Spring Has Sproinged

Yes the trees are in bloom but last weekend was more like the official opening of summer. Sitting on the deck, on a broiling Sunday afternoon looking over a freshly-mowed “lawn” (if you can call the celebration of botanic natural selection we have a lawn) while E and L splash around in our kiddie pool… you can’t get more summer than that.

We spent the previous afternoon intown first to pick up my pre-race package for the ING half-marathon I was running the next day then to have dinner with a bunch of friends, two of which had a new baby boy and one visiting from L.A. on his way to a Bachelor Party in Miami. We occupied three tables on one of my favorite porches in Atlanta, the Fellini’s on Ponce.

For over two hours the kids were great, I restrained myself to only one beer, Matt and Travis enjoyed the view, and a rollicking time was had by all. We headed home where I immediately fell asleep.

At 4:30 the next morning, I was up getting ready for the race. Kerry had decided to drive me down since they were probably going to have to get up early anyway to get down in time to see me finish. We put the kids in the van at the last second but Liam was awake for the whole ride.

The Run
As seems to always be the case in these things, the start was a madhouse. The marathon had a lot of ammenities I hadn’t seen before on the 10k’s: a place to drop of stuff while you run is a great idea, and they had setup places on the route that would track your time using a chip you strapped onto your shoe. They had that on the Peachtree too but this one would send messages to a phone with the info. This way Ker and crew knew roughly when to expect me.

Good info when the actual start time is anyone’s guess. I had no idea where to go to start the race and no one else in the massive throng squeezed onto the streets next to Underground seemed to either. I ended up on a side street off Peachtree, likely way behind the “official” group for my expected time but there was no way to move up. So I waited until about ten minutes after the clock start of the race and then the crowd just started flowing en masse. Another 5 minutes and I was passing under the Start banner and started my watch.

It was probably a good thing I was in such a crowd. Usually I start off too fast and feel like crap for the second half of a race. This time I went slow and even when I had a little room to breathe I made myself keep a steady pace. It worked out pretty well because I felt pretty good the whole time.

Except when I had to take a leak.

I had drank a lot of water all the previous day and some on the ride down but when I got out of the car a half hour before the start, I should’ve brought some water because I didn’t get a drink until mile 2 where I grabbed a cup from an outstretched hand. There was plenty of water on the route but if you aren’t looking for it ahead of time, you can be half past the station when you notice… too late to jump in the crowd gathered it.

Anyway, around mile 5 I knew I was gonna have to go. Actually I’ve always known I would have to sometime during the race but wasn’t sure how the accommodations would be. I had passed several port-a-let areas, each of which seemed to throw in a two-to three person wait… docking up to two minutes from my time is something I really did not want to do. The other option presented itself several times… I saw a few guys run off into the bushes but I also did not want to this. I know it’s a run and all but I don’t like to piss outside in a non-wilderness area on someone else’s property… even a park or roadside.

On Freedom Parkway, I thought I had found an answer. The area immediately around a giant concrete cover (built to protect cars from ice falling from the cables helping to support a gigantic communications antenna) was a wilderness of litter, graffiti, and bum shacks and I figured I would see a good spot. But I basically wussed so kept on running.

Finally, at about 7-1/2 miles, I saw a girl running from a hidden port-a-let behind a bank on Ponce de Leon so I went for it. I had to wait for one person but it was definitely a good choice and I only lost maybe a minute total. And the rest of the route I felt great.

Wait, strike that, reverse it.

Hey all you millions out there in the real world, speaking OF the real world, it beckons mightily so I am taking a hiatus from the blog. My tool room's a mess, there's a ton of yardwork to be done, I need to sell my truck, I'm keeping up the half-marathon training... and... and... oh yeah, I have a family!

Check back on the 1st of the April... and that's not a joke.

So sexy... so hot... sudoku!

I've recently got into doing sudoku's and -

Yeah right. Like I'm going to talk about that.

But you know, although it seems like I can never keep my mouth shut, there are not a lot of specific subjects I like to talk about and being a fairly frequent traveller and meeter of work-related people, this is sometimes an issue.

When sports comes up, I drop out. Same for the growing topic of flat-screen TV's. I generally keep out of politics (at least in any kind of committal way) and completely abstain from anything regarding religion. And I don't care about cars or the also-growing subject of motorcycles. If I'm on the road, I can generally get by on talking about what I know about the city I'm in and how Atlanta compares... weather's always a favorite and traffic is the #2 subject but that get's real old in the office.

But at work, I pretty much stick to talking about work. Having no substantial non-work topics to fall back on generally keeps the BS to a minimum. It also tends to keep the major BS'ers from stopping by my cube which is pretty much how I like it. My work is definitely varied enough where I don't need to roam to relieve boredom and I get plenty of human interaction with the work so, unlike a programmer or designer, I don't need to escape to see a face.

But I do talk occasionally... I'm not a complete asshole. I am civil and I do like to briefly chat about random things. There's one guy I talk a lot to about movies and there are few people I talk to about running.

And, of course, people love to talk about their kids and I'm no exception but the problem is, each person is really only talking about his or her kids... not the other person's. Unless it's small talk, it really only gets going if one person is seeking the other's advice... which, come to think of it, is true for any topic.

Puttin' on the Ritz

I’ve only had two pairs of “going out” shoes in my life. In my late and post-college days in Orlando, I had a pair of Doc Marten’s… yes, the regulation black ones with yellow-stitching … that I purchased at Abba Dabba’s in L5P on my first visit to Atlanta. I couldn’t bring myself to wear them about a year later when they were on every junior high school mall rat and I stuck with good ol’sneakers and hiking boots for a few years after that.

Then I fell in with Keith and the posse-ites who then liked every-once-in-a-while to step out with a bit of class. We weren’t quite the shiny shirt crew just yet but my purchase of my first (and only come to think of it) pair of over-a-hundred buck shoes was my first step in the loopy, Vodka Tonic-swillin’ way of life styled and profiled in Swingers.

I loved’em for years but for the last six they’ve sat under my bed only coming out for the occasional wedding or date-night with Kerry. They’ve gotten creased and worn but as is my way, I held on to them.

For our anniversary date earlier this month, I wore them for the last time. The insoles had worn away to nothing and during the walking around in Virginia-Highland, the bottoms of my feet were rubbed raw from whatever strange support grids were now exposed.





Trashed’em I did.

Jewel of the Corn Belt

Well, yesterday I spent 8 hours at the airport in Minneapolis... I suppose it's better than 8 on a plane but somehow it doesn't seem to be.

A week from this Monday, I'll be on a plane to Omaha, Nebraska, and I am a little amazed that I have almost no reference to the entire state. Other than the "Wild Kingdom" animal show of my youth and a remote possibility of the state's name being the title of a Bruce Springsteen album (or was it They Might be Giants?), I know nothing about Nebraska. No historical trivia, no cultural reference... nothing.

Maybe Marylin Manson grew up in Lincoln... maybe there's a famous pie... Wikipedia, here I come!

Try the veal.

Liam's recent birthday card to a friend with this inside:

Hey Jack, it's your birthday... you're 6.
6 + 6 = 12
If you had a twin and he stood on your head.
You'd be 12.

Also, the other day I was on a rant about all the toys and clothes all over the house. I was getting ready for a run and couldn't find my headband. It keeps my ears from turning to ice without heating up my head too much. Anyway, I was going on about "There's too much stuff in this house! Why do we need so much stuff?!" and I was being a bit obnoxious with the volume.

Liam said matter-of-factly, "Daddy, there's too much stuff coming out of your mouth."

I had to reprimand him a little for the disrespect but I couldn't keep myself from complimenting him on the great slam.

Go Joe!

Well, today we had the health screening at work and I fasted for about 17 hrs. About 11 hours in (9 am), I was feeling very antsy and fuzzy at the same time. I had a little trouble concentrating on work or, more accurately, caring about concentrating on work.

I then remembered that coffee black was ok... drank some... and immediately felt better. I was a little hungry at 2pm but fine.

I have already decided to postpone any fasting experiments until after my half-marathon. I think I must include yet another divergence from my original plan.

Coffee is NOT off the list!!!

Trailmix and a Hunk o'Cheddar at Cowart Gap

Two albums in my frozen-in-the-90’s CD collection that are both incredible but definitely should NOT be listened to back-to-back:

The Cardigan’s “Life”
PJ Harvey’s “Rid of Me”

Yesterday, I hiked on the AT into North Carolina… twice, actually… I did 20 miles in 9 hours and am certainly feeling it today. It was 21 deg when we started at 7:30am which made it all the more hilarious when I realized I had brought two right gloves.

Yeah… funny like a swift kick in the gut.

And I don’t think it ever got above freezing. One part of the trail was so icy (including a stunning frozen waterfall), a woman slipped and broke or sprained her hand and had to walk back out 3 miles. I swear, ice feels harder than concrete. A big slab is more like steel than sidewalk.

Anyway, I have one more 14 mile stretch to do in order to have section-hiked the AT in Georgia. It’s right in the middle so it’s not that far of a drive (from my place anyhow) and my nearly frostbitten hands have convinced me to wait until things warm up a bit. Early Spring on the AT is beautiful because the leaves aren’t out yet so you get the views and the flowers are just emerging.

Anyone wanna come?

Fastway

I just finished reading Michael Pollen’s “The Omnivore’s Dilemma” which was a very absorbing and informative book about food… mostly about food in the US. Although it wasn’t the typical PETA-sponsored “shame on you” list of industry horrors and is anti-meat eating at all, reading it will likely cause me to go more vegetarian.

And it’s got me thinking about food in general. The main guy I’ve been dealing with on my last few trips to Louisiana and Minnesota is currently on a 21-day fast in which he consumes nothing but juice. I was with him 14-days in and he was as energetic and busy as ever. He told me how, although he’s thin (and actually a bit gaunt to tell the truth) now, several years ago he was 350lbs and was the king of all-you-can-eat buffets and if-you-can-eat-this-it’s-on–the-house binge-aurants. Then he got disgusted with himself one time while boarding a plane and ended up getting his stomache stapled.

Now, although interesting, his past is not what I was keenly intrigued with. It was the fact that he was relatively fine and he had eaten nothing but juice for 14 days! How is this possible? He told me there were others doing the same thing on nothing but water. And others who did it while jogging 10-15 miles a day! I was going to ask him more but he was doing it for religious reasons and mentioned Benny Hinn so I quickly backed-off that line of questioning.

But I got to thinking about how amazing the human body is, how it has evolved, and what it’s capable of. Basically, one of the reason’s it’s so easy for the food industry to pile more and more food into us is because we have developed physically to plan ahead for periods of starvation by eating as much as we can when it’s available. And when is food NOT available for the typical First World citizen?

Hunger has been a major part of human history since it’s origins and continues to be for millions around the globe and I have no idea what hunger… real hunger feels like. I’ve read “Alive!” and “Between a Rock and A Hard Place” plus the Shackleton story and plenty of other accounts of people in desperate circumstances but I’ve never gone more than half a day without smashing something in my mouth.

I hesitate to try this while I’m training for a marathon but I’m getting blood taken for a health screening at work next week and you’re supposed to fast for 12 hours…. but I just might make it 72.

KILL YOUR TELEVISION

KILL YOUR TELEVISON. KILL YOUR TELEVISON.


KILL YOUR TELEVISON.

Soup Bowl

I’ve never been into sports but I do enjoy the occasional close football game. I’d like to say “occasional” meant three of four times a month but actually, I always end up watching about that many games a season. Typically the Falcons are involved and even then I only have an interest because they are my son’s home team. This is probably the second time in 8 or 9 years that I haven’t gone to the SuperBowl party at Perdue’s but even there, I rarely watch the game and care even less about the incredibly over-hyped commercials.

Oh, the commercials!! The commercials!!! Ooooh!

By the way, Perdue’s a friend of mine that lives intown. Kerry and I ventured down there last night in celebration of our anniversary. Usually for these kinds of ITP visits, we like to do the things we loved to do when we lived intown. This time we ate at Surin in Virginia-Highland, a Thai place that was one of the first places I ate at in Atlanta and I believe it was my first experience with Thai food. I don’t know why but I’ve always liked the loudness and hustle-bustle of Surin and the way the tables are crowded together. Maybe it makes me think of Asia, I don’t know but Surin has always been my favorite Thai place. And I love the Tom Ka Kai there.

Although it was a little chilly we did our ritual walk up and down the shopfronts… the meatmarkets of Atkin’s Park and Dark Horse… Limerick Junction, a place that for some reason I rarely ventured into whenever I drank in the Highlands… Blind Willie’s, a joint I’ve never been in, always assuming it was pricey and packed with yuppie-types. And the place that used to be a bagel place/Caribou Coffee and is now a… a… something else. I must’ve been there 100 times when it was a bagel/coffee shop. Mark is dreading this but I had a brothy (not creamy) mushroom soup there has relegated itself to Mushroom Soup God in my head. The rat bastards got rid of the fountain!!!

Anyway, for dessert (cheesecake for Ker, a White Russian for me) we headed over to Apres Diem in Midtown Plaza, the abode of a few watering holes of old… The Highlander of cheesey tots and Midtown Music Hall fame and Dupree’s pool hall which is now called The Intimidator, no wait, The Independent… blah. Apres Diem is run by the same people that ran Carpe Diem over on Highland across from the famous and infamous North Highland Apartments. It seems as if the owners had a predilection for hiring exotic waitresses. I’m not saying stripper-types or even that they were all necessarily drop-dead gorgeous. I’m saying exotic as in different-looking… and I’m NOT complaining! They were basically the reason I used to go there. That and the whole Euro feel to the place. Anyway, Apres Diem retains the Euro vibe but with more of a nightclub feel to it versus Carpe’s “early evening on the patio” thing.

Enough of the "Out in Atlanta" review... we had a swell time.

The Land of 10,000 Bars

I was in Minneapolis yesterday for the 2nd time in 2 weeks. The first time I planned on going to a cemetery in St. Paul that my great grandfather and other relatives of mine are buried. Time and work did not permit so this time I made sure to get to it. I had also said to a couple of people a while that I planned on jogging and as the days passed, I mentioned it to more and more people so, of course, I had to do it.

I went by the customer’s plant in the morning to wrap a few things up from the testing on Wednesday then drove to an older section of St. Paul. The buildings and streets looked like it would take a small crew only a few hours work (mostly knocking down a few signs and newer “accessories”) to make the area look exactly like an old black and white photograph… the kind with an unsmiling but dapper guy with a mustache standing in front of his 37 Packard.

I found the cemetery and the office across the street, I got a map and a list of my buried relatives. I was worried about not being able to find any markers under the snow but the lady at the office pulled out this massive tome, flipped through its tattered brown pages filled with cursive lists and notes, and told me the plot I was looking for had an upright headstone.

I found it but couldn’t take a picture because the camera I had wouldn’t work in the cold. I did get a lot of info from the list but couldn’t verify any of the names or dates because the snow covered everything.

So now I had 2 hours until my plane took off. I was easily 20 minutes from the airport and I had to return the rental and check a suitcase.

But I hadn’t yet jogged.

So I parked on a sidestreet, changed in the back of the cramped compact , and hit the pavement. I turned around after 5 minutes to retrieve a scarf from my luggage… the 6 degree air felt like liquid nitrogen on my face and in my lungs but after 30 minutes, I was actually pretty hot. I had planned for the worst and had worn 2 layers of long johns… the regular thermal kind plus ones made out of something called “capilene” that I picked up at REI about 8 years ago for a camping trip out west.

I changed once again in the back and headed to the airport. I was checked in about 55 minutes hour before the flight and after getting through security and hoofing it to my gate, I had just enough time to wolf down a tuna sandwich and a tall Leinenkugel’s on draft before jumping on the plane.

Speaking of, one thing I like about the North is the preponderance of “old school” restaurants and bars. Whereas down in my neck of the woods, we have Ruby Tuesday’s, Arby’s, and Chipotle Grill’s, it seems like up there your always at some place that’s been there for 50 years, the waitresses have worked there all their lives, and everybody’s a regular.

Every place looks like Atkin’s Park, a bar that I frequented a lot in my early years in Atlanta.

And now… they’ve even taken THAT away from me!!!

Separated at hellish, vile inception?

On the left is the Dalek, a grotesque half-mutant/half-tank bent on universal conquest and domination.

On the right is the Peaceful Progression Wake Up Clock, a grotesque half-mutant/half-clock bent on universal conquest and domination.

To further it’s evil means, the Dalek employs a vast array of weaponry including jets of flesh-searing flame, a manipulator arm capable of crushing skulls, and (of course) a death ray.

The diabolical Peaceful Progression Wake Up Clock uses a “gradual increase in ambient light, stimulating aromas, and peaceful sounds from nature.” The fiend!!!

The Dalek can use it’s extraordinary powers to extract the brainwaves from a man's head, killing him in the process.

The Peaceful Progression Wake Up Clock “generates the sleeper’s choice of soft, yet lively nature sounds,” killing him in the process.

The Peaceful Progression Wake Up Clock:
“Sound selection includes Nightfall, Thunder Storm, Zen Melody, Mountain Stream, Songbirds, and Ocean Surf. Four packets of aroma beads (Energy, Morning Caf, Stress Relief, Lavender) are provided, as are 10 removable felt disks that can be placed in the aroma bowl which allow you to use your own aromatherapy oils.”

The Dalek:
"EX-TER-MI-NATE!"

Coincidence? I think not.

It was a bleak January day...

Two awesome Jack London stories:

"The Mexican" and "To Build a Fire" .

I'll be thinking of the 2nd when I jog in St. Paul, Minnesota, this week.

Once there was a piece of ham…

One of the institutions of my family that has continued since Liam was around 3 is the “hand story”. The hand story started out as a way to transition from reading Liam a book in bed to leaving him. Putting the book down and turning the lights off was initially a big deal so I would put my hands up as if I was reading a book and make up a story. Pretty soon, I could turn the lights off while doing this.

This soon became a bedtime requirement and after several years of telling every single children’s story I know as well as kid-ifying every movie I’ve ever seen including the Hobbit, the first two Star Wars movies (and I DON’T mean the new ones), and even the Terminator, it’s become pretty tough to come up with’em!

A running gag of mine that Liam hates is when he asks for a hand story, I pretend to think he said “ham” story and start in with “Once there was a piece of ham..”. He’ll wail and I’ll say “Ok, once there was a piece of cheese…”.

Liam: “No, no…a HAND story!”

Dad: “Oh, ok… once upon a time there was a hand…”

Liam: “No, not a story ABOUT a hand!”

Dad: “Oh, I see. Once there was a foot…”

Liam (getting very upset): “No!!! I hate this joke!!!”

Dad: “Ok, ok…. it’s ok, Liam. Here goes. Once there was a piece of ham…”

Liam: “AAAAAAGGGHHHHHH!!!!”

I started doing this with Erin aka “Goofball” and she turned it around on me like she always does and now she’s got me telling her stories about ham sandwiches!

Jim's musical oranges

When I was around 12, I liked the new single from Pink Floyd’s ”The Wall” that they were playing on KFI, the AM station in LA I listened to. You know, the one with the kids singing “We don’t want no education”. So I asked for the album for Christmas and got it. It totally freaked me out and I hid it away somewhere.

In 7th grade, at my first (and, as it turned out, the best) school dance, a guy mentioned to me that he liked “Van Halen” and “The Doors” only I thought he said “The Dwarves”… I had never heard of either. I became pretty good friends with that guy, Ken, in the next few years and he’d play them at his house and I remember being completely overcome by “The End” and especially “Eruption” leading into ”You Really Got Me” which continues to this day to be my #1 Wish I Saw it Live moments.

Although my late middle and high school years were the worst years for hard rock, I actually made it through the early 80’s with only two regrets:

#1) I was completely into Def Leppard’s “Pyromania”.

Although I can appreciate that they could sure pull off some catchy stuff… not an easy thing to do… I can’t listen to this album without thinking how horrible it is. It makes me cringe remembering drawing the cover of the album and all over my repetitive French homework.

I liked a lot of bands back then including Judas Priest and Motley Crue… I even had cut outs of Iron Maiden photos from Hit Parader magazine taped on my Pee-Chee folders... but the only music that I was really into and can’t look back on and think it was basically ok stuff (I only really got into the first album.for Motley Crue and stopped listening to Priest after “Screaming For Vengeance”) was Def Leppard. And, of course, they completely tanked after that.

#2) I was outside a sold-out Metallica show in Hollywood in 85 and didn’t buy an overpriced ticket to get in.

Metallica was my favorite band for years. I got into them when their second album came out. That and their first that I immediately bought were pretty much the only albums I listened to. Because of one semi-radio friendly song on “Ride the Lightning” that caused a lot of “sell out” buzz, I was worried that their third album was going to disappoint. I remember buying it song unheard and huddling down next to my Dad’s big stereo in a tall glass cabinet, giant Princess Leia headphones on my ears, and being completely blown away.

Anyway, back to the show I missed on the tour for “Lightning”. Two guys at school had tickets and asked me if I wanted to go. Not realizing how huge they were in LA, I figured I could get a ticket so me and another friend joined up.

We ended up hanging around outside, walking around downtown Hollywood.

A while ago, I found a guy on the net that had gone to the show and asked him how it was and this is the story he posted (I love the ending!):

I'll give you as many memories of the show as I can dish out.

We lived in Visalia, which is up by Fresno (I live in Texas now; was born & raised in L.A., I miss it!). We got the tickets from Ticketron WAY in advance, I just got my first car, and was the only one in my crew with wheels...one of my pals supplied the tix.

Dude, there was NO WAY you could have gotten in the show without tickets...it was CRAZY...you were at the building!!

Okay so we lived 4 hours from L.A. We left early and got there real early. There were 2 kids sitting outside the door, and they were punks. This was JUST after 'Kerrang!' ran pics of James (I will NOT call him "Jaymz") wearing the G.B.H shirt which started the crossover movement, so were were totally stoked seeing that the first 2 kids to camp in line had mohawks and were hardcore punks. I think one of them even had a Metallica patch on his ripped up bleached out vest. We just get into town and we're already PUMPED beyond belief.

So we're early, and the line isn't dangerously long yet so we decide to go sight seing. First stop is Randy Rhoads' mom's music school. Of course it was closed, but we pressed our faces against the window and saw some live pictures of Randy framed and sitting on the counter.

Next stop was the Rainbow Bar & Grill to see the tree that Randy & Vince Neil climbed one night while plastered. The only trees around were lightweight ornamental trees, I guess those had to be it. The Rainbow had a Rough Cutt ad billboard on it's roof.

We then went to British Imports, a place on Hollywood Blvd (I think) that carried all the spikes and leather gear. We saw that they were selling those black leather pieces that cover your wirst & top of your hand that Nikki Sixx used to wear that had red pentagrams & spikes. LOTS of rare shirts, and saw a huge Mercyful Fate Don't break the Oath decal, the kind you have to soak in water.

We just went up & down Hlywd Blvd & Sunset grabbing as much of those free porno newspapers and sight seeing till it was time to get in line.

Even just waiting in line was a MAJOR event. There were SO many Metallica addicts, ALL wearing shirts, which in itself was a MAJOR trip because the only way to get Metallica shirts at that time was to order them with the order form inside the album; you couldn't get them at the mall. The "Hollywood" sign was clearly visible from standing in line. Up drives a shitty old silver mazda station wagon, and James was in the passenger seat. He waved at the line and everyone went ape shit. I will ALWAYS remember how cool it was that he came to the gig in a cheap shitty car instead of a limo.

We were WAY ahead of everyone else in line so when they opened the doors we rushed to the front on the stage. Within like 20 minutes (still a long time before the show started I was CRUSHED against the barricade and I could feel damage to my ribs. I just convinced myself to stay at all costs and ignore the pain. I remembered those stories of those people geting trampled to death at those WHO concerts and thinking this is DEFINATELY a bad situation. It was rather horrifying.

ADAM BOMB comes out. Now, WHAT THEY F*CK they were doing there IN THE FIRST PLACE is totally beyond me. They stood for EVERYTHING Metallica was tearing down; hairspray, pink zebra stripes, weak pop-metal (glam wasn't developed yet..Hanoi Rocks had yet to surface in L.A.). They probably saw this show as a major development to their career because of the ENORMITY of it. Boy, were they in for a surprise. I thought there was gonna be a total RIOT! TONS of spitting, Adam Bomb himself had big lugees hanging from his hair. TONS of booing, yelling, and all kids of shit getting thrown at them. At this point I HAD to bail from the front, I could feel my chest giving out. I wasn't the only one...people were getting pulled out of the front by security, one even seemed to be injured or passed out. One of my crew said that Adam Bomb guy was actually crying when they walked off stage, but I didn't see it.

They turned off all the lights and started up the acoustic intro to "Fight Fire with Fire" (which I think was a tape) and the place absolutely FREAKED. When they started really playing FIGHT FIRE, the place just EXPLODED. It was like a fucking oil refinery blew up or something. There was SO MUCH violence erupting in the crowd, it was unbelieveable. Chaotic slam pits (no circle motion, just killing each other) broke out everywhere. I finally realized I could go over to the side (stage right) where Cliff was and see the entire band with no obstuctions at all. After FIRE they led into RIDE and then did For Whom the Bell Tolls, I'm pretty sure...when you heard FWTBT it was pretty early in the set, right? They were playing EVERYTHING. After I saw Cliff do the Anesthesia solo behind his head, I saw the corwd was breathing a little better so I made my way back to front on the other side, stage right where Kirk was, and met up with some of my crew. I stayed there till the end of the set, one of my guys had that WHIPLASH ep and he held it up and James saw us and did a "WHAT'S UP!!" type of head nod to us while he was playing. After the very last song, they walked off stage, but James didn't leave, he went to the drum riser, leaned his white flying v against it, turned toward the crowd & ran at full speed and did a front flip into the crowd. When they turned on the lights, there was devistation everywhere. There were dark corners where people were sprawled out and other people were nursing their wounds. I remember seeing one dude had on a WITCH shirt, it was red with the Witch logo in black (remember them, "The Hex is On").

Cliff had on a flannel shirt and some K-Mart tennis shoes, bell-bottom jeans, Aria Pro bass. James had no shirt, old jeans, white hi-tops, his white flying V. Kirk had a white T-shirt with a red anarchy sign and black letters that said ANARCHY on it, black vest, black pants, whie dress shoes like Randy Rhoads used to wear. We never saw Lars at ALL, he was buried in drums. One of my crew kept telling us he looked like he was struggeling to keep up with the fast hardcore songs; but I wont attest to this.

My crew met up with me and they wanted to get outta there, so we figured we should start driving home and catch Armored at another gig. On the way home, I fell asleep at the wheel and rolled my car. One of us got a head injury but luckily no one was killed. He never blamed me...he said the show was totally worth it. His parents insurance ended up suing my parents insurance, but he & I remained best friends.

Keep on rockin' in the free world, Garth.

Heavens to Mergatroid!

Speaking of cartoons, I got this for Christmas. I’ve always been much more of a Looney Tunes fan but the Hanna-Barbara repertoire had some standouts: the old Tom & Jerry toons and the Flintstones were great.

But ya gotta love the voices in almost all the comic H-B stuff: Snagglepuss "Exit, stage left!”, Yogi “I’m smarter than the average bear, Boo-boo!”, Droopy, WallyGator, etc., etc.

Writing this, I had always thought Tex Avery had been part of Hanna-Barbara, but Wikipedia has shown me the error of my ways. After quitting Warner Bros., he went to MGM. Hanna and Barbera came from GM as well so there IS a connection but I can't attribute the absolutely fantastic stuff by Tex Avery to H-B.

Check out this.

Bye-bye Flintmobile

Tonight, while Kerry and Erin were at IKEA, Liam and I went shopping because we were in charge of dinner… and the meal of choice? Yummy-yummy pizza and root beer floats!

Yummy-yummy pizza is what we call pizza you make at home with pizza dough mix and toppings which is, in our case, pepperoni, green olives, and mushrooms.

Anyway, I’ve always thought a daily multivitamin was a good hedge against any inadequacies in one’s diet so I picked up a bottle of Flintstone’s chewables for Liam. The kid basically lives off of PBJ and Kroger mac & cheese so a few extra vitamins and minerals can’t hurt.

Guess what? They got rid of the car! That was always my favorite when I was a kid! I would slide it around on my plate before munching it down. Apparently, there was some outcry a while back that Betty Rubble wasn’t included so around 1996 - wait a sec, I just found out that Rosie O’Donnell was the head loudmouth on this one.

KHANNNN!!!!!!!

XMAS XS again

As predicted here, Lego’s have become Liam’s next big thing. He’s had a pirate ship for a year and played with it but not ever as intensely as he does with whatever is his current obsession. He's also had a few little kits (a police boat, a fire truck, a Star Wars thing, and a small box of random pieces) but still… just a normal kid.

Then, the first three days we were at Syracuse for last Christmas, we hardly ever saw him as he worked on a pretty complex castle from the Harry Potter movie that his grandfather had got for him when he was born to keep in New York.

They had the movie up there on DVD and I kept trying to get him to watch it but he had no interest in it. He didn’t care about the characters or playing with the castle… he just loved building the thing.
Then, for Christmas, Santa got him a house and that’s what he worked on for the next day or so. When it was done, he immediately dismantled it and started on the town home version of it.

Although regarding toys, Erin typically seems to simultaneously want nothing in particular and everything in sight, for Christmas she did focus on a two-seat baby stroller for her various dolls (Holly and Peggy, to name a few) and teddy bears (mainly Will and Hunter). This thing was made by the same company that makes equipment for real infants and took about as long to put together.

She also got a high chair and a pack’n’play by said company.

And, although it took two attempts, Kerry actually managed to pack all the crap into the Odyssey for the 2-day drive home.

What it would sound like if the Swedish Chef accidently put his hand on a scalding hot pan:

DINGOLOTTO
KNORKFRAGGLAR
SNORKRAKA
KONDOMHERRE
TUPPJUCK
KNAPPGOK
SLICK FITTARE
NABBJOCKK

and my personal favorite...
RUMPETROLL

These are actual words I copied December 2005 from a restroom wall in a styrofoam plant in Sweden. All were very neatly written. There was also a definite list that included some of the above... I had to include this because of the Bjorn Borg:

RINGSKVEATTA
PUNGSVATTA
BJORN BORG
RUMPETROLL
TUPPJUCK

Hopefully, none of my thousands of Scandinavian friends out there are offended by this. I have no idea what they mean and can't find too much info on-line. I think TUPPJUCK may be a Swedish punk band and I have a few guesses on some of the others but to be honest, I don't really want to know.