The above video is one of the most beautiful pieces of classical music that I have ever heard.  It is also one of the most fascinating recent experiments with music and technology.  Eric Whitacre posted a video of himself on YouTube conducting the piece in silence, and then invited people to upload a video of themselves singing to the music. The answer was 185 voices, which he arranged into a “Virtual Choir”.  The results speaks for themselves and it is phenomenal.

New technologies allow for the better or more efficient process - essentially, doing something better.  That, at best, is lame.  The winners will be those who harness these new tools to change the rules of the game completely.

Who said that a choir has to meet in a bricks-and-mortar facility?  The new rules dictate that practising choir is no longer an issue of physical proximity but of clustering around passion.  This key of clustering around passion is the new reality for any organisation, in any field.

photo credit: Izzard Today is my wife's birthday. I really wanted to treat Annabelle to a special day however we could not really afford going overboard with expensive gifts. I feel that I must invest in my marriage. Relationships need investment, and like all investments, the greater your investment in them the greater the dividend will be. For her birthday then I decided that I was going to surprise her with several "treats". Without further ado....... herewith follows the anthology of a pampering frugal romantic: 1. The day was started by serving-up breakfast in bed. Nothing too fancy but just preparing something for her was special in itself. This also included my making-up earlier and preparing the boys' breakfast and their lunches so that Annabelle would not have to rush and do it herself. We gave her a couple of birthday cards and sang "Happy Birthday", waking-up the baby in the process (my bad). 2. Halfway through the morning I called her to check-up on her..... and told her where she could find a secret letter that I had written to her and hidden. The letter just simply was a little "pause" to reflect on what she means to me. 3. We had originally planned to have lunch together at a fabulous but reasonably priced Moroccan restaurant that we both love, but circumstances conspired to make it impossible to eat out. No worries I had it the meal prepared to go and I went home for lunch and treated her to a nice meal. 4. I had some flowers delivered to her at home during the afternoon - my babe loves flowers. 5. When I went home (early!!!) I gave her another little surprise - I had researched all of the Billboard No. 1 best-selling songs of each year, for every year since she was born right up to last year, and had downloaded them and made a compilation of the "music of [her] life" 6. .....I think that is all that you need to know ;) The point is this: Make every effort to invest in your marriage - it is THE most important relationship that you have with another human being. I am being challenged to continue to do this, to continue to find creative ways to improve my relationship, improve my communication with her, my intimacy with her - well, I guess you get the picture. A great relationship does not just "happen" - it is made. In a society where you can rejoice simply when a marriage is surviving, I want to have a marriage that thrives, that is not just good but great - a marriage where we do not just tolerate each other, but celebrate each other.