Michael Braun's Blog

Maybe I’ve written too often about the coming of spring. I think that the endless winter we suffered thru as had a real detrimental effect on my psyche. Rather than be excited about the change of seasons, I have only trepidation that it is not real, that it is only some cruel joke played on us by the weather gods. And the folks at WKOW are not especially helpful, as they keep incorrectly predicting drops in temperature. I expect it to fall back into the 40s and stay there for weeks, maybe even long enough to deliver us another dose of snow. And all I can think about is those summer days when it is so hot and humid outside that you just want to lay in front of the air conditioner.

So while I still don’t believe that actual hot weather is ever going to come back, this weekend is certainly shaping up to be a nice one. Lauren and I spent some time walking on State Street and found the weather to definitely be warm. It was 65 as we drove back to my apartment. Pretty darn nice! And the temperature is supposed to break 70 tomorrow. Maybe it’s time to get out the tennis rackets and hit the court!

Rather than do something energetic today, we went to look at digital pianos. Lauren’s great at the piano, and I like to tinker around, but currently neither of us has an easy place to play so we thought purchasing a digital piano would be an ideal thing to do! Trouble is, we went to the Steinway Gallery in Madison (off Mineral Point, next to Panera Bread), where they sell Roland brand digital pianos. Very expensive (and nice) pianos. The guy had nothing but praise for them, and criticism towards Yamaha and Casio. But since we don’t want to spend $2000 on a digital piano, we didn’t make a purchase, and probably won’t at that store. He mentioned that Guitar Center, off Whitney Way, sold less expensive models. We looked at those and they seemed pretty darn good (though, to be fair, not as good as the Rolands), even though Guitar Center was noisy and jam-packed with musical stuff. Anyway, maybe a digital piano is in our future once we get our economic stimulus checks.

Tonight, we are going with Beth and Tony to see ‘Forgetting Sarah Marshall’ a Judd Apatow produced romantic comedy that has gotten excellent reviews. I’m hoping it will have something to offer both the romantic comedy critics and those seeking a nice romance. We’ll see! I’m also predicting the movie to do well at the box office. Judd Apatow, despite TV flops of ‘Freaks and Geeks’ and ‘Undeclared’ has done very well in the movie business. ‘Knocked Up’ and ‘Superbad’ were two of my favorite movies from last summer. Hopefully this one will be just as good!

One more thing – pitch out there for folks looking to network with people over what books they read: Tony got me to sign up for an account at GoodReads. It’s a nice easy way to put what books you’ve read and are reading and then to share that information with friends! If you sign up and add me as a friend (michaeltbraun@gmail.com), then I will have two friends (or more!), so give it a try!!