Home again, and new year's resolutions?

We are back at the homestead in Kansas again. It was a great vacation holiday, and we had a great time. The only thing that I would have changed about the entire thing was that I would have left a day earlier to avoid the giant snowstorm.

Christmas with the family was wonderful, and it was really awesome to see the little ones (mostly James and Neil) get all excited about opening presents and playing with new toys. We had a great time, but we missed Jay and John terribly around the holiday. (But we get to go see them very soon!)

We drove home in a pretty healthy winter storm. It was so bad that we were going 25 MPH for many miles on I-65 and could still not really see the road in front of us. The
country roads that we went down to try to get out of the storm were so windblown with deep drifts that it stuffed a bunch of snow into the front grill of the van. Everything was white, so we couldn't even tell where the drifts were. We would be driving along and all of a sudden "POOF!" the snow would explode from the front of the van and make a huge white cloud all around us. Not that it wasn't snowing heavily already, it just made an obviously denser cloud around us, and you could feel the van slow down when it hit the drifts. I counted 25 cars in ditches, and one tractor-trailer. No big accidents, just a whole bunch of spin-offs. I was glad not to become one of them. It was a very long drive home; the trip took a few extra hours due to the weather.

The only cool thing about the drive was Karen's new GPS. (remember the commercial - "there's the moose again, give a give a give a give a garmin...") It led us down a bunch of country roads to get from I-65 over to I-57, and there was no traffic on any of them, so we did not have to worry about getting hit by people in a hurry. I love the GPS, it is really a cool toy.


New Year's resolutions:
1. Don't gain weight
2. Don't stop eating fairly healthy
3. Keep exercising as usual
4. Don't start smoking

Any ideas for resolutions for me? I can't think of anything that I need to stop doing, and I am not in need of major weight loss. Is there anything that I need to do or to stop doing? What are you planning to do for the new year?

The Raygun show recap...

My friend Joel and I got to see the Naked Raygun show on Saturday, December 22nd at Reggie's Rock Club in Chicago.

The show was a DVD release party, and we were one of the first 100 through the door, so we got free signed copies of the DVD. How cool is that?!?!?

The evening started out kinda slow, the doors opened more than an hour before the DVD was played, and the DVD was pretty long when you're waiting for a concert. Don't get me wrong, the DVD was cool, but I was there to see the band play. I had not seen the band play in about 13 or 14 years, so I was really looking forward to it.

After the initial wait was over and the DVD was played, it was time for the show to begin. The 33 year old in me wanted to stand in the back of the club back and watch the show from a safe distance, so that was where I started. Halfway through the first song, the 17 year old in me took over and I made my way into the crowd. I pushed and shoved my way up to the stage and stayed there for the entire show. It was a blast. I was in the front row, just a little to the right of center, directly in front of the Michael Stephens, playing the guitar. The band played all of my favorite songs, and the sound was tight and pretty polished. They played stuff off of all of their albums, and even played a cover of "Suspect Device", originally written by Stiff Little Fingers. It was a really good show, if you ask me.

Highlights for the night:
1. The show was insane, it was just way too much fun.
2. The club was nice enough and the sound was excellent.
3. We got free DVDs and I got to talk to the band, as well as shake hands after the show was over.
4. They played "Suspect Device" which I have never heard them play live.

Not so good:
1. Joel's glasses got accidentally knocked off and smashed right at the end of the show. That sucked. He also lost his ticket for his free DVD, but I begged the bouncer for another ticket and explained the whole situation. She took me over to the club manager, and he gave me another ticket, so Joel at least got his DVD. Thank you, Val Capone and thank you to the manager of Reggie's Rock Club.
2. I got mashed against the stage pretty hard for several hours. The pit was pretty intense, approaching "meat grinder" during some of the songs. My ribs are banged up and sore today. I have had bruised ribs many times, but they seem to heal slower as I get older, and it hurts to breathe a little today. I am sore, but it was completely worth it.

Naked Raygun!!!

After about 15 years, my favorite band from high school is back together and making music again. They have a DVD release party and a concert scheduled for Saturday night, and I AM GOING! I can't wait to see it. I wonder what all the punks and skinheads will look like 15 years later.

Thanks, Chris, for letting me know that the tickets were on sale!

The ice storm from last week

I took a really nice picture of the ice storm last week. This was made without a flash, late at night, with a 1.5sec exposure time, and no tripod. I got it all right, except the darn focus. I let it do the focusing, which was a mistake.

Row, row, row your bum...

Gently across the room...

Tonight I made my second purchase from Craigslist. I got a used rowing machine for $50. It is strictly manual, no electrics to speak of, but it is a durable model. I wanted something that I can do on nights when I either can't or don't feel like running, and this should fit the bill.

Other news: Karen and James and I drove to the southern end of town to watch the meteor shower tonight. Unfortunately, James was upset about sitting still in the van, so we did not get to see the meteor shower at all. Bummer. Maybe Karen and I will get to see it a little later this evening from the window.

Monthly update?

I have the best intentions about updating this blog often, I just never seem to do it. Here's the latest:

Craigslist: What can I say, it is the greatest thing since sliced bread. If you have the time to wait for what you want, you can find really great stuff for almost nothing. I am going to go look at a rowing machine in a few days that I found on the list. It was originally a pretty expensive model, but it is now a relic - just like I like them.

Craigslist does have its down side. You can accidentally find things you really don't need to have, like a 1972 Triumph Bonneville 750. The engine needs work, but it ran when it was parked fifteen years ago. I thought it was perfect! How cool would that be! An old bike that I can get for almost nothing, it needs work that I (and James) love to do, and it would be a really sweet bike once it gets rehabbed! I almost jumped on it until Karen reminded me that I actually need a spot to park my car. Maybe getting a motorcycle is a bad idea anyway, I might shoot my eye out. (If this makes no sense to you, it may be because it is a line from the movie "A Christmas Story".)

Next on the list of updates: I crashed my car into another car. I got cut off, and lane changed without looking. I bumped into a pickup truck in the next lane and it creased my car a little. There was no damage to the truck, but there was obvious damage to my poor civic. Oh well, life goes on. I can hardly justify getting my car fixed when it is eight years old and has almost 90K on it. Now my car has more character, or herpes, or something...

Craigslist and electrics

Karen said it best. My name is Fish, and I am a craigslist junkie. I gave up Youtube in favor of the massive junkpile that beckons from craigslist. I can surf for hours to look at all the stuff that people no longer want, need, or can afford. It's like a garage sale, but I never have to leave the couch. I like it.

Now, on to the electrics... James and I changed out four switches in the kitchen, dining room, and living room. Our lights now work independently, and there are no more "master switches" that you have to turn on to make the other light switches work - except for the ones by the front door... Maybe I will have to ask James to look at those switches tomorrow afternoon?

New Treadmill...

You may have already heard my story, but a few may have not heard it yet. I bought a treadmill off of "craigslist" last week for $50. It is less than ten years old, and it looked like it had pretty low mileage on it. It originally sold for about $4,500.00 when it was new, and it is designed for heavy duty running or light commercial use. When I got it, it did not run at all, and some of the electrics were pretty well toasted. I replaced a bad fuse, cleaned the motor and drive system up, replaced a bad fuse holder, and I also cut out and soldered past a badly toasted connector. I now have a very fancy treadmill that works fine for less than $60 invested.

I found out that this particular treadmill had a recent recall, because a few of the thousands that were sold had actually caught on fire. I called the service department to set up the recall and just as I was about to give them my address, I asked them what the recall was for. They said it was to cut out the toasted connector that I had already removed, so I opted to pass on the recall. No reason to bring a repair guy out here for nothing.

Tomorrow, the treadmill wax ($9) and the teflon dry lube ($6) are supposed to arrive, so I should have my new mill up and running by the weekend. My Dad is also coming out this weekend to help me install a dedicated power line in the basement for my new treadmill, so Karen and I can both run at the same time - until the old treadmill completely croaks.

I am pretty dorky, I get excited about resurrecting nice stuff for little or no money. I guess that is why I pick lawnmowers out of the trash, fix them up, and then sell them. Maybe I should start up a new business next summer collecting mowers and selling them on craigslist? I think it is about time James learned how to fix mower engines. He knows how to use a screwdriver (pronounced screwdriber) and his wrench turning skills could use a little work. He already knows how to change the oil in the mower, just ask him. My next book will be called "How to pay for college, one mower at a time."

My name is Fish, and I am a YouTube junkie...

I am officially addicted to youtube. If I am at home, and I am on the net, I am probably wasting time on youtube. I have see people laughing, people shocking each other with tasers and stun guns, exploding produce, car crashes, a tiny camera mounted on a childrens "geo trax" toy - playing "crazy train" while driving around the track. I have seen people experimenting with ipecac syrup (it makes you sick to your stomach, in a most unpleasant way, apparently). I even saw two guys beat each other up, repeatedly. You can see almost anything on YouTube, even some stuff you don't even want to see. It has it's own search engine, too. I even learned how to remove the "ink tag" that our local JC Penney left on my shorts after I purchased them. I managed to remove the tag in about thirty seconds, with no damage at all to my new shorts.

I think I am watching the beginning of the next generation of entertainment. I would totally buy a subscription to a TV station that would allow me to watch my favorite shows or stories about stuff that I want to see when I want to see it. Not to mention you can see tons of music videos any time you want to, since MTV is no longer relevant, and doesn't play videos any more. I would trade in my satellite dish any day for that kind of entertainment.

What do you think? Have you seen YouTube? Am I nuts?

Running Update: After almost three solid years of running, I have finally started doing "speedwork". This basically means that I have started running harder to try to increase the maximum speed that I can run. For years, I have been an advocate of running slow and easy, but the speed increases were very slow and disappointing, so I am trying something new. I still only run three or four times a week, but I try to run faster for part of those runs. So far, it seems to be working. I ran my first sub 7-minute mile last week. The down side of running fast is that it increases the likelihood of injury. So far so good, no problems to report. I will keep my fingers crossed.

James just saw a spider in the bathroom and very calmly told Mommy about it. Mommy saw it and yelled for me, with a note of urgency and fear in her voice, scaring James. James freaked a little and screamed like mad for Daddy, since he saw that Mommy was scared, now James may be a little afraid of spiders. I may have spoken too soon. Apparently, he was not too scared. He is yelling for me to come over there and wipe his butt. -I can't complain, wiping butts is way better than trying to gracefully get a poopoo out of underpants without soiling the rug.

BEWARE: THE SCARY SQUIRREL!!!!

Yesterday, James and his friend Darren were going to play in the back yard. As soon as they went out to the back yard, they came racing back saying "There's a squirrel in the back yard!!"

I was a bit surprised by this, but I wanted to check it out just to make sure everything was normal. It was not. There was a little squirrel following the boys out of the back yard, towards the garage. It was not stopping and running away, like a normal squirrel, it was actually chasing them across the back yard.

Jason (Darren's Dad) and I sent the boys inside the house so we could deal with the squirrel. We had to actually push the little squirrel out of the garage a few times so we could close the garage doors. It kept trying to come inside. When it was not trying to get inside, it was busy panting and shaking and looking stiff and wobbly. We were not sure if it was sick or injured, so we went inside and left it alone outside.

I told Karen about the little squirrel so she could watch out for it. I didn't want her to be surprised by a little fuzzy guy looking for a leg to climb up. Today, when I got home from work, Karen said, "There's a squirrel in the back yard, under the water faucet."

I looked in the back yard and sure enough, there he was. The little squirrel was panting and shaking and looking a little worse than the day before. I decided it was time to call for reinforcements, so I asked Karen to call the local animal control office while I watched the little squirrel pant for a few minutes. Note: When you call animal control, you actually get the Overland Park Police department. Karen told them what was going on, and we thought that they were going to send an animal control officer. Nope, they sent a real police officer to our house, at 6 o'clock in the evening, in a police car that was clearly marked as a police car. 6 o'clock is the same time that our neighbors all return from work to see the police car in front of our house, by the way. They drove very slowly past the house, wondering if they were going to see a "Springer moment" in action.

After a few trips around the back yard (the squirrel kept going through the fence) with the very nice police officer, I eventually caught the squirrel in a shoe box and gave it to the police officer to do whatever he thought should be done. He actually had no idea what to do with it at first, we were his first "squirrel call". I think he decided that he was going to take it to the animal control facility, or something.

Since the police car went away, three neighbors have asked me if everything is okay.
I answered that "All is well again.", and James says "The Scary Squirrel is gone now, the Police man took it."

In the name of the Father...

Last night, James and I were getting ready to go to sleep. I was playing the, "What is this?" game with him. I would point to a part of him, and he would tell me what I was pointing to. I point to his nose, and he said, "nose". I pointed to his ear, and he said "ear". I pointed to his lips, and he said "lips". I pointed to his teeth, and he said "teeth", but when I pointed to his forehead, he said "Father". He then said, "Father, Son, Spirit, Amen, now eat!"

I thought that was awesome. It's not just a forehead to him, it's Father. It certainly made me smile.

-He also told me later that it was his forehead-Father.

I am 17 again...

It's done. I installed the amplifier in my car, along with the subwoofer box. I now have a beatbox car again. The amplifier is the same one that I bought when I was in high school. It was in my friend Scottie's car for a few years, but he gave it back. Now I am using it again. It is really old and probably not as strong as it once was, but it works. It really makes me laugh when I drive my econo-box teenager mobile, thumpity-thumping away, with my loud muffler and my dark tinted windows. I feel like I am 17 again, except I can legally buy alcohol now.

Completely unrelated - I got carded tonight at Olive Garden when I asked for a glass of wine with my dinner.

Pimping my ride, garage sale style. (DORK WARNING)

I bought a speaker box with a functioning speaker in it for ten bucks at a garage sale. I had the amplifier in the basement from high school. All that was left was to go out and buy some power cables for the amplifier and some speaker wires. I found out that, sadly, the wires were going to be the most expensive part of my car stereo. I spent 50 bucks for some stinkin' wires. If it saves me from burning down my junk, it is worth the 50 bones. I just feel stupid spending that much money on a few pieces of copper wire.

Installation should take place some time next week, I think... I just have to figure out a way to control the amp without running an extra set of wires through the car. I want to be able to play the radio without the amp when James is in the car. Maybe I will just put a big circuit breaker in the trunk???

Yep, I am king dork.

You have got to see this, really.

For those of you who ever went to Showbiz Pizza, or Chuck E. Cheese, this may be one of the sweetest things ever to grace YouTube. The guy did a bunch of other songs as well.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xFVfelCJozo



Wow.

James the comic.

I tickle James a lot. His grin and his laughter are some of the most wonderful things I have ever witnessed. James was in the midst of being tickled for the umpteenth time by me, his father, when he decided that he had enough. This is exactly how it happened:

Fish: "I'm going to tickle you!"

James: "No Daddy, hee-hee, hee-hee"

Fish: "I'm gonna get you!"

James: "Run away!

Fish: "I got you, now I tickle! A-haaa!"

James: " No Daddy, no tickle. Knock it off, Lunchbox."





I have to say, it really worked. I stopped tickling him immediately. We both sat on the floor and laughed instead.

Computer fun!

Our computer has been crazy for a while now, and Karen has been mad at it (and me on occasion) quite frequently due to the computer's latest "new features". One of the old features is the "magic power button" that only works well for John, and "magically" makes Karen very mad. The PC needs a new power supply, it takes about 12 hours to warm up enough to actually let you turn the computer on. The power supply has actually been trying to poop out for many months. You normally have to tap the power button about ten times to get it to turn on, even when the power supply has had sufficient 12 hour or more warm-up time. The latest feature that it self-installed was the "magic shutdown timer". Last week, the processor was apparently overheating due to lack of air flow. It would run fine for about ten or fifteen minutes, then shut off abruptly. No warning, no error message, just abrupt silence and darkness. You had to use some pretty good time-management skills to get your mail, send your replies, check the weather, and download your pictures before the system shut off abruptly. Once we figured out (wild-guessed) that it really was an over-heating problem, I took the computer apart and removed what looked like a fuzzy grey squirrel living in amongst the internal bits. (James had a blast helping me take it apart and put it back together. I now need to hide all screwdrivers from James, so he doesn't dismantle the PC while I am sleeping.) Once I removed the squirrel, I had to wait the obligatory twelve hours for the "magic power button" to become operational again. James was the one who discovered that the computer was working again this morning since he punched the button and it fired right up for him, and he said "DADDY, I FIXED THE PAPUTER! DADDY I FIXED IT! THE PAPUTER IS FIXED, YAYYY!" James has apparently uninstalled the "magic shutdown timer" since he was the one who announced that he had fixed it. Thank you, buddy, for fixing the paputer. I am still wondering what the next feature will be. The PC is starting to remind me of my old cars, they used to let you me know I needed to add oil by turning on the reminder light that said "check engine" every 1,000 miles or so, since they leaked like they had been shot.

Karen is getting a new computer (A sweet little MacBook!!) for her birthday. (I already told her that she is getting the new computer because I was afraid that she was going to get really mad at the one we already have and go out and buy a new one before her new one actually arrived, in cthe event that the PC had some really fun new features up its sleeve.)

M.I.A.

I have been MIA for two weeks now, but I had good reason. For part of it. At least some of it, anyway.

1. I was in Indiana last weekend, and I didn't want post while I was visiting relatives.
2. The new Harry Potter book went on sale last Saturday, and I have been almost unable to put it down since I cracked it open Saturday afternoon. It's good, and it may be the last one. It is much better than the last two books so far, and I only have about 200 pages left to go. If the end is carp, I will be mad. Yes, I meant to type carp. (I think we have talked about this before, it's a James thing)
3. The newest version of guitar hero came out. That's right, guitar hero rocks the 80's is on sale right now, for all you dorks like me. There is nothing wrong with being a little dorky. I admit that I like playing guitar hero, and it is possibly the dorkiest thing I have ever seen. Pretending to play guitar by wielding an itsy-bitsy plastic guitar spells "dorky" in my book. It makes me want to play the real guitar, but unfortunately, I am a musical no-talent schlub. Those of you who have been witness to my fast and loud, yet oddly wretched, drumming will no doubt agree.

A new discovery about myself. I like red wine. I like it a lot lately. Not in a "Hi, my name is John, and I have a problem" sort of way, more like I want to try different types of wine and search for the "perfect" red wine. So far, I am still on the cheap end of the spectrum. The expensive end of the spectrum is a bit too much for me at this point. Until I get a better feel for good wine, buying the really nice stuff for me would be the equivalent of using super-expensive paint on wrinkled noteboook paper.

I will be a more frequent poster once I finish Potter, and once I get bored with the new guitar hero game. Maybe I just need a bit of red wine to bring out my inner author... Nah, I tried that in college and it came out like the emotional blatherings of a basket case. But, the amount of emotion did get me an "A" on every paper that I wrote whilst moderately inebriated, due to the amount of "feeling" that I put into each paper. True story, I am not kidding at all.

Plain white T's

Hey there, Delilah, you make we wanna jump out the window.

Dear radio stations everywhere,

Please stop playing the Delilah song. That horse is dead. Stop kicking it, alright? Thank you.

Enough said...

Carry on...

Smoke up, Stoner!

For the second time since I have lived in this area, I pulled up to a stop light and looked over at the car next to me and saw a high-school aged kid smoking pot. It was 7:45 AM, and this kid was smokin reefer from a pipe that would have made Cheech and Chong proud. It was massive, brightly colored, and probably held a giant pile of doobie. Wacky kids, I tell ya. At least he was a passenger, and not a driver.

On a completely non pot-related topic, I bought the new album from The Smashing Pumpkins that came out today, titled "Zeitgeist". So far, I really dig it. I have pretty much always liked the Pumpkins, and this one is classic Pumpkins. I pre-ordered the album on iTunes, so I got a bunch of other free stuff along with the album, including a few covers of Pumpkin songs by other bands. Pumpkins songs are just not Pumpkin songs without Chamberlain. It just does not work for me at all without the true master on the skins.

Just maybe?

We might move back to Indiana. I will be with the same company, so I will not have to worry about finding a job. More information as it becomes available.

Vacation was great, but it ended too soon. Now we are back to work, and I am ready for my next vacation. We found a really great way to make the drive from Chicago without hitting bad Illinois traffic, and without going the long way around through Indianapolis. It saved us several hours, and also about 140 miles. Good times!