Greetings and welcome to today's random thought.
Has it really been a week since I last blogged? It doesn't seem that long to me. Oh well. This week I received a few CDs in the mail that I had special ordered. I (our whole family really) am a big fan of the group Tree63. We have their mainstream releases (the 4th of which I received for Christmas). In researching the band I found out that they are originally from South Africa (though they now reside in Nashville). It turns out that they used to be called simply Tree and their first album was called 63 (after Psalm 63). When they were going to release their first CD in the states they found out that there was already a band named Tree so they combined Tree and 63 to become Tree63. I found an online music store that said they had a CD called 63 Sessions which was supposed to be outtakes from their first US CD. I placed the order, received the order confirmation and waited. Nothing came or happened. I emailed the website multiple times with no response. My credit card was never charged. The site sold more that just Tree63 stuff so I emailed some of the bands that had merchandise there and received no response from them either. Eventually I emailed the Tree63 management email address referenced on their MySpace page. They said they could get me the 63 Sessions CD if I mailed them a check for $12 and so I did. Early this week I got the CD in the mail. It is one of those "for fans only" type CDs but I like it as does the son. It even appeared to be autographed.
In my research of the band, I also found out that they released 3 albums as the band Tree. They were not released in the states. I have a co-worker in the UK and though he had never heard of them, he did have a brother who was going to be in South Africa so he promised to look at the local stores there. Tree had several #1 hits on South Africa radio so my hopes were high. After a few weeks I received the news that he could not find anything. I did find a double CD that had 2 of the Tree releases on a double CD. I found it on a UK bookstore site. It was going to be about $40 once you throw in international shipping. That seems a bit much for me (though I hinted to the wife that it would be a great birthday present). In one last desperate attempt I checked out the UK eBay site and lo and behold someone had a copy and the shipping was much more reasonable ($28 total for the CD and shipping). Ironically it was the exact same UK bookstore that wanted $40 for it. It was one of those Buy It Now auctions so I ordered it. It was shipped via Royal Air Mail (sounds important doesn't it?). I got the CDs in the mail yesterday and am listening to them as I write this blog. Most of the songs were re-recorded and released on the US CDs that I have but there are several new (to me) songs and the other songs are in slightly different versions. All in all I am happy.
It was a very busy week at work and at home (hence the lack of blogs). Take Thursday for instance, I started off with my usual Thursday call to Egypt, Hungary and The Netherlands (though The Netherlands guy didn't make it). I then went into a 90 minute training session hosted by a friend in Argentina but most of the trainees were from Mexico. This was all in Spanish so I just multitasked and listened for my name. Shortly after that it was another training session hosted by my Argentinian friend only the trainees were from Mexico and Brazil (this was also in Spanish). I did manage to hear a few words I recognized (la herramienta nueva - the new tool). I had an actual call to Virginia thrown in there somewhere and then it was off to my last call for the day to New Zealand and Australia (thankfully in English). Thursday was my busiest day but typical of my week. Throw in the fact that the wife went to a get together on Monday evening and the kids had AWANA on Wednesday and the week was just "full". Thankfully though it is all over and I can relax here with my coffee (with Tree playing in the background). However Monday is lurking with several more important meetings. If I was a fellow that would get a big head over these types of things, surely it would be huge by now. For me it is just fun to interact with all the different cultures (and to try to internationalize my sense of humor - though I fear I will never get Australian humor!).
Tonight we are going out with friends to Buca de Beppo's. It is their fist time going there so it should be fun. When you get a chance, head over to my YouTube page and see some of the videos I have posted (another thing that kept me busy this week).
Thanks for reading my Random Thoughts.
Jon
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