Brrrr!!

The good news: they finally fixed the A/C at my office.

The bad news: some fucknut set the (locked) thermostat to 60 degrees!

Music Monday - Billy Joel

I know I've been gone a while.... hopefully people are still coming here to check out my blog. Things were just really crazy the last few weeks, with our kitchen remodeling, my parents visiting, and our scuba lessons. But hey, it's Music Monday, so let's get to the music!

Friday Jen and I went to see Billy Joel in DC. The show was amazing, as expected. I just wish I had been able to enjoy it more. The (drunk) couple in front of us insisted on turning around and talking to us between and even during songs. When they were in their seats, that is. Thankfully they spent more than half the concert out in the beer line or in the rest room. Explain to me why someone would spend $90+ each for concert tickets and then spend more than half their time standing in line to buy $7 beers?? Blows my mind.

Anyway, as for the show, Billy was in rare form. He had more energy than I have seen from him in a LONG time. He basically spent the last seven songs of his regular set running around the stage, playing guitar on a few numbers and twirling the mic stand like a color guard flag for the others. He even got up on top of the piano as it came up from its trap door -- although the days of one-handed round-offs off the piano are long gone. (I have a picture of that from 1990. I'll have to post it if I can find it.) I've read some reviews that say Billy has lost his spark. From what I saw Friday night, that is far from the truth. This was the 7th time I've seen Billy Joel in concert and this show was certainly as good as any I've seen.

I have also seen a lot of reviewers complain about Billy's shows being nothing but retread hits. I have to disagree with that too. You can see the set list from Friday's show here. At our show, Billy did four songs that I would consider at least somewhat obscure -- Everybody Loves You Now, Ballad of Billy the Kid, The Entertainer, and Zanzibar -- and there were a few others that haven't been heard in concert since the early 90's. The only complaint I have is that Billy played all four lesser-known songs within the first eight tunes of the show. I guess this makes sense from a sense of "building to climax" (a quote from Billy during Friday night's show), but I would have liked to see him mix them up a little bit more. At least then he would have kept everyone's attention through the first part of the show and given them a chance to hit the beer truck again later in the set.

I am a little bit jealous of the people who got to see some of the Philadelphia shows, like this one on March 13 where he threw in Vienna, Stiletto, All For Leyna, Captain Jack, The Night Is Still Young, and And So It Goes. But what did they lose? Everybody Loves You Now, New York State of Mind (gasp!), The Downeaster Alexa (a personal favorite), An Innocent Man, Goodnight Saigon, and I Go To Extremes (Double gasp! My all-time favorite live BJ song!). So I guess it was a good trade-off overall.

That being said, exactly what's wrong with Billy Joel playing a "greatest hits" show? I mean isn't that what the audience is paying for? Not everybody at a BJ show is a diehard fan or has seen him eight times like I have. They pay big bucks to hear the songs they hear on the radio or on their "Essential Billy Joel" CD. I've heard reviewers say "If I just want to hear his hits, I'll stay home and listen to the CD." That's ridiculous. People come to concerts to see and hear the hits played live. And even though I would have enjoyed hearing some of the more obscure songs, I know that would mean cutting one of the bigger hits and leaving even more people disappointed.

My Billy Joel shows (some dates are approximate):
12/17/89 - Spectrum, Philadelphia, PA
10/18/93 - US Air Arena, Landover, MD
7/9/94 - Veterans Stadium, Philadelphia, PA (with Elton John)
3/28/96 - master class at Penn State
2/6/98 - CoreStates Center, Philadelphia, PA
4/25/98 - MCI Center, Washington, DC
1/18/02 - MCI Center, Washington, DC (with Elton John)
4/14/06 - Verizon Center, Washington, DC

Honey, our breeding paid off!

One of the "perks" Jen and I used to joke about when we talked about having kids was having someone to do the chores. Well I never expected it to start this early! Last night LM helped me unload the dishwasher -- and I mean she actually helped! She stood there and (after I removed the sharp knives, of course) one at a time handed me every object from the lower rack, starting with the silverware, then the plates and pots and pans. It was AWESOME! Not just watching her have such a good time as daddy's little helper and how well-behaved she was, but I didn't have to bend over once!

Now if I could just get her to keep those swiffer pads on her shoes. :)

First words

Little Miss is now 14 1/2 months old and she's getting more vocal every day. Here are a few of her favorite words.

muh - more
bah - milk, or basically any food/drink. Also used in place of "more".
tata - thank you (This is the funniest one -- she's been on this kick of handing things to us lately, so we always say "thank you". Well now she says it back any time she hands me something!)
hada - hello (only said into the play telephone, of course)
ah - up
dah - her all-purpose word, but usually means "here" or "I want that".

She also knows her sign-language for "milk" and "more", although she uses "milk" to mean any sort of food or in place of "more". ("Milk" is a squeezing fist, kind of like milking a cow, while "more" is a motion kind of like stretching a piece of taffy. LM's version of "more" looks more like a sideways "time out" call or, if she's REALLY hungry, punching her palm.)

"Mama" and "dada" are still rarely heard. Oh well.

LinkedIn

Here's a cool site for you to check out called LinkedIn. You might remember the friend-of-a-friend sites from many years ago such as PlanetAll or Six Degrees? Well this is along the same lines, except more geared towards business networking.

WARNING: the site seems a little buggy to me. I had a lot of trouble searching for former co-workers, and the company keyword search would return employee listings with their title and company but no names. But it's still a fun way to put together a collection of friends and colleagues by email addresses and then see how many people you are connected to through 2 or 3 degrees of separation.

If you join and would like to be linked to me, you can invite me at my gmail address and then I'll add you from my primary email address. (Eventually I'm gonna have to drop this anonymity charade.)

Friday Funnies (rated R)

I thought of this joke yesterday while listening to the radio. Yes, it's an original. It's also fictitious and not based on any actual person or body part. :)

---

My penis is like a lite beer on a hot day -- won't fill you up, but still satisfying!

American Idol finals week 2

Unfortunately IdolGoHome has been down for a few weeks due to hackers and other technical problems, and I am suffering from AI blogging withdrawal, so I'll have to make a post here instead.

Hallelujah! Last night's elimination show has restored my faith in humanity. We can finally say goodbye to Kevin "Chicken Little" Covais! I am so glad to see that America finally came to its collective senses and got rid of this doofus. Sure, he's a sweet kid, but C'MON! *I* freakin sing better than him! Just selecting him for the top 24 was a cruel joke... letting him make the top 12 was just plain sad. Unfortunately the crop of guys this year was really weak in general. So I guess when you're faced with 9 mediocre talents and 3 superstars and you have to pick 6 to go on, it's not that surprising that two of the worst (Kevin and Bucky) went on while the "average" singers went home.

Anyway, last night America got it exactly right. The bottom three were Kevin, Bucky, and Lisa Tucker, in that order. I actually thought Lisa might be the one to go home, due to the "sympathy vote" and the support from VoteForTheWorst.com for Kevin, and I know there are a lot of rednecks out there who like Bucky's southern rock. But these three are clearly the weakest singers of the group and have been since the round of 24 started. Hopefully America will continue to vote this way and we'll get this thing down to the eight truly talented singers... and THEN we'll have a competition.

Of course all this did bring up some thoughts of conspiracy theories. I mean last week Ace Young (the pre-season pick to win it all) was in the bottom three along with Lisa and Melissa "Bellybutton" McGhee. Ace was safe for another week... but could it have been a ploy by AI producers to stir up controversy and get people to vote more often? Perhaps they were irritated that Kevin Covais had made it this far and threw Ace in the bottom three to increase viewer voting and help counteract the VoteForTheWorst.com voting block? Since Fox doesn't release voting totals, we'll never know. Of course DialIdol.com did predict (based on measuring busy signals) that Ace would be in the bottom three. Although their order prediction wasn't right, it does seem to support the results as shown on TV. (If DialIdol had shown him in the top 6, then we'd have a controversy!)

Of course one could also argue the opposite conspiracy theory -- that Fox intentionally kept Kevin around for another week just to stir up controversy and outrage fans of the other singers. Could that be possible? DialIdol's predictions seem to support that theory, as they put Kevin in the bottom three last week. Hmmmm....

But I guess it doesn't matter now. Kevin was voted off last night and all is right with the world again... at least until next Wednesday!

Fake Rake

Importance of Your Blog's Name

Looks like I've found my new favorite blog!

Weekend rant - the pledge

Hi all! Sorry for my long absence and for my general lack of posts over the past few weeks. Anyway, "let's get back to the action" as they say! I have a lot on my mind and it's time to start sharing some of these rants I've wanted to share for a while.

Last week I got a forwarded email from a friend of mine that really got under my skin. Now keep in mind that my friend is a blue-collar rural redneck with a high school education, so this is the kind of narrow-minded blather I would expect from her. What really surprised me, though, was her reaction when I tried to share my point of view with her. But hey, if she doesn't want to hear what I have to say, maybe you do.

Anyway, the email I received was titled Proud American (actually, it was titled "pROUD aMERICAN"). It started with the Pledge of Allegiance, with the line "one nation under God" underlined... so I already knew where this email was headed. Following the pledge was the following text:

I was asked to send this on if I agree or delete if I don't. It is said that 86% of Americans believe in God. Therefore I have a very hard time understanding why there is such a problem in having "In God We Trust" on our money and having "God" in the Pledge of Allegiance.

I won't quote it exactly, but the reply I sent to my friend went something like this:

First of all, America was founded on the principles of freedom of religion and more importantly, freedom from forced religion and freedom from persecution for your religious beliefs. This protection extends even to those who choose to practice no religion. 86% of Americans may believe in God but that leaves 14% of Americans whose religious views are basically ignored. Also, keep in mind that only 32% of the world is Christian. [I thought I had read 10% once, but I just double-checked that figure.] The phrase "under God" may seem harmless, but to Wiccans, Buddhists, and some other religions (not to mention atheists), it is a statement that cannot be said without directly conflicting with their own views.

Some people say that the pledge should be optional and that if you don't want to say "under God" then you don't have to. But keep in mind the words that surround that phrase -- "one nation ... indivisible". Dividing classrooms into those that say the pledge and those that don't -- "believers" and "non-believers" -- goes directly against the basic philosophy of the pledge, not to mention makes kids feel like they are "different" or "outcasts".

The thing to remember is that while the founding fathers may have been religious men, they founded this country on the principle of religious FREEDOM. I'm sure if they knew how we have incorporated our Judeo-Christian belief in one God into our schools, money, and other government-run facets of our lives, they would be rolling over in their graves.

A sad day

My wife's grandmother passed away this morning. Please keep her and my wife in your thoughts today.

Friday Funnies - Man humor

You've probably seen the first part of this before but it's funny (and true) enough to read again. (I've also inserted my own comments.) After the list are a few jokes I heard at work recently. (Liz, you can probably guess who they came from!)

The Guys' Rules

We always hear "the rules" from the female side. Now here are the rules from the male side. These are our rules!
Please note.. These are all numbered "1" ON PURPOSE!

1. Men ARE not mind readers.

1. Learn to work the toilet seat. You're a big girl. If it's up, put it down. We need it up, you need it down. You don't hear us complaining about you leaving it down.

1. Sunday sports. It's like the full moon or the changing of the tides. Let it be.

1. Shopping is NOT a sport. And no, we are never going to think of it that way.

1. Crying is blackmail.

1. Ask for what you want.
Let us be clear on this one:
Subtle hints do not work!
Strong hints do not work!
Obvious hints do not work!
Just say it!
(This is one my wife needs to work on!)

1. Yes and No are perfectly acceptable answers to almost every question.
(I'm not exactly sure what the author means here. Does this mean that women should accept a yes/no answer as an acceptable answer from a man? Or does it mean that it's ok for women to stick to yes/no and not bore us to death with the details? Or perhaps it means that when you ask a question, be willing to accept either "yes" or "no" as an answer (i.e. "Could you take out the garbage?"). Maybe it's all of the above!)

1. Come to us with a problem only If you want help solving it. That's what we do. Sympathy is what your girlfriends are for.
(Another one my wife needs to take to heart!)

1. A headache that lasts for 17 months is a problem. See a doctor.

1. Anything we said 6 months ago is inadmissible in an argument. In fact, all comments become null and void after 7 Days.
(I like this one!)

1. If you won't dress like the Victoria's Secret girls, don't expect us to act like soap opera guys.
(Or romantic movie guys.)

1. If you think you're fat, you probably are. Don't ask us.
(See #1 below... er... well you'll figure out which one I mean!)

1. If something we said can be interpreted two ways and one of the ways makes you sad or angry, we meant the other one.
(I like this one too!)

1. You can either ask us to do something or tell us how you want it done. Not both. If you already know best how to do it, just do it yourself.
(Of course the second half of the sentence renders the first half moot.)

1. Whenever possible, please say whatever you have to say during commercials.

1. Christopher Columbus did NOT need directions and neither do we.
(Um, yeah, and he ended up in America instead of India. Probably not the best example, dumbass!)

1. ALL men see in only 16 colors, like Windows default settings. Peach, for example, is a fruit, not a color. Pumpkin is also a fruit. We have no idea what mauve is.

1. If it itches, it will be scratched. We do that.

1. If we ask what is wrong and you say "nothing," we will act like nothing's wrong. We know you are lying, but it is just not worth the hassle.

1. If you ask a question you don't want an answer to, expect an answer you don't want to hear.
(Too true! This is the '#1' I referred to earlier.)

1. When we have to go somewhere, absolutely anything you wear is fine... really.
(I don't really agree with this one. It depends on where we're going. But I'm sure the author meant that you don't need to spend an hour "getting ready" to go to the grocery store!)

1. Don't ask us what we're thinking about unless you are prepared to discuss such topics as baseball, the shotgun formation, or golf.
(Or sex. Or cars. Or... did I say sex?)

1. You have enough clothes.
(Unless you are my wife... then it's "You have enough Land's End clothes.")

1. You have too many shoes.
(Unless you are my wife... then it's "You have too many shoes without heels.")

1. I am in shape. Round IS a shape!

1. Thank you for reading this. Yes, I know, I have to sleep on the couch tonight; but did you know men really don't mind that? It's like camping.

_____________________

What's the difference between a wife and a job?
After five years, the job still sucks!

What's the difference between a wife and an airplane?
When you land in the Bahamas, the plane stops whining!

Tears and tantrums

Our poor baby... she's been having quite a rough time the past week or so. And the worst part is, we can't seem to figure out what the problem is. Actually, I think the cause of the problem keeps changing.

Last weekend (a week and a half ago), LM was quite cranky. She seemed to have a lot of gas and wasn't eating well. She didn't have a BM at all on Saturday but she also didn't eat much solid food so I wasn't worried, and Sunday she had a normal BM. She had a low fever Saturday but felt fine on Sunday, so Monday she went to daycare. Well, turns out daycare had a run of rotovirus going around and LM was one of only 2 or 3 kids in that day... and they ended up sending her home anyway because of diarrhea. In the evening she'd be happy one minute and screaming for no apparent reason the next, so we eventually chalked it up to either teething or gas/upset stomach/other symptoms from the rotovirus. We continued to send her to daycare that week because she always seemed fine to us in the morning, plus she wasn't pooping at home so we didn't know if she still had diarrhea or not. Daycare said she was pretty cranky Tuesday and Wednesday, but she seemed to be back to herself by Thursday.

Unfortunately the screaming fits didn't stop completely. She may have been doing better at daycare, but Friday night she started the screaming fits again. LM didn't want to eat or take a bottle, or chew on anything for her teeth, and this time the tylenol and anbesol didn't help, so we suspected gas. By Saturday it became clear that she was constipated... then Saturday afternoon she finally passed a HUGE (adult-sized) rock-hard BM. Poor baby! She immediately stopped crying and then slept for another hour, so we thought we might be able to go out to dinner. Bad choice. She ate ravenously for the first 10 minutes we were there, but once she was full the screaming started again (just as we got our salads), so I took LM out to the car to let Jen and her aunt eat their steaks, until Aunt T came out to take over for me.

Sunday LM had another screaming fit and then passed some more hard poop, so we thought for sure that this would be the end of the screaming fits, but it wasn't. Last night (Monday), LM fell asleep on her way home from daycare (as she often does), and I carried her inside and she slept for about a half hour. I was sure she'd be hungry when she woke up, but as soon as I put her in her high chair she started kicking and screaming and flailing, and absolutely refused to eat or drink anything, including goldfish (her favorite). She also refused to be held or consoled. The only way I managed to get her to eat anything was while she was running around, I was able to get her to take a few spoonfuls of peaches -- when I tried again with the bottle, she started screaming again. I eventually had no choice but to leave her lying flat on her back in "snow angel position" on the kitchen floor, crying. Of course after a few minutes, the crying stopped just as suddenly as it had started and LM popped up and came trotting over to play with her toys.

At this point I felt I really needed to get her in to the doctor and see if we could figure out exactly what was wrong with her. Was it something we missed, like an ear infection or some other infection or gastrointestinal issue, or was it just teething or more constipation? I managed to get the last appointment for the night, at 8:50pm. Jen got home from class around 7:45 and tried feeding LM again, and again she had a screaming fit but this time with two of us I was able to get some anbesol on her new tooth and that seemed to do the trick. Jen was finally able to get her to sit still long enough to eat half a Graduates chicken stew, and she continued to munch on goldfish until the doctor's appointment.

By 8:50pm LM seemed like the happiest girl you've ever met, running around the exam room exploring the heater, the magazines, and everything else. I'm sure it makes the doctor's exam go a lot smoother, but it also makes her parents look like total loons. The doctor ruled out an ear infection but she did notice a big blood blister between the cusps of LM's newest tooth (her first molar), so I'm pretty sure that's the cause of her latest distress. It's just been so tough because she doesn't want to chew on any teethers. And if I knew for sure that's what was bothering her, it would be a lot easier to deal with the screaming because at least we could try to treat the root of the problem -- plus we'd have something to tell daycare when they tell me she was cranky or wasn't herself and they make it sound like she's coming down with something.

Visited States

As seen at Mystery Mommy and just about everywhere else.



create your own visited states map
or check out these Google Hacks.

Yet another reason I love Google

Today I discovered another reason I love Google (besides being a great search engine, a fairly good free email service, and of course the parent company of Blogger).

I signed up for AdSense for one of my websites. When I logged in to my account to agree to the ToS, there at the top of the page was a box that said:

Updated - We have made revisions to this agreement in the following sections: 1, 2, 4, 5, 6, 8, 9, 11, 12, 13, 15.

HALLELUJAH! Why can't all companies make things this simple and actually point out WHICH sections have changed? That way I might actually read those sections instead of just skipping the whole thing and blindly clicking "accept".

Whatever happened to soap commercials?

Yesterday in the shower, it dawned on me that it's been years since I remember seeing a soap commercial on prime-time TV. What happened to them all? Are they still shown during daytime tv, or have the companies simply given up on TV advertising? Come to think of it, how many of these soaps even exist anymore?

Here are a few of the ads I remember. Feel free to add any others!

Zest - You're not fully clean unless you're zestfully clean

Safeguard - The smallest soap in the house

Coast - The eye opener

Irish Spring - Fresh and *cat call* clean as a whistle

Dial - Aren't you glad you used Dial? Don't you wish everyone did?

Ivory - So pure, it floats!

Apparently all these soaps do still exist, so what happened to the commercials?

Friday Funnies - Cheney's got a gun

Thanks to my wife for sending me this Cheney's Got a Gun parody! (mp3 format) I've seen better lyrics, but this is the only recording I've found.

If you have the time and want a good laugh, check out the first 10 minutes from Monday's Daily Show. (Sorry, it won't let me link directly to the video clip.)

The biggest tragedy in all of this is that Cheney wasn't hunting with George W. A man can dream....

Where did the week go?

Wow... I haven't made an entry since last Monday. Where did the week go? Well, last week I was busy making plans for LM's birthday party, now that my parents are back from Spain.... but then my attention shifted to the weather forecast. And we ended up with a foot of snow, which meant my mom's two sisters and their families couldn't come down from Philly, and only one couple out of the 13 people we invited for the "friends party" actually showed up. My parents came down and brought my grandfather along, but he ended up in the hospital Saturday with a urinary tract infection and dehydration.

Then yesterday I had a root canal, and this morning I finally got to the dermatologist to have him look at a mole or sunspot or whatever you want to call it on my arm, which of course he decided should be removed and sent for a biopsy. Suddenly I feel quite old.

Music Monday

OK, fine, so it's Tuesday already... well I'll just fudge the date and you'll never know. :)

Last week I talked about an unsigned singer/songwriter Harry Francis that I've been a fan of for 12 years. Today I want to share another band that I have a personal connection to, although this band is in a VERY differeng genre!

While I was at Penn State, I took an electronic music class as part of my Integrative Arts (aka "the build-your-own-major major") curriculum. The class covered all sorts of electronic music topics but focused mostly on MIDI synthesizers and computer-based sequencing software. Also in my class was a guy named Chris Sevanik. Chris was already an electronic music composer in his own right, and had some techno/electronica songs that he had composed and sequenced on his Ensoniq ESQ-1 that he wanted to record to tape. Since my area of interest was recording, we teamed up for our final project and I helped him mix and record his songs.

Anyway... in addition to his techno stuff, Chris was also in an industrial band with his brother, Jason. The band was called Mindless Faith, and they'd occasionally get airplay on the weekend "local music" show or on the late-night hard rock show. Well believe it or not, 10 years later Mindless Faith is still performing and recording new albums! In fact much many of their songs have been featured on MTV's "Road Rules", and they have appeared on at least 16 international compilation albums!

In addition to their own music, Mindless Faith has also gotten into remixing other artists' songs. Specifically, they recently won a Nine Inch Nails remix contest with their remix of 'Only'. Now THAT's impressive!

Anyway, it's been years since I've seen Chris but I'm thrilled to see that Mindless Faith has enjoyed so much success, both with their original music and with their remixes. Hopefully I will get to see them the next time they are in DC!

We've created a monster!

Little Miss had her one year exam last Wednesday (1 year and 10 days old). Here are her vital stats:
Height: 30.5" (90%)
Weight: 23 lbs 5 oz (80%)
Head: 17.75" (55%)

In addition to being so tall, I think she's always looked older than her age because her head is so small in proportion to her body, which makes her look less like a big-headed baby and more like a "little person".

Fives Meme

Remove the blog in the top spot from the following list and bump everyone up one place. Then add your blog to the bottom slot, like so.
1) Overread
2) BrightStar
3) dr four eyes
4) Mystery Mommy
5) MusicLover Marc

Next select five people to tag:
1) ParkHopper
2) MommyGoth
3) My wife. Yes, she has a blog. But I won't link to her because she links to her homepage, which would blow my anonymity. :)
4) Um... I don't read any other blogs on a regular basis! So anyone else who would like to, feel free to tag yourself!

What were you doing 10 years ago?
February 1996: Let's see... I was working at Penn State full-time, subletting an apartment while my girlfriend (later to become my wife) was an hour away at Penn State - Altoona.

What were you doing 1 year ago?
A year ago? My daughter was 10 days old, so it's kind of a blur.

Five snacks you enjoy:
1) Doritos used to be my #1 until they changed the flavor again. Now it's gotta be Tostitos.
2) Popcorn
3) Lightly-salted dry roasted peanuts
4) Homemade chex mix (we call it "nuts and bolts")
5) Oreos

Five songs to which you know all the lyrics:
1) I Know a Chicken (and most other songs from Jack's Big Music Show)
2) Just about every Billy Joel song
3) The Star Spangled Banner (unlike most people)
4) Moondance (which I sang to my wife once)
5) See #2

Five things you would do if you were a millionaire:
A million doesn't go far, so let's assume lottery-type winnings.
1) Buy a huge house somewhere outside of the DC metro area (otherwise there wouldn't be anything left!), probably somewhere warmer in the winter and cooler in the summer.
2) Open a recording studio (or buy one).
3) Take a two-week trip to Hawaii (flying first class, of course!)
4) FINALLY get a Corvette
5) Stop collecting 1/18 scale pace cars and start collecting the real thing!

Five bad habits:
1) Biting my fingernails
2) Procrastinating
3) Messiness
4) My short temper/blaming my wife for everything
5) Watching too much tv

Five things you like doing:
1) Watching tv
2) Sunbathing, swimming, sailing, scuba diving... basically any activity that takes place in the tropics
3) Is this a family show? :)
4) "Driving around with the car top down and the radio on"
5) Going to concerts

Five things you would never wear again:
That's a tough one... I'm a guy, so there's not much I've worn that I would be embarrassed by. So I guess I'll say...
1) My Members Only jacket (not like I actually have it anymore)
2) My high school band jacket (which I DO still own)
3) The light-up sun visor that I bought at Disney World
4) Any sort of sun visor, for that matter
5) Long hair (although if I HAD hair, I might consider it)

Five favorite toys:
1) My GPS
2) My telescope
3) My Mustang convertible
4) My HDTV and DVR
5) Card games