Daniel Greene

Tag: Arizona

  • What I’m up to these days. Just a wee bit busy!

    I crave excitement and I have a need to achieve. Sometimes, though, it seems that all my projects overlap and the pressure feels crushing. One way that I handle the pressure is to avoid it, which in turn makes the pressure even worse by the time I get back to work on what I’ve been procrastinating.

    So, what are all the things I’m doing (and/or avoiding doing) right now? Well, there is the matter of taxes. My husband’s employer somehow forgot to take out any taxes for him in 2008, and he somehow never noticed this. So I have to pay his tax debt with my tax refund. But to get my tax refund, my tax accountant needs to return my phone calls and e-mails, which so far he hasn’t. The sooner I get my taxes filed, the sooner I get my return, and the sooner we can file my husband’s taxes along with the money he owes. I would be nice if filing jointly were an option for same-sex couples.

    Then there is the Arizona RID State Conference this weekend. I am presenting a workshop on Saturday afternoon titled “Knowing What They’re Going to Say Before They Say It: Using Genre Recognition to Improve Your Predictive Skills.” I’m in a competing time slot with Ari-Asha Castalia, Sharon Neumann Solow, and Teddi Von Pingel, so no pressure there. 😉 (more…)

  • Genre Recognition Venn Diagram

    I’m such a nit-picking perfectionist it’s killing me! I’m working on tweaking my slideshow presentation for a workshop I’m teaching at the Arizona RID State Conference, and I’m creating a Venn diagram because it was suggested by a few of the participants when I first taught this workshop last November. Problem is I’ve never created a Venn diagram before. I’m trying to represent how Genre Recognition is a skill that develops at the intersection of Discourse Analysis, Predictive Skills*, and Genre Theory.

    Is this diagram readable? Does anyone have any suggestions for improving it? Can you believe I’ve been working on this for an hour? Urgh! I hate being a perfectionist!

    *While Googling “predictive skills” (a term used a lot in ASL interpreter training), I could not find a single page that defined the term. Hm… interesting.

  • Tweetup meal w/ Gary Millard & Sheila Bocchine

    I took part in an interesting phenomenon today. I was riding the light rail home from work when I checked Twitter using Twidroid on my T-Mobile G1 with Google. An update suddenly appeared from Sheila Bocchine (sheilabocchine on Twitter and daisyjellybean on Flickr) that read, “I have all the necessary paperwork for my visa complete!! Yay!! Now for lunch at Mrs. White’s Golden Rule Cafe!!”

    I’ve wanted to try Mrs. White’s Golden Rule Cafe for a couple of years now, and I’ve seen it many times lately while passing it on the eastbound train on Jefferson at 8th Street. I just happened to be on Washington and 24th Street when I read her latest tweet, so I was only blocks away from the restaurant. I sent her a direct message saying, “Like company for lunch? I’m on the Metro in that direction right now! =)”. I didn’t hear back right away, so I sent another, “I am at 12th st & Washington right now”, and finally, “I got off the train. If now’s not a good time, I can get the next one.” Luckily, I got a direct message from her as I stood on the station platform that said, (more…)

  • Radames & Aïda in Act III of Aïda

    Drew Slatton & Marie-Adele McArthur in a scene from Act III of Aïda.

    I am in the male chorus of Phoenix Opera’s production of Aïda at the Orpheum Theatre in downtown Phoenix, Arizona. I got permission to take photos of the show during Act III, which I’m not in, and it was thrilling to capture dramatic moments in this grand opera. Another photographer turned to me while I was snapping photos and he had a smile on his face that showed me he was on a photographer’s high– it was that look that one person gives another when he’s so bubbling over with happiness he has to turn to his fellow man and say, “isn’t it great?” Turns out the photographer is Howard Paley, the Executive Director of Phoenix Opera. I told him how I would put these photos on Flickr and send him a link to them. I only had enough time to get six hours of sleep and put up a few photos for now, but I look forward to putting up more later this afternoon.

    P.S. Back home from work now, I must add that what is astonishing in the chemistry you see here is that Drew Slatton, our new Radames, flew in just before this final dress rehearsal to replace an ailing tenor. He has played Radames several times, and he was able to jump in at the last minute to Save Our Ship. The nimbleness of Phoenix Opera, Drew Slatton, Marie-Adele MacArthur, and all the performers who adjusted to him goes to show the amazing talent and dedication of the opera world!

    Production credits: lighting design by Paul Black, costume design and production direction by David Castellano, artistic direction by Gail Dubinbaum, musical direction by John Massaro and stage direction by Albert Sherman. More info at phoenixopera.org

  • Metro Morning Reflections



    Metro Morning Reflections
    Originally uploaded by Daniel Greene

    The stations on the Valley Metro Light Rail alignment offer endless opportunities for reflection and photography. This morning, I got this photograph by stabilizing my G1 cameraphone against one of the I beams that suspend the sails, lights, text displays, PA speakers, security cameras, etc. And what I got was the beautiful reflections in the high gloss paint on the I beam!