Category Archives: Personal

Replacing Phoenix

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I’m glad that the Canadian government is finally replacing the Phoenix pay system. On my eight-month Master of Library & Information Science co-op placement at the Parks Canada National Library in 2017, it seriously messed up my pay. They’re replacing it with something from Germany-based company SAP. However, as someone who now uses SAP’s incredibly complex main product every day at work, I have to wonder if they can really build a system that will make sense. Part of the problem with Phoenix is that the necessary training by IBM to use it correctly was simply never done. Hopefully, SAP can build something that won’t require much training and that will just work.

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/ottawa/phoenix-pay-system-replacement-sap-1.5488435

Meta Plow

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Hilariously, these several plow-dudes plowed their way to work this morning in their snow-plow-fitted pickup trucks and then switched over to their industrial-strength snow plows.

“Meta Plow, that’s their name; that name again is Meta Plow.”

Neil Peart, RIP

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I always sort of hoped that Rush’s drummer-lyricist Neil Peart and I would cross paths at some point and have an interesting conversation. We both first lived on family farms in Ontario, our fathers both worked at International Harvester dealerships, we both wrote multiple books (much of my work being about Rush’s music), we are both Canadians who lived in Los Angeles for a time, he was nicknamed “The Professor,” and I actually once was a Visiting Assistant Professor. Rush’s music is not everyone’s cup of tea, but the complexity (definitely present in the drumming), the constant stream of influences (lyrical and musical), and the work ethic were remarkable. Please consider giving a monetary gift in his memory to a cancer charity of your choice. RIP, Neil.

Help Me Get Better LinkedIn!

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LinkedIn seems to be mainly useful for people who have had fairly straightforward job experiences within limited industries. It also helps if one has easily highlighted skills, with useful endorsements and recent recommendations by people who know what you’re trying to do.
Numerically to date, my top endorsements are: Music, Singing, Writing, and WordPress, followed by other IT/Computer things (but Software Development?!) and Music things (but Music Theory?!). There’s almost nothing else about my academic work in musicology (just Editing) and absolutely nothing about my work in Library & Information Science.
I’ve added some categories, deleted others, and am trying to get some more recent, relevant people to help me update my skills endorsements and recommendations. I find that very few academics and librarians actually use LinkedIn, but please help me out if you are able to. Thanks!
https://www.linkedin.com/in/durrellbowman/

 

undefined

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Email greeting from a cell phone provider: “undefined, get ready for back to school … .”

A. That’s Dr. Undefined to you, and B. I really should stop going back to school!

Big Moose Vacation

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We had another lovely visit to Vicky’s family’s cottage at Big Moose Lake in the Adirondacks in Upstate New York from August 2-14. The vacation included kayaking, a little hiking, swimming, hanging out with ducks, loons, and llamas (!); playing fetch with Dougal, board games (which are some of Gareth’s favourite things), souvenir shopping, barbecues, ice cream, pizza and wings, mini golf, reading, visitors from Utica and Vermont, Emma playing piano at the nearby chapel, and more!

Speaking of the Big Moose Community Chapel, at their annual Bazaar they played recordings of Gordon Lightfoot songs as a warm-up, so I decided maybe we should be allowed to call Adirondack Chairs “Muskoka Chairs” after all!

Simpsons book bio

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Here’s my bio for a forthcoming book about The Simpsons (McFarland, 2018, edit: actually 2019), in which I have a chapter called “Be Sharp: The Simpsons & Music.” [I also have a semi-related journal article coming out in MUSICultures in 2020.]

Durrell Bowman has a Ph.D. in Musicology (UCLA, 2003), a Certificate in Computer Applications Development (2010), and a Master of Library and Information Science (2018). For about a decade, he developed and taught music history courses as an adjunct or visiting instructor at seven institutions all across North America. He has also worked as a semi-professional choral singer, built websites, and presented numerous conference papers, including several on music in The Simpsons. In addition, he has written books, book chapters, journal articles, media and book reviews, reference entries, and program notes. His books are: Experiencing Peter Gabriel: A Listener’s Companion (Rowman & Littlefield, 2016), Experiencing Rush: A Listener’s Companion (Rowman & Littlefield, 2014), and Rush and Philosophy: Heart and Mind United (co-editor and three chapters, Open Court Publishing, 2011). He hails from what Homer refers to as “America Junior” and agrees with Marge that “grad students just made a terrible life choice.”

Stephen Hawking, R.I.P.

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In honour of Dr. Stephen W. Hawking’s remarkable work and (even less likely) long life, Albert Einstein’s birthday, Hawking’s status as Distinguished Visiting Research Chair at Waterloo, Ontario’s Perimeter Institute (PI), and Pi Day (3.14), please join me in a slice of pi/e (preferably at 1:59). You may also remember Hawking from his interest in Homer Simpson’s theory of a donut-shaped universe.

Delivery Driver, Occasional Musician, and Former Academic (Ph.D. in Musicology)

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