Syd Polk

I am playing bari sax and bass clarinet with the Austin Jazz Band at the Elephant Room on Congress, Monday, October 27, from 7-9 PM. Come down to the basement and say hi!

Actor, director, environmentalist Robert Redford dies at 89 | CNN Robert Redford, the dashing actor and Oscar-winning director who eschewed his status as a Hollywood leading man to champion causes close to his heart, died Tuesday, CNN has learned. He was 89.

RIP Robert Redford

www.cnn.com/2025/09/16/e...

Davey Johnson, 1986 Mets manager and 4-time All-Star, passes at 82 Davey Johnson, the All-Star second baseman who won two World Series as a player with the Baltimore Orioles and managed the New York Mets to their dramatic victory in the 1986 World Series, has passed ...

RIP Davey Johnson

What a great manager. The 1986 Mets are my most-hated team, but damn they were good.

Johnson as a manager reminded me of me as a manager. The people who worked fo him raelly liked him and did well, but he did not get along well with upper management.

www.mlb.com/news/davey-j...

It's all Game Theory.

If that makes me less than pure, fine. I prefer not to have the worst possible outcome happen. Period.

I am a firm believer of voting for the outcome in an election that prevents the most loathsome candidate from winning. In a general election, that may mean voting for a candidate in a major political party over a 3rd party candidate I like better but has no hope. 1/2

This is the Texas I love. I ate at Chuy’s in Austin tonight, and I saw a mixed-race couple, a family that looked maybe Filipino, some people that looked Mexican, and a South Asian family where the father was wearing a turban, all thoroughly enjoying their food.

Cubs Hall of Famer Sandberg dies at age 65 Ryne Sandberg, a Hall of Fame second baseman who spent nearly all of his playing career with the Cubs, died Monday after a recurrence of cancer.

RIP Ryne Sandberg

www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/...

Middle-aged Caucasian man in light blue sport coat and dark pants, playing an old baritone sax with an orange mouthpiece. He is standing, with a microphone pointed to the bell. He is in a dark room, and there is a musician behind him whose face is obscured by some kind of equipment.

I am playing bari sax, and one bass clarinet feature, with Austin Jazz Band, Monday, July 28th, 2025, from 7-9 PM, at the Elephant Room in Austin. Come on down to the basement and say hi!

I or people I have known have been burned by every one of these pieces of advice over the past 38 years of my career.

Including yesterday, when my employer laid off 1300 people.

5/5

This is true for ALL EMPLOYERS. Also, you never know when your badge no longer works, so don't leave anything personally important in an office. Never store personal files on a work computer as usually the IT department can see them, steal them or wipe them remotely without your knowledge. 4/

You never know when your access to the corporate VPN or your corporate email will disappear. This will also help in case you have any litigation with your employer; you will have the docs. 3/

Always download all paychecks, benefits docs, policy docs, HR communications, PDFs of performance reviews, offer letters, promotion announcements, pay adjustment announcements, RSU documents, etc, to your personal drives as soon as they become available. 2/

Advice about work-personal data separation:

Never never never store any personal data in your corporate email/google drive/password managers. Never put personal projects on your work computers. 1/

Deranged picture of me holding a giant d20.

This was my kids' Father's Day gift for me.

What's your Armor Class?

RIP Bill Atkinson

www.nytimes.com/2025/06/07/t...

I have a few USB external drives for sale. 3 TB $30, 4 TB $40, 8 TB $80 single drives. 1 6 TB two-drive raid $70 (also accepts eSATA connection).
If you are in Austin, let me know if you are interested.

I am playing baritone sax with the Austin Jazz Band at the Elephant Room on Congress in Austin, Monday, May 19, 7-9 PM. Come out and say hi!

Most of the music we play was composed in the last 5-10 years. Vandy PAC fills up fast, so get there early if you want a seat! 3/3

Cedar Park Winds is a professional-level community band, populated primarily with band directors from one of the most accomplished set of school districts in the nation, but also other musicians, and professional hobbyists, such as myself. 2/

I am also playing baritone sax (and only baritone sax) with the Cedar Park Winds at Vandegrift High School Performaing Arts Center in West Austin, Sunday, May 4, from 4-5 PM. 1/

I am playing baritone sax (and possibly a little bit of other woodwinds) with the Austin Jazz Band at the Elephant Room on Congress in downtown Austin, Monday, April 28, 2005, from 7-9 PM. Come down into the basement and say hello!

Anyway, RIP, Chris Knight/Val Kilmer. I hope you are wearing your styrofoam antenna balls in heaven right now.

This movie, and Wayne's World, captured my generation of white people in the USA extremely well. They are two of the classic Generation Jones/Generation X movies. I can watch this thing over and over again.

7/

I am all of those things.

Of course, Knight is smarter and sexier that I was or will ever be, and Val Kilmer's looks have a lot to do with that. But his performance showed that subtle, soft underbelly of doubt extremely well.

6/

Of all of the characters I have ever seen in movies, Chris Knight is the one that I identify with the most. He is bright, cocky, quirky, and can be quite fun, but there is a hint of self-loathing, and he is arrogant as can be, and has severe problems with authority.

5/

Val Kilmer's character, Chris Knight, is a wacky, irreverent fellow, with a severe case of senioritis, and he is the foil to our 15-year old main character.

4/

This movie resonates with me on several levels. I went to one of those colleges, Rice University, in the mid-80s. These characters are my classmates.

3/

Many news articles are listing his appearances in more mainstream movies, like "Top Gun", "Batman Forever", "Tombstone", etc., but I would like to talk about his appearance in one of my favorites, "Real Genius".

This 1985 movie is about a bunch of smart kids at an academically rigorous college.

2/

Val Kilmer, film star known for ‘Top Gun,’ ‘Batman Forever’ and ‘Tombstone,’ dead at 65 | CNN Val Kilmer, a movie star in the 1980s and ‘90s who played everything from Batman to Doc Holliday, died on Tuesday, according to his daughter Mercedes Kilmer, who released a statement to the New York T...

RIP Val Kilmer

1/

www.cnn.com/2025/04/02/e...

I am playing bari sax (with a smattering of piccolo) with the Austin Jazz Band at the Elephant Room on Congress in Austin, Monday, March 31st, from 7-9 PM. Come out and say hi!