If you’re like many of us who call Miami home, odds are at least two of the following three things are true:

1. You were not born here.
2. There is Florida, a beautiful representation of the United States of America and then there is Miami, which has its own cultural signature separate from the rest of the nation, and then you return to Florida as soon as you enter Monroe County.  There’s no passport required, despite what those who live north of Miami-Dade county or in the Conch Republic may want to claim.
3. Miami is full of great places to eat.

In my case, all of the above apply.  However, despite moving to Miami in 1997 I can still claim that I don’t know my adopted hometown that well.  Sure, I can ride Miami-Dade Transit like a pro – even tell you with full confidence how not to use Metrobus and Metrorail,,. I can even tell you about little known gems, such as Schnebly Redland’s Winery and not so hidden gems like the Metrozoo.  At the same time, I can make some crazy claims like “I’ve lived here for 12 years without a car!” and “I do appreciate that Miami-Dade County – despite its speckled past – is a decent place to live if you know where (and how) to live.

This portion of my blog is about my on-going discovery of Miami-Dade County.  I didn’t say Miami because for most of the world, Miami starts and ends east of the Julia Tuttle causeway, with some (coincidental) destinations east of the Everglades and north of Key Largo.

It is possible to be a tourist in your own hometown… In a way, I will always be.  Miami is vibrant and ever changing.  Some of this changes are for the best, some, not that much; but one thing is true: Miami is eclectic, and – at least for me – Miami is home.

I will admit that I am somewhat of an anglophile… I love many things about Great Britain: its food, traditions, military history, and to an extent its politics.  I have always wanted to go during the summer to attend the Last Night of the Proms and be part of the massive audience enjoying and perhaps even singing along with the BBC Orchestra and Chorus…

Anyhow, today I was looking for music to listen to while I was working on my latest venture when all of a sudden I bumped into this golden nugget:

Isn’t it amazing how the fervour of the audience is transmitted through the video?  The beauty of it is that I assure you that there are all sorts of people there with there different views on a plethora of issues, yet they still get together and sing… It’s beautiful!  And Sir Roger Norrington is on point about what music is.  It’s why I joined a musical fraternity; its why I had little reservations about joining a marching band at age 27.  Music is a universal language and truly the greatest of the arts.  That sounds awfully familiar…

There’s nothing like an organ surge on the last musical phrases of a wonderful piece!  I always wanted to see a graduation here in the States where the complete last portion of Pomp and Circumstances

Just in case you enjoyed Elgar’s Pomp and Circumstance, here’s the rest of that final segment of the Last Night of the Proms, 2008.

Who knows, perhaps the BBC might still have a fighting chance as the jewel of culture I remember it being ages ago

Rule Brittania! (Bryn Terfel was especially awesome singing in Welsh!)

God Save the Queen!

Okay, yet again I’ve decided to reboot the blog.  The last time I posted on it, unkonventional was leasing its hosting assets with a certain provider, I was working in Coral Gables, and life was okay…

Four Five months later, some things haven’t changed (much);  I still do web development for a living and I can’t seem to get away from good music, great movies, and whatnot.  Other things have;  obviously I’ve moved unkonventional to a great hosting provider, I now work in Doral, my phone has changed, and I’ve become more aggressive about managing my hypertension.  Whatelse?  I still love GNU-Linux, but I’ve decided to let it take charge of my servers;  my workstation is (as of last night) a kickass iMac.  I still pinch myself at the thought that I wouldn’t have even caught myself thinking jokingly of regularly using — much less owning  — an Apple computer.  Oh the wonders of the *nix world.

Anyhow, there are things I do want to blog about… I’m excited about many things, personal, professional, and political (the three “Ps”, go figure…)  I’ll add more later, but for now, I better get back to setting up my workstation and finalizing this blog.

ian!