Monday, September 27, 2010

The Return of Chaos

As the month winds down, it feels like change is in the air.

For one thing, Alex's basketball season is starting to ramp up. Weekly practices have begun on most Sundays and Thursdays. Drum lessons were tonight at West Music. Football starts tomorrow night. Megan began religious education classes last Wednesday. The new season of "Survivor" began two weeks ago. The new seasons of "Grey's Anatomy" and "Private Practice" began last Thursday. This Thursday, we are going to Texas Roadhouse with Karen's parents for their 49th wedding anniversary. We're taking the camper to storage Saturday AM and roundtripping from NL to Davenport (to pick up the camper), to Zhwingle (where we store it) and then back home in time for 5:15 Mass, then home to watch the Iowa v. PSU game that starts at 7. Sunday is going up to see my mother in the nursing home (I hope) and basketball practice.

Then it starts all over again. A new season of the "Road Rules/Real World" challenges begins next week.


Nine words women use
(1) Fine: This is the word women use to end an argument when they are right and you need to shut up.
(2) Five Minutes: If she is getting dressed, this means a half an hour Five minutes is only five minutes if you have just been given five more minutes to watch the game before helping around the house.
(3) Nothing: This is the calm before the storm. This means something, and you should be on your toes. Arguments that begin with nothing usually end in fine.
(4) Go Ahead: This is a dare, not permission. Don't Do It!
(5) Loud Sigh: This is actually a word, but is a non-verbal statement often misunderstood by men. A loud sigh means she thinks you are an idiot and wonders why she is wasting her time standing here and arguing with you about nothing. (Refer back to # 3 for the meaning of nothing.)
(6) That's Okay: This is one of the most dangerous statements a women can make to a man. That's okay means she wants to think long and hard before deciding how and when you will pay for your mistake.
(7) Thanks: A woman is thanking you, do not question, or faint. Just say you're welcome. (I want to add in a clause here - This is true, unless she says 'Thanks a lot' - that is PURE sarcasm and she is not thanking you at all. DO NOT say 'you're welcome' . that will bring on a 'whatever').
(8) Whatever: Is a woman's way of saying FOOL YOU!
(9) Don't worry about it, I got it: Another dangerous statement, meaning this is something that a woman has told a man to do several times, but is now doing it herself. This will later result in a man asking 'What's wrong?' For the woman's response refer to # 3.


Tuesday, September 14, 2010

Pretty Punny

A man calls 911:
Man: "Help! My wife's gone into labor!"
911 Operator: "Is this her firstborn?"
Man: "No, you idiot, this is her husband."


A guy inherits a farm from his uncle. It's a beautiful place - lots of acreage, a pond ... and a big barn. He goes to look at the barn and inside he sees a bunch of penguins waddling around. He figures the place is worth a ton of money, but he has to get rid of the penguins, so he waves down a hippie driving by in his VW microbus and asks him to take the penguins to the zoo. With the penguins gone, he calls a realtor and sells the place that afternoon for a million dollars. Then he gets a call from the hippie: "I took the penguins to the zoo, and then we took in a movie ... what time do you want them back home?"

Friday, September 10, 2010

Monday, September 6, 2010

Frayed Ends of Sanity

I think hands down, this is my favorite Metallica song. It wasn't surpassed with "All Nightmare Long" on Death Magnetic.

But this is not Metallica. This is Six Feet Under. Enjoy.

Crappy Tour Schedule, Drummers, and Master

So I'm reading this over on Blistering.com....

Norwegian symphonic black metallers DIMMU BORGIR will embark on a 32-date North American tour in November/December. Support on the trek will come from countrymen ENSLAVED and BLOOD RED THRONE, plus DAWN OF ASHES from Los Angeles.

Confirmed tour dates are as follows:

Nov. 05 - The Palladium - Worcester, MA
Nov. 06 - Northern Lights - Albany, NY
Nov. 07 - Recher Theater - Towson, MD


So far, so good.


Nov. 08 - Terminal 5 - New York, NY
Nov. 10 - The Masquerade - Atlanta, GA


Wait. What. You're going from NY to GA? Wow. Must be going to stay in the south.


Nov. 12 - Mr. Smalls - Pittsburgh, PA


Wait, what. Now you're going all the way back up to the northeastern part of the country?


Nov. 13 - Royal Oak Music Theatre - Detroit, MI


Okay, Pittsburgh to Detroit - that's easier than NY to GA.


Nov. 14 - House of Blues - Chicago, IL
Nov. 15 - The Rave - Milwaukee, WI
Nov. 16 - Cabooze - Minneapolis, MN


That's fairly typical - hit the big cities around Iowa.


Nov. 18 - MacEwan Ballroom - Calgary, AB - CANADA


Then the tour goes across Canada to the northwestern part of the country before going south through CA, once again, totally skipping Iowa.

Apocalyptica had these dates earlier this year:

April 22 – Denver, CO @ Gothic Theatre
April 23 – Kansas City, MO @ Beaumont Club
April 24 – St. Louis, IL @ Pop’s
April 26 – Minneapolis, MN @ Fine Line Music Café
April 27 – Chicago, IL @ House of Blues


And what the hell is this?!?!?


Jordison Named Top Drummer

Slipknot star Joey Jordison has been voted the best drummer of the past 25 years in a new magazine poll.

The musician came top in the survey by Rhythm - and he's stunned by the result of the rundown, saying, "This is beyond unbelievable. Something like this reminds me every day why I continue to do this."

Mike Portnoy of Dream Theater claimed second place, while the third spot went to Gavin Harrison of British rockers Porcupine Tree.

Rush's Neil Peart came fourth in the vote with Foo Fighters frontman and former Nirvana drummer Dave Grohl rounding out the top five.


I think Chris Adler is a helluva lot better than Dave Grohl.





I like these kids playing "Master of Puppets."


Sunday, September 5, 2010

Xanadu

We were on the way to 5:15 Mass yesterday and I had the "oldies" station on. This song came on. My wife says, "What is this music??!?"

Rush!

Bill Cosby x 4






Saturday, September 4, 2010

What a Night!

Why do I whistle a mid-70s single when I'm getting dressed? Can someone answer that?

Waiting

I'm at a point in life where it seems like I know how to juggle and throw several things up in the air. I have irons in multiple fires, like I wrote about last time, that I am still partially waiting for a result.There are also things that I have going on that I do not want to write about. Let's just say that I want my actions to prove myself, not words.

We went to the Regina Fall Fun Fest last night and worked in the garage sale. I found a bunch of MAD Magazines . . . and purchased 3 for $1.50. I bought them because I owned them way back when. I do not really remember what prompted me to throw them out. I wish I never would have done that. We also picked up a bike for Alex for his birthday present. It was marked as $100 and we got it for $50. It's a Giant brand and, per one of our RAGBRAI riding friends, a very good bike.

After that, we got home and started watching "Titanic." That movie... I don't care how awful some people think it is, but the sheer special effects of all the people drowning, the boat cracking, the steam pipe thing falling on people, the boat tipping back... good job James Cameron for having the vision to create that movie. Now, I know that me saying "good job" is never going to ring in Cameron's ears... but I'll say it anyway.

Today is the first Iowa game. That is from 11-2. We are going to 5:15 Mass and I will play drums. Tomorrow, we need to clear out the camper because on Monday, we are taking the camper to Davenport for some warranty work. Then, on 10/2, the PSU v. IA game, we are picking it up in Davenport and taking it to storage up by Dubuque.

Before picking it up, I think every weekend is full. We have the Brewers v. Cubs game in Milwaukee, WI, we have a CEW Leadership conference, a walk in Dubuque, a tailgate party at church... I don't have my calendar handy but I know there's a lot going on.

October is just as busy, with the aforementioned camper pick up and PSU game. The following weekend is a party here for our friend Debbie; the following weekend is Karen's jewelry party (and hopefully hanging cabinets in the storage room with my bro-in-law and fath-in-law; the following weekend is Alex's birthday; then it's Halloween.

And on and on.

Life is good. Throw in a few other things that I haven't mentioned and wow... we are going to be busy.

Wednesday, September 1, 2010

Brain Teasers

I am not a fan of brain teasers.

What comes next in this sequence:

E H L Q

Your choices are K Z U or W

The answer is W because from E to H is 3, H to L is 4, L to Q is 5 so Q +6 = W.

Like that one? I don't. I like the reboot of the Fantastic Four franchise with Bruce Willis as the voice of the Thing. That would be okay with me.