Long and Boring.

Long and boring is how the last few days have been. At work anyway. At home, Jeannie and I have been taking walks in the late evenings after I get home, enjoying the new apartment and the new neighborhood. At some point we should have people over for beers, conversation, and maybe games.

Been thinking lately about maybe eventually working on some more music. Not sure what it should sound like. The two songs that lately I have been wishing I had written and recorded:

1. Maps, by the Yeah Yeah Yeahs.
2. Another Day on Earth, by Brian Eno.

I don't know what it would sound like if those two songs had a baby, but that's probably what I would want my new songs to sound like.

Also been missing my weekly lunches with the Beej. I hope that his summer is continuing nicely in the Missouri.

CSC

Spent the day in at CSC packing stuff up and throwing things away, getting ready for a junk sale on Saturday that will be taking place before CSC moves to a new space in August.

I spent a lot of the day thinking about CSC, about how just when I can be all ready to quit doing theatre stuff once and for all I go in and have a good, fun day like today and it ropes me in for another season. As I was thinking, I came to the conclusions that it's really just the large-group activites that I don't like. I tend to like the smaller shows, the smaller group meetings that are less planned and more intimate. And I like puttering around by myself and moving stuff around. So now that things are settling down again at work and at the new apartment, I feel a bit more comfortable about working on the shows this year. I guess it's all a matter of balancing work and home and CSC and free time.

Also, Ian told me that he read the blog the other day, so this evening I reread through a lot of old blog posts to see if I'd said anything bad in the past...surprisingly the only negative stuff I found were some un-stellar reviews of past shows. But nothing that I think was unaccurate or mean, so I didn't have to erase them from the blog or anything, ha ha.


Today I found on Rich's secret blog a link to the Steinmetz Family Rhymin'. Holy Jeez, it's good. Holy Jeez.

Tonight Jeannie and I have some un-planned hang-out time. What shall we do? I'm predicting that no matter what we do, some ice-cream eating will take place. Probably from cones.

At the moment I'm kinda sticky-sweaty from working at CSC and I need a shit and a shower. For the last few days I've been picturing myself doing some recording, which means that in a few weeks I might break out all the equipment and see what happens.

I make the stinky gas!

Patrick Kayak Pork

The last few days have been b oth eventful and uneventful. The fun started on Saturday night when Patrick C. left his keys at the B&N and was forced to spend the night at our place. Stupid Patrick! So we popped some corn and watched a bad SNL.

Then on Sunday (after taking P-rick to retrieve his keys) Jeannie and I wanted to get outside on our day off, so we decided to go to Gunpowder Falls State Park and rent a kayak. So we headed out (it's only about 20 minutes away, which is nice) and rented a kayak for a little while and paddled around. Then watched people learning how to windsurf on a day with very little wind.

Then a brief trip to Target and the grocery store where we bought some fixin's for a nice dinner, then brought them home, stuck our camping grill out on the roof and had us a nice little barbeque.

Yesterday was all about going to work. The crazies kinda drove me nuts last night.

Today is also all about going to work. ANd then tomorrow I'm going down to CSC to help get ready for the office-move.

Rocks.

The Jeanners and I went to Rocks State Park yesterday on our day off, it's one of our favorite summertime swimmin' spots. The water was pretty low, and it's a pretty, um, rocky place, so we didn't stay too long, but it was a good time.



This morning we walked to the farmers market to pick up some tasty vegetables. On the way home got a call from my good buddy Chris Bosco, who I have not talked to in a damned long time. Reminded me that I still need to send out an e-mail with our new address and phone number....

Off to work.

Surprise

I have been really enjoying Paul Simon's latest cd, Surprise, which was half-produced by Brian Eno. It's a very interesting combination.

Also, saw Pink on Letterman tonight, and was expecting to not like her. But I ended up liking the song.

Tomorrow I'm playing with me wife all day.

Certi-mofo-fiable!

The music department passed the big ISO certification yesterday, which means I can stop stressing out over all the bullshit now. Woo-Hoo!

Not too much else has been going on, except for me stressing out. The apartment is starting to come together, the books are up on the bookshelves, and now we just need to figure out how to work Jeannie's painting area, and how much of my recording junk we want to set up. I'm kind of leaning towards just setting up the recording stuff for the couple-day periods that I seem to record in and then taking it all down and storing it when I'm not using it. We'll see. That might be a big pain in the johnson.

I was very happy to hear that Henry's surgery went well, and also glad to hear that Jen Schlueter's play went very well and that she got some offers to stage it from a few different theatre festivals. Nice work, Schluets!

We finally have the stereo set up in our living room and it sounds really good. I'm glad there's no one living below us because now I can listen to music guilt-free. Also, we get PBS in our new place! Now I can watch all the British mystery shows that the centenarians who come into the B&N are always looking for. By the way, Jen Schlueter, centenarian means someone who is 100 years old. And I'm glad I looked it up in the dictionary because it turns out that I was originally spelling it way wrong and you would have publicly shamed me for it, I'm sure.

Can anyone out there tell me how to get Jeannie to stop hitting me?

French Onions

Tonight when I got home from inventory I couldn't find a place to park on our street, so I parked on Calvert and walked a block to the house. Here's some things I encountered on the way:

1. A bumper sticker that said, "My cat didn't make the honor roll."
2. A strange french onion dip smell. I think it was just garbage.

Inventory went fine, I got home around 2:30 and found an e-mail from my old grade-school buddy Mike Zahra, who I keep in very very loose contact with. He just moved to Miami, where he is in his like 30th year of training to be a doctor. He was the drummer in my first band, the Sons of Cain, which consisted of myself, him, and Doug Krey on bass. We weren't very good, but it was fun. And his parents were kind enough to let us use their basement.

Off to bed.

ISO!

Hmmm. Got an inventory at work tonight and ISO certification tomorrow. Which I know means nothing to most people out there, but to me it means stress and stomach-knots. Yuck.

I'll be glad when tomorrow's over.

The apartment is starting to shape up. We had a little bit of a shelf-building fiasco, but when all the dust settled we were left with two lovely IKEA-bought bookshelves.

Friday Jeannie and I get to play together. Maybe swimming?

High Fidelity

Last night as I was sitting in front of the computer, writing, I was trying to remember what it was I wanted to write about. Today at work I finally remembered what it was: on Wednesday night I went over to Pat and BJ's to play some geek cards, and Pat was a little bit late getting home, so BJ and I watched the movie HIGH FIDELITY while we waited for Pat to get home. I had seen that movie before, a couple of times, and I like it. As I watched it again, I was more aware of the parts that I didn't like, but I was also very aware that the movie helps me put my job in perspective, helps me not care too much about it, and helps me remember that maybe I'm not going to work at B&N for the rest of my life. So I need to get a copy of that movie so I can watch it when things get rough.

Today I did a bunch of laundry at the laundromat a couple blocks down the street. Tomorrow I'm gonna do more.

Today and tonight Jen Schlueter's play is being performed in Columbus. I hope everything goes well, and I hope the music works. I expect a full report of how it all goes down...

Pink Eye.

Not a bad day at work today. Got a lot done, and it wasn't super busy. I'm getting settled back into the routine of things.

Unfortunately, the apartment still isn't very settled. Jeannie and I haven't had a chance to do any major unpacking yet. So the plan is to do some work on Sunday, when we both have the day off. We also want to do something fun, maybe swimming in the rapids at Rocks State Park.

Jeannie thinks she has pink eye. I hope I don't get it.

Hmm. That's it for now. Tonight's BJ's last night in Baltimore for the summer. He and I went to Pete's Grille for breakfast this morning, but it was closed.

Out and About

We're back from California, the land of zero humidity.

What a wonderful trip it was. We got to meet some really cool new people, and reconnect with friends we haven't seen in awhile. It was especially good to see Dr. Witz, who has been reprimanded for not updating his blog.

Since it's been pretty much universally agreed that pictures can be sold for nearly 1000 times the value of words, here is a painfully brief recap of what happened on the trip:

The Jeanners and I arrive in California. We drive north from San Jose and set out on Highway 1, which is painfully too curvy. We abandon Highway 1 for the more boring but less motion-sickness-causing highway 101.



These are pictures of where we stayed. It's a 5 bedroom house named Crane Dance located right on the beach just north of Mendecino, CA. Lots of people stayed there, which brought it down to an affordable price range. The top picture is of one of the doors (there seemed to be lots of doors), and the bottom picture is Dr. Witz (left) and Kevin Lowry watching the sun set from inside the living room.


This is the happy couple, John (K-Torr) and Christmas. The wedding was very beautiful. Perhaps some of the hippies I met this trip will have rubbed off on me and I will be filled with more peace and love. I am actually not joking about this. Not entirely, anyway.


The whole gang, on the beach. The beach was interesting. We walked from the zen house where John and Christmas were staying, through a section of desert-like sand dunes, then down onto the beach. The water was paralyzingly cold. Seriously. I honestly and no joke thought that my brain was frozen when I got out of the water. It was fun, though. The Pacific is very different than the Atlantic.


Jeannie and I in wine country. After a lot of folks left, Jeannie and I went wine-tasting with Jeff, Casey, Jessie, and Rema. I forgot to set the timer on my camera, otherwise the rest of them would be in this photo, too. I was probably trashed.


Well, that's all for now. Eventually, once we get all the pictures uploaded I'll post a link in case anyone who was on the trip wants to download or print any.

It was really an amazing thing to get to hang out with such fun and interesting people. Sunday-night club, I hope you all made it to your flight safely.

DO NOT want to got to work tomorrow. Ugh.

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.