Sunday, 18 JUN
06
(link removed)
RJD2
- 'Intro' - Constant Elevation- The 'Say Word' Mix (Bam Bam Recordings)
Happy
Father's Day!
I unfortunately didn't get to talk with my dad on the phone today, but
I'll try to give he and my mom a call tomorrow before we leave on our
vacation. We are so looking forward to it.
It's been a pretty good past few days, at least when I wasn't at work.
After winning game 5 on Wednesday in overtime, and shorthanded no less,
Edmonton came back home to Edmonton on Saturday night where they routed
Carolina 4-0 to tie the series at three games a piece and send it back
to Carolina tomorrow night for the deciding game 7. And of course we'll
be on the plane to Seattle, so we'll be missing it all. We do have an
hour layover in Dallas, so we're going to find a bar and try to watch
some of the second or maybe third period. We don't get into Seattle
until 11pm Pacific time, so it will be all over (unless there is some
crazy triple overtime action) and we'll have to watch the results and
highlights on SportsCenter when we get to our hotel. We are going to
record it on Tivo so we can watch the action when we get home in a
couple of weeks.
Work has been steadily increasing in annoyance lately, and it's
probably a good thing I'll be away from it for two and a half weeks.
I'd probably really lay into one or more of my co-workers and alienate
them more than I already have. Friday pissed me off more than usual
because I was trying to catch everything up before I left, then the
Shitrix (Citrix) system goes down and we're unable to work in the
computer system for an hour and a half. That was irritating in itself,
but then about four of my co-workers just left the office for about
three hours to go shopping. I guess they figured since they couldn't
work in the system, why should they be there? That's nice, but what
about the rest of us still at the office, when half the staff is
already off because it's their compressed Friday? Fuck all of you very
much. I'll be glad when I am able to have the opportunity to transfer
to the Pascagoula regional office. I'm not really looking forward to
the drive every day, and I know their office is way behind in casework,
but at least they have some sense of order and structure instead of
everyone basically coming and going when they please and waiting for
someone else to come do their work because they're too damn lazy or
dare I say incompetent to do it themselves. Sometimes I really hate my
job, but at the same time, it's one of the better paying positions
available and isn't really that difficult, so I'll grit my teeth until
we're able to move away.
I spent Saturday at Gary's working on the cabinets again. We actually
went to Lowe's to get some sheets of MDF wood. Damn that shit is heavy.
We hauled four sheets of it and some laminate sheets (for the counter
tops) back to his house then cut the wood down. After that cutting Gary
used his router to create some shelf railing guides (I can't remember
what they're called exactly), while I used another saw to cut the metal
shelf rails down and file them smooth at the cut ends. It took us
awhile, and even with a fan blowing working in his garage was like
being in a convection oven. Shit it was hot. We finally finished around
4.30pm and we sat and drank some water before I headed home to watch
the hockey game.
Today we cleaned the house this morning while watching some of the
World Cup matches, then we ran some errands in Gulfport. When we got
home we watched 'The Station Agent', which was a really good film, and
a couple other things on Tivo to clear out as much as we could before
we leave. Like I said, we're really excited to be getting out of here
and taking a vacation. It's not our originally planned trip to Tokyo
(that will have to wait for another day), but we're happy to get back
to our old stomping grounds in the northwest, seeing some friends we
haven't seen for years, hiking and biking in the mountains, going to our favorite
pizza joint, and just enjoying the more comfortable temperate
climate. We'll have plenty to tell when we get back in a couple of
weeks.
-posted by Chris
Tuesday, 13 JUN
06
(Link removed)
M83
- 'Gone' - Dead Cities, Red Seas & Lost Ghosts (Mute)
I've
really slacked
on updating the blog the past couple of weeks. As Kelly mentioned, I've
ditched her the past two weekends to live the life of a general
contractor on call. The first weekend Gary and I spent purchasing and
cutting plywood for cabinets. Gary did most of the cutting while I did
a lot of lifting of boards (I am good at taking direction, not
necessarily skilled as a handyman). We spent over eight hours the first
day, then six the next day. We didn't even get everything done, but we
cut the pieces down for the base, sides, and backing as well as used
the dado blade to cut grooves for the pieces to fit together. It's a
good thing that Gary has a really good selection of power tools,
because it would have sucked ass to not have the proper equipment for
this job. I'll probably be going back this weekend so we can hopefully
finish them up after the work Gary has done this week and last to make
some corner pieces and cut the shelf rails to fit.
This past weekend we didn't work on the cabinets, but instead put vinyl
tile squares down on the floor of the convenience store his wife owns
and is fixing up for the new renter. Not really a difficult job, but
tedious. It would have been much worse if the shop wasn't
air-conditioned. We only worked for about seven hours on Saturday so I
could come home and spend some time with Kelly watching the hockey game
(which as Kelly mentioned Edmonton won). On Sunday I put together a
computer desk and storage cart while Gary chipped some bolts out of the
old floor, then we put down some levelling compound to smooth out the
floor, and by the time I finished the computer desk it was time to
finish up the tiling. That was a good ten hour day. I admit, Gary did
most of the work, but I learned some things and decided that I don't
want to be a contractor, no matter how good the pay may be. I did earn
some spending cash for our vacation next week, so it was worthwhile
(although Kelly may think otherwise).
Last night I went out to Beef O'Brady's (a sports bar) to watch game
four with other Seawolves fans as a 'gathering of the pack' night
event. One of Kelly's co-workers, Josh, who is in our hockey picks
pool, was supposed to show up, but he never did, but Peter gave me a
call right as the game was about to start asking what I was doing. I
told him I was at the bar and he asked why I hadn't called him to join
me, so I asked if he could come watch the game. He apparently got
permission from the wife and arrived before the first period ended. It
was good to talk with him since I hadn't seen him for a couple of weeks
when Jason and I met he and Paul at Yuki's for lunch. He picked
Carolina to win the Stanley Cup (while Kelly and I picked Edmonton), so
we were cheering at different points in the game. Edmonton ended up
losing 2-1 in a close, fast-paced, hard hitting game. I think it was
their power play that let them down because they failed to score on the
few 5 on 3 power plays they had during the game. Tomorrow night it's
back to Raleigh for game five. It'll be tough for the Oilers to steal a
game away, but if they don't, at least it wasn't a sweep. We're still
holding out hope for the Oilers, but whenever they step up, Carolina
seems to have an answer for whatever is thrown at them.
Kelly is in Washington DC and coming home tomorrow after a couple days
out there for a meeting. No hockey tonight, but it's been hectic at
work and I didn't feel like going for a bike ride tonight (I've been
really lazy lately about riding, mainly after the storm, but Gary and I
were talking how work has basically sucked the life out of us and we
don't feel like doing much at all after getting home in the evenings).
I'll try to get a little bit in later this week, maybe Thursday and/or
Friday evening. I'm looking forward to our vacation because we'll get
plenty of outdoor activity hiking and biking in cooler weather. One of
my plans is to rent a mountain bike for a day in Bend while Kelly goes
hiking. I found a shop on-line called Pine Mountain Sports
that rents bikes and emailed them for info, then was able to correspond
back and forth with one of the employees and reserve myself this
bike. I currently have a Gary Fisher Tassajara, which is a front
suspension model, but some of the guys in the local bike club have been
raving about the 29" wheeled bikes which has made me curious. I've also
been interested in trying out a fully suspended bike as well. Since
I'll most likely never be able to afford a bike like this
(because I spend too much on anime and manga, or Kelly basically
wouldn't let me spend that much on a bike), I figure why not plunk down
$45 for the day and test ride one? I've checked out some trails on-line
and the guy I've been emailing said they'd be able to recommend trails
right outside of town, so I'm pretty much squared away. I'm excited to
actually be mountain biking on a mountain again. The trails at Oak
Mountain in Birmingham are nice, but the highest elevation is just
under 1200 feet. It's going to be about 3-4 times that in Oregon. Ah, I
miss the mountains...But back to tonight, I watched 'The Daily Show'
from last night as well as 'Eureka 7' (anime) from this past Saturday
and called my brother to wish him happy birthday and my sister to
congratulate her on completing her board exams. She's been in medical
school for two years and it's all come down to yesterday, then she'll
start her residency in the fall. We're excited because she's requesting
to do her three months rotation beginning next May in the Atlanta area.
It'd be nice to be able to see her more often since Atlanta is close,
plus we enjoy and know the city pretty well. Maybe we'll be able to
take her to the new aquarium that we never got a chance to go to when
it opened last December. Of course that is if we don't move before
then...
-posted by Chris
Sunday, 11 JUN
06
(link removed)
Thelonious
Monk Quartet
- 'Epistrophy' - Thelonious Monk Quartet with John Coltrane at Carnegie Hall (Blue Note)
I
spent a good chunk
of time updating the blog last night before the hockey game...only to
have the computer freeze up & since I didn't save the changes,
everything disappeared. So this will be a quick update, since I'm even
less motivated today to update this here thing.
It's been a relatively uneventful weekend. Chris has been with his
friend Gary, tiling yesterday and either doing more of that or helping
build cabinets today. I was going to see a movie yesterday - Prairie Home Companion - but was
feeling uninspired. So I ran some errands, came home and watched
soccer. It's too bad the US is playing during the day tomorrow. I'll be
on an airplane to DC during that time, so I'll have to catch the final
score when I arrive. I watched some Wold Cup today, but mostly caught
the last couple of sets of the French Open matchup between Federer and
Nadal. It was a great match... Speaking of great matches, did you catch
the hockey game last night? I sure did...and it was awesome! Jussi
Markkanen was great in goal and gave me hope that Edmonton can turn the
tide of this series. I will most likely miss the game Monday night,
unless I'm holed up in my hotel room watching (which is a very real
possibility).
Chris and I went to see Da Vinci Code
on Friday. It was better than we expected...kind of slow, but not bad.
Chris was able to follow along even though he hasn't read the book. I
have read the book & thought the movie did a good job staying true
to the story. I admit that I fell asleep for a few minutes...it was
right after lunch, during nap time.
Not much else to report. I ought to turn on the Weather Channel and see
what's happening with our tropical storm. Yesterday it didn't look very
menacing and seemed destined for Florida. Earlier today it looked like
it was going to try to organize some, but they were still saying it
posed no threat to us. Of course, you can't trust the models/weather
people this far out - Katrina was supposed to hit Florida too. And we
all know how that went. Anyway...it's a sure-fire reminder that
hurricane season is here. We could use the rain though. Anywho...my
song choice for today is for the approaching storm(s). It's called
'Epistrophy'. I looked it up online at Merriam-Webster, but the closest
I could come up with was epistrophe which translates from Greek to
"turning about". But the actual meaning is: repetition of a
word or expression at the end of successive phrases,
clauses, sentences, or verses especially for rhetorical or poetic
effect (as Lincoln's "of the people, by the people, for the people").
Close enough... From the fabulous live album with Thelonious Monk's
quartet, featuring John Coltrane on sax. 'Nuff said!
-posted by Kelly
Sunday, 4 JUN
06
Damn...I
have to go
to work again tomorrow. Actually, I have a Dr's appt in the morning, so
it will be a short day. It's been a nice weekend, except that Chris has
been working at Gary's this weekend, so I've been single. Yesterday I
hung around the house for the first half of the day, then went to
Gulfport to catch the 1:40 showing of Mission
Impossible 3. Chris had no interest in seeing that movie, and I
was only mildly interested because it got decent reviews compared to a
lot of the other summer movies that have come out so far. Then I read
that it was directed by JJ Abrams, director of Lost and Alias, so I
thought I'd give it a shot. And apart from it being really loud, the
movie was pretty good. I could even get over Tom Cruise being the
action hero - I just concentrated more on Jonathan Rhys Meyers. Philip
Seymour Hoffman made an excellent bad guy...the action scenes were
great and the storyline was pretty decent too. Definitely worth my
matinee price. After the movie, I headed to Smoothie King for a belated
lunch smoothie and then went to Old Navy for some shopping. Alas, I did
not find anything - although there was a comfy hoodie and skirt outfit,
but the skirt was a bit short and probably not age appropriate. C'est
la vie. I then headed up to meet Ellen for some dinner. Jason was there
too and we waited for Neal to show before heading out to Mi Mexico. The
food was decent - I got chicken fajitas. After dinner we headed up to
Saucier for poker. We had a group of 13 people and broke into 2 tables.
It was a fun night - we had a relaxed table w/ Ellen and Kevin singing
and entertaining the rest of us. I was down pretty low but managed to
come back and get 3rd place. Ellen came in second and Peter took the
big money. It's much more entertaining playing poker when we do it less
often and noone's taking it too seriously.
Today I met Bobbie & Lauren for a girls' breakfast and movie date.
We went to Cracker Barrel for breakfast and some entertaining
conversation and then headed off to see The Break Up starring Jennifer
Anniston and Vince Vaughn. I was expecting it not to be all that great
based on all of the reviews. However, I really enjoyed it. It was very
funny but also had some sad parts to it. I don't know what critics are
thinking saying that they had no chemistry - the movie is about them
breaking up, so I don't know what kind of chemistry was expected. I
also read a review that said it was Anniston's worst acting job yet,
but I totally disagree with that. So nuts to the reviewers - go check
out the movie for an atypical summer chick flick. After the movie I did
some shopping - Barnes & Noble for a tamale-making book and a
banana frappuccino for lunch - then Sam's Club and grocery shopping.
Fun fun fun... Chris should be coming home shortly w/ dinner from
Mellow Mushroom Pizza. Yum!
On a completely unrelated note... I saw this cartoon on the Washington
Post website the other day. I thought it was pretty fitting for the
start of hurricane season. I hate to think what it's going to be like
around this place when the first storm enters the Gulf. Our bug man was
telling me the other day that he is still living in a FEMA trailer...he
and thousands of others will have to evacuate even for a tropical
storm, much less a hurricane. Friday night we had a storm come
through...it didn't even rain much, but we did get a lot of lightening
in the area. The power kept blinking on and off...and then off for
about 45 minutes...and then on and off a few more times. If our power
grid is that flaky in a mild storm, imagine what a tropical system will
do. Perhaps we ought to buy a generator after all?
-posted by Kelly
Thursday, 1 JUN
06
(link removed)
Swank
- 'End to End Rush' - Johnny
Hanson Presents Puck Rock Vol. 2 (Sudden Death)
Well, June has come
and it's the first day of the 2006 hurricane season. It's been in the
news for weeks (well, months after last season) on how people are
preparing, how the city/state/federal government responses will be
improved, how people won't stay this time if another one hits in our
area, etc. It's the main topic on the local (New Orleans for us) news
every morning when we wake up and are getting ready for work. Who's
really ready though, honestly? I am almost certain no-one wants to find
out how much they are or are not prepared and are praying (literally
down here in the bible belt) that all storms will go elsewhere. I find
it interesting that the forecasters are predicting that the chances of
a major storm hitting along the northeastern part of the United States
between New York and Boston are increased. DO models actually predict
that, or are they trying to make residents of the southeastern/gulf
coast feel better about the chances of another storm hitting here?
Putting it mildly, I'm at times anxious or nervous about what will come
in the next six months. Ugh. What a rotten feeling.
Anyway, enough doom and gloom. We're actually in good spirits tonight
because both of the teams we picked to play in the Stanley Cup Finals
made it in. Edmonton had of course won the Western Conference over the
weekend, but Buffalo and Carolina played the deciding game 7 tonight
for the Eastern Conference title. It was a fast-paced, end to end game,
and both teams were looking good. Carolina scored a goal with the puck
ricocheting off two Buffalo players in the first period, but Buffalo
roared back in the second with two unanswered goals to make it 2-1
going into the third period. Carolina came back to tie it up towards
the beginning of the third, then a little more than halfway through the
period, Carolina's captain, Rod Brind'Amour, snuck in and banged in the
puck bouncing around in front of Buffalo's goal on a power play to put
them ahead 3-2. Buffalo had some impressive chances to tie it again,
but towards the end Carolina had a takeaway in their end which they
took down the ice into the Buffalo zone and a fake pass made Buffalo's
goaltender go down before the real pass was made for the goal that
sealed the deal. It was fun to watch and it's always a treat to see the
players line up after the game and shake hands with their opponent.
Seeing some of the guys hug or make comments to each other really shows
the passion they all share for the sport, even though we joke that some
of them are probably saying, 'See you on the golf courses in a few
weeks.' Games 1 and 2 are next Monday and Wednesday on OLN (to be
renamed the Versus network in the fall) at 7pm our time. Then games 3
and 4 will be Saturday and Monday on NBC, as will games 5, 6, and
7 if necessary on Wednesday, Saturday, and finally Monday again. If you
want to call us, those would be the nights we won't answer the phone.
If you want to come watch the game, give us a call and we'll tell you
what night the hockey party is. We're both picking Edmonton in the
finals because we're biased towards the Western Conference and of
course the Northwest Division where both Edmonton and Colorado are
fierce rivals. It's interesting that the finals are pitting teams from
the Northwest and Southeast Divisions, just like Calgary and Tampa Bay
for the last Cup. This time though, the North will prevail. Imagine how
nutso the fans will be in Canada if Edmonton pulls off the win. Crazy!
-posted by Chris