Sunday, 27 AUG 06     

Unknown - 'Get It By Your Hands' - Eureka7 Original Soundtrack disc 2  (Bandai)

This past week we've been watching Storm Stories on The Weather Channel with different features about Hurricane Katrina, plus we also watched Spike Lee's new documentary 'When the Levees Broke', which focuses on New Orleans after the hurricane last year (although there is one part that talks to the guy who told Dick Cheney, 'Fuck you Mr. Vice President' when he was in Long Beach, which was pretty funny). The Grand Casino opened about a week and a half ago (too early if you talk with some of our friends who are employees and say it wasn't completely finished when it did open on the 17th), the Beau Rivage opens on the anniversary of Hurricane Katrina (Aug. 29) which is just plain tacky, and the Hollywood Casino in Bay St. Louis opens on Aug. 31. The media is swarming down to the coast, or at least the large orange light highway signs that say 'Harrison County Media Center exit 46A' as you enter Gulfport on I-10 and 'Hancock County Media Center exit 13' as you pass the rest area entering Mississippi from Louisiana on I-10 would give that impression. With all the special broadcasts from the coast and New Orleans in the past week, it's an event that no-one will be allowed to forget, although is it something that everyone who isn't/wasn't a resident here is just tired of hearing about? It's been difficult to watch some of the special programs, remembering what we watched with horror and a sick feeling of the unknown when there wasn't anything mentioned on the news about Diamondhead and Hancock County as we sat in our hotel room in Atlanta the first week of September of 2005. Reliving the dread of our friends and neighbors and seeing what really can't be explained on television or radio. Seeing the destruction that is only barely starting to revitalize, although casinos give the false impression that a 'new beginning' is starting. Yeah, the one with all the gaming properties and the high rise condos along the beach. It was worse Friday and Saturday when the fifth storm of the season (Ernesto) formed from a Tropical Depression, to a Tropical Storm, and then a Hurricane. It's back down to a Tropical Storm now, and I feel a great sense of relief as the models have it tracking towards Florida as a weak storm instead of a direct hit here again which it appeared may happen early yesterday. With that hurricane magnet, Jim Cantore, on the coast in Biloxi (seriously, whenever there's a hurricane coming, he's right there where it hits. Bastard.) it wasn't a positive outlook.

We did have a pretty good weekend with Kelly's delayed departure. Friday night we went to CVS, Petsmart, and Sam's Club before going to have dinner at Mellow Mushroom. We also had ice cream at Marble Slab on the way home. We had considered going to a movie, but decided not to and came home instead. Saturday morning I was up early because Gary came over and we drove out to Lafayette, LA to see the movie 'Full Metal Alchemist - The Conqueror of Shambala'. This was a continuation/follow up to the series released previously. It was a 3 hour drive over in pouring rain (only in a couple of places), but we were really looking forward to it. When we arrived at the Carmike Cinema theater, there was a rep from Funimation who was setting up a table in the lobby. We talked with him for a few minutes and he said he had been to the first screening (of three total- we went to the 2pm showing) the previous night and it was great. That particular theater had a Digital Light Projector as well as THX certified Dolby 5.1 surround sound. I told the rep we had driven out from Mississippi and he gave us a surprised look and gave me a nice movie promo poster. We went in and grabbed our seats. We had arrived early, which was a good thing because it was a smaller theater. Unfortunately, the seats didn't recline, which would have made a big difference, but that was probably the only negative factor of the whole experience. It was cool to see the range in ages of the people coming in from pre-teens (a few with their parents in tow as chaperones) to high school and college students, to older otaku like us (we weren't the oldest ones in the audience, but Gary said it was close). It was a great experience from start to finish. The picture was crystal clear, the sound was crisp and the rumbling could be felt all around, and the movie itself was just fantastic. Picked up right where the series left off and carried well throughout until the satisfying ending (left open-ended for another movie option). The almost sell out crowd itself also were great. They were totally into the story (big fans) and laughed and cheered at all the right parts, yet weren't unruly or distracting at all. It was nice to see a film with a group of like-minded individuals who appreciate a certain movie for what it is and get it. Definitely an enjoyable day and Gary and I look forward to the next anime movie they show at that theater. When we got home Kelly had finished packing and she and I watched a couple more Storm Stories episodes.

Today we slept in a little bit, then went to get Josie a new collar and name tag because she somehow lost hers during the night outside and was bonking her head on the kitty door trying to get in this morning which woke us up. Poor child. We were also looking for a garbage can to replace the one in our kitchen that has cracked badly, but Walmart didn't have one and the one I bought at Home Depot was a bit too wide. I figured as much when I did the measuring, but I tried one just to see if it would fit, but sadly it didn't. After coming home we ate lunch and showered, then headed out. We picked up Becca and drove on to New Orleans. Kelly and Becca's flight was leaving at 5.40pm. I dropped them off at the airport a little before 3pm then went to Home Depot to return the wrong sized garbage can, had no success at Target, got coffee at Rue de la Course, picked up a few grocery items at Whole Foods, then headed home. I did stop at Lowe's in Slidell, but they didn't have the right size garbage can either. I got home and looked online a bit for the garbage can, but no luck so far. I made risotto for the week, watched another Storm Stories, and amd finishing this up before I go to bed. No disco tonight, but instead a track from the 'Eureka7' soundtrack which sounds like music from a rave

-posted by Chris

Wednesday, 23 AUG 06     

Goldfrapp - 'Strict Machine' - Black Cherry  (Mute U.S.)

Did Chris mention how much we liked Little Miss Sunshine last week? Apparently it's going to be playing at both Cinemark & the Grand this weekend - so go check it out!

The rest of our weekend was fairly uneventful. I did some shopping for last second going to sea items. I think I've got everything I need. Although, I'll probably forget something. Sunday we watched the movie The Machinist, which had been on our Tivo for about a year. It was pretty freaky and good. Crazy how much weight Christian Bale lost for that role. There was one great scene where he's taking this kid on a carnival ride to hell - very cool. Kind of like the end of Mr. Toad's Wild Ride, but a way more satanic version.

So far this week has been about the same as usual. Work is getting on my last nerve - I have just lost my tolerance, because it's really not that bad. Is it that I am getting old and irritable or am I just really desperate for the break that going to sea for 2 months will provide? And why is it that everytime I sign on for time at sea, that's when all the great shows come around?! I mean, I'll be missing Sufjan & the Touch-n-Go fest & many others. Suck! Oh well...that's the way it goes.

We've Tivo'd a couple of shows about Hurricane Katrina...watched Acts I & II of Spike Lee's When the Levees Broke. It's been pretty good, and not nearly as "it's all the Man's fault" as we thought it would be. Though it does have some of those moments too. But who am I kidding, it was the Man's fault. He blew up the levees to protect the Quarter & Garden District. Ha ha...just kidding. Who the hell is this Man that causes all these problems and why haven't we kicked the shit out of him yet? I feel bad leaving Chris at the height of hurricane season. It'll be pretty damn stressful if I know there are storms heading this way. Imagine last year, if I was out at sea and knew that this huge storm just tore the shit out of my town and couldn't get ahold of Chris because cell phones with 228 area codes weren't working. I would have blown a fuse for sure. There were plenty of my co-workers stuck in that exact situation last year. Let's hope that lightening waits a few decades before striking the same spot twice.

So I guess this is farewell. I was supposed to be leaving on Friday - my friend, Becca, and I are planning to spend 2 days in Paris on the way over to the Middle East. (Oh don't worry - I'll be far away from the Green Zone and Lebanon). My trip has been delayed by a day or so. Hopefully no more than that. I really don't want the same crap to happen as last time - fly all the way out there only to have major mechanical problems and then fly all the way home. Ugh! Not an easy way to earn frequent flyer miles. Anyway...I'll be sure to send Chris updates every so often. Such as "the food out here really sucks" and other exciting ship news.

The song for today was one that I heard on a "Nip/Tuck" commercial. It's actually a pretty cool commercial where they're attaching arms to a Venus de Milo like statue. This song goes well with that video. It's by a band called Goldfrapp. I've heard some of their songs on Left of Center before, but this one really stuck in my head. It's a total rip-off of Donna Summers' "Love to Love You Baby." At least in my opinion. And it has me thinking that disco is making a comeback. So I'm busting out my disco moves, polishing off my platform shoes and fine polyester leisure suit. I'm ready to do the "Hustle" baby! Actually - when I was a kid, I liked disco a lot. My brother was a really good disco dancer & even entered dance contests and whatnot. I remember seeing some news story about a baseball game where a bunch of fans rushed the outfield and started burning disco records. And I was thinking "Hey - I like that record. Why the hell are they doing that?" Bring disco back! (just don't let Mariah Carey be a part of it, please) Now dance monkey boy (and girl), dance!

And with that note...I bid you adieu.

-posted by Kelly

Friday, 18 AUG 06     

Sufjan Stevens - 'Carlyle Lake' - The Avalanche- Outtakes and Extras from the Illinois Album  (Asthmatic Kitty)

Another pretty uneventful week. I don't even remember what we did on Sunday besides run a few errands like getting groceries. We live in our small, boring circle. I did go biking a few times in the evening and we watched some television. We did have our friend Allison over on Monday night to tell us about her REI bicycling tour in the Czech Republic and I grilled some chicken and potatoes. I wouldn't mind going back to Prague again. I went in 1994 after I had finished college and toured around Europe for a few weeks. I remember someone approaching my travel companion and I on the train and 'renting' us a 2-bed flat for the next few nights. It was not too long after the countries had split and it was really inexpensive to stay in Prague. It was a long rail journey from Amsterdam to Prague overnight, but a beautiful city. There was also a cafe/bar that I hung out at a few times with many of the expatriates who were living in the city. It would be fun to go biking through the country.

Last night Kelly and I watched most of 'The Year of the Yao' on ESPNClassic before the recording became too broken up from bad weather during the Tivo recording. I had seen the trailer last year when I went to SXSW in Austin and stayed in Houston a night on the way back and went to a movie at the independent theatre. It was a really great movie (what we saw of it, and we only missed the end I think). I remember when Yao Ming came over to the NBA from China and had a rough start, but then emerged as the player he was touted to be. It was funny, dramatic, interesting, and highly entertaining. Whether you're a sports fan or not, this is a good film.

Today Kelly and I went over to New Orleans for our last time together before she heads out to sea next week. We went to lunch at Bacco, which had really good food served in lunch portions (not too big), and $.10 cent martinis. It was a bit pricey, but nice and worth it for our last 'date' for awhile. We were seated in a room that looked out into the pool of one of the hotels located in the French Quarter. We got to see the clouds roll in, lightning flash, rain pour down, then stop again and clear up a bit. Not often that we see lightning in the city. After lunch we stopped by the House of Blues and I picked up my will call ticket for next month's Sufjan Stevens show. I could have waited, but I figured that I would get it since it was on the way. We then went up to Canal Place to see the newly released 'Little Miss Sunshine'. I'm usually a bit leery of movies where the humor is based on the misfortune of others, but this one was totally different. There are a series of unfortunate events, but overall it's a dark humor filled movie about a dysfunctional family roadtrip for a beauty paegant. What a great film. We really loved it. There were some really funny parts, although the laughter from the audience was kind of the nervous type, like they shouldn't be laughing, although Kelly was busting out laughing quite a bit when no-one else really did. It is one we definitely recommend if it comes to your city. It probably won't come to the coast unfortunately, but I could be wrong. 'An Inconvenient Truth' actually started today at The Grand theatres in D'Iberville. Now it may only play for a week, but at least it's showing here at all, which I never thought it would. I almost want to go see it again, just to show support for films like this playing on the coast. If it's still here next weekend, I may just drag a few friends to go see it. Kelly and I might actually go see 'Snakes on a Plane' this Sunday. I know, a movie totally fueled by internet hype, but I've been following the internet hype and really want to hear Samuel L. Jackson say 'I'm tired of these motherfucking snakes on this motherfucking plane!'. It looks entertaining, and although I'm not one for horror films, this one just appeals to me. Call me a sucker. Kelly has been dreading me dragging her to go see it, but after seeing Samuel L. Jackson as a guest, plus the movie clip on 'The Daily Show' Wednesday night, she kind of wants to see it as well (although she may not admit it openly to many people), although is still a bit hesitant since she'll be flying out in a week.

After the movie this afternoon we headed uptown to get coffee at Rue de La Course, and then out to Metairie to do a bit of shopping before heading home. Kelly had to get a few things for her trip at the mall, then a map of Paris at Barnes and Noble, and finally we stopped by Whole Foods to get some groceries and dinner from the hot bar to take home in our cooler. Kelly had pork, macaroni & cheese, and vegetables. I got grilled tofu with ponzu sauce and grilled potatoes with bali bbq seasoning. We didn't get home too late this evening and ate dinner while watching last night's 'Daily Show' and a new program on the Food Network called 'Ace of Cakes'. A nice way to end the day (before this blog update). Tomorrow morning I'm getting up early to go do trail maintenance at the bike trails and get a ride in on our finished path before it gets too hot. In the afternoon we're going to Loren and Pete's for a Pampered Chef party, although I'm ducking out early to go to an all-ages show in Gulfport that the local punk collective/promoters are putting on at the VFW Hall in Gulfport. One of our poker buddies, Alan, is in a band (Heroes for Sale) that is opening for the touring headliner from Canada, Tugnut. It's been awhile since I've been out to a local show, so I'll probably feel old, but it will also be good to support the scene. Speaking of the live music scene, there are a LOT of shows coming up in the next few months. I will update the shows list tomorrow or Sunday with many new listings, so stay tuned. Many good bands are touring, and surprisingly quite a few are making it to New Orleans, which will keep me busy while Kelly is out at sea.

-posted by Chris

Sunday, 13 AUG 06     

The Shins - 'New Slang' - Oh, Inverted World  (Sub Pop)

Yeah Yeah Yeahs - 'Y Control' - Fever to Tell  (Interscope)


As Chris had mentioned...I was in San Diego all last week for the ESRI User Conference. The conference itself was great as usual & hopefully I picked up some tricks to help out at work. I left on Saturday, a day early, in order to take in day 2 of San Diego Street Scene. I flew all morning, checked into Motel 6 and then caught a cab to Qualcomm Stadium where the event was taking place for the second year in a row. I got there at around 3:15pm and headed over to the Zarabanda stage where Margot and the Nuclear So & Sos were kicking things off at 3:30. I had heard one song of theirs on Left of Center (numerous times) and really liked it. Their band consisted of 8 members playing the standard line-up plus extra percussion, keyboards and horn and were pretty decent. Check out their link on MySpace - they have a really cool video for one of their songs. The next band at the same stage was Tapes N' Tapes. I had heard about them after SXSW - apparently they had all the critics raving. I thought they had a lot of potential, but probably need to be experienced on a smaller stage. The Futureheads were supposed to be playing on the Time Warner stage at the same time as Tapes N' Tapes. But apparently My Chemical Romance had to cancel because of a car crash, which changed the schedule a little. Actually it kind of irritated me, because it meant that The Shins and Yeah Yeah Yeahs would be playing at the same time on 2 different stages. Anyway...this also meant that the Futureheads started an hour later...so I wandered over to the 21+ area, got a surprisingly stiff rum punch and watched the Futureheads for 30 minutes. They were decent, but nothing special. Then I headed back to the Zarabanda stage to watch the second half of the Subways. They were also good, but nothing to go nuts over. I then headed over to see the end of the Lollipop Girls Burlesque show. It was an ok act, but sucked 'cause I couldn't see half the act due to the stage not being high enough & no monitors showing the girls crawling around on the stage. After that it was time to go back to the Time Warner stage where the Editors were on next. I had heard one of their songs on Left of Center which was pretty catchy...so I was looking forward to them. They were decent, cute and had nice British accents...but again, nothing I'm going to run out and buy. But next was the main band I was there to see - The Shins. Have you ever seen the movie Garden State? If so, maybe you remember the scene where Natalie Portman is listening to some music and tells Zach Braff to listen - that this band will change his life. That's The Shins. When I first saw that scene and heard the music, I thought "this is not life-changing." But damn does it grow on you! When they first started playing they were having some sound problems w/ the lead vocals. I felt like sending a barrage of spitballs at the sound guy, but they finally got it fixed by the 3rd song and from then on it was bliss. Unfotunately, I wanted to catch some of the Yeah Yeah Yeahs...so I left the Shins with 2 songs to go and headed over to the Zarabanda Stage. Yes...I'm sad I didn't see those last 2 songs...but I caught my fave Yeah Yeah Yeahs songs, so perhaps it was worth it. Besides, Karen O was stomping around the stage, screeching like a woman posessed - and wearing groovy black leotard & tights. Watching her is like watching performance art. And they ended with 'Y Control' - which is awesome. I hurried back to the Time Warner stage to see Bloc Party. They sounded great and played for about an hour. A good end to the night... I left walking past the Zarabanda Stage where mass amounts of people were swarming to see Tool. I passed the First Aid station where someone from the crowd was on a stretched in a neck splint. Apparently they had a crowd control problem at that stage. On a bad note - as I was leaving I tripped in a pothole and went down hard on the pavement. At first I was more embarrassed than hurt...but then the pain & blood started flowing - my knee is still a bruised, scabby mess. The price I pay for music. Last time I injured myself at a concert was while drunkenly slam-dancing to Mudhoney some 15 years ago. This night I didn't have alcohol as an excuse...I'm just getting old.

The rest of the time in San Diego was spent mainly at the conference where I learned a lot about GIS. I met up with some friends for dinner a few nights and wandered along the beach a couple of times. I refrained from swimming because salt water & my torn up knee wouldn't have made for a good combo. I also was in search of an awesome margarita, but ended up finally finding one at the airport in Las Vegas on the way home. In fact - I had one weak, overly-priced margarita in Old Town at a restaurant called Comopolitan. By all means, avoid this place if you're ever out that way. The food was not very good and the service was horrible! I did make up for that night on several other nights and had several really good fish tacos while out there. Plus I was blessed with great weather. Definitely a good trip.

One last note. I saw the documentary Once in a Lifetime: The Extraordinary Story of the New York Cosmos. Apparently they were a huge deal in NYC during the late 70's. They had some of the best soccer players from all over including Brazil's national hero, Pele. I remember watching a soccer game with my dad one time and he was pointing out Pele and telling me that he was the best soccer player in the world. I wonder if that was one of the Cosmos' games? It would've been around that time frame. Anyway, the movie is good & worth checking out - particularly if you like soccer.

Songs for today are for the Street Scene shows. Be sure to check out "New Slang". It will change your life - ha ha!

-posted by Kelly

Saturday, 12 AUG 06     

Sonic Youth - 'Incinerate' - Rather Ripped  (Geffen)

Not too much done during the week. I went biking a few times and watched some of the programs recorded during the week. The new show 'Eureka' on the SciFi Channel is really good. Kind of like a lighter 'X-Files' with not so dark humor added in. I've also enjoyed watching Season 2 of Morgan Spurlock's ('Supersize Me'), '30 Days' on FX. This week's episode had an atheist woman live with a Christian family for 30 days. It was really interesting to see the very differing views interact (the whole point of the show). I was raised Catholic, but I think I've made almost a complete circle to leaning towards Atheism. It's more of a copout than anything, because I'm not really that opinionated about the issue, although I've been accused of being a Satan worshipper, which isn't the truth either. I'm of the thought that there may be something along the lines of different planes of afterlife existence, but I want substantial proof of the existence of anything such as a god.

Last night I went to New Orleans to pick up Kelly from the airport when her late night flight arrived. I first went to see 'Who Killed the Electric Car?' I don't think I ever remember the vehicles being available, at least not where we lived. It was a really interesting documentary that made me want to have an electric car. Imagine the possibilities. Not only would we be helping the deteriorating environment, but we may eventually catch up to the European or Japanese progressiveness in technology. Who indeed made the decision that influenced General Motors the most to kill off the production of the electric car, that in today's time of ever rising gas (oil) prices, would have been a no-brainer alternative solution? The answer just didn't seem to be that simple. I definitely recommend viewing this film, even if it's when it's released on dvd. Make it a double feature with 'An Inconvenient Truth'.

After the movie, I walked from Canal Place to our old favorite sushi place, Rock-n-Sake. Wow, that place was packed and hopping with people while the thumping techno music played. I had to wait about ten minutes until a spot even came open at the sushi bar (there were a lot of larger groups at the tables and at the bar). I enjoy sitting at the sushi bar and watching the chefs put together their creations, but I could also look around at the interaction of the people around me. There were couples, but I was also entertained by the 'pick up artists' of both genders dropping lines and chatting it up with their 'targets'. Funny. I had a seaweed salad to start, then I ordered a spicy snowcrab roll, baby softshell crab sushi, and one of the special rolls called the red dragon roll (tuna and rice wrapped in seaweed, with more tuna on top along with a spicy mayonaise, crunchy pieces, and roe). All were really refreshingly good. I put in an order for the Hawaii 5-0 roll to go for Kelly along with a couple of the other sections of my order that I didn't finish, then walked back to the car. It was perfect to put the sushi in the cooler I brought along.

Kelly had called my voicemail to let me know that her flight was leaving Las Vegas about half an hour late, so I called the airlines and confirmed the arrival time, which was now 12.20am at the New Orleans airport. I headed uptown to Rue de la Course to get coffee and sit down and read for about an hour before heading out to the airport. Kelly's flight came in when it was scheduled and we drove home. She had some of the sushi and watched some of the tv show, 'House' before going to bed.

This morning I woke up early (a little before 8am) so I could head on down to the front of Diamondhead and join the 'Tatonut' bike ride. The Tatonut ride used to be a regular ride in Ocean Springs every Saturday before the hurricane last year. It's gone on a few times since then over the past year, but some of the GCBC (check out the Let's Ride message board link for the most current information) members have organized the alternate ride to be held occasionally in Diamondhead, starting near the front at Jackie-O's cafe. We had a great group this morning of about 15 riders, and picked up about 3 others along the way riding the loop in Diamondhead. The group got a bit scattered though and one of the turns was missed, but overall I think people had a good ride. Some people were talking about having the original Tatonut ride in two weeks back down in Ocean Springs and starting an hour earlier because even at 9am the heat is already almost unbearable, especially while riding a bike. Next weekend is trail maintenance day to clear out the section of trail which we opened up, but has become overgrown. I'm enjoying the increased motivation to get out when there are rides with others. Biking is an individual sport and I usually don't enjoy riding with others as much, but at least I am getting out instead of sitting at home on my ass, plus I got to talk with Brent, whom I hadn't seen in awhile. After the ride some of us hung out chatting and having a snack at Jackie-O's. Brent gave me a ride home on his way back towards Biloxi.

When I got home I took a shower then went back down to the Diamondhead Grocery as well as the Diamondhead Dry Cleaners to pick up some things I dropped off there a week ago. I came back home and Kelly had already made her spinach & artichoke dip, then started on making a batch of my family's (from the recipe book my grandmother put together a few years ago) oatmeal/chocolate chip cookies. I picked up the house a bit and started work on my salsa, using a fresh batch of peppers I had grown in our garden. We finished prepping all of the snacks we were going to have for the evening, then Kelly watched some of the Tivo'd programs from earlier in the week. I got on the computer some and sat with her some while she watched, although I did fall asleep on the floor for awhile.

Our friends showed up close to on time (we had said 6.30pm, so the game could start at 7pm), but there were a few stragglers, so we didn't end up starting until about 7.40pm. We had two tables of six players set up and 30 minute rounds. The plan was to merge the two tables when we were down to a total of 8 players. The night went pretty well with different players taking the chip lead or short stack. I was short stack at one point, so I made a move after Jason had raised a pot by a few dollars over the blinds and pulled out my prop (my Degree deodorant stick) for the 'Degree All-In Moment' (for those unaware, this is a reference to the ESPN broadcast of the World Series of Poker which all of us watch, and Degree is a sponsor- a player either raises or calls 'all-in' and puts all their chips into the pot and the broadcasters have selected this one instance in their broadcast to declare it the 'Degree All-In' play), which had everyone busting up and I think I threw Jason off with my prop. He ended up folding, but the rest of the night everyone was saying it was time to bring out the Degree stick when another player went all-in. Kelly and I did make it to the final table, but I ended up taking her out early since she was the short stack and had gone all-in after Darrin had raised her to that call, however I went over the top all-in myself which made Darrin fold. Kelly had pocket sixes, but I had pocket queens. The blinds had gotten up to $5/$10 with a $2 ante (considering we started the evening at $.25/$.50 and a chip stack of $40 for our $20 buy-in, it was high) and players started going out quickly, mainly because the blinds were up. It came down to Nunzio, Christy and I as the final three. I took out Nunzio who was basically trying to scare me off with his all-in move, but I ended up having ace/jack to his nothing cards (6/10 suited maybe?) and took his stack. With it just Christy and I, we eliminated the ante, keeping the blinds at $5/$10. We kept giving money back and forth to each other, and I actually doubled her up quite a bit at one point, but in the end I was dealer, Christy raised $50 with her king/queen, however I had the upper hand and raised all-in with my pocket kings. She called and she had a few outs after the flop, but my kings held up and I won $150 (well, minus the $40 buy-in for Kelly and I and it was $110). I was quite pleased with my play (and some luck) because this was the first time in playing that I had achieved first place alone (I had split it with Lam one night early last year). It was funny because a little less than a year ago (the night before we evacuated from the hurricane), Christy had beaten me for first place at that game.

Now it's late and everyone's gone home. Kelly was watching one of her programs after we watched the final episode of 'The Henry Rollins Show', but I'm getting sleepy as I type this, so I'll upload it in the morning.

-posted by Chris

Sunday, 6 AUG 06     

The Cure - 'I'm Cold (Sav Studio demo)' - Three Imaginary Boys  (Rhino/Fiction/Elektra)

*showlist has been updated, finally*

Note to self: 'Always dress appropriately for a job interview, no matter if you know the interviewers or not.' I had a job interview on Thursday to transfer to the Pascagoula Regional Office in the same position with the Division of Medicaid that I am currently in Gulfport (Asst. Supervisor). I made the error of dressing as I normally would on a work day, however, if I had been thinking, I would have worn 'dressier' clothes, but I wasn't thinking that day. I think I did fairly well at the interview, despite my shoulder acting up (stress related?) and being in more pain than usual lately. I'll find out in a few weeks. The commute back and forth to Pascagoula every day will probably get old quickly, but the benefits of leaving the Gulfport office (Crazytown, as Kendra and I call it) will pretty much outweigh a longer drive each day. After the interview, I headed over to Mobile for the afternoon. I needed to take both of my bikes in for minor adjustments and made my first stop at Cadence 120 (my new favorite bike shop). I talked with Nathan, and he's very knowledgeable and checked the bikes over before giving me an estimate and time to come back and pick them up. It was a little after noon and he said I could come back at 3pm to pick them up. I then drove down to Barnes and Noble to read and have a sandwich while waiting. When I got back, Nathan was still working on my 'road' bike. He had gotten most of the adjustments done, but was having problems with the front derailleur. He worked at it a bit more, then had me try it out in the parking lot. He ended up not charging me for the problems we had shifting down to the smallest ring in the front, but I hardly use that ring at all, so it wasn't a big issue. While I was waiting I looked at the real road bikes, some of which were on sale for good prices. He suggested that eventually I may want to replace the front crank on my bike completely or think about getting a road bike if I plan to do more riding. I've been considering it for awhile, and looking at the bikes really got me thinking (that, and the biking book I read recently), that I really should invest in a road bike because I would probably be more motivated to ride more often and maybe even do some road races. I still prefer mountain biking, but if I'm going to road ride, it's about time to retire my 16 year old Giant ATX 770 (this isn't a picture of mine, but one that I found on the web) and get serious. I talked about it with Kelly when I got home and she said that maybe by this time next year when we've paid off some of our bills and saved up enough money (with Kelly going out to sea) to put down the wood flooring we planned to in the living room, I could probably get myself a road bike. Neat.

Friday morning Kelly had a doctor's appointment, so I went for a ride around Diamondhead. Everything seemed to work a little bit better and it was a very smooth ride, although by 9am it had already started to get hot and muggy, so I only did one 12-mile loop. Damn, I hate the weather here in the summer. After Kelly came back from the doctor we headed over to Slidell to get some lunch. We were going to eat at Southside Grill, but they were really busy and there was a 35 minute wait we didn't feel like making. We ended up at Thai Orchid, which wasn't very busy at all, although they were in need of more wait staff. Two people for the whole restaurant, as small as it is, just was not enough. We both had lunch special items. Kelly got the 'drunken noodles' and I had red curry. I ordered it 'hot' and it was very pleasingly spicy. After lunch we had coffee then I dropped Kelly off at her worksite to pick up the GSA 'rental' car for her to drive to the airport the next morning. We watched a bit of tv (actually I kind of napped while Kelly watched tv), then I had my physical therapy appointment at 5pm. It was much better today than Thursday. Weird. My next appointment isn't for another week. I am close to being 'discharged'. I came home and we did laundry and ate before Kelly packed for her trip to San Diego. We then watched 'Eureka', a new show on the SciFi Channel and World Series of Poker we had recorded earlier in the week before she went to bed.

Saturday morning Kelly got up and left around 5.30am. I woke up before she took off and helped carry her bag to the car and said goodbye. I was awake at that point and got on the computer for a little bit, then went to watch some tv on the couch, but fell asleep for awhile. I woke up again around 8.30am, showered, and headed to Gary's. We were going to spend the day watching anime since we haven't been able to for a couple of months. We watched quite a few discs and ended up finishing two series, 'Daphne in the Brilliant Blue' and 'Samurai 7' (currently showing on IFC and based upon Akira Kurosawa's 'The Seven Samurai'). Samurai 7 has been great, and I highly recommend it for any fans of the samurai genre who happen to have IFC. We also watched a couple of OVA's (not pornographic anime, but stories based on manga), and started a new series. Gary also made vegetable curry for dinner which was really good, and overall it was a good day.

Today I didn't really do too much. Kind of a lazy day for me. I burned some music onto the hard drive and transferred it to my mp3 player. I then went to the gym and rode on the stationary cycle because it was a bit toasty outside. After I got back home I showered and went grocery shopping in Gulfport. I came home and watched two more anime series, both by Makoto Shinkai, 'Voices of a Distant Star' and 'The Place Promised in Our Early Days'. I had seen Voices of a Distant Star previously, but it was really enjoyable to watch again. I did take a nap on the couch before watching the second one while eating dinner. Both are very beautiful, touching films. Kind of what I've been in the mood for this weekend, although the song I chose today is somewhat different. That is the 'nice' song I've chosen directed towards some of my co-workers. I'm cold.

-posted by Chris

Monday, 1 AUG 06     

Didjits - 'Who's Ready to Get High?' - Full Nelson Reilly  (Touch and Go)

Thom York - 'And It Rained All Night' - The Eraser - (XL Recordings)

It looks like Hurricane season is starting to kick it into gear after a slow first couple of months. A few of my co-workers were asking me today, 'So, Tropical Storm Chris? What're you going to do, slam right into us?' I know it's all half-joking, but I just want to say, 'Yeah, I'm going to kill us all.' What do you think of that, bastards? Even I don't think it's funny that a storm is heading on a west-northwest track towards the Gulf. I'm as anxious as others are about another storm hitting the area. Maybe it'll pass by and hit some largely unpopulated area in Texas or Mexico.

My physical therapy appointments seem to be going well. I've been going three times a week for the past few weeks and it looks like I may be discharged this week, then come back later for a follow up. I've been given a set of exercises to do with an elastic band. Some of those really pull, but it actually has felt better afterwards. As Matt (the therapist) said, 'you have to experience pain first before it gets better.' Kind of like 'no pain, no gain' maybe? Well, either way the pain in my shoulder has decreased.

Last Friday night we headed over to New Orleans after my physical therapy. Kelly was going to go to the Peaches/Eagles of Death Metal/Deadboy and the Elephantmen show at the House of Blues while I was going to go hang out and read at Rue de La Course then go back in a few hours to pick her up after the show. Well, I dropped her off and was heading towards Rue when she called me on my cell phone. The show had just sold out 30 minutes prior, so I turned around and went back to pick her back up. Who would've thought there were that many Peaches fans in New Orleans? Actually, the overall bill was a really good one for a Friday night (I'm not a big Peaches fan and didn't want to pay $20 for mainly the opening band), and it just goes to show that we need to get tickets in advance. Anyway, we stopped by Whole Foods to get some vegetarian chili for Jason and Ellen and Kelly got a piece of rich chocolate cake from the bakery, then went to Rue for a little bit. We then went to see the new Woody Allen film, 'Scoop'. It wasn't as good as last year's 'Match Point' (which also featured Scarlet Johansson), but was still decent. After the movie, we headed home, listening to WTUL-FM, who had a dj playing some older punk rock, kind of like Kelly's old show. He played some Jesus Lizard (I'm still counting on them being the 25th band announced for the Touch & Go Records 25th Anniversary Celebration ) and Melvins, so Kelly called up and requested The Didjits, whom the dj said he liked, and we heard the song before crossing the twin span and losing reception. We got home and watched a bit of tv and I geeked on the computer for awhile, not going to bed until 3am.

Saturday morning we slept in, then got up and went down to the Farmer's Market in Waveland where Kelly picked up a watermelon for the next day (we were having a few friends over to have a small going away gathering for Neal, who is moving to Austin tomorrow). We then had lunch at Rickey's, which was good. After eating, then shopping at Walmart for other grocery items, we bought ten pounds of shrimp from a Vietnamese woman selling it from her truck on the side of the road. These were pretty large shrimp, and only cost $3.50 per pound. What a great deal! Fresh from the dock as well. We took them home and put the shrimp on ice and other groceries away, then went back out to Gulfport. We went to Old Navy to see if they had any items we liked at their clearance sale. Kelly was also looking for some lightweight, long sleeved tops for her upcoming survey. We didn't find too much, but I found some boxers that had skulls and crossbones on them. Kelly did find some tops at Belk while I got coffee and one of the new Johnny Cash cd's at Barnes and Noble with a 15% discount coupon (in addition to my 10% member discount). We finished our errands at Sam's Club and headed home. We rested for awhile, then started doing prep work. We first peeled the shrimp (always a tedious task), then Kelly boiled the shells to make the Gulf Coast Shrimp marinade, while I made an Orange and Bourbon marinade that we had used on snapper previously, but figured it would do just as well on chicken breasts. After finishing the marinade and letting the chicken breasts soak in ziploc freezer bags overnight I started work on my homemade salsa. I've been growing peppers this year, and have been fortunate to harvest them a few times. I have serranos, habaneros, and cayennes, plus our friend Bobbie gave us a few Thai chilis. I make a pretty simple, but fiery salsa. I first roast the peppers in the oven for a little bit, then throw them in the food processor with about 3 cloves of garlic and the juice from two limes. While those are being liquefied I roast about 5 roma tomatoes in the oven for a bit, then take them out and throw them into the processor. Finally, I take a large bunch of cilantro and throw it in until all has been pureed together. I don't like chunky salsa at all, and this leaves me with a thick, yet mostly liquid salsa that packs quite a punch. Kelly said it was too hot still, so the next morning I had to go back down to Walmart and picked up a few more roma tomatoes to tone down the spice, but it still had some kick. After prep work which lasted until after 8pm (I guess it wouldn't have mattered if the poker group had bothered to call us and let us know there was a game since we probably would have not been able to play anyway) we had dinner and watched some of our recorded shows. Kelly went to bed earlier than I did, but I did some more research on Chicago. Again, I didn't make it to bed until 3am. I'm going to hate it come Monday morning.

Sunday we didn't sleep in as late. I got dressed and went down to Waveland again, and ended up getting caught in a downpour which slowed traffic on the interstate down to a crawl (you would think people had never driven in the rain). This didn't bode well for having people over to grill later in the afternoon, but after the storm blew through the sun came out and it was hot and steamy. It was 2pm and no-one had showed up. We called Neal and he was running late but bringing a few people along, while Jason and Ellen were on their way, and a few others who originally said they would make it ended up not showing up. Sometimes we can get annoyed with the flakiness of our friends. It still ended up being a good time. We shared the beer we had brought back from the northwest, were happy to see friends we hadn't seen in a long time, and say goodbye to Neal, whom we plan to go visit in Austin. I'm really glad that Matt Schnake and his girlfriend Carrie came over. I used to work with Matt at Be-Bop and he always has a great story to tell, plus he's the same age as me so I don't feel as old. The best joke is still the one where almost all of us working at Be-Bop would call up or go over to Sound Shop, the cd store across the street in the mall, and ask if they had the new rap album by Tweedle-Face Dee 'All About the Nut'. It was a running joke for months, and always cracked us up. It was even funnier when they sounded seriously concerned that they hadn't been able to get the record in because they had gotten so many calls for it. It's still funny now when one of the Be-Bop crew (Peter, Jason, Matt) brings it up. Everyone seemed to have a really good time and enjoy the food, so it was a successful day, plus we kicked everyone out around 9pm as we had planned.

That's what we've been up to. In my nightly net-geeking, I found out that the Big Easy Rollergirls are having their first bout on September 16. It's a Saturday night, so I think that I just have to go over and show my support. I also found out in the process that there is a newly formed Mississippi Rollergirls league down here on the coast. They're having their first fundraising event on September 30 in Gautier at The Catastrophe in Gautier, so I think I'll head out and show my support. Yee-haw! I'll miss Kelly while she's gone out to sea, but at least I'll have some events to keep myself entertained along with training on the bicycle and watching some anime with Gary.

-posted by Chris