2016 Spring June 9 Thursday

57 degrees this morning. Nashville, Tennessee  

CMA Fest stats today.  Already saw some huge crowds at “preliminary” events.  We walked  to the downtown Walgreens (it was closed when we got there!) and were reminded again of the steep hills in downtown Nashville!  

Each time we attend the CMA Fest, it seems as if the hot summer weather starts, and this year isn’t any exception.  While it is now 57 degrees, it is supposed to get into the nineties.

Overall, Aliene and i usually spend most of the day inside (except for walking places), and go to the nightly concerts (which includes the “big” music acts) which are outside.  

It is like any event like this, you simply can’t do everything you’d like to do, so you make some decisions and enjoy yourself.

There are many “road not taken” decisions, just like at conference  or any event with events going on at one time.

We have found that if we make a point to see some of the music acts that we “have” to see, and kind of go with the flow on the rest, we tend to see some new music acts and singers (old or new0 that we liked but didn’t know about before.

It seems every CMA Fest we discover 3 or 4 singers we didn’t know, but really liked.  Of course, you hit some duds also.  

I think ‘anticipation” is a lot of the fun of anything like this, and you just hope that the reality exceeds or equals your anticipation!

I knew someone once who basically said they had “positive negativity” (or something like that).  If they didn’t expect anything, or expected something to go wrong, they would be pleased when things went right and wouldn’t be disappointed almost not matter what happened!

I thought it was an interesting concept, but I couldn’t live that way!  I simply have to anticipate things will go great.  I may be disappointed more, but overall I’m not usually all that disappointed.  

Once again, I have found the value of “Apple Notes”.  They are simple, but the most useful.  

I actually have a large number of “apps” etc. that Apple Notes has outshone.  Sometimes simple is simply the best.  

I tried to used “Google Keep”, but ended up losing most of my notes because Google Keep tried to be too cute.  I deleted the app from my phone as worthless, or worse than useless and returned to Apple Notes. 

One thing that really irritates me about many “apps” and programs is when they attempt to think  they know what you want.  Obviously Amazon is the absolute worst for this (they are usually wrong also), but Google comes in a close second many times, although they aren’t as obnoxious about it as Amazon is.   

With modern technology, all conferences and events now have very few paper handouts, schedules etc.  Not it is all “apps” and downloads, etc.  

The difference is really amazing for today’s events and conferences.  Instead of numerous handouts, everything is “apps” or downloads.  

Actually that is great, it creates lot less mess and is much more convenient and of course saves a lot of money (which somehow they forget to share with the attendees!) 

Of course, it makes it much easier to see who is playing where etc., and allows for late changes or news etc. to be distributed to all.

I am also trying to eliminate paper notes by using “Apple Notes” to the maximum extent.  As long as I don’t forget to use them it works great!

That’s it for now, Thursday, June 8, 2016.  Watch for my pictures on Instagram, Facebook etc!