That didn't work

So much for that. The last four days have been crazy busy. Scratch the whole 600 posts by 11/1 thing as it is 10/31 and I don't have 15 interesting things to say.

2 of 16

I went to the eye doctor today. I was only going to pick out frames but since my eye glasses are nearly 2 years old, I am returning, tomorrow @ 8 AM, for an eye exam. I have the frames picked out. I don't really care what my glasses look like as all they do is help me see. I am wearing them now. I wear them all the time. The only time I wish I didn't wear them is when I was watching Alex's basketball team come unglued in front of my eyes. It was an awful game. The team did not play good defense and if they are not mad at themselves, they should not play the game. Losing by 40 points is awful.
But back to my story about the eye doctor. I have my appt tomorrow AM and then I'll drive to work.
I like my drive to and from work. The people are friendly. I've eaten twice at the Kalona Family Restaurant and it was very good. I took my truck for an oil change on Monday and Jerry, the owner of the place, was nice. My co-workers are all nice. The work I have to do is challenging, as I learn InDesign and purge myself of the MS Word workflow. It's been a good move.

1 of 16

I vaguely remember this sort of challenge back when I wrote songs. Yes, I was a songwriter. I had visions of being in an all original music band, preferably hard rock or heavy metal, and playing songs that I wrote. I had visions of one of my best friends being my drum roadie, my band headlining the Cedar Rapids, IA, concert hall (US Cellular Center), and 'making it' in the music industry. Teaching high school English was going to be my fallback in the bizarre case that being a rock and roll drummer somehow, inconceivably, didn't work out. I was going to play drums, I was going to have Ludwig drums, Zildjian cymbals, Pro Mark drumsticks, and Remo drum heads. At the time, no one was making clear shell drums, like mine are, and so Ludwig was going to start up production again, just for me, just for my band, and I was going to have a huge double bass set, even though I can not, to this day, really play double bass. That was the plan. That is why I filled 18 spiral notebooks, of various sizes but a few were 200 pages, with songs. I feverishly wrote songs on place mats when I worked at a restaurant. I wrote so many songs that I can only vaguely remember writing some of them - the rest don't seem to have made an impression. I was going to write my heart out and leave it all on the pages. I was going to make my dream of being the next Billy Joel or Sting come through. I was going to write the equivalent of "Operation: Mindcrime" - the great concept album by Queensryche. I was going to write lyrics that would make Rush's Neil Peart think, "Wow! Great lyrics and he plays drums too!" I was going to earn the respect of all these musicians I admired - Lars Ulrich, Tommy Aldridge, Alex Van Halen. And then, I was going to meet the ultimate musician - Eddie Van Halen. He was going to invite me to an audition because Alex was unable to tour due some mysterious ailment. We were going to play arenas around the world - Michael Anthony on bass, Eddie on guitar, me on drums, and David Lee Roth on vocals. That was the plan.

Funny how plans change.

Nearly every thing I wrote about in the first paragraph did not happen. I never will play the US Cellular Center. If anything my friend will be the one in the band and I would be the one setting up his drums. I will never meet any of the musicians I mentioned above. The only thing that is really relevant is a dim memory that I used to write a lot of lyrics.

And, one time, I challenged myself to write a lot of songs in 16 days. That's the whole point.

Bet you thought I didn't have a point...

Challenge

Here's a challenge. I am at 583 posts in this blog. Either I will meet the challenge of posting 4 meaningful posts a day for the next four days, resulting in 600 posts as of Monday, 11/1/2010, or I will not. And if I do not, I will certainly hit 600 posts by 1/1/2011.

But this is the last filler post. The real content starts tomorrow night. Four posts Thur, four on Fri (challenging!), four on Sat (especially since the CEW meeting is requiring me to leave early Sat AM) and four on Sun (possibly the easiest, though Hallow's Eve twists it a bit).

Checking In

Nothing is better than sitting @ the PC and listening to some classics:

1. Dynamite Boy - Somewhere in America
2. Bigwig - An Invitation to Tragedy & Reclamation
3. Metallica - Master of Puppets
4. Rush - Moving Pictures

Schedule Update

What a week behind us and what a week ahead...

• Sunday
• 11 AM Mass
• Nap?!?
• Alex Basketball practice from 7-8
• Desparate Housewives
• Monday
• Megan has a choir concert @ West - I am taking her
• Alex drum lessons - Karen is taking him
• WWE
• Tuesday
• Refinancing closing @ 5
• Teen Mom
• Wednesday
• Megan has a band concert @ West
• Cutthroat
• Thursday
• I have a dentist appt @ 8 AM
• Alex has a basketball game @ 6:30
• Grey's Anatomy / Private Practice
• Friday
• NOTHING!
• Saturday
• I have a CEW Leadership meeting in Waterloo. I will leave NL ~7
• The football game is Iowa hosting MSU
• I think Alex or Megan serve @ 5:15 Mass

So that's my schedule. If I look ahead:

• Sunday (10/31)
• Trick or Treat
• No Basketball practice
• Desparate Housewives
• Monday (11/1)
• Alex drum lessons
• WWE
• Tuesday (11/2)
• Teen Mom
• Wednesday (11/3)
• Megan has RE
• I have four (free) tickets to the U of I Band Extravaganza at Carver
• Cutthroat
• Thursday (11/4)
• Alex has a basketball game @ 6:30
• Grey's Anatomy / Private Practice
• Friday (11/5)
• Megan has a dance and is having a friend sleepover
• Saturday (11/6)
• The football game is Iowa at Indiana
• 5:15 Mass
• After Mass, bassist Keith and guitarist Jim are coming over
• Sunday (11/7)
• Alex basketball practice 5-6 @ Regina

Somewhere in there I need to write some music reviews!

Iowa Loses to WI

Time is running out, Stanzi completes a pass in-bounds, they have spent their last time out and time runs out on them. They lose to WI 31-30. They showed a lot of disbelief in the stands - one girl in particular looked like she was in tears.

Matt Hardy Gets his Release

Really?

Alex's team did better than I expected. After being down 24-12, we stormed back and lost by 6. Alex scored two baskets (a jumpshot and a free throw) so he pumped his fist in the air after each. I felt proud of him.

Today is his 12th birthday. We went to Planet X in CR and then to Happy Joe's for supper. They came over to sing to him and the girl says, "I hear you have a birthday."
Alex replies, "Sure!"
"And you're turning 12?"
"Sure!"

Was the girl cute? Apparently to him!

And life goes on...

Progress Expected

I hope to make progress within the next 24 hours on a couple of projects. The first is ultra-personal and will not be disclosed while the second is not as personal. The second deals with Alex's basketball game tonight. My hope is that the team plays together well and that we enter the game with the right mentality - that it is possible to win. Any other attitude - "we'll do okay" - is not all right with me.

Work is going well. I am learning InDesign, which is basically a page layout app. It is challenging to think in a different paradigm than what I thought in using MS Word. Time will tell which is the better tool. I would convert to MS Word but I know the next project I work on is going to be a 160+ page manual that is in InDesign. I'd like to think that tackling a 10 page project will make the 160 page project easier to deal with.

New Job

I accepted a new job, with a different company, on Monday, 9/27/2010, and submitted my two week notice on Monday, 10/4/2010. My last day was Friday, 10/15/2010. I start at my new job tomorrow (!!) Monday, 10/18/2010. I am very excited to be starting a new chapter in my career. I worked at my previous employer for 12 years. I definitely nested and have the challenge in front of me to meet new co-workers, learn new systems, and make a difference. I think it is going to rock. I am anxious for a Monday, which is kind of weird to say. My commute is going to be 10 minutes more to the new place v. the previous place. I need to update my resume with an end date for the previous place. I need to embrace change and learn as much as I can as quickly as I can. It is going to be a busy week with the kids' activities but I will hopefully have more to say some night this week.

Procedure Done...

An Iowa Hawkeye fan is drinking (imagine that) in a New York bar when, he gets a call on his cell phone. He hangs up, grinning from ear to ear, and orders a round of drinks for everybody in the bar announcing his wife has produced a typical Hawkeye baby boy weighing 25 pounds. Nobody can believe that any new baby can weigh in at 25 pounds, but the Iowa fan just shrugs, "That's about average back home, folks, like I said, my boy's a typical Iowa Hawkeye baby boy'. Congratulations showered him from all around, amid many exclamations of "WOW!".
One woman actually fainted due to sympathy pains.
Two weeks later, he returns to the bar. The bartender says, "Say, you're the father of that typical Iowa Hawkeye baby that weighed 25 pounds at birth. Everybody's been making bets about how big he'd be in two weeks. So how much does he weigh now?"
The proud father answers, "Seventeen pounds." The bartender is puzzled, concerned, and a little suspicious. "What happened? He already weighed 25 pounds the day he was born!"
The Iowa father takes a slow swig from his beer, wipes his lips on his shirt sleeve, leans into the bartender "Had him circumcised."

Better, Best!

1) DVD of the Big Four (Metallica, Megadeth, Slayer, Anthrax)
2) Metallica new release from their secret warm-up gig before Bonerroo(sic) a few years back.
3) Twisted Sister live DVD featuring "Burn in Hell"!!!

How sweet is life!

More Metallica

Uncle Sam

I do not like this Uncle Sam,
I do not like his health care scam.

I do not like these dirty crooks,
or how they lie and cook the books.
I do not like when Congress steals,
I do not like their secret deals.

I do not like this speaker Nan ,
I do not like this 'YES, WE CAN'.
I do not like this spending spree---
I'm smart, I know that nothing's free.

I do not like your smug replies,
when I complain about your lies.
I do not like this kind of hope.
I do not like it. nope, nope, nope!

---

The day finally arrived. Forrest Gump died and went to Heaven. He was at the Pearly Gates, met by St. Peter himself. However, the gates were closed, and Forrest approached the gatekeeper.

St. Peter said, 'Well, Forrest, it is certainly good to see you. We have heard a lot about you. I must tell you, though, that the place is filling up fast, and we have been administering an entrance examination for everyone. The test is short, but you have to pass it before you can get into Heaven.'

Forrest responded, 'It sure is good to be here, St. Peter, sir. But nobody ever told me about any entrance exam. I sure hope that the test ain't too hard. Life was a big enough test as it was.'

St. Peter continued, 'Yes, I know, Forrest, but the test is only three questions.

First:
What two days of the week begin with the letter T?

Second:
How many seconds are there in a year?

Third:
What is God's first name?'

Forrest left to think the questions over. He returned the next day and saw St. Peter, who waved him up, and said, 'Now that you have had a chance to think the questions over, tell me your answers.'

Forrest replied, 'Well, the first one -- which two days in the week begins with the letter 'T'? Shucks, that one is easy . . . That would be Today and Tomorrow.'

The Saint's eyes opened wide and he exclaimed, 'Forrest, that is not what I was thinking, but you do have a point, and I guess I did not specify, so I will give you credit for that answer.

'How about the next one?' asked St. Peter.

'How many seconds in a year? Now that one is harder,' replied Forrest, 'but I thunk and thunk about that, and I guess the only answer can be twelve.'

Astounded, St. Peter said, 'Twelve? Twelve? Forrest, how in Heaven's name could you come up with twelve seconds in a year?'

Forrest replied, 'Shucks, there's got to be twelve: January 2nd, February 2nd, March 2nd .. . .'

'Hold it,' interrupts St. Peter. 'I see where you are going with this, and I see your point, though that was not quite what I had in mind . . . but I will have to give you credit for that one, too. Let's go on with the third and final question.

'Can you tell me God's first name'?

'Sure,' Forrest replied,'it's Andy.'

'Andy?' exclaimed an exasperated and frustrated St. Peter. 'Ok, I can understand how you came up with your answers to my first two questions, but just how in the world did you come up with the name Andy as the first name of God?'

'Shucks, that was the easiest one of all,' Forrest replied. 'I learnt it from the song, ANDY WALKS WITH ME,
ANDY TALKS WITH ME,
ANDY TELLS ME I AM HIS OWN.'

St. Peter opened the Pearly Gates, and said: 'Run, Forrest, Run.'

I Know I'm Tired of This, but...

What a week behind and weeks coming up!

This last week's schedule:

• Mon - Alex drum lessons @ 6:30
• Tue - Alex football skills camp @ 5:30
• Wed - Took the kids to the Riverside Casino hotel so they could go swimming with Grandma and Grandpa.
• Thu - Went to Texas Roadhouse with Karen's folks for their 49th wedding anniversary, then to the Riverside Casino. Started with $20. Put $5 in the slot machine. It spit out $30. Put the remaining $15 in, lost that, so I walked out with being $10 ahead.
• Fri - Went to the Regina v. Camanche game. Regina won, 42-0.
• Sat - Picking up the camper in Davenport, then up to the place we store it for the winter. Coming home in time for 5:15 Mass, then to Dave and Cindy's to watch the IA v. PSU game.
• Sun - Going up to see my mom at the nursing home. Get the house picked up. Alex has basketball practice from 7-8.

and then....

• Mon - Going to Megan's game at Regis in CR; Alex drum lessons @ 6:30
• Tue - Alex football skills camp @ 5:30
• Wed - Coaches meeting for Alex's basketball team; Megan RE
• Thu - Alex basketball practice
• Fri - If we've managed to get the house in order, Kennedy plays West @ West; otherwise, get the house in shape for the party.
• Sat - Hosting Debbie's 50th birthday party.
• Sun - Going up to see my mom at the nursing home.

and then....

• Mon - Alex drum lessons @ 6:30
• Tue - Alex football skills camp @ 5:30
• Wed - Megan RE
• Thu - Alex basketball practice (probably)
• Fri - Get the house in shape for the party.
• Sat - Hosting Karen's jewelry party. I think the men are going to Gus'.
• Sun - Going up to see my mom at the nursing home.

And then... by the time that is over, I can start writing about other things in my life....