A quickie 4th.

It's been a long time, due to the fact that we don't have internet access at the new place yet. Here is a quick recap of the Schlueterileymetz' visit, in pictures:

Rich at Sandy Point beach.

Henry at the beach.

Scattergories.

We just finished watching fireworks from the CSC building downtown. Time to head home to get Henry in bed. Probably won't get to write again until Jeannie and I get back from California on the 12th.

Drew, loved the preview video. Can't wait to see the real thing...

A Sort of Homecoming.

Well, Jeannie picked up the keys to the new place tonight at around 5, and started painting the bedrrom. After I got off work at 8, I came home to our current place, cleaned out the refridgerator, and took down an air conditioner to take to the new place. So we unpacked a little bit of stuff out of the car and hooked up the air conditioner at the new place (so it won't be beastly hot when we're movin' stuff in). Then we headed up to the roof for a beer. The view is beautiful. Everything I could have asked for in rooftop access. A nice place to have a beer and chat with the wife.

The new place is a bit rougher around the edges than it seemed when we last looked at it 2 months ago, but I think it's going to be great. The two big reliefs of the day are:

A) The closets are much bigger than we thought. We're going from an apartment with 5 closets into an apartment with 2 closets, so the fact that the new closets are twice as large as we thought helps a lot.

B) We have nice friends who are going to help us move. A million thanks!

Big, busy day tomorrow. Time for bed...

Demon!

Jeannie has finally made contact with a rental agent at Star Management, and they have cleared us to pick up the keys on Thursday night and move in on Friday, which is awesome becasue then we should be moved in by the time our friends from Ohio (the worst state I've been to) arrive on (hopefully) Friday night. Woo-Hoo!

So here's a thanks in advance to the folks who are going to help us move.

Work has been fine lately. Some days I get really stressed out, though. I have to not let myself get stressed out about that damned place.

An interesting anecdote: on Sunday as we were packing our stuff up, we found a journal that Jeannie had to keep for one of her classes at the beginning of her freshman year in college. She said I could read it, and I discovered some new things about that time, and rediscovered a few things, too. We both had a good laugh about how absolutely insane we were then.

Also, today at the B&N I got/had to throw an insane person out of the store. It was about 9:30 this morning and I heard someone yelling a bunch of stuff about Galileo. And this person kept yelling and eventually made his way over to the music department, and I asked him if he was ok, and he said he was. Then he started yelling about Galileo again, and then started yelling about the movie NARNIA, and I again asked him if he needed any help. He asked if I was going to stab him in the back, and I said, "No, but I might have to ask you to leave if you keep yelling." Then he yelled at me and said I was a demon. Then he said, "You look very attractive with a shaved head, did you salute Hitler this morning?" And as I was escorting him out of the building, he was either goose-stepping up the escalator or just stomping his feet in anger, I couldn't tell which. Anyway, he was whack. I am not a demon.

Star Management

Today the lovely folks at Star Management and Development (the company that we'll be renting our new apartment from) made me frustrated. They don't seem to be able to tell us when we can move our shit, and they're not good about returning phone calls. Anyway, they buggin' me.

Work today was good, maybe I'm starting to stress about the job a little less. And I'm comfortably busy so the time goes by quickly.

Highlight of the day: coming home from work and eating cheesecake, drinking a G&T, and watching a FRESH PRINCE rerun with the J-dog. Guest starring Robin Givens!

Tired Mired.

Hmmm. Just got home from work a little while ago. Jeannie's asleep, and I'm here again on the new futon. A little sweaty in here cause ain't got no air on. If this seems like a repeat of last night's post, it's becuase the past few days have all been very similar, and they go something like this: wake up, work on some music for Schlueter, get everything uploaded to the internet, take a shower, eat some hotdogs, and go to work. I'm guessing tomorrow will be about the same. Saturday should be different, though, because instead of working on music I'll get to hang with the Jeanners.

Got a lot of important stuff done at work, then read some e-mails that told me that there's going to be lots of other important stuff happening over the next few weeks. Oh goody.

It's been trying to storm outside for the last hour or so, lightning flashing every couple of seconds, and the rain has just started to fall.

My current hope is this: that by August I'll be thoroughly settled into the new job, pleasantly settled into the new apartment, and that life will be smooth sailing and lots of sitting on the roof with Jeannie, reading ROLLING STONE and sipping lemonade.

A mess.

Well, it's about 1 in the morning, and I got home from work a little while ago. Jeannie's in bed, and I'm sitting on the futon (still awesome!) uploading some songs for the play to my Yahoo! briefcase so Schlueter can download them and check them out. I've spent the last 45 minutes or so reading old posts from Drew's blog. I like reading Drew's blog, because I can very much hear him in the way that he writes. I guess that's why I like reading blogs in general.

Our living room is a mess. There's boxes that are full and packed and boxes that are half packed and piles of shit waiting to be put in boxes. I'll be oh so glad when the move is over...

Work was fine tonight. I was steadily busy all day, and I got at least some stuff done, and I should have time tomorrow to get done everything that needs to get done by the end of the week. My old boss came by tonight because he needed to pick up a check and some other stuff. It was good to see him. I'm glad that whole situation has worked out for everyone.

Yesterday I was able to go to lunch with the BJ, and we played a couple of games of spades as we sipped water on the back 'patio' of the Rec Room. One thing that I will remember fondly about this summer is the weekly lunches with the Beej.

So much is happening in a few weeks! It's exciting. Can't wait for our visit from the Schlueterileymetz'.

Futon!

Will work keep me this stressed from here on out? I hope not. It's made my stomach feel a little twisted and my poop funny ever since I started the new job. Hopefully thst will go away as things get caught up and I understand how some of this shit is supposed to work....nevertheless, I have a day off tomorrow which I will spend eating hamburgers, drinking gin and tonics, and playing spades with one BJ Gailey, and then for the majority of the afternoon I will have my nose to the grindstone for Jen Schlueter, working some more on improving the french song and then maybe working on some more instrumental pieces.

The big news of the last few days is that Jeannie and I started packing up our shit for the move, including getting rid of some stuff, which is always nice, and buying a used futon. Futon is a word that has always conjured up somewhat unpleasant images for me, as I usually picture the beat-up, broken piece of crap that was in Big Daddy's apartment above Sparks Cleaners. But this futon meets all of my awesome-couch criteria:

1. It looks nice, and is well made and sturdy.
2. It's comfortable to sit on.
3. It's long enough for me to lay on.
4. It turns into a bed. Magically.
5. It was cheap.
6. We can launder the cover when I drunkenly urinate all over it.

All-in-all, I'm very excited and pleased with this purchase. I hope that everyone can come visit and sleep on the futon.

Tonight I got to go hang out with Pat and BJ for the first time since BJ has been in town. We got to play our geek game, and meet our monthly quota of trash talk and farting.

Is anyone else amazed at how much Flippy has imprinted himself on the psyche of America's celebrities? I smell a "Flippy the Magnificent Show" in the works...

Psycho Beach Party.

The Jeanners and I made it down to Rehoboth Beach today, and as is our tradition, we got our pictures taken in a photo booth. It was an absolutely perfect day of laying in the sun and frolicking in some nut-chilling water.

Then we made it to see LEAR tonight, and it wasn't great, it wasn't terrible. There were moments that were good, and there were some moments that were bad, and there were a lot of moments that just were. I'm looking forward to seeing SHREW, either on Sunday or when the Schlueterrileymetz' are in town.

Don't really feel like going to work tomorrow, but I've got a lot to do so the day will probably go by fast...

Seriously.

Seriously, I've eaten like a whole jar of dill spears in the last 3 days. What is the deal? This brings to mind a semi-unrelated thought: for the last few months, in my head, when I come across a song that is a good song, a song that is strange in a way that you wouldn't want to listen to it all the time but is so good that whenever you listen to it it seems satisfying even though you weren't really sure what type of song you were in the mood for, I call it a "pickle." The Fiona Apple song "Get Him Back" is a pickle. Lots of solo David Byrne songs are pickles. That's a little peek into the blissfully vacant brain of one Daniel P. O'B...

Flippy and Regis....together...with Billy Bush (perhaps the most annoying person...ever?)....leopard print robe and loincloth.....Drew with his half-embarassed/ half-proud face on....

If I didn't know better I would say that I had a milkshake before bed last night and it was all just a really whack dream, but no, it's all real. And surely a sign of the capital-A Apocolypse. Check out Drew's blog if you don't know what I'm talking about...

Things at work have calmed down a little bit, although it's still been keeping me busy. Today I do some chores and take care of some of the music work that I have been neglecting. Tomorrow the plan is to drive to the beach early in the morning (hopefully my wife will play hookie and join me), then come back in the evening and go see KING LEAR. Ugh. I don't know that I'm up for LEAR, but perhaps it's a good thing to go in with low expectations and then be pleasantly surprised?

Dill Spears

Do you ever start eating pickles and feel like you just can't stop? What a tasty summertime treat...

Work, work, work today. I'm tired tonight. Need to sit down and listen to the french tape that I got from Schlueter.

All hail, puny mortals!

Well, as of today, I am officially the music dept. mgr at the B&N in Towson. Perhaps I would be more excited if I knew what kind of dough I was making. I haven't been told yet. Apparently I'm supposed to find out tomorrow. Well, whatever, I'm happy to have the job. Work has been keeping me very busy lately, but it's been a good busy.

Looking forward to a lot of things:
1. Moving
2. A visit from the Schlueterrileymetz'
3. Trip to California
4. Day trips to the beach

Hmmm. What else? We've been enjoying not babysitting. I had some seriously stinky farts this morning.

That is all for now.

Broken air gaps

Had a strange dream last night about going to visit Sean in Alaska. I don't think that the dream was factually correct, though, because in the dream going to Alaska meant lots of white water rafting (ok, that might be correct) and also swimming at a huge, sunny beach. And while swimming there (with Sean and my brother) there was a huge wave that was, for lack of a better word, HUGE. It was so big that it had crested and fallen over but then stayed there like that, so it was like a huge roof over the entire beach area where we were swimming, blocking out the sun.

Anyway, in the dream I had lots of adventures with Sean and that was fun.

Last night we went over to Aimee's and saw her new place. It's real nice, seems to be just the right size and it's fresh and cute. She seems very happy there, and of course Jeannie and I are happy for her. We had some pizza and then went for a nice walk to a Baskin-Robbins for some ice-cream. At the Baskin-Robbins, Jeannie and I made a bet about something, and 10 minutes later nobody could remember what we had bet about. We still haven't remembered.

Today I had thought about driving down to the beach for the day, but I checked the weather yesterday and it's supposed to be raining there. So instead I'm meeting the BJ for a lunch at the Rec Room. And we all know what the Rec Room means...tasty burgers! Indeed. I'm going to take a deck of cards and maybe we can play some spades while we eat.

Got some good work done on some songs for the play yesterday. I feel like somethings are beginning to take a little bit better shape...might get some time today to tinker some more...

A Break.

It's been a few days, which is not like me (I'm an egomaniac, in case you've never me t me) but I've been very busy at work and such. Just finished 8 days of work in a row, and I'm looking forward to my days off today and tomorrow. Yesterday was my last day working with my current boss. It was a little bit sad, because we've worked together for almost 4 years, but not too bad. He got another job working in real estate. So I got him a card and a present to wish him good luck. I think he appreciated it.

Last night Jeannie and I decided to have fried chicken for dinner, then we came home and ate it, and as the night progressed we got more and more cranky with each other. Which is not like us at all. So we think that we've had a food-coma induced argument. On my side, I also think that I was very very tired, and a big belly of fried chicken didn't help. Everything's fine today, though. The marriage is safe. Divort averted.

Today with my day off I hope to do some laundry, finish up our dishes, and work on music for Schlueter's play. One of our cars is in the shop, so I'll be unable to do anything today which requires driving, which is a good thing because then I'll get all my chores done and maybe come up with some good stuff for Jen. Tonight I believe we're going to Aimee's new place to hang out.

Work continues to leave me strangely energized, although yesterday was a day that featured some B-crap. B-crap does not leave me energized, but apparently leaves me cranky (see paragraph above).

Happy Birthday Katie!

Tonight went to Jeannie's friend Katie's birthday dinner. Had some G&T's and some red wine, maybe more than I've had in awhile. Feeling comfortably drunk at the moment. It was a good time. We met some new people, had some really good food with lots of desserts, and laughed a lot. a good mix of people.

The last couple of days has been busy, in a good way. Had a job interview for the manager position, it went pretty well. And at work I've been taking over some of the managerial stuff, although I don't officially have the job yet. But it's kept me moving and active, and strangely energized. I don't feel bored at work anymore, I feel very motivated and excited. It's kind of a nice thing, I'm really looking forward to implementing some of the ideas I have for the department.

The CSC shows opened this weekend. I feel kind of bad that I didn't get a chance to see them, but I know there'l be other weekends.

Still having some slight trouble sleeping, probably work related. Or due to the fact that our air conditioner decides to make random strange noises at 5am.

Life seems pretty good right now, for several reasons. Not the least of which is red wine.

Wide Awake

Well, it's 5 in the AM and I've been awake for about an hour and a half. A little while ago I decided to come into the living room, because I didn't want to keep the Jeanners awake with my tossings and turnings. Also thought that maybe laying on the couch would help me fall back asleep, as it sometimes does. No such luck.

Been thinking about work, about how to make the most of this sale that's going to be starting today (Buy 2 DVD's, get the 3rd Free!), which is just sad. I really don't care enough to be letting this stuff keep me awake. But maybe I do, I guess.

Got a nice e-mail from Lesley saying that my absence from the summer shows is noticable and has been noticed. Not sure if it had an underlying motive of tryng to get me to come out and help or not. But, either way, with all the shit going on at work, I gots no time to be working on the shows.

Anyhoo, here are some things of which I have been made painfully aware over the last several months:

Eric cares too much!

Dr. Witz is back on Zoloft.

Character.

Been pretty busy the past few days.

In the past, I feel like I've portrayed my boss in a pretty negative light in this here blog. That's because I usually would only write about him when I was frustrated with him. I have to say, though, that throughout the events of the last week, he's shown a huge amount of grace, character, and just general coolness. I was worried that things would be very tense at work for the next week, but it hasn't been, and it's because he's been very cool. He told me today that he's got a second interview with a real estate company that would pay pretty well (much better than the B&N) and I hope he gets it.

I have an interview tomorrow with our district manager. I'm a little nervous because I haven't really met her and so I don't know what to expect. I usually interview pretty well, though, and I've got the support of my store manager and other folks, so at least I'm going in on a good foot.

Jesus, it's been hot here! When we left town it was about 65 degrees and when we got back it was 90. In the words of Fred Willard (one man who can consistantly make me laugh), "Wha happened?!"

The Regal Beagle

I will condense the last few days into this list:

wedding
breakfast at Aaron's
drive
the REGAL INN
drive
drive
LOST
walk.

That's about it for now.

Doin' it in the Lou

Well, we're here in St. Louis, Jeannie is off getting her hair cut. Maybe getting it cut REAL short, we'll see. I'm at her parents' house, rockin' the dial-up connection.
We've had a good trip so far. Got to stop in Ohio for a brief visit Wednesday night/Thursday morning, had a few hours to talk with Rich, Jen, and Henry. Unfortunately, Brad had to leave for work before we woke up. Everyone seems to be happy and doing well.
Thursday we finished the drive to St. Louis, and went to meet our new neice, Layla Grace Anderson. Jeannie's brother's wife had a baby girl on Wednesday morning, so when we got in on Thursday evening we went to the hospital to meet the baby and see how everyone is doing. Everyone is doing well, very excited and happy. Then Jeannie and her Mom and I went to Olympia for a delicious late dinner of gyros and Fat Tires.
Ran a bunch of errands yesterday, then went to my folks' place for dinner with the whole damned family. It was a good time, although we're getting to be such a big group (17 people at the dinner table), that it's almost getting to be a little TOO big. Maybe it's a good thing that Jeannie and I are out of town, just to keep the numbers down at family gatherings.

I guess the big news is that my boss will be leaving the B&N in about a week or so. So I'll probably be moving up to music manager soon, which I am happy about, but sorry that he had to leave for it to happen. He's a nice guy with a wife and kids and I hope that he finds something a lot better. Anyway, we'll see what happens.

Still haven't watched the LOST finale, but my friends in Ohio were nice enough to tape it for me so hopefully I'll get to watch it in a day or two.

Talent.

Everyone should read Drew's blog today, and then reference his blog from April 18th of this year if you don't know what he's talking about. This, by the way, is Drew (or at least it used to be):

Drew and I became acquainted in high school when I used to borrow pens from him every day in Calculus and Modern European History classes. Apparently, I have the type of personality where I don't bring pens to class, and he has the type of personality where he brings extra ones. And we sat right next to each other. So thanks, Drew for the pens, and good luck with displaying your abundant talent. I don't think he was wearing eye makeup in that picture, but it kinda looks like it, doesn't it?

Jeannie and I get to leave town tonight, stopping in Ohio very late. My plan today is to go to the gym (eating habits lately have been very bad), work on some music for Schlueter's play, and pack my stuff. Also gather cd's for the drive.

Talked to Rich and Brad on the phone the other night, made me look forward to seeing them, although the visit will be brief. Which just means that everything will have to line up so that they can visit B-more this summer.

New Digs

Here's a picture of our new building. We're up on the 3rd floor. We'll be moving in at the beginning of July, hopefully we'll be able to get in a little early, though.

Jeannie and I spent the morning and early afternoon walking around Charles Village, stopping in at some yard sales, and had lunch at a little cafe in Bolton Hill. We'll probably run some more errands tonight and then we start our last weekend of babysitting.

Been working on some music for Schlueter's play over the last couple of days. Also work, and have just been looking forward to getting the chance to hang out with Jeannie all day today.

Breakin' in my new shoes

Today was fine. Been hankering with the internet, trying to find a way to get some music files teleported to Schlueter. Then a normal day of work, waiting for it to end so I could come home and watch LOST and hang with my ladyfriend. Watched the show (a decent episode, makes me want to see next week's NOW) then just got back from a nice walk with Jeannie, talked about what a strange bunch of events had brought us to this point; married, in Baltimore, eleven and a half years after we first started taking walks together. We're both so happy that it just seems hard to believe.

Been thinking lately about the summer, looking forward to driving down to the beach on my days off, with anybody who's available or by myself if everyone's working. I remember a day last summer (or maybe it was 2 summers ago) when I drove down to Rehoboth Beach one morning, early, and went swimming and there were dolphins jumping like 30 feet away. It was pretty amazing. So I'm interested in doing that sort of thing as much as I can. Maybe I can make myself a little less translucently white and yet still avoid the frighteningly intense sunburns of last summer.

Reading Drew's blog made me miss Drew, who I regret only getting to see once or twice a year. But it's nice to be able to read the blog and know that he's still keepin' Chicago freakified.

Yesterday/Today

Yesterday was a bad day. It was Wasnock's fucking last day at work, which bummed me out, and my computer wasn't working right so I couldn't get on the internet, and I had to choose between getting the hell out of town (which I really want to do) and going to a get together to watch the season finale of LOST next Wednesday (which I really want to do). I have chosen the leaving town early, and thus will not get to go to the LOST party. I did manage to sit around most of the night after I got home from work and watch the season finale of Grey's Anatomy, which has annoyed me when I've seen it and it did not fail to annoy me last night. I was powerless, however, to change the channel.

I read Schlueter's play the other night, which I liked very much. It is smart, sensitive, clear, funny, and interesting. And sad. I was crying a little bit when I read then end of it. Also, I'm not just saying that because she's my friend and I'm writing about her in semi-public. If it was crap, I wouldn't be writing about it. I'm looking forward to working on the music, as I think that I might get to play around with sparse solo piano stuff, which seemed to come very easily and be very satisfying to work on for GHOSTS OF HAMILTON STREET. Also, I'll get to play around with the accordion sound on my keyboard, which I've always been impressed with because it sounds like a real accordion. We'll see what happens. For the moment, I'm rummaging through old material to send off to Schlueter to see if she likes it, and her response will help me figure out what direction to go in as I record new stuff.

Today has been a better day than yesterday. I got to hang out most of the day with Elizabeth at work, and we stood around doing not much of anything but shooting the shit. My boss, who's been driving me crazy lately just by being himself and who I wasn't looking forward to working with today, had to leave work early so I spent the rest of the afternoon by myself doing not much of anything, then shot the shit a little bit with Patrick C. when he got there at 3. Then I got to go to the gym for the first time in a long time. Then got home and took a bath while reading the latest, "1000th issue" issue of Rolling Stone, which is a very good read. Lots of little blurbs about many covers over the last 40 years, a nice little dimestore tour of Rock N' Roll.

Now the Jeanners is home, we just finished a nice little funtional dinner of impromptu spaghetti, and we're gonna run some errands and take a walk if it don't rain.

1 more day of work and then a busy day off with plans of laundry, lunch with BJ if he's free, dishes, recording, and a trip to the dump. Also maybe a trip to Soundgarden to check out the new Twilight Singers cd.

ADDED LATER:

Tonight as Jeannie and I drove to WalMart so I could look at some new shoes, I realized that I pretty much have absolutely the best life ever and I've been given way more happiness than anybody on the planet should be allowed to have.

Also, I got some kick-ass new shoes tonight. They remind me of these shoes I saw when I was a little kid, in a Norman Rockwell painting of a hobo-type guy playing a ukelele. Ever since I saw that painting (it's in a book of N.R. prints that my parents have) I've been searching for shoes like them. The ones I got tonight aren't exactly right but they have the same vibe.

FCW

Well, after tomorrow, the B&N will start to suck a little bit more, because it's my favorite manager's last day. Actually, it might suck a lot more, but I'm happy for him because he's going to be an assistant store manager at a different store. So he'll be raking in the dough, which means he'll be able to buy more treats for his bunny and doggies.

Also, my good buddy Jen Schlueter (one of the 2 smartest people I know, the other being her husband Stinky--which one of them is the smartest is a matter of heated and occasionally verbally abusive debate) sent me a draft of the play she's written, which I have not had the pleasure of reading yet, but which I am very excited to read and very excited to try and come up with music for. I hope that I do not let her or myself down.

Jeannie and I have only one more weekend of babysitting left after this one, and then we have our weekends back to wine and dine each other.

Oh shit! I almost forgot to write that the other night I had a dream that one of George Bush's daughters married Vanilla Ice. I have had a few experiences in my life that I would describe as "mystically perfect" or "cosmically perfect", when the universe seems to align in some strange way for a brief moment to give you a glimpse of something supernatural (like when my 3 turds lined up in parellel lines in the toilet, is the only other time I can think of) and this dream was one of those moments. I think when I have a milkshake right before bed it makes me have some whack dreams.

Rainy Day Fun

I must be a special boy, because I got to go out to eat twice today. First, I went to lunch with the Beej at the Rec Room. We both had burgers and G&T's. The burgers were awesome. That place has never disappointed me in the burger department. If anyone out there ever comes for a visit, remind me to take you to the Rec Room for a burger because they're good. Monday nights are half-price burger nights, too. So visit on a Monday.

Then, when my wife got home from work, she decided she wanted to go get some Thai food for dinner. So we took a shower and went to this little place downrown, Ban Thai, which is a cute little place that I had never been to, and had a nice little spontaneous date. And Jeannie looked real cute and it was fun and nice and we talked and it was just about as perfect as life can get.

Unfortunately, that's about all I did today. It's been raining all day and my car is in the shop, so I was pretty much stuck at home, so after I finished the dishes I played a little bit of guitar (a couple of ideas for possible future exploration) and then played Civilization III for awhile. Then I gave myself a haircut shortly before Jeannie got home. So I guess I accomplished everything on my list of things to do, but damn, I really didn't do that much...

Probably more of the same tomorrow.

Happy Birthday!

Today is an important day. First off, May 10 is Bono's birthday. It is also the birthday of my brother-in-law, Tom Hart. Today also marks the 1 year anniversary of my first post in this here god-damn blog. Finally, I am right now, at this very moment, watching my very first televised LOST. I'm all caught up, and now I have to watch LOST on TV, episode by episode, just like everybody else. Now that I'm not watching it every day, my LOST fever has calmed down a bit, but I'm still pretty obsessed.

Tomorrow begins my 2 days in a row off of work, and I'm meeting BJ for lunch at the Rec Room. Burgers and a drink. I'm also going to give myself a haircut and clean our apartment.

Got a nice e-mail from Danny Dolan. I've been meaning to write him, so it was nice to hear from him. It sounds like things are going well and he's working hard and happy.

My ear is currently itching.

The evil, evil rock.

Last night Jeannie had a dream that I was smoking crack. She said that when she confronted me about it I tried to convince her that I hadn't inhaled. I'm having a hard time picturing myself smoking crack... Unless it's ass crack! HA HA! SLAM!

I still feel kinda sick today. But I worked me ass off at the B&N. There were a lot of damned classical CD's that were changing price.

My apologies to Patrick Coursey for inadvertantly placing his blog link below the new link to the to-do list blog. It was entirely accidental, though I'm feeling a bit too lazy to fix it right now. It should be noted, however, that I find Patrick's blog to be more interesting than random to-do lists. Sometimes. When he updates his posts. And when he puts pictures up where it looks like he's been embalmed. I do not endorse web-comics, however. Nor comics of any nature, for that matter. Except Brenda Starr.

I am looking forward to my days off on Thursday and Friday. I hope I am feeling better by then. Jeannie just got home.

Under the Weather

Well, I haven't written much lately, and when I have written it's been boring. What can I say? Life is like that sometimes, I guess. Here' what I've been thinking, hearing, and seeing:

1. Feeling a bit sick. I kind of have a half-cold.
2. Feeling jealous of/happy for Rich in Ohio. I've really enjoyed his blog since he moved. It's like an instant change to happiness.
3. In the good news catagory, Jeannie and I were approved for the apartment in Charles Village and signed the lease on Saturday. We won't be moving until end of June, beginning of July.
4. Work has been uneventful, and a pain in my ass. For a Sunday, though, tonight wasn't too bad.
5. I'm going to buy Don Quixote and The Idiot from the B&N with a gift card that I won. Which should I read first?
6. I need a vacation.
7. Seanyboy has a few new songs on his MySpace. Check 'em out.
8. Jeannie and I absolutely can't wait to move. We're so excited. Also, we are approaching our 18 monthiversary. We're also nearing the end of our babysitting career. We're looking forward to having weekends again, but I think we'll both miss it a tiny little bit, too. Samuel's a good kid.
9. In the new apartment, there's a long-shot possibility that we'll be able to cheaply rent a vacant efficiency apartment below us that would serve as recording/painting studio and storage space. This would be a truly awesome turn of events, indeed.
10. I found a fun little blog that features TO-DO lists that people find and send in. I like stuff like that. I'll link to it on the side...

That's it. I love my ladyfriend, and I'm just waiting to not be so boring.

Someone Else's Poop

Tonight I changed my first poopy diaper. I did not like it very much. That is all I have to say about that.

Blah de blah blah blah.

I'm glad that today's almost over. Work was a bit of a pain, because I had to stay late because my boss called in sick an hour after his shift was supposed to start. Not cool. So as a result I haven't gotten to watch any LOST episodes today, which makes me especially grumpy. Tonight Jeannie and I are babysitting because Kate is working some overtime and asked if we could watch Samuel.

Lesley sent me an e-mail a few days ago and asked if I would be interested in playing some songs before some of the summer shows. I think I'm going to turn her down, because I've developed some sort of strange aversion to playing live. I know that if I said yes then I would be dreading it every day.

Still waiting to hear if we got the apartment. We're assuming everything should go through just fine. We're damned excited about the new place.

Right now some kid is practicing his clarinet a few buildings down, and I hear some papers blowing around in our bedroom. There's something strangely nice about hearing someone practice a clarinet through open windows on a summer night. The clarinet is a funny instrument, and this kid isn't too great. But he's doing some funny trills and stuff.

It still doesn't put me in a good mood, though.

Eureka

Well, the Great Apartment Search of '06 has (we hope) come to a close. Jeannie and I put down a security deposit on a 1BR, 3rd floor apartment at 2831 St. Paul St. in Charles Village. We're very excited. It's real cute, pretty big, and cheaper than the place where we're living now. And it has roof access so we can hang out on the roof and drink beer. If everything goes well and they approve our application and all that, we should be moving at the end of June/beginning of July.

Today we're off to the Oriole's game with Pat and BJ, courtesy of free tickets from Lesley Malin via Pat Kilpatrick. So thanks, Lelsley, for the tickets, and thanks, Pat, for the invite.

When I get a chance to take some pictures of the new place, I'll put 'em up here.