. But for many years, we had other duties to attend to, with Johanna's solo career, us with NIGHTWISH being really busy with the 'Endless Forms Most Beautiful' album and tour, that we didn't have a chance to realize this dream called AURI until 2017. At some point in 2016, we realized, 'What are you doing next year? Do you have anything in your calendar?' 'Not really, nothing.' 'So, how about we try to do something?' It went a bit topsy-turvy because the first thing we did last March was to take the promotional shots, the photos of the band and of the landscapes for the album booklet. That kind of inspired and even forced us to continue recording the actual album."

On the songwriting process for AURI's debut album:

Troy: "It was quite unusual and extraordinary way to make an album, really. From the first seeds of the project — it's not a project, it's an entity — from the very beginning, because of the commitments we had to Johanna's solo work and me and Tuomas with NIGHTWISH, we just put everything in the freezer. We froze even the idea of it. But, it was still always there and it was still whispering to us and telling us, 'This has to happen.' In all that time, we did nothing towards AURI. Nothing. We just talked about it whenever we met up. We knew it was going to be some kind of experiment. We didn't know how it was going to solidify itself and become real. Once we did that, that strange, we did all the photographs for the album first before there was any album, it really got momentum and became really quite fast, the writing of the music. So we did it all in six months. We've got 11 songs on the record, but we did 10 of them in six months. It was the fastest we've ever worked, but we were just driven and inspired so deeply that the thing just wrote itself."

There's more at the link.

I've chosen one track from each of Auri's three albums (so far) to introduce you to their music.  From their eponymous first album, here's "I Hope Your World Is Kind".

From their second album, "Those We Don't Speak Of", here's "Light And Flood".

And, from their third album, "Candles & Beginnings", here's "The Invisible Gossamer Bridge".

You'll find more of their music on their official YouTube channel.

Peter