Thanksgiving

Oh, how I wish I was in O-hio...

But we ain't, so we shall make the best of this Thanksgiving 2007 here in cloudy-but-bright Baltimore.

I didn't sleep well last night. I had had some caffeine last night at work with my dinner, so maybe that was keeping me up. I was also thinking about work stuff, which is strange and wrong because today is one of two days out of the year when I absolutely don't have to think about the B&N.

Anyway, yesterday was a long, busy day at work, which is good because we made some good money, but it was long. (Confidential to anyone who works with me in the Music Department: don't use food poisoning as an excuse when calling out sick. Even if you are puking and shitting right in front of me, my brain still won't let me believe it...)

Sitting here at the kitchen table in me undies, listening to some old Strokes CD's. Ever since Eric was visiting, and they were playing a Strokes album at the Golden West Cafe when we went there for dinner, I've been jonesing for the Strokes. They've got a nice, early 80's post-punk sound, I think. The Jeanners is getting some stuff ready for our Thanksgiving dinner, putting the bird in the oven, mixing stuff together, making something called brine. I'm not exactly sure what brine is, but I asked Jeannie if I could stick my dong in it and she said "no", so I guess it's something we eat or drink.

THINGS I AM THANKFUL FOR IN 2007:
1. The Jeanners, and all the fun we have together.
2. The safe and healthy births of Jack Steinmetz, Henry Bosco, Adam Grass, and Elizabeth O'Brien. And the host of other babies that were born to people we know. Seriously, people, stop pressuring us by having all these goddamn adorable little shits.
3. A good, fun crew at work. (Wish E-beth was still around, though.)
4. That my parents were able to come out for a visit.

And then all the usual stuff; good health, family, friends, blah blah blah, peace on earth and good will towards man, blah blah blah. God bless us, everyone.

I stink. I'm gonna put away our silverware and then take a damn shower.

Happy Thanksgiving, everybody!

Tomorrow, the bullshit begins.

Post Punk

I've been reading a big U2 coffee table book that was cheap at the B&N, and been reading a bunch about them getting started back in '80 and '81, and it has put me in an early 80's mindset. I'm always inspired whenever I read stuff about U2, it always makes me want to do some recording, probably because I pretty much learned how to play guitar by watching any footage I could find of The Edge. So basically, right now I feel like quitting my job, spending all of our savings on a big mixing board and some good equipment, and renting someplace where I could set up a drumset and record my early 80's post-punk masterpiece. What all of this dreaming has actually boiled down to, however, is that I've been wearing my combat boots more. That's about it. I have done a bit of recording over the last few days, but mostly it's just been farting around. Been playing around with some interesting keyboard-drum stuff, though.

Jeannie and I had a good day yesterday of just lounging around. We used to do that all the time, when we were in college and she would come for a visit, we would spend days where we never left the dorms, not even to get food. For some reason we both felt uncomfortable eating with each other, so we would just spend days in the dorm room, getting more and more hungry. So we kinda did that yesterday, except that we ate.

We've been missing the Scluetermetz' bunches. Probably because of the time of year. We're probably gonna hang out with Katie and some other folks for Thanksgiving, which should be cool. But probably not as cool as heading to Ohio.

btw

The title of that last post refers to the blog itself, not the production of Macbeth. Except for Pat, who is truly an idiot.

A Tale Told by an Idiot

The Jeanners and I went to see Macbeth tonight. There was good mixed with not so good. Luckily, Scott and Lesley were both strong (it's always good to have a strong Macbeth and Lady Macbeth), but damn, some of the smaller parts were comically bad, and the lighting seriously bugged me. Although it is a tough space to light. So yeah, Macbeth. But I am looking forward to working on Doll's House. I think the set will be totally different than anything we've done before, and I think that the play will have a feel that's totally different than anything we've done, and I'm very excited by that.

Also made tentative plans to hang out with Pat and Teresa next week, which is a good thing. We've been wanting to hang out for awhile, so I'm glad that we've got an idea of when it can happen.

Hmmm, what else? Son of Sam I Am still hasn't arrived and I'm starting to get miffed.

Not too much else going on. I spent my day off yesterday doing laundry and dishes and then went in to help rehang and focus some lighting instruments for the show. And I've been enjoying looking at all the pretty fall colors on my way to and from work. I think we're just about at the tail end of the season, and I'll be sad when all the leaves are down, but I like winter, too.

Alright, I've got to work tomorrow morning, so I'd better finish this beer and get to bed.

"After all, I've tried for 3 years; feels like 90..."

Yesterday was me and the J-Dog's 3 year schmanniversary. We're pretty low-key anniversary-celebrators (last year the big thing we did was go to a Greek Restaurant, whoa!) but this year The Jeanners was nice enough to use a gift certificate for a massage that I had given her a long time ago, and she set up appointments for us both to get a massage. She shared her massage with me. So we went and got all oily and rubbed down. And went to Golden West for dinner, where my dinner seemed smaller than it did when we went there last and I ordered the same thing...

Anyway, seriously, I think that this marriage probably only has about 6 good months left.

I have been totally geeking out listening to Too Much Joy. I ordered 2 more cheap TMJ cd's off Amazon. One arrived yesterday, so I can now begin rocking out to the Cereal Killers album as well as Mutiny. Hopefully, Son of Sam I Am will be arriving today.

Not too much else going on. Work is starting to get a wee smidgen busier, but not really. Yet.

Also, I have agreed to stop downloading things that are not legal to download. As long as my wife doesn't get annoyed when I buy lots of Too Much Joy cd's.

Also, I just finished reading "Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe," and yes, it did make me feel a bit womanly while reading it, but it was a good story, goddammit.

A Month in Pictures

In honor of me getting a roll of film developed, here's some pictures from the last month:



Jeannie and her brother, Big Jake. The man knows how to fill out a wifebeater, no?



The Beej and The Destiny, all lovey-dovey.



Pat and the Beej, enjoying their final few minutes as single gay men.



Pat and Teresa, laughing at what I can only assume are the wacky antics of BJ and MAW.



Jeannie and MAW express their love.



Jeannie sure can handle the hose!



Eric and the imfamous Large Camera.



This is the kind of scene that happens in our kitchen all the time. I'm just not exactly sure what it is...



Jeannie and the Future North-American Wanderer, Katie, who will be leaving Baltimore in a few weeks, and sorely missed.

The Spiff Chambers Show

Are you like me? When you heard about Seanyboy opening up for Colin Hay did you wish you could see it? Well now you can!

J U S T
C L I C K
H E R E !

It seems that they filmed his part of the show for a local cable network in Girdwood, Alaska. He sent me the link for it today, and I thought it was pretty cool. And not just because he plays some songs I worked on. One note: I do not really identify myself as a "Christian," (as Sean says in the video), but I hereby give Sean poetic license to introduce the song however the fuck he wants. Anyway, some great finger pickin' in there.

I would also like to take this opportunity to publicly apologize to Korn for getting mad at her yesterday at work. It was stupid and I apologize. I hope you (Korn) will forgive me and that we can continue to be friends.

Bad Liver.

My day at work kinda gave me a headache. But then I got home and my Too Much Joy album had arrived, and made everything ok again.

Oh, and I found out that Jack was born on November 5th, not the 6th, so his birthday will be even easier for me to remember. The day Marty McFly went back in time. And Spiff's birthday.

Ok, I've been waiting all day to write about this dream I had last night: I dreamed I was at the doctor's office, and I had been given a physical, although the type of office I was in was more like an eye doctor's office. It was dim and I was sitting in a special eye-doctor-type chair, and I was naked. My pants and underwear were in kind of a ball at my feet, kinda like I had just stepped out of them. There were also two kids from grade school leaning in at the doorway, but they weren't really doing anything and don't figure into the dream at all. So anyway, the doctor tells me that there's too much fat in my poop, and that means that my liver isn't working properly. And it turns out that he discovered that there's too much fat in my poop not by analyzing my poop, but by analyzing the skid marks in my underwear. Talk about embarrassing! Not only is my poop too fatty, but my underwear was filthy to boot! I was glad to wake up from that one...

I hope my liver's ok.

Jump They Say

This morning I eat the bacon and the eggs in honor of young Jack, who is enjoying his first day on this dirty, dirty planet. I look forward to the day when he and his brother and his parents and Uncle Rich and me and the J-Dog (and really, anybody else who wants to show up) sit down to a big table of bacon n'schmeggs and english muffins and juice and fruit and biscuits and fried potatoes and have what we like to call the Down Home Country Breakfast.

Last night I acquired in a less than legal fashion (it's out of print, how else am I supposed to get it?) (ok, it's actually available as a deluxe, double album edition, but I'm not paying $30 for this album) the album Black Tie, White Noise, by David Bowie. This is the album where I was first introduced to D.B., back in the early 90's, and at the time I remember thinking it was very strange but I was also drawn to it. I still feel the same way. It sounds pretty dated, but it's just a very strange mixture of a David Bowie record and, say, a Michael Jackson record. With a touch of C+C Music Factory thrown in. And I think he duets with Al B. Sure (!!) at one point. But I like it.

Also on the 'albums that time forgot' subject, I was looking online the other night to see if I could illegally acquire the album Mutiny, by Too Much Joy. Too Much Joy is a band from the 90's that most people haven't heard of, but there is not very much music that takes me back to high school as easily. They're a dorky rock band that's really damn catchy. So anyway, I was trying find this album to download, when I came across many copies being sold on Amazon.com for $1. Plus shipping. I felt a moment of shame when I realized that I was scouring the web to illegally download an album for free when I could, just as easily, legally acquire the same album for 100 pennies. Plus shipping. So I ended up paying the dollar (plus shipping) and the damn thing should be here in a day or two. My moment of shame has passed, though.

By the way, the irony/hypocrisy of my hatred of CD/DVD shoplifters living side by side with my penchant for less-than-legal downloading is not lost on me.

'Do I contradict myself?
Very well then I contradict myself,
(I am large, I contain multitudes.)'

I love that quote! It totally relieves me of having to be consistent and/or having character! It's so POMO!

Jack Attack

A big hearty welcome to the Schluetermetz' new little boy, Jack. I will always be able to remember his birthday (if his birthday was, indeed, today. I didn't get all the particulars from Brad) because it's the day after Marty McFly went back in time. It's also the day after Seanyboy Spiff's birthday. So I should be able to remember it. Anyway, I'm just glad that the little dude can stop kicking his mom now and that everybody is doing well.

Not too much else going on. This week at work has felt a little slow compared to last week, which is nice. Getting caught up, getting things in order for the holidays, etc.

Went to HCCA on Saturday and measured the theatre. Tomorrow (my day off), I'm gonna go through the script and try to make a few drawings.

Oh boy, there are some stirrings down in my belly. I had a little bit of moldy fake-sour-cream stuff for dinner, so I'd better sign off.

Don't you have homes?!

This morning I watched a bit of Caddyshack before work. Gawd-DAMN I love that movie. Two thoughts that came into my head: 1) If I was a professional movie actor I would act like Ted Knight in Caddyshack in every film I was in. And 2) J. Knese reminds me of Spaulding.

Driving home from work tonight I realized that Wednesday (yesterday) was my 5 year anniversary at the Noble and I totally forgot. Five (5) muthaf**kin' years. Sheesh.

I could drink a case of you/Heineken

Ah, shit. Work has kept me busy as hell this week. Been getting ready for the official start of the holiday season (holiday changeover on Friday), as well as training a dude who's going to be the music manager out in Pikesville. So I've been coming home and pretty much just been looking for mindless activity, which for the past couple of days has meant noodling around on some music. Now I remember what the ol' TV is for...

The rest of Eric's visit was fun. We ended up hitting NYC in a whirlwind (4.5 hour drive up, walk around a bunch, 4.5 hour drive back), and then he jetted out on Monday morning while the J-Dog and I were at our respective works. Eric is a one of a kind hombre, and it was good to see him.

Today a customer (Mr. Kim) who likes me very much gave me a case of Heineken. Wouldn't life be better if every customer that came into the store gave us beer?

Who'll Stop the Rain?

The Elz is in town. Arrived yesterday, and we had a relatively uneventful day. Went to Fell's Point and had pizza in a strange Brazillian pizza place, then came home, hung out with the Jeanners when she got home from work, then went to a Mexican place that I've been wanting to try, El Patron. It kinda sucked. We were the only people in the place, and Eric ordered a vegetarian burrito that arrived filled with chicken. Then we came home and sat at the kitchen table and drank beers and chatted until we all hit the hay at around 10:30.

Eric was catching up on sleep and didn't wake up until noon this morning, then he and I headed down to DC for the day. I forgot to mention that it was rainy all day yesterday, and it was raining today, too. All day. It sucked. First, we got caught in traffic on our way out of Baltimore, so we sat downtown for about an hour, then when we finally got down to DC, it was ab-so-lute-ly fucking raining and nasty. So we walked around the mall in the rain for several hours. We went into the National Gallery of Art (and Farts) and saw all the modern art (and modern farts), and walked around in the rain. Then we took the subway to Chinatown and had a passable chinese dinner at a place that seemed to have 200 employees milling around, and as soon as you took a drink of water they would rush over and refill your glass.

Anyway, we made it home (still raining) and got some ice cream, and now here were are again sitting at the kitchen table with beer, except now we're listening to some tunes. Flaming Lips right now. Here's some pictures from our rainy Washington DC adventures.



Eric contemplates my modern farts.



Eric gets hungry near our National Phallus.



What life would be like if we all lived underground, on the moon.


The music has switched. It's Radiohead now. We were planning on going to New York tomorrow, but the forecast is calling for rain, and the idea of spending another day walking in the rain isn't sounding too great. So maybe we'll go see Darjeeling Limited tomorrow and think about heading to NYC on Sunday.

Whenever I get together with Eric, he takes lots of pictures with his large camera where I end up looking like a rockstar. So I'm going to take this opportunity to post a few pictures of me looking like a rockstar that I didn't have to take myself.

Jim Henson, my ass.

Customer: "Excuse me, sir?"

Dan: "Yes?"

Customer: "You look like Jim Henson."

Dan: "Thank you."


That's the conversation (in it's entirety) that occurred five minutes before I left work today. I don't really think I look like Jim Henson, though, and in his defense, the customer was semi-mentally-challenged. But it was an interesting cap on a long day.

Right now I'm cookin' myself some fat hamburgers cause I'm feeling the need to get my red meat on. I've got the next 4 days off, and E. Elz is due to arrive tomorrow, and as Eddie Murphy says, Eric just wants to party all the time, party all the time, party all the time.

Had a good meeting with Kevin the other night about the DOLLS HOUSE set. I think he and I are pretty much on the same page, and I think we could do some interesting stuff. He's got a good cast and a good costumer, so it could be a quite a good play.

Hmmm, what else? This city is a horrible place to drive in the rain. Horrible, horrible, horrible. I cussed out many people on the way to work and the way home from work. Can't we all just drive like adults?

"Sushi Man Busy Man, All the Time."

I feel kinda like I'm on a little bit of speed right now. But only because I've had a lotta things on my list to get done (mostly at work) and I've been getting them all done today. And tonight I meet with K. Costa to discuss the set for DOLLS HOUSE so I can stop procrastinating on that and get started with an actual "design." And I've got a load of laundry in down at the laundromat.

A funny story. The other night Jeannie and I had just gotten into bed and we were talking about something, and then there was about a 10 second pause, and then she said, "What's with the brown bear?" and then she started giggling. And I said, "What brown bear?" (because there was no brown bear in our bedroom, that I could see.) And then she giggled again, and said, "I must've been dreaming a little bit." It was pretty funny. Probably one of those 'you had to be there' situations, but I'm sure you can imagine yourself in a situation where someone who you're kind of in the middle of a conversation with falls asleep a little bit and starts talking about brown bears, and you can see that that situation might be humorous.

Confidential to the Beej:
This morning at 6:30am I sat in the parking lot of the B&N and listened to the hidden track on the Springsteen disc and cried a little bit. I, too, am a bit of a weeper. But in more of a stoic, native-american-shedding-a-lone-tear-about-forest-fires-and-litter kinda way.

Not confidential to the Beej:
Off to switch the laundry!

They Broke the Mold

The Jeanners and I just got back from seeing "Into the Wild," the movie about the kid who bummed around for awhile and then went to Alaska and starved to death. It's a good movie. About 3/4 of the way through the film, I was thinking, "this movie is too long and it's missing the fucking point," but then it kinda redeemed itself in the end. J-Dog and I had both read the book recently, and we were both interested in seeing the movie, because it's a pretty damned compelling story. I don't usually get too worked up about such things, but I'm kinda torn about the way I feel about this kid. He seemed to have everything worked out so right and so completely wrong at the same time. And I've been pretty fascinated with the whole "get rid of everything and just walk around" for as long as I can remember. Even as a kid my favorite daydeam was, "What would I do if my parents and family disappeared and I had to fend for myself? What would I take with me? Where would I go?" And there's still a bit of that left in me, although at the moment it's buried under some other shit -- some important shit and some unimportant shit. I wonder if it will come out later or if it will go away? I guess either option is ok...

So the two thoughts in my head about Chris McCandless are: "You're an idiot for not listening to people and thinking you could do what others could not." and "I really admire what you did and why you did it and the way in which you went about it." And my guess is that those are the two thoughts that go through everybody's mind who reads the book or sees the movie. Too much damned Eddie Vedder music in the movie, though.

Also: the hidden track on the the Springsteen album is pretty damned good. "When they built you, brother, they broke the mold."

Also: When we got home from the movie, I took a pretty huge shit. The bathroom is pretty rank. Jeannie's in there now brushing her teeth and I'm a little surprised she's not puking from the smell. Perhaps she's built up an immunity?

Magically Delicious

I bought the new Bruce Springsteen album today, Magic. I'm a bit underwhelmed. I have to admit, I'm a bit down on the Boss lately. Devils and Dust was just OK, The Seeger Sessions was just OK, and now this album is just OK. Three luke warm albums in a row. Here's a fun game you can play at home: when you hear the song "Radio Nowhere" (the first single) sing the words to "867-5309 (Jenny)." Sad when big Bruce is ripping off Tommy Tutone.

I've been depressed lately. Was in a funk all day. Then came home and went on a date with my girlie to go eat Thai food and that helped a bit. I need to get off my ass and get my shit done!

The Round-Up

Thanks to everyone who voted in last post's poll. The correct answer will be revealed at some point in the future.

Well, a lot has happened in the last few days. Let's start at the present and work our way back...

I just got home from an inventory at work. My first inventory (I think) that I didn't work with Bewley. Luckily I was working with cool kids Korn and Brian G. so it made my first Bewley-less inventory not so bad. So I'm blogging and enjoying a cheeserito (just cheese) and a G&T to wind down a little bit before bed.

Sunday was Pat and Teresa's wedding, which was, well, a hoot. We had a good time. Although getting to hang out with BJ and MAW for only a day is really just a tease, and not nearly a long enough amount of time. We did, however, get to meet Destiny, who is funny and sweet and seems (to me) understated, in a good way. I approve. The Jeanners (who is also understated, I would say) approves. I'm not even sure if I should be describing people using the word understated, but it's late and that's the word I want to use and I'm going to do it, dammit.

Anyway, Pat's wedding was fun. Good music (a nice mixture of motown and disco, with some Prince thrown in, too) and dancing, and although the reception was in a pretty fancy country club, it did not seem hoity-toity, which was nice. And we met some interesting people who I enjoyed talking to, even though I pretty much loath having to talk to anyone who I don't know and have recently (in the past couple of years) become fairly anti-social. So that was nice. A good day that made me tired the next day and hungover-feeling even though I didn't really drink except wine with dinner. I think I was just really tired.

And on Saturday night when I was at work, I had these 2 guys come in, and they looked like military guys who were on leave (we get quite a few of those in the store), and one of the guys sounded like he was straight off the West Virginia farm (he used the phrase "I reckon," genuinely), and asked me if we had any, and I'm quoting here, "titty-nipple movies." I told him that no, we didn't have any "titty-nipple" movies. We had movies with both "titties" and "nipples" in them, but nothing that would, in my opinion, qualify as a "titty-nipple" movie. He asked if there was anyplace nearby where he could find some, and I couldn't really think of anyplace, but I forgot there's a sex shop right down the street from the store. They probably weren't open though because it was after 10pm. Anyway, that was funny and it made for a funny story to tell The Jeanners when I got home.

Oh, and the correct answer is:



BJ.

You Make the Call!

Toast

Yesterday I was thinking that when I toast my toast, maybe I've been toasting my toast for too long. So this morning, I'm toasting my toast for not quite so long. I just want softer toast, that's all.

Jeannie's brother (Jake) and his wife (Missy) were in town last night, stopping in on their quick tour of some of the Mid-Atlantic region. They are on their way up to NYC this morning, though I was still asleep when they left. Big D had a few beers last night, and slept soundly. It was good to see Jake and Missy, and I hope they enjoyed their brief stay.

I had a dream last night that I was at a CSC party and got super drunk did lots of things that I didn't remember later, such as shaving off my beard. I was glad when I woke up this morning with my nasty, scraggly beard still intact.

Work this evening, which I'm not really looking forward to (but it should be relatively painless to get through), and then off to Philly tomorrow for Pat's wedding. I bought a couple of rolls of black and white film for our non-digital old-school camera, so maybe I'll get some fun photos of folks while we're there. 'Twill be good to see the Beej and MAW, as well as discuss some CSC stuff with CSC peeps. And maybe do some dancin' with my girlfriend. And, of course, to witness 2 fleshes becoming one flesh.

Hmmm. I believe that's all to report. Got Alaska on my brain...

What global warming, indeed.

Well, here I am, spouting off like an alarmist liberal about global warming and 90 degree days in October and blah, blah, blah, and then it goes and turns all autumnal on my ass overnight.

Shit. I just dripped some salsa on my nice clean white undershirt. Actually, I've been wearing it all day so it's probably not technically "clean."

Anyway, it rained a bunch yesterday, and as a result the weather has turned a bit nippy. Thank god. Now I can wear my suit to Pat's wedding on Sunday and not be a sweaty bastard. Or at least be less of a sweaty bastard.

This chilly weather makes me want to go put on my new lumberjack shirt and stand outside, smoke a cigarette and drink red wine out of the bottle. In fact, I think those 3 things are exactly what my life is missing right now.

Jeannie's brother and his wife arrive tomorrow night. Through a last minute rearrangement of schedules at work, I now have tomorrow off, so I think I'll be spending it doing laundry and cleaning in preparation for their visit.

And now, a shout out to Jeff K., who has started up his own blog. I was unsure if he would want a public mention of his writings, but I figured that I heard about it via a MySpace bulletin, which makes me think that it's public already. So here it is:

http://emergencypudding.blogspot.com/

Jeff is the bass player for the Quintessential Pine Tree Brothers, a handsome dude, and a helluva nice guy. Show him some respect.

What global warming?

When I came home from work yesterday, I realized that it was hot outside, and I decided right then and there that I was gonna drive to the beach today (my day off). If we're gonna have global warming that gives us 90 degree days in October, I'm gonna enjoy it, dammit.

So I got up this morning at around 6 and got on the road, and was down at the bay bridge at around sunrise,

and got down to the beach at around 9. Unfortunately, the beach was L-A-M-E. There were absolutely no waves and I didn't have my grilfriend there with me to have fun with. So I swam around for a little while,

slept for a little while, and then got pretty bored. Then I got to thinking, and I remembered crossing a few rivers and streams on my way down to the beach, and I realized that I had a couple of fishing rods in the trunk of my car, so I decided to drive back and explore some of the rivers on my way home. I'd much rather stand in a river and fish in the shade than hang out on a lonely beach with no waves.

So on my way back I checked out Martinak State Park (which seemed to be all about a lake and campgrounds) and continued on through some small towns looking for good access to the Choptank River. After driving down back roads and gravel roads and little Missouri-looking towns, I eventually found a public access spot in a little town called Goldsboro. Unfortunately, just as I was arriving, a nice little storm whipped up, and I got a little soaked while taking this picture of the Choptank:

I drove around the town a little bit (I only saw one actual person in this town, and I saw her in two different spots: once waiting to pick up her kid from the school bus and once at the recycling containers near the boat-ramp; a fairly large woman in a bright yellow shirt) until the rain stopped, found a different public-access boat ramp, and wanted to attempt some fishing but there were 2 trucks parked there from the Department of Natural Resources, and since I don't have a fishing license (I'm not even sure what the rules are in Maryland, do I need a fishing license?) I figured I'd better not chance it. I did take a leak, though.

So I left Goldsboro and continued on, until I crossed the Tuckahoe River, which looked promising. So I drove around a few roads looking for an access spot, and eventually found the Tuckahoe State Park, where after a little looking around I found a nice, narrow spot that looked like it might be decent for some fly fishing.

So I walked back to the car to get my fly rod, only to discover that my tackle box is not in my trunk. So not only did I not get to fish, but now I need to figure out where the hell my tackle box is. Hopefully in the trunk of the other car.

So anyway, I don't think I made any more stops after Tuckahoe, and drove the rest of the way home, where I arrived at around 3:30. So it was a lot of driving for only about an hour and a half at the beach. I did do some decent exploring, though, and it was a nice day for a drive; singing, whistling, and meowing along to good, loud tunes.

Adventures are more fun with the J-Dog, though. Seriously.

Easy Like Sunday Morning

Remarkably easy Sunday at work today. One of those days where the shit seems to sell itself...

Anyway, I meant yesterday to post this picture (that we got from my parents) of me and my baby frolicking in the ocean:




It's almost bedtime. Me and J-Dog are in the kitchen. She's making something complicated and vegetarian for her lunch tomorrow, something involving bulghur, which, as far as I know, is eaten mainly by horses. I'm enjoying a G&T and listening to J.J. Cale, who I've never really listened to but am enjoying.

"Why'd you choke out there, Baumer?"

It's been a relatively low-key couple of days. I started giving people their yearly reviews at work, which has been fine. It's always nice to get a raise, right? I wish I got my raise at this time of year, but I have to wait another six months...

Thursday night we went to Jeannie's former boss' house for dinner, which was fun and kind of interesting. We've been meaning to have dinner there for awhile, but we figured that it would probably be better to hang out in a social way if we waited until Jeannie was no longer working there. So we went and took a few bottles of wine and had an egg and potato souffl'e that was pretty tasty. And some of us got a little tipsy and then we all played "The Worst Case Scenario" board game (which J-Dog and I had played before, and kinda suck at. We usually immediately decide against the right answer). But anyway, it was a decently good time. I'm glad we brought the wine...

Then last night the Jeanners and I re-watched The Royal Tenenbaums and went to bed early.

Today has been pretty laid back, too. We both got up early this morning and went to work; I just had to give Shawn her review, and then got to come home. Jeanners worked for a little while and then went to yoga and came home. We ran some errands, I listened to Experts and Intermediates while Jeannie read on the couch, I uploaded the fruits of last weeks recording (still not too happy with it, but what the hell) and here we are. Who knows what we'll do tonight. Maybe walk? Maybe watch The Third Man? Maybe both?

I'm getting excited about the wedding next weekend and all of our visitors coming this month...

All My Lies Are Always Wishes...

I was prepared this morning to write that I like Wilco's A.M. better than Wilco's Yankee Hotel Foxtrot (a claim that would surely lose me points with the hipster community at large) but I have spent the morning dancing around the kitchen in my underwear while making my bacon and eggs and listening to Yankee Hotel Foxtrot. Damn, they're both such good albums. How many bands do you know of that have 2 full albums that, between the two, have only one song that gets skipped, and that song gets skipped only because it was written and sung by the bass player (a bad idea in general, for all you young bands out there...)? Unfortunately, this kind of only serves to hilight the fact that Wilco's most recent two albums (A Ghost is Born and Sky Blue Sky) are mild disappointments (but still pretty damn good).

So anyway, all this thinking about Wilco has got me thinking about ALBUMS. About how a good ALBUM is a really rare thing. You know, most CD's that you buy, you're happy to get 6 or 7 good songs, but what about those wonderful albums where you get 10 or 11 good songs, nary a clunker among the bunch? And now I'm going to go through my Itunes library and pick out some good ALBUMS, in no particular order:

*Wilco, A.M.
*Wilco, Yankee Hotel Foxtrot
*Afghan Whigs, 1965
*Counting Crows, August and Everything After
*Bob Dylan, Blood on the Tracks
*Mike Doughty, Haughty Melodic (although I have to skip "Busting Up a Starbucks," perhaps the most annoying song ever)
*David Bowie, Low (actually, some of the songs aren't that great, but the whole of the ALBUM is definitely more than the sum of its parts.)
*Nick Drake, Pink Moon
*Emmylou Harris, Red Dirt Girl
*Sonny Rollins, Sonny Rollins, Volume 2
*U2, The Joshua Tree
*Greg Brown, The Live One (actually, I usually skip "Moondance." I fucking hate that song.)
*Midlake, The Trials of Van Occupanther
*Bruce Springsteen, The Wild, The Innocent, and the E-Street Shuffle
*Flaming Lips, Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots


So there you have it. Out of 609 albums I have found 15 that I would consider "Great Albums." And Wilco had 2 of them. Way to go, Wilco! With honorable mention going to:

*Michael Jackson, Thriller
*David Gray, White Ladder
*Tom Waits, Nighthawks at the Diner
*Beck, Sea Change
*U2, The Unforgettable Fire and Achtung Baby
*Bruce Spingsteen, The Rising


At work today I HAVE to start giving people their reviews, which I hate. Here's my idea of what giving someone a review should be like:

"You're doing a good job, keep up the good work. Here's your raise."

or

"You really screwed the pooch this year, but I'm sure you'll do better next year, Here's your raise."

or

"Go away."

But unfortunately, I have to write up these reviews that are in Company-speak and then take time and go over the reviews with the employees and then have them sign it and lots of other B-crap. Oh well. I guess that's why it's called "Going to Work," and not, "Going to Fun."

Well, I've wasted to much time going through my Itunes library and now it's time to get ready for work. Shout out to A. Akester, from back in the college days!


Oh, and one more thought about albums: double-albums are pretty much universally a bad idea.

Holy Frijoles

Went to a semi-impromptu dinner last night with Elizabeth (who is in town from Chicago), Brian G, FCW and Sarah, and the Jeanners. It was a good time. Sad to hear that FCW is already bored by his relatively new job.

Let's see, what else? Yet another new group of shoplifters came by the B&N last night. Are there any actual, bona-fide customers who are willing to pay actual, bona fide money for expensive CD's and DVD's left? I am tempted to put up a sign that says SHOPLIFTERS, YOU HAVE WON. TAKE WHATEVER THE FUCK YOU WANT. BLOW ME.

I worked a little bit on some music on Thursday (maybe?) morning, with mixed results. Have been doing a little bit of mixing here and there. Maybe I'll post some results when I've decided if I like them or not.

The Jeanners just walked in the door, home from work. I have eaten for dinner tonight: vegetable spuke ("rice with vegetables 'spuked' in it") and two chicken pot pies. I still feel hungry. A bit like a bottomless pit this evening.

Well, not much of interest going on, I guess. Looking forward to my day off on Thursday.

Should've Been in Love....

Yesterday I re-bought the Wilco album A.M.. It's one that I used to own but I gave it to Sean after all his CD's got stolen out of his truck. I have missed it, and it's really nice to revisit all of these songs. Takes me back to a very specific time.

I've been reading through old e-mails lately, from around 1999 and 2000. Makes me miss all of my friends who have spead out everywhere. But we were spread out back then, too, so I guess not too much has changed. Some of us just don't see each other as often as we used to, but eventually we all end up getting together somewhere and somehow.


Went to work this morning (which was pleasantly boring) and then to Korrine and Kelly's house warming party, which was a good time. I enjoyed watching Korrine and Kelly's respective parents, who were all funny. And good food and nice folks and several heated games of Catch Phrase. What could be wrong with that?


More work tomorrow. Not looking forward to it. Sean wrote me yesterday and inquired if I would be up for an Alaska trip in the not-so-distant future to do some recording. Hell yes! It's all a matter of timing. I really wouldn't be available until February, and I hope that's not too long for him to wait to get his recording done...

Errata.

I'm not even sure what "errata" even means. And I'm too lazy to go look it up. Today I'm using it to mean "random things."

There's a new gang of thieves that have been hitting the B&N. A different guy every day, but all stealing in the same way (handing DVD sets over the wall by the escalator). So every day when I go in I wonder, "What got stolen yesterday?" I have been using the video to figure out who they are and how they're doing it, and I actually have caught two of the guys and kicked them out, but I still worry that they're going to keep coming back. So today's my day off but I'm worrying about work, and I'll probably stop by the B&N when I go to the gym, just to go through the video to see if anything got stolen last night. Sigh.

Other than that, not much going on. Jeannie started her new job on Tuesday, and seems to be having somewhat mixed feelings. She likes the people that she's met, but she seems to not like the design or building materials for the houses that they're actually building. But maybe, in the course of her job, she can work to make the design and materials better, yes? I think she's going to end up really loving this job, once she feels comfortable enough to dig into the deep stuff. But, she has only worked there 2 days, so at this point she's just learning names and figuring out where to eat lunch and shit like that. She said she's feeling a bit underwhelmed and overwhelmed at the same time.

And now for the "errata":

I don't know if you hop over to Old Aunt Amy's blog regularly, but if you don't you should go look at this picture. It makes me happy every time I see it.

A few weeks ago, Jeannie and I were looking up menus online for restaurants close to our house. We came across this wedsite for the Paper Moon Diner, which we both found pretty hypnotic. I love its simplicity.


****EDIT****

Ok, because I'm a sucker for grammar and usage I went and looked up errata and it turns out I'm a dummy and I'm using it totally wrong. But you know what? I'm gonna leave it so that in a few years when I'm really smart I can look back and have a big laugh at what a moron I was.

4 Days With Bill & Sue

Well, my parents have come and gone, and it was a good visit. Here's the quick breakdown:

Thursday: I spent the morning cleaning and then took a nap until my parents arrived. They were later than they thought they'd be because they got a bad flat tire on the way here (outside of Cumberland) and had to get their car towed to get 2 new tires. When they got into town, I went to pick them up at their hotel and then the four of us headed to Tamber's for dinner.



Friday: We headed down to Chincoteague Island, which is on the Atlantic Ocean about three and a half hours away. Cute little old seaside town. We drove around a little bit, checked into our hotel (which was beautiful) and then headed to the Assateague National Seashore to hang out on the beach. That night after dinner, the Jeanners and I hit the hot tub room in the hotel, which was pretty nice, and had a relaxing soak.



Saturday: Headed back to the beach, drove around a different part of the island, and then headed back for Baltimore. My parents went back to their hotel to relax a bit, and the Jeanners and I started watching the first episode of The Wire.



Sunday: This morning we took my parents to church and then walked around the farmers' market downtown for a bit. Then had breakfast at Burke's, and my parents headed towards home.

It was a good time. I'm sure not gonna want to go to work tomorrow. The Jeanners starts her new job tomorrow, which is pretty exciting. Anyway, I feel like I just wrote a lot of "we did this, then we did this" type bullshit, so now I want to write a little bit of description: right now Jeannie is putting away some of the stuff she had out to make her dinner--peppers, cilantro, lettuce. We've got a mix of Greg Brown stuff playing ("Who Woulda Thunk It?") and there's still a bit of sunshine coming in through the kitchen window. Our kitchen is starting to look a little bit lived in again after being very clean and bare for my parents visit. Jeannie's barefoot, wearing a denim skirt and a white tank top. She looks good. I've got on a white undershirt (surprise, surprise) and some khaki cargo shorts that I've been wearing for quite a few days. I just drank a big glass of orange juice to try and get rid of my cold, and I had two turkey sandwiches on toast for dinner. I've talked myself out of a milkshake because I'm getting too fat. I bought a new red and black lumberjack shirt today at our local secondhand shop. I have a hard time passing up lumberjack shirts. Jeannie and I are both pretty tired, and we'll probably watch another episode of The Wire tonight before we go to bed.

Catch That Beet, Crazy Motherf*$#er!

Well, I finished my 7 day work stretch, and I'm looking at 4 sweet days off, spent frolicking in the (hopefully) sun and spending some quality time with my folks and with the J-Dog. My parents should be arriving tomorrow afternoon, so I'm spending tonight doing some straightening and cleaning. Well, actually, right now I'm eating a turkey sandwich and drinking a beer, but later on I'm gonna do some cleaning and straightening. Tomorrow morning: laundry and deep-clean of the bathroom.

Haven't been doing a whole lot lately. Working a bunch, and going through old pictures and videos to see if there's anything fun to put up on the ol' facebook site. Found some old videos of the Beej from one night back at the house on 37th Street when he and Aimee and I were sitting around playing with the video camera. He make-ah dah funny faces.

Had a dream last night that I got shot by a shoplifter. He shot me four times in my booby.

That's about it. I was feeling kinda sicky today at work, but I think mostly I just need a good night's rest and a morning when I can sleep in as late as I want. Tomorrow!