Yes, it's been a while...no, I don't have a logical excuse. I would make up something neat, but I'm not THAT good a liar.
I read the following headline on a cheesey tabloid in the supermarket last night:
'Them Thar Hills' Discovered
Give that a minute to sink in, then read it again. I would attempt a theory, but there's not enough coffee in the house.
Finished Lewis Black's book Nothing's Sacred recently, and I highly recommend it to anyone who's a fan. Right wing conservatives might be offended, so don't say you weren't warned. It's as close to a autobiography as I can imagine, as well as being painfully funny. Also, recently, I finished The DaVinci Code which was excellent as well. I look forward to seeing the movie. I'm currently looking through all my books to decide what to read next, perhaps a philosophy or religion book, I haven't decided yet. Any suggestions can be posted in the comment section.
Got our dragonCon tickets this past week as well, this should be fun. Do an image search for "dragoncon" and you'll see what I mean. I thought I was a huge fan of the fastasy/sci-fi genre, apparently I was gravely mistaken.
It's rainy, cold, and gray...a perfect setting for, well, a horror movie. Hopefully I won't be part of one today while I help a friend carry a bed to her apt.
Saturday, February 25, 2006
Tuesday, February 14, 2006
Happy Evil Red Heart Day
Valentine's Day never ceases to amaze me, it has become obscenely commercialized, just like every other gift giving holiday we celebrate; a competition for people to see who can give the biggest "gift" to their loved one(s), and a competition for merchants all over the country to see how much money they can make off of these people. This is why I have always thought, and still do think, that what Valentine's Day has become is completely useless. Since when does the amount of money you spend on someone reflect the amount of love and care you have for that person? Never, in my book, nor will it ever. Why is February 14th different from any other day of the year in that respect? Have we sunk to such a level that now we need a specific day of the year that gives us permission to "go all out" and tell that special someone how we feel about them? It would seem so…
Some might say that I am bitter because, up until recently, I have never had anyone special to share Valentine's Days with, which is far from the truth; I hold no animosity toward showing love and affection to anyone. I intend to participate in Valentine's Day this year, in my own way, not out of fear of being labeled uncaring or heartless by those who choose to participate excessively. As far as I'm concerned, everyday is Valentine's Day for me, my love for those who mean so much to me never fades.
So, for all of those special people in my life, and you know who you are, you owe me nothing. You have already given me the biggest and most expensive gifts I could ever dream of receiving from anyone: kindness, friendship, and unconditional love, and I don't need specific day of the year to return the favor, and say "thank you" for everything.
Happy Valentines Day.
Much love,
Brad
Tuesday, February 07, 2006
That's a BAD Goose
I took part in what I believe to be the strangest conversation this weekend; after getting back in from a karaoke bar, Mike decides to call it a night and leaves. About a minute and a half later, I get a call from him on my cell phone, and here begins said conversation (as well as I can remember it):
Me: "Hello"
Mike: "Hey, it's me"
Me: "Hey, what's up?"
Mike: "2 things: Number 1 - a deer just ran out in front of me at the entrance to your neighborhood, so if you are, you know, wanting to trap a deer, now would be a good time...and number 2 - sorry about peeing in your flower pot"
Me: "Ok.....thanks?"
Mike: "Ok, talk to you later!"
Me: "Later!"
Speaking of the weekend, I entertained a 3 year old for a considerable amount of time this weekend. One noteable thing about kids is that they require 100% of your undivided attention EVERY second you are around them. If you could see the CPU Utilization of my brain it would have been like 99%. I also learned another important lesson about kids; if you ever throw one up in the air and catch them on the way down, you will be doing it for the next 3 1/2 hours (my guess is that even if you DIDN'T catch them on the way down, they would still ask to be thrown again...though I can neither confirm nor deny this). All in all, it was a pretty good time, and a new experience, which is good.
The party was good, people showed up, and that's always a good thing. 13 people doesn't sound like a lot, and it isn't, until they are all going for pizza at once, then it feels more like a stampede than a social event (the Rage Against the Machine song Bulls on Parade fits here somehow, but I don't know exactly how). Karaoke was fun too, and even though I don't like country music (that topic deserves a seperate blog post, but not now), I managed to suffer through the 32948298578275423 country songs that were done during karaoke that night. The funniest thing that happened was when Mike suggested to Jeremy that he should get up and sing a Pearl Jam song in the style of AC/DC, then proceeded with an impression of, you guessed it, the song Jeremy. I nearly choked on my Jager bomb (as if the taste itself wasn't bad enough, try keeping your cool when it's trying to come back up your nose while you are doubled over laughing).
I just realized that this entire post is in random chronological order...putting the sequence of events in the right order is left as an exercise for the reader.
Me: "Hello"
Mike: "Hey, it's me"
Me: "Hey, what's up?"
Mike: "2 things: Number 1 - a deer just ran out in front of me at the entrance to your neighborhood, so if you are, you know, wanting to trap a deer, now would be a good time...and number 2 - sorry about peeing in your flower pot"
Me: "Ok.....thanks?"
Mike: "Ok, talk to you later!"
Me: "Later!"
Speaking of the weekend, I entertained a 3 year old for a considerable amount of time this weekend. One noteable thing about kids is that they require 100% of your undivided attention EVERY second you are around them. If you could see the CPU Utilization of my brain it would have been like 99%. I also learned another important lesson about kids; if you ever throw one up in the air and catch them on the way down, you will be doing it for the next 3 1/2 hours (my guess is that even if you DIDN'T catch them on the way down, they would still ask to be thrown again...though I can neither confirm nor deny this). All in all, it was a pretty good time, and a new experience, which is good.
The party was good, people showed up, and that's always a good thing. 13 people doesn't sound like a lot, and it isn't, until they are all going for pizza at once, then it feels more like a stampede than a social event (the Rage Against the Machine song Bulls on Parade fits here somehow, but I don't know exactly how). Karaoke was fun too, and even though I don't like country music (that topic deserves a seperate blog post, but not now), I managed to suffer through the 32948298578275423 country songs that were done during karaoke that night. The funniest thing that happened was when Mike suggested to Jeremy that he should get up and sing a Pearl Jam song in the style of AC/DC, then proceeded with an impression of, you guessed it, the song Jeremy. I nearly choked on my Jager bomb (as if the taste itself wasn't bad enough, try keeping your cool when it's trying to come back up your nose while you are doubled over laughing).
I just realized that this entire post is in random chronological order...putting the sequence of events in the right order is left as an exercise for the reader.
Tuesday, January 24, 2006
Funny Story, Confusing Weather, and other Things
First off, a link to a FUNNY story, I was literally gaping in disbelief while reading this:
http://www.shtick.org/Misc/ryans.htm
The weather has been extremely confusing lately. So far this month, I have worn shorts 3 times...in January! Something is fundamentally wrong with this concept, the weather should at least have the common courtesy to at least act like it's winter.
So I have finally made the first step toward doing something I've been talking about for about 5 years now...learning to play piano. Christie and I ordered a cheapo yamaha portable keyboard a few days ago, so we will see how this goes. Thanks to Bobbiestan, I have a bit of knowledge about playing after receiving a lesson from him. I've always been able to sit at a piano and play chords and such, just from having played guitar for almost 10 years now, but I can hardly do anything resembing PLAYING the instrument, having no formal training regarding the *physical* aspect of playing the piano (and nobody is interested in hearing me explain why it takes so many fingers to play an Esus2(9)#11 chord). So far, I can play a mean rendition of Mary Had a Little Lamb.
The fat cutting "diet" still goes well, yesterday was the 5 week mark. I never would have imagined it going this well. I'm a bit sore this morning from the new weightlifting workout I did last night. I finally came to the conclusion that the whole split muscle group(s) workout wasn't working for me anymore because: 1) I really don't have the extra time for it and 2) I don't have the resources available to me anymore after moving away from an apartment complex that had a free gym. Now it's just me, my bench, and my trusty set of bowflex dumbbells, so I have restructured my workout to more match my available resources.
I drew up a "test" workout one day early last week, then tweaked it throughout the week, getting it ready for yesterday. My goal was fairly intense full body weight workout, 3 days a week, between 45 and 55 minutes to a workout session. My workout last night came in at around 49 minutes, so I guess I did good for a first stab at it.
Having been doing the split muscle group workout for about 6 months prior to this, last nights workout was VERY intense. It's a different feeling altogether; 3 sets of 12 with moderately heavy weights and about 1 minute of rest between sets on my new workout, as opposed to 5 sets of 8 with very heavy weights and 2 minute rests that I was doing on my old workout). I feel very pumped this morning (a good thing). I will like to see how I feel as I continue to do this workout.
http://www.shtick.org/Misc/ryans.htm
The weather has been extremely confusing lately. So far this month, I have worn shorts 3 times...in January! Something is fundamentally wrong with this concept, the weather should at least have the common courtesy to at least act like it's winter.
So I have finally made the first step toward doing something I've been talking about for about 5 years now...learning to play piano. Christie and I ordered a cheapo yamaha portable keyboard a few days ago, so we will see how this goes. Thanks to Bobbiestan, I have a bit of knowledge about playing after receiving a lesson from him. I've always been able to sit at a piano and play chords and such, just from having played guitar for almost 10 years now, but I can hardly do anything resembing PLAYING the instrument, having no formal training regarding the *physical* aspect of playing the piano (and nobody is interested in hearing me explain why it takes so many fingers to play an Esus2(9)#11 chord). So far, I can play a mean rendition of Mary Had a Little Lamb.
The fat cutting "diet" still goes well, yesterday was the 5 week mark. I never would have imagined it going this well. I'm a bit sore this morning from the new weightlifting workout I did last night. I finally came to the conclusion that the whole split muscle group(s) workout wasn't working for me anymore because: 1) I really don't have the extra time for it and 2) I don't have the resources available to me anymore after moving away from an apartment complex that had a free gym. Now it's just me, my bench, and my trusty set of bowflex dumbbells, so I have restructured my workout to more match my available resources.
I drew up a "test" workout one day early last week, then tweaked it throughout the week, getting it ready for yesterday. My goal was fairly intense full body weight workout, 3 days a week, between 45 and 55 minutes to a workout session. My workout last night came in at around 49 minutes, so I guess I did good for a first stab at it.
Having been doing the split muscle group workout for about 6 months prior to this, last nights workout was VERY intense. It's a different feeling altogether; 3 sets of 12 with moderately heavy weights and about 1 minute of rest between sets on my new workout, as opposed to 5 sets of 8 with very heavy weights and 2 minute rests that I was doing on my old workout). I feel very pumped this morning (a good thing). I will like to see how I feel as I continue to do this workout.
Monday, January 16, 2006
Nothing Much to Say
Not a whole lot happening lately. Today is Monday, and it was a casual dress day for us, but I forgot...go figure. I'm in such auto-pilot mode in the morning that it probably wouldn't have mattered if I would have had a 50 foot marquee in my kitchen saying "WEAR JEANS TODAY".
Saw the movie Red Eye last night. For a Wes Craven movie, it was different, but not much else to say about it. It's not going to win any awards for originality or anything like that. In fact, it's actually quite normal compared to most of his movies, and the first of his I've seen in a while that didn't have a monster in it.
Watched 40 Year Old Virgin Saturday night for the 3rd time, and it's not any less funny, I still laugh hysterically at some of the parts. If you are easily embarrassed, you might not want to see this movie, they take every uncomfortable thing about sex and literally THROW it out into the open. Good stuff though.
My diet has been going on for 4 weeks today, and I must say that I've been satisfied with the results. I must be doing something right, because I'm not hungry all the time. One thing about this diet, I don't like to eat out much, simply because most restaurants don't make their nutritional information available enough so that I can research before I go there. It's probably for the best though...
Well, off to work.
Saw the movie Red Eye last night. For a Wes Craven movie, it was different, but not much else to say about it. It's not going to win any awards for originality or anything like that. In fact, it's actually quite normal compared to most of his movies, and the first of his I've seen in a while that didn't have a monster in it.
Watched 40 Year Old Virgin Saturday night for the 3rd time, and it's not any less funny, I still laugh hysterically at some of the parts. If you are easily embarrassed, you might not want to see this movie, they take every uncomfortable thing about sex and literally THROW it out into the open. Good stuff though.
My diet has been going on for 4 weeks today, and I must say that I've been satisfied with the results. I must be doing something right, because I'm not hungry all the time. One thing about this diet, I don't like to eat out much, simply because most restaurants don't make their nutritional information available enough so that I can research before I go there. It's probably for the best though...
Well, off to work.
Tuesday, January 10, 2006
And Now, A Word from Our Sponsors
That last post was brought to you by Bobbiestan and the numbers 0 and 1.
Tuesday Morning Buzz
Am I energetic because it's not Monday anymore, or is it that I'm loaded with Red Bull? The answer has yet to be seen...but soon.
Feels like our schedules are about to tighten up around here, I was checking out my work assignments yesterday and realized that it's going to be a busy next few months. Plus, I can sort of feel it in the air. Once you work with a group of people long enough, you become more in tune with the subtle nuances of group dynamics, to the point where you can almost "feel" that something is going on. So right now I'm "feeling" like chains of events are going to be set into motion that will result in a big deadline crunch again...hopefully I am wrong.
Courtesy of Bobbiestan, I got to watch the first half of Dream Theater's Live in Bodukan DVD last night. It's a REALLY good DVD if you are a fan of the music. I came to 2 conclusions while watching this DVD; 1) these guys are definitely in the upper eschelon of musicians in the world today, and 2) they are absolutely insane. It's amazing that they can even make it through the first song without exploding into nothing but numbers and musical notes. In other words, good stuff...
Feels like our schedules are about to tighten up around here, I was checking out my work assignments yesterday and realized that it's going to be a busy next few months. Plus, I can sort of feel it in the air. Once you work with a group of people long enough, you become more in tune with the subtle nuances of group dynamics, to the point where you can almost "feel" that something is going on. So right now I'm "feeling" like chains of events are going to be set into motion that will result in a big deadline crunch again...hopefully I am wrong.
Courtesy of Bobbiestan, I got to watch the first half of Dream Theater's Live in Bodukan DVD last night. It's a REALLY good DVD if you are a fan of the music. I came to 2 conclusions while watching this DVD; 1) these guys are definitely in the upper eschelon of musicians in the world today, and 2) they are absolutely insane. It's amazing that they can even make it through the first song without exploding into nothing but numbers and musical notes. In other words, good stuff...
Monday, January 09, 2006
Monday Mourning
Well, first day without Mike, we shall see how it goes. I figure it will be a little less interesting around here, and a bit less inappropriate :)
Weekend was good, saw The Producers saturday night, and it rocked. If I had to describe the movie in ONE word, I guess the word would have to be "gay", and I mean every conceivable definition of the word. I mean, it's a movie musical about a broadway musical called Springtime for Hitler...yes, it's as strange as it sounds.
During the previews I saw the preview to a new M. Night Shamaylan movie called Lady in the Water that looks pretty interesting...actually they preview it as "A bedtime story, by M. Night Shamaylan". Maybe this bedtime story won't keep people up at night like that kid from The Sixth Sense. Hopefully he will skip his obligitory plot twist this time and focus on the story-telling...his last movie was a bit too transparent.
I spent the rest of my free time this weekend playing Final Fantasy IV Advance. It is precisely 153% as good as I remember it, that is to say, stunning, even after 10 years or more. If Square really wanted to torture me, they'd release FFVI. It just doesn't get much better than FF4 and 6...to me anyways...but I am old school like that.
Weekend was good, saw The Producers saturday night, and it rocked. If I had to describe the movie in ONE word, I guess the word would have to be "gay", and I mean every conceivable definition of the word. I mean, it's a movie musical about a broadway musical called Springtime for Hitler...yes, it's as strange as it sounds.
During the previews I saw the preview to a new M. Night Shamaylan movie called Lady in the Water that looks pretty interesting...actually they preview it as "A bedtime story, by M. Night Shamaylan". Maybe this bedtime story won't keep people up at night like that kid from The Sixth Sense. Hopefully he will skip his obligitory plot twist this time and focus on the story-telling...his last movie was a bit too transparent.
I spent the rest of my free time this weekend playing Final Fantasy IV Advance. It is precisely 153% as good as I remember it, that is to say, stunning, even after 10 years or more. If Square really wanted to torture me, they'd release FFVI. It just doesn't get much better than FF4 and 6...to me anyways...but I am old school like that.
Wednesday, January 04, 2006
Elliptical Trainers Rock
Ellipticals rock...no impact, no back pain, quiet, and judging by the feeling in my legs, they are a hell of a workout too. I haven't used one for the better part of 6 weeks, so this feeling is altogether new to me...again.
Diet goes well, I'm doing much better at it (albeit a bit obsessive) than I figured one could do on a diet started the week before Christmas. People called me crazy, and maybe they were a bit right, but the day before I started this diet, something clicked. I suddenly became tired of talking about doing this and decided that the time for talk was over and it was time to take action. People ask what diet I am doing, but it's not really one of these gimmick diets that have a name, so I guess it would be called My Diet. My Diet is a culmination of about 6 months of research on many health and fitness websites, in addition to several body building websites. My goal is an overall reduction in body fat % (or a more "cut" look for those of you familiar with body building lingo). I'm not so much shooting for a weight reduction, but I'm sure that will happen (it already has). So 2 weeks and 2 days into it, the scale hasn't really budged much (3-5 lbs), but something has. I can tell a difference when I put clothes on now; the pants have a little more room around the waist.
For anyone interested, here's how My Diet goes (after a little background):
First, I found a good BMR Calculator (Basal Metabolic Rate, the number of calories to intake for your body to break even, i.e. maintain your weight, every day) and found this number to be around 2,500 for me (it's a little high because I've been weightlifting and doing cardio regularly for quite some time now).
So, with that number in mind, here's what my "diet" looks like:
Daily Calorie Intake: 2,000, monitored strictly, I have a notebook I write everything I eat in. My Carb/Protein/Fat ratio is about 45/35/20, with no more than 10% coming from saturated fat. This seems to be the "ideal" balance based on my research. What this means is on a daily basis, 900 calories will come from carbs (about 225g), 700 from protein (175g), and 400 from fat(about 45g). I got these numbers from the following: 1g carb = 4 calories, 1g protein = 4g calories, 1 fat = 9 calories.
Lots of water everyday (about a gallon on an average day)
Tuesday/Thursday/Saturday - cardio activity: 30 minutes on the elliptical trainer
Monday/Wednesday/Friday - weightlifting
At the end of the day, I add everything up, calculate the percentages, and adjust accordingly. I don't have any foods explicitly restricted from this diet, but some are off limits just by nature (aka fast foods, and most things from the freezer section at the grocery store are the worst). Some are "discretionary", like 1 or 2 time a week foods, like red meat (tends to have tons of protein, but lots of fat)
So that's my diet, and it feels like it's working so far, only time will tell though. Here are some links I used during my research for those of you interested, your mileage may vary:
Men's Fitness
Men's Health
Bodybuilding.com
ExRx.net
Later!
Diet goes well, I'm doing much better at it (albeit a bit obsessive) than I figured one could do on a diet started the week before Christmas. People called me crazy, and maybe they were a bit right, but the day before I started this diet, something clicked. I suddenly became tired of talking about doing this and decided that the time for talk was over and it was time to take action. People ask what diet I am doing, but it's not really one of these gimmick diets that have a name, so I guess it would be called My Diet. My Diet is a culmination of about 6 months of research on many health and fitness websites, in addition to several body building websites. My goal is an overall reduction in body fat % (or a more "cut" look for those of you familiar with body building lingo). I'm not so much shooting for a weight reduction, but I'm sure that will happen (it already has). So 2 weeks and 2 days into it, the scale hasn't really budged much (3-5 lbs), but something has. I can tell a difference when I put clothes on now; the pants have a little more room around the waist.
For anyone interested, here's how My Diet goes (after a little background):
First, I found a good BMR Calculator (Basal Metabolic Rate, the number of calories to intake for your body to break even, i.e. maintain your weight, every day) and found this number to be around 2,500 for me (it's a little high because I've been weightlifting and doing cardio regularly for quite some time now).
So, with that number in mind, here's what my "diet" looks like:
Daily Calorie Intake: 2,000, monitored strictly, I have a notebook I write everything I eat in. My Carb/Protein/Fat ratio is about 45/35/20, with no more than 10% coming from saturated fat. This seems to be the "ideal" balance based on my research. What this means is on a daily basis, 900 calories will come from carbs (about 225g), 700 from protein (175g), and 400 from fat(about 45g). I got these numbers from the following: 1g carb = 4 calories, 1g protein = 4g calories, 1 fat = 9 calories.
Lots of water everyday (about a gallon on an average day)
Tuesday/Thursday/Saturday - cardio activity: 30 minutes on the elliptical trainer
Monday/Wednesday/Friday - weightlifting
At the end of the day, I add everything up, calculate the percentages, and adjust accordingly. I don't have any foods explicitly restricted from this diet, but some are off limits just by nature (aka fast foods, and most things from the freezer section at the grocery store are the worst). Some are "discretionary", like 1 or 2 time a week foods, like red meat (tends to have tons of protein, but lots of fat)
So that's my diet, and it feels like it's working so far, only time will tell though. Here are some links I used during my research for those of you interested, your mileage may vary:
Men's Fitness
Men's Health
Bodybuilding.com
ExRx.net
Later!
Tuesday, January 03, 2006
Happy New Year
So it's been a while, but I've been enjoying a nice 2 week vacation to unwind and reboot...it worked. Guess I should start by saying HAPPY NEW YEAR and here's to a great 2006.
Home ownership is nice, and enough to more than take up 2 weeks worth of vacation time. I've never made so many trips to Bed Bath and Beyond in my life, but we've just about settled in and called it our own. Elliptical machine is in place, as are my weights, and living room furniture is on the way, due on Jan 21...so it's looking good. Perhaps some pictures would be good, as soon as we take some! :)
Later!
Home ownership is nice, and enough to more than take up 2 weeks worth of vacation time. I've never made so many trips to Bed Bath and Beyond in my life, but we've just about settled in and called it our own. Elliptical machine is in place, as are my weights, and living room furniture is on the way, due on Jan 21...so it's looking good. Perhaps some pictures would be good, as soon as we take some! :)
Later!
Friday, December 16, 2005
WOO!
I start my 2 week vacation in exactly 1 hour and 25 minutes. This event will mark the very first vacation day I have taken this year (actually since I got married, in fact, last November 27th), unless you count my bout with food poisoning back in January.
I can almost smell freedom...it smells sort of like banana nut bread...
In other news, the funniest blog I've ever read RIGHT HERE!
Counting the minutes...
I can almost smell freedom...it smells sort of like banana nut bread...
In other news, the funniest blog I've ever read RIGHT HERE!
Counting the minutes...
Thursday, December 01, 2005
After Much Ado
We finally moved into the house! Yesterday will be known as Powermove Day...out of the apartment and into the house in 1 day. The inside of the house still looks like a warehouse with all the boxes, but that will change over the course of the next few days (and many cups of coffee).
The next game we play shall be called Put This Queen Bed, Dresser, and Chest of Drawers Into This 11x10 Room With Space Left Over. It's kind of like a jigsaw puzzle with back pain.
Pictures coming soon...
The next game we play shall be called Put This Queen Bed, Dresser, and Chest of Drawers Into This 11x10 Room With Space Left Over. It's kind of like a jigsaw puzzle with back pain.
Pictures coming soon...
Wednesday, November 23, 2005
I must not be THAT geeky.
I didn't stand in line 18 hours to get an XBox 360, nor do I ever plan on it. I've seen the kiosks everywhere, and I have to admit I'm not terribly impressed. PC gamers have been seeing graphics like this for quite some time now. In all fairness though, I haven't actually seen enough XBox360 games to make a sound judgement yet. I'm waiting to see the following games before I decide how I really feel about it: Elder Scrolls - Oblivion, Project Gotham Racing 3, and any random EA Sports game. All screen shots I've seen from these games are absolutely gorgeous.
Well, the house walkthrough is delayed...again. Now it's Monday, followed by the closing on Tuesday, followed by moving in on Wednesday...plenty of time for everything (*sarcasm*).
Well, the house walkthrough is delayed...again. Now it's Monday, followed by the closing on Tuesday, followed by moving in on Wednesday...plenty of time for everything (*sarcasm*).
Monday, November 21, 2005
Monday + 3 Day Work Week = Hard to Work
I have the hardest time getting motivated during a short work week...one would think that with a short work week, work should be MORE productive. I guess I'm in a "decompression" phase after the hellish deadlines we were under for a couple of months.
I feel as if my "Cycle of Hobbies" is starting to shift. I generally have 3 main hobbies outside of work: video games, books, playing guitar. Generally, I have periods of time lasting from 2 weeks to 2 months that I will be interested in each. The Video Game Cycle lasted a little longer this time, and has since given way to the reading cycle, but I'm gradually feeling like the guitar is starting to call my name again, perhaps suggesting that I should sit down and play rather than complain about how I don't have enough quality time to devote to getting better. Therein lies the problem, however. There is a stark dichotomy between the music I listen to, and the music I am technically capable of sitting down and playing, with almost NO intersection of the two. Generally, I'm more apt to listen to heavy and progressive stuff, but I have been known to listen to jazz, blues, and classical from time to time, especially if the mood strikes me just right. Some stuff I've been listening to lately, just to give an idea:
Dream Theater - prog metal, probably one of the best heavy bands I've ever heard. No amount of words could ever describe their music.
Symphony X - prog/neo-classical metal, listen!
Stratovarius - swedish neo-classical metal/heavy metal. Awesome and more "musically accessible" than the first two.
Joe Satriani - melodic instrumental hard rock. Joe is the man, probably the kind of music I would play if I were capable.
Queensryche - hard rock/metal with progressive tendencies. Just all around awesome band.
Just a little peak into my "musical" mind, as crazy as it is...
I feel as if my "Cycle of Hobbies" is starting to shift. I generally have 3 main hobbies outside of work: video games, books, playing guitar. Generally, I have periods of time lasting from 2 weeks to 2 months that I will be interested in each. The Video Game Cycle lasted a little longer this time, and has since given way to the reading cycle, but I'm gradually feeling like the guitar is starting to call my name again, perhaps suggesting that I should sit down and play rather than complain about how I don't have enough quality time to devote to getting better. Therein lies the problem, however. There is a stark dichotomy between the music I listen to, and the music I am technically capable of sitting down and playing, with almost NO intersection of the two. Generally, I'm more apt to listen to heavy and progressive stuff, but I have been known to listen to jazz, blues, and classical from time to time, especially if the mood strikes me just right. Some stuff I've been listening to lately, just to give an idea:
Dream Theater - prog metal, probably one of the best heavy bands I've ever heard. No amount of words could ever describe their music.
Symphony X - prog/neo-classical metal, listen!
Stratovarius - swedish neo-classical metal/heavy metal. Awesome and more "musically accessible" than the first two.
Joe Satriani - melodic instrumental hard rock. Joe is the man, probably the kind of music I would play if I were capable.
Queensryche - hard rock/metal with progressive tendencies. Just all around awesome band.
Just a little peak into my "musical" mind, as crazy as it is...
Wednesday, November 16, 2005
Sleep = Good (but just for today)
Finally got some sleep that I've needed. After waking up this morning, I felt like I had slept like the proverbial log. This was confirmed after I told Christie I had slept really good, and she commented that she couldn't sleep because of the storm. My reply: "there was a storm??" This was confirmed by many people at work. I'm sure part of the tiredness was brought on by going to the gym at 8:00 last night and getting on an elliptical for 30 minutes (thanks a lot Biggest Loser).
Well, one week from closing on the house, aka signing ourselves into debt for the next 30 years. It's all good though, we are already planning parties for the house, the first of which being a Christmas party with all of the gang together for the first time in a long time...should be VERY entertaining. We shall be playing "dirty santa", which bears no resemblance to Billy Bob Thornton's character in Bad Santa (just plain wrong!)
Maybe we'll have a chance to check out the house today...hopefully!
Well, one week from closing on the house, aka signing ourselves into debt for the next 30 years. It's all good though, we are already planning parties for the house, the first of which being a Christmas party with all of the gang together for the first time in a long time...should be VERY entertaining. We shall be playing "dirty santa", which bears no resemblance to Billy Bob Thornton's character in Bad Santa (just plain wrong!)
Maybe we'll have a chance to check out the house today...hopefully!
Monday, November 14, 2005
Spooky
I mentioned something about checking out an old church here in town on Saturday night during our random stuff. Here's some pics...no ghosts though...
pretty good night shot with moon in background (actually my best night shot ever).
cool fountain...that we couldn't get to because the entry was gated
AH!! A ghoul!! No wait, that's just me... (I get that a lot...)
Good stuff...
pretty good night shot with moon in background (actually my best night shot ever).
cool fountain...that we couldn't get to because the entry was gated
AH!! A ghoul!! No wait, that's just me... (I get that a lot...)
Good stuff...
Long time since...
So it's been a long time since I posted, mostly because I am practically wallowing in the fact that our schedule/deadlines are not choking us anymore. I actually leave here at regular time now, which feels strange, though it's still dark when I get home. It's been nice really, I can finally get back in the gym regularly, so I'm feeling pretty good.
Had a fun weekend, Friday afternoon at 4:00 is the perfect time to make plans for the next afternoon. We decided to get together and have no plan, which actually ended up for the best because we did more in that evening than I can remember. Here are the events of the day: explore the old part of town, wander around an old church and take pictures, eat at a pizza joint, meet some random people at a coffee shop and had a nice long conversation with them, discussed the possibility of visiting a cemetary to ghost hunt, listened to a play reading by Robert (that he had written the night before, 11 pages!), participated in a play reading, then played the forever fun Munchkin until about 3am.
Not all of the weekend was THAT enjoyable though, we packed more boxes for the move on the 25th, so the apartment looks a lot like a warehouse right now. For those that have never moved before, here's the rule: No matter how prepared you are, you will always need a box in a shape or size that you don't already have. Period. That's how it works.
We are almost exactly 1 week away from our walk-through, so things are getting pretty exciting...changes in the house occur almost daily. I'm absolutely amazed by the fact that they only have 1 week left to finish, but it looks like there's well more than a weeks' worth of work to do....I guess their last step is some sort of arcane magic or something...we shall see. Bottom line: we are really pleased with the home building experience and can't wait to get moved in.
Had a fun weekend, Friday afternoon at 4:00 is the perfect time to make plans for the next afternoon. We decided to get together and have no plan, which actually ended up for the best because we did more in that evening than I can remember. Here are the events of the day: explore the old part of town, wander around an old church and take pictures, eat at a pizza joint, meet some random people at a coffee shop and had a nice long conversation with them, discussed the possibility of visiting a cemetary to ghost hunt, listened to a play reading by Robert (that he had written the night before, 11 pages!), participated in a play reading, then played the forever fun Munchkin until about 3am.
Not all of the weekend was THAT enjoyable though, we packed more boxes for the move on the 25th, so the apartment looks a lot like a warehouse right now. For those that have never moved before, here's the rule: No matter how prepared you are, you will always need a box in a shape or size that you don't already have. Period. That's how it works.
We are almost exactly 1 week away from our walk-through, so things are getting pretty exciting...changes in the house occur almost daily. I'm absolutely amazed by the fact that they only have 1 week left to finish, but it looks like there's well more than a weeks' worth of work to do....I guess their last step is some sort of arcane magic or something...we shall see. Bottom line: we are really pleased with the home building experience and can't wait to get moved in.
Tuesday, November 01, 2005
Is That A REAL Ancient Mr. Bones?
I played the coolest card game EVER this past weekend, it's called Munchkin, and it's like D&D if I would have come up with the rules. I'll spare the gory details and just put a link here
http://www.sjgames.com/munchkin/game/
Bottom Line: If you are a D&D fan, play this game. You won't forget the experience.
http://www.sjgames.com/munchkin/game/
Bottom Line: If you are a D&D fan, play this game. You won't forget the experience.
Monday, October 31, 2005
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