TNA Results

•King of the Mountain Match for the X Division Title: Champion Suicide beat Jay Lethal, Consequences Creed, Chris Sabin, and Alex Shelley

•TNA Roster Spot on the Line: Daniels beat Shane Douglas

•Knockouts Championship: Champion Angelina Love beat Tara

•Monster's Ball Match: Abyss & Taylor Wilde beat Raven & Daffney

•Winner is Main Event Mafia Leader: Sting beat Matt Morgan

•TNA Tag Team Championship: Beer Money Inc. won the titles from Team 3D

•King of the Mountain Match for the TNA World Championship: Kurt Angle beat Champion Mick Foley, AJ Styles, Samoa Joe, and Jeff Jarrett

MN has a new Senator! and other meaningless, to me, blathering

1. The Minnesota Supreme Court has issued its long-awaited judgment in the Senate race, declaring that Democrat Al Franken is the winner. http://www.nytimes.com/?emc=na


2. Someone wrote an e-mail list I'm on "the Medicare system which is already scheduled to go broke in the next 10 years" to which someone replied, "Could you please post links to references on that -- but from folks other than those who *want* it to go broke? http://articles.latimes.com/2009/may/13/nation/na-medicare13


3. Another link that talks about the financial status of Medicare: http://money.cnn.com/2006/05/01/retirement/SStrustees_2006report/index.htm
4. The impact of Michael Jackson's death on those who knew him:
   This was forwarded to an e-mail list I'm on and was not posted to a blog so I decided to post it.
   An essay by David Kobrin about the role Michael Jackson played in his life.
   From 1989 to 1992 I worked at a video store called Videotheque, in Westwoodand later in Beverly Hills. Since the store was one of the original video stores, the clientele included most of the major studios, agencies, and performers. I became the store manager in the Beverly Hills store in late 1990 and it wasn't long before a who's who of movie, music and television personalities came through our doors. It became such a routine that the next famous face entering didn't really phase us that much; they were just customers as far as we were concerned.
   One day I was behind the counter, talking to someone on the phone when a black limousine pulled up in front of our store. A person got out and came inside and immediately stood out because they were wearing a surgical mask across their face. Since this was Beverly Hills and eccentric people were more the rule than the exception, it didn't particularly shock me to see someone like this. As I continued my phone conversation the person came over to the counter and briefly lifted the mask. And at that moment everything changed as far as not being affected by show people walking into the store. The person behind the surgical mask was Michael Jackson. He actually was a regular customer of Videotheque, but usually frequented another store, not ours.
   My phone conversation suddenly wasn't that important and I hung up and went from around the counter to talk to Michael, who was a collector of movies, both old and new. He probably spent about half an hour in the store that day, and the whole time we were talking about movies, his music and other topical things. He would come back at least five more times over a period of about a year and each time we would walk around the store, look at movies for him to purchase, sing a little (we sang the theme song to Spiderman once) and enjoyed our time together.
   He said that going out in public was always such a chore for him and he liked coming to our store because it gave him a chance to put down his guard and just hang out. I remember one time the actor Elliot Gould came in and Michael happened to also be there, and Elliot was saying something like 'wow, Michael Jackson'. Then there was the time Michael called the store and one of my fellow employee's actually said "David, Michael Jackson is on the phone, for you." I don't think we ever think we'll hear something like that in our day-to-day life.
   My lasting impression of Michael, one that seems so clear now that he has passed, is that he was gentle, quiet, curious, and kind. It's a memory I will cherish as the news of his death plays out over the next several days.
   David
   

I haven't posted tour dates for tours that are skipping Iowa lately so here you go. Clutch is touring with Wino and amazingly, they are driving *right through* the state:

September 26 Chicago, IL @ The Metro
September 27 Omaha, NE @ Sokol Auditorium

Flicks to See..

The kids were with Karen's folks last night and will be again tonight. We return to the campground Wednesday night. As it is our tradition to do so, we went to a movie. I had seen the previews for "My Sister's Keeper" and, perhaps because I knew getting Karen to see "The Hangover" would be useless, we went to see it last night. Good flick. I am still amazed at how some films are made. This film had a lot of creativity in the manner in which it was told. There are flashbacks and while it would have been nice to have the year the scene was taking place in the corner, it probably would have ruined the movie. It is rated PG-13 and I only heard one f-bomb. I will watch it with Megan when it comes out on DVD. It is one of those movies that made me appreciate my kids and their health. This is the trailer:

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Catching up a bit, we also saw the movie "Up" in Elkader last weekend.

Top 5 Metal Bands, per DT's Drummer

Do you speak Dog?

Shortest Straw / Until the End

I had this song in my head tonight and youtube.com did *not* let me down...

ø„¸¨°º¤ø„¸¸„ø¤º°¨¸„ø¤º°¨
¨°º¤ø„¸ MetallicA „ø¤º°¨
¸„ø¤º°¨ ROCKS!! ``°º¤ø„¸
¸„ø¤º°¨¸„ø¤º°¨¨°º¤ø„¸¨°º¤ø

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So clever, whatever, I'm done with these endeavors
Alone I'll walk the winding way (here I stay)
It's over, no longer, I feel it growing stronger
I live to die another day, until I fade away

Why give up? Why give in?
It's not enough, it never is
So I will go on until the end
We've become, desolate
It's not enough, it never is
But I will go on until the end

Surround me, it's easy, to fall apart completely
I feel you creeping up again (In my Head)
It's over, no longer, I feel it growing colder
I knew this day would come to end, so let this life begin

Why give up? Why give in?
It's not enough, it never is
So I will go on until the end
We've become, desolate
It's not enough, it never is
But I will go on until the end

I've lost my way
I've lost my way
But I will go on until the end

Living is, hard enough, without you fucking up

Why give up? Why give in?
It's not enough, it never is
So I will go on until the end
We've become, desolate
It's not enough, it never is
But I will go on until the end

I've lost my way
I've lost my way
But I will go on until the end

The final fight, I win
The final fight, I win
The final fight, I win

But I will go on until the end
and then some very clearly sung MOTORBREATH!

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Giving Up

Vader is a Polish metal band that absolutely is viciously heavy. They are touring. Midwest dates? Sure! The complete billing for the trek is as follows:

VADER
DECREPIT BIRTH
WARBRINGER
THE AMENTA
AUGURY
SUCCESS WILL WRITE APOCALYPSE ACROSS THE SKY
And the following are the only Midwest dates..
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Nov. 13 - The Pearl Room - Mokena, IL
Nov. 14 - Rave - Milwaukee, WI
Nov. 15 - Station 4 - St. Paul, MN
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After St. Paul, they go to Canada. But when I searched youtube.com for "Vader" I found this instead:


Then I found Darth Vader being a jerk:

Of course, then I found a video of the metal band Vader.

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Also found this classic song with different lyrics:


Also, I am now following: http://blacksabbathdemos.blogspot.com - check it out!

And with that lyrics that were changed:
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Witches gather at black masses
Bodies burning in red ashes
On the hill the church in ruin
Is the scene of evil doings
It's a place for all bad sinners
Watch them eating dead rats' innards
I guess it's the same whereever you may go
Oh Lord yeah
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echoing in my brain, I move on. It's 11:30 and I have a lot of work to do tomorrow at work so I want to be fresh.

My God... FF is a Soap Opera

A few years back, if you would have told me that Dino Cazares, Fear Factory guitarist, was in a public feud with his ex-bandmates Raymond Herrera and Christian Olde Wolbers, I would have laughed. I admit that when I listened to Archetype, I did not really know the story behind Dino Cazares' departure from the band. All I really knew was that the bassist became the guitarist and whamo! a great release came out of the mix. Now I learn that the full story, according to Cazares, is nothing short of a soap opera. Read about it on Blistering.com, which is the site I check for my metal news. http://www.blistering.com/fastpage/fpengine.php/link/1/templateid/16371/tempidx/1/menuid/1

Wanted: Crystal Ball

Crystal balls would sure have come in handy for Jammie Thomas-Rasset. A jury ruled Thursday that Jammie Thomas-Rasset must pay fines totaling $1.92 million to the RIAA, as a penalty for violating the copyrights on 24 songs. http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2349029,00.asp

Brian, I heard you

Back

Father's Day 2009. Good day. Very happy. Gotta go.

A Girl Like You / Writing Exercise

I do not have this song in my collection, but man, I had it in my head today. I like the guitar, the guitar riff, everything about it. I don't even know the last time I heard it on the radio or where I heard it. I am not the only one who likes them. I saw these:

"For me rock and roll began with The Beatles and pretty much ended with the Smithereens. The last great rock and roll band!"

"Yes--the Smithereens, the last great rock and roll band--please, let them continue as I have to see them [in] 2009!"

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In other news, I played with rewriting the following:
Original:I hope you are doing well. I am reaching out to you as an introduction, to make sure that you have my contact information as I am your main point of contact here at .
Revisions:
I hope you are doing well. I would like to introduce myself. My name is I am your main point of contact here at .I hope you are doing well. I have recently been assigned as your main point of contact here at . If you need anything, please let me know.

Among the exciting changes at , I am now your main point of contact at . I have been with for and in the software industry for I look forward to working with you. In the meantime, if you have any issues you want me to address, please use the contact information below to get in touch.

Hello. My name is and I hope you are doing well. I would like to introduce myself. I am your main point of contact here at . If you have any concerns you would like me to address, please use the contact information below to get in touch.

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I am going to be writing a review of Black Sabbath's "Paranoid" for Dailyvault.com, thanks to the encouragement of CT, the founder of dailyvault.com:

My two cents: I'd send the review in. Nothing like getting more than one opinion on an album, I always say.

CT

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
From: prhmusic
To: dv staff
Sent: Wednesday, June 17, 2009 7:10:02 AM
Subject: RE: Black Sabbath retrospective

The only review I could contribute would be to re-hash what CT already wrote about "Paranoid" as it's my only BS release. I consider "Rat Salad" to be the best non-drum solo drum solo - what I would cover as a replacement to any type of drum solo, if I were actively playing. I've been confied to the basement: http://prhmusic. blogspot. com/2009/ 06/830-drums. html


Finally, before I retire for the evening, I have this opinion.

I recently downloaded a PDF. There are 32 pages. On page 31, it says this:
"This page was included but left blank to provide a multiple of 4 pages for booklet-style printing."
This is new. This is exciting. I like the fact that the true reason - however non-applicable it would be to, say, my mother-in-law had she downloaded this file - is explained so that those who do understand page layout and the constant battle with it see exactly what the page layout was designed to achieve. I applaud actions like this. There is often a need to hide the techy-mumbo-jumbo from end-users. I have been writing software documentation since 2/10/95. I am coming to a point where every time I try to "protect" the end-user from the nitty-gritty behind-the-scenes details, I am asked to include the very information I specifically chose to exclude. Depending up on your audience and your clients, I think end-users need to know exactly what is going on, especially with documentation that explains how to use software. Users sometimes need to know what field in what file is updated when a menu option is submitted. They sometimes also need to know this information for troubleshooting why what they expected and what the software did are not the same. Information such as this can lead the user into the depths of programming and, at a certain point, the user probably gets out the white flag and says, "This doesn't make sense." But for as long as they are digging into files and looking at things, they are accountable for their actions. Or should be, in a perfect world. Once they give up and contact the software vendor's customer support department, then it's up to the CSR to figure out what happened and whether it can be attributed to the company as a bug. After all, the clients paid money for the software that is not doing what they thought it would do.

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And now that I've bored my one reader to tears, I am cashing in.

NEW GODSMACK!!!!

Ideal Band II

I think this is a cool collection of songs....

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830 Drums

Alex took these pictures after I had set up my drums in our basement. The clear drums are my original set that I've had since 1984 and the colored drums are the ones that were in our church's storage room that I was told I could have. I'm not very good at playing two kick drums but I like the way the set looks with the clear on one side and the dark on the other.

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Opportunity to Work for Free from Home

I slipped into work this AM, through the back door, and turned on my work PC. I surveyed the project folders that have made it to my desk - not as many as I feared - and opened Outlook 2007 to download my e-mail messages from the web server to my PC, all 755 messages. As I watched them download, I felt dirty. I mean, I am, after all, on vacation until 6/15 and now, with this unthinkable act of turning on my PC, I will probably log on tonight, after the wife and kids are in bed and poke around the work that is awaiting me on 6/15. I mean, what was I thinking? Why would I want to give myself the opportunity to work for free from home?

In other news, I am sitting in Lynch Ford in Mount Vernon, IA, while the Ford F-150 receives an oil change. I tried connecting through Logmein.com to my work PC, but this "Customer Workstation Internet Access" PC is having trouble connecting with the Active-X controls that are used. I am getting an oil change today because tomorrow, we leave for Elkader for 4 days of camping. Today is going to be a lot of packing the truck and getting laundry done.

We got home last night around 6:15. By 8, the truck was empty and I was getting tired of looking at the long grass in our yard. I decided to mow so I did that. I admit, the grass does look better now and doing so allows me to focus 100% on getting the truck & camper ready for camping today. My wife is talking about a Wal-Mart run so, if I am not required to go on that run, I may take a few minutes and play some drums, now that they are set up in the basement.

How was South Dakota? It was fun. I think it's a trip everyone should take - just to see the wilderness of the Black Hills, the majestic beauty of the in-progress Crazy Horse monument, and the stunning images of past and present military personnel standing on the stage at the Mount Rushmore amphitheater as the American flag is lowered. There's also the Watiki waterpark in Rapid City, free tap beer at a casino in Deadwood from 4-6 to celebrate their grand opening, and horseback riding. Along the way home, the corn palace in Mitchell, SD, is an acceptable diversion and the Perkin's in Albert Lea adheres to the "Free Kids' Meals from 4-6" policy but if you go to the BK on the same road, don't order the fish sandwich unless you like grease.

I hope to post some pictures of our trip in the near future, but only if they are surrounded by an explanation of what the picture really is indicating. For that reason, it may be a short while before I find the time to post them. I'd like to work on it tonight, but I don't think it will happen.

I was able to catch up on the WWE Extreme Rules PPV results.

Farewell... for now

It's 12:27 AM, Monday, June 1, 2009. I just finished watching the season finale of "Breaking Bad." I like the show, but I'll be damned if I understand the direction it is heading. Walt's wife left him, Jesse is whacked out on drugs, and Jesse's girlfriend's father just made two planes crash into each other. I don't know what is going to happen in the next season, but I hope it is as powerful as the last 6-ish episodes I watched.
The reason I titled this post "Farewll for now" is that I am about to embark on what is called a "family vacation." We are driving to South Dakota and the Badlands. We are going to be gone from 6/3 - 6/9. When we get back, 6/10 will be spent doing laundry and packing the camper. Then we will leave for our first camping trip of 2009.
In the meantime, I am off work until 6/15. I think it is awesome to have 2 weeks off of work - a well-deserved break from the chaos I endure daily.
With that said, take it easy, play it safe, and be careful. I doubt there will be an update to this blog until... 6/10.
Peace...