They were stiff.

If you hang around with me regularly, you know that I send most of my dressier clothes to the cleaners. A lot of my stuff is dry clean only so that's another reason I have to go a lot. Anyhow, one day last week, some new girl took my clothes in and I specified LIGHT starch like I always do. Just from looking at her, I had a feeling she wouldn't get it right. I was not to be disappointed - they came back with an obscene amount of starch in them. The most evident item were a pair of Polo khakis made of a thinner, lightweight cotton fabric. That's what I planned to wear today. I took them off the hangar and tried sticking my feet in. No go - got stuck just below the pockets. I had to flip them over and reach in through the bottom to separate each leg so I could get my feet through. Once I got them on I wasn't really "wearing" them, I was standing inside them. That was special to say the least. I managed to wedge my wallet into my back pocket as I walked out the door. When I sat down in the car, I heard a popping noise as each of the pleats separated. At this point I was laughing.

I was covered up at work today, but that was a good thing. I got plenty accomplished. I also hopped online and ordered some stuff for my Canon the biggest of which was a flash unit. I should have that soon and can begin experimenting with it. By the way, I have an extra camera I don't need anymore. If you're interested it's a Olympus C-5050 in perfect condition with all accessories and the original box. The LCD display has been protected since the day I unboxed it with a plastic film so there are NO scratches on it. In addition I have the B-300 Teleconverter ($150 lens), the adapter tube necessary to use it and several Tiffen filters one of which is a circular polarizer. All the accessories are in perfect condition as well, no scratches or dings. If I do sell it, I'll sell it as a unit as the individual items are of no use to me. If I have time, I may put it up on eBay.

Changed up the routine tonight and went to New China instead. Ivy was there and asked if I wanted "the usual". I did and it was good. The Burns and Kyle also were there. Afterwards we hung out over at BAM sipping drinks and reading. Eric and his larvae were there taking advantage of chess night. I saw a few friends of mine; Lisa, who I offered to buy a cappucino for but she declined and asked that I buy her a drink when I see her at the Brick. Allrighty then. Ellen, my date to the gala was also there with a friend of hers. Met a girl from Applebee's too. Talked with her a bit before heading home.

Kyle dropped by to pick up a CD. When he walked in he asked for a tape measure. After I gave him one he went back and was measuring the size of my drum room. It seems that several of us have got some sort of studio fever going on. Me, Kyle and Kevin all have the peices and parts to put together a recording studio. Big John also has several items so I'm sure we can get him into the mix somehow. For now, Kyle's probably going to rig up his laptop with recording software and his FirePod to do more portable recording. Kevin too is also going to get an interface, the Lexicon one I believe. He's got a laptop that he'll be using as well. I gave my old laptop to my dad. I may have to set my work laptop up so that I can lay down tracks also. When it's all said and done, someone can write a song and each of us can work on our parts separately and then assemble them together at the end. How cool is that?

Is it my turn yet?

Last night, I ended up over at BAM to see if I could read up on my color management malfunction. While I was there, I noticed it was pretty much a freakshow this evening. I looked around at all the kids there and had a flashback to high-school detention hall. Actually, I had another flashback as well - my freshman year in high school (way back in da day) my friends and I would arrive early because our bus picked us up at the crack of dawn. We would arrive at 7 AM and school didn't start till 8:30. What did we do? We ate breakfast and played Dungeons & Dragons. Those were some good times. What we all looked forward to everyday was our buddy Mike Phillips. He was a talented artist, but just really didn't apply himself at all. That's another story though. Anyway, every morning he opened his lunch sack to see what his mom packed him. 9 times out of 10, he didn't like what was in there and the comments he made about it had us all rolling. One morning, he had a sandwich of some sort that had cheese on it. Mike didn't like cheese so he flung it up at the ceiling - where it stuck. As the days, weeks and months passed, you could see the square of cheese shrink as it originally left an oily mark on the tile it was stuck to. As the cheese contracted you could see the oily outline of its original size.

I actually still have my D&D dice. Unfortuantely, I no longer have any of my books - monster manual, players reference guide, dungeon masters guide or any of the maps. I think I sold or traded them back many years ago. I wish I still had them. They would be quite a collectors item now as all my stuff was from the earlier printings.

Back to today. Sorry about chasing that rabbit.

Got a call from Kyle and met him and Jeff over at the Barrel of Crackers for dinner. Food was good. The only thing that might have made things better was if my first glass of water didn't taste like Clorox. You might be thinking "how does he know what Clorox tastes like?". A valid question. Back in my Boy Scout days, there was some Clorox usage in some water purification process we used. (Don't ask) It was a very small amount diluted in large quantities of water so there wasn't a high concentration. Anyway, that taste always stuck in my mind. So I was like "Ma'am, can I have another glass of water? This tastes like Clorox." That went over like a fart in a diving helmet as I probably said it too loudly and was heard by neighboring diners. I finally got a clean glass of water and was happy.

Swung by the house and picked up a few drinks then stopped in at Scott's to hang out with the crew over there. Good bunch of folks there - over a dozen. Watched them play trivial pursuit then went into a game of cranium. What was funny during the Cranium game was that the question was read (I wasn't paying attention) and then the card with the question on it was passed to us to look at. I saw a picture of Lyndon B. Johnson on the front (as Scott was yelling "DID YOU SAY BIG JOHNSON?" from the other side of the table) and I was all about saying "Yeah, that's Lyndon B. Johnson". As it turns out, who was in the picture wasn't the question (in my mind I'm thinking - Enough Corona, you're getting stupid)it was a TRUE or FALSE question. We guessed true and got it whatever the question was. What was funny to me is that I was smugly thinking I got the Lyndon Johnson part right when that wasn't even the question. I was laughing at myself.

Went on home after that and settled in for the evening. That was enough excitement for one day.

More #20 Home Depot car pictures

I posted a few more pictures from yesterday's activities for your enjoyment. The weather wasn't really cooperating - these shots would have been really nice on a clear sunny day.

The car gets hauled around in this trailer. Very nice.

SERIOUS brakes.

These huge blowers with hoses attached are to cool the brakes.

There's nothing "stock" about a stock car.

Can you say AIRFLOW?

The cockpit view from the passenger "window".

Cold, wet - but it's nice and warm inside!

Today was the day I finally got to go see (and work on) the Tony Stewart car some racing buddies of mine bought. Now, Brian and John are no newbies to racing - both have raced in the past in a variety of vehicles. John was who I pit crewed for last year at a local track. The Stewart car is a COMPLETELY different animal. Obviously, this is a professional race car built by a professional racing team. "WOW" is about the only way I can sum it up.

The tasks for today were to check the brakes, the steering box and to remove Tony's seat as it didn't fit Brian properly. He's much taller than Tony. I was the smallest guy there so I hopped in (the seat fit me fine) and did the wrenching inside. Sitting in the car was a unique experience - this exact car was the pole-sitter at the 2002 Watkins Glen race. It ended up finishing the race in 2nd place. So, if you're a NASCAR fan and watched that race, you saw this very car.

Back about 2 years ago, a group of my friends and I raced each other online in a NASCAR simulation. We all had way too much fun - so much fun that Bill's doctor told him to ease up on it because of his heart condition... THAT'S how exciting it got. The following day after racing the evening before was pretty entertaining as we talked about everything that transpired on the track. Good times I tell ya. I never thought that I'd be sitting in an ACTUAL race car though. I must say, the programmers at Electronic Arts (the former NASCAR simulation people) did a fantastic job modeling the car interior.

After we got done, Brian had to head out to go camping in a cave with his kid, Bill had to take his wife shopping and John and I headed to the BK lounge (Burger King for those who don't know) for a very late lunch. Headed back to Decatur afterwards and stopped over at Kyle's to check out his new FirePod and the DVD of our Riverfest performance last year.

I'm back home now. Was chatting with Jo for a bit talking about her first day at work. Now it's time for me to think about eating again. Sometimes eating is just an interruption to my day. Grrr...

Vroom! Vroom!

The REAL deal.

We rolled the car out of the trailer in the cold drizzle then after I took this pic, we jacked it up and got it on the rolling dollies (in front of the wheels) to easily push it into the garage.

Another week older...

Down here in the deep south, we have a problem whenever it comes to winter precipitation. Pretty much anything can screw things up down here:

talk ABOUT snow
accumulations of 1/8" inch of whatever
sleet
somone pouring a Sonic slushy in the street

Apparently, we're under some sort of winter weather advisory or some nonsense like that tonight and tomorrow morning. After seeing the pictures earlier in the week from Rick, what the weather people issue an advisory for down here is ludicrous.

Today was a laid-back sort of day. Met up with Kevin and his kid for sushi at Kyoto. Food was excellent as it always has been but the service is still lacking. The girls there are S L O W. I really hope they kick it into gear as people that were coming in were having to stand around for uncomfotably long times until someone eventually greeted them. Not good.

Wrapped up the day and came on home. Not too much going on tonight so I changed into some sweats and hung around the house. It's nice to have peace and quiet. I savor the tranquility more and more especially after hearing about the stories my friends tell me about their kids/neighbors/family dramas.

Here's an article I found that would be appropriate for my buddy Luke. I'm going to give this to Lesa and see what she can come up with to make this REALLY funny.

Whole lotta' runnin' around.

I hit the ground running this morning! First thing was to heal a "situation" I was having with our backup system at the office. A backup runs automatically every evening to make sure the day's work, especially the artist's stuff, is safely duplicated. The carousel was out of empty tapes and last night the system needed one and didn't have it so the backup job was paused. Anyway, getting this attended to is very important. I get freaked out if something doesn't get backed up.

Off to Huntsville for a client meeting. After that, Lesa and I stopped in for coffee and crossiants at Atl. Bread Co. like we did last time. Also strolled through CompUSA in search of a cable I was needing but had no luck finding it there. Eventually, I found an adpater I was needing at BestBuy. Dropped off a negative at a color processor then headed to the VonBraun center to meet Kay and attend the Tennessee Valley Advertising Federation luncheon. One of the VP's of the New York Times media empire was there speaking to us on new media. Guess what was talked about a lot? BLOGS! Also vBlogs - video blogs. Lot's of interesting information was shared. Saw a couple of people I knew and met several new folks from the local TV stations and newspapers. Back to the office for another meeting. Whew! Wrapped up the day going through email and making sure I covered everything I had listed in my planner to be accomplished.

Met up with Lesa at Simp's for dinner. Ate a good meal and caught up with my friends there as I hadn't been there since before Christmas. Previously, I was there at least once or twice a week. I've just been too busy lately in the evenings.

On another note, I saw on TV where we're under a "winter storm advisory"... PUH-leeze. After seeing those pics from Rick, the 1/16" of whatever we might get is laughable.

Lesa joined me and had a drink while I ate dinner. Nothing too exotic tonight, just some seared salmon.

Here's Kathy, the bartender at Simp's. She's pretty entertaining. She was wondering where I'd been.

Fight! Fight! Fight!

Remember back in high school when you heard someone yell that? Everyone it seemed took off running to go see the brawl. The past 2 days, me and technology have been having some differences. Those of you that know me know that I typically have it together when it comes to anything technology related. Honestly, that mainly comes from the fact that I take the time to read the manuals to what I own - no deep dark secret. Anyway, I decided to work on getting color management working between all my digital photography stuff: cameras, monitor, Photoshop and printer so that what I shoot with the camera looks the same on my monitor in Photoshop and that in turn closely matches the print that comes out of the printer. That's not as easy as you would think though. I do have several things going in my favor though, I have no off-brand equipment so everything I have is fully supported with current color profiles that everything recognizes. Thing is, there are a bazillion profiles, even multiple ones for the same device. I'm still working on that but I'm giving up on it for now. Burned up 2 evening screwing around with it already.

Still on the photography front, a local museum is receiving a collection of art handmade by Northwestern Indian tribes. We got several pieces brought over to us to shoot for some print things we're doing. The majority was of masks but we had a woven basket and a ornamental blanket as well. Interesting pieces for sure. Took several good shots. It made the afternoon go by pretty quickly.

Since I've been home, I've just been messing with the color management crap to no avail. Took a break from that to change out the head on my primary snare drum. The one I had been using had gotten pretty worn. As I recall, I put that head on back in the summer sometime before our Riverfest gig. It sounds all nice and crisp again.

Had trouble sleeping last night for some reason. I ended up getting out of bed around 5 AM because I just wasn't sleepy any more. Suprisingly, I made it through the day okay after a few cups of coffee in the morning.

Going to hop in bed in a few minutes, I have several meetings tomorrow 2 of which are out of town. Should be a good day though.

Rick, a drumming buddy of mine from up in Massachusetts sent me a few pictures of what a "real" snow looks like.

More snow.

That's a long driveway.

Snow.

Rick off in the distance with his Husqvarna snow blower.

I actually worked here?!?!

Tonight after work I met up with the Guad squad - The Burns, me, Kyle, Dave and Chuck. I wanted to get done eating and walking the mall without eating up all my evening. I had a taco, refried beans, rice and a beef enchilada all washed down with a Negra Modelo in an ice cold mug. Mmmmm...

I took advantage of a 75% off sale at Dillard's and picked up 2 shirts that normally would have cost $140 for about $38 (incuding our high-@ss sales tax of 9%). Good colors and nice fabrics. Visited Parisian next and found nothing of interest there. Ran into Tanya at Sears. Talked to her a little before takin it to the crib. Walking back to our cars, Kyle and I discussed how much the mall had changed since we worked there many, MANY years ago. We were pointing and naming where old stores used to be - County Seat, Record Bar, Camelot Music, Southern Sound, Athlete's Feet, Afterthoughts, Friedman's Jewlers, Lorch's Diamond Center, J. Riggins, Roger's, Lerner... so many places have been through there. Back in the day, Kyle worked at AB Stephens, a music store. I worked at several places until I shifted into retail management. Wow, those were the days. Fun times for sure. But things are different there now. What once was a decent mall now sucks. If I didn't go to Guadalajara Grill to eat from time to time, I would never go to this particular mall for anything. I'd rather drive over to Huntsville, Birmingham or even Nashville to find what I'm looking for. Honestly, I don't know how the mall tenants here survive. It's crazy.

A clear day!

Skies were beautiful at the photo shoot last Thursday. Here's an artsy shot I took of an awning in a shopping area against the sky.

Laid back kind of day.

Today was one of what I would call a "perfect" day. I got up early and had plenty of time to get a load of laundry done, fix a big breakfast, wash dishes, surf the net... all before heading to church. It was nice not to be in a rush.

Church was great. Good message on "stuff" and budgeting. I think it will help a lot of folks if the guidelines and principles are followed. We'll see how that goes.

A bunch of us were heading to Firehouse for subs when we discovered they were closed for "personal" reasons - whatever that means. We were set on some subbage though so we made it over to Quizno's. Got in in just before the crowd hit. I saw several friends from a former church of mine. Chit chatted with them a little before heading home.

I decided to work with my camera a bit more with Kelsey as my subject. I found it a bit difficult to throw a tennis ball for her to fetch then bringing up the camera to take the shot in time. Anyway, I did get a few photos that I liked. What I need to do is shoot a sporting event. That would give me plenty of practice. A track meet, soccer game or something.

Went over to the bookstore and got my mocha and several magazines together. Sat in a corner and immersed myself in my stuff. Looked up and the girl next to me was pulling out her laptop... a Mac! Made some conversation with her and found out that she was the daughter of a photographer friend of mine - Charlie. He's the guy whose Bankhead forest print hangs in my livingroom. What a small world. We figured we'd see each other again at one of the few coffee shops in town.

I ran out of things to do for awhile so I looked for something to do rather than just sit around and vegetate. I cleaned out the cabinet under my kitchen sink. I had enough chemicals under there to clean just about anything and also kill anything with more than 4 legs. Also had flying critters covered. Swept it all out and threw away stuff I didn't need.

What an exciting evening.

Check out the size of my big, chubby... lens.

Lesa loaned me the big-daddy 70-200/2.8L lens to use this weekend. The weather kinda stunk but I was able to shoot some shots of Kelsey chasing a tennis ball. This is my Canon with Lesa's lens on it.

Just to kill time...

I was reading a friend's bLog and ran across this little age thingy where you answer a few questions then you get a "reading" as to how old you are based on your answers. Here's my result:

You Are 27 Years Old

27 Under 12: You are a kid at heart. You still have an optimistic life view - and you look at the world with awe. 13-19: You are a teenager at heart. You question authority and are still trying to find your place in this world. 20-29: You are a twentysomething at heart. You feel excited about what's to come... love, work, and new experiences. 30-39: You are a thirtysomething at heart. You've had a taste of success and true love, but you want more! 40+: You are a mature adult. You've been through most of the ups and downs of life already. Now you get to sit back and relax.

What Age Do You Act?

Enough with the eating out already...

That subject is meant for me. When you add last nights dinner to tonights, I've spent a little over $100. Boy, was it good though! Anyway, I'm going to have to crank it back a notch as even for me and my single ways, that's a bit steep for 2 meals.

Big crowd at dinner though, The Burns, Prevatts, Tiffany, Scott, The E, John & Friend, and of course - me. We all took up one whole table at Kyoto. Service was okay, just the usual slowness in getting started. I had the filet and lobster. Mmmm mmmm good. After the meal, I noticed a kid sitting a table over was playing on her Nintendo DS. "I'll screw with her a bit." I slipped my DS out of my coat and booted it. Sure enough, I saw her come up in one of the chat rooms and proceeded to message her. It was funny watching her look around to see what other kid had a DS. Eventually, she looked my way and saw what I had and smiled. I put mine away after that and started acting my age. We all did miss out on a great opportunity for a big multi-player game of something is Kevin and Scott didn't leave their DS's at home.

Earlier in the day, I accompanied my sister shopping in Huntsville. Let me go ahead and say that Wolf Camera SUCKS!!!! They don't have anything decent in stock and what they DO have, they have priced at suggested retail pricing. It's like they don't know the internet exists or something. Made the rounds at Parkway Place where I was trying to decide on a North Face jacket I had been looking at since before Christmas. In the end, I didn't get it. I did get some stuff at Express though. Hit Madison Square and then Best Buy. Didn't get anything there.

I was hoping to take some shots while out and about this afternoon but the sky was overcast and gray. I hope I have better luck tomorrow.

No weirdness today.

Thankfully, no oddities occurred today. Headed to Huntsville first thing this morning with Lesa and Luke again to shoot more shots with the different sunlight this time of the day. The sky was beautiful but the lighting angles just weren't right. After about an hour we headed back but not without stopping at the Atlanta Bread Company for some crossiants and mochas. Transferred the pictures from my camera then it was time to eat again. Lynn and I ate at El Portal for lunch. Good stuff. I almost fell asleep on the drive back to the office. I had a meeting coming up so I loaded up on 2 Mt. Dews to hopefully keep my eyes open. It barely worked. The day wrapped up with a mad scramble to get our entries for the ADDY awards in - an advertising industry award.

All in all, a long day.

"The Urinator"

Here's the guy I mentioned in the previous entry. He's between the two police officers giving him a talking to. He's wearing a tan jacket.

Um, is that guy... yup, he is.

Weirdness abounded at the end of my day today. The daytime was great! Had some meetings then headed to Huntsville for a photo shoot. Me, Lesa and Luke were running all over the place taking pictures like crime scene investigators. What we were actually doing is getting content for some print media and internet stuff together for a client. It was after lunch and we took what pictures we could with the available lighting but will go back tomorrow morning to shoot things with the sun in a different position. I must say I am extremely happy with my new camera.

Now, on to the Weirdness. I was walking one of my co-workers out to her car - as we stepped out the front door, I noticed a man in the street beside our building with his back to us along with the sound of splattering liquid coming from the same direction. I thought to myself, "is that guy peeing in the middle of the road?". Turns out he was. Let's call him, "The Urinator". He finished his business then continued down the middle of street heading towards the courthouse. By this time, Luke emerged from the building to see what was going on and I pointed the guy out to him. If we were in New Orleans during Mardi Gras, this would not be anything unusual but for where I am, in the neighborhood I'm in, it's definitely out of the ordinary. Long story short, I called the police to give them a heads up. As I left the office on my way home, I saw two police cars that had stopped a pedestrian... it was "The Urinator". I pulled into a bank parking lot across the street and the Asian in me kicked in - I *had* to take a picture. It was dark though and I didn't have Lesa's big @ss lens on me so I had to make do with what I had. I wasn't going to use flash either because (A) it was too far and (B) I didn't want to draw attention to myself.

After that was over, I stopped in at Staples to pick up a memory card as they were still on sale. I went to pay for it with a clerk that somehow knows my family. I handed her my credit card and she ran it though. Here's how the conversation went:

Clerk: "Are you using your father's credit card?"
Me: "Uh, no." (inside, I'm thinking "WTF?")
Clerk: "Why aren't you a Junior?"
Me: "I just am not." (still thinking "WTF?")
Clerk: "Isn't your dad's name Joe?"
Me: "Yeah" (now I'm curious where this is going)
Clerk: "So why aren't you Jon?"
Me: "Because I was named Jonathan."
Clerk: "Then why does your card say Joe?"
Me: (Pulling my card back out and flipping it around for her to see) "IT DOESN'T. IT SAYS JONATHAN"
Clerk: "Oh... (mumbles something), never mind." (clearly embarrassed now)
Me: (rolling my eyes, looking irritated over this waste of conversation)

Sigh.

Later on, I met up at Applebees with Kyle and Kevin for dinner. Had a good meal and related all my fun evening adventures to them. Once again, it's time for bed.

Busy!

Wow! I've been covered up so much the last few days I hadn't even had time to make a proper bLog entry. But, I'm free for the moment and think I can catch you all up.

Last Saturday, I received my new digital camera - a Canon EOS 20D. I had grown tired of my point and shoot digital Olympus 5050 because there is only so much you can do with it. This is especially apparent when I'm at the F1 race in Indy and I simply can't get the reach I need with the one and only lens. Now, I can pick and choose the lens or lenses I need. What helps out a whole lot is that Lesa also has a Canon AND one of the super-momma-knocker telephoto zoom (70-200mm f/2.8 L) lenses I was looking at getting for myself. She offered to loan it to me just whenever I needed it. How sweet is that? So, I'm instead going to get a really nice wide zoom lens (24-70mm f/2.8 L) and an external flash. I can put off the big zoom purchase indefinitely because of Lesa's graciousness. I've already had a chance to experiment with my camera in the past few days. I REALLY like the results I'm getting. Of course, I'm still going to keep my other camera for something easy and small to bring. It works great, I've just outgrown it.

Ate dinner with the Burns Monday night at Kyoto. Kailyn was being difficult - which is unusual. Her parents put the smackdown on her so hopefully they are getting the message across that there's only so much of that crap they'll take before you get swatted.

Tuesday, an old buddy of mine from years back came by and we caught up on what all we had been doing. He checked out the pad... home theater, office, and drum studio. Ate some pizza and watched some tube. That pretty much wrapped up that evening.

Today was one meeting after another. Very productive. Called it a day a little early and headed over to Cafe 113 for drinks on the boss. Most of the crew was there and a good time was had by all. I'm home now and need to figure out what to whip up for dinner. I'm hungry.

There's just not enough drama...

Well, maybe there's enough drama here, it's just that it's the SAME kind of drama all the time. So with that in mind, I've added links to the bLogs of 2 folks that are getting more social action in their corners of the world than we seem to be. There's Veronica from over on the Left Coast - she's actually stopped in to visit and comment a few times in the past weeks. A big shout out and welcome to her! Then from WAY out west (and south) in Australia is Tanya, a Finnish girl attending college in the land down under.

Go visit and see what lives are like outside of North Alabama.

My little girl Kelsey.

It's cold again.

First things first, my dad is doing fine and will be going to visit a cardiologist this week for further evaluation. I pray that the news will be good.

The cold weather is back again. It does seem more "normal" though, having 70 degree temps in January is just a little strange. I've had to whip out some of my short-sleeved stuff the past few days... again, strange for the middle of winter.

Wrapped up a busy week at the office! It was extremely productive. One thing I did a good bit of research on is search engine marketing for promoting a website. Basically, it's how you use Google, Yahoo, Overture, etc. to spread the word about your site. I put together all the pricing and brochures about it in a rough format for new and will clean it up in the coming days. Friday's lunch plan was having sushi at Kyoto with Lesa. Kyoto is still a little rough around the edges. The food is great, but the wait staff still needs to work on customer service a good bit more. As Lesa put it, they're not smooth. It will come in time though. I spent the afternoon correcting the contact information for several domain names we administer. That made me sleepy. Meanwhile, Lesa realized she left her credit card at Kyoto and headed back over there to get it. Lynn must have sensed we were all dragging and took drink orders for the coffee shop for us. I had a mocha. Yesterday, I had a cappucino from the same place (hadn't had one in a LONG time, usually get a mocha) and forgot that it wasn't sweetened. Took a sip and thought ewwwwwwwwwwww! To top it off, I tried sweetening it and couldn't get it right. My other form of caffeine, Mountain Dew, is much easier to work with. I picked up 3 cases today so I should be good for a week or two.

I didn't go anywhere last night. Spent some time working on tuning one of my drums. I think it's time to change out my bottom heads (they control the pitch) as this one particular drum wasn't keeping its tuning very well. I'll probably call Jenny at Fork's soon and get her to send me a set. I think I've had the bottom heads on there for 2 years which is a year too long. I change my batter heads more regularly.

It's Saturday now and to be honest, I have no idea what I'm going to be doing today. I only have a little laundry to do. Hmmm...

Yeah I'm concerned.

Just got an email from my dad informing me that he may have had a "silent" heart attack - but for me not to be alarmed. Not be alarmed? I replied and hopefully will get more details from him soon. For those of you that don't know, my parents are on the other side of the globe from me. I called and gave my sister a heads up and she reacted the same as me. Anyway, hopefully this will have been mis-diagnosed and things will be fine.

People sometimes tell me that they wonder just what sorts of things get me down since I'm a fairly happy and well-adjusted person. Well - anything happening to my parents or family would be first on the list.

Nothing funny and no rants from me tonight.

There is a slight possibility...

... that I will be in this pose again soon. Back 4 or 5 years ago I bowled on a league and bowled SO freakin much that I burned out on it. It looks as though me and some others from my agency will participate in a bowling fund raiser for the local Junior Achievment chapter. Luckily, I still have all my gear from back in the day... 5 balls, my wrist brace, ultra-fly shoes, etc. What's going to suck is the alley we'll be bowling in. After bowling in some REALLY nice alleys with pristine lanes, the one here will be akin to rolling one of my $200+ balls down a gravel road. That's gonna suck.

Hooters.

On the way to the concert last night, we got caught in a torrential downpour. Also saw some ambulances heading in the oppposite direction. Come to find out the next day that there was a small plane crash a mile or so from the airport. Anyway, it was a Hooters night. I had some oh so good Fosters on tap along with my buffalo shrimp. Food was suprisingly good. It's been YEARS since I've been to this place. The last time I was there, the wait staff wasn't much to look at. Looks like they kicked the hiring criteria up several notches. Either that or the hiring manager got some much needed eyeglasses. Our waitress was particularly excited about just having turned 21 recently. She wasn't too rough on the retinas so it was pleasant talking to her.

Finally made it to the concert but it wasn't late enough to avoid the opening bands. Just like in Atlanta, they sounded like... poo. Alter Bridge finally took the stage and I started enjoying myself. The show was rockin! I especially dug the Led Zepplin moment when they busted out and did Zep's Rock n' Roll. It was a good time. Ran into Kusi and his woman there too. The only thing that really sucked was standing for over 2 hours. Got home and immediately went to bed.

Work today was BUSY. Had that site launch today - have over 1000 people sign up for the alert system JUST today! It's a good start. A lot of work went into it so I hope it's a success for the client. Luke joined me for lunch at Kyoto where much sushi was consumed. He was freaking over the amount of wasabi I used but hey, that's just me. Back to the office to wrap things up in the afternoon then me, Lesa, Kay and Luke hit up cafe' 113 for drinks and appetizers.

Now I'm home. I think I'll bust out some of my pots and pans and cook up something good to eat.

Not a whole lot happenin...

It was a good day for a Monday. Had a bit of a fashion malfunction this morning as a shirt and pants I thought went together... didn't. I didn't have an easy backup plan so I had to scramble to put something together. I had a scheduled visit with a client today so I needed to look presentable, more so than just with jeans and a casual shirt.

Okay, enough of that.

I didn't sleep too well last night. Not sure what the problem was but all I know is that it seemed night had passed and I had barely closed my eyes. I guess I rested enough though because I wasn't really feeling tired at any point during the day. My client meeting went well - had lunch with them then toured their development. Lot's of potential.

Finished the afternoon off reviewing material for a multimedia CD we're putting together. Lot's of things happening this week. Should be good.

Guad was tonight. Dinner was over quickly then we did our obligatory walk-around. Picked up a belt from Linda but that was about it. Going to call it a night early - got the Alterbridge concert tomorrow night. Rock on!

Nice end to a weekend.

This weekend has been one of the more relaxed, normal weekends I have had in a while. With the holidays behind me, I can look forward to having more say as to whether or not I have a restful or active weekend.

Church went well this morning. Dave revealed some plans and goals for us to try and reach. That's a good thing otherwise we're all just wandering around aimlessly. Picture the typical worker when the boss isn't around. Yeah, you get the picture. It will be exciting to try and reach some of these goals. I'll be fitting in somewhere with the music ministry of course but hopefully we can get a singles group going. Before we do though, we need a bigger pool of people to draw from. Gotta work on that.

My sis joined the lunch crowd today at Logan's. We took up 4 tables I think when all was said and done. There was some contention among the wait staff as we took up tables in more than one server's section. Please - we're not interested in the restaurant logistics drama, we just want to sit together and eat. Ya'll need to get your poop together in the back instead of talking about it on the floor. Suprisingly, my food was good.

Nap. Staples visit. Wal-Mart. Winn-Dixie.

Kyle (Asian #2) came over so I could help him with some DVD media issue he was having. He was checking out my drums as I was trying to figure out what to do for dinner. As if by magic, Dana calls inviting me to dinner at the new Kyoto Japanese restaurant. Kyle heads over with me and we join Dana & Co. Dinner was very good except for the fact that my scallops got overcooked. Anyway, this place has a lot of potential so I'm glad that it's here. I plan on patronizing that place especially since it has... A SUSHI BAR!!! Finally! A sushi place in town. Not only that, it's near my house! Cool stuff.

The funny part of the evening was Kyle-related of course. Keep in mind that a good portion of Kyle would be made in Japan. We're at a Japanese restaurant, he doesn't like shellfish, can't eat with chopstics nor can he identify the soup he's having. Eating sushi would be out of the question. I'm sure that if there were burgers on the menu, that's what he would have ordered.

Jo, sound guru and aspiring vocal artist.

Thanks for all your help!

I'm a *little* tired.

Last night at the Hard Dock turned into a blast! Soon the crew was there and we were all having a ball together. Good times all around. It was Jack's first time seeing Sister Luck out and I think he was enjoying himself. Kira did a good job on the guitars as usual. I called Lesa and soon she and her crew came on the scene and joined the fun. It was a great night all in all. After the band was done, Phillip and Leslie came over to the house to sit and talk a little as well as check out my drum studio and other instruments. We might be getting some bluegrass stuff together in the near future is Leslie makes good on her mandolin intentions. Got in bed LATE.

Got up Saturday morning then... went back to bed. Got up again, this time around noon and this one stuck. Finally got my day rolling. Met up for band practice which I think everyone will agree - went extremely smoothly especially with Eric and Kyle not having played in a few weeks. It was good to see E back with his bass in hand. He also looks to have finally kicked his stomach funk but not without sharing some of the choice tidbits about the experience. Thanks for that dude.

Spent the evening with Jo - she's the one that helped me with some sound stuff back in the beginning of December. She only has a few more days before she moves up to Tennessee to continue her college career. Did some shopping then sat down to dinner at Macaroni Grill. We ate entirely too much but neither one of us has any sort of weight problem to be concerned with so it was all good. Talked about music, school and weird diets. That pretty much wrapped up my evening. I think I'm going to kick back with some amaretto and watch some tube before retiring for the evening.

Jack, meet Kira... LOL

Me and Kira showing off our stunning dental work.

Kerry on his Ludwigs in full Village People headress.

Kira up on a table doing her thing...

The beginning of funny stuff. Me and Lori groping.

Slight improvement.

Talked to Stacey this morning - Kailyn was finally able to keep some Sprite down but when they drew blood early this morning, her electrolyte levels were still not where they needed to be. So, they may keep her at the hospital another night. The plan is to possibly try some solid food in a few hours.

Back to work.

A sad little girl...

Poor Kailyn. She does NOT look happy in the least bit. Get well soon!

Much improved.

Today was a whole heck of a lot better than my drama filled morning yesterday. I was busy today but it was all about getting things accomplished - no spinning my wheels or anything. Lesa and I tried out the new Mexican place, Aldoria's I think for lunch. The food was delicious but our waitress was a bit on the slow side. Afterward, we stopped over at the new Java Jaay's next door for some latte's. I had a Heath bar one that was absolutely fantastic. They've also got wireless internet in there so it would be possible to haul out the laptop and geek it up a little should you feel the urge.

Chatted online a good bit with Jo. She's about to get things together for her move to school up in Murphreesboro - in Dabster land. She's struggling with a sore throat right now. Not a good thing if you're a singer. I think she's doing a mixdown on some tracks she recently recorded tonight. It'll be a late night for her.

Speaking of late nights, my favorite kid - Kailyn, is in the hospital being treated for dehydration. She's been hit with some sort of stomach bug that's prevented her from keeping anything down. They admitted her to the hospital today to get her on an I.V. drip to replenish her fluids. I talked to Kev and Stacey to see if they needed anything and they were hungry. I grabbed some food the headed up there to visit. Poor Kailyn, she looked so pitiful with her arm all in a splint with the I.V. line going in. The splint and tape was to keep her from accidentally pulling the line out. It was so sad to see her like that. Thankfully, she was asleep on Stacey's shoulder as I was leaving. I hope she can get some rest and recover from this quickly. It's got to suck when you're that young and don't understand why you have this thing in your arm, why you keep throwing up and why you're not getting any food to eat.

I'll go and see her again tomorrow but I think the doctor was only going to keep her there overnight.

Biggest scare in a LONG time.

Today between about 8:45 and 9:15 this morning, I was FREAKING OUT! I was at work taking care of some domain names and hosting services when I thought something happened to a KEY domain name I registered a few months back. It *looked* as though the domain name belonged to someone else. This domain would be for an extremely important project where the domain name I bought WAS the name of the project and all the media... web, print, radio, billboards, etc. were based entirely off of it. I was sweating while asking myself how this could have all happened because I had all my email trail and checked everything out to be sure everything happened as I wanted.

In the end, I was just a boob and freaked out until I found that everything was okay and DID go according to my plans. Good grief. I was physically drained at 9:15 after that scare. My boss was laughing at me as I lay sprawled out on the stairs in our break room looking like I just climbed or fell off the side of a mountain. It's amusing to think about now but at the time I was just about to trip off-line.

The rest of my day was uneventful which was PERFECT after all that drama.

Picked up laundry on my way home then headed straight to the house. I think I'm really going to make it into bed much earlier tonight. Maybe by 10:30.

Squeaky clean.

Popped into the office for a bit this morning before heading to the dentist for my regular cleaning. Looks like the crew there has found someone they want to hook me up with - the only problem is that she's seeing someone. We'll see what happens.

My afternoon was largely spent in a meeting. Got a lot accomplished though so in the end, that was a good thing. I stayed around the office awhile longer before heading to Red Lobster to enjoy Jack's birthday dinner. Dave, Dana, The Burns, the Spooners and of course, me were all in attendance. Got a little 'tude from the hostess when I first got there and told her we had a party of 16.

Me: We've got about 16 coming.
Ho-stess: Smoking or non?
Me: Non.
Ho: (gruffly) I'll have to split you up.
Me: Then put us in smoking if that means you won't split us up there.

Well, she wasn't expecting that last response. Ended up getting the accomodations we wanted in the NON-smoking section, she was just being "difficult" when I first got there.

Dinner was delicious and fun! I was at the table with Dave, Dana, Jack and Michelle and we all entertained each other. Ended the night with Dave doing his special thing with the lemon peel. Always funny.

I need to get in bed earlier tonight. I went too late last night and was paying for it all day today.

There's the groove. I think I'll get back into it.

Wow! That bLog entry title should be sponsored by Kraft 'coz it was so cheesy...

I had a great start to the new year and the week today. Things at the office are going well. For lunch, I met up with Bernie for a sandwich at Bellacino's before heading over to "The Building" to visit my old co-workers. It was good seeing the old crew again. There were lots of new faces there, but my friend's were the most important. Ran into David (Bernie's boss) as well. Didn't get a chance to stay too long as I had another errand to run and needed to get back to my office to get everything I wanted to accomplish today completed.

After work, I went over to Lesa's to hook up her wireless router. She had been struggling with getting everything connected up and working ever since Christmas. I had her browsing wirelessly in less than 10 minutes.

"I got skillz"

Anyway, getting wireless network security working on a Macintosh was a new experience. That took me a little while to figure out. In the end, I just set up MAC filtering till I get some more info on how WEP works on the Apple platforms.

Met up with the REGULAR Guad Squad tonight and then did the requisite speed shopping. Suprisingly, I didn't buy anything. Everything was picked over and prices weren't all that appealing. Came on home shortly thereafter.

I had washed a sinkful of dishes this morning before getting into the shower so that was my only real chore I had to take care of today. Just for good measure though, I found enough stuff to do one load of clothes. Very pleased overall with my productivity over the past several days.

Are you SURE it's January?

'Cause its 72 degrees outside and absolutely gorgeous! Today was a stellar day all-around. Church was great - had some visitors too. Excellent stuff. It was another acoustic set this week with me on the djembe and the fellas on their no "tricity*" guitars. I'm feeling more comfortable with the djembe now as I've gotten to use it more. I can get more tones out of it than when I first started playing it - experimented with muted tones more today more than anything else. It's also a lot easier on your hands than bongos or congas IMO. Despite that, my hands were a little sore after all that.

Ate lunch with a good group with the addition of the Dabster. It was all going well until she found out a friend of hers got engaged or something and she started making all these high-pitched noises that only dogs and bats could hear - in addition to the people in the sub shop that is.

After some Scrambling(tm), we all finally loaded up in the Jack's van and headed east to the tech mecca to shop. I only picked up a few things but nothing techy for once. Just a DVD, some socks, gloves, hangars, and a brush. We all took turns in a massage chair that came highly rated by Kevin. He's the expert in sitting around amongst us. (LOL) Anyway, had to get Stacey up out of the chair so I could try it. It was pretty good. It's not every day you can get a massage like that without either paying for it or hearing "heyyyyy, I'm tired" after only 10 minutes. I got Michelle to take my place in the chair next. When I turned the leg part on, she squealed. When I turned the back thing on, she squealed. Today was a day of high-frequencies for sure. Would have been nice to take pictures of everyone taking their turn in the chair though.

Visited Jack's abode on the way home and got the grand tour. Also checked out the Camaro project he and Jared have been working on. There's something amis with the engine though. Sounds like a spun bearing to me (crank). Not good.

Steamed up over $50 of king crab legs at Kev's for dinner. Elizabeth made a tasty shrimp and pasta dish as well. Ended up surfing the net for a bit testing out Kev's wireless LAN then headed on home after getting toxic doses of kids screaming and just generally being loud.

Off to enjoy my peace and quiet. Nite all.

*per a quote from Heavy E overhead when paying his bill "I needs to get my 'tricity turned back on..."

First post of 2005

It's another new year! It really does seem to go by faster and faster as you age. I remember when I was in my early teens, it seemed like it was taking forever to get 16, then 18, then 21... now I think "what was the big rush?". LOL!

Last Thursday, "Mr. X" (can't use his real name in case his wife somehow finds my bLog) and I headed to Nashville to hit Fork's Drum Closet and Guitar Center. I had a list with me for once and I got most everything I was looking for.

1. Practice pad
2. 18" batter head
3. 2 sets of new cams and beater weights for my double pedal
4. 2 drumming DVD's
5. Cymbal boom stand

I was also looking to get another Shure SM57 mic and a pair of isolation headphones but when I was talking to the guy at Guitar Center (Chad), he was pretty much an ass so I decided to order these 2 things online instead of buying from his department.

The last day of 2004 I spent raking leaves in my front yard. That went by faster than I thought it would which is always good. Part of the afternoon was filled with installing a new deadbolt lock on one of my exterior doors. Let me tell you, if you have to install one of these in a door that is not pre-drilled with the holes you need - it is a BITCH to get done. Even with the right tools, it's a pain. The biggest hassle is having to chisel away the wood so that the faceplates on both the door and the door frame are flush to the wood around it. Anyway, if any of you guys need to install a lock in a wood door, I have the clamp-on template thingy that makes drilling the holes a no-brainer.

Went over to Eli's house for a party - food was great and the house was decorated nicely. Had a fun time just hanging out with everyone. Kev kicked my tail in Tiger Woods PGA Tour Golf on our Nintendo DS's. I've been playing "Pirates!" on my PC and haven't really spent a lot of time on the DS. Despite losing, it was still fun.

Rang in new year with everyone then headed home. Called my folks who were already well into New Year's day since they're 14 hours ahead of me. They're doing good.