The Battle for Middle-Earth

Let it be known that Nerd-Dom comes in varying levels.

1.) Mild Enjoyment: Going to see a movie, enjoying it, and buying it, even if you only watch it once.

2.) Thorough Enjoyment: Seeing the movie, and then reading all the books. Wait until the "Special Edition" of said movie comes out and buying it, and buying said "Special Edition" for a copy of the movie you already have.

3.) Mild Obsessiveness: Watching the movies quite often. Watching documentaries on bonus discs and laughing along with silly anecdotes, even though you weren't there. Point out book-to-movie discrepincies to anyone and everyone, even if they don't care.

4.) Unhealthy Obsession: Buying not one, but two computer games based on said movie/novel/breakfast cereal. Think that having an army of the dead, even just a couple guys, would be pretty damn cool.

5.) Full-blown Nerdiness: Honestly think that lighting fixtures in the Cheesecake Factory look a lot like the Eye of Sauron.


That said, it's not all I've been doing. I've been doing a lot of crossword puzzles lately, and...oh, crap, I mean, I played Half-Life 2 again, and, shit...um, well, I.....

How about Christmas, eh? Yes, World Peace was maintained, due to either the neutral territory, or my many threats of bloody death to anyone stepping out of line. Maybe it was a blessing from the Papal States. Or the ham. It was pretty pretty good, you know. We have plenty, if anyone's hungry. I s'pose I wouldn't mind hosting again, but man, the pre-holiday cleaning is just God-awful. Bleah. Many thanks to the States for swinging by and helping. We couldn't have done it without you. Really, it was quite nice having the family together and, pretty much, getting along. Perhaps there's hope still for all of us.

I'm smack-dab in the middle of a week off from work, and I must say it's a wonderful experience. Apart from a few piddly house chores, I haven't really done much of anything. I availed myself of the warmer weather today and took some pictures, but that's about it. Watched a lot of movie, played some computer, even took up mall walking. Oh, and I've eaten. Lots. Like, way too much. I'm actually giving strong thought to using the gym at the civic center once I get my resident card renewed. It's certainly not a case of being totally un-buff, I just want to be more buff. More...buff. Yeah.

I also feel somewhat obligated to do some end-of-the-year wrap-up, because it's the hip thing to do. So let's try.

Best Album: How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb, U2
Runner-Up: Is There Love in Space?, Joe Satriani

Best Concert: Cowboy Mouth, Mississippi Nights, February 6
Runner-Up: Joe Satriani, The Pageant, October 24

Best Movie: The Incredibles
Runner-Up: Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban
*It should be noted I only saw 3 movies in the theatres all year.

Best Reason to Stay Up Later than I Should: New York Times Crossword Puzzle collections

Best Photo Shoot: Telegraphers club (wire tappers, morse code, etc.)
Runner-Up: tie: Relay for Life and Vietnam Memorial Wall

Most Superficial, Vapid Event: Shandi Finnessy Day. Please.

Best New Appliance: My new toaster.
Runner-Up: The stand-up mixer.

Best Athlete: Tony Womack

Best Sport: Baseball
Runner-Up: Football

Best Thing to Be Told at Work: "I'll tell you what. I give you permission to goof off for the next two hours."



I think I'll go goof off for a couple hours now.

Nobody's gonna take my car, gonna break the speed of sound, yeah.
Dave

I've got the music in me!

As I'm sure you've all been doing lately, I found myself somewhat down knowing the 'Tones won't be touring next year. Then I heard myself say:

"You know, you've got a wonderful recording of their last show to last you, and an entire Archive.org of shows to peruse."

And I say:

"Yeah, but it's just not the same."

So myself says:

"So what are you going to do next year? Sit around and mope?"

And I say:

"No, I'm going to do a few things: see U2 support HTDAAB, see the Mouth support [new album name here], catch Vic on his solo tour, see Steve Vai on April 10 at the Pageant, and see the Jeff Coffin Mu'Tet February 12 at the Broadway Street Oyster Bar."

So myself says:

"Why the big deal, then?"

And I say:

"I dunno, I just like complaining."

At that point, my inner self said a few things I can't repeat in mixed company, and locked itself in my room. The point is, I think, is that I have some good shows to see next year. That's it, really. I just wanted an excuse to do a really lame spin on Steve's inner dialogue about pizza. It really wasn't very good, and I apologize.

But hey: Steve Vai!


Basses on Mars?
Dave

I like the sound of my own voice.

Mmm...the sweet smell of a survey. I'm trying to horn in on Steve's territory here.

----------------- THE BASICS--------------------
--Name: Dav(id)
-- Birthday: 12 September 1981
-- Nicknames: Mooooooooooooore!!!! and....Fish Boy
-- Favorite band: psh.

-----------------YOU PREFER--------------------
--Pepsi or Coke: Co'Cola
-- McDonald's or Burger King: I decided BK takes itself way too seriously tonight, so McDon's.
-- Adidas or Nike: Either one works. They both fit.
-- Chocolate or vanilla: If I go to Steak 'n Shake, I can get both at once, so why bother choosing?
-- Cappuccino or coffee: Mountain Dew. Thank you.
-----------------DO YOU--------------------
--Smoke: No, I can get my own beek jerky, thank you.
-- Cuss: Wednesdays, every other Friday, and odd numbered Thursdays.
-- Take a shower everyday: When necessary.
-- Have a crush(es): No, but I do have an (es), thank you.
-- Who are they?: She's over there. Watch out! She'll get ya when you least expect it!
-- Do you think you've been in love?: I wasn't. Then I was. Now am. Will be for at least another 2 terabytes worth of hours or so.
--Want to go to college: Why? Are you paying?
-- Want to get married: Sure. Sounds like fun.
-- Type w/ your fingers on the right keys: Mario and I didn't get along. Wario taught me the evil ways of....non-proper typing methods.
-- Believe in yourself: Except when I'm trying to curl my tongue, yes.
-- Get motion sickness: No, but I have been to a place called Vertigo. It's everything I wish I didn't know.
-- Think you're attractive: Are you kidding? I've got to use giant tremor-inducing machines to keep the ant lions at bay. Wait. That's Gordon Freeman. Yes. Yes I'm very attractive. Can't you tell?
-- Like thunderstorms: I like the rain falling down on me.
-- Play an instrument: Is mayonnaise an instrument?

------------IN THE PAST MONTH HAVE YOU----------------
--Smoke(d): Yes. I lit my eyelashes on fire "just to see what it felt like."
-- Done a drug: I only get one? What a bummer...
-- Gone to the mall: Yes, but not to shop.
-- Eaten sushi: The Beatles!
-- Been on stage: Yes. Really!
-- Gone skating: Only along the slippery road of life. Next, please.
-- Made homemade cookies: Yes. Twice, even!
-- Been in love: Four sure, yo.
-- Dyed your hair: Nyet.
-- Stolen anything: Three lame jokes and some air from a guy in Clayton. He wasn't using it, as far as I could tell.
-----------------HAVE YOU EVER--------------------
--Flown on a plane: I refues to believe being taped to the wings is the "economy class."
-- Missed school because it was raining?: What?
-- Told a guy/girl that you liked them?: Guy divided by girl=cos45. So, yes. I think.
-- Cried during a movie?: Sigh, when Mothra was beating up on Godzilla, I just couldn't help myself.
-- Ever thought an animated character was hot?: Aeon Flux? Psh. It's all about Daria.
-- Had an imaginary friend: I had to get rid of him. He kept eating my Crispix.
-- Been on stage?: Look up!
-- Cut your hair: Yes. With a spoon.
-- Had crush on a teacher?: Marie Osmond. I mean, wait. No.
-- Gotten beaten up: I wasn't all that good at that old Nintendo boxing game.
-- Been in a fight: But I rule at any Mortal Kombat before they went 3-D.
-----------------THE FUTURE--------------------
--Age you hope to be married: Somewhere between my age now and 87.
-- Numbers and Names of Children: I'm going to have Ron children and name them 8, 14, and 63.
-- How do you want to die?: Happy and peacefully.
-- What do you want to be when you grow up?: Paul Sanchez and/or news photographer.
-- What country would you most like to visit?: That little one in Europe.

-----------------OPPOSITE SEX--------------------
--Best eye/hair color: Anything natural, save for magenta.
-- Short or long hair: Are you asking my preferences in cats all of a sudden?
-- Best height: Tall enough to change lightbulbs.

-----------------NUMBER OF-------------------
Number of people I could trust with my life: Are you trying to kill me?
number of people who have actually saved it: 38.
-- Number of CDs that I own: I have some CDs, thank you, I don't want to join your music club.
-- Number of piercings: Q.
-- Number of tattoos: Ha.
-- Number of times my name has appeared in the newspaper?: Quite often (really!).

------------Favorites---------------------
--Shampoo: On sale.
-- Fav Color: Green.
-- Day/Night: Cider!
-- Summer/Winter: Very small rocks!
-- Lace or Satin: Churches!
-- Fave Food: A duck!
-- Fave sports stars: Womack. Duh, really people, come on.

----------------RIGHT NOW--------------------
--Wearing: Your pants and my uncle's green t-shirt.
-- Thinking about: "Man this is long."
-- Listening to: Squeaky chair.
---------------IN THE LAST 24 HRS--------------------
--Cried: Nosir.
-- Worn jeans: Only once.
-- Met someone new online: We're Sorry, AIM is being a butt right now.
-- Done laundry: Thrice.
-- Drove a car: I know these fast cars won't do me no good.
-- Talked on the phone: Not to you, sorry.

----------------DO YOU BELIEVE IN----------------
--Your friends: Yah.
-- Santa Claus: I believe in...um...crap. The funny went away.
-- Tooth Fairy: Just the Root Canal Imp.
-- Destiny/Fate: Why all the long division tonight?
-- Angels: Shore.
-- Ghosts: Not yet. Lens flare does not count as a ghost, sorry.
-- UFOs: <--Unnecessary apostrophe removed
-- God: Indubitably.
--------FRIENDS AND LIFE--------------------
--Do you ever wish you had another name?: I've always been partial to Sugar Magnolia.
-- Do you have a girlfriend/boyfriend?: I've got Janice. That's even better!
-- Which one of your friends acts the most like you?: My clone. I love him dearly.
-- Who have you known the longest of your friends?: What's it to you, fish lips?
-- Are you close to any family member?: Well, my grandma lives about 10-12 minutes away, and...huh? Oh. You meant it like that. Yes. They all rock.
-- Who do you hang around the most?: George and Chip.
-- What's the best feeling in the world?: A good one. I'll get you an exact word for it later.
-- Worst Feeling?: Regret.
-- What time is it now?: 2:57. So much for bed before 3. That's the third time this week!


There. That was silly, eh? I wonder if my answers reflect my general sleepiness? Probably. Sleep! Yes, good idea, me.

Why thank you.

Good night!


Davjkhgljkhgjkzzzzzzzzzz

I get the joke, so I'm gonna keep on laughin'

I saw Cowboy Mouth last night. It was weird, because amongst all the other stuff going on lately, the show was sort of pushed to the side. Plus, I wasn't as psyched about the show as much as usual going in. Again, probably just too much other stuff going on. Of course, it took about 10 seconds of show for that feeling to wear off, and I was back in good 'ol Mouth Land, where "hopes and dreams never die." They played the VooDoo Lounge at Harrah's, which was essentially a glorified bar with a stage over the bar itself. Kinda weird looking up the whole time, but it was pretty cool, and the sound wasn't as bad as I was thinking originally. The set wasn't anything mind-blowing, but it was solid. They played 'Laughable,' which is always a treat, along with 'Cab't Stay Here' and 'Here Comes Troublw,' neither of which I'd heard in awhile. Ms. Mary was unable to attend due to family business, so they had a very good stand-in, Sonya Somethingorother. She had, as Tom put it, a lot of spunk. Very good job for only her second show. Two points of note:

One.) 'Light it on Fire' was not played. Anywhere. That is, I think, a first.
b.) Fred did not mention the name of the band or where they were from. Another first.

I chatted with Griff for a bit after the show. Again, he was as nice as could be, and seemed happier to have Tom and I come see the LT show tomorrow then we are he and Paul are staying an extra night to play for us. We talked about his old band, the Red Rockers, touring with U2 back in '85 on the Unforgettable Fire tour, and how they were great guys, etc., and how Bono even rememberd him a couple years later and asked how he was doing.

It's nice to enjoy bands with quality people making the music.

I saw UnBit Tuesday night. It was chaotic, in a way, but it was that way by design, so it was pretty cool. And the show was funny. I wasn't too out of the loop, so the jokes didn't go over my head. The lighting was very good. Ten points must go to Dan for his brilliant contribution to the show. Another ten points to Steeeeeeeve (The Musical!) for the Verizon skit and 3 1/2 points for the Monty Python reference. Charlie gets a gold star (ding!) for his Homestar Runner impression. I'd recommend the show to all of you, but it was a one-night run, so if you missed it, well, tough toenails. Go see it next year!

By the way, Gordon Freeman's clearance is indeed level 3.

A few other points of interest:

-I'm now the proud owner of a JS100 electric guitar. Got it for nearly $200 cheaper than originally planned, and I even got a case.

-Half Life 2 is as good the second time as it is the first.

-Fishy is more addictive than Snood and crack combined.

-I have no idea how addicitve crack is.

-I'm just streeeeetching this out as long as I can now.

-I was walking from the parking lot into the building at work on Tuesday, and saw one of our big garage doors slowly lowering after a delivery van went inside. There was a bell ringing to notify everyone it was in, and I had half a mind to roll under the door and start yelling about a warp core breach, but I didn't.

-Tony Womack is no longer a Cardinal. This saddens me to no end.

I'ma go light up my door now. Bye!

With my brains and your braun, we'll make an excellent team.
Dave

Peace on Earth, gimme presents!

I don't really think too highly of our radio options here in town. As I've mentioned before, KSHE is a shadow of what it once was (Creed in the same promo as Rush and Floyd?), and the other major stations are pretty hit-or-miss in terms of something I want to hear. 98% of the time it's 'miss,' although KHITS isn't too bad most of the time. My general disdain for a lot of current music doesn't help me too much, I suppose. I'm not big on talk radio, either, so the whole of the AM side is out. Again, NPR isn't too shabby, but I just can't get into sitting around listening to people talk, good or bad.

All that being said, there is one station I can almost always count on. I think it's KDHX, although I'm not too sure. It's 88.7, and it's nuttin' but jazz. Real jazz, too. Not that hokey "smooth jazz" that people seem to like these days (*cough* Kenny G *cough* dork *cough*), but honest-to-God jazz: guys on upright bass, wacky piano lines, hi-hats, etc. Not always guitar, but I don't mind in this case. It's great listening, and very low on commercials.

I was lucky enough to catch some Christmas music on that station the past couple days. I enjoy the jazz take on the old standards, although it can be hard to pick up what they're playing sometimes. I do believe, though, that anything I hear on the radio is going to be trumped by what may be the best Christmas album I've heard: the wonderfulygoodandfun Charlie Brown Christmas soundtrack done by Mr. Vince Guiraldi. I think it even trumps Merry Axemas Vol. 1, but only slightly. Damn that's good stuff. And, as I was pondering it tonight, 'Linus and Lucy' could, in a sense, be considered a Christmas song, since it is on the album, and I think it might have been the first appearance of the song. I s'pose that's sort of pushing it a bit, though. I wonder if Mr. Guiraldi knew he had a hit on his hands when he was writing that, or if it was originally intended to just be filler music for the show. It's one fine piece of music, either way.

Another nice thing about no TV right now: no stupid Christmas commercials, or ho-ho-hum 'Holiday specicals.' Especially the stuff on ABD Family. Bleh bleh bleh. Someone (usually a guy) is being a clod, and through some magical happenstance, learns the True Meaning of the Season in time to....get the girl, or something. The end. Ignoring the fact none of these shows talk about the real meaning of the season, they just aren't much fun. Give me Pee Wee's Christmas Special anyday. Mmm...potatoe-y.

Or, even better, give me The Muppet Family Christmas. Now THAT is some funny stuff. You've got the regular Muppets, the Sesame Street gang, fraggles, and the best version of 'Jingle Bell Rock' all in one. Careful of the icey patch!

My Christmas shopping is coming along...um...good..ish. Yeah. I sat down the other night and made a list of everyone I'm gifting this year (13? sounds right), and then sat down and sifted through all my pictures. I'll have to assign pictures to people this week and then get them printed. It's no secret I do it for people, so I can safely type it here on the 'net. I'm also a bit of a rebel for the second straight year: I'm getting something for everyone, Dalette and her 'exchange list' be damned. Bring her on, I say! If she doesn't want what she gets, I'll give it to Janice, along with her other gift. For new readers, her present was made by the fine folks at ********.

I have to work 5 of the next 10 days. I do believe I can hold out, despite the slowness of things at the office right now. How slow, you ask? Our boss was out of the office Monday, so one of our 'official' tasks was to make paper snow flakes for decoration. A few more weeks and the action should pick up, thankfully. For now, I'll enjoy the lull.

I think that's enough for now. I hope to regal you all with a first-hand account of Un-Bit Butter later this week. Stay warm, folks. It's cold enough out there to freeze your Winnebago!

How can he be all ears? Frogs don't even have ears.
Dave

At the Sign of the Prancing Pony

I figured I'd make my own post instead of living vicariously through other people's posts.

I was looking 'round my living room last night and realized, ofr the first time, that it's kinda smallish. This is normally no big deal, but for exactly one afternoon/evening, it might be. In my infinite wisdom, or my desire to quell any inter-family hostilities, I decided to host the family (mum's side) for Christmas this year. At current count, we have...myself, Steve, grandmummy, Mum, Mike, Diane, Mike, Mike, Maria, aaaaaand (drum roll) Dalette. So that's ten, and pretty much everyone I originally expected. No one left out, which wa the plan. But, my house isn't that big. It's far from tiny, but having ten persons in and around its premises should be interesting.

Of course, if certain members come to blows, we'll have some extra space to work with. Would that be a bad thing? Hmm...

One amusing occurence. Since The Lord of the Manor is off work, and will be coming for a visit, we will, as you might have noticed, have three (3) Mikes in one house. See Michael Js to boot. So, the fun thing will be for someone, out of the blue to ask for Mike. then we all have a hearty laugh as much confusion ensues.

Well, I might laugh.

There's something to be said for continuing education. Or common sense. Either one would have saved me a hassle in regards to the website, which is now on at least another week's hiatus because I can't spell photography. So you get to wait even longer. Sorry. I'll use the time to fix anything that needs fixing, and make it look better. I swear I'll have it up and running by January. Really.

I'd like to make a post compiling "The Best of Fr. Craig." E-mail me anything you've got (preferably quotes), and I'll get them up.

Awake! Fear! Fire! Foes! Awake!
Dave

I'm going nowhere, where I am it is a lot of fun.

There will come a day, mark my words, when, no matter how hard I try, I'm going to have to face the inevitable:

I'm going to be old.

It's a fact of life, and one I can't get around. This doesn't trouble me, though, as I plan to live to be at least 100, for reasons to nerdy to go into here. That being said, I'd like to think I could remain fairly spry. Actually, if I had my way, I'd like to be as mobile as the chaps in the Rolling Stones, who are all in their early 900s, except for Keith Richards who actually died in 1982. No one's had the heart to tell him, so he just keeps on going.

But he's damn good guitar player. I was listening to their new live album before buying HTDAAB last week, and they still sound good. How do they do that? A deal with the Evil One? Lots of practice? Lots of drugs? All three?

Anyways.

I beat Half Life 2 on Monday night. I'm quite pleased, although the somewhat vagueish ending is annoying, just as it was in the first game. I wanna know what happened, consarnit! Heaven help me if I have to wait another 6 years to find out the end. Sigh. Another pitfall of being a nerd.

I bought Janice her Christmas present and I've been having a blast teasing her about it (all in good fun, I promise). I'l give you all a hint, though. It was made by ********. Cool, huh? I think she'll like it.

Um, I haven't really considered what I'm buying for anyone else, save for mom. Sorry folks, but I will get on it. Soon. Really.

Speaking of being a nerd. Godzilla: Final Wars premiered on Monday. Depending on who you ask, it's either a whiz-bang all-out uber-fun movie, or it's an evil abomination, the worst thing ever made in terms of Godzilla, and a total disgrace to his 50th birthday. I'll have to wait until I asee it sometime next year, but the clips I've seen make it out to be fun. As some reviewers have pointed out, SPFX and such look much different on screen then they do on a PC monitor, so I have to keep that in mind. But, we'll see. I really want to like it, so I'm willing to work with the film, and not expect anything earth-shattering. All I want is to be entertained.

And, with that, I'm gonna go before your image of me slips another notch.


I know these fast cars won't do me no good.
Dave

His chops are too righteous!

Yes, that's right.

I saw the Spongebob Squarepants Movie last night. And it was funny. It featured the most amazing set of pecs I've ever seen. And, darn it, crying pirates are funny. I hold that it was worth sitting through the credits for that.

So there.

I wonder what bright mind in Hollywood decided it would be a good idea to make mindless, inane, asinine movies and sell some soley on the fact they have big name people doing the voices. Shark Tale and that soon-to-be-released nonsense of a movie about a racing zebra are good examples. I mean, really, come on. Is it that hard to do something that doesn't require on the fact you have David Spade as the voice of a fly?

I apologize to Janice's hand.

I'm putting up 2 (2) trees this weekend in two days. At that pace, by Sunday I could maybe even have three trees up (I won't).

I'm also padding this post out because it was mostly an excuse to use the line from the movie as a subject. I guess I could talk about Thanksgiving, since it was yesterday, but nothing really exciting happened. Of course, it was good to see the Moores, and the food was quite good, but there was no drama, yelling, smoke, etc, save for Graham puking.

Oh!

Cousin Jessica, 14, was watching U2 Go Home with myself and Curt yesterday, and, apart from a couple songs of ATYCLB, knew virtually nothing about them. So I had to do some explaining. Favorite question: "Are they an old band?" I'm not used to dealing with anyone who has barely heard of U2. I did not know such a person existed. I shan't hold it against her though. Now she has an excuse to go buy everything they've done.

Did you know it snowed on Wednesday? It did. Honest. I might have liked it more had I not been in a basement working or worried about my power coming back on. But it was nice.

Yadda yadda. I'm done. I need to clean up a bit so I can actually have room to erect a tree.


I'm ready! Promotion!
Dave

One Step Closer

I was originally going to open with some goofy remark about owning your own house and being able to walk around naked, but I decided to skip it, as I forgot the gist of it, and it probably wasn't as funny as I thought. It was based soley on a snippet of conversation I overheard at work today in the staff room, so it probably wasn't going to hold its own anyways.

So I'm just going to move on to far more interesting topics.

Some of you may be wondering if Half Life 2 is worth the purchase. You might also wonder if the new U2 album is worth the purchase.

Let me answer for you. In a word, goodGodyes.

Go. Now. Buy them both. I'm not going to wait, since it might take awhile, but I can assure you your money will be well spent. Wonderful music for your ears, and one fine computer game for all your senses (except for taste and smell, of course). I won't go into the nerdy reasons I like HL2 (flying sawblades of doom!), so don't worry.

I will, however, mention that HTDAAB (you type out the whole title!) is one of U2's finest, I think, although I was reflecting on their catalogue earlier, and realized that they haven't really had a ho-hum album yet. A few songs along the way, but taken as a whole, none of their albums have lacked. They've managed to take all the little things that make U2 U2, and work them just so. It doesn't sound like they're
trying though, which is good. Nothing feels terribly derivative of their old stuff. Edge borrows a couple old guitar licks, and Bono steals one or two of his own lyircs, but it all feels fresh, and different enough without being waaay out there. They've already done that (Achtung Baby), so now they can focus on what they do well.

So when does the tour start?

For anyone interested, my website is good to go. It won't be online for another couple weeks, mostly because I'm cheap and don't want to pay the $30 activation fee until I've been paid again. Rest assured though, when it's up, I'll let you all know.

I need to get some time off. I'm horribly unmotivated right now, as there isn't much exciting going on at work. I've got a wealth of time in December I'm taking off, and this week's mini-break ought to should help, so we'll see.

I was hoping to make biscuits for dinner Thursday, but that may have to be put on hold, as I'm not gonna have the time I thought. Not a big deal, but....I spent $1.20 on buttermilk!!! Eh. I'll make them some other time.

My tree is probably going up on Friday. I have my new Star Trek ornament, so it's gonna be an extra nerdy Christmas season. One upshot of the no-TV thing is not having to endure the myriad commercials and hullabaloo that springs up every year about this time. Yeah, I'll still have the nonsense in stores, but I don't hit them too often, so I can probably deal with it. Yay for not losing my mind!

And yay for Mr. Tabana, whoever he is!


Swinging to the music.
Dave

Ghetto Flannel

Do you ever sit yourself down to post something and then realize you aren't as into it as you thought you might be?

But, consarnit, I haven't posted in over a week, and I'm dedicated to keeping this thing on the cutting edge of...blognessitivity or something.

I checked my e-mail on Monday evening, and got a wondeful message from the folks at Amazon. It said, in a nutshell, "we've shipped you copy of Half Life 2." Hot damn. Part of me hoped it'd be on the porch when I came home Tuesday, but that was a no-go. Maybe this evening, although I won't have a lot of time to play. The bathroom needs cleaning, and I have to make chili for our chili-fest at work tomorrow. I've decided to go for the gusto and grind my own hamburger for to use. Why? Well, if you had an attachment for that sorta thing, wouldn't you be compelled to use it? Sunday, Half Life 2 willing, I'm gonna try my hand (I think) at some eclaires. My main man Alton gave me the idea, and it actually seems pretty easy.

Let's see you segue from computer games to pastries in the same paragraph.

More segues then you or your grandma can handle.

For anyone interested, I'm about halfway saved up for a Joe Satriani-style Ibanez. If anyone has another...$200 they've no use for, please send it to:

My House
#37 Down the Street From Your Aunt
The Hill on the Left, USA

I'll get it, trust me.

I saw Indian dancers on Monday night, and then proceeded to see Indian dancers yesterday afternoon. I think I preferred the Indian dancers, as the moody lighting and drums added a lot. This is not, of course, to take anything away from the Indian dancers, as some of the vocal bits reminded me a lot of Sandip Burman.

I'll leave you to figure it out. And don't ask Janice, that'd be cheating.

I was watching my Good Eats tape last night, and found, to my delight, it was the same tape I stuck the 'Tones performance on the Conan O'Brien Show last year. A shortened version of 'Next,' but it was still hot. I s'pose it'll have to do for now, since I won't be seeing them for...awhile.

I heard a new new U2 song yesterday, called 'Crumbs from Your Table.' Very good, although it broke my policy of not wanting to hear anything new until I bought the thing on Monday night/Tuesday morning. Still, I can't remember a note of it, so that's good. I'm been ambitiously listening to nothing but U2 this week in the car. Reverse chronologically, album by album, straight through. I started Monday, and I'm currently on the last couple songs of Rattle and Hum. My lack of driving over the weekend may hinder my ability to listen to all the albums before buying HTDAAB, but we'll see. I'll adjust if need be.

The Hamilton clock on the wall says it's time for the invasion of the Neptune men, so I'd best be going.


Excelsior!
Dave

Bits and bites.

The hits just keep on coming.

Okay kids, here's your word for today: 'snackmosphere.'

That is, of course, the layer of air in bags of candy, chips, etc.

We'll have a test at the end of the week.

Bad news: No Fred acoustic show next month. LT is still on.

Good news: Homestar DVD this week!!!


Yummy.
Dave

Dream a little dream with me.

I swear this is my last post today. I forgot to mention this earlier.

I had a dream whilst I was sleeping at Tom's Friday night that may be the strangest thing I've ever dreamt.

As best as I can recall, Tom and I were in a huge lobby of some sorts, and had just set up some sort of artificial lightning rig to fry Godzilla when he came through (sorta similar to the end of Godzilla vs Hedorah for those in the know). However, our plans were interrupted because we had to fend off wave upon wave of storm troopers. Thankfully we had lasers to use. Alas, neither side won, because we had to leave. So Tom and I headed to the parking lot with all our gear, when we ran into Mr. Olmsted from DeSemt. Well, he sounded like Mr. Olmsted, but he looked like Mr. Callahan. His wife and two kids were there, too.

Then I woke up.

Very weird, especially the "time to stop the war because we have to go home" thing. Even worse, Godzilla never showed up. Apparently he had try-outs for Godot that night.

That's my dream.


Bye!
Dave

The only prescription is more cowbell!

I've never seen that sketch, which is kind of upsetting, as I consider myself a reasonably sized Bloe Oyster Cult fan.

Speaking of: fans of Cowboy Mouth and/or Cracker may recall the show at the Pageant last October. Not counting the jack-ass lead singer, the rest of the band was pretty durn cool, especially the feller in back, who stood around in sunglasses and a cowboy hat, doing various really cool things, such as playing the accordion, playing keyboards, and playing tambourine.

I kid you not, he made playing the tambourine seem cooler than anything else.

At the BOC show Wednesday, I saw something almost as cool during Don't Fear the Reaper. As I'm sure you all know, the song rather prominently features a cowbell. The band's new drummer didn't have one on his kit, though, so towards the end of the song, they brought one of their tech gurus on stage with a cowbell, and he proceeded to whack it with a drumstick for a couple minutes. Cool stuff.

I also forgot to mention I shook Buck Dharma's hand. I was able to do this because I was three freakin' feet from the stage.

Woot.

Speaking of birds: I visited friend Tom this weekend, and we spent some time jamming (I also spent some time beating the tar out of him in Half Life). I tought him the previously mentioned main groove of Birdland, and we turned it into a 7-10 minute jam, which was a lot of fun. I don't usually do jazz soloing, but I think I faked it pretty well.

"Birdland on the fifty-three, the street sounds like a symphony.

U2 wrote that line. Cool, huh?

I'ma go crossword now.



Jazz. Is. Weird.
Dave

It's a flaming wonder telepath.

Breaking news:

Just when you thought thigns couldn't get any worse, they just did. Read this.

I'm pretty sure that marks the end of civilization as we know it.

Blue Oyster Cult still rocks, despite the fact they've got some pretty old fellers in that band. Here's to hoping I can rock as hard as they do when I'm as old as they.

Lots of posting this week. But probably no more for a couple days. Going to K-Ville to rock out with Tom. Should be fun.

R U Ready 2 Rock?
Dave

I approved this message.

Ahhhh...I don't have to hear that for another four years.

I'm so glad all this election fallderall is OVER! Still, I can proudly say I got phone calls from George Bush, George Bush, John Kerry, and the NRA. I would have preferred calls (even recordings) from, say, Joe Satriani or the Edge, but I guess they were too busy being rock stars. Lucky turds.

My favorite election moment came this morning. Using my crude TV set-up in the kitchen, I had Today on, and they had set up a fake podium for people to come up and give a mock "vote for me" speech. Everyone started with a "My fellow Americans" style intro, save for one guy (through the snow of my screen, he looked like one of those fun old-fart kinda guys). He was sorta sitting/leaning on the podium, and this was hi greeting: "Hi."

My kinda president.

Happy 50th birthday to the Big G.


Oh no, there goes Tokyo!
Dave

The Horror of Mothra vs The Terror of Godzilla

If my sources are correct, tomorrow is officially Godzilla's 50th birthday. That's quite a long time for any fictional character to remain (somewhat) relevant. The degree of relevancy probably depends on who you ask. I say very, and about 90% of the world probably doesn't care. That's their loss, I think.

Has anyone else seen the new TV promo for Godzilla: Final Wars?

You really should.

Go now. There's a convenient link on the left side of this page you can use to go download it. I'll even wait for you.

....dum dum.....doo dee doo doo, whistle whistle....


See, I told you it was good. Or maybe I implied it.

Anyways.

I voted this morning, mostly because I didn't want an evil gang of thugs from MTV led by Ashlee Simpson knocking on my door and killing me because I didn't. Could you imagine how embarassed my mom would be if she had to tell people Ashlee Simpson killed her son? I mean, getting offed by someone legit, like Bono is one thing, but a no-talent pop singer? Ick. So I voted. I almost left-gasp!-a chad hanging on the back of my ballot, but I caught it in time.

Whew.

The wait wasn't too bad, maybe about 30 minutes or so, which is quite long, since I'm not used to any wait at all. I was going to vote for Dave Barry for president, but he wasn't on the ballot.

"Whoa, that sounds like a segue!"

Dave Barry, like the 'Tones, is going to take next year off, maybe longer. Well, he's gonna do some other stuff, but no weekly column. That's sad, but understandable. Don't want the funniest guy around going ga-ga on us. I'd rather have him come back fresh.

In case anyone's wondering, U2's new album will be released in 3 weeks. Of course, those of you who care already know. So I'm not sure who that message was directed at.

I'm hoping to have my website done by next week. I've got one full section and the 'about' section to do, and I can look into getting it all hosted. I'm gonna go all out and get my own domain name this time, since it's only about $10 a month.

I can afford to take on such extravagant expenditures because of a radical decision I've made. I've decided not to get my TV hooked up until March of next year. I've found I don't miss it all that much, and not spending $60 a month is pretty nice. My new date might have something to do with spring trainig, but then again, maybe not. So anyone coming to visit will probably be forced to watch MST3K or Godzilla, or maybe have to talk to me.

Jeez, not really a good option there. Maybe you could play with the cats.


Push on mighty Cushman!
Dave

The Silver Lining

From Redbird Nation:

"It's the death of summer — the subject of some of the greatest pop music, from the Beach Boys' "All Summer Long" to Jonathan Richman's "That Summer Feeling" — that's supposed to make today, the day after the World Series, the chilliest, most hopeless day of the entire year. But I didn't feel as bad today as I'd have thought. The sun was shining, and the nightmare that ended in Busch was growing just a bit foggier. And I swear there was a brief moment, when I walked outside to get my mail this afternoon, when springtime seemed, improbably, just around the corner..."


Just over 3 months until pitchers and catchers report.


Dave

Searching

In case I don't post this in time, Tuesday marks the one-year anniversary of this wonderful site.

Happy Birthday. MaxRes. And yes, your cheque really is in the post.

I'm not going to use this space to lament the loss of our beloved Cardinals to the Red Sox last night. If we had to lose, it might as well be to them. Granted, I would have liked a more competitive series, but...we made it that far, damn it, so I can't be upset. Expecially considering we weren't even "supposed" to be in the playoffs in the first place. Was it a choke? Nah. One hell of a time for a team to hit a slump.

Next year. A fresh year of hotness with Tony and Co.

Someone beat me to it, but Mr. Satriani's concert Sunday night was tremendous fun. Loud, yes, but oodles of wonderfulness. And yes, I know how stupid that sounded. So piss off.

Um, yeah, Got carried away, sorry.

Yes, Joe was good. There's not much else I can say, as you really had to be there to get the full experience. I would like to clear up my concert rating system, though. The whole "my ears are ringing a lot so it must have been good" theory is a bit much, I think. If I subscribe to that thinking, some pretty crappy shows would end up being "the best." Every show at the Creepy Crawl would have to be good, because it's so small, allowing for lots of ear ringing. This is not to say there aren't any good shows at the Crawl, just not up my alley. At least, I think so. I can't hear very well in there.

I've been TV-less for over a month now, and I'm in no hurry to get it hooked up again. The monetary savings is nice, and I get to do other, better things with my time. Like. play Half Life and watch Godzilla movies. See how much better it is?

Hey, you in the back, stop laughing!

Did I mention Half Life 2 comes out on November 16?

Stop it! C'mon, please?

Well fine, if you're gonna be like that, I'll just leave.

Meanies.


I saw Esau, he saw it.
Dave

World Serious

Ah, National League Champions.

I like the sound of that.

I'll wait a minute for all of you to say it to yourselves.







All done? See, it does sound nice.

How cool is this? The Cardinals in the World Freakin' Series.

Not so cool: I'll miss game one because of trivia and game two because of a concert (at least it's Satch). Oh well, I'll live.

Magic number is 4.



On to Beantown!
Dave

No one ever talks to a horse, of course.

That is, unless, of course, the horse is Cassie.

The HB.

No, really, she's such a cupcake. Would Mr. Wall lie about such things?

Him? Never!

Um....I rode a horse this weekend. I think so, at least. I was on a horse, but the actual amount of "riding" was pretty limited. There was a lot of me telling Ranger to stop and holding on for dear life. But it was fun, and my butt doesn't hurt. My upper legs do, which means, apparently, I was doing it right. Go figure. Janice had it much easier, because jack has two speeds: "mosey" and "off." A good starter horse, if you will.

Personally, I'd like a shot at whatever horse was in Monte Walsh: The Last Cowboy starring that guy who sort of looks like Tom Selleck. I never thought I'd say (or write) this, but some Westerns are actually pretty good. Enjoyable, at least, and far better than....Matlock.

Weekend recap: cooked food.

Moving on.

I like waking up, looking at the clock, and realizing I still have another hour or so to sleep. I do not, however, like to be woken up at 4:I can't believe how early it is in the morning because of a damn storm. A doozy. A lot of fallderall, really, and it managed to creep me out. George was smart and hid downstairs, which is where I went when I realized I wasn't going to go back to sleep anytime soon, to make sure I wasn't going to need about 47 towels to clean up the mess from leaky basement.

Nary a drop.

Which is more than I can say for my *^&%! new faucet, which, no matter how hard I try to install properly, keeps dripping. As I told mum last night, it was one of those times I wished I was a person who cussed a lot. It might've helped. As is, I have to take it all apart (again) tonight and apply more plumber's putty to stop the dripping. I think.

Hey, could you get that? Thanks a lot.

Fun stuf coming up, check it out:

Oct. 24--Satch
Oct. 30--trip to mum's
Nov. 3--BOC
Nov. 22--HTDAAB
Dec. 14--LotR: RotK
Dec. 14--Steve's Play of the Funny Name
Dec. 16--CM x2

Alas, no 'Tones in there, which means no 'Tones until '06.

Sigh.

Again, weekend summary: charred mammal flesh. Tasty.



drip, drip, splash.
Dave

Reports from the Home Front

I've found that the little things can end up being very cool sometimes. provided you know when to look. For example:

Driving to work, listening to U2's 'War,' listening to the song '40,' and then looking to your right just in time to see the sign that says your on Highway 40.


I like irony. It's the kind of thing that can often rely on a lot of little things to work out just so, which is why true irony is hard to come by. I don't count much of what Ms. Morrisette considers irony as true irony. I've been a victim of what I would consider true irony, but that's a long story. I was a victim again, though, this week. Case in point: Dave disconnects cable because it's too damn expensive. Dave calls dish people to come install a nice new dish at $20 less each month (yay!). Dave waits all day for dish guy to come. Dish guy arrives, tracks water in the house, checks the backyard, and tells Dave he can't get dish because there's no line of sight to the satellite. Sorry, sir. Dave still has no TV and must call cable people again so he can watch the rest of the playoffs.

Assuming Fox even shows our games, that is. I know we aren't Boston/New York, but come on! We're getting incredibly screwed over here. I mean, I'm glad we won last night (2-0!), but from what I've gathered, the only reason that game was played is because Fox didn't want anything competing with the Evil Empire/Red Sox game tonight in prime time. What if someone got hurt last night? Shoot, it was cold and wet enough, someone could get sick or something. If Carlos Beltran or Albert Pujols wake up today with some illness, I can't imagine either team being too happy with MLB and Fox.

Damn Yankees.

Interestingly, being at a playoff game is less stressful than listening on the radio. However, the elbow room is a lot tighter.

I don't think too many of you are going to be intrested in the rest of my week (ooo! his washer is whisper quiet now!), so I'm just gonna skip it and move on to wrapping this up.

Expect no updates for awhile. I'ma go visit the Walls this weekend with Tiger. God help us all.


And that hot girl? That'll be the Cheat.
Dave

'e's not pining, e's passed on!

You're Minnesota!

You love hanging out around lakes, even if they're frozen solid. Given
your probable Scandanavian heritage, it all just demonstrates that you're pining for the
fjords. Your obsession with wrestling got a little carried away for a while there, and
this should prompt some serious reflection about the separation of mind and body. It may
be time to celebrate, even throw your hat up in the air. You're going to make it after
all.


Take the State Quiz
at the Blue Pyramid.

Take that as you will.

More interesting post later. Like, tomorrow, probably.


so...eh, then, eh?
Dave

Get up baby, get up!

At the moment, the Cardinals are up 8-3 on the Dodgers, looking to go up 2-0 in their best of 5 series. Crazy game, and I'm almost glad we didn't go, as it might have been too much for me to take.

After giving up back-to-back dingers to tie the game in the 4th, Jason Marquis gets an out, walks a guy, and almost hits the pitcher, who was up bunting. Ick. Cal Eldred comes in, gets him, then proceeds to walk the bases loaded, and then go 3-0 on Steve Finley. Then he gets two strikes, and Finley finally flies out.

Gah!

That was tough at home (Janice's) to watch, and probably would have killed me had I been there.

But all this is filler, as I really want to do something I meant to do earlier, which is to post a few of my favorite moments from the Cardinals' season.

-mid May, a series in Houston. In the top of the 12th, Hector Luna drives in the
winning run with a suicide squeeze. Sweet.

-Jim Edmonds' amazing catch in Cincinatti to rob Adam Dunn of a home run.
Wow.

-Marlon Anderson's pinch-hit, 3-run homerun in that same game to put the Cards on
top. I'd written the game off as a loss.

-July 20. Chicago. Pujols. 3 homeruns. Holy crap.

-the back-to-back come from behind wins in the late innings against Oakland.

-Rick Ankiel. He's back!

I'm sure I could come up with more if I thought about it, but those will have to do.

Steve Kline has just ended the game for us. 8-3 Cardinals victory.

And that means I can stop typing. Great timing, eh?


that's a winner!
Dave

Everyone needs to go insane, oh, about...NOW!!!

I feel sorta bad when I don't update this thing for a long stretch. Not quite as bad as, say, ignoring the cats, but you get the idea. I don't enjoy it.

Anyways..

Janice and I had the privilege of taking in an extremely talented muscial group this evening brought in to fire up the crowd at the Cardinals' playoff rally even more than they already were (and really, if a stirring speech by Dan Haren doesn't get your blood a-pumpin', you might as well just leave).

That's right, we saw Murphy Lee. They had a rap about..umm...Jose Oquendo.

Oh, and there was some other band there, too. Cowboy something or other. They were okay, and by "okay," I mean, "totally kicked all ass." Hmm. I don't give them enough credit, I think. How's this: they were the musical equivalent of Tony Womack, who, alas, was not at the pep rally. It never gets old, even after 14 shows. I think it's 14. I've lost track. The show was a bit shorter than I'd like, only about 70 minutes or so, but it was just as good as always. Not the best, of course, but no less than I've come to expect. Lots of fun, lots of yelling, lots of energy, and Fred going out and harassing the folks who won't stand (why wouldn't you stand?. Highlight of the evening was probably a rockin' version of 'Take Me Out to the Ballgame,' with a barrage of fireworks going off as the song ended. Uber-cool, and a fitting close to the whole affair. I talked with Fred a bit after the show (after he signed Janice's drumstick, of course), and the main point of our few words were basically: CM is better than the Who. Not to take anything away from the Who, of course, but given a choixe, I'll take the Mouth.

One other tidbit from our talk: Someone mentioned Fred introducing Griff from "Mexico, Missouri," and Janice said that's how it was back at RibFest. I said somthing to the effect that she'd paying attention (at the shows), to which Fred replied:

"She seems pretty smart. You'd better watch out."

Smart one, that Fred.

Special thanks to the Mouth for trekking up from Florida last night to play for us in Cardinals Nation, especially since they head back to Florida tomorrow. Extra special thanks to the guys and gal for putting aside any personal preferances team-wise and donning Cardinals' red (rumor has it Griff is a Dodger's fan).

Speaking of nutty touring schedules, check out Blue Oyster Cult's Spetember itinerary:

September 2004
date city venue notes

2 Bushkill, PA
3 Indianapolis, IN
4 Farmingville, NY
5 Concord, CA
10 Grand Junction, CO
11 Denver, CO
12 San Dimas, CA
17 Sherman, NY
18 Las Vegas, NV
23 Glenside, PA
24 Clifton Park, NY
25 Hampton Beach, NH
26 Sayreville, NJ

I love this time of year. The weather is fantastic, the views are getting better, and the playoffs are here. At noon:09 tomorrow. While I'm at work. In the bowels of HQ. No TV, no radio. Just Yahoo! sports. Gah! It's tense enough watching on TV, but now I have to hang on every 30-second update. Heaven help me.

And word has reached me Janice might be able to score tickets to the game on Thursday. Someone get me a sedative!

Stuff updates: new bathroom coming soon. My room has been moved from down to up after about 10-12 years down. It's nice, although I don't recommend moving heavy furniture alone, unless you're a.)stubborn or b.)stupid. Or, easier, a man. But, so my mom doesn't worry, I lifted with my knees, and I'm just fine. Finally got paid for soccer tounament (only took a month!). Also sold 12-string Ric. Play pics at DeSmet upcoming.

Wow, I might actually have a few bucks pretty soon. If not? Well, close but no doe.

Crap. Some of us need to go to bed so we don't oversleep again. Like me.


Hasta luego,
Dave

Tick-a-click-click, boo yah!

I love me them Cheat Commandos.

It's been awfuly quiet around the house the last few days. I finally got my cable disconnected, nah nah nah nah nah nah nah nah nah. Of course, I didn't actually get cut off the day I was cancelled, so I had some time left. The cable guy came on Thursday and grabbed my receiver box, effectively ending my run with Charter. Of course, I might still be getting a feed, but I have no way of knowing.

So it's quiet with no TV going. It's kinda weird, but not that bad. I can still watch movies and such, so I'm not totally cut off from visual stimulation. But I've had cable since about as long as I can remember, so it's odd not having it. Not paying $60 a month makes up for it, though. I just need to call someone to set me up with a dish. Ideally, in time for playoffs (i.e., next week).

Too many bathrooms? Why, you can never have too many bathrooms!

It's true, you know. I have two now, although one is of the "some assembly required" persuasion. But the boxes look nice!

My bedroom is a bathroom. Even my ballroom is a bathroom!

I've told a few people this over the years, but I'm going to tell everyone reading this: I don't get art. Not at all. Photography, fine. I can do that. Even abstract stuff, because it seems (to me anyways) grounded in something. I mean, it might be weird, but there's a tangible object in the picture. It might be shot in a weird way, or have some tricked-out technique applied to it (darkroom or Photoshop), but it's still something I can grasp (see Man Ray or Jerry Uelsmann). But abstract art and I are like...cats and turtles. Natural enemies, and definitely not suitable for marriage. Anyone see that piece at the SLAM that was just broken glass on the floor? What about the deal on the wall that was nothing more than some string wrapped around some pegs? What gives? Am I missing something?

I'm not saying any of it is bad, I just don't get anything out of it. It's just...there. If any of you arty types want to set me straight, please feel free to do so.

Speaking of meanings and such, I'm gonna leave you with some fun lyrics you can run through your head, courtesy of one Paul Hewson.

Lights go down
It's dark, the jungle is
Your head can't rule your heart
A feeling so much stronger
Than a thought
Your eyes are wide
And though your soul
It can't be bought
Your mind can wander



Dave

Bombs away!

Unos, dos, tres, catorce...

Oh wow.

Wow.

Damn.

Please go here, download, and enjoy.

Life is good.



It's everything I wish I didn't know,
Dave

Knee Deep in the Dead

Every once in awhile, I happen across an interview with someone talking about a sports play that maybe took all of a few seconds but to them seemed like an eternity.

I can finally attest to that: they ain't foolin'.

I found myself in front of the net tonight in soccer with nothing between the goalie and I except for the ball and about 10 feet of empty space. In the two(ish) seconds it took me to cover the ground, endless possibilities ran through my mind, trying to figure out the best approach.

Shoot right off? No, not a good angle.

Work to the left? Okay.

Now what? Keep going.

Turn and shoot? Too late! You went too far, dummy!

Quick! Turn and shoot! Crap! Ball got away...

And about 8,000 calculations in between each move.

I didn't score. Grr.


Things you never want to hear: "yeah, we're going to have to numb you up and drill a little bit." This, of course, is from my dentist, said in the most non-chalant manner possible.

Hooray-a-for me. Nothing better than an 8:00 a.m. appointment with a dentist's drill. Shoot, I'd rather deal with an insurance company.

I don't scare too easily. I get creeped out every so often, but being really scared is a foreign idea to me. Thankfully, I'm in the process of crossing that item off my list of...um, things. Yes. I have a list. So piss off.

Anyways. I bought Doom III on Sunday, and after some minor tweaking to the PC (i.e. new video card {thanks,Dave}), I now have one of the creepiest games ever installed and running smoothly. And it is damn scary stuff. Lighting and sound work together with some truly wonderful visuals for some genuinely good scares.

And that's just in the first couple levels.

I really could go on about other scintillating details about my week, but I can't say I really feel like it. Sew, I think I'ma gonna end this, grab a bite, and maybe get a little scared before bedtime.


Open wide,
Dave

Arrrrrrrrrrr....

I'll meet you up on the poop deck, you big....poop.

And then he let out a scream that be heard in Davey Jones' locker. And Mickey Dolenz's locker. And Peter Tork's. All the Monkees had lockers.

Arr, matey's.

And then I saw before me a fleet o' ships manned by the scurviest sea dogs this side of the Pacific. I had me left hand on the wheel, me right hand manning the sail, me left foot working the bilge pump, and mine eyes were stirring the galley stew.


Arr, it be National Talk Like a Pirate Day.






I also feel it worth mentioning that there's a hot new fragrance for men: Hummer. Yes, the fine people who bring Rhode Island on wheels now have a new scent, "masculine with rugged and adventerous attributes."

Hot.

I'm assuming it smells like a cross between sweat, leather, and diesel. That's pretty manly, eh? Personally, I'm not too excited over it, although the potential for other fragrances is pretty high. Couldn't you imagine the fervor if Toyota were to release a scent based on the Corolla? Or maybe a fragrance based on used cars: "rusty with old and smoky attributes."

Sign me up.


Arrrgh!
Dave

Oh, what a lucky man he was.

I was sitting at my desk at work today, as I tend to do everyday, when one of the fun folk from circulation came down to grab some paper for a display he was working on. I offered to help, and he said he didn't want to interrupt anything. I told him he wasn't, as I was on break anyways. He was like "are you sure?" I told him yeah, I was just sitting around building calluses on my butt so I could go around being a hard ass.



.



Saw the monster trucks on Saturday night. It is, taken at face value, and incredibly stupid thing. I mean, guys in 10-12 foot tall trucks jumping over cars is pretty high on the list of stupid guy things, but it's a fun kind of stupid. It was, thankfully, not as goofy as I was thinking it might have been. There were also a lot of local boys with modified trucks racing each other Chicago-style (thick crusts were mercifully left out). Beyond the monsters, the real highlights were the other local boys who took they're somewhat spruced up trucks (read: jalopies) and ran the course. Most of them were, well, not suited to the course, and took quite a beating. One guy split his front axle, and lost a side window. The truck looked as though it was slapped together just to run the course and get trashed, so it's not like he lost anything. And he was having such fun with it, it was hard not to get into it with him. He was truly excited to have his truck trashed. And, to be honest, I think all of us were excited for him. Even mum and Janice had fun (I can't speak for Mike), so it was time well-spent.

One of the perks of getting older, I guess, is the opportunity to wear some really interesting items. We went down to the Loop yesternight for a birthday dinner and a bit of pre-food shopping. Of course, we had to stop by Rag-O-Rama, wear I found some truly unique pants. Nice brown plaid. Hot, or so I was told. Only $7. I was...hesitant, but finally caved under pier pressure. Even found a shirt to match. In all honesty, I kinda like them, but finding the right time to wear 'em will prove difficult.

And they need to be hemmed. Any takers?

One downside of getting older is the somewhat ho-hummness of birthdays. Back in the day, there were parties, lotsa presents, and general mirth all around. Nowadays it's pretty laid back. Get some cards in the mail, maybe the odd gift or two, but it's mostly checks. I think I sorta miss those days. This it not to take anything away from this weekend. I had a fantastic time at mum's hanging out, eating, trucking, and star gazing. Dinner last night was loads of fun. My cufflinks are the hottest accessory this side of Tony Womack. There were a few other little things that I truly enjoyed. Immensely, even.

So it's not worse. Just different.

Ooey. Gooey.

I haven't eaten in awhile. I was going to eat and then post, but got confused. Or distracted.

I have to visit the dentist tomorrow. Of all things in life, having my teeth scraped with an iron hook is one of my least favorite activites. Inhumanly perky dental hygenists are equally scary.

I played basketball with Tom and Co. on Saturday afternoon and remembered why I stopped playing in grade school: I'm really, really not good. Dare I say bad. Ick. But, it was fun, and in the end, 'tis what mattered most. I did bowl well. And I soccered well, as I posted last time. Two sports is enough to be good at. Three would be silly. I mean, who do I think I am, Leon?

I could use a bottle of the 'L Factor.'

Keep an eye on the Archives in Cowtown. I worked up a spiffy banner for the site, and I think it looks really nice, as does the webmaster. We're still tweaking it, so it may not be up for another couple days. But peruse the site, as it's chock full of cool 'Tones' tidbits.

I'm slowly getting back into re-redoing my webpage. I'm going to keep it simple and try my best to update it when I have some new stuff. Third time's a charm, yes?

I'm looking forward to- gasp! -buying a new computer game and video card. I remember waaaaaaaaay back when, when we got the shareware version of Doom for our first computer. It was slow and soundless, but oh my was it fun. It was a real game for the computer. Now it's come full circle: I'm gonna go buy Doom III, and it looks like it'll provide the same experience as the original: lots of fun.


If you give a Dave a cookie, he's going to want a glass of milk to go with it.

Thanks.


Spruce moose on the loose!
Dave

C C B-flat E-flat F-sheerrrp

That's the new song from Joe Satriani, folks. You heard it here first.

Two thoughts I want to pass along, mostly so I don't forget about them later.


a.) I've often wondered, watching hockey, if the goalies get bored when their team is
dominating offensively. What are they thinking about when they stand there watching
their team on the other end of the ice? Well, playing goalie at soccer has given me
some insight on that matter. Our team has stretches of offensive domination, giving
me a chance to stand around. Turns out we don't think about much of anything. It's
hard to really get a good bead on the action from the far end, so it's hard to get
into the game. And I can't recall any concrete thoughts from the course of the
game. So....goalies stand around and just zone out, apparently.

b.) When people drive around blasting music from their cars, why is it almost always
rap? No offense to those who enjoy it (although I don't), but why don't people ever
drive around blasting country? Jazz? Yanni? I try to remedy the situation by
blasting my stereo, but it's hard to get the nuances of a 'Tones song if you aren't
able to give it your full attention. And it's not all that uber-bassy, either. Not
in the same way rap is, at least. Maybe the...musical make-up of rap lends itself
to blasting.

c.) I'm going to see monster trucks tomorrow. I remember the last time I saw them, and
it involves a wonderfully amusing story. But, I'm not going to tell you about that.
I don't feel like it today. I will reminisce a bit. I used to watch monster trucks
and/or tractor pulls every Saturday morning (the RedMan/TNT All-American Pulling
Series). Great times, and one of the highlights of my week. Unless they showed
fishing instead. Not so good. But I'd always tape the trucks, and we had two full
VHS tapes at one point, and they were always good for something to watch. I could
go on, and rant about the state of the sport, but I'll refrain for now. We'll see
if the show tomorrow can live up to how I remember it when I was 7.



Sunday, Sunday, Someday.



let's do this like Brutus,
Dave

The spotted cuckoo bird is flying backwards.

Apparently I can only post once a week.

No one told me about the new rule, so I apologize to the masses for my slackitude.

I made cooked food for Janice and Jess last night, and thankfully, no one needed an antacid afterwards. Not I usually need one when I cook for myself, but you never know, and it's always a plus when no one complains.

The fact that I cooked isn't interesting in and of itself, but a small story behind the cooking merits some attention. I decided to make a cheesecake for dessert, and forgot mum took the cookbook with the good recipe with her when she moved. The one in my cookbook was a tad complex, so I decided to check online for a simpler recipe. I moseyed over to foodtv.com, and checked out the Good Eats section, as I tend to enjoy the show and its somewhat offbeat host, Alton Brown. I knew he'd done a cheesecake episode, so I clicked around and found the recipe. The ingredients included (and I'm not making this up):

24 ounces cream cheese
3 tablespoons cornstarch
1 teaspoon salt
4 ounces sour cream
2 large eggs
6 ounces smoked trout, diced
1/3 cup chopped chives

Hey! This isn't cheesecake!!!

Yeah. I didn't add any fish. Or chives. Maybe next time.

We also watched the Blue Collar Comedy Tour last night. I'd not seen it or any of its performers before, and I can happily say it was pretty amusing. Jeff Foxworthy and Bill Engvall are quite funny, and thankfully don't rely entirely on their schticks for laughs (they pulled them out for the 'encore'). Larry the Cable Guy would have been funnier if I could understand him without captions. I do give him credit for his last joke, involving NASCAR and, um, feminine care products: "How'd you get tickets to the Tampon 200? I pulled some strings, man."

It's either extremely funny or horribly tasteless. I'm not sure, so I'll leave it to you to decide.


A Digression
While I'm thinking of it, I'm proud to announce some new scales to go along with the Womack Scale of Hotness.

-the Jim Edmonds Scale of Unshavedness
-the Scott Rolen Scale of Squintiness

If you've been following the Cardinals at all this year, those will make perfect sense.

End Digression

After the BCCT, we watched an episode of Monty Python's Flying Circus, which is still funny some 30 years or so after it first aired.

I also thought a little bit about the differences between American and British comedy. American comedy seems to trade on the observational type, i.e. the oddities and absurdities of everyday life, parenting, working, etc. British comedy seems a lot more...intellectual, I guess, dealing with a lot of wordplay and such-not. There's certainly more to it than that, but I can't put a finger on it, and my mind is in no condition to expound upon the topic. I'll leave it to y'all.

Oh bloody hell...

In just under a week, I'll be 23 (XXIII for you Roman readers). Kinda dull, really. I don't get any new priv-a-leges, which sucks. I'm still 12 years shy of being able to run for president, and almost 30 years of getting my AARP card. I'm not in any rush, mind you, but after 16, 18, and 21, there isn't much in the way of birthday milestones for awhile.

Speaking of Rush, Neil Peart's birthday is the same day as mine. I should send him a card.

I stood in the sun too long on Saturday (7 hours, 7 soccer games, 1 sunburned neck). Even the fun of watching first graders play soccer wore off after awhile. Still, those little guys were scrappy as can be, so the games were far from dull. Surprisingly, the goalies were quite sharp, despite the fact their jerseys would often hang around their knees. Granted, they weren't facing too many difficult shots, but for their level, I was impressed. I liked watching the coaches run around on the field with their team shouting orders.

And, I swear to God, I saw 3 or 4 quails walking around in a field near the park. Are there any other native birds with belts on their heads?

Think about it, won't you?

Anyways, I gotta go. My mom's making rich chocolate Ovaltine!!!

Dave

"What part of 'meet me at the stick' didn't he understand?"

Plants.

Take a moment, if you will, and think about them. If possible, go outside and take a look at what might be growing in your yard.

Got that?

Now, take a moment to ponder some of the stranger plants you've seen growing around. Odds are, there's not much around here that's too exciting. I will admit I've seen some pretty funky stuff growing on a bagel I left in a drawer for waaaaaaaaaay too long, but that stuff was so odd it may not even count as actual plant life.

Is a fungus a plant, or is it just a fungus? I'm not sure. Both tend to be green, and they grow. But I digress.

Getting back to weird plants. I can almost guarantee that whatever you thought of is nothing compared to some of the plants I saw today at the Botannical Gardens with Janice. Ho-Lee Cow. Damn, man. The climatron has got to be one of the strangest, weirdest, coolest place I've been in awhile. There are some trees in there that defy description. There were palm trees (I think) with leaves that had to be nearly 8 feet across, and almost as tall as the dome itself.

Do yourself a favor and check it out if you have the chance. The Gardens are vast, so it's easily an all day excursion.

I want to grow my own herbs now, too.

Just so you know.

Friday night is opening night for the 2004-05 Traffic Club Bowling League at the Trop. We're down to 3 person teams this year, so things will move along quicker, and, I think, more competitively. We'll see. I've not bowled since April or something like that, so I can only imagine how horridly I'm going to bowl. Despite the grueling pace of our league's season, we don't get anything like spring training. If we burn our mouths on the toasted ravioli, we don't get time on the DL. Blisters are suffered through. It's rough, yes, but we are professionals, and we do what we can.

Lets' compare some examples from the day in baseball.

Cardinals: Pitcher Jason Marquis picks a man off second, and pitches 7 innings of shut-out baseball en route to his 13th win of the season. The Cards win 4-0 and sweep the Pirates.

Cubs:Mike Remlinger hits a man to load the bases in the top of the 8th, and hits* the very next batter to drive in a run, before surrendering another4 runs as the Cubs lose to the Astros. At the moment, they are tied with San Diego for the wild card, and if the Giants hold on, the tie will be three-way.


*He may not have been hit. The ball was up near his head, and may have hit his bat and/or hand. Regardless, the pitch was way too high and inside.

I don't mean this as any slight against fans of the Cubs (Max, Leah), I just wanted to point out why I think the Cardinals have a good shot to go all the way this year, while the Cubs may have trouble making the playoffs. Time will tell. The Cubs have a good team, they just have trouble with the fundamentals and their emotions. When you can't consistently do the little things, it's hard to get anything big done over the course of a season.

Anyways, I think I have to go.

Don't I?


Turn the key. Start a revolution.
Dave


p.s. 24 and 48 are not the same number.

I could smell the cooking of my mother.

Exactly three people will understand that title.

I applaud you all.

Know what I'm saying?

Heh.

And remember: some people like to study rocks.

Whatever.

Aaaaaaaaaaaanyways.

While it's still fresh(ish) in my mind, let me try and recount the experience from dinner tonight. So Janice, Jess, myself, and a couple of my former coworkers are eating at the Bread Co. on Lindbergh. We're sitting around talking when an old guy (there's just no other way to put it) takes out one of those wooden train whistles, and gives it a couple toots. Why? I have no idea. If I'm not mistaken, he said something to the effect of "Here we go!" after he blew the whistle. I can't recall. After that, he walks up to us and starts talking. A lot. About....um....well, I'm not sure what, exactly, but the 4-5 stories he told had no real connection to each other. During the first story, he pulls out a yo-yo. When he finished, he yo-yos (?) once, and starts up again. When he's done, there goes the yo-yo. Then he starts talking again. His wife, who I believe had gone to get their car, comes in and tries to get him to leave. If he noticed her, he gave no indication, as he would keep on talking. A couple times he did notice her, but he'd just brush her off and keep going. And going. The whole thing lasted a good 10-15 minutes.

It was really hard not to laugh at the whole situation, but it was clear the man wasn't all there. Maybe Alzheimer's or something. I'm not an expert, so I'm not going to try and diagnose him. Point is, it made me feel bad when I was laughing, so I had to keep myself calm. In a way, it was sort of sad. I have the utmost respect for his wife (I assume she was his wife) for remaining calm, and just staying with him through everything.

That said, the man was better on that yo-yo than I've ever been.

Infinite points to Cindy for being so patient and, well, talkative with the guy the whole time.

Last night was trip two (dos) to Six Flags this month. The lines were much shorter, and I enjoyed the rides a lot more, probably because I could just enjoy them, as opposed to getting jolted by the new experiences. Mr. Freeze is still the, yes, coolest coaster around. The Boss still is, and still no Bruce. Special kudos to Jess for a.) riding the Boss, and b.) not biting Janice's arm off.

We also saw "Weird Al" Yankovic, although he may have been downgraded to slightly unusual. He was, of course, highly entertaining. The Eminem 'interview' was probably the funniest thing I've seen since I saw it last year. I haven't laughed that hard in a long time. And, believe it or not, I think I enjoyed the concert itself much more than the 4-pack show from last week. Jim West is one bad-ass guitar player, and Steve Jay is almost as hot as Mr. Womack.

And that's saying something.

October 24. The Pageant. Joe Satriani. Oh. Yes.

November 22. New U2. Hot. Damn.



Know what I'm saying?
Dave

25 Minutes to Go

A bit more, maybe.

I'm sitting at work, waiting for an author to speak tonight. It's sure to be a smash, especially considering no one seems to have heard of this guy. Yep. Yee-ha.

Actually, my only real point here is something I forgot to mention last night.

After mass yesterday, we stopped off in Krakow (that would be Crocko to me and you) for, drum roll please, the greatest hamburgers in the world! According to mum and Mike, anyways. Of course, it's pretty hard to screw up a hamburger. Anydangways, I had me a double cheesburger, and I gotta admit, it was really great.* Not skimpy little burgers, not too dry, not over seasoned or anything. Damn tasty burgers. I approve.

World's greatest?

Maybe not the best, but definitely up in my top 3 or so. It's a tough call between those, Steak 'n Shake, and Kenrod's. Actually, K-burgers are probably out just because it's impossible to fully enjoy one. Any burger that requires a day of fasting just to finish is hard to consider the tops. And S'nS is a bit pricey.

So I guess they are the best.

See what a little thinking will do for you?

Crap. Now I'm hungry.


Swarthily,
Dave



*Do you know who said that? Have you figured it out?

Astronomy Domine

Whew...lots to get to tonight.

First- greatest name for a band I've heard this weekend: Butch Wax and the Hollywoods. More on them in a bit.

Jump back to Friday. I went with Tom to see Effervesence. I mean Emminessence. No, wait. Evenesence. I think that's it. Anyways, I went to see that band at the Um.B.Pav. They were also playing with, in no particular order; Seether, Breaking Benjamin, and Three Days Grace. I'd like to tell you a lot about the night, but I can barely recall anything about any of the bands. Seether covered a Pearl Jam song and Ev. covered a Smashing Pumpkins song. Other than that....

Wait. All four bands had 2 (2) guitarists. Usually not a bad thing, but in this case, totally pointless, as both guitarists, 98% of the time, were playing the same thing. So why bother? And to top it off, none of it was really all that good. There were some cool riffs, and a handful of decent solos, but overall, the show was unremarkable. The band members of Ev. had zero interaction with each other. The bass player moved once.

Maybe I've set my standards too high or something. After a steady diet of CM, 'Tones, U2, Pearl Jam, and the like, it could be that I've come to expect a lot of my live acts, and none of those bands lived up to them.

Or they sucked.

No, they didn't suck. Simple Plan sucks. These guys......they just need to expand their horizons a bit.

That said, I had a good time with Tom, which is always a plus, and easily made up for the ho-humness of the music.

I went with Streudel to visit mum and Mike last night. We ate at a really snazzy Italian place in New Haven called Aldo's. Pizza was superb, and the town, which was right on the Missouri River, was a wonderful little place. That's counting the place that advertised "Gun's, Knife's" and something else which escapes me. We saw a "big ass rock" dedicated to the grandfather of streakers, whose name also escapes me. It was pretty weird. Once it got dark, we trucked up road a little ways and pulled off in a park-y kinda area so I could do some fine astrophotography.

Absolutely amazing conditions last night. Clear and cool, and, even better, a number of leftovers from Thursday's Perseid meteor shower. Best of all, I actually got to see the Milky Way. I've not seen it in person before, and it's an amazing spectacle. I picked up the prints today, and even though Walgreen's didn't print them too well, I could see the incredible amount of detail I picked up. I have pictures of the Milky Way that I took. Myself. It's So. Freaking. Cool.

I look up at the stars, and I know a lot of people might feel insignificant, or tiny, or something like that. When I look up, I'm totally taken aback at the sheer coolness of it all, and I feel honored to be able to take it all in.

--End nerd section--

Tonight I went to St. Ferdinand for a Journal shoot of the above cool band. Very nice time. The band had infinitely more presence and overall coolness then anyone I saw Friday night. And all they were doing were old R&B covers. Hmm. Maybe the source material had something to do with it. But they were still cool.

And by R&B, I mean Aretha Franklin, et al. Back when there was real rhythm and real blues in the music. The stuff holds up really well over time, as all good music does.

I'm gonna go watch the Cardinals now.

"Reaching for the stars and I got my head in the clouds."
Dave

*%^$@!!!

Bowing to popular opinion, I am now going to try an "angry" post.

Are you ready?

Good. Here goes:



Snarl.

Whoa. Did you feel it? I'd better go cool down a bit before I go any further. Even better, I think I'll go kick me some puppies instead. Excellent way to relieve stress.

Oh yeah, I hate you all.

bye!
Dave

I am a donut.

Reason #47 why taking a day off work isn't always the best idea: you may come back and find your Godzilla figures kidnapped. I kid you not. I stroll in this morning and find a ransom note on my desk. Yes, a ransom note. Surprisingly, whoever kidnapped the Big G let him write his own note, as it's in first person. I've also been given a Polaroid of the poor guy, making a phone call from somewhere in the building. All of this because someone wants a bag of cookies (Pepperidge Farm Milano cookies, to be precise). I think my coworkers have too much time on their hands.

We'll, um, see how that plays out.

Here's something to chew on: as previously noted, we went to Six Flags on Saturday. I think we were there for maybe 7 hours or so. Well, six, if you take out our lunch break. So, six hours at the park, and maybe...oh, I don't know, 7 minutes or so were spent on actual ride business. So that's a lot of walking and/or standing in line. A lot of time was spent walking, because we didn't exactly plan our attack very well. But, in the end, is it worth it to wait so long for such short thrills? In this case, I say 'soitenly,' even if I did feel as though I might die every 3 seconds while riding the Boss (and no, Bruce didn't show up). I still think the basic premise of almost every amusement park ride is pretty silly (how many ways can we move you in circles?), but the coasters at Flags, Six are pretty good at keeping it interesting.

I shot the Relay for Life for the NorCo Journal on Friday, and it offered a stark contrast to last week's Miss USA day. That event was a bunch of fluff and hoo-ha for a lady who stood around and looked pretty, and this was a lot of cool stuff for people who were, and still are in some cases, fighting a tough illness. Basically, I think they deserve it more than she did. It was pretty spiffy, really. Many candles=visual goodness. The only downside, I think, was the somewhat lame version of 'Amazing Grace' on bagpipes. Usually a can't miss, I know, but the guy playing it didn't seem totally into it.

I think there was more I was going to say about it all, but I got distracted and forgot. Plus, I really should get to working, so....

Dave

...we came in?

Potentially exciting news from the Broadway world.

Huh? Yes. yes, I know seeing the word 'Broadway' in one of my posts is like going to the store and seeing a new line of llama spit from Pepsi. Or seeing the Cubs win a playoff series. But bear with me here, as this is pretty cool news.

May I?

Pulled this off of Yahoo!:

"Pink Floyd's "The Wall" is coming to the Great White Way.

 

Miramax Films has pacted with former Sony Music chief Tommy Mottola to develop and produce a Broadway musical based on the seminal rock opera.


Roger Waters (news), who co-founded Pink Floyd in 1965 and conceived the semi-autobiographical 1979 concept double album, will write the Broadway show's book and arrange and orchestrate music for the stage production.


The album, which includes such Pink Floyd hits as "Another Brock in the Wall," "Comfortably Numb" and "Hey You," follows the journey of disillusioned rock star Pink, who looks back at the experiences that forged his neuroses. Like Pink, Waters lost his father in World War II.


Waters, who acrimoniously left Pink Floyd in the 1980s, sold the stage rights to the project to Miramax and Mottola, who runs his own Universal Music-based label, Casablanca Records."

See, I told you it was cool. For anyone who's seen the movie, you'll be happy to know Roger Waters is going to put a few laughs in the musical, since, well, there wasn't anything very amusing in the film.

I'd also like to point out that the terrible error in the above is not mine, and that the show won't be containing any songs about the squinty dude from Pokemon. That's another show.

And, also, for what it's worth, 'Another Brick in the Wall' is a 3-part song, and part two is the popular one everybody and their brother knows. So if someone says "I love 'Another Brick in the Wall'" to you, be sure to ask which part they mean, and see if they look at you like you asked for some of the aforementioned llama spit.

Don't you hate it when you can't find a CD you want to listen to? I had nearly half my music collection with me yesterday, and not a single thing seemed worth listening to. It was pretty sad, really. This morning, I grabbed mu uber-case, with all the good stuff: U2, CM, BF&FT, Satch, and PJ. I should be good now. If not, that exasperated scream you hear around 11:43 this morning is me.

Someone's turning 19 tomorrow. Can you guess who?

Someone else has been taking guitar lessons for a little over 5 years now. Up until the past few months, I never considered stopping (although I did for a bit last year, when there wasn't an evening slot available), but now I'm giving it some thought again. Two reasons, really: 1.) it's $55; a month 2.) I'm think I may have got most of what I can, instruction wise. I'm gonna keep up for this month, and maybe next, and see how things go. If I don't feel like we're covering anything new, I might go ahead and stop. I'd hate to do that, as it's usually a fun time, even if we don't cover new stuff, but it's a bit too much to spend each month if I'm not really learning.

So, we'll see.


Isn't this where...?
Dave

"So what's your plan now? Let's run screaming!"

I went to buy some cat food on Friday afternoon, and it reminded me of an observation I made the last time I went to buy cat food. I noticed, as I was walking around the store (I had time to kill, mind you) the big bags of dried cat food all featured pictures of ladies holding their cats (the cats were, as I recall, unimpressed with the prospect of being on a cat food bag). Anyways, I got to thinking: are these bags implying cats are an inherently 'female' pet? And if so, what would society say about me, being the owner of not one, but two (two) cats? I never gave it much more thought after that, and I saw a guy shopping for his cat on my second trip, so I got over it.

Speaking of cats: Janice and I went to the zoo this afternoon. I find it interesting to note that no matter how large a cat may be, it still acts like my cats. You know, sleep 27 hours a day, come up every so often to eat, and maybe spend 10 minutes a week doing 'cat' things. Namely, scratching the furniture. I also didn't see anything remotely funny about the hyenas, but maybe that's because they took a cue from the cats and slept all day. Hell, the black monitor lizard in the herpetarium was far more active than the cats we saw. Now, I'm not saying I didn't enjoy myself. I had a smashing good time. I'm simply stating that cats are lazy

I went out last night for another round of astrophotography. Not much happened. My shots came out okay, I think. The prints from Walgreens are over exposed, since they don't know any better, and the scanner at home is pretty iffy at best. My scanner at work should provide some better results. I was shooting with a full moon (blue, even), so it was an uphill battle. I'll have to try again at month's end, when we have a new moon. I confused some poor lady at Walgreen's when I dropped the film off this morning. I asked for 'negatives only,' and she looked at me like I asked for a bottle of llama spit. So I settled for prints.

I don't necessarily feel like going into the specifics of my day yesterday, save for the fact I worked up more of a sweat keeping ahead of the parade then I did at soccer on Wednesday. Also, a note to parade planners: it's generally a good idea to put the main focus of your parade at the end, not first.

Just my thoughts, mind you.

And really, I find it silly to honor someone with an entire month in their name, a theater named for them, and blah blah blah, all because they stood around and looked pretty. Shoot, I work my butt off sometimes and don't even get a lousy 5 minutes in my name. What gives?

The main question is, of course, what would I do with 5 minutes in my name? Would I use the time for good or for awesome?

Something to ponder, for sure.

Another thorny issue: how do you best spend a week (4 days) when your boss is out of town? Stroll in at nine, leave at two? Two hour lunches? Rearrange his desk? Actually, I might go for the gusto and wear shorts one day this week. Maybe Thursday.

We'll see.


Iggins!!!
Dave

Just creatures for awhile

We had a Canadian author at work tonight. How aboot that, eh?

Nice goal, eh?

Um. Yeah. Anyways, he was a humor columnist, so, naturally, he was pretty, well, humorous. Two points stick in my mind, mainly regarding the war in Iraq. He mentioned that, being Canadian, he gets asked, when in the States, why Canada didn't send troops overseas.

1.) They're military force is still in Afghanistan, and he's doing all he can.

2.) Bush invaded Iraq right as the Stanley Cup playoffs were starting.
  
3.) In hockey, the French will still fight.

 
3 points. Like I said before. But, yeah, he was funny. Not Dave Barry funny, but funny all the same. I can recall at least 5 good laughs.

It's been awhile, but long-time followers of No Moore, none of whom read this blog, will attest to my odd tendency to deflect the ball into our own net. I think I can safely say I've vindicated myself for those times. Somehow or other I managed to sprawl across an empty net last night and whack a ball, deflected by one of our own, out of harm's way.

I don't want to name names, so we'll call the guy who deflected that ball "Steve." 

But it's okay, because, as I said, I've done that many times myself. That said, I think we as a team played pretty good last night.

We lost 2-1.

I'm like, Mr. Comma tonight. Have you noticed?  

In other thoughts:

I've been listening to and downloading a lot of 311 the past few days, and it reminded me of something from their show last August at the Um-Bee-Pav. Last song of the show was 'Down,' which was their first big single from '95. Lead singer Nick Hexum dedicated the song to their old school fans. Now, there were many people at this show who were probably 14-16 years old, and started going nuts as if they were old school 311 fans. Now, that album is almost 10 years old, and it was already 311's third major release. Before that, they had about 3 indie records. I started listening in '95, and don't even really consider myself old school. So for a bunch of kids who were 6 or 7 years old when that song came out to be acting like they've been with the band forever kinda irked me.

Or maybe I'm just going elitist or something. When you're as old as me, it's hard to tell.

I'm glad this week is almost over, since it's been dragging it's feet ever since Monday morning. Tomorrow may be Friday, but it took forever to get here. I'll be glad for the weekend. And I only have a four day week next week, culminating with a trip to Six Flags. The next week brings another concert at Um-Bee-Pav with Tom, and the following week sees another trip to VI Flags and a Weird Al concert.

Fun times ahead. Can you see them? They're just off to the left, behind those sycamores.

 
Comes and goes, it comes and goes.
Dave

His sitting was out of control by the end.

Sounds like me at work sometimes.

Like Friday, for instance. I spent more time sitting around thinking about working than actually working. It was one of those days. I also have taken to using my computer for downloading concerts, due to it's rapid (fast) internet connection. My current conquest is the massive 311 show from March 11 (ya know, 3/11 day). 68 songs!!! It makes for a lot of listening. I have to make sure I don't let downloading interfere with actual work, though. I think I'm doing okay.

I've been thinking, and I'm trying to decide if I like rediscovering bands I've always liked, discovering all new bands, or discovering the entire catalogue of bands I've always liked (i.e. Rush). I suppose two and three are sorta similar, but not enough. I bring this up mostly because I'm still on a Rush kick, more than a month after the concert. I think it's because their catalogue is quite large, and I only know a small portion of it. Getting to know the span of their 17 albums is quite a treat.

Still, it's always nice to go back and get into the splendor that is U2. The new album this fall is making it a lot more exciting. It's good stuff, believe you me.

Which reminds me: for being a tried-and-true U2 fan, I hereby award Jess an additional 17 1/4 points, which moves her above the boat parade guy and Richard Nixon to take a solid lead in fourth place on the points list with a total of 24 1/4.

Janice and I helped mum and Michael James move into their new house today. It's a very nice house. The basement has, oh, I don't know, about 87,000 turns and closets. It's extremely cool, but the potential of getting lost is high. The entire house has something close to 3 million light switches and another 16,000 outlets. That said, it's a wonderfully nice house, and I can't wait to see it when they get everything unpacked. The only downside? I want either move or redecorate my house. I think the second option is more likely, but I need money and an idea. Or two. So, any suggestions are welcome (even if you haven't seen the house!).

I was really disappointed with the weather this weekend. It was supposed to be sunny and not too hot, but instead, we get cool and rainy. What the hell? Rains out my Journal shoot and my plans to go shoot some stars, something I haven't done since last September. Sigh. Why must I be tortured so? By the by, if you've never gone out to take some star pictures, I highly recommend it. It's different, and very relaxing.

Just watch out for The Man.

The only other thing I want to say today: sometimes, some people just need to, as Bev might say, "just move on."

 

We'd better have another wienie roast.

Dave

Always Forever Now

With the proper punctuation, that might make for an interesting advertising slogan, but I don't think U2 would go for it, so I'm not going to expend anymore thought on the issue.

Yeah, I know: it's not a Rush lyric.

10 points to anyone who can tell me which U2 album that song appears on. I don't award points as often as I used to, so I think this is a golden opportunity for someone to move up in the standings.

You didn't know about the standings? Well, currently, they are as follows:

1.) Janice: Q
2.) Tony Womack: 87
3.) Steve: 79
4.) Richard Nixon: 17
5.) that shirtless guy from the boat parade: 11

Everyone else is tied at 10 or less, so it's a pretty tight race. Tony's been moving up for the past month or two just on his hotness. Winners will be announced at the end of the year, and your prize packages will be mailed out c/o the Funny Farm, Chalfont.


Mmmm....I just realized I've been taking guitar lessons for over five years now and I still haven't mastered Where the Streets Have No Name, the greatest song ever written, I think. Considering it was the first song I ever had my teacher figure out for me, I should probably get back to it. Maybe once I finish this Rush song.

Have you ever had a feeling of total euphoria? Maybe some wave of total perfection rush over you? Sorta like...goosebumps to the Nth degree? If not, save your pennies, and go see U2 next spring on the road, and see if it happens when the intro to Streets comes up. It's a feeling I can't quite describe, but it was one of the best feelings I've ever had.

It's the power of music!

I think, and it might be close, that the Edge is almost as hot as Tony Womack. I mean, he's the Edge. Everyone calls him that. He makes wearing a beanie look cool. His goatee is even cool.

And did I mention he plays the guitar really well?

I haven't really said much of anything, but I'm working on posting thoughts as opposed to a recap of what I've been doing. It's a work in progress.

Janice's grandma is, apparently, a black-belt in karate. I'm duly impressed.

I've also reached the end of my thought train.



Dave