Monday, July 30, 2007

Update-age

Just a quick note to give everyone an update on what's been going on.

Two weekends ago my daughter had her 1st birthday party. Fun was had by all. I thank everyone for showing up. I'll post a picture later on so check back.

This past weekend was fun as well. I finally got the second dehumidifier hooked up downstairs. I had to run a hose through the wall, so it was a fun time.

--- and now the real reason for the update... a good old fashioned family outing story ---

On Saturday, the Mrs, la bambina and I went to the 14th Annual something-or-another Cruse In in Delaware, Ohio. We had a good time walking up and down the strip looking at cars. Here comes the good part of the post.

So we left and being Delaware I wasn't sure where I was, but I pretty much had a good idea of what direction we were going. So as were leaving, we see signs for 23 North, but not 23 South which is what we want. Knowing how we came into town, I tell Maryann, 'Stay on 42. It'll cross 315 or 23 eventually'. So we drove a little while and my wife tells me 'we're going the wrong way.' and I said 'no we're not'. The little one is getting a bit cranky by now.

We drive a little further and the wife says 'we need to turn around cause we're going the wrong way' and I say, 'look, there's the sun,' (note: it was overcast) , 'and that means we're heading south.' *insert grumpy Darrin face* A little further we pass a little town and again the wife says 'we need to turn around 'cause we're going the wrong way' so I say 'let me get the map and I'll look at it'. So we pull off and look at the map. Of course the little town isn't on the map and the signs for 42 don't say north or south. So my wife tells me, 'I'm heading back where we came from'. So I pout and say 'Fine. Do whatever you want 'cause you're not gonna listen to me anyways'.

Sounds like a sitcom situation, no?

So she heads back in the other direction. It is at this point that I realize that the sun, (still cloudy out, btw,) now appears to be coming from the same direction as it was when we were heading in the other direction. *insert Darrin saying expletive of choice*

We make it back in town. In my head we had driven for 20 minutes. In fact, we had probably traveled for 5 minutes. The little one crying in the back seems to bend some kind of time continuum. We head back the way we came into town, and in odd little Delaware, that doesn't mean being able to leave. There were plenty of exits for 23 North, but not for 23 South. You could see 23, but could only enter it by going north. Which is not what we wanted to do.

So Maryann starts heading in the opposite direction to which I ask 'What are you doing?' To any sane man (not saying that I am), going away from the road you are trying to get to does not equal finding an exit to get on to it.

We travel for more than a few blocks. After a while, my wife turns left. By this time, I don't know North or South or East or West and I'm convinced we're going to have to live in Delaware because we won't be able to find our way out.

And at that moment, there is a sign in front of us. 23 South.

We got on the road and all the way home I had to repeatedly tell my wife that she was right. I don't like being wrong, so that is very hard for me to do. But in this case, I admitted that I was wrong in the wrongest of ways.

"Yes, I am an ass," I told my wife.

The running joke of the day was for me to point out direction we were going. If we were heading east, I would say we were heading "due Darrin west".

So, I admit it in public, when I get turned around, I have NO sense of direction unless it is very early morning or late evening and the sun is approximately in the east or west... or is it the other way around... ;)

I've also let my wife know that anytime my testosterone gets out of whack and I start behaving like a moron and saying 'We're going the wrong way!!!' that all she needs to say is:

Remember the Delaware.

Tuesday, July 17, 2007

You know you're tired when...

You know you're tired when you're dreaming that you are really tired and want to go to sleep.

I had that dream this morning.

And of course, when I no more than laid my head down on the couch in my dream that my alarm went off.

Ugh.

I feel really tired.

Monday, July 16, 2007

Bizzy Bee Part 3

Well, I had yet another busy weekend.

Woke up at 6:30am on Saturday and worked on the yard until 12:30pm. But I can finally say that it is, as far as I can say (save a few very minor things that only I would notice), it all is finally finished. Thank goodness.

Got cleaned up and went to the 1st b-day for one of the babies and Maryann's mommy group at 3pm. Left there at 5pm.

Got back home, dropped off Maryann and the kid and went over to Todd's for a Records and Cards party at 6pm. Left there around 10:30pm, but still had to divert myself over to Wal-Mart off of 23 to pick up some bottle liners as we were out and Norah was gonna need to eat in the morning. Got home at 11:30pm and crrrraaaasssshhhhhedddd.

Sunday came along, I have no idea what I did in the morning. I believe I may have cleaned the cat litter boxes... or was that Saturday as well? I have no idea. I remember that I looked to see where I could run the hose from the second dehumidifier in the 'studio' in the basement through the wall. I think I have that figured out now, maybe. I'll have to move some desks and bookcases and other things around. But at the time, there was barely enough room to move around, so I couldn't move things into place. Jumped in the car at noon, at lunch on the run, and headed over to my cousin's in Dayton. Visited with them until 6:30pm. Goodbyes and all we managed to get on the road at 7pm. Finally got home at 8:15/30pm, very tired and hungry baby in tow. Dropped off mama and kid and headed over to Culver's to have a second dinner (yes, I was so spaced out that I had forgotten we had an early dinner around 4pm that day). Got back to the house. Got back home, burgers in tow. Ate. Watched Next Food Network star. Norah woke back up around 10pm. Put her back to bed, but then realized that the Salvation Army was stopping by in the morning to pick up some old furniture we no longer needed. So the missus and I moved the chairs and other misc table from the basement to the family room upstairs. Finished that in quick order, watched some more TV (we had taped Gene Simmon's Family Jewels) and caught the end of the Extreme Cake competition and then went to bed around around 11:30pm.

Woke up at my usual 7:15, got ready for work, move all said furniture in family room to driveway and headed to work... which is where I am now... and really don't want to be since I just want to take a nap. Wah.

But, in all it was a good weekend. Tiring, but good.

Monday, July 09, 2007

Nice Weekend

The Mrs. and I headed up to Cinci to celebrate her nephew's birthday. It was nice.

We got up there around 11 am on Saturday. It was a 'pool party', so we all ended up at the pool at the complex where Maryann's parents live. And so I swam. And it was fun. I honestly couldn't remember the last time I had been swimming in a pool. It's been a long time. I'm almost thinking it's been like 10 years or so. We got Norah in the pool and she LOVED it. She was splashing up a storm. While it was warm, we were all intelligent enough to put sunscreen on so no one got sunburn which was nice.

After swimming for an hour and a half, we all headed back to M's parents place. They ordered up some LaRosa's pizza. I thought it was okay. It's handtossed which is good, but the crust was very thick and fluffy. I tend to like the thinner crusts better. If I want fluffy crust, then I'll get a deep dish pizza.

After all the pizza was gone, M. and I dumped off the little one on to her mom so we could go out and have an evening out. A date if you will.

We ended up at Showcase Cinemas to see Ratatouille, which is the new Pixar animated flick. We got there a little bit early, so went to the inhouse bar and grill and had a beer. They were out of Miller Lite :( so we had to have Bud Lite instead. No biggie.

After drinking our beer, we went to the movie. It turns out it was a Digital Projection theater. I have to say this: Holy Shit. It was like watching a DVD on a very very very big screen. The images were crystal clear. No dots or fuzz or scratches flying by during the previews or during the movie. It was very very nice. If you have a chance to see something on a Digital Projection screen, I say 'Do so immediately!'. The movie was Pixar so of course, it was pretty darn good.

The only thing that was disappointing about the whole experience was that during the entire movie, they had a fluorescent light on in the projection booth for who knows what reason. So even during the dark scenes, there was a weird backlight coming from behind you. It bugged me a little, but my wife used to work in a theater, so you can imagine how much it bugged her. She actually left midway through the movie to ask someone to have them turn it off. Of course, that never occurred. After the movie we went to the customer service area to complain, or at the very least, ask why there was this light on. M. talked with the manager and was told 'well, that's the digital projection booth and we have to leave the light on in case anything breaks'. Um... what? If something goes wrong THEN you can turn on the light. Why in the hell would you leave it on ALL THE TIME. Anyhoo, they gave us some free movie passes. We might have given them to her parents for babysitting, though, her mom might have not wanted them or something. So we might have free tickets... or her parents might have them. I'm not sure who got them.

After the movie we went to Graeter's Ice Cream. Since this month is Ice Cream Month, you can get a free mini-scoop with any order. So I went to the counter and asked for a Cherry Cordial sundae with a mini-scoop of Buckeye Blitz on top. In the busyness of the evening, somehow or another that translated into 'Give me a buckeye blitz sundae with a cherry on top'. I didn't complain cause it looked damned tasty... and it was.

An aside: I have always said that I liked Handel's Buckeye ice cream better than Graeter's Buckeye Blitz for two reason. 1) Handel's Buckeye ice cream literally has little buckeyes in it. And I think that is cool as hell. 2) The Greater's Buckeye Blitz has these huge chunks of chocolate in it and that just bugs the shit out of me. If I wanted a damn hershey bar crammed into my ice cream I would ask for it that way. I don't mind little chips or chocolate chips. I'm fine with that. Now, I've told several people this, including my wife, and have in general been told that I am nuts. Until the other night. So I get to the bottom of my Graeter's Buckeye Blitz sundae and tell my wife she can have the 2 chunks of chocolate. I hand her the cup and she says "I don't want a piece of chocolate that big!". They were both about 2" x 1" each. So I told her that this is why I like the Handel's Buckeye ice cream better than the Graeter's ice cream. These are the kinds of chunks that I ALWAYS get when I get Buckeye Blitz. Maryann agreed that that size of chunk was a bit much, but also said that she had never had that problem. *shrug* So there you go.

We got back and Norah was asleep. She of course woke up later in the evening and didn't really ever fully get back to sleep, so neither of us got more than 4 hours of sleep the entire evening. By morning, we were a bit whipped.

But M's mom made a hearty breakfast. I myself had 2 eggs (over easy), 2 fresh blueberry pancakes and 4 sausage patties. It was TASTY!!!

After that we packed up the car and went over to her sister's house to pick up something... I totally forget what that was. Then we went and got lunch at Jocko's chicken and biscuits. I'm a big fan of fried chicken gizzards for god knows what reason. Lee's Famous Recipe has them, but there isn't a Lee's around Columbus, that I know of. The last time I got to eat them was when I was doing some work in St. Louis. But the ones at Jocko's were just as good. Mmmmmmmmm mmmmmmm. Gizzards are good.

We finally got back into Columbus around 5:30pm. We were beat. Norah went to bed around her usual time. We watched the Next Food Network Star program as well as the new Gene Simmon's Family Jewels episode and hit the hay.

All in all, it was a nice weekend, esp the part where I got to spend some alone time with the wife.

I hope your weekend was just as nice.

Thursday, July 05, 2007

A few things

WTG Joey Chestnut for bringing back the Mustard Belt to the USA by woofing down 66 Nathan's hot dogs. And I still think that Kobayashi should have been DQ'ed following his 'reversal of fortune'. However, instead, the IFOCE simply made a 'deduction' on the number of dogs that he ate, which in my opinion goes against the rules which they set forth. But, I guess maybe the 'reversal of fortune' rule might be like traveling in the NBA. It's meant to be bent a little (or not enforced at all).

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Issah Washington is a complete moron. All this finger pointing about how he was fired because he was a black man who uttered 'f*ggot' not once, but twice and that this was a ploy be TR Knight who is in a bid to be the most popular Grey's Anatomy star and that it was Patrick What-His-Face who started the whole thing with his spittle attack on you cause he was late or something. Dude, I hate to tell you, but that had nothing to do with color. It probably has more to do with you being a big whiner.

------------------

Brittany Spears is a nut job. I don't really need to quote any sources or examples on this one. Though her latest comment on how that whole incident where she took a few swings at a paparazzi's car with an umbrella had something to do with 'preparing for a role in a movie'. Um... ok. Whatever. Just admit you were whacked out on meth or were having a mental breakdown due to exhaustion or stress.

Tuesday, July 03, 2007

Bizzy Bee - Part 2

Had another weekend full of yardword fun. On Saturday I managed to weed the majority of the section out back. I also got most of the trees trimmed that I wanted to get trimmed. That only took 7 hours. Blech! Then on Sunday, I got to bundle up all the branches from the tree trimming in the morning. After I quickee birthday party for one of the babies in Maryann's mommy group, I cam back and laid down 36 bags of mulch in a little over an hour. Funny thing, is that I sweated more in that hour than I did the entire previous day. Go figure.

Anyhoo... I'm glad that I got the majority of the yardwork done. There are still a couple of things that I want to do, but if they don't get done then it's no big deal.

Does anyone really care about me doing yardwork? Probably not. :-P

Bye.

Tuesday, June 26, 2007

Bizzy Bee

I was a busy little bee this past weekend. With Norah's 1st B-day party coming up, the outside really needed to have some work done. I've neglected it for the past couple of years and it needed an overhaul. So, on Friday I called up Ohio Mulch and ordered 60 bags (yeah, sixty) of cypress mulch (the big 3 cu. ft. bags at that). They arrived Saturday morning on 2 pallets. I should have taken a picture, but I didn't. *shrug* So Saturday I spent about 7 hours outside weeding, trimming, edging and mulching the front. There were alot of weeds, let me tell you, but I pulled them all out one by one. The front used 13 bags of mulch.

On Sunday, I had a little bit of time, so I weeded the deck. Sound strange? Well not really. You see, the original owners had a big concrete slab out back, but they decided they needed another 2 ft of space all the way around, so they basically put up some railroad ties and bricks and extended it out. So what happens is that weeds like to grow in the sandy base and between the bricks. So what one has to do is, well, weed the deck. My tool of choice is an old cutting knife that's been in the family at least 30 years (well, it's so dull now it doesn't cut anything). I basically would put the blade between the bricks and extract the ugly weeds. The funny thing is that my body hurt more doing that for and hour and a half than it did from the 7 hours the previous day. Weird.

Then me, the wife and the little one went back home to Anna and celebrated Father's Day and my mom and my sisters birthdays. It was nice to see them.

And that was my weekend. I still have alot of yard work to do. I still need to weed, edge and mulch under one of the trees out back. Then the weeding, edging and mulching of the LARGE section in the back. That is where the majority of the mulch is going. I'm thinking it will take 40 bags, but even now, I'm concerned that I might not have enough, especially if I am trying to put down the correct amount of mulch (ie, 2 to 3 inches deep, like I did out front). And there is a little section with 3 bushes in it that, as you guessed, also needs weeded, edged and mulched. I'd still like to even up thr bricks on the deck. After a few years they tend to dip towards the edges. When I do that, I'll probably also lay down some plastic under this bricks in hopes that it will cut down on the number of weeds that take root. That's the hope at least.

How was your weekend?

Monday, June 18, 2007

Interesting... Update...

So, I decided to look at some of my old blog entries... from like 2002, etc. Ran into a few weird things I had kinda forgotten about. Like I started using Blogger just 10 days after Sept 11th.

I also found a entry on my old LiveJournal which said that 'Afternoon Delight' as done during the movie Anchorman was awesome. I stick with statement. Which lead me to YouTube of course since the original link I had went nowhere anymore. I love the YouTube, but why do people insist on video taping their TV screens. I found 3 versions of this freakin' song in which some knucklehead who had apparntly no knowledge of ripping an mpg from a DVD but could still manage to upload them videotaping (or using their digital camcorder in 2007 terms) said clip. WTF? If you aren't smart enough to rip the sumbitch, then don't fucking bother. Pisses me off that the DECENT version of this showed up on the page FOUR. The other P.O.S.s shows up in the first three pages along with a multitude of other people trying to sing this song (or something). Anyways, I finally found a decent enough copy to share.
http://youtube.com/watch?v=1OHAG2S3kBU

And while searching for that, I found a rip of Will Ferrel on SNL doing 'Storytellers: Neil Diamond'. I love this skit for disturbing reasons. Not as much as the 'Blue Oyster Cult... more cowbell... behind the music' skit, but a close second. Unfortunately, both versions that I found were from a SNL special. But anyways... still funny.
http://youtube.com/watch?v=t2C9oMmwl80

So... I did manage to find something on YouTube. Which is where I can, for the moment, actually kill some time.

Interesting...

I've found that I have a set number of websites that I look at on the Internet now. It used to be, not long ago, that if I was on the Internet I ended up just about anywhere. And could surf for hours and hours without really repeating much. So, I'm sitting here at work during a slight lull and I honestly have no idea what to do. I've looked at all the sites I usually look at everyday, I've looked at all the blogs I normally look at and that leaves me where I'm currently at. Well, ok, I did go to MSNBC and kinda peruse the Entertainment and Science / Tech news, which lead me to Space.com... but that was a grand total of 20 minutes... max. So now I sit here, updating my blog and trying to figure out what the hell I used to do not so many years ago that would have me on my computer for hours on end.

Maybe I'll go look at AtariAge.com. Maybe that will direct me somewhere of interest... but I highly doubt it.

Wish me luck.

Nice Father's Day

Well, my first Father's Day was quite nice. Mine started a little early, beginning on Saturday. My wife treated me to some wings and rings at Quaker Steak and Lube. As always, I got the Buckeye BBQ and it was tasty. Then we did a little bit o' Big Lots shopping. On Sunday morning, my wife made me a wonderful breakfast complete with eggs, pancakes, bacon AND sausage. It was deeeeelicious. For lunch we went to Skyline... yummy! Present-wise, Maryann got me the new Dream Theater album (and it rawks!) and Norah got me the latest Neil Peart book (which rawks as well).

So, yeah, I had a great Father's Day weekend. Yay me!

Saturday, May 26, 2007

What to do....

The wife leaves the husband at home on a Saturday afternoon. She informs him that she is going to grab lunch on the run so he must fend for himself. The husband starts to panic but then decides to sit down and think about it.


Ah ha! He finds the answer!


SPAM!!! Tabasco Flavored no less!


It comes out of the can. He is amazed that it holds the same shape in the can as it does out of the can. 'Amazing!', he things. But that is a large piece of meat. the wife made a bounty of delicious pancakes this morning and he is surely not THAT hungry.


The answer is: Cut it in half. In his hunger-crazed eyes, his center cut is a bit off.


The husband finds his way to the fridge and pulls out his favorite beer: Shiner Bock. 'Mmmm, beer!', he thinks. With beer, meat and a spatula in hand, he heads outdoors to the mighty grill.


The husband fires up the grill and places the slabs of meat on the grill. The aroma makes his hunger grow. To take his mind off the pains, he walks around to inspect the new gutters that were installed that Friday. 'Boy! They sure do look good! Leaf Gutter rules!', he thinks.


Out front he spies a rabbit feasting on some grass. The eating rabbit reminds him of his food on the grill.


Luckily, the meat is cooking nicely. He flips the slabs o Spam and lets them cook til there are nice char marks on it.


After 15 minutes, he is satisfied and plates the larger piece of Spam (about a 1/2 lbs worth) on a bun. 'Mmmm... time to eat!', he thinks.


Mouthful after mouthful of wonderful Tabasco Spammy goodness enters the husbands mouth. Finally, he is full. He puts away his dishes and goes outdoors to do manly things like mowing the lawn and washing the car.


The End.

Tuesday, May 15, 2007

Yeah...

I'm a little bit better now. Nothing that a Double BBQ Bacon Cheeseburger from Rally's can't help set straight. Drove far from work to Rally's, then drove even farther south to the park(s) that line Riverside. Parked at a spot overlooking el Scioto River, listened to Kiss' first Alive! album and chowed down. I feel a little bit better now. Sometimes, I just need to spit some blood and fire (like Gene Simmons does on stage) about what's bugging me in order to swing the pendulum the other direction. And it appears to have worked for now.

Peace outside.

Not Happy

I'm having one of those 'not happy' moments. So if I'm mean to you, don't let it bother you 'cause I'm just frustrated about a multitude of things that I probably shouldn't be frustrated about. I'll eventually get over it. But, you have been warned. Today is not the day to test my patience or annoy me or be stupid.

This concludes my broadcast.

Thursday, May 10, 2007

Thanks Tom! and other news (or lack thereof)

I know I've thanked him a million times over, but again, a big Thank You to Tom who helped me finish off digging and filling in the leech bed that I had to put in since I'm getting new gutters on the house soon.

Other than that, notta much going on. Work is getting better by the day simply because I'm learning more and more about the product.

I'm eating lemon jello pudding with a fork right now and it's pretty tasty. Thank you Odd.. er Big Lots for pricing it at 79c for 4 little tubby thingys. I also bought some Farley's Fruit Slices candy thee as well. Kinda like the orange slice candy except that is has lots of other flavors. I didn't need them, but I went during lunch, before I ate, which is like the worst thing that you can do. I put back at least 5 other things: Hunt's Speghetti sauce in a 28 oz can, a jar of Mt. Olive 'garlic-free' dill pickles, Zattaran's Brown Rice and Sausage Heat n Eat package, 1 liter of some off brand strawberry soda and some cheepo tortilla chips.

Um... Norah is thiiiiiiiiiis close to crawling at the moment. She can definitely motor around alot faster. I really need to kiddie-proof the concrete thingy in front of the fireplace.

And that's about all I got.

And how are you???

Friday, May 04, 2007

Notta Much other than a favorite chippy snack question

Notta much goin' on folks, but figured I'd drop a quick shout to say "SHIT YEAH!!!" and throw out some random thoughts that haven't warranted their own posts... or something. Words.

The new job is as good as can be excepted in its second week with my boss (and the rest of my colleagues' boss) gone to Vegas. I at least have seen the software that they build. That puts some tangibleness to the documents that I read all last week.

We're getting new gutters put on the house. The old ones are, well, just pissing me off. They are always clogging and I think that there are other things wrong that I don't know about. So, to remedy that, we're using our tax refund and getting Leaf Guard gutters. One piece, seamless stuff with that whole liquid adhesion thing going on so water goes in but twigs and shit, for the most part, stay out. Looks like I am gonna have to put in a new downspout myself though. Seems that it's not a good thing to make a 45 foot long gutter since once can't get the pitch correct for water to do it's thing. I'm hoping I can tie into one of the other downspouts that is about 10 feet away. If not, I guess I'm, as Beatle John (or was it Paul) said "digging a hole" and putting gravel in it.

Some of my favorite chip snacks, in no particular order:
1) Snyder's Of Berlin (not Hanover) Barbecue Potato Chips - I've likes this for a long while now. And the funny thing is, in my opinion, they really aren't that BBQy either. It must be the MSG goodness that makes them so tasty.
2) Munchos - I love these things. And you have to say 'things' cause they aren't really chips (aka sliced from a potato). I can eat a big bag of these in one sitting easy, though I need some significant beverage since they are salty as all hell.
3) TGI Fridays Potato Skins - Cheddar and Bacon flavor. These used to be called Tato Skins until someone got the bright idea of marketing them with TGIFs name. These things are awesome. I had nearly forgotten about them until I saw them in the vending machine here at work. I hope they keep them in stock, though, at 50c an ounce, I just need to find a store that has the big bags of them and then ration them out.
4) Andy Capp's Hot Fries. These things are tasty as well. I still remember having a bag of these when I was about 10 years old. Why do I remember this? Well, mainly cause it was an evening that my parents were out of town and we had a babysitter. My sister and I kept coloring them with red markers and shit and trying to get the babysitter to eat one of them. Of course, she wisely did not. In retrospect, it makes sense. If some kid walked up to you and handed you a single Andy Capp fry and said "Here, eat this" with a devilish grin on their face would you eat it? Me? I probably would, just to freak them out. Course, if it had like hand soap on it, I'd probably freak out and chase them down the street for good measure.
5) Mikesell's Good N Hot potato chips - These are very tasty and very hot. Not as hot as Blair's Death Rain habaƱero chips, but as far as typical run of the mill chips go, these are pretty hot. And I like them. I've also found that Jay's Hot Stuff chips are a good substitute should the Mikesells not be available. Spiciness is about the same. The main difference is that the Mikesells are thick n wavy while the Jay's are thin and flat. Honestly, I should technically like the Jay's better since I prefer flat over wavy. But, Mikesells was first and therefore wins the official vote.

What are your favorite chippy-like snacks? I'd like to know. Gimme a comment. Do it now. Otherwise you'll forget and I'll have to cut n paste this thing all over again. Thanks for playing. Come back soon, ya hear? So seriously, did you hear that? Ok, good. Over and out blog lurkers.

Wednesday, April 25, 2007

The Ultimate Dysfunctional Super Group

First off, if you don't know what I super group is, I feel sorry for you... but anyways, a super group is basically when a bunch of people from different 'big' bands get together and form a new group, which then becomes known as a super group. Some examples are:

Blind Faith - This band consisted of Eric Clapton (Yardbirds, Cream), Ginger Baker (Cream), Steve Winwood (Traffic) and Ric Grech (Family).
Temple of the Dog - This band consisted of members of Soundgarden and Mother Love Bone (whose members would later create Pearl Jam). Most notable song released was "Hunger Strike". Of note, Pearl Jam was formed AFTER Temple of the Dog. Eddie was actually in town to audition for the lead singer position in Pearl Jam when they invited him in to help sing on Hunger Strike.
and
Asia - This progressive rock supergroup consisted of former members of the bands Yes, King Crimson, Emerson Lake and Palmer and The Buggles. Most known for a few charting singles such as "Only Time Will Tell" and "Heat of the Moment"

With the supergroup concept now fully explained with examples, I now present my idea for The Dysfunctional Supergroup! This group will consist of very, how should we say, unique individuals who are known for being moody and / or eccentric. One of the interesting ideas of my concept is that every position will have a backup since it's very well possible that someone might just throw a hissy fit and leave or come down with some medical emergency. Without further ado, I give you:

The Ultimate Dysfunctional Supergroup (aka TUDS)



Lead Singer / Keyboards - Axl Rose
Axl Rose is the lead singer for Guns N' Roses with a very distinctive voice. Axl's temperment and general aloofness is very well documented. G N' R's Chinese Democracy album has been in the works for something like 10 years, has cost some record company 10 million dollars and still has no release date.

Lead Singer (backup) - Sebastian Bach
Sebastian Bach is most known for his stint as the lead singer for Skid Row, but in his defense, I do believe that he had a solo career as well (including his reoccurring role on the sappy sitcom Gilmore Girls). Sebastian also has a unique voice and is a bit moody and I think he would make a great backup. Though, just the fact that he is playing second fiddle might make him just flat out not show up at all as well. He doesn't play keyboards as far as I know but I'm willing to overlook that in light of the existence of a SECOND lead singer (!!!).

Lead Singer / Keyboards / Disco Ball - Dennis DeYoung
Dennis DeYoung is most notable for being one of the lead singers in the band Styx. You know, the Mr. Roboto guy. Dennis ended up leaving Styx because of a disease where lights made him melt or something. He also steered the band in the direction of creating the Kilroy Was Here (Mr. Roboto) concept album which, other than the high selling singer 'Mr. Roboto' didn't do anything and the tour which tried to stage the entire album like an opera bewildered all their fans. But that's beside the fact. He's a fantastic singer. In order to protect him from his light illness, Dennis DeYoung will be performing on stage in a black tent. The tent will also have small mirrors on it and will be on a revolving platform, which will basically simulate a disco ball when the spotlight shines on the tent. How about that! Also note, that with the inclusion of another lead singer / keyboardist, I am putting together the best head-to-head concert since Billy Joel and Elton John toured together. Ohhhhh.... I am a GENIUS!!!

Lead Singer / Keyboards / Disco Ball (backup) - Perry Farrel
Perry Farrel was the lead singer for Jane's Addition and Porno for Pyros. He also the co-creator of the Lollapalooza festival. He is an interesting character to say the least. I'm not sure if he plays keyboards or not, but it doesn't matter because I'm sure he'd figure it out. If he doesn't, he can play bongos for all I care. Also, Perry will not be performing under a tent, but will have a black body suit with mirrors attached to it so he can fulfill his disco ball responsibilities.

Lead Guitar - Vinnie Vincent
Vinnie Vincent is a former of guitarist for Kiss and Vinnie Vincent Invasion. Vinnie was with Kiss when they took off the makeup. No denying that the guy has talent. However, he proved difficult to work with. He sued Kiss when he thought he was due more royalities and lost. Gene was willing to let bygones be bygones and asked Vinnie to help the write material for the Kiss Revenge album. Again, Vinnie got mad and sued Kiss. He has since led a very secluded life. Some have said that he has had a sex-change operation, but I'll believe that when I see it. Actually, I'd rather not see that. Maybe I'll put Vinnie in a tent as well. Or maybe in a giant translucent hamster ball. He'd be rolling around on stage. If Axl got mad at him, he could kick Vinnie (and his ball) into the crowd. Awesome!

Lead Guitar (backup) - David Lindley
I don't know anything about David really. I did a search on 'eccentric guitarist' and his name came up. No lie. He is usually know as a 'Lead Guitarist for Hire' kinda studio musician who has worked for Jackson Browne, Linda Ronstadt, Rod Stewart, et al. He is also a multi-instrumentalist playing such odd stringed intruments as oud, cittern, bouzouki, saz, and cümbüş. He also plays other more normal instruments such as lap steel guitar, banjo and violin. I just hope that Vinnie skips out on at least ONE show just so that David can start playing a bad ass cittern solo.

Lead Guitar - Dave Navarro
Dave was in Jane's Addiction and Red Hot Chili Peppers. The RHCP gig came his way, I believe, when John Frusciante went off into heroin never never land for a while (John has since cleaned up). Um... yeah. He was married to Carmen Electra and a couple other people. He just seems to be a bit... odd to me, so he's in the line up as a lead guitarist. BTW, I had to put both Dave and Vinnie as Lead Guitarist 'cause one of them probably would cry if not referred to as 'lead guitarist'.

Lead Guitar (backup) - Eddie Van Halen
Everyone knows Eddie. And if you don't, I feel sorry for you. His antics as of late are reason enough to include him, at the very least, in the backup lead guitarist spot. That whole thing about getting cancer because of his metal pick and not because of the 5 packs a day he smoked alone is enough for me. Maybe it was the picks, who am I to say. If Dave does decide to not to show up for a gig, I think I'm going to put a clause in Eddie's contract that says he has to shave his head. I'm not sure why. Maybe because I can.

Bass Guitar - William "Bootsy" Collins
Bootsy is the man. He's played as part of James Brown's backing band The JB's as well as Funkadelic, Parliament and Boosty's Rubber Band. Hailing from Cincinnati, it's nice to have a fellow Ohioan in the mix. Just the fact that he was booted from James Brown's group for basically tripping on acid while on stage should be enough reason to add Mr. Collins to the fold. Also, his clothing attire is truly a bit on the zany side. The perfect bassist for The Ultimate Dysfunctional Supergroup if you ask me.

Bass Guitar (backup) - Flea
Flea (born Michael Peter Balzary) is the bassist for the Red Hot Chili Peppers. He just seems like a odd one to me. No doubt that he is talented. He played trumpet in the Los Angeles Junior Philharmonic Orchestra and because a very good jazz trumpet player. Honestly, I picked Flea because I secretly hope that if he does get on stage, that he demands that he gets to play a trumpet solo in the middle of a song, or even better, insists on playing all his bass parts on the trumpet. That would just be cool... to me.

Drums - Tommy Lee
Tommy is most know for his long tenure in Motley Crue. Tommy seems to be a bit... something. I don't know the words for it. Sure of himself? Full of himself? Who knows. He was married to Pamela Anderson. He's had numerous weird drum rigs up on stage. One that spun around and one that hovered over the crowd. Maybe I could put him in a gyroscope, space shuttle training rig. And not for one song, but for the whole gig. His playing would get a bit loopy towards the end of the show.

Drums (backup) - Jizmak Da Gusha
I originally had this spot slated for Lars Ulrich, but in his later years, he's seemed to have mellowed out. So instead, I've given the backup drummer spot Jizmak Da Gusha of GWAR. I need no other reason to include him other than he plays in GWAR. That's reason enough for me.

Sorry that the bios of the players petered out at the end, but this really was more to put together a band based around Axl and Dennis DeYoung. If Frank Zappa or Sun Ra were still around, I would have found positions for them as well. In fact, anyone who has played for Zappa would probably be able to fill in any of the positions.

If you have any other people in mind that might be a better fit in the back (or at the very least, a secondary backup), let me know. I'd love to add to the lineup.

Others I considered for the band: Lars Ulrich - drummer for Metallica, John Frusciante - guitarist for Red Hot Chili Peppers, Carmine Appice - drummer for various bands, Hank Williams Jr. - vocalist for himself, David Coverdale - vocalist for Whitesnake, Chip Z'Nuff - bassist of Enuff Z'nuff (his bass only has two strings!), Van Morrison - vocalist, Eric McFadden - vocalist, guitarist, entertainer.

Saturday, April 14, 2007

Woot!

Just wanted to give everyone a heads up that I got a new job! Woot! I'll be working for a company called Endforce as a SeƱor Test Engineer. It'll be a challenge, but I'm sure that it'll be worth it.

Whee!!!

That is all. Over and out.

Sunday, March 11, 2007

Sudoku

For some dumb reason, I started playing sudoku yesterday. I really didn't understand it but it didn't take long to figure out. I can only do the easy ones... well, actually, only the easy (1 star) ones on MSNBC. I seem to be having trouble with the easy ones on websudoku. Go figure. I also have to use the 'pencil marks'. I like hte ones on MSNBC because they have little 'lights' to tell you when you've "completed" a row, column or square. Not necessarily that you have the numbers right, but that you have all numbers (1-9) accounted for.

I think I can hear Tom and Amy laughing now.

Friday, March 02, 2007

Gamez

Maryann and I played some Scrabble tonight. We had lots of fun. I won both games, but to be fair, in the first game I was using the dictionary alot since I hadn't played in a while and neglected to read the 'dictionary should be used during a challenge only'. :) And Maryann was being nice and didn't say anything until the very end. So techincally I only won one game tonight. But, for the second game I played fair. I had a streak of good luck coming up with the following:

1) quartz on a double word and double letter on the Z.
2) The following in the bottom right of the board.
FEW
EYE
WED

The last letter played for that group was the Y which means I got two double words for a total of 24 points.

I have to say, it was all luck since I have trouble with any word that has more than 5 letters (including those that are plural).

Just noticed that the pic on the Wiki page has the word "preen". In the second game, Maryann played that word in, I swear, the same location. I found that amusing. But it's 11:30pm so things are much more amusing since I'm getting tired. And with that, I say, good night Dr. Watson.