I haven't posted in a long ass time. Anyhow, we had our second child monday before last (the 28th). Her name is Iris Clementine. She's rad. She's so SO much easier to take care of than Cooper was at this age. That's all for now.
This is kind of a long shot but does anyone have a PS3 Rock Band Guitar controller that they'd be willing to part with for Friday evening? I'm hosting one of my little brother's bachelor party and we will have rock band but the extra guitar controllers apparently aren't available until April 4th. I'll buy you beer.
If you haven't done so yet you should check out the You Suck At Photoshop videos. These ever hilarious and pretty informative at the same time. I know I learned something. But then again, I suck at Photoshop (and use Gimp).
Why am I still awake? And why am I fast approaching drunk? The world may never know.
Damien Rice So I'm sitting here listening to music and trying to figure out asp caching and the album I was listening to via Rhapsody ended (She Wants Revenge - She Wants Revenge). I went back to my custom page that shows recommendations ("My Rhapsody") page to see what Rhapsody was suggesting for me tonight and it was suggesting Damien Rice's new album. Instead I decided to listen to his Live From Union Chapel recording.
I've really liked Damien Rice for a long time now and while I don't listen to his stuff nearly as much as I used to I still really like it. It's so amazing how music can transport you to a different place. All of a sudden I'm thinking about my old apartment on Queen Anne where I lived during a rather difficult period. I listened to his O album a lot during that period. It's amazing how much my life has changed and how easy it is to forget about things in the past.
What I'd guess was around that time I saw Damien Rice in concert for the first time and I don't think he'd gotten a whole lot of attention in the US yet at that point. I saw him at The Paramount and I remember being amazed with the fact that even though I was sitting up in one of the first few rows in the balcony that I could hear everything and it was a really intimate experience. That was easily one of the best shows I've ever been to.
Fast forward to a while back when I picked up tickets to see him at an Earth Day show that The Mountain put on. This was right around the time that 9 came out and it seems like he was getting a fair amount of airplay. It was at Benaroya Hall and while the venue was great and the sound was great it was one of the worst concert experiences I have ever had. This was in no way due to the performance (which was great) but instead was due entirely to the audience. It seems that as his popularity had grown the maturity level of his fans had decreased to the point where people where yelling about how much of a "sexy bitch" he was between songs and stupid teenage girls were answering phone calls during the show to talk to their mom or something. I left the concert pissed off and frustrated that they'd ruined that experience for me.
Moral of this story: If you're going to a show that will be mellow and you'll be able to hear everything turn your fucking phone off. Especially when they ask you to before the show. Also, don't yell out random bullshit during the show because you're an attention whore or clap off beat during songs, especially when no one if clapping. Thank you and good night.
This morning my mom came over to watch Cooper so Holli and I could go finish up some Christmas shopping without having to haul him around everywhere with us (which sometimes makes simple things take exponentially longer). We went downtown and my shopping only took about an hour. Holli had more shopping to do without me so I met up with some of my old coworkers for lunch.
Over lunch discussion what is quite possibly one of the greatest inventions since the internal combustion engine came up. I almost cried out of joy. I get a euphoric feeling just thinking about the possibilities. This wondrous invention that may very well change my life is none other than Bacon Salt. That's right, Bacon Salt. Why the hell didn't I think of this first?
Edited: They're from Seattle! And you can get Bacon Salt at QFC! And there's an LJ Community. I'm overwhelmed with joy. And work. Back to that.
I went up to check on Holli and Cooper and Holli is cleaning up upstairs. She asked me to throw out some old burlap coffee bags we got a while back that we had intended to do something with and never got around to. Does anyone know where I can find some kittens, a few bricks, and a large body of water?
Oh man, busy busy busy (and avoiding work right now). Here's a bullet point list:
- We're expecting kidlet #2 around the end of April. We're having a girl. I'm both thrilled and terrified all at once. - I plan on spending a chunk of May with a bag of frozen green beans on my groin. - I bought Holli a Flip for our anniversary. And it rules. - We bought me a proper skateboard for our anniversary (which is actually tomorrow, what's with these early anniversary presents?). I haven't killed myself yet. I also can't really do much beside ride around and carve a bit. I bought a little chunk of rubber like checkers at grocery stores stand on that I'm using to try to learn to Ollie. - Over the weekend Holli's step-dad and I built a steel arbor to go over our gate and keep the fence from leaning in under the weight of the gate. I'd never cut steel pipe or welded before. Learn something new every day. - I'm crazy CRAZY busy and will be for the immediate future.
FYI, Mike Doughty tickets for the Seattle date on his next tour are on sale now. He's playing smaller venues this tour (in this case, The Triple Door) than his last so tickets have been selling out fairly fast for his East Coast dates. The Seattle show went on sale last night.
Last night I had a fairly traumatic experience. I was heading out to a geek-fest and was getting all spiffied up. I went to put on my green slacks that I've had for a long time and they no longer fit. I had to suck in my gut to get the top button buttoned. I have never NEVER had to get rid of a pair of pants because the waist no longer fit. Those are now my target/skinny pants.
I haven't updated in a while and I'm not sure when I'll be back to updating semi-regularly. In the meantime I started a blog about my experience moving to freelance: OutOfOffice.
Oh, and I guess I never mentioned it. I've quit my job and moved to freelancing from home. More information on the blog.
A while back I posted about the Sonos system. Leo of Embracing Chaos recently posted about a good user experience that he had with his Sonos which got us into a brief discussion of the Sonos and it's features. I mentioned that the entire Sonos system wasn't quite what I was after especially given the price tag and he suggested checking out the Slim Devices Squeezebox. After a little looking I think it is more along the lines of what I'm after at a much more reasonable price tag ($299 though their having a Spring Sale on the white one, it's comes in black and white, for $250). I might have to see about prioritizing some funds for one by then.
Last weekend the family and I drove to NE Oregon (Le Grande) to visit her mom, step-sad, and sister and spend Easter with them. The actual driving portion of the trip went well and I was surprised at how well Cooper did. I was rather afraid of the 6 hours each way car rides but he napped a lot and did a fair amount of watching things go by out the window.
Seeing Holli's family was nice and I spent a fair amount of time talking with her step dad about a project that we're going to be doing sometime in June. We're going to be putting pavers down in our little back yard where currently there is just dirt and weeds. We 're probably going to do some combination of pavers and turf stones (which have gaps for dirt and either grass or moss or whatever, we're planning on putting moss in there) and may even build in a stone fireplace/grill.
We got in on an order of beef from a farmer that they know. We purchased 1/4 of a cow as did my folks. That means on the way back we brought back about 200 lbs of beef (which is all of my parents 1/4 and half of ours). It ends up working out to around $3/lbs which includes steaks and ground beef and all that jazz which is a significant savings in the long run especially considering we're buying organic meat these days.
That all leads up to last night when I made t-bone steaks and they were really good. I've never been one to buy more expensive cuts of meat and will often buy a chuck roast and cut it up into steaks when I'm going to make steak. That said, I've seen the light and my steaks from now on will be "good" cuts of meat rather than something I sawed off the end of a chuck roast (most of the time anyway).
This year's music acts include: The Shins, Wu-Tang Clan, Panic! At The Disco, Crowded House, Lupe Fiasco, Steve Earle, DeVotchKa, Devendra Banhart, Gogol Bordello, Kill Hannah, Norma Jean, Plain White T's, The Gourds, Lyrics Born, Roky Erickson & The Explosives, The Holmes Brothers, The Avett Brothers, Yungchen Lhamo, Allison Moorer, Magnolia Electric Company, The Aggrolites and many, many more to be announced!
No one that I'm like "OMG Yes!!1" over but I'll probably try to start listening through these folks on Rhapsody as there are likely some hidden gems that I haven't heard yet. That said it'd be cool to see The Shins and Panic! At The Disco despite the fact that they're use of an exclamation point in the middle of their name rather annoying.
I haven't posted in a while. One of these days I'll make a real post about real things that are going on.
For the time being though, I will be going to Ignite Seattle tomorrow night to listen to some geeks talk about random things. A few of the ones that jump out at me: - Workplace Survival Tips - No Frills Getting Things Done - Attention and Sex - The Science (and Art) of Naming - Maximizing Performance in Aircraft Engines - Health Hacks
And my personal favorite: - What I Learned In Prison
Oh, and it's free. Though not for the beer . . . which is cash only. So bring some cash.
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