July - 2005

Sunday , 31 JUL 05

It's been a pretty uneventful week after my brother left. I went back to work Tuesday to a drawer full of cases to read. The 'punishment' for taking leave and being out of the office for a few days. I ended up staying late at work until 6-7pm every night this week trying to catch up, but seemingly getting nowhere because of the piece of shit program that we use (Envisions MEDSX created by ACS) has been slower than ditchwater when trying to process cases. Literally it has been taking 5-10 minutes to sign off on cases. Totally unacceptable, so needless to say, I haven't caught up yet. But tomorrow starts another week and supposedly this week they are going to update the program so some things will work like they are supposed to and the system should run faster, although I'm not holding my breath.

In the evenings after getting home I hopped on the trainer for about 10 miles of riding each night (except Friday) while watching The Daily Show or other recorded programs, then ate and read the latest Harry Potter book for a couple of hours before going to bed.

Friday night I was supposed to go on a night bike ride with a couple of others out at the DeSoto trails, but that afternoon strong thunderstorms moved in crackling lightning and bringing a downpouring of rain. It had let up some by the time I left the office, but the ride was cancelled because the trails would have been wet muck, and it's not best to tear them up after new rain. The ride will just have to happen another time. I ended up just dropping off a prescription at the pharmacy for my allergies, then went to Barnes and Noble for half an hour while they filled it. I went home and discovered this:
kittypuke

I guess the cats don't want to leave me out from puke clean-up fun. I couldn't figure out who it was those. Both Tura and Josie were outside on the patio, Tura sitting in the middle and Josie on her perch on the grill. I guess one of them just couldn't stomach the rodent(s) they had eaten. After cleaning up the mess and vacuuming the house I ate dinner (the last of my risotto) and spent the evening reading. I didn't have but 150 pages left of my book to finish.

Yesterday I went over to Gary's to watch anime. It's been awhile since we've had a fest, so we had plenty of discs backlogged to view. We watched seven different series, with the number of episodes per disc ranging from 2-4. We only ended up finishing one series, but that will be one more that we can start next time. We picked up pizza at Mellow Mushroom, newly opened in Ocean Springs, and it was really good. I had a jerk chicken pizza minus the pineapple and adding artichoke hearts. Yum. I even brought home extra so Kelly could have some, since she's been gone in San Diego all week (I'm sure she'll add her update later tonight or tomorrow) and called from the San Diego Street Scene music festival Fri. night asking what size shirt I wore so she could pick me up a White Stripes t-shirt. Cool. Anyway, it was a good day of viewing anime. My favorite of the day was probably 'Midori Days', which I had mentioned before (April?) and we were able to watch disc two. Disc three hasn't arrived yet, but was shipped about a week ago so I expect it to arrive in the next couple of days.

I left Gary's at 11pm and came home and talked with Kelly briefly before spending another couple of hours reading before going to bed around 3am. Unfortunately, with staying up so late I didn't feel like getting up early to go biking at the trails this morning. I slept in until almost 10am, then got up to have some English Muffins for breakfast and sitting down to read. I finally finished the Harry Potter book, so now Kelly can read it. I enjoyed it, but now I have to wait until the next one comes out. At least there will be one of the movies this November and then another sometime late next year (supposedly). I'm going to clean the bathrooms then shower and get dressed before I head over to New Orleans to pick Kelly up at the airport. There are more things going on this week, so maybe I'll have more interesting posts later.

Well, I didn't post this before I went to pick up Kelly in New Orleans, so I thought I would add a few more things I forgot. This past week the NHL announced this year's schedule since the previous week the players and owners both signed the CBA (collective bargaining agreement). It's about time. After a whole season lost, it looks like there will be a new NHL season which may turn out to be more fan friendly in attempts to get the fans back to the game. Some of the changes are lowering ticket prices and changing some of the rules of the game, including the shootout after overtime which is currently used in the ECHL and always is a fan favorite. Teams will also play other teams mainly in their own conference throughout the season, which means we won't get to see Colorado play Atlanta this year, but we get an extra chance to see them play in Dallas, one of their more hated rivals. In fact we'll catch one of the pre-season games in Dallas on Oct. 1 when we're starting our fall roadtrip, then again next March 4th, right before my birthday. Works out pretty well. I've also been following some of the cuts teams are making to get under the salary cap, and it's proved to be interesting. It will be even more interesting to see after noon tomorrow when the free agency period opens and teams that have money to spend will stock up on some of the 'bigger' name players who wouldn't fit into the budget of their previous teams. Two notable names from Colorado right now who seem to be unsigned are Adam Foote and Peter Forsberg, who has said he wants to play with his friend and fellow Swedish teammate, Markus Naslund. That story in itself should prove for interesting news this week. All in all it looks like it's going to be quite an exciting season from start to end, and the draft was held only yesterday. Let's play hockey!

Finally, now that I've finished the new Harry Potter book, I checked out this link (WARNING: If you plan to read the book or are currently reading it and don't want to ruin it, don't click on the link!! If you have finished the book or don't care, click away for a good laugh.) that some of my friends told me about. It's about a guy in Dallas who read the ending of 'Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince' the night it came out, then took his camcorder and drove by a Barnes and Noble around 1am while people were waiting outside to purchase/read the book and yelled out the window what happens at the end then drove off. What a jackass. It is amusing, although I can say that now since I have finished reading the book and what he yells is actually true. I probably would have been pretty pissed off though if someone had done the same at our local Barnes and Noble, but it is pretty damn funny. Too bad he didn't have a megaphone or more people around to hear him. Gary said that he thought it would have been funnier if the guy had run into a police car as he drove away. That would have been entertaining as well.

-posted by Chris

Monday , 25 JUL 05

(link deleted)
Kraftwerk- 'Tour de France' - Minimum-Maximum (Astralwerks)

Wow, I guess we've kind of slacked in updating the site this past week. It's been quite a busy week with my brother in town, so I guess that's our excuse. He arrived into New Orleans last Tuesday afternoon from Denver. Kelly and I both took off a few hours in the afternoon to pick him up at the airport. We drove around a bit giving him a brief tour of Canal Street and Bourbon Street from the car before heading towards the Carrolton part of town and Jacques-Imo's Cafe for dinner. It was a new restaurant that we hadn't been too before, but was really good. We all split the shrimp and alligator sausage cheesecake (which was more like a quiche) appetizer, and enjoyed the taste along with the slightly sweet corn muffins. For main courses I had the blackened redfish with a spicy sauce with crabmeat (and the two sides of red beans and mashed potatoes, Kelly had the New Orleans style BBQ shrimp (I forget her side dishes), and Matthew had this special item called something like Godzilla Crab, which was baby soft shell crab stuffed with crab meat (the thing was HUGE) and some fried green tomatoes all stacked up. It was neat to see, and no wonder they called it Godzilla... Overall it was really good food, plus they had a good selection of beer and Kelly happened to select a microbrew from Colorado which seems to have been appearing more lately in the area. The only downside was the price. It was a bit on the expensive side for the dishes they served, no matter how good they tasted. We'll go back again probably, but maybe for lunch which may be cheaper. I would give it a 4 out of 5 stars. After dinner we headed home. It wasn't too late, so we watched 'The Daily Show' we had recorded from Monday along with some of the Tour de France highlights on OLN (fast-forwarding courtesy of Tivo).

Wednesday Kelly and I both had to work, so we left Matthew at the house to fix the doorknob in our bathroom. It had finally stopped functioning, so on our way home the previous day we had purchased a replacement, and it works so much better now. Thanks, bro'. After we both got home from work we prepped some fish and portabello mushrooms for the grill. A couple of Kelly's friends from work, Allison and Becca, came over and I grilled for all of us. It turned out well, although I wish I had marinated the fish longer so it would have had a stronger taste of the bourbon marinade. After dinner and talking a bit, Kelly kind of booted our dinner guests out of the house so the three of us could go see the late showing of 'Charlie and the Chocolate Factory'. What a great film! Johnny Depp did a really good job in Tim Burton's adaptation of the classic Roald Dahl story. The best part were the songs that were sung by the Oompa Loompas (actually, the sinister songs were fittingly sung by Danny Elfman and the soundtrack overall reminded me of what could have been 'lost' Oingo Boingo tracks). Now even more (I had the same thought when I first saw the movie trailers) I want a pair of the goggles or sunglasses that were worn by Willy Wonka.

Thurday morning we played some poker at the house for awhile before I went to the doctor. I had made an appointment because the sore throat I had for a month kept persisting and would not go away. I was taken off the Allegra-D and given some Zyrtec samples along with some Flonase nasal spray to try. She also gave me prescriptions to fill if this combination worked, but also said to call her if it didn't and we would try something different. After a surprisingly on time and quick visit, we left for the casinos in Biloxi. We checked out the new poker room at The Palace Casino, which was really nice but quite small. Only two tables in play which were full of the local 'sharks' waiting for a new player to come in so they could steal their money. Matthew didn't feel comfortable with playing there, so we left and went to the Grand Casino. They have a large poker room and the tables were pretty full. He had to wait a bit, but ended up on a 1-4-8 Limit Hold Em game table. A bit different than No Limit Hold Em, but very similar. He played for a couple of hours while Kelly and I watched different tables from the side. After a couple of hours we walked through the casino property to Corky's BBQ which was next door to the theatre. We sat outside on the covered deck because it had cooled off quite a bit with the thunderstorms and rain passing through the area. We were treated to quite a lightning show. After eating and having Matthew explain the betting to us, he and Kelly went back and both jumped on different 1-4-8 tables while I sat on the side and watched. I wasn't feeling it that night, so I saved my money. They both ended up playing for a few hours. I think Matthew ended up ahead about $6, but Kelly had lost $45 of her original starting $50. Too bad. We then headed home.

On Friday I took Kelly to her worksite to pick up a GSA car so she could get to the airport early Sunday morning for her conference in San Diego this week. I also took my bike to the shop in Slidell where they replaced the lining in the rear rim because my tire kept going flat. They thought it was the lining was old and the spokes were poking throught and puncturing my tire. I guess we'll see if that works. I don't think it's lost air yet so far. After I got back and took a shower, we headed to New Orleans. Our initial plan was to hit the aquarium, eat, then go on a Haunted History tour. We made the aquarium and the IMAX film (Into the Deep 3D), although I fell asleep through most of the middle of the film. We then walked through Riverwalk Mall to kill some time before eating at Rock n Sake. It was a good meal, but almost too much (as usual with sushi for us). We had missed the haunted tour by then, but just walked up Bourbon Street and down Royal Street before heading to Pat O'Brian's to get Matthew and Kelly hurricanes. They took them to go while we walked some more, then went to the Bombay Club to listen to the lounge/jazz combo for a bit while having drinks. It was about 10.30pm by then, so Bourbon Street was much livlier. At the Ramada there were people on the balconies with beads coaxing the crowd to flash for beads and having a good time. One woman though was giving everyone a show. She had this short, silver dress on that she kept pulling down the top to flash her breasts, then prancing around and lifting it up to shake her ass and flash it all for everyone to see there was nothing underneath. That was entertaining for a bit, although the crowd itself was the most funny to watch. We then went in to one of the strip clubs, Big Daddy's (all three of us). There isn't a cover, although there is a one drink minimum, and the drinks are pretty expensive. For two bottles of Miller Light and a glass of Coke it was $20. Ouch! I had been to this club before and like that the women dancing seem to be dancing to a variety of songs and aren't the 'Barbie Dolls' one might find at some clubs. There was one woman that Kelly and I both liked that had a number of nice tattoos and was a bit 'thicker' than some of the stick thin women. There were quite a few dancers which would dance on the front main stage, then dance a little later to the second stage at the rear of the room. One woman came up and sat between Matthew and I trying to convince him to get a lap dance. His interest seem piqued, so I loaned him $40 for a private dance. We watched some more of the dancers for awhile, then he went to find the woman in the rear of the bar. He was gone for a little while, and it turned out he didn't find the same woman who visited us earlier, but another woman who had recently danced was available (Kelly and I both thought that she looked to be only 19 years old, although supposedly she was 21). He said it was quite different than his previous experiences and the main limit which she told him was, '...as long as you don't stick your finger in my booty we're fine.' The price seems to have gone up though. Kelly said that the previous lap dances she has had were only $20 and lasted for about 3 songs, where as now they are $40+ and last for only one song. I guess that's the price of inflation. After that we were ready to head home.

Saturday we slept in, then prepped for poker that evening, which we were hosting. Matthew and I went to get a few groceries at the Diamondhead supermarket while Kelly worked on the spinach/artichoke dip. When we got back, he made some salsa. We rested for awhile, then I made cookies. It wasn't as large a group as we were expecting, but eleven was a nice change back to the original games with smaller groups of players. I was fourth out, but did play a little better than usual, until I was getting junk cards and didn't have much of a choice but to play some of them. Kelly ended up taking third place overall and Matthew took second. Dwayne had incredible luck and kept getting pocket pairs of face cards. He won the game and made it a relatively early evening with completion before midnight.

Kelly left early Sunday morning, and I went back to sleep for a little while, but woke up after a couple of hours to watch the live footage of the final stage of this year's Tour de France (hence today's song) and Lance winning his 7th Tour before retiring from racing. It was great to watch them ride around the streets of Paris and the sprint at the end was a bit subdued, but still cool to see. It was also nice to see all the different riders congratulate each other and say kind words, which shows that they really are a close community. After watching the Tour I got dressed and we grabbed a sandwich for lunch then went to see 'The Fantastic Four'. It was better than I had expected. Originally, I wasn't going to see it, but with the super heat and humidity outside, a cool movie theatre seemed like a good option, and it was the one that we both agreed on seeing. It was decent for an origin film, despite the corny joke lines (seen mainly in trailers). It wasn't too bad. After stopping by Walmart to get a few groceries, we headed back home. Matthew was watching something on tv while I read and geeked on the computer. I grilled burgers for dinner and we watched 'The Cooler' which I had on the Tivo for awhile. It was a good film and kind of fitting with the gambling theme.

Today we got up early and I took Matthew for breakfast at the Bluebird Cafe in New Orleans before hitting Harrah's Casino where he wanted to get in a little more poker before heading home. He ended up on a combo 1-4-8 Limit Hold Em/Omaha table, which he admitted later threw him off with the betting style. He didn't do as well today, but he still seemed to enjoy himself, despite losing. We then headed out to the airport taking Magazine, Carrollton, Claiborne, and Airline Highway to get there (back roads to avoid the interstate). I dropped him off and headed home. I watched one of my anime programs when I got home, then prepared some risotto to last me for the week. I also pulled out my bicycle trainer to get some mileage build-up inside before my next race in a month in Texas. After riding I ate and watched some more anime before geeking on the computer for awhile. It's been a long week and I'm ready for bed now.

Oh, one final thing that I found when I did a Google search for Spongey Monkey was this. Now I don't know exactly what this site is or how they base their prices, but I can't believe that someone is attempting to sell an old issue of our zine (print version) for $8.99. Considering that we gave it away free or a few dollars for postage, I guess that this is kind of a compliment that someone values what we did at that much. Personally I think it's a bit much, but if they sell it, more power to them. Where's our cut though?

-posted by Chris

Sunday , 17 JUL 05

Kelly pretty much summed up our weekend. I had volunteered to help out with the Mad Potter's Bicycle Race yesterday and today. I had to be at the race sites around 6.30am both days to do various tasks. Saturday morning was the road race, held on the back roads of Woolmarket (north of Biloxi and I-10). Needless to say, the locals weren't too thrilled that the road with the start/finish line was closed off, but that's not surprising since bicycling isn't the most visible sport on the coast. Tough shit though, rednecks. The first thing I was assigned to do was go up to the Pilot truck stop/gas station to make photocopies of the one-day registration forms because someone didn't seem to plan too well in advance. It was pretty steep at 27 cents per copy, so I guess it's good they only needed 50 copies, but it still came out to $13.50. Ouch. After I brought those back to the registration table, I kind of hung out for a bit watching the riders check in and get ready for the races. I was originally going to be a course marshall stationed on one of the back corners of the 20 mile loop, watching to make sure the riders made the correct turn and didn't stray over the center line. Instead I had been converted to a pace vehicle driver. I ended up driving around the course leading the Category 5 group on their one lap of the course. I had to stay about 50-100 yards in front of the riders to let any on-coming vehicles know there were bikers on the roadway with my hazard lights blinking, flashing my headlights, and honking the horn. It was actually more effective than I thought because a few vehicles actually pulled over to the shoulder as we passed. It was an interesting perspective to watch the racers in the rearview mirror. Unfortunately, about ten riders went down on one section in the race I was leading. It was pretty quick because the main peloton (group of riders) were all together in a pack, then suddenly I saw a few go down in the mirror, and others attempt to get around the downed riders. At least there was a wheel truck following the riders and appeared to stop and pick up one rider, but it was a section where the walkie talkie I had with me was totally useless because we were too far away from the transmitters to be able to tell anyone there were riders down until we got to the feed zone about 7 miles ahead. I don't know how serious the injuries were, but it was uncomfortable to not be able to stop since I was the pace vehicle and couldn't stop.

When I got back to the finish line I pullled to the side and watched the riders sprint in, then drove up to the registration area to help out there if needed. The races finished around 12.15pm, so after cleaning up a bit, I headed home. There was a 1.2 mile time trial being held later in the afternoon (4pm), but I wasn't helping out since I was resting up for poker.

This morning it was another early start for the criterium race in downtown Biloxi. The past two years the 1 mile course was set up at the coliseum, but this year's route was kind of in the shape of a figure 8 without crossing on the streets of downtown. It was a really neat set-up with tight corners and plenty of great viewing areas. The Biloxi Police Dept. was stationed at each of the main corners, probably due to the fact that it was where traffic had been blocked off and re-routed, so there wasn't a need for as many course marshalls out on the course. I ended up doing some set-up with signs and moving canopies, but was able to watch the races more than having assigned tasks. I was also able to stay under the shade most of the day, and while I did get some sun, I didn't get sunburned since I put on plenty of sunscreen. It was cool to watch the racers from different points along the course. There were some corners that the riders cut really close and were moving really quickly. The photos don't really get the exact feel, but I put one of the riders up. Of course I couldn't pass up adding a photo of Miss Mississippi Jalin Wood with the winning rider of the Cat 1, 2, 3 race and overall winning team. She was there yesterday and today making an appearance, and seemed to be a pleasant individual. Some of the other volunteers were joking how she was thinner than one of the top female riders in the country who was participating in the races this weekend.

Overall, it was a decent weekend. There seemed to be some poor planning, organization, and coordination, and I did overhear some grumbling by the Gulf Coast Bicycle Club members who were volunteering, but despite some things, it seemed that it went off pretty well. Some of the riders complemented the club on the races and said they really enjoyed themselves. That's always good to hear. Maybe they'll have their act together next year.

-posted by Chris

Sunday , 17 JUL 05

It's been a relatively uneventful weekend. We went to see War of the Worlds on Friday night...it was really good up until the last few seconds. Definitely worth checking out though. Tres creepy. After that we went to Barnes and Noble (after midnight) so that Chris could pick up the latest Harry Potter book. Us crazy consumers. There were a lot of people getting their books early Fri eve/Sat a.m. Chris helped out at a bike race Sat & Sun during the day. We played poker Sat night & I was not feeling the poker love that night. Neither was Chris...although he did better than me. Today I weeded in the morning before it got too hot and then met Chris at the bike race. I stayed for 2 races and then went to see the movie Wedding Crashers. It was better than I thought it would be...made me laugh, which ain't bad. Then shopping at my fave store, Wally World...not! I've been home for a short while and am making dinner...Turkey meatloaf, pasta and marinara. Hopefully it'll be ok.

Anywho...I read this editorial the other day. Definitely makes you wonder about how women in the military are sometimes treated.

OK...I am off to cook and watch some TIVO'd Tour de France.

-posted by Kelly

Wednesday , 13 JUL 05

(link deleted)
Nick Drake - 'Day is Done'- Five Leaves Left (Universal)

So I came home today to a murder scene. As soon as I walked in the door I notices splotches everywhere...feathers. Upon further
inspection there were blood spots in the kitchen and soaked into the carpet in the living room plus a smear on my newly painted wall.
On the other side of the couch was the main evidence...big feathers and a leg.

Looks like she got herself a cardinal. The other day I caught Josie in the act of bringing in a bird. She saw that I was angry and quickly
carried it back outside. Today killer kitty came in and acted as if nothing happened. She even went into the living room and laid right next
to some blood spatter.

But then she sensed that I was irritated with her and ran outside, only to attack her sister on the way out. So I ran after her yelling
"Monster!" But Josie was non-plussed...why was I mad at her? She didn't stay that way for long and quickly went back to the hunt.

Today's song is a tribute to the poor bird who put up a valiant fight, but died in my living room and is now in pieces in my kitty's stomach.

-posted by Kelly (aka the accomplice)

Monday , 11 JUL 05

I didn't post any music links (yet, at least), but here are some reviews of cd's recently listened to (in addition to being added to the mp3 player which now boasts 11061 songs and is kept in the random setting). I'll finish posting some other reviews tomorrow since it's getting quite late and time for bed. I'll also update the show list tomorrow with some new additions that are must sees (Bob Mould, etc).

Throw Rag- '13 Ft. and Rising' (BYO) 2.5 (out of 5)
I thought this started off alright for fast-paced, testosterone rock. Standard three-chord, but decent. After a few songs though it started to become riff-heavy cheese rock (although the guest vocal appearance by Lemmy of Motorhead was mildly entertaining). There's even a dramatic, slowed down guitar ballad (as in rock ballad with the seemingly never-ending guitar solo sections), as well as a twangy tongue-in-cheek 'country' song. Of course a 'punk rock' cd wouldn't be complete without special guest appearances by punk icons (in this case Jello Biafra and Keith Morris) who provide some of the best spoken lyrical content on this disc and are probably one of the main selling points.

Pit er Pat- 'Shakey' (Thrill Jockey) 4
My take when hearing this was a stripped down Tortoise with a female singer and piano/keyboards taking place of vibraphone. Kelly said the vocalist kind of reminded her of Bjork, which I thought was fitting. I thought it kind of sounded like a song from a 7" that I can't remember the name of where the woman singing had the same kind of charming, yet 'timed' way of phrasing her vocals. It's as if she's singing in time to a metronome. I'm looking forward to their upcoming show with Need New Body in New Orleans at Twi Ro Pa on August 5.

Kraftwerk- Minimum/Maximum' (Astralwerks) 4.5
Well, since I didn't get to see them on their limited live tour of the states last year (I think the closest they came was California), so this 2-disc set pulled from various shows of their world tour will have to suffice. It has most of the 'hits' spanning their career. I'd really like to see the double dvd because the photos from the cd booklet appear to show that their live performance was vivid stimulation for the visual as well as aural senses.

Stereolab- 'Oscillons from the Anti-Sun' (Too Pure) 4
A nice collection of 'rare' singles and alternate versions of songs compiled onto 3 cd's and packaged in a fancy little box which includes stickers for the singles the tracks are pulled from. The real gem of this box is the dvd of collected videos, which I haven't even had a chance to watch yet. Most collectors will already have the songs, but the videos make the collection. Different from their 'Switched On' series which actually is rare tracks compiled, this is more a singles collection. It would have been nice if there were more of the rarer, hard to find tracks, but those will have to wait until the next 'Switched On' collection is released.

-posted by Chris

Sunday , 10 JUL 05

(link removed)
Black Flag - 'TV Party'- Damaged (SST)

It's been an uneventful weekend. Well...aside from waiting for this thing called Hurricane Dennis. We had done most of our shopping earlier in the week and were pretty much prepared to ride it out at our home, which is a few miles in from the Gulf...on high enough ground to not be worried about floods. So Friday Chris & I were going to see War of the Worlds, but we ended up just going to dinner (Blowfish in Ocean Springs...yum Japanese) and then over to Jason & Ellen's to chat about the coming storm. Saturday we stayed around the house most of the day...I cleaned, Chris mowed the lawn...we both picked up things from outside that could be blown into our house. Things were looking good outside...actually sunny for a good part of the day. I ran off to fill up the gas tank and was surprised to see several houses boarded up. We were toying with the idea ourselves, but hadn't decided for sure. Then I noticed the outer bands from Dennis and it started raining pretty hard. The storm was still tracking towards Mobile/Pascagoula and had a big pressure drop and increased to a Cat 3.

first bands

(first rains from Dennis & getting ready)

So I talked Chris into boarding up the house. He was wanting to do it in the morning, but I feared that it would be too nasty by then. After that we met Jason & Ellen for dinner in Gulfport...only to discover that our first 2 restaurant choices were closed for the hurricane. Chris & I then went home and finished boarding up the back windows. Then we watched tv - lots of Weather Channel - to see what Dennis was doing. It had a pressure drop again and was then a Cat 4 storm, still tracking NW. Our friend, Allison, called and said that she had heard that there was a mandatory evacuation in Hancock County zone A. So she came up to our place to ride it out. We stayed up and watched Bachelor Party which was pretty funny - they just don't make 'em like that anymore. In the morning it was still pretty calm out. We flipped on the Weather Channel and saw that Dennis had gone back to a Cat 3 and was going more NNW, towards Pensacola, which was better for us. So Allison decided to go home and ride it out there. Turns out, there wasn't much to ride out. It sprinkled pretty much all day, and there was some wind blowing the pine trees around...but it was pretty sedate considering. So I was a bum for most of the day, watching tv, reading and flipping to the Weather Channel every so often. We then decided to take the boards down...since the wind made it fairly cool outside. So that was our storm story. Rather anti-climactic...although if the alternative is to have hurricane winds knocking trees over onto our house, sedate is ok by me.

trees

(I know you can't tell...but the trees were blowing around quite a bit) (1 day later, boards come down)

This evening we watched Punk: Attitude - a documentary that was on IFC. All this month on IFC it's punk month, so they'll be playing several punk rock type movies. This documentary had a lot of footage from mid-70's NYC & London punk scenes plus some LA bands too. We'd seen a lot of the footage before, but it was still pretty damn cool. And it helps to brush up on our punk trivia. For instance, I didn't realized that "Handsome" Dick Manitoba was in the Dictators. He has a Sirius radio show on the Garage channel. Pretty cool. So the song for today is an homage to what we did all day. I am such a slug. Plus Henry Rollins had many sound bites on the documentary...he's so funny. At one point he was talking about bands like Limp Bizkit and saying if he was 17 today, they'd be his favorite band. In some ways, I think Henry is still 17. Well...fuck Limp Bizkit...but "hell yeah" to some ol' Black Flag. I guess we're all still 17 in some ways...this song takes me right back to high school days.

-posted by Kelly

Wednesday , 06 JUL 05

(link removed)
The Mummies - 'Stronger Than Dirt'- Death by Unga Bunga! (Estrus Records)

Chris pretty much summed up our road trip to MI. We had a lot of fun, and even though we were only there for 2.5 days, it was really nice being back at my Aunt CJ's house. Her house outside Grand Rapids is always like a second home to me - since I spent most of my summers there from pre-teen to teen. She's done some re-modeling which just makes the house that much homier. Here are a couple of pictures from our trip.

This one is from Mammoth Cave. It was a pretty cool cave...although I wanted to see some stalagmites and stalactites. I guess there is one cave at Mammoth with them, but the rest did not have the cool limestone formations, because the sandstone top keeps the moisture out for the most part. But enough geeky geology - the cave made for a nice tour and this is a picture of some of the depth of Mammoth Cave.

The main reason for our trip to MI (besides seeing family) was to get stuff from my grandparents' house. Grandpa passed away just over a year ago...and his house & shed are still filled with lots of stuff. We ended up bringing back a wagon wheel, cedar chest, some instuments, camera equipment and other odds and ends. This is a picture of Grandpa's shed or barn, still filled with lots of stuff. Like this old buggy and an old Volvo and old milk canisters (from the farm) and more wagon wheels, ...

Chris also mentioned that we bought some cds from Vertigo in Grand Rapids. One of the cds that we found was from a crunchy, garage band that I had seen many years ago. They're called the Mummies and actually dress like mummies while rockin' out some hip shakin' grooves.

Who knows where they are or what they are up to now. I happened to catch them when I lived in Seattle...they opened for one of my fave Northwest bands at the time, Girl Trouble (actually Thee Headcoat headlined, they were pretty cool too - even though I barely new who Billy Childish was at the time). It was an awesome show - the Mummies got the show started and made quite an impression on me. Then Girl Trouble had a great set and even brought out Granny Go Go who really drove the crowd, myself included, nuts. Anyway...back to the Mummies. I never had one of their albums or singles. I did dig up one of their singles at KBVR and played it a few times. So imagine my surprised to stumble on a cd w/ 22 songs on it many years later. Good stuff!

So today I got to play hookie. It was still raining pretty hard from Tropical Storm Cindy when my alarm went off this morning at 5am. So I reset it for 6 and went back to bed. Then after I finally did get up and took a shower...I was ready to brave the remnants but thought I should call in first and make sure the place was open (Chris' office wasn't opening until noon). So I called and discovered that the site would be closed all day and reopen tomorrow morning. So I've been a bum for a good part of the day. Yee haw. I did manage to stop Josie from killing a bird in the house. I heard a squeak in the kitchen and there she was whith this fairly big bird in her mouth. She saw that I was less than pleased, and took it back outside. Yuck! I guess I ought to go sweep off the back porch. There weren't any major limbs down or anything, but lots of debris. There were some trees down that I noticed while driving to the grocery store. But for the most part we were spared. Let's hope Dennis is as forgiving.

-posted by Kelly

Tuesday , 05 JUL 05

(link removed)
Kermit the Frog and Fozzie Bear- 'Movin' Right Along'- The Muppet Movie soundtrack

It's been a whirlwind weekend with our drive up to Michigan and back. We arrived home this afternoon around 3pm, just in time to await the tropical storm which is going to pass directly over us within the next 12 hours or so dumping a lot of rain. Talk about an adventure.

We started out early last Thursday morning, leaving the house by the 6.30am time we had hoped for. Our goal was to get up to Hattiesburg for coffee at Starbucks then make our way up to Louisville, KY for the night. A pretty long haul which would end up totaling almost 11 hours of driving time. It would get us more than halfway and make the rest of the drive to Grand Rapids on Friday go by quicker. It was pretty damn hot that day. All along the way the highs in Birmingham, Nashville, etc. were reaching almost 95 degrees with high humidity and heat index reaching 100-110. Typical summertime in the south. Our Element is a relatively comfortable vehicle, but after a long time sitting and driving one's legs tend to cramp up and getting out to stretch is good. Originally we had thought about stopping to check out Mammoth Cave since it was along the way, then we decided as our trip got closer that we wouldn't have time, but when we kept passing the signs, we decided that it would be a good break and a chance to see something we might not get back to view for awhile. We arrived at the visitor's center around 3.20pm and managed to jump onto the 2 hour/2 mile Historical Tour of the cave starting at 3.45pm. This was the shortest tour and the most viable alternative to self-guided tours which weren't allowed at this time. Two park rangers led the group down a paved walkway to the cave entrance, from which one could feel the temperature drop while just descending down the pathway. As you entered the cave it was probably about 30 degrees cooler, but very refreshing from the outside steam bath. The whole cave system extends over 350 miles, so we only saw a very small section of it, but it was really interesting to find out how slaves were some of the first explorers of the caves (after Native Americans). The section we walked through looped around showing off the limestone which had been carved through by water and included tight passageways with low ceilings, but nothing too strenuous or spooky. When it was over and we walked out of the cave, the outside heat hit like walking into a sauna and our glasses fogged up and our skin was immediately moist from the humidity. Yuck! One interesting fact is that there are no formations from the floor or ceiling, so it will be really interesting to compare this to Carlsbad Caverns in New Mexico when we go on our southwest roadtrip later this fall.

After the nice break, we hopped back into the car and drove a little more than an hour further north to Louisville. Our hotel didn't seem to be in the best part of town when we first arrived, but it really wasn't too bad. We unloaded some things inside and then walked a few blocks to find something to eat for dinner. We had considered going to see Wilco who were playing in town that night at a local theatre, but didn't make it in time, plus we were exhausted. We just really wanted to eat and come back to read, watch tv, and go to sleep. We found a downtown area called Fourth Street Live. It had bars, a bowling alley, shops, restaurants like Hard Rock Cafe and TGIFriday's (where we ended up eating), and a stage at one end where live bands played on certain nights throughout the summer. Admission to this area was free, so after getting carded and having an 'over 21' wristband attached to our arms, we found the place packed. What we didn't realize was that after the band currently playing (I never did catch the name, but they weren't that great), Violent Femmes were scheduled to play. It was a little after 8pm, so we figured they would start around 9pm. We ate and had a drink, then went outside to catch a few songs after they started. Except for the drummer, age had taken it's toll on them, but they did still sound good. We stuck around for about five or six songs before walking back to the hotel. It was a really nice set-up that their city has going on there, and it seemed to be well-organized and problem free. Props to Louisville. Too bad for Wilco that night having to compete with Violent Femmes for free, but they probably still had a good turnout.

The next morning we started early again since we had lost an hour coming into Louisville and were now on Eastern Standard Time. Of course that was fine since we would be anyway in Michigan, but still it seemed like we missed an hour the previous night. The good thing was that the sun stayed out until almost 9.30pm. The drive up was pretty uneventful. We took the loop around Indianapolis and took a smaller 4-lane highway north as opposed to the interstate. The speed limit was 55 which slowed us down a bit, but considering the limit on the interstate in Indiana is 65mph, it wasn't much of a change, plus there weren't too many police out to chase speeders. We arrived in Grand Rapids around 3pm and it was a bit cloudy and overcast from the front that had moved through earlier. The positive result of this was that the temperature had cooled off to the low to mid-seventies, so after we arrived at Kelly's aunt's home, I changed and had Kelly drop me off at a nearby Rails-to-Trails path for an afternoon ride before dinner. I had two hours to ride and managed to fit in 30 miles. Not too bad. It was a nice path through the cornfields and some wooded areas. After coming back to the house I showered and we ate, then after dinner we played cards with Kelly's cousin Scott and his wife Laura. We lost in a game of Euchre, but then we decided to play Texas Hold 'Em, which I ended up winning. It was a fun evening.

On Saturday morning we got up and went up to Kelly's grandpa's house to help move some of the stuff from the upstairs bedrooms to the main living room and go through some of the things that we may want, besides what had already been inherited. We found some neat musical instruments (a sax and what looks like a mini-tuba) as well as a few books, records, and other electronic gadgets that he had. The main items were a cedar chest and a wagon wheel, which we set aside to pack into the Element the next day. We then went back to aunt CJ's to shower and get dressed before going to get something to eat and hitting our usual stop at Vertigo Music and purchase more cd's than we really need (although some were in the used bins). We ate lunch at this barbecue place that reminded us of a place we'd find down around here located in an old garage. It was good eatin'. On the way back to the house I stopped by Uncle Jim's Jerky store to stock up on some chicken and turkey jerky. We've bought from them before and it's one of my favorite snacks. We came back and had leftovers for dinner, then headed to Scott and Laura's where they had invited another couple over for a 6-person game of Texas Hold 'Em since Kelly and I were missing our regular bi-weekly game at home. It was fun, but we both were getting crap cards. Kelly went out in fourth place and I went behind her in third place, leaving Scott and Laura splitting the pot ($10 buy-in). After Hold 'Em, we played a game of 6-person Euchre, girls vs. boys. That was entertaining because Laura, Scott, and their friend Fred had gotten pretty drunk by then and Fred and Laura kept egging each other on. If their kids hadn't been around some really crazy things probably would have unfolded. The boys ended up winning, in large part due to Laura making crazy decisions on the suit chosen and the boys team stealing their points.

Sunday morning it was still cool and we were going to take Kelly's mom out to lunch, but other relatives were coming over mid-afternoon for grilled burgers, etc. (kind of a fourth of July party), so we ended up running by the grocery store and grabbing a bite at the Panera Bread Company (chain restaurant). After taking her back to aunt CJ's, we went back to grandpa's to load up our items in the back of the Element. It all fit surprisingly, and despite the tight squeeze we'd still have room left for our suitcase and mini-cooler. Our last stop was the Body Shop to stock up and then back home to grill. Scott and I ended up being in charge of grilling burgers, but that wasn't a bad job since CJ had prepared the other items like baked beans, coleslaw, bean dip, etc. that you'd expect to find at a 4th of July picnic. It was a bit warmer, but still nice in the lower to mid -80's, so we ate at the picnic table in the shade on her back lawn. After eating and visiting with some relatives, I decided to take one last bike ride in cool weather before going home. It was almost 8pm when I got to the trail, but there was still light and it felt nice. Kelly said she'd be back to pick me up at the trailhead at 9.30pm. I was able to ride 25 miles before going back to finish packing and load some of the other things in the Element. The only things left in the morning would be our cooler and suitcase, along with my backpack with our books. A bike ride late was probably good because I fell asleep quickly and slept well.

Monday morning was another early start. We wanted to get on the road by 8am since our destination was Nashville. We made our start time and one last stop at the nearby Meijer (a more appealing, midwest version of Walmart) which had a Starbucks inside (this had been a regular stop during our visit- we're addicts). It wasn't as hot as the drive up, but still warm. We drove down to Kalamazoo, then took I-94 across to Battlecreek and I-69 south to Indianapolis, to make the trip a bit faster. We were cruising along at about 72 mph, which was about the norm for most drivers through Indiana. We couldn't believe the number of State Police out that day. Maybe because it was a holiday, but we literally saw about 20 Indiana State Troopers, whether they had already pulled someone over, were hanging out in the median, or tearing through the median and whipping around (imagine tires squealing) in the opposite lanes of traffic to chase after a speeding vehicle. Crazy. As we got further down in Kentucky and into Tennessee, the forecast thunderstorms started to appear. Fortunately, the weather wasn't too bad, and a little rain cooled things off some. We had decided though after we went through Louisville that we would push on past Nashville down to Birmingham and shave off the driving time we would have on Tuesday. We stopped at the Corvette museum (actually the parking lot) in Bowling Green, KY to cancel our reservation in Nashville and re-book a room in Birmingham for the night. No problem. I think we probably ended up with the better deal in Birmingham anyway, even if it was a few dollars more.

We arrived at the hotel at 7.30pm, and were pleased that it was near a nearby mall we had been to with many food options. We ended up eating at Macaroni Grill, and had leftovers to put in the room fridge and take home for dinner Tuesday. Our server told us a good local spot to watch the city's fireworks display, but we ended up just going back to the hotel. Kelly watched some of the fireworks (locally and nationally) on tv while I geeked on the computer in the hotel's business center. I read for a bit, then fell asleep early and had some bizarre dreams about robbing some hotel casino with a group of others to get back at the owner who had done something to my mom when I was younger. I know, sounds like some cheesy movie plot, and I don't know where it stemmed from, but it was interesting.

That leaves us with today. We slept in a little bit since the Barnes and Noble didn't open until 9am and I couldn't get my frappucino fix until then. We checked out just before 9am, went up the road, and got coffee right after they opened. We then hit the road from Birmingham and into the storm brewing down the road. The weather was good (a bit warm maybe) almost all the way. Not until we got off the interstate at Poplarville and driving down highway 603 did it start to rain. And even after five hours of driving the heavy rain waited until we pulled in the driveway and brought most of our luggage inside. Of course we have a wagon wheel and cedar chest still inside the Element, but we'll have to wait a couple of days (maybe late tomorrow) after the rain bands and tropical storm Cindy make their way past us.

I have to admit though that it was a fun trip and that I'm really looking forward to our trip to the southwest in a few months. We'll have plenty to listen to with my mp3 player and our new Sirius satellite radio, although Kelly is right about it seeming to sound like a ClearChannel station (over)playing the same songs frequently. After listening Thurs. morning it wasn't but 3 hours before we started hearing some of the same songs again on the 'Left of Center' channel. At least there are many other channels to choose from, and our favorite has become the Garage channel which plays current tunes from the likes of the Donnas and Insomniacs, to old school Rolling Stones, Clash, and Beatles. Pretty cool. If you know us, you know wherever we travel we'll be moving right along like Fozzie and Kermit.

-poated by Chris