Now that hurricane Dennis has made landfall, our weather has taken a turn for the wet. Not so bad right now, but I have a feeling that tomorrow morning won't be quite so pleasant.
I got up early to watch the British Grand Prix live so I was up by 6:00 AM. That's not hard for me because that's the time I normally get up during the week. The race was good. Fernando only managed second though despite a great drive. He made no mistakes, he just wasn't fast enough to pass the McLaren of Montoya. McLaren is really stepping up to the plate now and turning up the heat on Renault. Montoya did benefit from a new spec engine from supplier Ilmore though. Hopefully there will be an upgrade to the Renault powerplant soon.
The music went off without a hitch at church this morning. I was kinda pissed off that I couldn't find where the wrench to tune the bongos and congas went. I was going to use the bongos this morning but they were a little flat. I needed to tune things up a bit but without the wrench, I just had to go with flat. Oh well.
Oh, I did some housekeeping on my cymbals part of the afternoon Saturday. They were getting a bit dirty and tarnished. I cleaned about 5 of them before I decided that was enough and moved on to other things. It's tiring work as you have to do a lot of rubbing. I've got a LOT of cymbals. I'm a Zildjian man all except for one set of hats which are my Meinl.
Hmmm. I just heard the wind start gusting pretty hard out. I better wrap up in case power goes on the blink.
Sunday, July 10, 2005
Do you NOT know how to drive?!?!
I was reminded just the other day at how many just do not know the rules of the road or how to drive in general. I saw one person STOPPED on an entrance ramp to a freeway looking for a break in traffic when they had 100 yards of merge lane in front of them. WTF?!? Adjust your speed an get in there - don't freakin stop!
Ramps and merging are famous places for stupid stuff to happen. Here's another common scene. You have car #1 on its way to merge into traffic. The driver looks over his shoulder to see that car #2 is a good way back and that he can go ahead and merge. For some reason car #2 wants to speed up and "beat" #1. This usually ends up in a cluster where driver #2 is all pissed off for #1 cutting him off when in reality #2 was the boob for speeding up. Either way, whoever has a better view of the situation needs to adjust to keep problems from happening. Don't be an idiot and then blame the other driver for a problem YOU clearly caused. Here's another clue, if you see someone trying to merge and find yourself speeding up then braking hard to avoid an accident - suprise! Your speeding up probably put you in that situation.
4-way stops. OMG. Do people know how 4-way stops work? You wouldn't think so. Typically, it's a first to stop first to go scenario. That's why it's important to pay attention when approaching an intersection. Look around to see who stopped. Look around to see who got there after you. People there before you need to go. People that stopped after you need to go after you've already gone. Simple right? To avoid confusion, if I'm pulling up to an intersection and me and another car look like we're going to stop at the same time, I'll usually keep rolling a few more inches before stopping to let the other driver know I'll go after they do. If it's a total cluster, you'll have to resort to the hand wave to indicate who goes next or a bunch of start/stops/gestures to get through the intersection.
Grrr...
Ramps and merging are famous places for stupid stuff to happen. Here's another common scene. You have car #1 on its way to merge into traffic. The driver looks over his shoulder to see that car #2 is a good way back and that he can go ahead and merge. For some reason car #2 wants to speed up and "beat" #1. This usually ends up in a cluster where driver #2 is all pissed off for #1 cutting him off when in reality #2 was the boob for speeding up. Either way, whoever has a better view of the situation needs to adjust to keep problems from happening. Don't be an idiot and then blame the other driver for a problem YOU clearly caused. Here's another clue, if you see someone trying to merge and find yourself speeding up then braking hard to avoid an accident - suprise! Your speeding up probably put you in that situation.
4-way stops. OMG. Do people know how 4-way stops work? You wouldn't think so. Typically, it's a first to stop first to go scenario. That's why it's important to pay attention when approaching an intersection. Look around to see who stopped. Look around to see who got there after you. People there before you need to go. People that stopped after you need to go after you've already gone. Simple right? To avoid confusion, if I'm pulling up to an intersection and me and another car look like we're going to stop at the same time, I'll usually keep rolling a few more inches before stopping to let the other driver know I'll go after they do. If it's a total cluster, you'll have to resort to the hand wave to indicate who goes next or a bunch of start/stops/gestures to get through the intersection.
Grrr...
Saturday, July 09, 2005
Dennis Jimenez
Unless you live in a hole with no TV or broadband access, you're aware we're about to get clobbered by hurricane Dennis down here in my neck of the woods. Despite that, I had an enjoyable, albeit steamy day today.
Started off early in the morning watching the qualifying for the British Grand Prix. My boy Fernando Alonso and Renault got the pole position again. Much happiness and joy.
Alyssa met me at the botanical garden bright and early this morning. I had mentioned I was doing some shooting this weekend and she wanted to tag along. We had a great time! One nice bonus is that we were in the butterfly garden when a new shipment of butterflies arrived. The attendant there asked us if we would like to release some. Sounds like fun! I didn't realize how they ship butterflies... in small envelopes via FedEx overnight. I finally grabbed a few envelopes myslef and released some while shooting pictures one-handed. That was cool.
After all that excitement, we made our way through the rest of the gardens and discovered all sorts of new things that had started blooming since the last time I was there. MAN WAS IT HOT! A few hours later, we both were spent. We cooled off for some lunch at Macaroni Grill before parting ways. I went on home for a much needed nap.
Got up, gave the dog a bath then met Kev at Publix to pick out stuff to grill. New York strip and corn for me. Had a nice time enjoying a leisurely dinner before finally heading home. I think I made the most of the last dry day for a while.
Started off early in the morning watching the qualifying for the British Grand Prix. My boy Fernando Alonso and Renault got the pole position again. Much happiness and joy.
Alyssa met me at the botanical garden bright and early this morning. I had mentioned I was doing some shooting this weekend and she wanted to tag along. We had a great time! One nice bonus is that we were in the butterfly garden when a new shipment of butterflies arrived. The attendant there asked us if we would like to release some. Sounds like fun! I didn't realize how they ship butterflies... in small envelopes via FedEx overnight. I finally grabbed a few envelopes myslef and released some while shooting pictures one-handed. That was cool.
After all that excitement, we made our way through the rest of the gardens and discovered all sorts of new things that had started blooming since the last time I was there. MAN WAS IT HOT! A few hours later, we both were spent. We cooled off for some lunch at Macaroni Grill before parting ways. I went on home for a much needed nap.
Got up, gave the dog a bath then met Kev at Publix to pick out stuff to grill. New York strip and corn for me. Had a nice time enjoying a leisurely dinner before finally heading home. I think I made the most of the last dry day for a while.
Wednesday, July 06, 2005
First Hump Day of July.
Suprisingly, there was no humping involved to celebrate.
Besides work today, I finally made a grocery store run to refill my fridge and pantry. I actually picked up a few fruits - bananas & strawberries in addition to limes for the Coronas. Publix was my grocer of choice this evening. I got inspired while I was there to get out some of my cooking magazines and pick out a few dishes to try. I've been eating out WAY too much and need to get back to doing my own cooking again.
I did go on over to Moulton and had dinner with Jeff an Kyle at the steakhouse there. New York Strip and a baked potato - mmm mmm good. I'll sleep well tonight.
Looks like the fun weather is getting cranked up. Storms with names are cropping up. "Dennis" just got classified as a hurricane. Sucks to be living on the coast right about now. You rebuild after one storm and another one is right on its heels it seems.
Oh, F1 race this weekend at Silverstone in the UK. Those of you the get Speed TV should check it out if you're interested. Also this weekend, I'd like to try and get a photo shoot set up. I'll do some checking around and see if I can find a good subject.
Besides work today, I finally made a grocery store run to refill my fridge and pantry. I actually picked up a few fruits - bananas & strawberries in addition to limes for the Coronas. Publix was my grocer of choice this evening. I got inspired while I was there to get out some of my cooking magazines and pick out a few dishes to try. I've been eating out WAY too much and need to get back to doing my own cooking again.
I did go on over to Moulton and had dinner with Jeff an Kyle at the steakhouse there. New York Strip and a baked potato - mmm mmm good. I'll sleep well tonight.
Looks like the fun weather is getting cranked up. Storms with names are cropping up. "Dennis" just got classified as a hurricane. Sucks to be living on the coast right about now. You rebuild after one storm and another one is right on its heels it seems.
Oh, F1 race this weekend at Silverstone in the UK. Those of you the get Speed TV should check it out if you're interested. Also this weekend, I'd like to try and get a photo shoot set up. I'll do some checking around and see if I can find a good subject.
Tuesday, July 05, 2005
Rain on, rain off.
We had all kinds of weather today... cool, hot, humid, rainy, sunny, rainy. It was a surprise everytime you walked out the door. Still a good day though. I got plenty at the office accomplished. Had lunch with my friend Jason over at Applebee's. He had recently sent off the ECU from his Lancer Evolution to be reprogrammed and were talking about the performance differences. It made me miss the days of my TransAm back in the 90's. Anyway, we're going to try and make it to the Barber Motorsports complex down in Birmingham at the end of the month to watch some racing and maybe even get his car on the track.
Lesa and I headed to Simp's after work for a drink. Soon Lori and Jim showed up for the party. Good times talking about goofy stuff - Lesa was trying to get Jim to donate a piece of artwork to a charity auction coming up soon. This is tied into my friend Tracy that's painting the mural downtown. We'll see if Jim comes off some canvas for the cause. Hehe.
I got hungry but didn't want to spend $25 on dinner so I got everyone to head over to 113 for a bar burger (they're delicious there). No luck. The place is closed till the 11th. Craptaculation. I found myself at home cooking for once.
Anyone been watching the latest season of Real World on MTV? They filmed it in Austin, TX. I've got a few friends over there as a result of my last job. Austin is a GREAT town. Plenty of cool people, things to do and most importantly, live music to die for. You Austinites need to get out and enjoy what you have. Ya'll know who you are... ;-)
Lesa and I headed to Simp's after work for a drink. Soon Lori and Jim showed up for the party. Good times talking about goofy stuff - Lesa was trying to get Jim to donate a piece of artwork to a charity auction coming up soon. This is tied into my friend Tracy that's painting the mural downtown. We'll see if Jim comes off some canvas for the cause. Hehe.
I got hungry but didn't want to spend $25 on dinner so I got everyone to head over to 113 for a bar burger (they're delicious there). No luck. The place is closed till the 11th. Craptaculation. I found myself at home cooking for once.
Anyone been watching the latest season of Real World on MTV? They filmed it in Austin, TX. I've got a few friends over there as a result of my last job. Austin is a GREAT town. Plenty of cool people, things to do and most importantly, live music to die for. You Austinites need to get out and enjoy what you have. Ya'll know who you are... ;-)
Monday, July 04, 2005
Happy 4th!
After sleeping in (loved it!), I finally drug my well-rested hindquarters up out of bed and into the shower. I got some laundry going then headed over to the Anderson's for a good time hanging out and eating food cooked over a fire. Mmmm mmmm good. Burgers, hot dogs, beans, chips... the staples of a cookout. When all was said and done, all the fellas sat around talking about programming and old video games. I always like when I can work in talk about my old computer and video game collection. Yeah it's geeky for sure, but cool nonetheless. It's astounding how far video games have come along from back in the PONG and Atari 2600 days to the Sony PSP I have now. The plan was for me to get my 2600 at the house and bring it over to Dave's so we could play and get some pool time in. Mother nature had other plans. A storm was brewing and moving our direction. Lunch weighed me down and suddenly a nap seemed like a really good idea. I'll tell you what, there's nothing more enjoyable than a full stomach, a hot summer day outside, a cool house inside and a steady rain falling on the roof to go to sleep to. Good stuff right there.
Eventually, I went over to Kevin's, Atari in hand for some pizza and games. After a few unsucessful tries with video adapters we finally got the right thing we needed to get the game working on TV. I'm amazed that those graphics had me mesmerized for hours on end back 20+ years ago. I'm determined to keep my vintage toys operable so I can share them with others long into the future.
Oh, if any readers out there are looking to get rid of any old video game stuff and it's in exceptional condition, I'm looking for:
Vectrex
Magnavox Odyssey
Timex Sinclair ZX81 or 1000
Sega Genesis
Sega Saturn
Atari Jaguar
Mattel Intellivision
Just leave me a comment if you have one of these and I'll get back in touch with you.
Last, but DEFINITELY not least - please remember the reason for this holiday and for the sacrifices families have made in order for us to celebrate our freedom.
Eventually, I went over to Kevin's, Atari in hand for some pizza and games. After a few unsucessful tries with video adapters we finally got the right thing we needed to get the game working on TV. I'm amazed that those graphics had me mesmerized for hours on end back 20+ years ago. I'm determined to keep my vintage toys operable so I can share them with others long into the future.
Oh, if any readers out there are looking to get rid of any old video game stuff and it's in exceptional condition, I'm looking for:
Vectrex
Magnavox Odyssey
Timex Sinclair ZX81 or 1000
Sega Genesis
Sega Saturn
Atari Jaguar
Mattel Intellivision
Just leave me a comment if you have one of these and I'll get back in touch with you.
Last, but DEFINITELY not least - please remember the reason for this holiday and for the sacrifices families have made in order for us to celebrate our freedom.
Collective Soul
Today was a good day all around. Got up early to watch the French Grand Prix race live on the satellite. Renault won! Woot! Pretty good race to watch. The kerbs (yeah, that's how it's spelled) there definitely toss the cars around if you hit them at the wrong angle. Good stuff.
Church went well. A big thanks AND a happy birthday to Phillip on bass duties today. It was good to see Kerry and Jeremy, the other drummers at church in attendance as well. I was also very pleased with the new drumheads. I got a nice warm tone out of them today.
Me, Eric and Kyle hit up Logan's for lunch. Afterwards, I went on home and watched some TV before taking a nap. Later, I joined up with a crowd over at Kevin's for some burgers and "Hitch" on DVD. Big thumbs up to Kevin for having everyone over and especially for doing the cooking. You da man.
Me, Kyle, Shama and Nisha headed to Point Mallard for the Collective Soul gig. Plenty of people there. I was drooling over the kick drum sound. If Eric was there, he would have been sporting some wood over the tone and power of the bass rig.
That pretty much summed up the day's activities.
On a completely different tangent, one of my neighbors has seen fit to put a chain-link fence in their front yard. No one else has one on my street so that alone makes it stick out. That's not all though... they've planted freakin' CORN around their mailbox AND in one of the corners of their front yard. C'mon people. Corn is not an ornamental shrub. It's a vegetable. I may have to do a drive-by with some Round-Up.
Church went well. A big thanks AND a happy birthday to Phillip on bass duties today. It was good to see Kerry and Jeremy, the other drummers at church in attendance as well. I was also very pleased with the new drumheads. I got a nice warm tone out of them today.
Me, Eric and Kyle hit up Logan's for lunch. Afterwards, I went on home and watched some TV before taking a nap. Later, I joined up with a crowd over at Kevin's for some burgers and "Hitch" on DVD. Big thumbs up to Kevin for having everyone over and especially for doing the cooking. You da man.
Me, Kyle, Shama and Nisha headed to Point Mallard for the Collective Soul gig. Plenty of people there. I was drooling over the kick drum sound. If Eric was there, he would have been sporting some wood over the tone and power of the bass rig.
That pretty much summed up the day's activities.
On a completely different tangent, one of my neighbors has seen fit to put a chain-link fence in their front yard. No one else has one on my street so that alone makes it stick out. That's not all though... they've planted freakin' CORN around their mailbox AND in one of the corners of their front yard. C'mon people. Corn is not an ornamental shrub. It's a vegetable. I may have to do a drive-by with some Round-Up.
Saturday, July 02, 2005
Let's see here...
Ended up going on an excursion with Kyle for lunch today. The original plan was to hit up Carabbas in Huntsville to try it out but Kyle wanted to stay local and do that later. Met up at Taco Bell and found out that Jeff wasn't going to make it and that we could go on to HSV. It's like making plans with girls sometimes I tell ya.
Anyway, it's around 2 and I haven't had anything to eat yet so I was starving as we pulled up to the restaurant. CRAP! They don't open till 4. Ended up down at Copeland's where I hadn't eaten for several years. The place could use a facelift, but the food was decent. After that, caught the matinee for Mr. & Mrs. Smith. Pretty entertaining flick. I came home and crashed for awhile. Kyle told me he and Jeff were heading to the Brick. I thought it was a bit early and asked why not wait till later when there are people around and a better chance to meet others to which the reply was "we're just going to shoot pool". Not really the answer to my question but whatever. LOL
WAtching some of the Pepsi 400 race down in Daytona. Round and round we go. I'll be getting up early tomorrow to catch the French GP. Can't wait for that!
Anyway, it's around 2 and I haven't had anything to eat yet so I was starving as we pulled up to the restaurant. CRAP! They don't open till 4. Ended up down at Copeland's where I hadn't eaten for several years. The place could use a facelift, but the food was decent. After that, caught the matinee for Mr. & Mrs. Smith. Pretty entertaining flick. I came home and crashed for awhile. Kyle told me he and Jeff were heading to the Brick. I thought it was a bit early and asked why not wait till later when there are people around and a better chance to meet others to which the reply was "we're just going to shoot pool". Not really the answer to my question but whatever. LOL
WAtching some of the Pepsi 400 race down in Daytona. Round and round we go. I'll be getting up early tomorrow to catch the French GP. Can't wait for that!
Already rollin'
Got up out of bed around 6:30 this morning and tuned in to Speed TV for French Grand Prix qualifying. Renault's Fernando Alonso is on the pole. He's my favorite so I was pretty pleased. Should be a good race tomorrow morning.
After that, I went ahead and went over to church to work on my drums there. I got a new set of heads in as the current ones were over a year old and had lost much of their tone. I also needed to move the drums and vacuum around them because it looked like a sawmill with all the dust and chips from sticks scattered all around. Jack stopped in to say hi before he and one of Candy's kids mowed the lawn. I got everything cleaned and put back together before coming back home.
It's blazingly hot and steamy outside. I may need to try and find a pool to lounge next to for the afternoon. I also need to get some photos scanned in for a friend. There are about 50. I'm kind of regretting offering to do it now as that'll take up a bunch of time. Maybe if I just do a few a day it won't be so bad.
After that, I went ahead and went over to church to work on my drums there. I got a new set of heads in as the current ones were over a year old and had lost much of their tone. I also needed to move the drums and vacuum around them because it looked like a sawmill with all the dust and chips from sticks scattered all around. Jack stopped in to say hi before he and one of Candy's kids mowed the lawn. I got everything cleaned and put back together before coming back home.
It's blazingly hot and steamy outside. I may need to try and find a pool to lounge next to for the afternoon. I also need to get some photos scanned in for a friend. There are about 50. I'm kind of regretting offering to do it now as that'll take up a bunch of time. Maybe if I just do a few a day it won't be so bad.
