Christmas and stuff

Had a pretty good Christmas. Got a bunch of cool stuff... Mars Volta shirt, DVD's, gift cards... The kids liked everything Santa got them. Still need to go through the old stuff to make room for the new in their rooms.

I got a movie called Serenity on DVD. Awesome flick! I highly recommend it to any one who is a fan of science fiction or the show Firefly (it's based on this show) Kind of a more mature version of Star Wars... No goofy creatures... I also got 40 year old virgin and Fire in the Sky. Tracy got a bunch also so we have a lot of movie watching to do.

I ended up having the entire week off with the kids which was good. They behaved for the most part. The usual issues with them fighting and not listening... Just have to keep telling myself patience and consistency!!! Easier to yell and give them what they want so they'll shut up. But we're pretty good about it most of the time. As far as our kids go, I've seen worse.

Almost pulled it off

The Magic actually played a very close game against the 3rd best in the league, the Dallas Mavs. Went into overtime and got killed by Dirk... Good game though.

Going to a Christmas party at my sisters tonight. The kids will get their first gifts of the season. Yes, they end up having Christmas 3 times with all the different family we have to see. The big one of course is on Christmas here at the house. I fell we did pretty good this year. We didn't spoil them too much... Almost done with shopping. I still have to take the kids shopping for Mom, and I'm done.

Magic losing streak - Recording the band

Magic lose their fifth consecutive game. This time is was to the Bulls. A better team than the Magic without Grant Hill. SteveO was back but didn't do much... Howard had 17 points and 17 rebounds!! This guy is going to be good... We went to the Spurs Magic game on Monday, and they another loss as I predicted, but we did have a good time. The kids really enjoyed it. It was a pretty close game for the first three quarters, but Tim Duncan killed us in the 4th.

Last night we were able to finish the latest song we've been working on, and do a little recording. I setup mics around the room, and at the snare and bass drum. I really need to go direct from my amp and hook Eric up with a 57 directional. Other than that, the recordings came out decent. We were able to get through 2 of 3 songs without any major mistakes. One really good thing that came out of this is that I figured out why the PA was sounding like shit for the past few weeks. A few weeks ago we connected a CD player to the PA so we can listen to music after practice while we BS and drink a few beers... The CD player sounds great going through the PA, but the vocals were muddy and low volume. Last night I disconnected the CD player while we were recording. The vocals were loud and clear. The CD player must have been drawing power from the amp. Nice to know... So I finally have a good recording with vocals that we can hear.

This is really cool: Pandora

You can create your own radio station. Just type in a band or song you like, based on this it will start playing songs that are similar to what you typed in. It works great... I've discovered tons of new music this way. If it plays a song you don't like, just click on it and select "I don't like it" it's pretty amazing...

Free Saturday

The kids ended up spending the night at their Grandparents house on Saturday night, so Tracy and I had a night off. We went to Mimis for dinner, and caught a movie, the Ice Harvest afterward. Mimis is a really good place for dinner or breakfast. It's always pretty crowded. I got the Pasta Jambalaya, and Tracy got the Chicken Pot Pie. Both were very good... Made the movie just in time for the previews. The movie was pretty funny. You have to enjoy dark comedy's to like this one. I'd give it 3 out of 5.

Tonight we're taking the kids to the Magic game. They're playing the Spurs (lat years champs) and the Magic may be missing a few key players due to injuries, so it will more than likely be a loss. Should still be fun...

B-day

Cant believe I'm 38! We had a pretty good night last night. Went to the Outback for dinner, then just hung out at the house and drank Beer... Eric bought me a 6 of Shipyards Pumkinhead which was very good as expected. Got a decent steak at the Outback along with a couple of Fosters. I'm convinced that the Outback in Altamonte is WAY better than the one in Sanford that cant even cook at med rare steak properly. Everytime we've gone there they've screwed up my steak, and you don't want them taking it back because you'll have to wait another half hour to get your dinner. Anyway, it was a good experience this time. Tracy got me Orlando Magic tix for the game on Monday against the Spurs. The whole family's going. We're sitting in the lower section of the area which is really cool. And she got tickets for the Magic vs the Nuggets of our anniversary... My Wife is awesome!!!

Thanksgiving

Made my first Turkey... I cooked it until the breast was 170, and the dark meat 180. The breast meat was done fist so I took it out and carved it, popped the rest back in for a few more minutes. The biggest mistake that people make is overcooking the breast meat. It's going to be dry if it gets over 180 unless you brine it overnight before cooking. Next time that's what I'll do. 1/2 cup of salt, 1/2 cup of brown sugar per gallon of water.

Had a nice 4 day weekend, got to watch some good basketball games. The Magic have won 3 in a row!! They beat the Miami Heat on Saturday. The Heat is comprised of mostly all-starts this year, that makes this win better than the others this season. The Magic were not supposed to win this one. We should have a pretty decent team when Grant comes back...

This just in: Naked prowler shot in genitals with Taser by deputies near Fort Myers Beach!!

I love the Orlando Sentinel...

Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire

I took my Daughter and her friend to see the new Harry Potter film last night. Some friends of mine that saw the movie said that they didn't like the scene transitions. One review I read says that the Director "jams sequences together like bricks of LEGO" I didn't really notice it. Maybe that's because I didn't read the book. Not sure... This movies is definitely the most mature of the bunch, and way more intense than any of the others. Way scarier... The Dragon was awesome!! I recommend seeing this in the theater is possible.

Thanksgiving at my place this year. Got about 12 people coming over, got an 18 lb Turkey. I hope that's going to be big enough... Should be fun. I figure that I'll do a lot of drinking and eating, watch some Football... after cooking of course.

Magic play the CAVS tonight

Fran Vazquez over Sean May was not a great move by the Magic. Now some say that Fran may never play in the NBA due to his contract with his team in Spain. Sean May would have greatly improved this team. Really bad decision, but there's nothing anyone can do to correct it. So tonight they play in Cleveland against one of the better teams in the NBA. They almost beat em here in Orlando the last time they played so they have a chance...

De-Loused in the Comatorium

Eric made me a copy of this last week, I haven't stopped listening to it since.(I will buy this one) This is an amazing record, as good as Frances the Mute... Flea on Bass is a bonus... The music is pretty complicated, but still has emotion, not just a bunch of robots or mindless showoffs. They play with lots of soul. This is modern day Progressive Rock at its best. You can hear Yes, crimson, Pink Floyd(sound effects), Rush, Santana, Zep... But they definitely have their own style that sets them apart.

Also been listening to the Cream BBC sessions. We're going to do a cover of Outside Woman Blues. Cant wait to jam on that. We'll surely try to add our own touch... Man, these guy really knew how to jam. I'm really impressed with the performances on this CD. Jack Bruce rules! The announcer on the CD is pretty funny: Now get ready all you crazy groovy cats out there... It's THE CREAM!!

Band update: Been working hard at getting songs written. We have 4 done, and at least another 4 in the works. I will be recording us for demo purposes within a couple of weeks. So, I should be able to email the mp3's out to friends or post them here somehow. I would like to see what people think of it. Band name of the week: Heavy High!! Too stoner rock sounding? It's actually a setting on Matt's clothes dryer. He thought it sounded cool. I'm ok with it... I really don't care as long as it's not something completely retarded like W.Breakneck...

Magic now 2-3

What a sloppy game last night... I think they turned the ball over 20 times or more... It's amazing they were able to pull it off. I really like that they're focusing on defense this year. Holding teams under 85 points per game. This is the way to go when you only have a few players that can score consistently. Frances and Howard are doing great although I'd like to see Howard grow up a bit, stop smiling so much, get more aggressive... So at this point we're missing a few key players. We need a GOOD veteran center\power forward to teach Howard. He really dosen't have a good mentor on the team to go to for advice. Overall, I'm much happier with the team we have this season. I don't know how far they'll go, but at least they have the drive to win games, and keep other teams from scoring easily against them.

TMac is out again with back spasms!! This makes the trade that we made a year ago look really good.

Introducing Audio Hole!!

This was taken at a Halloween party at my place last weekend. Chris added the background. I'll post more pics from the party later.

Allen Iverson talks about the new NBA dress code

When he heard last week that a dress code was imminent, he told the Philadelphia Daily News: "It sends a bad message to kids. If you don't have a suit on when you go to school, is the teacher going to think you're a bad kid?"

Wilma: Strongest Atlantic storm ever recorded

Yikes!! Ok, so I never got the Generator that Tracy said we should get and I don't think I'm going to run out and get one now. Just have to hope that this one doesn't do what Charley did. This is the same path they said it would take, it took a turn to the north and ended up hitting us... hope that cold front doesn't stall...

Messed around with the Drum samples last night, and did a little recording with Sonar. I have to play with it a lot more to get it down. The levels are all over the place for some reason, but so far I like it more than I thought I would. I really should be using a better machine to do this stuff.

First practice with the Jazz Bass

I used the Jazz Bass last nigh at practice, sounds awesome through the GK and 410… The 2-15 cab is down right now, not sure what the hell is wrong with it, but I’ll need to get that worked on soon. We worked on something new as soon as we get there last night. That seems to work well. I think going through the set first burns us out, and we’re less likely to work on new stuff later in the evening. We completed it and are just waiting for Matt to lay down some vocals. Pretty rockin tune…

In a couple of weeks I’m going to record our stuff and try to post it. My neighbor does web hosting, and I think he’d be willing to give me some space for mp3’s of the band. The weather was really nice last night, we didn’t sweat our asses off for the first time in a while. It’s supposed to cool down significantly this weekend. I’m ready for it…

It was one year ago today...

I started my blog on Oct 13th 2004. First post was Orlando Magic pre-season Basketball... It's that time again and they're winning this time! No games on TV just like last year, no synchronized horse swimming either...

Looking though my old posts, memories good and bad: Sold a house, homeless for a couple of months, bought another one finally, MELVINS join with Jello Biafra, HOW TO TELL IF YOUR PROSTITUTE IS AN EXTRATERRESTRIAL, Bigfoot video (sucked), I'm keeping your poop!!! James gets a roach stuck in his ear and has to have it removed by a Dr at the ER, pictures of food, fishing trip, new amp, new Bass Guitar...

Best picture goes to:



Discovered some good music in the past year old and new: Mastodon, High on Fire, Clutch, Dandy Warhols, Elliott Smith, Orange Goblin, Lamb of God...

Special thanks to the 5 people that actually read this crap sometimes: Geoff, Jamie, Chris, Billy, and my Wife...Oh and the Go to this site MAKE MONEY NOW guy, and Bill T...

Finally!!!

Went down to Sam Ash last night after work, and bought the J Bass. Same price as on-line except I had to pay tax on it. No big deal. I compared it to the American Standard, and the Geddy Lee. Didn’t like the Geddy Lee much, but the American played nice. I went back and forth with the American and Mexican, and couldn’t really tell the difference... Asked the salesman’s opinion: do you want a Bass that was made in Mexico by Mexicans or do you want a Bass made in the USA by Mexicans? HAHA!! He has both at home and he says that he cant tell the difference either. There are some differences after reading the specs. The American has a Graphite Reinforced Neck, different Pickups and Bridge (Strings-Thru-Body) That’s pretty much it. Same wood, I can always swap out the Bridge and Pickup later when I have the money.

Cancelled order

Got another email on Saturday stating that the J Bass will be there by the 23rd. This is the 3rd time they changed it on me so I told them to forget it... Going down to Sam Ash after work to check our one that they're holding for me. Same price, just have to add tax, but dont have to pay shipping or wait for it.

J Bass on order

The pickguard came yesterday... Alright Ezra-music!! but no J-Bass from music123. So I emailed them again. First time they said that it would be in from Fender before the 1st. Now they're saying it's going to be there by the 13th. Bull Shit man!! I called the Sales team today instead of customer server, and that pretty much said that this happens sometimes, and that they are at the mercy of Fender, whenever they send the next shipment is when they'll get it... So he check with Fender who was waiting for a shipment as well. They just got a big shipment in, and they'll be sending the stuff out soon. So I have at least another week unless they decided to send it overnight because I had to wait so long. Dont think so... No biggie, I have two others to choose from.

FOOD!!!

Yes I take pictures of food sometimes, Tracy thinks it's funny...

Still eating the fish leftover from the deep sea trip. I did this with a Beer batter and deep fried it:


BBQ Chicken and Zucchini:

Elixir Acoustic Giutar strings with Polyweb coating

Where the hell have I been?? I never hear of these things until last week when I went to Sam Ash looking for strings for the Acoustic. I went with 10's, but should have gone a little heavier. But man these things are smooth sound great... I was so inspired that I wrote a song, lyrics and all. I'll try to record it this weekend. Oh, I watched the Martin Scorsese documentary on Bob Dylan Monday, No Direction Home. Missed part two on Tuesday... I think a friend of mine recorded it. I ripped a copy of the Essential Bob Dylan from a friend but it doesnt have a lot of stuff off the first two records for some reason... That's some of his best stuff in my opinion.

Next week off

I had to take next week off because the kids don't have school and all the day cares are full or really expensive. So I was trying to think of stuff we can do during the week. Movies!! We can go see Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit!! Shit, it doesn't open here until the 7th. Started looking on movies.com for other kids movies that are playing. The only one is that Penguin movie. Most reviews are pretty good, a couple of mixed.

One mixed review from the The Village Voice:

The Central Park Zoo is cheaper, you can walk away from the penguins after 10 minutes, and it has snow monkeys and beer.

Get a flight to NY, stay for the week, take the kids to look at snow monkeys and drink beer. Not a bad idea at all. Not going to happen, but it would be fun to take them up there this time of the year. I'm thinking Science Center, Movie?, Park, Fishing, pizza, video games. That should take care of a couple of days anyway.

Rediscovering Maiden...

Steve Harris was one of my biggest influences as a kid. I really think it shows in my style today, not that I'm even close to this guy as far as talent goes... This and Piece of Mind are the two best Maiden records with Bruce. I really don't care for anything after Powerslave at all. And of course the first two studio records are classics.

The day is dragging

Wow, it's only 3:00 seems like it should be at least 5:00 Another killer storm out in the gulf is heading towards TX this time and tons of people have been in traffic jams for hours without any movement at all. I really feel bad for them. That would really suck having to leave your home and most of your things behind...Better than staying behind though. These type types of disasters really show how unprepared we are to Handel these sorts of things. But then again, is there a better way to handle something as unpredictable as a hurricane? Don't know...

I'm practicing for the first time tonight with the new amp. This is the real test to see how it keeps up with the Rectifier and the pounding drums... Man, It's taking forever to write this, it's 4:00 now!! Busy working on important stuff. I have to remind myself that WHAT I DO MATTERS. Anyway, the status is still Processing for the Jazz Bass. Maybe a couple of weeks because it has to come from Fender. Think I may have found the Pickguard that I wanted for it on ebay. 24$ Not a bad price. Got to get going.

My amp should come today!!

It's on a truck in Orlando. After work I'm taking it up to the warehouse to check it out with the Ric. I'm sure it will sound great...

The Jazz Bass is on order from Fender and may take a couple of weeks to get here. That gives me some time to find the Tortoise Shell Pickguard that I want.

Bass Pod

Picked up a Bass Pod at Sam Ash yesterday for $299.00. Messed around with it for a while last night. This is primarily for practicing at home, but I've discovered some uses for it at practice with the band as well. The amp modeling is really cool. Here's a list of amps cabinets and effects:

Amps Based On*:
Acoustic 360
Aguilar DB750
Alembic F-2B
Ampeg SVT
Ampeg B-15
Eden Traveller WT-300
Fender Bassman Combo
Fender Bassman Head
Fender Dual Showman
GK 800 RB
Hiwatt DR-103
Hiwatt 200DR
Marshall Major
Marshall Super Bass
Mesa Boogie Bass 400+
Polytone Minibrute
Sunn Coliseum
SWR SM-500
Versatone Pan-O-Flex
Vox AC100
Line 6 Sub Dub
...and more!

Cabs Based On*:
1x12 Euphonics CXL-112L
1x12 Versatone Pan-O-Flex
1x15 Ampeg B-15
1x15 SWR Big Ben
1x15 Polytone Minibrute
1x18 Acoustic 360
1x18 Mesa Boogie
1x18+12 Sunn Coliseum
2x10 Ashdown ABM 210T
2x15 Fender Dual Showman D130F
2x15 Mesa Boogie
2x15 Vox
4x10 Bassman Combo w/ new spkrs
4x10 Fender Bassman Combo
4x10 Eden David
4x10 Hartke 410
4x10+Horn SWR Goliath
4x12 Hiwatt Bass Cab
4x12 Marshall Basketweave
4x12 Marshall Basketweave 2
4x15 Marshall Major
8x10 Ampeg SVT

Effects Based On*:
Mu-Tron III
Arbiter Fuzz Face
Big Muff Pi
Ibanez TS-808 Tube Screamer
ProCo Rat
Tycobrahe Octavia
MXR Dynacomp
Boss CS-1
Boss CE-1
A/DA Flanger
MXR Phase 90
Uni-Vibe
Fender amp tremolo
Vox amp tremolo
Fender Vibratone
Boss DM-2
EH Deluxe Memory Man
Maestro EP-1
Roland RE-101 Space Echo
...and more!

All the amps and cabs have pretty different sounds. I was messing with the syth effects as well. Pretty fun, but nothing I would use. I dont think...

When connected to a PC it becomes a selectable audio device from within the software you're using. Recording with this thing is going to be awesome.

Going with a GK again

The RB400 lasted 15 plus years, so I figure I can't go wrong. Over 400 watts!!

GK 700RB-II Bass Head

Bass Pod, new Bass, new Guitar on hold...

Half way through a song last night my amp started working at about 50%, after changing cables, moving things around, I finally got it back, but not for long. Looks like I'll be shopping for an amp. This will set me back on all other spending for about a year. I may still look into a Pod XT if I can get one cheap enough, but the guitars are out of the question. It really sucks, but there's not a whole lot I can do. I will be upgrading as well, so it's not so bad. At least my sound will improve. NEED MORE POWER.... The GK has been good to me, but for the past couple of years it has been problematic. I think I've had it for close to 15 years. Time for a change. The challenge is what to buy. What will go good with my Hartke 4-10, and Acoustic 2-15?? I'll definitely check out Ampeg, SWR, and GK for sure. Maybe Saturday...

Haunted Sushi

These people are crazy! They can make a fortune off this place.
Haunted Sushi story

Ernie Ball Super Slinky

Got to remember this. These strings are perfect for the Ric: Ernie Ball Super Slinky size 45 65 80 100. Hell of a lot brighter than the flats I had before and easier to play. Now I'll actually use the damn thing. I'm watching a couple of ebay auctions, looking for a Bass Pod XT. This would be great for practicing at home with head phones, and I can use it as an effects processor at practice. The USB I/O is a plus also. Not that I would use a lot of effects, but the EQ and modeling may be useful. I'm hoping to can get a used one for around $200. The Musicman is next, need to change the battery, re-string it, and fix the jack again...

Elliott Smith

Been listening to From a Basement on the Hill recently. I've had a copy for a while, but didn't listen to it a lot at first, now I can't stop playing it. Why are all the good writers dead? Anyway, this is a very good record. The production was a problem on some of his early releases, but it is perfect on this one. Favorites: Kings Crossing, Pretty (Ugly Before) and Memory Lane. My favorite Smith song is still Clementine off the first one. I don't think there's a bad song on this CD... Although some took a couple of listens to catch on. You can really hear the Beatles influence on this one. Lots of good mellow acoustic stuff, and a good amount of wall of sound guitar tunes.

Need some more new stuff to listen to. Any suggestions?

Roach in ear

A friend of mine told me that he woke up at about 3am this morning screaming. A roach crawled into his ear, and would not come out. He tried to pull it out with his fingers, but it just kept going deeper and deeper into his ear. He tried water, tweezers, nothing worked. He had his roommate take him to the ER, the Dr removed it without any major problems. The Dr told him that this happens a lot. He's remove about 50 bugs from peoples ears. I called my wife and told her about it. Her response: "That's not supposed to happen"

Hurricane Katrina

I would hate to live in New Orleans right now. It's really hard to say how bad it will be for them because the media always hypes stuff, but I imagine it's going to be pretty serious. This thing has the strength of Charley, but larger... It's much better watching from a distance. I really need to purchase a generator just in case we end up getting another one.

Anyway, this weekend we took a bunch of stuff over to Tracy's Moms house for a Garage sale. Selling one of the kids beds, a dresser, and a bunch of toys... I had to make several trips to get everything over there. 15 miles one way...

Sunday: Busy day for me. Tracy went out the night before and didn't get home until reallly late, so I knew she would be sleeping in the next day. I had to mow the yard, go to the grocery store, grill for the little get together we were planning, all in 4 hours time... and I did. Got everything done with plenty of time to spare. I did chicken and veggies on the grill, had a few beers, and relaxed the rest of the evening. Tracy did most of the cleanup, the part I hate the most.

Starting to get some rain and wind

Really bad weather right now. They're expecting up to 12 inches of rain in the central Fl area over the next couple of days. Better than a direct hit.

Giant Monkey Ghost Kills 3rd Victim

A few hundred miles to the north east, a maniacal monkey man continues to terrorize the Indian capital, New Delhi.

This week the Associated Press reported, "Mass hysteria is sweeping across India's capital after reports of a super-powered monkey man, with hairy body and sharp metal claws, attacking people as they sleep on their roofs in the sweltering heat."

Over 100 people claim to have been injured by this elusive phantom (50 of them last Monday night during a power outage), some claiming that the beast has the ability to turn invisible and leap six stories in a single bound.

"It has three buttons on its chest. One makes it turn into a monkey, the second gives it extra strength, the third makes it invisible," said Kumari, a housemaid. "But he is afraid of the light."

Witnesses descriptions vary absurdly, but most agree that the attacker about 4 ft. tall, with a dark face and large eyes, sharp, metal claws, a humanoid body, and he wears a helmet or a mask. Others claim they saw it jumping down several stories after the attacks.

In the frenzy, three people have died, the latest being Ram Prakash of Shakurpur who jumped from the roof of his home yesterday screaming, "The monkey has come!"

Vigilantes in the streets, who often mistake wild monkeys, dogs and anything that moves for the ironclad supermonster, accidentally beat two people returning home late at night.

The authorities, are struggling to maintain order amid the hysteria and have dispatched approximately 1,000 police officers into the streets, to calm the citizens' fears.

Been busy

Haven't been blogging a lot. Too much going on at home and work. Had a busy weekend as usual. Yard work, and cleaning out the Garage. Tracy went out shopping with a friend of hers on Sunday, and I recruited the kids to help me with the Garage. They were surprisingly happy to help. They lost interest about a half hour into it as expected. But I finished itÂ… you can actually pull a car in now!! Next project is TeraÂ’s room. WeÂ’re having furniture delivered in a couple of weeks, so I need to get in there and take her bed apart to get rid of it. Fun...

Good band practice last week. Got a couple of new ideas that we've been working on. I hope to get seven songs or so done by October. That's my goal, and I think we can do it. We've been getting back in the flow of things as far as song writing goes so I think it's possible.

Chris went to Winn Dixie to check out the big sale!!!

http://www.livejournal.com/users/nimicohgr/23253.html

Searching for Rob on goggle

He either works for Access Control Technologies in Orlando or owns the Lucky Lure Cricket Farm in Leesburg.

Pieces of Pieces

Going through the CD's that Geoff sent. Dating all the way back to 1985... Pieces of Pieces is kind of a greatest hits of all the old stuff we used to play in our band Pieces. Geoff, Rob, and I had a blast, but never played out anywhere. Frogskin Condom, punk version of American Girl, Super cool jams and more... I keep forgetting to bring the CD's to work so I can go through them all on head phones while I work. I listened to some stuff that Geoff and I recorded back when we were like 17 maybe. I had a strong NY accent, and higher pitch. My Wife and I cracking up! Geoff’s radio show question "What kind of a person would buy a brown car"

Birthay party and Beach

Saturday was Kaley's B-day party. Made lots of food, have lots of leftovers. John and his family came over. We didn't get a chance to listen to the old LLB stuff the Geoff sent. He'll get his copy soon I'm sure. I only invited the family to this one. My family is so big that I wouldn’t have room for them and friends. Drank a few beers and let the kids run around. John's hot dog sauce or Greek sauce or Bruce sauce, whatever you want to call it is really good. He's going to serve it at the sub shop they open. I'm sure people will go crazy over it. We ate it with Bratwurst.

We went to the Beach on Sunday with Bryan, and his wife Laura and kid. We tried fishing, but the kids were too distracting. So we ended up entertaining them most of the time which was fun. The Wives did their part as well. So it was a pretty full weekend.

I am going to try to get a good copy of some of the new stuff we've been doing in the band. I'm going to bring some extra mic’s so we can use the 8 track, and maybe keep it hooked up if we can get a burner for the warehouse. Next this is web space to share this stuff. Working on something now. I'll let everyone know if it comes together.

Got some time to kill?

http://justcurio.us/

Birthday Bear and Sabbath.

Yesterday was Kaley’s B-day so we went to the Mall after work to take her to Build A Bear. She decided to build a bunny. She got to pick from 20 or so animals to stuff (you stuff yourself) pick out a outfit, shoes… She had a great time, and it was under 50$. She named her bunny Kayla ??? Having the official party on Saturday. Bruce is brining is famous hotdog sauce, Percy will be there too.

I’m listening to Wheels of Confusion off Vol4, at the “Lost in the wheels of confusion” part. I remember listening this when I was like 9 or 10. My friend Billy and I used to walk around the neighborhood cranking this stuff all the time... The good old days.

Bill T sent this to me today - Amazon reviews

Funny Amazon reviews

School traffic really sucks

We went to pick up our kids from school yesterday and waited in a line for an hour! This morning when I dropped them off it wasn’t that bad, but it still took 30 minutes. I think I got the easy job of dropping them off, Tracy has to pick them up each afternoon, hopefully it will get better. They told us that the first week of school is always really bad.

I really need a 4 door truck, this 2 door crap isn’t working for me. It’s a real pain for the kids to get in and out. I’m thinking about trading my Tahoe in for a newer model Jeep Cherokee or something similar. Maybe I'll stop at Carmax one of these days to see what kind of trade in value my truck has.

BCBR show. Cleaning out my closet...

Woman sues video game manufacturer

Guess it’s okay for this woman’s 14 year old to go around shooting people, killing police officers, selling drugs, stealing cars…but God forbid he sees SEX! What the hell is wrong with these people! Who the hell in their right mind would buy this game for their teenager? I'm thinking that sex should be the least of her worries.

Wal-Mart, Target Best Buy, and Circuit City have pulled the game from their shelves. In other words they feel that killing is okay, but sex is BAD!! What the fuck is this world coming to?

Go get em Hillary!!

City of Sanford Grounds Maintenance dept.

Picture of me and the guys on the crew. Early 90's?

Megajerk

David Mustaine sues for use of name without permission

Fishing trip 7-23-05

Friday night, Bryan and Steve crashed at my place. Drank a few beers, caught a buzz off the Dramamine. Got up at 4:00 am, and drove out to Ponce Inlet, and of course the exit we were supposed to get off on was closed, we had to call the guy that hooked us up with the trip for alternate directions. Got there just after 6:00a am. Very nice Boat, the Captain built it himself!

We took off and went to a spot where we caught bait (small mackerel) Bryan got a hook through his finger, they had to push it through and cut it. He was ok, wish I took a picture of that. 2 hour and 20 min boat ride to the fishing spot. A 50 mile trip I think… We started off drawing number from a hat since there were six of us fishing, and max of 4 could fish at a time, but even that would be pushing it. So we started off with 2 at first. Bryan was 1, Steve was 3 and I was 5. Bryan hooked the 1st of his 4 right away, a huge Leather Jack!(Amber Jack) As you can see from the pics below, it isn’t an easy task. Then Steve got his 1st of 3 fish, another Leather Jack… my turn, I missed a few, then they stop biting… We go to another spot, and I finally get my 1st fish of 2, another Leather Jack. We stayed there for a while taking turns catching mostly Leather Jack, Mike the Snap-On tool guy caught a huge one that damn near killed him! He was wiped out after that one. Then Steve hooked into something real big, took at long time to real it in, it ended up being the catch of the day. A 38 pound Red Snapper! Awesome fish! I’ve never seen anything like that in person. I want one… We then went to another spot, caught a couple of Scamp Grouper(I think) and that was pretty much the day. 14 fish total - 310 pounds!!

We headed back, drank lots of beer and talked on the trip back to the dock. The Captain cleaned the fish when we got back, we separated it, and headed home. I cooked up some of the Leather Jack, came out great. I Fried some on Sunday night, and cooked some on the grill last night. I never had it before, great tasting fish.

Fishing trip:

Great day today. We got lots of Amber Jack, two Red Snapper, one of them was 38 pounds! As seen in the pic above, two Grouper... 14 fish, a total of 310 pounds of fish.

Getting better!

EAST CENTRAL FLORIDA COASTAL WATERS FORECAST
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MELBOURNE FL
414 PM EDT FRI JUL 22 2005

SOUTHWEST WINDS 5 TO 10 KNOTS. SEAS 2 TO 3 FEET.
INTRACOASTAL WATERS A LIGHT CHOP. SCATTERED SHOWERS AND
THUNDERSTORMS THROUGH THE DAY.

Let's see if this changes later in the day - hope not.

There's a Tropical storm out there, hard to believe that it wont have an affect on our trip.

EAST CENTRAL FLORIDA COASTAL WATERS FORECAST
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MELBOURNE FL
431 AM EDT FRI JUL 22 2005

Saturday:

Southwest winds 5 knots becoming onshore 5 to 10 knots in the afternoon. Seas 3 feet mainly in an east swell. Intracoastal waters a light chop. Scattered showers and thunderstorms.

Fishing trip this weekend...

Fishing trip planned for this weekend. Hopefully this one wont get cancelled. So far everything looks good. We have a tropical depression out in the Atlantic, but it looks like it will pretty far away from us. We’re heading out of Ponce Inlet around 50 miles I think… They told me to check out the 20 mile buoy forecast to see what the weather and seas will be. Looks like 2 to 3. if that’s correct, we should have an awesome day. Hopefully I’ll have lots of pictures to post on Sunday or Monday.

Tom Cruise kills Oprah!

tom cruise.mov

BCBR 1992?

Looking through old pictures last night. I only have two BCBR pics of live stuff. This is from the Afghan Whigs show at the Beach Club, I think... Oh, and our singer does have two arms.

From left: Joe Fitzpatrick, Joe Turse, Me, John Citrone.

eat mowing wash clean

Loads of fun this weekend. Cut the grass on Saturday. What a pain in the ass. Very wet and high. I didn't get started until 11:00 or so. because Chris and I want to an all you can eat breakfast bar, bad idea... Temp in the 90's. I can normally cut the front, and back without stopping. Not this time. I felt like I was going to pass out by the time I reached the back yard. I stopped for about 20 minutes to catch my breath and lower my body temp. That helped a lot, 10 minutes later I was in the same boat... and the temp was climbing. I'm sure we ended up in the upper 90's in the shade. You gotta love Fla!! We finished watching Friday the 13th later that day. It's been so long since I've seen it that I really didn't remember how it ended. Oh, and Kevin Bacon gets it in the throat.

Sunday - we got up eat breakfast, got in our bathing suites and washed the cars with Kaley. We made it fun for her. She didn't want to stop. OK the car is really clean Kaley... Made some burgers on the grill, drank a few beers. Miller Lite, nothing fancy this time. Oh, not sure if I blogged about this yet, but I tried the Dogfish Import Ale. Yuk! Not good at all. Had a weird oak smoked & vanilla flavor to it. Way too sweet for me. I drank the whole thing, but forced myself to do it. It did get slightly better as it sat, maybe around 57 degrees. My friend Steve agrees. I’ve had Dogfish before, and it was great. It’s just the Import Ale that I don’t like.

It's Frday

Friday!!

Can’t wait to get the weekend started. No plans or anything just can’t wait to get away from work for a couple of days. We’ve been really busy which is good, but stressful. The one thing that I have to do this weekend is cut the grass. I'ts been two weeks since I cut it last. I can't catch a break from the rain. Everyday in the afternoon, last weekend it rained off and on both days. Needless to say, it's pretty high.

We practiced last night. Started off with the originals, then went through all the covers. Everything sounded great. Things are really coming along. My finger was fine the entire time we were playing. I guess I just needed to work it out, and some of these tunes are pretty challenging, that helps. So I’m guessing it’s not arthritis, maybe tendonitis? It isn’t really bothering me now.

ROCK STAR: INXS
http://www.cbs.com/primetime/rock_star/

Has anyone seen this crap yet? What a freaking joke!! ROCK? These are the people that were too old to get on American Idol. They should just called it POP STAR. And INXS is not a band I think of when I hear the word Rock… do these people really want to be the lead sing for INXS? What has INXS been doing the last 6 years? And what the hell is Dave Navarro doing there? I have lots of questions. You have to be pretty desperate to get out there on national TV and kiss the ass of a washed up band. I’ve been playing and writing music for a long time now, ever since I was a kid. I think I reached a point in my life around the age of 28, where making it big (whatever that may be) was not as important as playing the music you really love… at this stage in the game, there’s no way I would compromise. I’d rather be playing in a warehouse sweating my ass off playing and making music that I love with my friends than play some crap to impress a record co rep. I guess it’s got a lot to do with what kind of music you like. If you like the stuff they’re playing on the radio today, then go for it. Since I hate most popular music, not all of it, but most, I could never get a record contract with a major label without making some big changes to what we’re doing. Enough of that.

NO Shuttle launch

And I was looking forward to it. Not that it had anything to do with it, but you have to wonder why they picked 3:30 for launch time. This is Florida and that it prime time for T storms.

Been emailing back and forth will my friend Billy. He picked up the Guitar, and is almost back to where he was about 10 years ago. Not bad for just a few months of playing. He says that he’s been jamming on old Beatles stuff (not that there’s any new Beatles stuff) and practicing every night. I’m really glad to hear that. He and I grew up together and started playing at the same time. He was good back then, and I’m sure he’ll just get better from here on.

I got a meeting to attend :(

Headphones

You can listen to the entire CD here: http://www.purevolume.com/headphones

I think I like this... No Guitars :( all synth with live drums... but good.

Eggplant rules!

Made some Eggplant parm last night. Came out awesome!! My first time making it. Even the kids liked it... I used the bottled sauce, Prego. I prefer my home made, but don’t have the time to make it. I used the Vigo Italian style bread crumbs with Romano cheese, and fried them in olive oil. So easy to make. I’m going to start posting recipes up here soon, a good way of keeping track of em.

Did some shrimp on the grill on Sunday. The only thing I would do differently is NOT put salt in the marinade… maybe do a little oil and some spices next time.

Been having a hard time playing bass. I think I’m developing Arthritis in my index finger… kind of comes and goes thankfully. I’m going to try lighter strings next time. It makes playing the Rick almost impossible... I’ve been using the Musicman when playing with the band… speaking of the band, I need to get some of last weeks tunes converted to mp3 for Bryan. We want to try recording ideas at practice then I would email the recordings to the others so we can at least hear them during the week, and try to work them out in our heads. But this requires me to do a little extra work…I keep forgetting to do it.

The St Bernardus Experience

I figured out why the monk on the bottle looks so happy. HE’S SMASHED OUT OF HIS FUCKING MIND!! This stuff will mess you up for real. There was a review I read somewhere warning you to set a side a few hours if you’re planning on trying this beer. There’s a good reason for that. It really makes you drunk. You’ll end up doing stupid stuff like taking pictures of your beer...

So they say that you should drink it around 52 to 56 degrees. I would say that it was best around 58. When I poured the fist glass, it was around 49, and had a very bitter, alcohol taste to it, but very clean. as it warmed up, the taste was much smoother, and still very clean. I think the clean finish is due to the alcohol content...10% Oh, and The first glass is mostly foam. This happened to Bill also, so I'm assuming that's normal. This beer can also help you get through bad movies, and actually enjoy them. Johnny English was hysterical!! I laughed my ass off!!

I would give it an 8 out of 10. It’s a great experience.

Plans for tonight - lets hear it for the Monks!!

Some St Bernardus and hotdogs... And some Dogfish Import Ale. Not sure about the hotdogs, but I will be drinking some beer. I haven't tried the St Bernardus yet, but my friend Bill says it's awesome. He got it at Big C on University and Dean Rd. They have over 400 imports, and are very knowledgeable.

No Kayaking this weekend due to Dennis. I was supposed to head out to the no motor zone with a friend, but I don't think it's a good idea at this point. They don't expect it to hit us, but it's so large that we will be getting rain and some wind... Some storms could be pretty heavy.

Cheers!!

Good practice again

Finished a song and added a new one. Needs work, but sounds good so far. The covers sounded really good last night. Guess it helps not playing them for a couple of weeks... I'm anxious to play out again. It's been like 5 years or something, at the rate we're going, it will be another 5 years before we do so again. I hope not. I need to be able to find time at home to write, then just organize it at the warehouse with the guys. Gets harder the older I get with all my other responsiblities. Same with the other guys. As long as it remains fun, I'm okay with whatever.

Lots of drinking and food

Went to Robs on Sunday, and Timmy's on Monday. Sunday was great for the kids because of the pool. Had some great pork tenderloin, pulled pork, and shrimp grilled with custom marinades made by Rob and Eric. They did a fantastic job... Oh, and lots of beer and stuff. Tracy drove Dave, the kids and I there and back (good thing) Dave had to leave his car at my place, and have someone pick him up:)

Went to Timmy's the next night for more of the same. Food, drinking, and fireworks. mostly Burgers and Dogs, but good. Amazing fireworks, like $1400 worth of stuff. Both my kids still have their fingers. No major casualties unless something happened after we left, very possible. It rained for a little bit, one cop showed up but never got out of the car.

No work til Tuesday!!

I’m off today, Saturday, Sunday and Monday for the 4th.

Tera and I got up this morning and went to Cracker Barrel for breakfast, then Wekiva Springs State Park. The water was very high with all the rain we’ve been getting. It was freezing too... After swimming, we walked down a few trails, didn’t see much wildlife, but it was nice anyway. Beautiful park, and only a 10 minute drive from our house.

Big weekend planned, at least Sunday and Monday. Sunday, a friend of mine is having a pool party \ barbeque. Most of the band should be there. Then Monday my nephew Timmy is having a cookout \ fireworks display. Should be pretty fun. I hope Tracy’s back holds up, she’s been having serious spasms in her lower back, but the Dr thinks that it’s all muscular and not due to the bulging disk. That’s good news. oh and Saturday, mow the yard...

Weekend

We actually had a baby sitter for Saturday night, so Tracy and I took advantage and went out for the night. We headed down the HOB Orlando for dinner and whatever. The food there is really, really good. I had a burger, and Tracy had a Pizza of all things, both were amazingly good. And the price wasn’t too bad either. With drinks we got out of there for under $40. I wanted to try to see a show while we were there, but it was a punk show of bands I never heard of and all teenagers waiting to get in... Guess I’m getting old. And unfortunately, when I hear punk rock these days, I think of Green Day, Sum 41?, and Blink 182. Not Punk, more like Pop… or are the two the same these days? Anyway we ended up walking around for a while then heading home. The next day we went to pick up the kids at their Grandparents house, went swimming, cooked some stuff on the grill. The kids had a blast in the pool. And they went to see a movie (Madagascar) the night before so they couldn't complain, but they did anyway... spoiled.

Later that day, I decided I needed another grill, and bought a charcoal one this time. Real cheap, under $20, I’m sure will last many years or months for that price. Took forever to assemble… It was a project that was fun for the whole family, and the kids did help. The Chicken came out awesome, real smoky flavor. Then we let the kids roast Marshmallows when we were finished with dinner. I learned that you really need to keep an eye on the Marshmallows, or the kids will just start eating them out of the bag. Kaley could have potentially eaten 10 or more. All that sugar is a bad thing when it gets to be bed time. Overall, a pretty good weekend.

CD from Geoff came in the mail

Judas Priest
Lamb of God
Love Battery
Mark Sandman
Motorhead
Mudhoney
PJ Havey
Strapping Young Lad
Supersuckers
The Mooney Suzuki

Can only play them in ITunes though, all MPEG-4, but that's okay. I need to mess around with it a little more. Got through one of the Supersuckers, great title: Motherfuckers Be Trippin' and some of the Motorhead. Good stuff. Thanks man!!

Last night

We went to Bayridge Sushi in Longwood last night before seeing the movie. Bill and Chris got the all you can eat deal for $20. I got the Maki Combo $10. It comes with California roll, tuna roll, and spicy tuna roll I think, anyway it’s plenty of food. I wish I would have gotten the all you can eat for the variety if anything. Some of the stuff Chris, and Bill got looked really good. They said the eel was awesome… We drink a Kirin and a Sapporo both good the Sapporo was better. Not a bad price, and the place was pretty nice inside. This place used to be a Fazoli's back in the day, the bathroom is still painted the colors of the Italian flag.

The movie: Not sure really what to say about it. I think I need to see it again, and not sit so close to the screen, we were in the like the 5th row or something. It seems like they tried to cram a lot of stuff into two hours. There were some great action scenes, and special effects. It was much darker than the previous Batman movies, and true to the comic book, not sure of the League of Shadows part though. I don’t remember that from the books, but it has been a long time since I’ve read them. Overall it was a good movie. The next one should be better now that they got origins stuff out of the way.

Sushi then Batman

Bill, Chris and I are going out after work to dinner, then going to see the new Batman movie. We're still undecided on where to eat, so far Sushi is winning, but due to diets and stuff, we may need to do something else instead. Right now I’m Listening to Gov't Mule – Dose. What a great CD, I think this may be in my top 10 of all time.

While I’m on the subject:

GOV'T MULE @ JONES BEACH PRE-SALE
Gov't Mule will be playing with Trey Anastasio @ Jones Beach on Saturday August 6th. Tickets go on sale through Ticketmaster on Saturday, June 25th, but you can get first shot at great seats on Monday June 20th at 10AM through http://www.muleticketing.musictoday.com

We’re going to be doing a cover of a song off Dose called Larger than Life. Matt really liked this song, and asked that we learn it. Pretty easy song, but fun to play as all of their stuff is. I really want to get these originals down though more than anything.

I sure jump around a lot.

House pics

Here are some pics of the house that we bought in Altamonte Springs. These pictures were taken when we first moved in. We've done some work to it since then like painting and decorating, but for the most part it not much has changed.

Family room.

Family room \ Dining room

Kitchen

Living room - used by the kids most of the time. We've done a few things to it since taking this picture, I think it looks much nicer now.

Fathers Day

Pretty good day. Started with opening a present from my kids and Wife. They got me a cooler with a built in radio. They made it like a treasure hunt, I had to follow instructions on pieces of paper with clues on where to look next until I got to the place where they were hiding the present. Tracy says that it was Tera’s idea. Should be great for fishing \ beach trips. A very original idea. Tera and I made breakfast, then we let Kaley and her friend play in the slip and slide for a while. Sat around the rest of the day and watched TV. Then we went to Bubbalou's Barbeque on 436 in Altamonte. Horrible! I've had it before when they catered a work event and it was bad then, but everyone kept telling me that it's much better when you eat there. They were wrong. Tracy got sick from it... The meat is way too smokey, and the fries are way too salty. The kids liked it because there was a toy train running though the place, the tracks are on the ceiling. It kept Kaley entertained. And the got free snow-cones. We went home after that, I drink a beer, and feel a sleep watching the NBA finals game 5. San Antonio won in overtime! Good game and a good day overall.

Band practice last night

We got so much accomplished last night at practice. We got 3 songs pretty much done, and stated a new one. Bryan couldn’t make it so no drums, but that was alright, it gave us a chance to sit down and really take our time mapping parts out and working on transitions. We’re kind of heading in the direction of blues rock metal band. Nothing wrong with that… I played some of the High on Fire stuff for Matt and Eric when we were finishing up. They thought it was awesome. Eric said that he read good things about the guitarist before. (who actually plays solos) The Face of Oblivion is my favorite on Blessed Black Wings. They’re all good songs that one just stands out for some reason.

High On Fire

I was talking to my friend Geoff last night on the phone, and of course we started discussing bands and how the radio is really un-listenable anymore. He told me to check out High on Fire. So I ended up downloading Surrounded By Thieves off Newsgroups. Great stuff and heavy as hell - Melvins meets Neurosis meets Motorhead. I've already listened to Surrounded By Thieves three times. So when I got to work this morning I jumped on ITunes and grabbed Blessed Black Wings. Much better quality recording, and a better record all together.

So Geoff If you read this, excellent recommendation!! And don’t worry about burning me a copy. But I'll take a copy of some of the other stuff you told me about.

HOT AS HELL!!!!

It’s about 90 in my cubicle today. The AC has been broken all week, and it somehow got worse last night. They brought us a fan to make us more comfortable, but it’s not making much of a difference… It’s funny that I’m bitching about being hot and how I shouldn’t have to work in these conditions when I used to do landscaping for a living. In thoses days, I was paid to work conditions that were way worse than this.

Sounds of the Underground

Clutch, Gwar, Lamb of God, and many, many more. Sounds of the Underground Tour
$27.00 on 7-12 at Tinker Field.

You really can’t beat that price. A lot better then the $60 or more that you pay to go to OzzFest, and it's here in Orlando. I'll have to talk some of my friends into going. I haven't been to an outdoor show since OzzFest in '97 for Black Sabbath's first farewell tour...

New Star Wars movie

Visually entertaining, but that's about it. Darth Vader looked stupid. I laughed out loud when they showed him for the fist time... Tracy fell asleep. I can't complain too much, it was free.

Another boycott

After declaring victory over Walt Disney Co., Christian activists are now going after Ford Motor Co. Can’t these people focus their energy on something more important than going after homosexuals? Help the homeless, feed starving children...

Entire story

Star Wars: Episode III tonight!!

Star Wars Episode III tonight!!

My company is taking us all to see Star Wars tonight. Bill T and his Wife are going to meet Tracy and I for Dinner before the show, it starts at 10:00 so we'll have penty of time to grab a bite and chat for a while. Should be fun...

Band and drinking practice last night

Can’t find Busch Light in cans anywhere!!! What the hell is up with that? And the 7-11 by my house doesn’t sell Busch Light at all anymore. I had to drink Bud Light last night instead.

Anyway, kick ass practice last night! Eric showed up with his new baby, a black 2003 Les Pal Standard. Good thing it sounds awesome, it got him into some hot water with the Wife, she didn’t talk to him for a week…She just doesn’t understand, $1300 is a fuckin steal… It has a ding on the body, there’s no reason to fix it, I think it kind of gives it character.

We started off with a few covers, then worked on one of the untitled new songs. I really like what we did with it, it seemed like it was going nowhere until last night. We changed the verse to make it less busy, and added a long jam at the end for Eric to solo over. Bryan and I did some really cool off-beat (Drums and Bass) crazy stuff to it. Thankfully, I had the 8 track recorder with me, and was able to record everything we did. I can’t wait to listen to it. I have to figure out a way to get this stuff off the recorder and on the computer so I can burn it.

Another cool thing that happened was that Roger from the other band (Suburban Lockdown) threw out the other two bands that practice there. So now we SHOULD have plenty of room, it’s so tight in there now, you can barley move without knocking something over. Rent is going up $10 a month per person, but it’s worth it.

Run for your lives!! I hope this isn't true.

World record Catfish - Good Eating?

Mississippi river Fish fry

Yes it true, our beloved world record Catfish has died at age 30. I wonder if they'll eat him. Why souldn't they. He would have wanted it that way... I'm sure of it.

World record Catfish

Man pulls in a 124 pound Blue Catfish from the Mississippi River. They kept it alive and will be on display at the Cabela's Outfitter store in Kansas City, Kan

Christian group ends Disney boycott

Victory!!

A Christian group ended a 9 year boycott of Walt Disney Co. They claim that they have too many other issues to deal with. They didn't mention what these other issues are, but I imagine they probably have something to do with Witches, Homosexuals and Heavy Metal music. You know, real important stuff.

Even though Disney has reported higher earnings since the boycott, the nation's largest Protestant denomination says that they will declare a victory and move on.

Guitar lessons

I started giving my oldest Daughter guitar lessons about two years ago, but it was pretty difficult because her fingers were so short. She couldn't play most of the major chords so I ended up teaching her Iron Man and Smoke on the Water on one string, just to get her interested. So now she's 10, and I decided it was time to pick it back up again. I taught her the G and D chords and had her practice changing between the two over and over last night. She's did well. Tonight I'll show her a couple more chords and a major scale.

Priests and weirdo’s

Tracy and I went to the beach on Thursday. Nice day but, no fish again. I had quite a few bites though. Anyway, I was hanging out down by the shore watching my line, and an Asia guy comes walking up to me. He asked me if I was an expert fisherman, I lied and said yes. I gave him a few pointers on surf fishing. He then returned back to the people he was with. I noticed that the other two guys he was with were not his age, and not Asian. Weird combination of people. So he came up to me again later in the day to ask if I caught anything, and started asking me questions like where are you from, do you have kids, how many, are you married. So, I finally asked him where he was from and why he was here. He’s from Virginia, and he’s here for a conference. What kind of conference? Technology? No, a Priest conference that the Catholic Church was holding. All three of them are Priests and he’s been one for almost 30 years. He was actually a pretty nice guy.

Later that day, a toothless guy and his toothless wife come walking down the beach. They were the type of people that you look at and say “God love em” Now Tracy and I are both sitting on the sand near the surf. (Tracy was trying to dig a hole to China...I have pictures) They stop and started talking to us about the fishing and how it’s been really bad today blah blah blah... Before leaving the guy says that he’s been taking pictures of couples on the beach and wants to know if he can take our picture. I didn’t have much time to really think about it, so I said sure. After they left Tracy says “he’s probably go home and jerk off to the pictures” Now I wish I would have said no. Oh well.

The Mummies

The Mummies!! Kings of Budget Rock...
They've been around forever, pretty good stuff. Very raw sounding old school rock and rock\punk. I dont think they're a band anymore as their web site reads:

The Mummies were a stupid band.
This is their stupid Website.
You cared about them enough to get this far.
Now you are stupid too.
That's the Mummies' curse.

The Mummies

Cracker Barrel & Beach

I keep forgetting to post this. Past weekend activities.

Friday the 13th - I don’t remember anything about Friday. I’m sure I drank a few beers and sat on the porch.

Saturday- Painted one of the kids rooms, not fun, and had a Barbeque. Dave, Tracy, and I cooked out and drank beer on the porch. Chicken wings and grilled veggies. Very good. Then we watched Alien Planet on HD Discovery.

Sunday – Cracker Barrel, and Beach. There’s something I can’t figure out about Cracker Barrel, why does everyone in Cracker Barrel look like a red neck? Is it the décor or does Cracker Barrel attract red necks. A bit of both probably. After that we went to Canaveral National Seashore. Caught a couple of Whiting (fish), drank a few beers, played with the kids on the beach. We had a pretty good day overall. We didn’t get to go to the Sea Harvest for grouper sandwiches this time, that sucks but we’re going back there on Thursday, just Tracy and I. Maybe we’ll go then.

Having problems with Xupiter

I replaced my Google link with a Xupiter link, but there seems to be a problem with Xupiter today. I'll need to place a call to tech support, but I dont exepect to hear back from them anytime soon. We're still waiting to hear back form them on a question we had for them 3 years ago. So if you need to search for something you'll need to use google. Thats www.google.com.

Skunk Ape likes wet Lima beans

Skunk Ape story

"We just cracked," said Rockets coach Jeff Van Gundy

Yes coach it's time to panic...or strangle someone. Not sure what he's doing in this pic, but either way the Rockets are out.

Rockets Mavs
The margin of victory surpassed the record of 39 set by the Philadelphia Warriors in an 85-46 rout of the St. Louis Bombers in Game Seven of the 1948 league semifinals.

The fourth-seeded Mavericks became only the third team in NBA history to win a best-of-seven series after dropping the first two games at home. They open the Western Conference semifinals at top-seeded Phoenix on Monday.

McGrady scored 27 points
Yao Ming scored 33
Rest of the Rockets scored 16

If McGrady would have had a better game, and we all know that he is capable of scoring way more than 27, they may have at least had a chance. It could have changed the momentum of the game. But their bench is horrible, 16 pionts. I think there are problems when you have a star like McGrady on your team. The rest of the players tend to rely on him too much. That definately happened in Orlando, guys were just waiting for McGrady to do something, and if did if he felt like it.

After the game McGrady said “All of this will make me (ME ME ME) stronger, and I love it, every bit of it because I will have the last laugh." Shut up!! I'm glad he's gone.

My Guitars

Frankenbass: Being re-built. It needs a new pickgard, and the electronics need to be re-wired. Other than that, it still plays. This was used mostly during the Black Cats & Bottle Rockets days, and in the begining of W.Breakneck. Lots of fake blood was just recently cleaned off from a Kiss tribute show at Wills on Mills six or more years ago. Dale filled in for me because I was out of town. He was Gene... I used this one when we played the side stage at Lollapalooza 1992. We played with the Genitortures and a bunch of other acts that I cant remember. One of the guys in the Genitorturers was arrested after the show for indecent exposure. He was getting soemthing pierced. YOWCH! Fond memories. I think that was the last Lollapalooza in Orlando, but I may be wrong.

Yamaha Acoustic: I didnt have an acoustic so I took a ride up to Sam Ash on Lee rd, and picked this one up. Played better than all the others in that price range. It sounds great, plays nice, but the intonation is a little off. Not too bad.

Squier Strat: This is a great guitar. In my opinion, it plays just like the real thing. I think that they may have made them better in the early 80's. I got this off of a friend of mine. I traded a Fretless Carvin for it. I think I got the better deal. My Dog Cleo took a nice little bite out of the headstock, I could have killed her, but it doesnt sound any worse from it.

Musicman Stingray Bass: Got this one when Frakenbass started taking a shit. I really needed something that was reliable. We (W.Breakneck) were playing as many as 4 nights a week out sometimes, with some pretty decent shows. So I went to the guitar store and played everything you can think of, and ended up with this one. I wanted a black one, but they didn’t have one in stock, so I went with the red one since I couldn’t wait for them to ship me a black one. It's been pretty good to me so far, a few minor issues with the input jack. But nothing major.

'78 Rickenbacker Bass: What a deal! Got this one off EBay for $690.00. I always wanted one of these, growing up I used to idolize Getty Lee and Chris Squire, though Geezer was my favorite. The tone is like no other, very easy to play. The only problem is the binding on the body, it cuts into your arm, that sounds worse than it actually is. I haven't gotten the opportunity to play this one on stage yet. Soon though if we get our act together. We will.

? Late 80's. Frankenbass...

Yamaha acoustic. Not bad for the price.

Dog mauling late 90's

Early 80's Squier Strat