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...

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