The Continuing Adventures of...UberGeek!

...'Cause I'm....Movin' out!

2011-11-27T14:15:00.008-05:00

Only 2 months since my last blog? Wow. Usually it's 3-6 between entries these days.

Anyway, I'd love to get into the details of "International Convention: Part Deux" as well as recounting my current quartet & chorus's first foray into Pioneer District competition, but right now, it's difficult to recall the details with so many other things on my mind. After a couple years of gathering paperwork, faxing and FedEx-ing, and much wringing of hands and gnashing of teeth, I've finally decided to let my home of 13 years go.

It wasn't an easy decision to come to. It was my first house, I raised 2 kids there, my daughter was born IN that house, not to mention the simple matter of personal pride and responsibility I have regarding my mortgage obligations and being a homeowner. Ever since I set foot in that house for the first time, I started planning home improvements, floor plan changes, future additions, etc., to make that my home for as long as I could. I love the neighborhood, the location, the town - everything about WHERE it is.

Recently, however, the realities of this house began to dawn on me. It was built in 1954 and still had original...everything. Asbestos shingle siding, steel kitchen cabinets with enamel-coated iron sink, same 750 sq. ft. floor plan, rotting wood windows, and gutters. About the only things ever replaced in that house were the furnace (almost 30 years ago - we'll get to that) and the water heater (about 4 years ago). To make this house a GOOD house, even with the current floor plan, it would require a good $20k in renovations and upgrades.

Nonetheless, it was currently inhabitable and I figured once I got the mortgage back on track and my credit straightened out, I could start some of these renovations, one-by-one, with the help of county home improvement grants and energy efficiency rebates. Then came the final straw...

Since I started up the furnace this year about a month ago, I noticed that the burner had trouble staying lit. It would run for about 30 seconds, peter out, then relight with a BIG WHOOSH. This, I determined, did not seem normal operation, or safe at all. I called in a tech to look at it, hoping it was mostly a matter of cleaning off something. No such luck. He gave an estimate of about $1,3000 to replace the pilot assembly and to clean the furnace completely (being enclosed so much and needing to basically be disassembled it to do so). This ON TOP OF the other $20k+ in renovations I would need to do at some point to the house. In a place I STILL wasn't sure I'd be able to keep, in a market where the value of the house as it is would be something equivalent to a cardboard box behind a McDonald's, I wasn't about to commit to that kind of investment.

So, the next day, I started looking for an apartment. After crunching numbers for what seemed like days, I determined that I could afford something akin to what my old house payment was...barely. I looked in my beloved Hazel Park/Ferndale area and only found run-down flats in "iffy" neighborhoods, so I stared expanding my search. I decided to take a look at Amber Apartments, the parent company of which owns about half the apartment complexes in Royal Oak and neighboring communities. I was SHOCKED to find, than when I included what I'm used to paying for my gas & water bills (both of which are included in the rent) it was smack dab in my budget range for a similar-sized place!

I looked at a very nice 2-bedroom 2nd floor apartment in north Royal Oak, and fell in love with it. It was at the upper end of my budget, but I figured I could swing it. It was in familiar area, close to my favorite repair shop, and walking distance from the 14 Mile/John R shopping district. I started gathering my paperwork and applied, and to my slight surprise, I was approved!

I immediately started to pack, gathering up all but what I would need to survive for 2 weeks, assuming that when my paycheck was deposited, i would have the money to pay security deposit, cleaning deposit, & 1st month rent. My dad sent me enough for the deposits to hold it, just in case. That money cleared on Monday, but I go straight from work to chorus on Mondays, so I didn't have time to take care of it. By Tuesday, I figured since my paycheck would be in my account the next day, I would just wait ONE more day, and take care of everything at once. BIG MISTAKE!
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I go into the rental office, pay stub copies and debit card in hand, and said with a huge grin, "I'm ready to sign!" The associate I had been dealing with gave me a sad, pitying look and said, "you see those guys at the table? They're signing the lease for that apartment right now."

I was devastated. I had my heart set on this place, most of my life already packed up, and even pointed out the amenities of the neighborhood to my kids (including the candy store across the street). She politely offed the rest of the list of available apartments, which I had already been through. She suggested one just up the road that, while not the 2-bedroon I was looking for, had more square footage, and might suit me well. I reluctantly took the building key and went to look.

I was...impressed. It wasn't exactly what I was looking for, but it WAS bigger, better closet space, MUCH better kitchen, and it was a 1st floor, so moving in would be easy. Best of all - $25/mo cheaper and walking distance from work. As I walked the apartment, I started envisioning how the furniture would work, how I would work the kids in there for the weekends with only 1 bedroom, and thought to myself, "Y'know, this just might work!"

I went back to the rental office and signed the papers right then, without even looking at the other (slightly more expensive) apartments she suggested. I pick up the keys this Thursday, move boxes myself Thursday & Friday, and gather the troops to help me with furniture on Saturday.

I know, moving isn't necessarily such a huge deal to most, but (aside from a brief stint or 2 at my sister's place) I've lived in the same home for 13 years. This is more than just changing where I am. This is changing a lot of WHO I am. I have been a homeowner for 13 years. Now I'm a renter. I'm not saying that's a bad thing, but it's taking some adjusting of my own self-worth and re-evaluation of my perspective on things.

I have almost half my lifetime of memories wrapped up in that broken-down house. It's tough to let some of them go.

...Others, however...good riddance! I'm moving up, moving on...MOVING OUT!

(pictures eventually, I hope)

Everything's Up To Date in Kansas City (part 1)...

2011-09-04T11:30:00.007-04:00

It's been about 2 months since I got back from attending my first Barbershop Harmony Society International Convention, so recalling the details may be tricky. I'm hoping as I write this, the memories will start flowing so I can look back at this and reminisce. I CAN say this: it was the single best vacation I have ever taken - bar none.

Ever since I joined the Barbershop Harmony Society, I've wanted to make the trek to the city de l'année for an international convention. I have spent the past 8 years hearing tales of late-night tagging with gold-medalists, mind-blowing chorus performances, attributes of various hosting cities. Sadly, with 2-5 jobs at a time, wife, kids, and the idea impressed on me by aforementioned responsibilities (well, one in particular) that such a hiatus from same would be unforgivably selfish and highly irresponsible.

Well, things have changed a LOT. Now that I have a job with vacation time, scheduled time with my kids every other weekend, and no wife to nag me about such a decision, the only obstacle was the cost. My dad had always said that she'd pay for my registration to my first International convention. Still, hotel, travel, food, and incidentals can pile up pretty damned quickly - especially the travel - and I wasn't about to ask my dad to foot the bill for those. Thankfully, the stars seemed to align this year. My good friend and former bass of my quartet works for Delta Airlines and got me a an UNBELIEVABLE deal on a plane ticket, a fellow barbershopper was offering an extra registration and AIC (Association of International Champions) Show ticket for a great deal, and best of all, my dad happens to live in Topeka, a mere hour's drive from KC. My out-of-pocket would be very minimal AND I could combine it with a visit to see my dad and her partner, Mary!

EPIC WIN!

The amazing deal my friend, Dave, got me on my plane ticket had one caveat: I had to fly 'standby', which gave no garantee I'd get a seat for the early flights I wanted. Still, as I had taken a 5-day weekend for the purpose, I wasn't terribly concerned. I packed my carry-on with my laptop, MP3 player, a book, snacks, a couple magazines, everything I''d need for a day camped out in an airline terminal. Awesome Girlfriend drove me to the airport nice and early, and I easily got on my preferred flight. I took advantage of the in-flight wi-fi for $5, just for the novelty of updating my Facebook from 30k feet. I landed in KC, and my dad picked me up. We stopped at Arby's for lunch, got almost all the way home, when she realized she left her purse there. Minor annoyance (since it was still there when we returned for it), but it gave us more time to chat on the drive.

Once we got to her place, I realized my ticket for the AIC show said it was for THAT NIGHT, so she let me borrow her car and drive back to KC again. The show was great. Seeing the best of the best and a reunion of Rural Route 4 and the Suntones just blew my mind.

After the show, I headed back to the Headquarters Hotel to check out the scene there. I quickly bumped into my good friend, Chelsea, who, at the tender age of 22, is already a seasoned vet at these things and knows everybody. She introduced me too a couple big-big wigs in the Society, then took me up the the Rainbow Room (the hospitality room for the gay and gay friendly set in the Society). I met a bunch of great guys and ended up hanging out with Chelsea and a guy from California, named Craig, for much of the night. He offered to let me crash on his floor, so I wouldn't have to cut my evening short (and sober) to drive back to Topeka (and subsequently drive back to KC the next day). We all sang tags, mingled, drank, and finally finished with nachos at 2am at a downtown diner before hitting the hay.

Up next (hopefully soon) Part Deux: Friday Chorus Contest!

Business at the Speed of Life...

2011-08-23T23:16:00.004-04:00

CRIPES! 5 MONTHS since my last entry?! Why didn't you guys yell at me or something?!

Okay, it wouldn't have mattered, anyway. Even now, I'm too busy to write a blog worthy of my usual wit and verbosity. But I WILL give you the excuses why I HAVEN'T written lately:

Working at the pharmacy takes up the 9-5, Monday through Friday.

Monday nights I direct my chorus. With summertime gigs, a contest in October, and a chorus show to coordinate by early November, I can't afford to miss.

Since about July, my Tuesday & Thursday nights are occupied with rehearsals for Grosse Point Theater's production of The Music Man (yea, those of you I went to high school with are SOOO surprised). THIS time, however, I get to play the OTHER role I wanted. Instead of Harold Hill, I finally get to play Jacey Squires, the tenor in the barbershop quartet!

Wednesday nights, I drive the hour to Flint and back to have dinner with my kids, which gets me home about 9:30pm. The drive, I can do without, but worth every mile of it for them.

Every other weekend, often starting of Friday after work (if possible) I spend with my kids.

Sunday nights are quartet rehearsal. Again, contest in October, and we hope to make a dent in the top 6, but only if we work at it.

Take all that, add typical household chores, trying to save my house form becoming a foreclosure statistic, the occasional chorus and quartet gigs, my first Barbershop Harmony International Convention (more on that another time...hopefully), and trying DESPERATELY to have some time with Awesome Girlfriend, leaves no time for blogging, Dr. Jones!

On top of that, after most of those things clear out of my schedule about early November, that gives me maybe a week before holiday chorus gigs kick in and the usual Christmas melee starts!

Anyway. That's why I haven't blogged. The dog didn't eat my homework. I didn't forget the due date of the assignment. I'm not turning in a note from my parents with a badly forged signature (though my mom's was always easy to fake). I just haven't had time!

That's my story, and I'm sticking to it.

(pant, pant, pant - DEEEP breath!)

Now, to start the marathon sprint to the new year!

Thankful

2011-03-20T18:13:00.001-04:00

(The following was written about 4 months ago and never finished. I promise I’ll try to get to a blog about what was a wonderfully mild-mannered and fun Christmas blog…as soon as I can recall the details again!)

Well, here it is. Christmastime again, and as usual, my holiday schedule is packed tighter than Santa’s bag. Also, again, I find myself sitting in a car repair shop waiting for my mobile Fortress of Solitude to be made right. Thankfully, this year, it’s preemptive maintenance rather than catastrophic recovery. Thanks to the new job keeping me from slowly sinking into financial quicksand (thought not quite emerging yet), I’ve been able, with the help of the generosity of friends and family, to keep my means of conveyance in quite workable shape.

It all began with Thanksgiving (sigh of sweet reminiscence). My dad and her partner, Mary, drove all the way up from Topeka to spend the holiday with my family. It was one of the best weeks of my year. Not just spending time with my dad, but sharing many of my proudest achievements with her while she was here. First and foremost, on her first full day here, I took her to my barbershop chorus rehearsal. This is the single proudest achievement I’ve made this year – becoming the director of not just a musical ensemble (my lifelong goal), but a barbershop chorus. It’s the kind of ensemble I know would my dad could relate to best. I was able to show off a bit of what I had done with them, and even better, I chose that night to try an experiment with the voicing. It worked out great and my dad and her partner, Mary, beamed with amazement and pride. I was on cloud 9! Not only did I manage to improve the sound of the chorus, but impress my dad and Mary, both seasoned barbershop aficionados!

The next day, my dad offered to get me a new set of tires for my car. I hadn’t realized that the worn ball joint had made the inner edge of my tires smooth as an android’s bottom. The plan was to do some car-trading to see that I got to work on time, but as I had apparently left the dome light on in my car the night prior (which I have NEVER done) and would have to jump it (which took quite a while), I took the day to deal with my car and spend some time with dad and Mary. I was so taken aback by my dad’s generosity, I insisted that the tires be the only repair she pay for. Any others, I could handle in due time (and with due finances). After a lovely lunch at the Olga’s across the street, my horse had a new set of shoes and all that was left (of immediate needs) was to fix the rear suspension, ball joint, and alignment. I figured I’d be able to afford one soon and one later. Given that the slightest bump in the road would lead to a miles worth of bouncing that nearly made me seasick, I chose the suspension.

Thanksgiving itself was wonderful, for the most part. I watched the parade with Awesome Girlfriend while waiting for the ex to let me know when and how to connect with my kids for Thanksgiving dinner at my grandfather’s. By noon, I had no word as to their whereabouts, so I called and found that they had not gone downtown to watch the parade, as planned, but chose to stay in Flint due to not feeling well. Reasonable enough, but it would have been nice to know this sooner than noon, as it was an hour up and back to get the kids, starting Thanksgiving at least an hour later than originally planned.

Still, we arrived at my grandfather’s about 2:30 to the glorious aroma of not only Thanksgiving dinner, but one cooked entirely by my dad. The smell of a Keiser home-cooked Thanksgiving dinner had memories flooding back to me of my sister and I watching the Macy’s Parade on TV on the living room floor while ripping apart loaves of bread for the chestnut & sausage stuffing. The food was AMAZING, right down to the vegetarian version of the stuffing made especially for the kids. The dinner was a bit bumpy, as I had to fight with the boy to try anything. If it’s not pizza, burritos, or macaroni & cheese, he gets dramatic. He had one of his usual moody uproars (which he seems to save for company when he’s with me), and once again embarrassed me in from of my dad.

Still, the evening was a lot of fun, enjoying the holiday with family, some of whom had not spent a Thanksgiving together in probably 30 years or more!

"Get-It-Done Guy's 9 Steps to Work Less and Do More" Review to come.

2010-09-13T17:35:00.002-04:00

I was contacted by (who I'm assuming is) Stever Robbins publicist about a week ago. Who knew ANYONE read MY blog, right? Anyway, she asked me if I would read and review Stever's new book, "Get-It-Done Guy's 9 Steps to Work Less and Do More".

I'm not familiar with Stever Robbins or his "Get-It-Done Guy" podcasts, so I did a little Googling (mostly to make sure it wasn't a scam). After that, I checked out the micro site she set up for it at getitdoneguynews.com. It all checked out, as I was impressed by the excerpts there. Not just the advice itself (most of which I knew already, but often just don't motivate myself to do), but the style in which it was delivered. I was impressed. The guy seems to write a lot like me...but...better.

Anyway, she's sending me a copy of the book, providing I review it. It's available tomorrow on Amazon.com, if you want to get a jump on me for it. You know how my time gets. Reading something other than traffic signs as they whiz by between jobs isn't something I often have time for.

For this, though, I think I can squeeze in some time. Hey, I'm not above being a media whore for free stuff. I can't afford principles like that these days. ;)

Status Quo is SORELY Underrated...

2010-09-08T12:33:00.013-04:00

For years, I have been frustrated whenever my life has stagnated. Taking the next step, earning more money, becoming more professionally respected, trying to reach the presumed level of my peers, meeting what I assume are the expectations of those I love and respect, these have all kept me moving forward. What I've realized lately, is that these have been the most significant sources of stress in my life. In today's society, everyone's looking for the BBD (Bigger Better Deal). Acquiring more things, gaining more friends, making more money, looking better, have made life SO hectic and fast-paced that we take no time to appreciate what we have. By the time we do, we want the NEXT big thing. What ISN'T appreciated, it the contented status quo.

I was going to entitle this "contented stagnation", but the word 'stagnation' just has a negative connotation to it. 'Stagnation' implies ennui, malaise, and an inability to emerge from a given situation. That's not what I'm talking about. If a situation is frustrating, intolerable, or even just plain boring, it needs to be changed. What I'm talking about is looking at what you have, realizing that it's not only enough, but you're happy with it, and pausing for a while to enjoy what you have achieved.

Working at (a popular and busy coffee place), I see perfect examples of the victims of this kind of "BBD" thinking. Uptight, irritable, over-stressed, overbooked yuppies, zooming from place to place in their $50k+ automobiles, needing their over-priced triple lattes for the energy to maintain their overblown lifestyles, usually with the goal being to simply 'keep up with the Joneses'. They rarely take the time to get off their cell phones to even acknowledge a smile from another human being, let alone the luxuries they worked so hard to attain. Even their vacations are so booked to the rim and often interrupted or cut short by work or catastrophes of their own making, they don't take the time to enjoy them - just finish task A so they can get to task B, C, and D.

They come in a self-deluded swarm through the morning drive-thru on a daily basis, in a constant fog of their own existence, created by observing the same fog surrounding other people they wish to emulate or outdo. They become so obsessed with having the respect and approval of others for what they have, or for their perceived status, rather than who they are, all they know is improving their surroundings rather than their lives. The budding executive, trying to set himself up for that VP position and the extra $10k/yr with it, the stay-at-home mom in the Cadillac SUV with the Prada bag taking Johnny to karate practice, then a soccer game, then piano lessons in the hopes that she can pin her pride on him to supplant her disappointment in herself, the medical intern working like hell to finish so he can move into his specialty and get that BMW he's been dreaming of, while paying off his student loans for the next 30 years - they parade by me on a daily basis, like marathon runners grabbing a cup of water en route, heading toward a finish line they keep extending. Not every one of them, of course, but enough on a regular basis for me to be relatively certain I can recognize them when I see them.

Now, by no means am I perfectly content with my current income, the shape my house is in, or even several other parts of my life. I'm FAMOUS for trying to fit more than 24 hours into a day between 4-5 jobs at a time, surviving on 4 hours sleep for several days of the week, and burning my candle at several ends in hopes to make this repair to my home, that improvement, get my kids what they want for Christmas, or more often, just to make sure by cell phone doesn't get shut off. I'm every bit as much a victim of the Rat Race as anyone in today's society, and I won't make excuses that it's always "just to survive". It's just as much to maintain the lifestyle I'm accustomed to as the ad exec in the Jaguar yelling through his cell phone at his assistant while he snatches his large quad-shot French vanilla latte from my hand without a word and speeds off. We all like a certain level of comfort, and work like Hell and do whatever we can to maintain it, and I'm not the one to say one lifestyle is any better than the other.

What I have learned over the past several years, however, is that while moving forward and making progress toward a goal is necessary for us to grow as human beings, affording us the opportunity to succeed or fail and learn from both experiences, pausing the rat race for a while and stopping to appreciate the progress you've made is even more important. Now, I don't have the luxury of taking a week's or even a few consecutive days' vacation, but I have intentionally taken a day off each of the past 2 weeks where I don't have a major commitment (well, at least not for most of the day), sacrificing some financial stability for more emotional contentment.

What I've realized in my moments of calm, is that I really have it pretty good. Oh, I know I've praised my wonderful friends and family a lot here, and rightfully so, but what I realized this time was what I've created for myself: I have a house, a working car that is comfortable and practical, furnishings that not only are comfortable and (mostly) clean, but fit my style and personality, two computers with accessories that do exactly what I need them to, two wonderful and brilliant children who are making great progress in all areas of their lives, a wonderful girlfriend that appreciates and understands me, I'm keeping my bills under control, not digging myself further in debt, and most importantly, clearing the fog once in a while to see it all in perspective and those around me that help make it happen. Much of this is through the help of friends and family, yes, but not without my own hard work, as well. Because I realize this, I'm happy and contended most of the time. Yes, I work A LOT, but I work to live. I don't live to work.

This started out with a clear purpose, but I've once again gotten long-winded and redundant. Suffice it to say, that despite my current humble professional and financial status, I'd like to offer what little advice may be valuable to the rich, successful, and powerful: take the time to step back, breathe, and appreciate it. For a while - be it 5 weeks, 5 days, or even 5 minutes - stop trying to get more, be more, or do more. For a brief time, block out some time in your iPhone planner to live.

That's what I just did, and I'm a lot happier for it.

...and now, back to the Rat Race...

September Song...

2010-08-31T12:01:00.002-04:00

Okay, well, ALMOST September.

I just couldn't come up a decent song title or lyric. Meh.

Anyway, after getting a long-overdue haircut, I'm sitting here at the Bigby Coffee in Madison Heights, having intentionally and very deliberately blocked out some "me" time. Stopping here wasn't necessarily on my intentionally non-existent agenda for the day, but I haven't chosen this place as my "decompression" zone since I started working at Starbucks. Not because the coffee's necessarily any worse, it's just no longer on my way to work. I used to stop in 2-3 times a week before work for a few minutes of solitude, coffee, and blogging. When I left that job, my route no longer took me by here. Still, after more than a year, as I walk in, I'm greeted like Norm at Cheers by Travis (awesome barista guy), grab my usual cranberry/orange muffin and coffee, and proceed to catch up with him on life, work, women, and the usual guy talk.

I missed this place, and I didn't even realize it!

I've been working at Starbucks nearly 40 hours a week, in addition to my other jobs, for nearly 4 months straight, and it was starting to wear. I finally decided to be a bit selfish and request 3 days off this week. Needless to say, I'm scheduled for a full shift every OTHER day this week, but at least I can plan one day of of actual rest and/or personal productivity this week.

Anyway, a lot has happened over the past 2 months, but nothing that has really made any huge difference in my direction, attitude, or social or financial status....which isn't bad. I've had no major catastrophes, no major epiphanies, no major financial windfalls, no unexpected large expenses. "No gnus is good gnus," as the puppet says.

As for the minutia that has maintained this life balance over the past few months:

My minivan started chugging and wasn't freeway-capable (which is NOT acceptable with my kids an hour's drive away and my directing gig 40 minutes away), but after some running around to a few different places and a few days of bussing to work, it was back in good working order for under $200. Still needs some work, but as usual, the non-immediate concerns will have to wait for the finances to improve (if ever).

The job I interviewed for (referenced in my last blog) seemed to fizzle, as they wanted to have their new software up before hiring, and that seems to have no foreseeable completion date. When I e-mailed them after 3 weeks with no word, it was suggested I keep looking for a better job, but they WILL call me when things are a 'go' and hope I'm available. However, after a talk with the president/regular Starbucks customer of mine yesterday, they've changed their plan of implementation for new hires, and it looks as if she may want me to start training! It's not carved in stone yet, but it seem I may be starting a new job with better pay soon! Still, I'm not counting my chickens before they've hatched. I've turned into the boy who cried "JOB!"

Foreclosure may be looming for me, as it has been for a while, but for now I still have my house. I'm hoping the new job will let me catch back up, let me avoid giving up my house, and eventually help me start fixing it up. Even if the worst should happen, though, I know I have places to go. It's my goal not to ever have to take advantage of my friends or family's good nature and generosity again, though, as I prefer the comfort of knowing it's there rather than ever utilizing it.

In the meantime, I am still proud to say that I'm still one of the 80% of Americans who hasn't needed to take advantage of a government program to survive. I appreciate they exists and don't begrudge those that need them. Personally, I'd just rather make it on my own as much as possible. I wouldn't be able to boast about that, though, were it not for the love, generosity, and consideration of my dad, sister, grandfather, girlfriend, and scores of other friends and family who have come to my aid - particularly over the past year and a half.

My Awesome Girlfriend FINALLY closed on her new house last week! It's a major step up from the apartment she was renting and a mere 2 blocks from its location! This made moving (relatively) simple. Her parents are helping a TON with getting it cleaned, painted, landscaped, repaired, and such, while I chip in with some muscle, elbow grease, word of encouragement, and a minivan capable of hauling several moving boxes at a time. This place is perfect for her in every conceivable sense, is looking better every day, and I'm IMMENSELY proud of her! Oh, and best part? Central Air. Ahhhhhhh... :)

The chorus directing gig is getting better every week. I'd love to have a bit more time to help with planning and such, but a) I don't want to overstep my bounds, and b) I just don't have the time to put much more into it than the rehearsals & gigs themselves and the occasional learning track. Still, the guys are getting better every week, and I'm getting chills more and more from chords locking, dynamics swelling, and REAL barbershop sound! I love the Livingston Lamplighters!

So that's the most of my life the last couple months. Hopefully, I can find some time to blog about more introspective, philosophical, and interesting topics next time. That, however, would require the time not only to sit and write, but the time to think without distractions, which is, as always, VERY rare these days. Till then, I'll keep on keepin' on, appreciate the little things, stay solution-oriented, and as always, stay true to myself!

Summertime, and the livin' is...CRAZY!

2010-07-08T10:46:00.004-04:00

Well, the main reason I haven't posted in a while is that shortly after my last blog, we lost a few people at Starbucks and I was working 40 hours there, 12 hours at Blockbuster, 2 hours (plus 1.5 hours in commute) directing a chorus, 1/2 hour giving a trombone lesson, 2 hours at quartet rehearsal, and 3 hours (plus 2 hours commute) for my weekly dinner with my kids. That's 63 hours out of my week, plus household chores, miscellany, and trying to see my girlfriend in there, somewhere!

Oh, did I mention? I'M A CHORUS DIRECTOR!!!! I can't believe I haven't mentioned it yet, but about 3 months ago, I got the position of Director for the Livingston Lamplighters Barbershop Chorus! The pay's not much (basically enough to justify the 2 hours and pay for the gas there and back), but then again, barbershop chorus directing gigs rarely pad the wallet. Mostly, this scratches my professional itch - and does it EVER!

As a music educator, I appreciate a challenge. That's not to say the chorus is bad - far from it! They are, however, small in numbers, varied in musical background, and have not had a lot of exposure to the nuances of the style, its traditions, or its evolution over the past several decades. That's where I come in.

I have always most enjoyed coming to a group with room for improvement, connecting with them, and getting them to understand what I'm looking for. From there spawns an avalanche of progress. I've always said that with a directing job, I'd rather take a small, budding program and build it, rather than a huge successful program and try to maintain it. It's more fun, more satisfying, and let's face it, MUCH less pressure. When there's no where to go but up, there's nothing to look but good.

What I liked best about the Lamplighters after visiting their rehearsal for the first time, was the camaraderie and brotherhood they shared. That's the benefit of a small group. Beyond that, they all had a visible passion for singing. They may not have had the guidance to fine-tune it or the background to interpret it, but it's much easier to refine passion than to try and create it. As I listened, I heard things I liked and things I didn't. Some chords would ring beautifully, some vowels would line up wonderfully, while certain phrasing and tempos were awkward and lyrical meaning lost. The entire time, I sat back and thought, "I can FIX this! I have the ability! I can make them better...stronger...MORE MUSICAL!"

As I began directing them, I started to realize more the responsibilities and work that would go into this job. The first month or so, I stumbled a few times: I wasn't as prepared as I should have been, I allowed too much talking during rehearsal, my conducting left MUCH to be desired, etc. Thankfully, after a few tips from the baritone of my quartet and one of the members (and former director), I started to find my footing.

My debut as director was for the senior living complex that offers us the rehearsal space. My girlfriend made it a point to drive 45 minutes from home to be there for me, showing enthusiastic support for my endeavor, which meant the WORLD to me. The song selection was a bit awkward, random, and dated, and the script was full of groan-worthy puns, but for a mid-season barbershop show with a brand new director, that's par for the course. We sounded solid, with few noticeable gaffes. I was pleased.

Since then, things have only gotten better. They're ringing chords more often, they're working on the parts on their own more diligently, and they're starting to sound more like a solid barbershop chorus, rather than just a group of guys singing barbershop songs fairly well. They're learning my conducting style, even as I refine my own technique to match their response. They're watching more closely, emoting more, expanding dynamics, and starting to FEEL what they sing. It's truly beautiful to watch their progress week to week.

I wish I could make a living out of this and make it full-time, but sadly, I gotta pay the bills otherwise. Enter: a new job opportunity!

A regular at my Starbucks was so pleased with my demeanor, she asked for my resume! After researching the company, I find out she's the president! I've had 2 interviews and am awaiting a final decision, which should be along within a week or so. I don't want to say too much at the risk of jinxing it, but I truly hope this comes through. My current employment situation has me barely hanging on, and all it takes is one catastrophe with the car or some other unexpected bill to have me running to family for help. I just can't have that any longer. I'm beyond grateful to know that my family is willing to catch me when I stumble, but I'm 36, and shouldn't need the help. I love my jobs (usually), but they simply aren't enough to live on with any financial certainty.

So, as always, I'm on the financial precipice, but have enough good things going for me to keep me chipper. Life's all about balance. :)

Coming up: Fall district contest - Chorus? Quartet? Both? Neither? and a potential West Coast vacation!

525,600 Minutes....

2010-05-11T09:12:00.005-04:00

My 36th Birthday. Usually on my birthday, I tend to mournfully recount the myriad accomplishments I HAVEN'T made to date: finishing my degree, obtaining a steady teaching job, becoming a well-known and well-paid drill designer, having a well-maintained and reasonably spacious house, etc. This depressing tradition is particularly observed on milestone birthdays - 5's and 10's, mostly - where I have particular goals set forth in the naivete of my youth. This year, however, given all that has happened, I tend to be focusing on the aspects that actually matter. I have a job (3+, actually, depending on how you count), two increasingly brilliant, talented, and impressive kids, a house I'm make more and more my own every day, a WORKING car (knock wood), scores of absolutely wonderful friends whom I cherish, and an amazing girlfriend who understands and adores me every bit as much as I do her.

As happy as I am, on the whole, and as well as things are going for me now (which I'll recount later), something's missing today. The one thing missing to make this happiest of birthdays is the traditional (if exceedingly corny and often ill-timed) early morning call from my mother, singing "Happy Birthday" to me in a sappy, kid-like voice, followed by the long-winded recounting of the day of my birth.

My mother, Nancy Orton Keiser, passed away this Easter Sunday morning, April 4th, at the age of 65 . She died of congestive heart failure, which she suffered from several years back and recovered (mostly) from. It was likely a combination of factors - diabetes, asthma, sleep apnea, arthritis, and being a good 300 lbs overweight, among other factors - that led to this latest episode being fatal. She died in my grandfather's house, with him at her side. It was quick, sudden, and she didn't suffer.

My mother was the most loving person I ever knew. She would always try and help in whatever way she could - for anyone. No, she was not always encouraging. She didn't always tell you what you wanted to hear, and would often make snap-judgments based on little information. As a child, whenever I saw a TV commercial for something I wanted, she'd say, "Well, save your pennies!", resulting in a disappointed pout and "hrumph!" from me. To this day, proudly painted on the change jug on my dresser is the phrase, "Mom always said, 'Save your pennies!'"

Still, her motivation behind whatever she said was ALWAYS to help. She had a unique way of distilling situations into quotable catch phrases and cliches, which one of my mothers friends referred to at her funeral as "Nancyisms". Some wholly inapplicable to the situation, but many times, offering a clarity of perspective that would allow for a fresh approach to a situation.

It was this willingness to listen to people and help them deal with their own problems (not so much the snap-judgment part), that has formed a great deal of how I relate to my friends and those I love. It's that inexhaustible, unflappable, unconditional love and willingness to help others, despite your own problems, that I have tried to emulate and has made me who I am. This is likely the biggest part of my mother that I will miss. Not always her help or advice, but the spirit and pure love behind it.

I credit her most of all for my involvement in music. Not just my LOVE of music, which I get equally from both of my parents, but my motivation to LEARN about music and create it, rather than just appreciate it. This was one area of my life where her support was absolutely unquestionable. I remember being maybe 5 years old and her trying to teach me to play our old electric organ in the living room. I didn't have the patience to endure much instruction at that age, but she taught me where 'C' was on a keyboard and where the notes went from there...and that started everything. My first music theory lesson.

This is my first birthday without her. Even as I type this, I'm tearing up, which is rather odd for me. In the month or so since she passed, I haven't allowed much time for myself to feel her absence or cry over it. You all know (or can read in my previous posts) how insanely busy I am. That, combined with the pride I take in being people's emotional 'rock', have forced me to push my feelings about my mother's passing aside for the time, and do what needs to be done, which is to be there for my family, continue to work my insane schedule to pay the bills, and fulfill the obligations I have to myself and others, like the quartet, chorus, and friends.

I don't resent this. This is not a feeling I want to deal with. I feel it's selfish, coming from myself. I'm MORE than understanding helping OTHERS deal with their feelings and being there to support THEM, but I'm not great at expressing my negative emotions to others. It's not their problem to deal with, and I don't want to burden anyone else with my problems. Sure, I'll whine and bitch about work, cars, computers, and other insignificant situations that others can easily relate to, and yet feel no real responsibility to fix, but emotional crises are different. Most of my friends are VERY supportive and sympathetic and want to help. I don't want to put them in a situation where their help may be ineffective, inadvertently dismissed, or in a moment of weakness, irrationally resented. Believe me, I know how much that stings.

In the past year I have had my car die (several times), lived in a gutted, filthy house with no heat or hot water, had my manhood, character, and parenting called into question MULTIPLE times, doubled my workload, had my income cut by more than half, nearly lost my house, had to swallow my pride and accept charity on more occasions than I am comfortable with, even walked 4 miles in the freezing rain on Christmas Day before going to work at a barely-above-minimum-wage job. All of these are insignificant. I didn't even consider these things over the past several months. This year, I lost my mother. I lost her ill-timed, sleep-interrupting calls at the crack of dawn 'just to talk'. I lost her oversimplification of complex issues to reach a conclusion that had no real world application - or often even vague similarity - to the situation. I lost her meddling into my business and relationships to try and get everyone to see things her way. I lost her obnoxious, cheesy references to embarrassing incidents from my childhood and their "supposed" relevance to my problems today.

Most of all, I lost the absolute love behind every single one of those maddening habits. As much as she drove me absolutely bananas, I NEVER felt unloved by these acts. She always had love behind it - and I knew it.

I'll get to the HAPPY birthday stuff later. Right now, I'm penciling some time into my schedule to grieve for a bit.

Time keeps on slippin', slippin', slippin'....

2010-03-16T18:16:00.009-04:00

You get busy, preoccupied, bombarded with work, car troubles, gigs, and the occasional drama, you blink and the next thing you know - *POOF* - 3 months go by and you haven't written a blog!

Well, you can thank my dad for reminding me to keep all of you who don't stalk me on Facebook up to speed on my life (such as it is). This was SO much easier when I could plan an hour of "me time" in most days before working at my predictably scheduled desk job. As it is, this is the first day off I haven't booked solid in MONTHS it seems!

Okay (deep breath). We have a lot of things to cover, so let's get down to business... Meeting is called to order! (BAM!)

Most of the past 3 months have been sucked up in trying to get my money-pit of a car dealt with. It's working - then it's not - then it is... UGH! Basically, this was an extension of all of the problems with it that I covered in the LAST blog: mostly overheating. Without going into the details of that POS I'd rather forget, I'll just say that nearly $2000 in repairs, lost wages, bus fare, and bottles of Excedrin after it all started, just to attempt to just get it safe to drive, I dumped it off on someone who can do something with it.

Once I decided to get rid of it, the guy I had been paying to put all the parts that he THOUGHT he needed to fix it into it offered me $200 for the whole thing. The day I'm ready to sell it, he chickens out, in what was likely a chance to talk down my price. "Fuck it," says I, and head to CraigsList. I list it for $500 and sold it that day to a guy who owns a shop, can fix the problem, and give it to his teenage daughter. I got about 20 calls and dozens of e-mails on it and I probably could have gotten more, but I just wanted it out of my life. I got 2.5x what I was planning on getting for it, and it went to the best of all possible homes: a teenager who needs a simple, safe junker that her dad can fix right and for cheap.

Next (actually, first), I needed to find a replacement. After scouring CraigsList for deals, I found that the only cars in the Detroit Metro Area available that DIDN'T need major repairs BEFORE they were drivable, all cost at least $1500. That was assuming I could find a way to BFE (read: outer suburbs), with no working car, to even LOOK at them. Thankfully, my friend Jenelle's husband knew a guy who was getting rid of one of his cars - a 1994 Pontiac Trans Sport with 185k miles on it. I wasn't keen on owning a gas-guzzling minivan with so may miles, but the price was right - $800. If it was running and ready to go, I was in.

My friend Lou drove me out there to look at it. It was in IMMACULATE shape (for a 16-year-old car with nearly 200k miles), and owned by a retired GM engineer who mostly used it for road trips to Florida (highway miles, good). I only got to drive it on the bumpy back dirt roads of Clarkston, but it seemed solid. Regardless, it ran, no weird noises, and all the gauges seemed to be in the right place.

My cousin (who I hadn't actually seen in person for over 2 decades) had been following my Facebook feeds about my car woes, and being grateful for getting back in touch with her and providing a family connection and support during her time of need, she offered me the money to cover the car. I had initially refused, as I had hoped my old car would be repaired after the last round and didn't want to take advantage of or burden my family with my problems, but when that didn't work, I reluctantly took her up on her offer. Once again, I am in awe of the wonderful friends and family I have accrued over the years, and hope to perpetuate this positivity and sense of selflessness. Since I can't make a difference monetarily, I just 'pay it forward' in every other way I can think of.

As I drove my new car home last Wednesday, I noticed a slight wobble coming from the back end. It didn't seem severe, but I decided to get it looked at. Thursday and Friday I worked both jobs and I had the kids for the weekend, so I planned on taking it in today (Tuesday). Well, after taking off to drop the kids home on Sunday, the tire exploded on the freeway. I pull over, instruct the kids to stay in their seats, and assess the damage... "Hmf. Just change the tire. No problem."

Well, in a standard sedan, no, but with an under-mounted spare with some weird gear system to release that I had no clue as to access - yes, problem. I called a tow truck. They responded quickly, let me watch the process carefully in case I needed the spare again, and had me on my way a scant 40 minutes (and $45) after the initial hobble to the shoulder.

All was well, however the brakes didn't seem to escape unscathed. I crept along at a snail's pace to the nearest exit and called the ex to come meet me to get the kids. The kids and I piled out at a Meijer to wait for their mother and sat in the book section, reading - Courtney read Dr. Seuss aloud, Liam read one of the "Diary of a Wimpy Kid" books, and I started Stephen Colbert's "I Am America (And So Can You)".

The next day, after limping my car to work, I limped to a shop Lou had HIGHLY recommended, to get the car looked at. They gave me their wi-fi password so I could use my laptop while I waited, and were exceedingly friendly, up-front, and honest. They repaired the severed brake line, replaced the blown tire with a solid used one, and gave the whole thing a good 'once over' to warn me of potential problems. They even ran the diagnostic computer on it. They ran down every part of the bill in detail with me, in case I had any questions or concerns. All tolled, it took about every penny left in the "Murphy's Law" fund I had expected to pay for an $800 car, but no more. For this I got a clean bill of (immediate) health for the car and a good does of peace of mind! I was back on the road again!

Anyway, the long and not-so-short of it, is that I have a bright red 1994 Pontiac Trans Sport SE that runs beautifully parked in my driveway now!

(FYI - this is NOT my driveway!)

There are an ass-load of other things that have happened in the past month, including a quartet gig at a REAL gentleman's club (tuxes, brandy, and cigars, not strippers, kamikaze shots, and venereal diseases), an invitation to the first Michigan Harmony Brigade, becoming the director of a barbershop chorus, and PLENTY more, but I'll get to those when I have more time (hopefully sooner than 3 months). I figured those stories would all be playing in the background of the transportation debacle, so I should hit that one first.

And later....the rest of the story(ies)...

X-mess 2009...

2009-12-25T23:18:00.010-05:00

Fair warning: The following blog is an epic-length tome of chaos & woe, but not with a self-pitying, whiny intent. This simply documents the past month leading up to a scrumbled & frantic Holiday season. After all you are about to read, rest assured that I am not nearly as panicked and downtrodden as the story may lead you to believe...

"Holidays are joyful. There's always something new..."

Well, that Karen Carpenter lyric is HALF true, anyway.

The Holiday Season is ALWAYS a flurry of activity, mad dashes to the store, unexpected catastrophes, scurrying from gathering to gathering, and financial frustration, but this year has been a DOOZY! This doesn't even come CLOSE to the car wreck of two Christmas Eves ago, of course, but rather than being a single, terrifying event like the one that etched that year as "The Worst Christmas Ever", this has been a Chinese Water torture of hits that, at first glance, could plunge me into the depth of despair. However, upon reflection, each maddening setback has had its own silver lining. Still, just when I think I'm about to catch up..."there's always something new."

First off, to catch up on the last blog, I did manage to cobble together the back door threshold of the house and plug up some of the holes in the house, just in time for the cold weather to set in. With the help of the reciprocating saw my sister left behind when she moved to L.A., I got to explore my mechanical, manly side by doing some work with nails, screws & wood to make a sturdy foundation for the threshold, replaced some rotted wood, and allay some of my self-consciousness about home repair. All the bending, kneeling, and physical exertion left me PLENTY sore for a few days, but the good, productive kind of sore. In the end, it ain't pretty, but it'll do until I research some county home improvement loans and will save me a LOT on my heating bill.

I mentioned unexpected car repairs in my last blog. Well, I shouldn't have jinxed myself. The main cause of my holiday woes this year has been based on my car. My heat's always been a bit weak in my 98 Cavalier, and the temp gauge rarely goes into the "normal" range. I thought little of this, but the guys at my oil change place suggested a radiator flush should do the trick, as there was a TON of gunk in the coolant system.

Now, I bought this from a fairly green grease monkey, who obviously bought it as junk and fixed it up. The body was in great shape, but other than a good repair on the head gasket, he seemed to skimp a bit on or totally ignore the other repairs. The trunk latch was tricky from the get-go, and is now stuck shut (better than open, I suppose), some of the gauges would flip out on occasion, the check engine light was on more than off, the suspension left MUCH to be desired (especially on the near lunar, crater-filled surface of Detroit area roads), and the "theft deterrent system" didn't always like my key and would shut off the fuel for a few minutes from time to time when I'd try to start it, among other things, but the engine sounded strong and it got from A to B quite well...until I got the radiator flush.

First off, since my car was recommended for the more expensive (yet completely overrated & unnecessary) DEXcool fluid, it cost me $30 more than the standard flush. They then charged me $30 MORE to flush my heater core, which I found out later was ridiculous, as the standard flush should do that. After $90, the heat was little, if any, better. I then started talking to a friend and customer at Blockbuster.

This guy has worked at the Murray's Discount Auto Parts store next to my Blockbuster for years. He's tricked out his own show car, which is a late-90s Cavie, as well. He's certified up the wazoo in all sorts of repairs and diagnostics for cars and knows my car model inside and out, top to bottom - literally. I had him look at it.

Apparently, the flush broke the nub off the thermostat. We replaced it, as well as a bent piece that housed it (likely something the seller didn't bother to replace - just added more gaskets), and hoped that would be the end off it. After a VERY minimal charge for labor, and a lot of headaches getting the parts, after a week or so, it was done and we hoped for the best that that would be all.

At this point, I was feeling okay. Working around his schedule to get the car to him, bumming rides from people while it was there, & driving to Hell & gone to find the parts on the dirt cheap was a hassle, but I had just sold my precious F-rotor trombone to pay for my kids' Christmas presents, and so far, the extra money was covering it. Even when I was presented with a $200 shut-off notice for my water bill (which I haven't been receiving), the trombone money was just enough to cover it all. I drove the car for a day for a day, did some holiday shopping, got my son's Wii and some other odds & ends, figuring the car was fine to get me through the holidays now.

No such luck.

It stared to overheat. Thankfully, my ex was willing to drive my kids down to me for their weekend with me, and I told her I would MAKE a way to get them back, so she wouldn't have to make the hour drive here and back again for them. My repair guy's tight schedule forbade my leaving the car with him, and as it did okay for short jaunts of 10 minutes or so at a time, I made plans. My uncle was in from California, so the kids and I met him for lunch on Sat and he agreed to drive us all up. That way, we could all have a pleasant time catching up on the drive up, and he and I could have some grown-up talk on the way back.

Well, on the way to meet up with my uncle, the car overheated again, and the only way to get the parts in time for me to get the car back in time for my next shift was for me to get them while my uncle drove the kids home to Flint. So much for pleasant grown-up catching up. Nonetheless, my uncle agreed to get them home to Flint, while I picked up a new radiator, water pump, coolant, and other necessities to basically replace the WHOLE FUCKING COOLANT SYSTEM, as the nub of the thermostat that came loose in the radiator flush apparently ripped apart the water pump and got wedged in the radiator.

Thankfully, I had already bought my kids' presents, paid the overdue water bill, and after a loan from my mother, I was able to cover the cost. He did the repair and after a couple days of being stranded without a car (thankfully, during my days off), all was fine...for all of a day.

The day after getting my car back, I was running a few errands, stopped to pay my cell phone bill and was hit buy an older lady trying to pass me on the left - IN THE PARKING LOT! We get out and I assess the damage. She tries to convince me that there we 3 lanes in the parking lot (which is ridiculous, and even if there was, STILL doesn't explain passing on the left in a 'no parking zone'), and as I duck my head into the cell phone store to have them call the Hazel Park Police so we can make a report, she drives off!

My hub cap is shattered, my wheels misaligned, and a new leak has started under my car. I thought (hoped) it was just some of the coolant from the previous repair that had been shaken loose from pooling somewhere after the repair, so after talking with the cop for a minute, I continued to run my errands. The car seems fine for the remainder of my runs.

Later that night, I headed out to visit my old friend Jason and his family and pick up the last present for my little girl - a Zhu-Zhu pet, which Jason's BRILLIANT wife had the forethought to buy several of on Black Friday. About half way there, the temperature gauge started to spike and hit the danger zone. I exit the freeway in a panic. I only afforded myself a few minutes to visit before I was due at work. If my car is rendered immobile out in East Warren, I'll never make it to work on time! I let it cool down and started off again, hoping it was a glitch in the gauge I could get checked out later, but after 1/2 mile, it spiked again. I limped it as close as a mile and a half from Jason's house before I gave up, calling Jason to come rescue me. I called my work 5 times in the hour this all took, to say I'd be late, but no one would answer. Now I was fearing that not only would I not have a reliable means to GET to work, but I may not have the job AT ALL!

Jason pulled up about 10 minutes later, bought me McD's for dinner, and took me to his home, where I was cheerfully greeted by his wife and kids (my Godkids). After FINALLY reaching my place of employ on the phone and negotiating the night off to deal with this mess, I was able to spend a wonderful evening decompressing a bit with my oldest, dearest friend, his wife, my Godkids, a cold beer, and a movie.

The next day, I had to bus to 12 Mile & Schoenherr to try and coax my car closer to my repair guy - hopefully at LEAST to my Blockbuster, where it can cool down while I'm working and finish the trek to get repaired. While waiting for my connecting bus, I met an elderly lady who was having numerous health problems, was estranged from her family, laid off of work, and had lost faith in much of humanity. We talked for about an hour in the freezing cold, waiting for the bus. I was my usual, upbeat self and was more than willing to let her vent about her woes. We discussed, family, the rich, morals, values, religion - you name it. By the time the bus arrived, her mournful scowl had turned into a rejuvenated smile. She thanked me for the talk and restoring her faith that there are good people out there, after all. It really helped me put things in perspective amongst all the insanity and pitfalls I'd been facing and warmed my heart to bring some faith back to someone who was in a much more dire spot than myself. I bid her a merry Christmas, got off the bus, and thanked God for that opportunity.

After waiting in the cold 50 minutes for my connecting bus and 2 20-minute layovers too let my engine cool, I got to work just a bit late. After work, I dropped it at my repair guy's house and my ever vigilant and compassionate girlfriend drove me home.

At this point, it's December 23rd, and I'm not going to ask my repair guy to give up that kind of time with his wife and 2-year-old boy on Christmas for my sake. I tell him to get back to me after the holiday with a time line. This, of course, leaves me with no car for Christmas travel. The PLAN was to get the kids about 3pm on Christmas Eve, drive to my family's gathering in Monroe for the evening, and drive the kids back up to Flint for bed. I'd sleep on the ex's couch, spend the morning in Flint with her & the kids, and drive home. It SEEMED such a simple plan! As it was, the ex was, thankfully, generous enough to pick me up and have me and the kids spend Christmas Eve with her. I spent a nice (if at times awkward) evening with the kids & the ex and we put the gifts under the tree after the kids hit the hay.

The next morning was a flurry of of wrapping paper. We all played Wii Bowling & Star Wars - Force Unleashed on Liam's new Wii system, watched Courtney's Zhu-Zhu pet scurry and chirp around the living room, and had an enjoyable morning.

I'm a planner. When I'm confronted with obstacles, I don't whine, I overcome (okay, sometimes I whine THEN overcome). I wasn't going to ask the ex or any of her family to sacrifice 2 hours of their Christmas to cart my pedestrian ass from Flint to Hazel Park, so I booked a non-refundable Greyhound Bus ticket online from Flint to Pontiac for that afternoon. The online instructions said that the actual ticket was supposed to be printed at the ticket desk upon my arrival there. The ex dropped me at the Flint bus station, and as I approached the ticket counter, where they were supposed to print my ticket, I noticed it was closed for the holiday. I figured this was a formality, and the bus driver would have my info on some sort of manifest. When I asked, however, he said I could not board without a ticket. I explained my predicament and he coldly said there was nothing he could do. After several minutes of pleading, I opened my laptop and showed him my confirmation, which I had the forethought to print to a PDF on my desktop. Reluctantly, he let me board (whew!).

When I got to the Pontiac station, I figured I'd just catch a local bus down Woodward Ave to either my grandfather's house or Blockbuster for my shift at work. As I had no idea when the next bus was due (but assuming it would be within the hour) I plugged in my earbuds and started walking South toward my grandfather's, looking over my shoulder on occasion to be ready for a bus. After nearly 4 miles of walking in the cold, ice & rain, with my overnight bag in hand and computer bag on my shoulder, I approached my grandfather's, and as I'm about to cross Woodward to my grandfather's subdivision - you guessed it - the bus drove by. I laughed as I sloshed my way through the slush for the last block. I just got a nice 4-mile walk in, was bundled appropriately for the weather & had my blood pumping so I wasn't freezing, and got one last dose of my Christmas music on my MP3 player. Silver lining. :)

As I walked up to my grandfather's door, my uncle greeted me with a hug and a ham sandwich made from leftovers from the Christmas Eve gathering I had to miss. I had a lovely visit with my uncle, mom, & grandfather before my uncle offered to drive me to work. I had a nice, if busy, shift at Blockbuster and my coworker offered to drive me home.

My friend and repair guy called me the next day after looking at my car. The prognosis? Cracked heater core. Not an expensive part, but entails ripping apart the ENTIRE dash and much of the front seat to install. EASILY $500 in labor at any repair shop. He agrees to do it in exchange for a Wii. Thankfully, only a $200 cost, but still more than I have. The following day, I bus to work at Starbucks. My dear friend and duly crowned "Queen of Awesome", Marney, agrees to loan me the money to buy the Wii, as buying it myself would mean no house payment this month. She meets me at Starbucks on my lunch break to drive me to Target to get it.

A couple days later, repair guy calls me and says it's all done. He also cleaned off my dash before reinstalling it and aligned my wheels to the best of his ability. He also agreed to replace my wheel bearing, letting me pay for that repair after I got my paycheck that weekend. By New Year's Eve, I had my car fully operational, my mortgage paid, some of my chaos-related personal debts paid, and life mostly restored to some semblance of normal. I'll post pictures on my Flickr page when I can afford to restore my Pro account.

Throughout all of this, there were SEVERAL bright spots that helped keep me sane and brought several moments of joy to an otherwise crazy holiday season. The Flint Holiday Walk gig with my quartet, making my family's traditional fudge, visiting Santa, and decorating the tree with my kids, Christmas shopping with my girlfriend, driving with the Christmas music on the radio (when the car worked, anyway), all helped bring periods of serenity, peace, and normality to the season.

I didn't get much by way of tangible, wrapped gifts this holiday, but I DID get a couple. My girlfriend gave me a couple Detroit t-shirts she designed (awesomely talented graphic designer, BTW), a simple white T that says "Bazinga" (if you get it, kudos!), and coolest of all, a cigarette case with a Star Trek logo on it with a built-in lighter! She couldn't have hit the nail on the head better. Not a THING I asked for, yet so completely DEAD-NUTS-ON-THE-MONEY-PERFECT for me! She absolutely floored me.

It wasn't a huge material haul for me this Christmas, yet I am in NO way disappointed with that. My friends and family have bent over backward to see that I survived through this ordeal, as they have for the past 9 months or so. I don't need much. Most of what I need, I have. Everything else is just fluff. What I was given this Christmas was far better than any DVD, electronic gizmo, or toy. I was given the opportunity to see what wonderful friends and family I have, sacrifice to make my kids smile at Christmas, bring hope and faith to someone less fortunate by simply listening, revel in some off the simpler traditions of the season, and gain my perspective on how great my life truly is.

I'm George Bailey, and I'm the richest guy in town.

Truckin', like the do-dah man...

2009-11-30T19:14:00.002-05:00

Well, here it is, a month later again, and while I can’t say everything’s improving, there’s enough progress in several areas of my life that I continue to be very happy.

The house is continuing to improve, at least in décor, if not structure. The back door threshold and floor need to be replaced, like YESTERDAY, but I can scrumble together a working temporary solution until I can afford to do some serious rebuilding on the entire back wall. I replaced a few of the kitchen floor tiles to make it usable until I can get around to replacing it in its entirety. I still have to furnish the kids’ room, so I’ll have to find a good deal on a couple twin beds and a dresser. There’s still some wall—washing to be done, carpet to be re-cleaned (and properly, this time), and the living room NEEDS to be painted in a serious way. Still, I have working utilities, a working furnace (knock wood), the basics of furniture for the living room and bedroom (courtesy of my sister), and a working stove and fridge. About the only things I’m missing are a washer & dryer so I don’t have to haul to the laundromat every week (where I’m sitting right now). After the cleaning, painting, and basic repairs are done, I hope to start replacing the living room furniture piece-by-piece to make it less “college dorm room” and more “grown-up home”.

Dating is a different story. I didn’t date much in High School to begin with, and now, being single again after 20 years is taking some getting used to. I’m finding it’s requiring a reexamination of my entire value system and self-esteem, mostly by realizing that I’m not quite the fugly chud of a loser I often though I was. Losing 40lbs didn’t hurt that, of course, but realizing that there are women out there that may value the aspects of myself that *I* value in me and may even find me attractive for who I AM, rather than who I COULD be (with their training), has been an adjustment. I’ve always been a bit of a contradiction: an egomaniac that’s ridiculously self-conscious. Lately, I’ve been trying to curb those extremes and I’m finding the middle-ground very peaceful.

I’ve dated a little over the past several months - nothing real serious (or at least, not realistic), until recently. I’ve been seeing this one girl for the past month or so. I could write paragraphs here, but I’d rather not go into a lot of detail. Suffice it to say, we like each other a lot, have a LOT in common, and are completely honest with each other. She’s an attractive geek, with an 80’s pop-culture knowledge that rivals my own! We’ll see where it goes, but I’m very happy right now.

The biggest worry continues to be money (ain’t it always). Between the usual bills, unexpected car repairs, surprise payroll snafus, and the like, the income seems to always meet the outgo, but I wish I could provide more for my kids. Things aren’t finalized with the divorce yet, but the ex and I have been working things out quite well and are cooperating to see that the kids’ needs are met. I’m providing what I can, when I’m asked, and always looking for ways to scrounge up a few bucks to try and make some financial headway. The quartet has a few gigs, I’m starting to give private trombone lessons again to a small degree, but that money always seems to get eaten up by some corresponding catastrophe. It’s IMMENSELY frustrating to be 35 and after a few years of relative financial stability (by NO means, prosperity), to be living paycheck to paycheck again. My big hope is to be able to come up with enough, along with the ex, to get my kids a Wii for Christmas. That’ll be the big present this year, God willing. With the help of the grandparents, it’ll happen, but I’m hoping to come up with enough on my own so they’re free to shower the kids with the cornucopia of gifts the younglings are used to getting.

Thankfully, my needs are few. Most of the creature comforts and luxuries I want, I already have. I don’t eat much, or have expensive tastes. The techno-gadgets I own suffice quite well for my uses and I don’t feel the need to upgrade them. My Christmas List will likely be rather small, compared to most years. I’ll get to that in my next blog, hopefully before the New Year…

…hopefully.

SCARY busy lately!

2009-10-30T12:06:00.005-04:00

Well, another month goes by without a blog post. I've just been so busy lately I've barely had time to catch my own reflection, let alone sit down and write a blog!

Okay, the recent topics are:

Cleaned and moved into my old house, with a few noticeable "gaps".
New job is going well overall
Socializing more
Barbershop convention was awesome
Staying above the drama
Quartet gigs are slow and steady
School's on track to see me back in January
HALLOWEEN COSTUME!

Okay, let's tackle these one by one, shall we?

I am officially back in my old house! I spent the last 3 weeks cleaning the place. Between washing the walls, cleaning the carpets, taming the jungle of a yard, and assessing my next home improvement steps, it's been a daunting task. Especially with no gas in the place to make hot water to clean with! I spent most of the time either boiling water on the charcoal grill or filling buckets one coffee pot at a time, slowing the process dramatically. The depressing part was when I rented a carpet cleaner, intending on getting the 4-hour rate, and getting it home only to realize it's a model that DOESN'T heat the water on its own. Back to the slow process of one coffee pot at a time to fill the enormous tank. Grr...

Finally, though, last Saturday, I managed to get the worst of it up and make the carpet a little less "guugh". With the assistance of my best friends Jason & Lou, I got all of my stuff and the furniture generously donated to me by my super-heroine sister moved in. There is still the matter of turning the gas on (which I hope to hear about today), so I can have a hot shower (a PRESSING need of mine within the first 5 minutes of waking up), and a fridge to store the perishable food I'd like to cook once the gas stove is usable. Still, I have a space heater for now and the rest of the place is very homey again. There are a few repairs that need to be done rather immediately and several I plan to do over the years as the funds become available. Bottom line: this is MAH HOUSE! My cat, Tassie, is buried in the back garden, my daughter was born in it, I bought it, and I intend to keep it. It may be small, it may be run-down, but it's mine.

I plan to have a housewarming party in the next couple weeks and hope to get a few small housewarming gifts that will fill in the odds-and-ends gaps (house plants, oven mitts, etc.). Hint, hint....

The new job at Starbucks is going well. It's uncomplicated - I like that. I go in, put in my time, I go home (or to my next job). Yea, the pay sucks, but it's a job. I'm surrounded by 20-somethings, each with their own drama. Thankfully, I'm able to converse and maintain friendships with these folks without getting sucked into the drama. One of the advantages of being a decade older, I guess. Just enough of a generation gap.

Meanwhile, Blockbuster's the same as always. My hours have been a bit skimpy lately, but that's being resolved.

I'm finding new ways to socialize on the cheap, too! Tuesday Trivia nights have become a regular thing for me and several friends at Rosie O'Grady's in Ferndale. $2 domestic beers and good company keep the costs low, so I can have a fun night out nursing 2 beers and picking at friends' leftover fries over the 3 hours or so. We still need to find a jock to join the team, though, to help us in our weakest category: sports. Isn't it funny - when you NEED a jock... Anyway, I'm getting out a time or two a week and seeing some long lost friends and meeting new ones. It's a good thing. :)

Barbershop convention was completely awesome! Most of it was filled with the typical stuff: a good contest performance for the chorus, nice lunch afterward, ducking in and oout of the quartet finals, singing tags in the lobby, free food & beer in the hospitality rooms, a a bunch of great friends I don't get to see very often. The added plus was having my friend, Jenn along for the festivities! She says she enjoyed it, but the mere fact she was able to even TOLERATE 24 hours of barbershop says loads about her! She gets the bronze star for courage for that alone!

Everywhere I look, there seems to be increasing amounts of drama. All of my friends seem to be going through a rough time, but thankfully, I seem to be maintaining a position of being a good friend and sounding board without getting sucked into any of it too deeply. I have a tendency to genuinely offer my assistance and thus stretching myself a bit thin. I'm still offering my assistance genuinely, but have just managed to not be needed or called upon. It's been refreshing, given my insanely busy schedule lately. Being available to my friends is a big part of who I am and where I derive a lot of my self-worth. It's a trait I'm very proud of. Still, it's nice to have a bit of 'me' time now and again.

Quartet rehearsals have been kind off tricky to organiize laately, what with all the stuff going on with me, and now with Lou being in a play rehearsal on our usual Wednesday night, gearing up for our holiday gigs will be kind of tough. Lou, Dave & I should have no problem brushing up our holiday stuff as we rehearse it in chorus and have sung the same songs every year forever. Big Dave may be a bit slower on the uptake for a few, though. We have 2 or 3 gigs in the next couple months. We'll see how it goes. Next up is prepping for April's contest. We had too skkip this one due to budgetary woes for 3/4 of the quartet, but now that we've tracked down the arranger for one of the tunes in our Sinatra set, we're set to put it on the contest stage!

I spoke with my wonderful and generous father the other day and my Christmas gift will be thhe remaining balance on my WSU bill. All will be set for me to rejoin the studious multitudes in January and get the f'ing degree the hell done. If all goes REALLY well, I could be done by next December. More realistically, though, I'm looking to finally graduate in May 2011 and (God willing) find a job by that fall.

Well, it's that time again! The Geek's Christmas! HALLOWEEN! I've had my costume planned for months and only started on it the past week. Jor-El. Marlon Brando from the 1978 Superman. Geek-tastic, as always. Got a couple parties I'll probably hit with Jenn tomorrow to show it off. Pics to come!!

Whew! I'm usually a lot more flowery with my phrasing, but just getting a month's worth of the basic updates has taken up a lot of space! I'll try to keep up on here a bit better once my internet is set up at my new (old) place.

Peace out, y'all!

Since You've Been Gone...

2009-09-15T09:21:00.003-04:00

It was recently brought to my attention that it's been well over a month since my last blog post and some of you (I can only imagine a handful, to be honest) may be wondering what's been up with me lately. Well, SO much has been happening and my schedule has been so crazy tight, that I doubt I could even BEGIN to cover what's happened in the same kind of detail that I usually do (which likely bores most of you anyway). However, I'll endeavor to recap the last month to the best of my ability.

I started my new job at Starbucks a few weeks ago. It's a good job. Yes, the pay sucks and it's another barely-minimum-wage service industry job, but the company seems to have its business ethics in good order, they have a GREAT benefits package (which I become eligible for in about 2 months), and the people are great. It's becoming similar to Blockbuster, in that I like who I work with, I am getting to know my regulars, and the schedule has some flexibility so I can get personal business done during normal hours on occasion and work around seeing my kids a bit easier. The area where it's BETTER than Blockbuster is in the actual job itself. Being food service, there's always something to do or clean, so the shifts seem to fly by pretty quickly. - no twiddling of thumbs, trying to look 'busy'. The downside is that once I finally stop moving, I realize how exhausting it is! But, it beats flipping burgers. I 'd rather go home smelling like coffee than burgers any day.

Also, I'm back in the marching band game! A buddy of mine contacted me, saying he had a colleague that may be in need of a drill writer. Being this was mid-August when he contacted me, I was a bit suspicious...and concerned. Turns out it was him that needed the help. His drill writer was having trouble getting the drill to him on schedule and he was wondering if I could write a good competitive drill rather quickly. I was MORE than happy to help out a friend AND get back to doing what I love, so I agreed. The music's solid, the show concept is cool, and the staff are great. I think I made a good impression with the quality of my work, and particularly my prompt and open communication with him and his staff. I'm REALLY looking forward to seeing it on the field, and even more excited to finally have a MCBA staff pass to add to my collection after a 3 year gap! Oh, and the money's a good thing, too!

The back-to-school thing for me has hit a speed bump of sorts. I went to WSU, met with my adviser (who's a WONDERFUL lady) and we figured out just what I need under the new degree requirements. Some classes were dropped, others added, but all-in-all, it adds up to about the same class load I expected. We mapped out what I need to take and when, caught up a bit, and then it was off to face the massive bureaucracy that is Wayne State's Accounts Receivable department. After flitting between the cashier's office and Accounts Receivable office several times, I managed to pay my old balance. After waiting in line for a half hour to finally get my holds released, I get to the desk and am informed that the FIRST person I met with there (and the 3 others I spoke with on the phone beforehand to be SURE I knew the EXACT balance I owed) neglected to tell me about a near $300 collections fee assessed to my account! I would have to pay that before I could register...and this was the last day of final registration.

So much for starting classes this Fall. To be honest, I was a bit concerned that with the divorce still in process, a new commute to see my kids, moving back to my house, new job, drill writing, quartet gigs, and the plethora of other things on my plate that adding classes into the mix would have my brain exploding, a la Scanners. Still, the groundwork is laid to get me back in school and on track to finish my degree starting in January... and get me the Hell OUT of Fucking Wayne State, FINALLY!!!!

The divorce is progressing in some ways and not in others. Again, I don't want to get too heavy into details out of respect for the other parties involved. Suffice it to say that the ex and I are communicating amicably and while the finalization of the papers seems to have been put off for a while, we are working together to continue to make sure the kids continue to feel secure and loved by both of us, and working the logistics to enable both of us to establish and live our own lives with respect for each other. In short, we're figuring this out well for ourselves, slowly, and will re-involve the courts as soon as soon as we figure out some specifics, get a few bills and insurance issues resolved, and settle into a more predictable routine. We're both eager to have this over with, but also are NOT thrilled with the idea of lawyers charging us an arm and a leg to instigate us into arguments over property & money, or the courts pressuring us to adhere to THEIR time line. "We'll figure it out like adults and call you when we're ready for you, thankyouverymuch."

My quartet had an audition for voice-over roles for a kid's movie recently. My sister and a friend sent me the audition info, as the casting director was looking for an established quartet in the area. I sent some info to the contact listed, but was contacted directly by the casting director before it was even read! We went there and saw one of our other chapter quartets exiting the building as we entered. After exchanging pleasantries, they informed us that another established local group of much more renown had auditioned just before them. Kinda put a damper on our hopes, but we went and did our best, anyway. We sounded good, read well, and left with satisfaction of a good attempt, but not much hope of getting a call-back. No word from the casting director yet, so our impression was probably accurate. Oh well. At least I won't have to rent a tux for some red-carpet debut!

Other than that, my reintegration into the general populace is moving kind of slow. It's tough re-learning how to be social with the kind of time and financial constraints I have. I'm socializing via my laptop fine and reconnecting with a LOT of old friends there and on the phone that I've had trouble communicating with over the years, but getting OUT and meeting new people is tricky. "ya got no money and ya got no (good) car, and ya got no woman...and there you are," as the poet says. It gets a bit lonely at times.

But, thankfully, I'm keeping as busy as ever, reconnecting with old friends, and still losing a bit of weight. I went into Wal*Mart yesterday (generally against my principles, but one can't always afford one's principles), and found a couple pair of $8 jeans in the smallest waist size I've owned in over a decade! I haven't been this thin since before I got married! I still have a ways to go before I'm anywhere near where I'd LIKE to be (it'd be nice to get under 200lbs again), but it's nice to know I'm still getting there. I may start walking again to boost the momentum...maybe.

Anyway, that's the recap of the bigger news as of late. I'll try and keep up with this a bit more now, since inquiring minds seem to want to know!

I Don't Believe In Destiny, or the Guiding Hand of Fate...

2009-08-05T18:22:00.002-04:00

Okay, so that's not ENTIRELY true...

Sometimes fate doesn't just guide you. On occasion, fate can grab you by the cajones with all the subtlety and tact of a rabid pit bull and just yank you along the right path.

Case in point:
I started my Bachelor of Music Education degree in Septemer 1993. Marriage, kids, house, apathy, laziness - all factors that have slowed me along the way. Nonetheless, I have plugged away at it over the past 16 years. Now, all that remain are 3 classes, my student teaching...and 4 credits of private lessons. These are only offered at 1 credit per semester, which means that despite being able to finish my coursework in 1 year, I am a minimum of 2 years from my degree. It seems so daunting and far off.

I started taking private lessons my first semester at Wayne with Ron. Helluva player, fun to talk shop with, never one to pressure you, but insisted on improvement. A GREAT teacher. I took 4 semesters with him and passed each one. Not always with stellar grades, but enough to pass.

I took some time off school to start a family. When I returned, Ron had been replaced with Ken. Ken expected you to START at a minimum conservatory level, and if you weren't there, you weren't worth his time. I took 5 semesters with him and only passed once - when he didn't show up to my jury. This man became the gatekeeper of my degree. In order to finish, I needed to pass 4 semesters with him, and I couldn't. So, I decided to wait him out. His students were dwindling and sooner or later, the administration would notice. (see more on this in my original post from 9/06 HERE)

So, my obstacles for a long time were time, money, and my private lessons. Flash forward to this present day. Last month I watched the premier episode of Glee. I truly identified with the director character and between the odd parallels in the character's story and the inspirational music, I started thinking real hard about what I might have to do to finish my degree and start teaching.

Next, after not taking classes for 3 years and being rather consumed with other areas of my life that are exploding right now, I get a form letter last week from the WSU Music Department, inviting me to return to school and finish, complete with numbers to call to find out what I need to do. I'm sure they sent the same letter to several students, but it came just as the thought of returning and finishing my degree popped to the forefront of my mind.

Next, I get this new job at Starbucks. Not much money, but MUCH greater flexibility in the schedule to be able to fit in my student teaching durring normal school hours. Having had jobs that run 9-5 as my only available work time, and my primary income, that hasn't been much of a possibility at all.

Finally, I'm running into the warehouse today to talk with one of the guys about a customer's order, and who's sitting at the counter picking up supplies...but my old teacher, Ron. Apparently, he's now the primary trombone teacher at WSU. Ken is gone, and Ron's who I would be learning with. We start to talk about how close I am and that lessons are the longest part, taking a minimum of 2 years to complete. He suggests that there is precedent to double up the lessons to 2 credits per semester, getting me out in 1/2 the time.

Time and private lessons have been taken care of for me. Time for me to take the bull by the balls and get the money. I have to find $850 to pay off my old balance so I can register. I have a few days next week. I will be researching every grant, scholarship, and loan I can find to make this happen.

It's now within the realm of possibility (and I can't believe I am saying this) that I could have my degree by May. It depends on several factors and paying my balance this month, but that's the earliest I could have it.

My heart just sped up to about 120bmp just typing that. And I'm a band guy. I KNOW 120BPM!

Paul 2.0 Beta

2009-08-05T07:51:00.003-04:00

The revisions to "Paul 2.0" continue. The latest programming breakthrough involves the revision of the "job.exe" operating system to fix processing bugs and unpredictable system failures. The old template utilizing "commission.dll" has proven to be insufficient to provide the system resources for complete functionality and user-friendly interface, as well as caused regular failures in "bankaccount.dll" and caused basic operating subroutines like "mortgage.dll" and "eating.dll" to be underalocated or ignored completely.

The new "hourly.exe" platform promises to provided the minimum required system resources to fix the aforementioned bugs, increased reliablility, and more flexibility to run multiple processes simultaneously, as well as the addition of the "bennies.exe" virus scan and auto-fix program, which also covers peripheral applications such as "kids.exe".

Research will resume shortly on a "degree.exe" programming platform that will provide a MUCH broader system base, and the capacity to run the much anticipated "career.exe" operating system. This will allow the much anticipated "Paul 3.0" to operate at peak efficiency, provide a friendlier user interface, and allow for the development of more recreational applications like "vacation.exe", as well as allow the "Paul 3.0" to interface with other systems more reliably.

Okay...I probably ran with that a bit longer than necessary. Oh well. I found it amusing.

Bottom line, I resigned from my commission-based job in wholesale music supply yesterday. I wrote a very respectful resignation letter, presented it, respectfully, to the VP, and was it was received with gratitude, respect, and kind parting words. All bridges remain intact, with pretty little flowers on them. :) My last day is Friday. I could just coast through the next 3 days, but being that my last paycheck will STILL be based on commission, I still have to hustle. Meh - 3 more days I can handle.

Next week, I start working at Starbucks. My friend, Sam, works there and clued me into the opening. I'm not crazy about another low-paying, just-above-minimum-wage job, but after interviewing with the manager, meeting a few employees, and considering that I was averaging HALF of minimum wage on commission, it didn't seem all that bad. Add to that the benefit package they offer, with medical, optical, and dental at HALF what I'm paying at Blockbuster for just medical and dental, plus the more flexible hours to finish my degree and deal with day-to-day stuff durring business hours, it seemed a very good choice. Oh, and of course, FREE COFFEE!! There's a chance I may move up to shift leader a bit sooner than later, so the extra money would be nice there. I'll still keep the Blockbuster job for some extra cash, and to be honest, I enjoy it.

Weekend with the kids was great. We visited my mom and grandpa, watched movies, made pancakes, and got to go to one of my oldest friends' daugghter's birthday party. My kids played with my Godkids, I hung out with some dear friends, and a great weekend was had by all. The best part was just kissing my sleeping kids' foreheads before I turned in on Saturday night. It's the simple things...

Last night I went to Rosie O'Grady's again for what is becoming a weekly meeting with my friend Pashka for their Trivia Contest. I got there a bit before her and bumped into my old friend and Sigma Pi Grand Big Bro, Matt. We spent about 45 minutes just BSing and catching up, and he bought me a couple beers (which is good, since I figured I had the budget for 1 the whole night). He's doing great and running his own marketing business (no, not direct marketing like Amway). He explained it and it makes a lot of sense! He may have an event or two he could use my quartet for and maybe even some freelance work for me on occasion. God, I love networking! You never know where it may lead you!

About 9ish, after Pashka joined us, we took our leave and joined in the team trivia contest they have there. We were hoping for more friends to show up and give us a bit of a broaader knowledge base to work with, but it ended up being just us again. We swapped stories for a bit, moved up and down in the team rankings, and ended up getting our asses handed too us, soundly. Once again, the sports category killed us. We need a jock on the team. Oh well. No bag of cheap swag for us that night.

After the contest, as we're wrapping up, the guy running the trivia contest comes over to talk to us and was CLEARLY testing the waters to see if Pashka was "with" me. I made it clear by giving a dramatic yawn and excusing myself for the night. I was eager to get home to make a call, anyway. It was a great, fun night!

I'll have a few days next week to chill before starting the new job, so I can get my mind wrapped around budget planning, finances, and paperwork, as well as yard maintenance and other household chores. Lots more going on these days, but I gotta get to work and try to look like I'm still "THERE" rather than just "there".

Eagerly anticipating the completion of Paul 3.0.. Hopefully, it'll allow for the addition of a few peripherals (better car, bigger house, travel budget)!

Hittin' the town

2009-07-29T09:59:00.002-04:00

Last night was more fun than I've had in weeks!

I have been mowing lawns for my sister's friends for a few month for a little extra cash. I don't mind mowing lawns in the least. Fresh air, sunshine (when the weather cooperates, anyway), exercise, and a visible sense of accomplishment when I'm done. The lawn at my current abode is a double lot of mostly weeds, spotted with kidney bean shaped garden patches, with a quadrant that tends to turn into a jungle after just a week. It's daunting and time consuming. The lawns at my sister's friends are a cinch by comparison.

One friend has a double lot, but there are no obstacles. I can usually finish in about a half hour, but have to get my lawn mower there, which is a trick with the trunk latch on my car broken and stuck shut. Her other friend has a single lot, no obstacles of note, and her own mower. She's been offering me $20 per run, which I've reluctantly accepted because I can use the cash, but is much more than is necessary for the 20 minutes it takes me to complete the job.

This gal is fun, intelligent, gorgeous, and just a blast to hang with. Feeling a bit guilty for bilking her for a Jefferson each time for the past couple months, this time I gave her an option: $10 cash or $5 and a drink at the new Rosie O’Grady’s Pub in Ferndale. There are a bunch of reasons we're not right for each other romantically, so I had no worries that this might be interpreted the wrong way. Thankfully, she chose the latter.

I headed over and did the mowing quickly, but efficiently, so as to avoid the rain that seemed eminent. When I finished, she suggested I head over to the bar while she cleans up from her home improvement endeavors. I head the ½ mile to the pub and find a table in the main bar area. Rosie O'Grady's used to be just a step above a dive bar. Nice, relatively clean, but a but worn around the edges - just enough to have 'character'. Rosie’s new digs are AMAZING! Not only is it huge, clean and new, but it has a very open floor plan, separate sections for covered patio, sidewalk patio, bar, and dining areas, DOZENS of flat screen TVs with local sports, and i t's boisterous without being so loud you have to shout to be heard by the person next to you.

I order my beer and wait. She shows up just late enough to be fashionable, and looking fabulous. We proceeded to have some great conversation, talking school and careers, dating stories, how much we both miss my sister now that she’s made the move to the West Coast, and life after divorce. She orders some pizza for us to split and we munched while enthusiastically playing their weekly team trivia game. We started out at the head of the pack in the game, but fell quickly behind when the subject matter moved from pop culture to modern music, then finally to my Achilles Heel, sports.

We were there for about 3 hours just swapping stories, playing trivia, eating, drinking, and having a blast. I’m not used to going out to local trendy ‘hot spots’, let alone with a gorgeous woman, so not only was I having a great time, but I was feeling like quite the envied stud! The tab was a bit more than I had expected, so I offered her a free week of lawn service.

One of the best parts of the evening was going home MUCH later than my roommate (or I) had expected, and putting on my best shit-eatin’ grin. He knows this girl and is QUITE aware of her beauty and charm. I just grin at him and he gets this look of total shock, assuming MUCH more than had happened. I just paused with my cat-who-ate-the-canary grin. I held it for about 5 seconds before I cracked. “We had fun at the bar the whole time. I just wanted to see the look on your face when you assumed…” Priceless. ;)

Doing a favor for a friend, a great night at the bar, lookin’ like a stud at a local hot spot with a major hottie, and making my roomate’s eyes bug out for a few seconds. Yea, awesome night!

Gratitude for what I have...

2009-07-23T08:23:00.003-04:00

I met for dinner with an old friend the other day. Without going into detail, it got me thinking about what I have versus what how things could be. I have my health, I have 2 jobs (crappy-paying though they may be), I have friends and family willing to help me as needed (which I try desperately not to abuse), and I've managed to keep going without government assistance. I've never had to apply for unemployment, I've never had a financially crippling medical emergency (knock wood).

I've also never been without a job for more than 2 weeks in my entire adult life, and beyond that I've had between 2 and 5 jobs at a time over the past decade. On top of that, while the entirety of Michigan is in a labor panic and everyone is looking for work, I have 3 solid leads on better jobs. I don't have them yet, and none of them are what you'd call well-paying careers, but they pay a damn sight better than what I'm making now, but one of them is bound to turn out. In a state with 15.2% unemployment, and living 1/2 mile from a city with over 25% unemployment, I consider myself ridiculously lucky.

In the mean time, I feel loved, appreciate, and respected for who and what I am. THAT is the biggest gift. As long as the basics are covered (food & shelter for me and my kids), if there is love and respect, I will always get by.

And how do I come about this love and respect, you may ask? The answer is simple:

I love and respect others.

I've pontificated on Karma and what-goes-around-comes-around plenty of times. Showing love and respect for those around you, no matter their differences, breeds something beyond goodwill. It goes beyond Biblical tenants of "turn the other cheek" and the more universal "do unto others" philosophy. It creates a personal mental state of peace. It allows one to better analyze one's own thinking and be more objective about one's personal beliefs.

Psychologists often cite that actions create belief. For example, if you make yourself smile, you'll begin to feel happy. That's a bit simple (and not always true, of course), but the concept isn't without merit. If you treat others with respect, even if you completely disagree or are even morally repulsed by their ideals, you may allow yourself to open you mind to more possibilities. It doesn't have to change who you are to consider a point of view you disagree with and you don't have to change your opinion to show respect. On the contrary, being weak-willed doesn't garner respect. However, not only will SHOWING respect by letting others have their say, not discounting their ideals out of hand, and paying honest attention to what they are trying to communicate, open your own mind to new possibilities for growth, but you've gained the appreciation of a wider circle of people, which can be beneficial for all later on.

I've started to ramble and get off topic. Hell, it's my blog. :)

Anyway, today, despite having to work to days of doubles in a row and being drastically underpaid for it, I'm happy. Not because I'm forcing myself to smile, but because grateful for what I have.. More than that, I'm realizing why I have the blessings I do: because I show love and respect at every opportunity.

I highly recommend it

Ya Feelin' Lucky....PUNK?!

2009-07-17T08:18:00.002-04:00

I've never been one to seek out action flicks (aside from Sci-fi, of course), let alone want to LIVE one. Tough guys and explosions just aren't my bag unless there's extremely witty dialogue, space travel, aliens, or maybe Seth Rogan. It seems, though, that fate decided to add just a dose of Schwarzenegger to my life this week.

Wednesday is my night to have the kids for dinner. I was looking forward to it, as always. As I had quartet rehearsal later in the evening and would need to get the kids back to their mom in time for that, rather than waste my shorter time with them by actually MAKING dinner (and I'm usually VERY good about making them a full, well-balanced meal) I just picked up some pizza. Lou shows up a bit early to share in the movie we were watching (Midnight Madness - Michael J. Fox's film debut) and homemade s'mores.

As we're packing up to leave and I open the front door, I hear a *BOOM*. Being just a over a week past the 4th of July, I figured it was a local setting off fireworks...but it was still quite bright out. That's when I noticed the 1/2 mile long, 200 ft. high plume of smoke coming from the North.

It seemed to emanate from the 9 Mile Rd./I-75 area, and as I drove the kids home it seemed confirmed. My first though was that my favorite gas station had exploded in some accident. As we pulled up to 9 Mile via local back streets, we all looked East to see a HUGE plume of black smoke with enormous flames shooting skyward. Liam gaped for a minute when he exclaimed, "AWESOME!!" To which I replied, "In an action movie, it's awesome. When there are people involved...not so much.' He showed an appropriate amount of contrition (well, for a 9-year-old boy, anyway) and hoped no one was hurt. They didn't seem traumatized by the event in the least, so I dropped them off with their mom and proceeded to do what all good Americans would do - become one of the gawking masses.

I parked a couple blocks away, walked as close as I was allowed by the police tape, and called Lou to have him and my bari, Dave B., bring my camera down. Our bass was being re-routed through Hell's Half-acre and trying to get to my place for rehearsal. Lou and I never managed to connect through the throng of on-lookers, but he did snap a few pics before we met back at my place to wait for our bass.

We all had a good (if a bit short) rehearsal, choosing to focus on the music to distract us from the blazing inferno a mere 1/2 mile away.

2 miracles I take away from this: 1) if I had left the house when I had intended to, and taken my usual route back to their place, rather than finish the scene we were watching for my son's sake, we'd have been ON that bridge when the explosion happened. This wouldn't have necessarily resluted in injury, but it would have been scary as hell and likely traumatized my baby girl, at the very least. 2) As the reports came in throughout the night and following day, I heard that despite the horrible traffic accident, destroyed cars, raging fire, collapsing bridge, and chaotic scene, absolutely NO ONE was killed! There were only 3 minor injuries!

It's not often I find myself in a position where I am grateful for divine providence. I tend to thank God more for wisdom, guidance, and patience, rather than for setting all of the physical pieces in place and kinetically 'making things happen', but in this case I find myself TRULY grateful for everything being just-so that despite a horrific scene and the potential for tragedy, everyone was able to escape with their lives.

I've said it before, I'll say it again: I'm not a Bible-thumper. In this case, however, for myself, my kids, the people involved in the accident, the firefighters, the EMTs, and the local community, I'll say, "Thank you, God, for intervening".

Musical & Computer Geerery...

2009-07-13T08:01:00.006-04:00

I've been watching guys doing multitracks on YouTube for years. Guys like "Big O", "FinneyLee" and "BHSNerd" have been doing the coolest tags with unbelievable precision and with full video for a long time. This is one of the things that got me on my kick of doing learning tracks for other quatets for money. I've played with computer recording software for nearly a decade, from the cromagnon Sound Recorder bundled with Windows 95, to Cool Edit 2.0, to its only slightly bigger brother Adobe Audition 1.5, which is what I currently use.

I've always loved creating quality multitracks. There is no thrill greater than ringing a chord, as any barbershopper will tell you, and when you can't organize 3 other guys's schedules, you make due! Ever since I saw these video multitracks online, though, I've wanted to show off for the world. Listening to them, I realized that there were a LOT of guys infinitely better than I doing this, but a lot worse as well. More recently, I figured it might be a good way to drum up some business for my learning track business (which has been virtually non-existent lately).

The only missing pieces of the puzzel were decent video editing software and a webcam. Well, the webcam was easy enough - $15 at MicroCenter. The video software is a different story. I tried playing with Windows Movie Maker, which is clunky and good for little more that snazzing up home movies to the level of a high school AV class, circa 1990. To be honest, I didn't need much more than that technology, but this lacked even the simple 4-panel tool I needed to do a video multitrack.

This weekend, I procured Sony Vega. Vega is kind of a multitracker's standard, and as is my usual M.O., started playing right away. It works well and quickly with my Adobe Audition and turns out some good stuff! I started out with the tag to "The Shadow Of You Smile", being a track I've done before and didn't need to re-learn. With no tutorials and glimpses into the how-to manual, I turned out a decent product before turning in for the night. (you can find it on my YouTube channel, but I'm not proud enough of it to post it here.) The next morning, however, I decided to try again and use the bits and pieces I'd learned the previous night to try the "Flying Sinatra Medley" tag and cranked this out in under an hour:

I now have a new way to spend my dubiously copious "free time"! Check out my YouTube channel to watch for more!

Also, while talking with my old friend Ralph on Facebook chat, I started wishing I could combine it with my other buddy lists. I've used Trillian to combine my AOL, Yahoo, & MSN IM names for years and been pretty happy with it, but have been using Facebook more than anything else to chat recently. Trillian - even the new version, Astra - doesn't do Facebook chat, that I've seen. Ralph clued me into a new IM consolidator called Digsby. I downloaded it and absolutely love it! It's not a HUGE leap from Trillian, but it does simplify things enough to be worth it.

Other than that, this weekend, I went to see Wolverine and had some AWESOME steak at Texas Roadhouse with my good friend, Marney (Wolverine is fantastic - ignore the nay-sayers). I also went to my friend Dave's wedding reception/open house with my sister and mowed a friend's lawn. All of this while appreciating gorgeous, sunny weather.

God, I love summer! I can't wait until I finish my teaching degree so I can have the time to APPRECIATE it again!

Double C-note Entry!!

2009-06-29T07:38:00.007-04:00

Yup, 200th post. Should that mean anything? Make me reflective? Have me analyzing my progress over the past 3 1/2 years so I can coalesce the vapor of human existence into a viable and meaningful comprehension?

Probably...but it won't. And kudos to those of you who got the reference...

So here's how my weekend went...

It was mildly uneventful, with a few minor exceptions. The weather was just downright frickin' BEAUTIFUL! Saturday started with sleeping in just a tad, checking e-mail & Facebook, and some chores (laundry, dishes, etc.). It seemed like it was going to be a fairly boring weekend. About noon, my roommate, Paulie B., asked that I drive him to Ikea for some "knick-knacery" to deck out the digs in. I had never been to Ikea. I had heard over the years about the wonders of Ikea - the simple and functional design, the rediculously affordable wares, the fun and festive shoping environment - but never made the 1/2 hour trek to the nearest one in Canton. As I walk in the door, expecting some kind of Sam's Club-ish warehouse, I'm greeted to the smell of cinnamon rolls and offered a Sweedish meatball...and I was smitten. Any store that greets be with comforting smells, a friendly smile, AND meat is okay in my book!!

Paulie and I browsed for about 2 hours, finding all SORTS of great furniture, rugs, housewares, and odds-and-ends that would be PERFECT for the House of Pauls, meanwhile I was making my own mental shoppping list for when I eventually move back into my own house. Of course, as I'm dead broke , I simply bought a 6-pack of the cinnamon rolls that had seduce me upon entering, and 2 8-packs of wooden clothes hangers for $3.95 each to start replacing the bent and warped wire ones in my closet. A seemingly insignificant purchase, but for some reason, the quality and price had me squealing like a teeny-bopper at a Jonas Brother concert! My first Ikea purchase!!! It was like a rite of passage.

From there, we head back, I hang my fresh, clean laundry on my new hangers (yay!), and Val stops by in her new ride she bought exclusively for getting herself to California in a couple weeks. We pile the lawnmower into the back and head to her friend Pashka's place so I can mow her lawn. As Pashka was out of town and unavailable to visit, Val decides to head to the Salvation Army for some shopping during their 1/2 clothing sale while I tend to the yard work. I finish quickly and I cool off in the breezy evening and have a nice chat with a friend on the the phone while I wait for Val to pick me up. We then head to help out my ex-wife by mowing her front yard. After I'm done mowing and Aunt Val's done chatting up her niece, we pile back into the new ride and she drops me home to have a peaceful evening at home.

Sunday was productive and peaceful. I woke up and made scrambled eggs and thick-cut bacon for me and the roommate (the place STILL smells like bacon - yummmmmm). As the beautiful day wears on, I helped Paulie vacuum up the varitable RUG of dog hair underneath the washer & dryer, sweep the floors. I notice the neighbor next door edging his sidewalk. I had planned on this as one of my chores for the day, but as he has crept a good 3 feet onto our property with his edging, I couldn't put it off. As I'm slicing into the 1-foot-square patches of turf that had overgrown onto the cement over the past half-decade, my neighbor offers his garbage can for toting the remains to my compost pile. Then, the neighbor across the street offers his wheel barrow! As I finish, my next-door neighbor helps me shovel the dirt & grass and grabs his blower to clear my sidewalk! As I admire my clean and clear sidewalk, I'm suddenly struck with the notion that I have completely awesome neighbors and live in a great town.

After that was done, Paulie, as a gesture of gratitude, takes me out to see the new Transformers movie. I don my Autobot belt buckle and we head to the Star John R. Cineplex. It was fun. A decent enough movie, heavy on mind-blowing special effects and way cool action sequences, but painfully thin on plot or character development. The main character's parents were better developed than anyone else, and have the least screen time. A good popcorn-munching flick, but a bit of a disappointment and PAINFULLY long at nearly 2.5 hours. On the plus-side, it DID have Devastator, Soundwave, & Rampage (who was the only robot that looked even remotely like his original counterpart).

After that, I headed out to Caribou Coffee in Royal Oak for their Open Mic night. I had hoped to have my quartet sing there, but asking 2 days ahead of time was a bit too last-minute - especially for our newly employed bass, who had to work. I showed up with my ukulele a bit late, but James, a Caribou employee, friend, and Blockbuster customer, was glad to have someone else to fill some time, as the roster was kind of light that night. I sat with my sister and we chatted and played on our laptops while we waited for my name to be called. After listening to some good (and not-so-good) guitar players and some mediocre poetry by an octogenarian, I get up there. I hadn't planned ANYTHING, but decided to try Israel Kamakawiwo'ole's "Somewhere Over the Rainbow" - and made a miserable mess of it. The crowd was very forgiving, and I played it up with good humor, gracefully leaving the stage with a witty quip. As the evening progressed, Valerie and I decided to try something together, so we ducked int the alley and tried "Lucky" by Jason Mraz & Cobie Caillet. It sounded decent, so we went up and tried it with the following pallet-cleansing results:

From there, I went home and hit the hay, satisfied with a weekend off great weather, some great fun, and some productivity. This week's packed to the gills with quartet rehearsal, chorus rehearsal, dinner with my baby girl (while my big boy is off at summer camp), work, and who-knows-what for the holiday weekend! As usual, I'll fly by the seat of my pants and make the best of it!

15 Books in 15 Minutes

2009-06-26T10:51:00.004-04:00

I did this survey on Facebook and thought it would make a good blog. A bit of a divergence from my usual stuff. Yea, it took me a LOT longer that 15 minutes to write them up, but ooh well. I can't just say a couple words about these books.

Enjoy!

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15 Books in 15 Minutes

Don't take too long to think about it. Fifteen books you've read that will always stick with you. First fifteen you can recall in no more than 15 minutes. Tag 15 (or more) friends, including me because I'm interested in seeing what books my friends choose.

1. The Bible. (specifically the story of Sampson & Delilah in Judges) - Okay, I'm not a big Bible-Thumper, but my mom used to read this story (quite enthusiastically) from her braille bible when I was a kid. I always asked for it.

2. The House With The Clock In It's Walls - John Bellaires - My 5th grade teacher read this to the class and I re-read it myself. Oddly enough, my father-in-law found it for Liam last summer,as well! Great young-reader level Gothic horror.

3. 1984 - George Orwell. (I'm stealing K.T.'s write up on this. It's perfect, and I'm lazy) This book stuck with me after I read it in high school and I still remember certain scenes and images from the book (The movie sucked! Don't bother!) as being so solid -- possibly one of the best books ever written. (PK's note - it's also a beautiful and tragic love story)

4. Animal Farm - George Orwell. Another great. Emotionally riveting, politically inflammatory, and a timeless story. This book wrenched my emotional and intellectual guts out. I've read it several times.

5. Charlie & the Chocolate Factory - Ronald Dahl - Read this in 5th grade and devoured it.Of course, I saw the movie first, but at that age, I was AMAZED that there were so many differences! "You mean when they make a movie about a book, they can CHANGE things!?" It curtailed my impulse to watch a movie rather than read for my book reports. I subsequently read "James & The Giant Peach" as well as "The Great Glass Elevator". I always wished they made a movie on that. Imagine floating Vemicious Knids with today's CGI!

6. Skeleton Crew - Stephen King - A collection of short stories, many of which made it into the Creepshow movies. I had it on my night table at age 11 and read a story a night before bed. BAD idea! Loved it, of course, but I didn't sleep much or well while I was going through it.

7. The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (series) - Douglas Adams - I won't write up every book, because they really can't be looked at individually. Once I realized Adams was a Monty Python writer, it cast a WHOLE different perspective on the series and I found it absolutely...freaking...HILARIOUS! The only one I haven't read is "Starship Titanic", but though it's a part of the Guide's multiverse, it's by Terry Gilliam and not Adams, so I don't feel guilty about it. I'll get to it eventually.

8. Star Trek: The Return - William Shatner (& Judith & Garfield Reeves-Stevens) - THIS is the book that got me back into reading for pleasure. I had stopped reading books that weren't assigned about 8th grade or so. No time, too much effort, excuse, excuse, but while walking through Rite-Aid, I saw this cover with Picard & Kirk's face. I was intrigued and bought the paperback. While reading it, I found it was the 2nd in a series of Trek books by Shatner and devoured the series. There's some pathetic "I'm Not Dead Yet" moments, ego maniacal passages, and some WICKED bad puns now and again, but good stories! Kudos to the Reeves-Stevens for keeping Shatner on a leash! I now own and have read some 20 or so Trek novels and own most in hardcover.

9. Metamorphosis - Fraz Kafka - Creepy. This was assigned in college and was my first foray into existentialism. Good thing I'm generally a cheery person. A GREAT read full of amazing imagery, but just a plain downer. Then again, the same can be said of most of Orwell's stuff.

10. Les Miserables - Victor Hugo. Okay, I didn't finish it. Have you seen this book? I mean, have you SEEN this book? Unabridged?! It's a mile thick! That's not so daunting in an of itself, but the rambling descriptions of Paris can make you feel like you're reading the 'begats & begots' sections of the more dry books of the Old Testament! I try not to read 'abridged versions' of anything. I like to see what the author was trying for, like the director's cuts of movies, but it's like going from a 25lb barbell to trying to bench press a Mack truck. A great story, no question, but get over your literary high horse and read an abridged version - or just see the musical. It makes a great step-stool for changing light bulbs, though.

11. The Killing Joke - Allan Moore & Brian Boland - Batman...yeeeeah! I owned a 1st printing of this uberdark graphic novel in High School. It was my first REAL comic book purchase. It practically tripled in value in a few months. When they got to the 9th printing, I traded it for Ralph Biggs's copy of Dark night...and creased the cover on it. Needless to say, the trade became permanent for good form. I bag and board nearly everything now. Great story, AMAZING artwork, shocking plot twists, and NUDITY (rare for the family-friendly DC, especially in the early 90's)! I still own a copy, but it's hardcover...and in French. I don't read French. :/

12. Stupid White Men - Michael Moore - Yea, he's a self-serving blowhard, but the guy's got a lot of great points, his ideals line up with mine, and he's just freaking hilarious! Most of his books are pretty similar, but this one's not as dated. I should reread them to see if they hold up as well a decade later. I have most of his books, and this one I got him to autograph.

13. Lies and the Lying Liars The Tell Them - Al Franken - C'mon. Politically left, well researched, AND an SNL cast member and writer?! You think I WOULDN'T own his books? He blends current events, pop culture, and his own personal life into a GREAT read. It's like sitting on a living room couch and talking with him over coffee. Comfortable, unpretentious, never preachy. Just a helluva guy and a helluva writer.

14. The Giving Tree - Shel Silverstein. Classic, though I never quite reconciled whether the focus was about a mother's love and generosity or the ungrateful, oblivious kid. Still, it makes me cry whenever I read it.

15. Pat The Bunny - Edith Kunhardt Davies - Who didn't own this book? It had a special place for me, though. As my mother is totally blind, this was the one book we could share interactively. We could pat the bunny, feel daddy's scratchy face, smell the pretty flowers, and truly experience the book together. Lots of happy memories of this book, and the first book I INSISTED on getting when my son was born.

Whistle while you work...

2009-06-24T07:55:00.003-04:00

Wow! Has it really been almost three weeks since I wrote a blog? Deepest apologies, dear readers (and lurkers). I'd love to say there's been nothing worthwhile to report, but that'would hardly be the truth, and to be honest, there's too much to try and fit in one blog.

Lemme e'splain... No. There is too much. Lemme sum up.

I'm on the verge of being financially destitute, but I'm managing to scrape by with the help of my family. I'm going through a divorce, but I don't feel lonely. I'm at the lowest point of my life, but I'm happy most of the time.

I know, right!? Makes no sense, but I'm not complaining (much). I am surrounded by the coolest people and drawing strength from the fact that I have unbelievably supportive friends and family to see me through this. I've re-established my direction and WILL pull myself out of this, as I always do. The only real frustration is not being able to give any real details here, as pertinent personal and professional parties have a tendency to snoop around my blog, looking for ammunition. It's pretty maddening, because most all of the things I want to blog about are on these topics.

I saw the premier episode of Glee (CBS) a week or so ago and it rekindled the fire in me to finish my degree. I plan to meet with my adviser and re-enroll at Wayne State in the Fall. The biggest trick to that is to somehow find the $850 I owe them before the term starts. This will be particularly tricky as I am currently earning BELOW minimum wage, working on commission. I could rant for several blogs on this topic, but it is what it is and all I can do is sell my ass off and try to earn more, for the time being. It's infuriating, but as always, I'll work hard within the system to better my situation.

I'm finding that having a roommate has it's ups and downs. I don't have the freedom to use the space as I please much of the time, as we have to coordinate our social schedules. Even just sitting in front of the tube to chill is often out, as he also want the freedom to have his friends or his band over or do some chores and play his music (which, thankfully, is usually all kinds of awesome - the kid's got good taste in music).

One of the perks (and perils), though, is that Paulie's pretty damn OCD. He keeps a STERILE clean environment. The drawback - he expects me to share in said disinfecting. Living in such an environment is VERY refreshing, and I have no problem keeping up my end, but his standards tend to get a bit...much. In my experience, most people have 2 levels of clean: everyday, and company. "Everyday" is tidy enough - dishes accumulate a little bit, the floors need sweeping, the occasional pile of mail or clutter is left out for a little while, but it's kept to a minimum and not left for so long as to become a day-long daunting chore to get things back to livable. "Company" is the get-in-the-corners, don't-let-a-dish-sit-in-the-sink, clear-off-all-surfaces, mop-all-floors, harsh-disinfecting-chemicals-over-every-surface kind of cleaning one does when trying to impress. This is the level he expects all the time. I'm finding this the complete opposite end of the spectrum from what I'm used to, which was refreshing at first. Unfortunately, now that he expects me to adhere to his General Patton white glove treatment (thankfully keeping his standards out of my bedroom), it's creating the same frustration and workload I had before. Rather than coming home from work and relax in my own home at any point, I 'm given a list of things to do and I have to hop onto chores. Thankfully, he has some understanding when the kids come over, and they're generally tidy enough when they visit, but I am usually left with some sweeping, mopping, and dishes to do on the quick.

He's not rude about it in the least, but his standards are just a bit over the top. I'm no Oscar, in my opinion, but he's a Felix to the Nth degree. It's just how he is and we're just getting used to each other and learning to adapt. Given my current situation in all aspects of my life, I'm finding my ability to adapt and still stay relatively unstressed VERY handy. I still think he's an Ubercool roommate, and maintain my insanely high opinion of him as a helluva guy. As he says, "OCD isn't for everybody."

I have tons of other things to blog about : the kids, friends, family, but all of that will have to wait for next time. For now, as the man says, "Time to make the donuts." Tune in next time! Same Bat-time, same Bat-channel!

My Kind Of Town!

2009-06-05T08:20:00.006-04:00

The first time I remember setting foot in Chicago was the summer of 1990. I was on tour with my drum corps and we had a free day between shows somewhere in the Midwest. The bus pulled in front of Shed Aquarium about 10am, dropped us off, and basically said to be back by 6pm. I remember walking through the streets with my cohorts in complete awe of the variety of things to do, places to shop, architecture, sculptures, and culture as we tried to find the Sears Tower in the gaps between skyscrapers. Since then, I have always said that if I could live ANYWHERE else in the US, it would be Chicago.

This past weekend, after finally accepting a standing invitation from one of my oldest friends, Josh, I got to return to "that toddlin' town". He's told me time and again that I should hop a train and spend the weekend with him at his apartment by the lake, so I finally decided to take him up on it. After a mere 32 hours in Chicago, I am more in love with that city than ever before.

I woke up 2 hours before my train was scheduled to leave, just to be prepared for any SNAFU's. Having worked both jobs the night before, I was amazed at how much energy I had! I double checked my packing list, loaded up, and got to the station 45 minutes before departure. I spent a peaceful half-hour snapping pics of the dawn on the trees and playing my uke to kill time. The train ride was SOOO relaxing compared to driving, and for roughly what I would have spent in gas anyway, by FAR the best choice.

I emerged from Union Station about 1/2 hour later than planned, and so I didn't have to wait long for my friend Jenny to pick me up. We headed (via several missed turns and 2 calls to Josh for directions) to Josh's place of employ, as he planned to buy us all lunch at his upscale steakhouse while he worked his shift. Thankfully, it was VERY slow at the restaurant that day, so we all hung out, ate, chatted for a few hours, and did some much needed catch-up for a few hours. Afterwards, Jenny drove me to Josh's place, we talked for a while, and when she left I played on Facebook while waiting for Josh to return from work so we could hit the town.

We walked from his apartment the 3 blocks to the El station and hopped the train a couple miles. We get off, walk 2 blocks, and Josh says, "Paul Keiser, meet Wrigley Field." I look up and there's the sign I've seen in so many of my favorite John Hughes movies. Josh took the obligatory tourist photo of me, then we walk down a few blocks, turn, and all of the sudden I am confronted by a TIDAL WAVE of fabulosity. Josh had taken me to "Boy's Town", the GLBT Mecca of Chicago. We head into his favorite watering hole he described as "the un-gayest gay bar in Chicago...aside from all the Madonna & Cher on the jukebox". The vibe was fun, the beer was cold, the patrons cool, the owner was great, and Josh and I had a great conversation without having to shout (much). I had a BLAST!

After 4 beers and 3 shots of Jager, I'm beginning to feel the fact that I hadn't had much more than 4 hours of sleep in about 40 hours, so we stop by a Mexican place for some grub and hop a cab back to Josh's to turn in.

Sunday was to be the day we hit the downtown. I woke up about 2 hours before Josh, so I played on my computer and watched Ferris Bueller - ya know, for research. Once Josh is up and we'd had abut 3 cups of coffee each, we headed out in the GORGEOUS sunshine to explore Josh's eclectic neighborhood on the way to have Dim Sum for breakfast. We passed stores, markets, restaurants and bakeries representing just about every culture in just the 4 blocks to our destination, all the while Josh pointed out their specialties and his favorites within them.

I've never been much for ethnic food. I'm a fan of the "know quantity" and rarely stray much form the menu at a typical corner diner. I was in an adventurous mood, however, and Josh hadn't steered me wrong yet, so Chinese it was - and I loved it. We strolled back to the apartment, stopping in a few shops on the way and looking at the whole cooked pigs, chickens, & ducks hanging in the windows.

I then packed my overnight bag back up, and we took the bus downtown. The weather was absolutely perfect. Josh planned the route very carefully, apparently, because we hit most every major Chicago icon on our 3 hour walk through the city. The Chicago Theater, the river, Millennium Park, Buckingham Fountain, Sears Tower, Chicago Stock Exchange - everything south of the river - on our way to Union Station so I could catch my train home. I got a ton of great pictures you can find on my Flickr page.

As I edited and cropped my pictures ion the ride home, I realized why I love Chicago so much. It has a layout and footprint that feels very much like Detroit, but so much better. The transportation system works, the parks - ALL of the parks - are maintained, the buildings are clean, and best of all, the architecture is maintained and restored, rather than neglected or demolished usually.

Someday down the road, maybe I can find a way to move there. It'll be a while, because I'm not leaving my kids, but someday. It certainly is "My Kind Of Town".

Holiday...Celebrate!

2009-05-26T08:28:00.008-04:00

Well, while this weekend certainly wasn't the nice big bag o' lazy I was hoping for, it was gorgeous weather, productive, and fun!

Saturday, I did manage to sleep in until 10am, which is very good for me lately. I recently managed to get my grandmother's mantle clock back from the ex and decided to wind it up and let 'er rip! However, as the living room is still a bit Spartan in its decor, there's no place to put it in there yet. So, I decided to just set it on the dresser in my bedroom. Only trouble is, I forgot which crank turns the clock and which turns the chime - so I turned both. Now I get the chime every hour and half hour. Not enough to disturb my sleep the whole night, but as daylight creeps in my room, it's enough to get my up at a reasonable hour, whether I want to or not.

Anyway, I got up at 10am Saturday, took some 'me' time to check the e-mail and Facebook, and proceeded to do the dishes, clean the laundry, mow the lawn, wash the car by hand, and scrubbed the kitchen walls down with TSP in preparation to paint them this week.

Later, my sister popped by with her roommate, Nadia, and we went to see the Hard Lessons play at the Lager House in Detroit. We got there a bit early, hung out with some of Nadia's friends, and I got to meet and talk with Korin, the singer/keyboardist from the band. Korin's a great gal! Between her having a barbershop lineage and a quartet of her own, we had plenty to chat about. Turns out her new quartet just got a gig at Cranbrook for a fund raiser my quartet had to turn down! Small world!

The band did a great show! Their music is very original, with a complex, yet radio-friendlly sound I REALY appreciate. Lots of good harmony, clever use of effects pedals, and interspersed with audience participation. It was an early show, but Val & Nadia were exhaused and Val's voice was destroyed from screaming, alergies, and bar smoke, so they dropped me off for the evening.

I had hoped to be home early enough to have my old friend Ryan stop by for some barbecue, but he was already at the Royal Kubo in Clawson, ready to get his karaoke on. He invited me along and I eagerly accepted. I hung out there with him and his friends from Go! Comedy! (a comedy/improv club in Ferndale club similar to Second City). I had fun catching up with my old friend, meeting some new ones, and rolling my eyes at the bachelorette party that invaded the place, rockin' out their 80's themed evening (big hair, neon spandex, and all). I was starting to feel the weight of my busy day, so after waiting for my songs to come up in the queue for what seemed like forever, I called it a night before getting a chance to strut my stuff and went home.

Sunday, I did a bit of lazing around, a bunch of chores, and went to have lunch with my mom, grandfather, and sister. We had a great visit and caught up. Monday,I was looking forward to seeing my kids march in the Hazel Park Memorial Day Parade. As the ex had booked them long in advance for 2 weekends in a row, despite us agreeing to alternate weekends, it was going to be the only chance I had to see them this weekend. They were supposed to go to the ex's cottage in Canada for the weekend, and return for the parade to march with their respective Scout troops. As the group approached, I notice neither one was with them. Slightly disappointed at not at least SEEING my kids, I enjoyed the parade with my friend Lou, who had crashed at my place after a late night of arguing with his girlfriend with me as the mediator (can you say 'irony'?).

The rest of the day was all about gittin' shit done. My sister Valerie, my roommate Paulie and I spent the lion's share of the day laying the new floor in the living room. I was dubbed "the Master of the Mechanical Stuff" and bequeathed the power tools for cutting and shaping the planks. After about 8 hours of some solid, heavy work, the living room has a MUCH brighter and cleaner look and feel. I did the mandatory Footloose skid across the floor in my socks (pants on) and we had some great BBQ chicken, some burgers, and beer to celebrate, before my crew departed for the evening.

So, all-in-all, not the lazy, laid back weekend I had envisioned, but very fun, VERY productive, and extremely enjoyable! I know, not the heavy, philosophical shit I usually blog about (especially at this length, but hey, it WAS a 3-day weekend), but damn it - IT'S MT BLOG! :)

How did I love this weekend? Let Me Count The Ways....

2009-05-18T08:18:00.004-04:00

1 one thousand, 2 one thousand, 3 one thousand....

This weekend was my 35th birthday/Housewarming party at my new place with my roommate, Paulie B.. Hands down, an awesome weekend!

First, on Thursday night, I went with my sister to Liam's choir concert at school. While the instrumental part of the show dragged for QUITE a while, when the teachers finally stopped yapping and the choir began their mini-musical, it was a LOT of fun. Courtney elected to sit between my sister and I, rather than with the ex and her family (I figured it a bit awkward to sit next to them, plus the bleachers provided a better, unobstructed view). Liam got a duet...with HARMONY no less! In 3rd grade!!! He sang his part perfectly and sounded great! 'At's maboy!! I think we may have a 4th generation barbershopper on our hands, but than again, I've thought that for a while.

Friday, after doing inventory for most of the day, I went home to start prepping for the party. I spent most of the evening cleaning, breaking only for a bit to head to Paulie's for some artwork and decore for our Spartan living room. Saturday, I ran some errands in the morning, including exchanging my DSL modem for a wireless model. I now have wireless at home without having to pirate the lone, weak, unsecured signal in the neighborhood! About 3pm, Marney (henceforth known as the Queen of Awesome) let us borrow her Costco membership to stock up on party supplies. Paulie went a bit nuts, getting WAY more meat than we'll ever eat and despite the invites saying BYOB, he bought enough beer to supply the average frat house for a month. Most of the supplies remain, keeping us with BBQ provisions for most of the summer.

We spent the remainder of the afternoon cleaning, mowing, setting up the fire bowl, BBQ, and filling the laundry tub and washer with ice for the beer. Her Royal Highness stayed with us doing everything we didn't think of and generally being completely awesome.

I managed a shower just as people arrived. As folks started to trickle in, the party got absolutely cool. My quartet was there in full effect, providing tunes, with occasional substitutions by our former bass, Floyd, and Paulie's drummer, Ryan. We lit the fire, the tiki torches, ate, drank and were merry. MMy guitar was unearthed and passed around for some acoustic sets by Paulie, Ryan, and others. It eventually made its way to the fire and we sang some stuff outside that spontaneously broke into 4 and 5 part harmony (whether it needed it or not, with varying degrees of success depending on the quantity of intoxicants ingested.)

Toward the end of the evening, we realized that about 75% of the guests in attendance were Dondero Acappella alumni, so we attempted to sing some of the choir standards. Given that most of these people hadn't sung these songs in 10-15 years, it was....well...a total train wreck. Most of the sopranos forgot their parts, so I ended up on soprano for most of it (with the assistance of a good wedgie). But still, we had a BLAST trying! I have some video of it, but at the behest of my sister, I won't post it.

The final entertainment of the evening was the capper on a fun night. As I was standing around the fire with a few other divorces, complaining about exes, I heard a thumping by my car. Someone had run up and was pummeling it with eggs! I chase down the perpetrator and catch up. Knowing she was caught, she turned around, and it was my ex-wife's friend, Dorothy. She shrugs and gets in MY EX-WIFE'S CAR !My bass, Big Dave saw the whole thing. I proceeded to call the police, who arrived lickety-split, and the officer filed his report as Big Dave grabbed the hose and washed off my car. I wasn't going to press charges over a few eggs - especially since it was cleaned right away - but I found it hilariously sad. Rather than putting a damper on my birthday party, as she had hoped, all she did was provide an extra laugh!

Sunday was just chill. I did some clean-up, mowed my sister's roommate's lawn, talked with my mom and dad, chatted with a few folk online, and caught up on Heroes. It was gorgeous weather and a perfectly relaxing afternooon.

This weekend couldn't have been more perfect. Thank you SO much to everyone who came and hellped make this a GREAT weekend! My quartet, Lou, Dave, Big Dave and alumnus Floyd added some great sounds and let me shoow off the hobby I'm always raving about. Liz and Jenn Wicker for briinging plants to bring some life into the new digs. My sister, Val, for pproviding the place for the party (and a zillion other things I can't get into without being sappy - she hates that). Everyone who showed up to laugh, sing, eat, embibe, and add to the jocularity and joviality that was this most awesome, yet mellow party.

Most of all, Marney McKay for ALL the help she provided with the Costco discount, providing an extra grill, mannning the grills, and more helpful tasks than I could possibly remember. ALL HAIL THE QUEEN OF AWESOME!!

I only wish all birthdays could be so completely awesome.

Brother, can you spare a dime?

2009-05-13T08:15:00.004-04:00

I have a lot to be grateful for. In my heart, I know this. Going through a divorce is generally one of the toughest things someone can go through, but in this economy, it's even worse. I knew this was going to be an expensive process. However, with my primary job's paycheck about to plummet, my second job barely pulling in enough to pay my health insurance premiums, a home with no equity in the current market, no savings left, no investments, and no property worth enough to bother trying to sell, it's looking very bleak.

You all know me well enough to know I don't complain a lot...well, at least not on here. I vent a lot, but usually with the disclaimer that I'm not asking for help. I have had to swallow my pride a lot lately. I'm not good at asking for charity, and over the past 3 months, I've had to ask my family for more than I ever should - financially, emotionally, and logistically. I don't like putting people out of their way for me. I'm a big boy, and I need to dig myself out of my own trenches. Usually this entails selling one of my instruments or working more hours at one of my jobs. Well, my instruments are being held hostage and more hours at work aren't a possibility right now. I'm out of options.

Yes, I'm an "able bodied man" and "gainfully employed", but hardly making anything near a "substantial income", as recently implied. Not that I would know this, as I still haven't seen my tax returns for the last year and they are also being held hostage. Now I find myself trying to come up with money for a retainer for my lawyer, pay the mortgage on a home I have been locked out of, fighting a losing battle to see my kids in the few hours I can squeeze in between jobs, and returning scavenged pop bottles for grocery money.

You all know I'm a big believer in Karma. Lately, I've discovered that my faith in Karma has paid off in dividends beyond my wildest dreams. The fact that I have been able to survive this far with the support of my true friends and family is a testament to how my desire to help everyone I come in contact with has built up my stores of good Karma. Those stores, I fear, are dwindling of late. A dear friend reminded me last night that it's all cyclical. The "Pay It Forward" concept doesn't end. I am still who I am, and will be ready for the call to help my friends and family however I can at any time. At some point in the future, I may be called on to drive cross country to save a stranded friend, house a loved one, or provide financial assistance for my kids or grandkids, and I will take the experiences of the past couple weeks and jump at the chance to help. That's who I am anyway - karmic balance sheet be damned.

I picked up my summons and Complaint for Divorce papers yesterday. I'm a bit scared about what the next few months will bring. I WILL take a devastating financial hit, have to make a lot of material sacrifices, and I have no doubt that nothing will be made easy for me. Still, I will not impose on my friends and I will not compromise who I am. I will keep taking the high road, and keep doing what is right by my kids as best I can. I won't "prepare for battle". That's not what this is about. I WILL stand firm for what I need and move on with my life.

This will be the most difficult year of my life, no doubt. I may even end up financially ruined. I'm going to batten down the hatches, ride the storm, and arrive on the shores of my destination to the warm sunshine and loving embrace of friends and family a stronger man, wiser for the lessons learned.

I hate accepting charity, but lately I've taken to heart that, "I'll get by with a little help from mhy friends."

I will be my own man.

Weekend of relaxed, yet productive, awesomeness.

2009-05-04T08:16:00.002-04:00

Just a bunch of yummy awesomeness this weekend. The weather was GORGEOUS all weekend, and I took full advantage of it!

Saturday I was up at a reasonable hour, did some laundry, and then it was off to FREE COMIC BOOK DAY! As usual, my first (and subsequently only) stop was my buddy Chris's shop, Comics & More. As expected, the place was pumpin'. Lotsa folks appreciating the freebies, giveaways, and raffles Chris was providing. I stopped in for just a minute to grab my free swag (a few choice comics, a Star Trek movie poster & bumper stickers, and some foam Wolverine claws for the kids). I wasn't sure if I was getting the kids at any point that day, as the ex and I hadn't discussed it, so I got some stuff for them, just in case.

As I'm about to hit a couple other comic shops, just to see the mele, I'm called by an AT&T service tech, saying she was on her way to fix my thus far sporadic, crappy internet. DOUBLE YAY! WORKING INTERNET! I head home and start some dishes while I wait. If the problem was outside, it was free. If the problem was inside, it could be $60-$120. She came by and started her thing and my sister came by for a brief visit. We chatted while the AT&T gal did her thing. I figured if it was inside, I'd just cancel my subscription. I can't afford a dime right now. Thankfully, the gal on the call was WAY cool and said she wouldn't charge me, even though she had to re-run the line from the box inside the house, and she had me up and running lickety-split! I CAN FINALLY CATCH UP ON HEROES & DAILY SHOW AGAIN!!!!

From there, it was home to tackle the jungle that the recent rains and 2.5 weeks of growth had errupted in my yard. As I'm finishing up the last (yet most daunting) 1/3 of the backyard, my brother-in-law pulls up with my younglings! Yay!! They run in the house to start playing the NES (yea, I'm old school like that) while I finish the yard. Then I went inside to hang with my kids while Liam played Super Mario 3. As it turns out, Liam had gotten suspended that week, so I hat to put the kaibosh on heading out to the comic shops. I was bummed, as was he, but he took it like a good sport. I showed him the comic I grabbed for him and said he can have it next week, provided he has a better week at school.

We had sandwiches, talked, played Nintendo, and had a great afternoon. From there, I dropped them home and headed to work at the video store. It was delightfully slow and I had a great night chatting with customers and my coworkers. I came home to my roommate prepping his bedroom for its first coat of paint. We hung out a while and wrapped up a great day before he went back to his crib.

Sunday was even more awesome! I woke just late enough for good sleep and early enough to enjoy a beautiful morning. I folded some laundry, spread some grass seed in the bare spots of the lawn, did some grocery shopping, swept up, put away the clean dishes, checked my e-mail, chatted online a bit, and generally tidied up - all with no schedule. (contented sigh)

About 2ish, my roommate showed up to do some more work, followed by my sister who had come to grab more of her things. We talked and hung out and had a GREAT relaxed time. I made some KILLER BBQ chicken on the hibachi (yay meat!), and we ate on the front port in the beautiful weather (did I mention the weather was GORGEOUS?) When we finished, Val asked that I take the mower to her and her friend's house to tackle that with my demonstrated expertise. A double lot, but no obstacles to wind around - simple. I had nothing better to do and it was GORGEOUS out, so I piled up the mower in my car and headed there. I got some good exercise, got to see where my sister is living before her move to California, and a couple bucks for my trouble. Unexpected cash FTW.

We came back to my place so my sis ccould grab some more stuff, started a fire in the firebowl, and just chilled for a bit with my roommate. His first coat of paint looks great! Bolder color thatn I'd choose (teal), but expertly applied.

A GREAT, relaxing weekend. If you've ever read my blog, you know what a change that is for me!

I'm starting a new chapter in my life these days. It's filled with great characters, interesting plot twists, and all the stuff of a great story. Like any great story, it'll have its trials and triumphs. I can't wait to see where this story leads, but also like any great story, it's the thrill of the read that's the fun.

"Fencing, fighting, torture, revenge, giants, monsters, escapes, true love, miracles..."

Well, maybe not fencing...

Ain't Nothin' Gonna Break My Stride...

2009-04-24T08:21:00.005-04:00

The mantra of my life lately has been "Git' 'Er Done". It actually has been for a long time, but there have been a lot of things to 'git done' as of late. Moving stuff, looking for a better job, setting up the new digs, etc.. I'm more motivated than ever to get my life out of park and into drive.

I've had a number of 'speed bumps' along the way, of course. Pay cut at work, totaling my car, passive-aggressive lack of cooperation from various angles, but conversely, I've had a lot of support and encouragement from friends and family. My dad and grandfather came through with some loans to help me get a new car and root canal, my uncle is sending me a few shirts he's outgrown, my cousin Linda has been a huge source of comfort and encouragement, my friend Jason and his wife Jen have given me some social outlet that I've been lacking and some much-needed laughing by inviting me to dinner, and that's just a few! Most of all, my sister has been all kinds of awesome by not only providing me with her house as she preps for her move to LA, but most all of the furniture I'll need, some leftover groceries in the fridge, a few odd & end necessities, and playing chauffeur when my car was a hulking heap in the junk yard. Beyond that, she's been a great sounding board and source of moral support. My...sister...ROCKS!

There's a long road ahead, make no mistake. This will be a difficult, bumpy trek into uncharted territory. Best part is, I not only have a great team of friends and family ready to prop me up when I stumble and cheer me on along the way...

...but I seem to have an angel watching over me the whole time.

"Truckin, like the do-dah man once told me you've got to play your hand
Sometimes your cards ain't worth a damn, if you don't lay 'em down..."

...In My Brand New (old) Automobile!

2009-04-10T08:24:00.003-04:00

Okay, the barbershoppers got that, anyway...

Well, here I sit, in my favorite morning spot once again - the Biggby Coffee in Madison Heights. I haven't been here in over a month and as soon as I walk in, I'm greeted by Paul & Travis like a long-lost friend. I feel like Norm at Cheers here. It's the only place where I can just say, "the usual". I like that. I've been skipping my morning coffee due to time and budget constraints the past month or so. I''ll probably start coming back here a bit more often, but probably just once a week...and skip the muffin.

But now to the point... My car is on the road and ready to go!! I spent a couple hours Wednesday day hitting my insurance agent and the Secretary of State getting her legal. As I ran the errands, I noticed a throbbing sound in the front driver's wheel. I didn't think too much of it, figuring it was a bald spot on the tire or something, but when I hit the freeway that evening on the way to quartet rehearsal, it got insistent. Figuring it a prudent measure to have the new ride scoped out by a knowledgeable and trusted source, I took my 98 Chevy Cavalier to my favorite mechanic, Tony at B.Y.O.P. (Bring Your Own Parts). I dropped it before work yesterday and bussed the rest of the way.

Sure enough, it needed some work. Having only paid $1300 for it, I assumed as much. A while later, Tony calls me with a short list of necessities. I give the okay, he agrees to grab the parts himself to save time (as I was working till 6), and after $228 and a promise to do the brake pads, I'm back on the road the same day!

So, ladies and gentleman, I present my new ride.

Suggestions of a name for her? Monikers my former modes of transportation have gone by include the Blue Bomber, 'Lil' Red, the Teal Tornado, Moose, and of course, the Shitmobile (which - knock wood - will nnot apply here).

On The Road Again!

2009-04-08T08:56:00.004-04:00

Okay, it's been a while since I posted anything about what's going on with me, specifically. This one's not getting much into the big picture for various reasons, but is action packed; filled with car crashes, excitement, police, humility, defeat, and eventual triumph!

I love how I can make a simple car accident on I-94 sound like a Arnold Schwarzenegger movie.

Anyway, a week ago Sunday, I was traveling I-94 on the way back from visiting a friend. I was due to visit my friends Jason & Jenn at their place at 8pm and was running right on time, give or take 5 minutes. The weather was snowy (in late March? WTF!?), the traffic heavy, and I was taking all due caution, going about 5 MPH under the speed limit. Rather than take I-75 to I-696 and up Schoenherr, I figured it might shave a couple minutes off to just take I-94 to I-696.

I chose...poorly.

Just as I pass Gratiot, a red Jeep Cherokee comes barreling STRAIGHT ACROSS the freeway and hits my back passenger quarter panel. He was far enough back when the subsequent skidding was over that I couldn't see his plate in the dark, snowy weather. Traffic was REAL heavy for a Sunday night, and between the slick road, heavy traffic, bad weather, and the skinny left shoulder I was on, I was not about to risk getting outside my steel cocoon to talk to the guy.

I call 911, make my report, and wait...for the MI state police...on I-94...in Detroit...on a Sunday...in bad weather. Yea, right. I call Jason & Jenn and explain I may not make our Wii date, then call my Superheroine Sister to see if she can some to save the day, once again. Meanwhile, I'm sitting on the skinny left shoulder right against the berm in a busted car that had no heat anyway with 2 busted windows, my heart racing with every passing truck that shakes my car as it passes at 60+ MPH, missing me by millimeters, it seemed.

Shortly before the State Police show up 30 MINUTES LATER, the offending driver limps his hulking red ass away! I see him moving and start to spout a stream of expletives. The state police show up 5 minutes later aand take care of another accident just behind me on the off-ramp, then completely disappear! Thankfully, a tow truck driver spots me, turn his lights on to make others aware of my existence, and waits for a safe time to haul my shattered Fortress of Solitude onto his flatbed. Another tow truck comes by 10 minutes later to block the lane and secure the perimeter, and just as it's all loaded up, THEN the cops decide to show up.

We pull off the freeway and I give the cops all the info. Hit & Run - not much they can do. Yay. I get the info necessary to just give my shattered means of conveyance to the junk yard, my sister picks me up, and we head to Detroit Metro to pick up Paulie B.. From there I decide to just crash at Val's place to be sure I can get to work, as the public transportation system in Bloomfield Hills is basically nonexistent.

The next week was spent dealing with my incapacitated car (chaufeured by my awesome sister) and browsing CraigsList for a new set of wheels. My best bud, Lou, helped me try and get to see some, but all the posters neglected to get back to me. I managed to get to work via considerate local coworkers, my sister, and the bus. I did, through all that, manage to discover that if you walk 2.5 miles at a brisk pack while conducting Madison Scouts '92, you get a REAL good full body workout!

I had to swallow some pride and ask my grandfather for a loan to get the car. I was keeping my searched under $2k, expecting to just get a reliable beater. I would have needed him to co-sign to get a loan from the bank and didn't want to damage his credit, being that my paychecks have been miserable lately and aren't apt to get better real soon. I figure once I get the money flowing again, I'll talke out a bank loan to pay him back. Thankfully, some of the car searching for said beater panned out yesterday and I looked at a few cars, again through the kindness of my non-pedestrian sister. The last one I looked at had a couple issues, but the seller was a mechanic and fixed them on the spot. It's a 96 Cavalier, 90's Teal, virtually no body damage, VERY little rust, and runs great. It's no Mazzarati and a bit smallish, but for the price, it's pure awesome. Best of all, it has no exhaust problems, a great working radio/cassette player, and (get this) WORKING HEAT!!!

I''ll post a pic of the new one soon in this blog entry.. In the meantime, here's one of the remains of my former Fortress of Solitude:

Total bad car, get a better one for even cheapper. Karma's great that way. :)

So once again, I am mobile. I'm taking thhe morning to grab a cup of coffee att the Caribou and blog, then it's off to my insurance agent, the Secretary of State, MicroCenter for another FM transmitter for my MP3 player, and off to work. Tonight, I have the first rehearsal with my quuartet in over a month, and *I'M* picking Lou up for a change, now that I have working heat!!

Yay me!!

Ch-Ch-Ch-Ch-Changes...

2009-03-26T12:05:00.001-04:00

Changes are coming...I don't know how long they'll take. I don't know what will happen.

This isn't exactly new territory for me, but I have a mind on the goal now, rather than just abstract ideas of the interim. I have ideas of the steps necessary, friends & family ready to help me however I need, and a determination to get it right.

It's time to start accomplishing my own personal goals. I have been labeled an 'underachiever' since 3rd grade. At 34, it's high time I started making goals and doing what it takes to meet them. It's time to start trying to be happy. I know what I want. I'm starting to understand how to get there. It will take strength, determination, and a solid work ethic. It's frightening, because as most of you know those are my weaker points. I'm scared, but gaining courage. I'm weak, but gaining strength.

I won't sit quiet. I won't bow my head anymore. I won't bury myself for the sake of peaceful coexistence. Conversely, I won't step on people to achieve my goals, as that's contrary to my nature, but my needs mean something, too.

Change is uncomfortable. Change is chaotic and destructive. Change can destroy many good things in it's attempt to create a greater good.

Change is inevitable. Change is necessary.

Change is long overdue.

The Din of Inequity...

2009-02-18T08:29:00.004-05:00

Life's complicated. Work, kids, family, friends...nothing is simple. Seems every aspect in my life is in some sort of state of flux. Not all of it's bad, mind you, so I'm not fishing for sympathy, or even help or advice. Nothing catastrophic is happening yet, it just feels...weird.

Work's going through a pretty bad slump right now with the economy being in such rough shape, and my pay's been cut. The chorus annual show is coming up in two weeks and I've been cast in a character role, so that's occupying some time. My quartet's on the show, so we've been working on polishing up our number for that - more time. Liam's Cub Scout Blue & Gold banquet is next week, so there's another addition to the crowded schedule.

I've had a lot to think about lately, and since the radio in my car stopped working, it's given me time for these thoughts to grow and develop on my various commutes. I'm not sure exactly what they're developing into yet, or if these nuggets of contemplation will result in any kind of change in me or my life. I don't expect them to, as I have a history of not effecting change in my own life, but just working harder in the direction I'm used to going. Still, all of this introspection may lead to at least a deeper self-understanding of how I think and feel.

Thoughts range from what kind of slacks I'll wear at the office or coffee I'll get in the morning, to my career options & educational path, to my kids' behavior and home life, so it's all over the map. No one subject keeps me occupied for very long - which is normal - but lately it's been longer than usual.

No prayers or condolences needed. No validation of my self-esteem required. I just need to find a way to get these various, jumbled thoughts to coalesce into solid decisions or plans of action in their respective milieu.

To sum up, my brain's a jumbled mess right now and the din only grows louder in silence and solitude. Time to pick up the baton, tap it on the stand, and get this orchestra to stop tuning and start playing.

Coming up: On a Lighter Note...

Ubergeek's Alter Ego: SUPERDAD!

2009-02-13T08:28:00.004-05:00

Yesterday, I dropped the kids at school, worked 9 hours, came home, tidied up the living room, did several days worth of dishes (by hand - we have no dishwasher) while simultaneously making a nutritious dinner for my family, then did all of THOSE dishes, cleaned the cat box, transferred the laundry, returned a DVD to Blockbuster, returned the deposit bottles, went grocery shopping, refilled the cat box, and took out the garbage.

All without the slightest prompting.

That's right, ladies. Fantasize away...

Fact is, I almost never just walk in after work and plop on the couch. I walk in and immediately start putting things away, gathering the dishes and clothing scattered throughout the house by the younglings, making dinner and/or putting away ingredients and food items left on the counter, throwing away wrappers and junk mail... I simply cannot relax in a cluttered environment, and in my tiny 752 sq. ft. house with 4 people in it...the clutter never ends.

I've tried to do great purges of unused stuff to the Salvation Army, but it's difficult in a family of packrats. Granted, I'm no angel, in that regard. I have a record collection I haven't listened to in years, books I haven't read, a drawer full of small odds-n-ends, etc., but I keep my clutter contained. My stuff has places to go. If it doesn't, I make room by clearing out stuff I don't need.

Also, I generally don't hold on to things that "may be useful, someday" - at least, not for long. I avoid starting optional projects I don't think I'll finish, to avoid more clutter. I keep 'mementos' to a minimum. I regularly go through my drawers and closet to evaluate if I actually wear what's in there and donate what I don't. I have a collection of old band/drum corps/barbershop t-shirts and 1 small box of keepsakes from my youth in the shed - that's about it. Anything else I need, I keep in my car to avoid cluttering the house. Hell, I even keep my guitar at work because there's no room for it at home!

I've often been considered by many of those close to me as lazy and disorganized. I beg to differ. Between 2 jobs, freelance learning tracks, chorus, quartet gigs & rehearsals, Cub Scouts, and keeping the house kept up as best I can, sloth & disorganization is something I just don't hve time for.

Next plan it to reverse the spin of the Earth and turn back time to fit it all in.

Radio Days...

2009-02-04T08:26:00.004-05:00

There was a posting on the PioNet (the regional listserv for Michigan barbershoppers) that WWJ Newsradio 950 wanted a quartet to sing a bit at their annual radiothon for THAW (The Heat And Warmth fund), an organization that provides assistance to low-income households with their heat bill in the winter months. The trick is that they wanted the group on a Friday afternoon.

The original quartet they asked was unable to doi it due to work conflicts. Having Dig Dave back in town, I thought I'd look into it. As the venue is only 2 miles from where Bari Dave works, Big Dave and Lou are unemployed, and I could take 1/2 a vacation day, I threw our hat into the ring. After a bunch of exchanged e-mails with Chuck, who was the radio station's contact with the first quartet), I connected with the producer and got us the gig. It's unpaid, but it's for a wonderful cause, and GREAT exposure!! We may get a free meal at the casino buffet, too... Nom, nom nom....

We had a GREAT rehearsal last night to work out the details. The new song is sounding fantastic! We're past the building stage and into spit & polish. We have all the notes under our belts, worked out the coordination of syncopated sections, and have it sounding performance-ready. Now, we just have to iron-out the 'brain farts', fix a few phrasing issues, and work the dynamic contrast. In the Wee Small Hours is still a bit rough, but we've only worked that a couple times. We need to decide on interp and phrasing, but that'll fix most of it.

So, if you're near a radio (locally) or computer (anywhere) between 11am & noon (EST), check out WWJ Newsradio 950 or go to www.WWJ.com and see if you can hear us!

Oh...and hire us. Seriously, we got 2 guys out of work and a convention in Traverse City coming up in 2 months! We need the cash!

SUPERSTAAAH!

2009-02-03T08:28:00.003-05:00

I have been in the front row of my barbershop chorus for about 3 years now. For the non-barbershoppers out there, this means I get extra choreography and more exposure, generally because I either look better, sing better, emote better, or at the very least, remember my shit better (most likely the latter).

It also doesn't hurt that at the tender age of 34, I am the relative baby of the chorus. When I joined, I brought the median age down from 'deceased'. This gives me certain physical abilities that necessitate me being in the front row: more vocal control, a more youthful look to the chorus, and the fact that I can kneel without breaking a hip...yet.

Another advantage to by youth is that when they are looking for a young character for the show (assuming it has a story line) I'm pretty much it. Hence, I was told on Saturday that I would be taking the lead role of 'Ted' in this year's show. Apparently, they decided to change the show design concept a bit last minute and threw together a script centered around a young man returning home from the Korean War to his home town. Being the only one even CLOSE to a 'young man' I was (ironically, given the show premise) drafted.

So, I will officially give my plug now...

(ahem)

Hear ye, hear ye!
Come one, come all to the Detroit-Oakland Chapter of the Barbershop Harmony Society's
70th Annual Parade of Harmony Show entitled
"Fabulous Fifties"!!

Revel in the music made popular in the mid-20th Century as we follow the story of Ted, who returns from the Korean War to his hometown!

Featuring 2 Amazing guest quartets, 2007 Pioneer District champs Chordiology and Several-time International finalists Storm Front!

Clarenceville High School Auditorium
Livonia, MI
February 27th at 8pm
February 29th at 7:30pm
Tickets $18 (all seats reserved, so get the good seats now!)

My quartet will be on the show as well, doing a FANTASTIC medley of 'Fly Me To The Moon' and 'Come Fly With Me'.

In know. All of 5 or 6 of you actually read this, and at least 4 of you are prohibited by cost or distance. Still, I figure if there's one or two that stumble upon this and come...

Tonight, quartet rehearsal with Big Dave! We're back, baby!!

Other stuff to catch you all up on, but I gotta get to work. In the meantime, go check out my more recent pictures on Flickr. Click on the pics in the sidebar --->

25 Random Tings About Me...

2009-01-28T08:39:00.002-05:00

I recently was tagged on Facebook to do this, and I thought it would make a decent blog entry.
Enjoy. :)

----------------------------------------------------------
Rules: Once you've been tagged, you are supposed to write a note with 25 random things, facts, habits or goals about yourself. At the end of your note, choose 25 people to be tagged. You also have to tag the person who tagged you.

1) My dad has always been one of my biggest heroes, but I'm more proud of her now than I have ever been.

2) My sister and I have grown a lot closer over the years, and I think that's aaaawesome.

3) I'm not nearly as lazy and unorganized as everybody thinks.

4) I bite my fingernails...a lot.

5) I don't stress about much. Concerned, perhaps, but not stressed. Think about it - when was the last time you saw me freak out about anything?

6) I smoke. I should stop. I know. But I REALLY don't need more people to tell me how or why I should quit.

7) I have a love/hate relationship with unsolicited advice. I love and appreciate the concern shown by those offering it, but it annoys me, demeans my efforts, and underestimates my ability to handle my own situations. I'm a very proud and independent person. Wanna stay on my good side? Avoid any statement that begins, "What you should do is..."

8) I...CAN'T...STAND...CLUTTE

R!! I'm not perfect, but I'm usually pretty good about putting things back where I got them, taking dishes to the sink, putting ingredients in the fridge when I'm done with them, and keeping my pack-rattish keepsakes to a minimum.

9) I love my car. No matter what I happen to be driving at the time, I love it. It's my Fortess of Solitude. In it, I can listen to MY music, keep MY stuff, and escape the world at large.

10) I'm enough of a beer snob that I won't buy beer from most of the domestic "big bottlers", but rarely have the budget for much better. Labatt Blue is generally as low as I'll go if I'm buying.

11) I LOVE being able to catch up with and re-connect with so many of my friends on Facebook. I just wish I had more time to actually SEE them. I've met a TON of cool people on Facebook and MySpace that, if we lived close, I would probably try and hang with all the time.

12) Regrets, I've had a few. But then again, too few to mention...
...but they're biggies.

13) When I say I'm a Comic Book Geek, the inevitable question follows, "are you Marvel or DC?" I'm neither. I follow some of both, but if I were pin myself down to a favorite publisher, it'd probably be IDW.

14) I have a number of useful talents. Unfortunately, none of them are developed enough to make a good, steady living at. Ideally, I'd love to make a living recording learning tracks, writing drill, arranging music, teaching marching bands/drum corps, and directing a barbershop chorus. Unfortunately most of those are freelance work that require a quiet office to work in.

16) I have an extensive collection of California Raisin figurines and Series 2 Garbage Pail Kids .

17) I have almost every band, barbershop, and drum corps T-shirt I have ever bought/received.

18) I cannot function as a human being until I have had a HOT morning shower.

19) I am a reasonably decent speller, but a piss-poor typist. For example, I proof-read this note 3 times before posting it and still found extra letters. Damn stubby fingers...

20) I blog because it's a great non-invasive way of getting my thoughts and life updates out to those who (for some odd reason) have an interest in my thoughts and my life. No other agenda. Surprisingly, some people even enjoy what I write.
http://pauldkeiser.blogspot.com

21) I'm a shutterbug. I find art and beauty in nearly everything, that's why I'm SO glad I finally have a camera of my own again. Plus, I want plenty of documentation of the kids to remind me how young they were once.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/pauldkeiser

22) I'm a glutton for digital media. My hunger for movies and music has necessitated the obsolescence of 2 drives so far. I'm hoping my new 500GB drive will be enough for a while.

23) I'm great about forgiving, but not so good at letting go of the past. Generally, I hold on tightly to the good and let go of the bad. (Probably resulting in #5 above)

24) I have a motto: "With true friends, you will NEVER hit rock bottom." It has saved my psyche more than once. I'm very lucky to have many MANY good friends I could call on if I was ever in dire circumstances, and I'm eternally grateful - every day - to be blessed with so many good people in my life.

25) I spend ENTIRELY too much time on Facebook...

Joy, Elation & Confusion

2009-01-23T08:41:00.002-05:00

Joy:
My computer was fixed EXPERTLY by my old friend Ralph last weekend. Vista go bye-bye! He got it all set up with the current drivers and a handful of new programs I absolutely adore. I could drag my kudos to Ralph out for pages, but I have to be at work in 15 min. Suffice it to say, his awesome dial goes up to '11'!

Elation:
Greatest American Hero. Issue #1. Variant cover...
...AUTOGRAPHED BY WILLIAM KATT!!!!!
SQUEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!
Been waiting on this one for about 4 months and it finally arrived yesterday!

Confusion:
We finally have our new bass housebroken, and our old bass comes, quite unexpectedly, back into town. Not quite sure how to handle this. Lots of issues surrounding Big Dave's personal life can make organizing the quartet stuff tricky. Not impossible, just tricky. On the other hand, he's a great bass, learns quickly, has our more exclusive songs under his belt already, and is generally an all-around great guy. New Dave won't be a poor sport if we have to let him go, I know. He's got another quartet already, and was basically doing us a favor by joining. This is a bit awkward, but will reduce New Dave's stress level a bit and it not like we're telling him "You suck" or anything.

Yes, a bit awkward, but I don't expect problems.

Okay...as the man says... "Time to make the doughnuts..."

Bass initiation, and a sad good by to a real hero...

2009-01-21T08:34:00.003-05:00

Our first gig with our new bass (New Dave) was Saturday and it couldn't have gone better! We headed out in the heavy snow and bitter cold in our tuxes to sing for a birthday at the Grosse Pointe Club - a very ritzy and exclusive yacht club in one of the richest neighborhoods in the metro area. The wonderful lady that hired us had everything timed to a tee and the small gathering was VERY appreciative and responsive. We started out in the club's bar singing for the patrons. To my great joy and surprise, we were ringing more chords than any group with a band new member has any right to! Our banter (as we almost never script any) was fresh and off-the-cuff, our sound was tight, and the patrons were attentive and smiling.

The small group of close family to the birthday girl was even more engaged, chatting with us, joking, and laughing between songs (which was good, as we weren't sure our set list was long enough to do the whole gig). With all the friendly chit-chat aand occasional breaks as we moved from bar to dining room, we easily made it through the hour and a half engagement nd recieved some WONDERFUL compliments! We were even asked for busniess card a few times, which we were more than happy to provide the well-to-do folks who never seem to flinch at price. ;)

We have rehearsal tonight and plan to work almost exclusively on our show tune, the Flying Sinatra Medley. This one's a bear of an arrangement by Ed Waesche, but has some great transitions, a great tempo, and a KILLER tag. I can't wait to get this one polished up!

On a sadder note, my mom's friend, Charlene Pushman died last Friday. She was a wonderful woman and my mom's roommate for several years. She struggled with her weight, like my mom, but was always more motivaated to do something about it. She was a great driving force in getting my mom to go to the Y and swim, get moving, and always a friendly listening era. She was sweet, but honest, a joy to be around, and - quite simply - saved my mother's life.

A few years back, after she moved out on her own, I got a calll from Charlene at about 11:30 at night. She had just gotten off the phone with my mother and was concerned that she didn't seem particularly lucid. She asked me to go check on her, as my mom only lived a mile from me. When I got there, she was barely conscoius, lips bluue, and gasping for breath - she was havving heart failure. I callled 911 and she spent the next 3 weeks in the ICU at Beaumont. Scariest point of my life, bar none. If Charlene hadn't called me, my mom wouldn't have made it through the night.

I was gooing to take my mother to the viewing last night, as I'm working today durring the funeral. I got to my mom's and she was up, dressed, ready to go, but had just attempted to get down the first step of her hoouse on her new walker with the assistance of her physical therapist and had a lot of trouble. I commended her sincere effort (along with the coroboration of the therapist), had dinner with her, and went to the viewing alone. I shared my condolences with her friends and family and shared my story. They needed to know.

I'll always be indebted to Charlene for my mom's life. She will be sincerely missed.

Cold Fusion (or Bonding in the Snow)...

2009-01-12T09:00:00.004-05:00

Yesterday, following the 5 inches or so of snow we received the day prior, the kids and I headed to the local sled hill for some winter fun.

I used to LOVE sledding, but now that I'm older, less agile, and generally more fuddy-duddyish, I don't exactly race for my toboggan at the first hint of frost. Getting the kids bundled up properly, freezing my tuckus off, and climbing up what inevitably feels like Mt. Renier is not my cup 'o tea anymore. Still, remembering those days of racing down the slope by the local freeway off-ramp (yea, it was a simpler time), it would be remiss of me not to seize the opportunity to have some great fun with my kids while they are young and I'm still able to.

We stopped by Taco Bell for a bite then headed off to the sled hill right behind their school. It was busy, but not particularly crowded. Liam, of course, took off like a shot and was having a blast. Courtney was eager, but didn't want to go down alone. I went with her on 2 great runs, then let her try by herself. She was reticent, but willing. Of course, her first and only time down by herself, she wiped out and was inconsolable for 5 minutes. After that, she was content to play on the playground the rest of the time.

We were there for about 2 1/2 hours, finally packing it in as it began to get dark. We had an absolute ball. I got a few great shots on my nifty new camera...

...and some video...

I am so blessed to have such great kids and am overjoyed I didn't decide to sit like a bump on a log all day, playing with my new computer or watching TV. Sure, I'd love to live in a warmer climate, but how could I miss out on moments like these!?

Auld Lang Syne and Such...

2009-01-12T08:17:00.003-05:00

New Year's Eve was equally peaceful. We had no plans or parties to attend. The kids headed off to Flint with the grandparents, so Sonya and I were free to do as we wished...but had nothing really to do. We got a hold of The Wife's brother and a few friends who had equally little to do, and "organized" an impromptu gathering at our place. We had champagne, drinks, and whatever munchies we happened to have lying around and had a great time just hanging out.

I tried to get some pizza for everyone at about 11:20 pm, but every pizza place was closed by that point. The only pizza left accessible at that point was the last, lonely French bread pizza in 7-11's freezer. I took took off the pepperoni before cooking and served that up (mostly to myself) just after midnight. I punked out about 2 and the rest of the crowd followed about 4ish. A fun, lighthearted evening as had by all. Just right.

On New Year's Day the Wife and I headed to her parents' to have dinner. As we pulled intoo their subdivision, we drove through a HUGE murder of crows, having what seemed to be an international convention in the neighborhood. I went back to try and get some shots of them on my new camera, but as I apparently bear some unrealized resemblance to Ray Bolger, they scattered into the trees as I approached. All I could manage was some distance shots and a short video, in which yoou can hear their 'caw'cophony echoing through the neighborhood.

We had a wonderful afternoon just lazing around, watching movies, munching leftover Christmas cookies, and having dinner. I got a few great shots of the ambiance of the day:

A great start to a new year...

Holiday Recap...

2009-01-09T08:23:00.005-05:00

This was, hands down, the most relaxing Christmas I have had in the past decade. No crazy rushing around, no catastrophes, no worries! Usually, my "Holiday Recap" blog is a multi-volume tome of epic length. This time, there is nothing major to report! No Gnus is good Gnus.

Christmas Eve was sooooo peaceful. I spent the first half of the day at work. It was slow, as expected, so most of us spent the morning chatting, munching on goodies, and waiting for 1pm. After that, I made one or two last-minute runs on the way home. Once there, I was able to spend the evening in the quiet company of my family. We cooked, watched TV, and even our good friend Leigh came over to share the evening with us! She's pretty much family by now. We've known "Auntie Leigh" (as the kids have always called her) since high school and her family's Christmas was a bit jumbled this year, so we we MORE than happy to share the festivities with her.

About 9pm we placed goodies for Santa on the faux fireplace Sonya made out of cardboard boxes (it looks great! VERY clever), and the kids hit the hay. Shortly after, Leigh went home, we finished wrapping the kids' stuff and placed the unwrapped gifts from Santa under the tree. We got to bed about midnight, which beats last year when we were crawling into bed, after a major car accident and a trip to the emergency room, at 4:30am.

Christmas Day
True to our traditiions, we woke up, opened gifts, had breakfast, headed to the Wife's parents' place, opened more gifts, and had dinner. Some of my better gifts were a new 500G portable drive from my dad, Family Guy Vol 6 from the wife and kids, a new set of cookware from the in-laws, and a heated seat cover for my icebox of a car (warm tushie, FTW).

The only event of note was, between gifts and dinner at the in-laws, I was playing with my new hard drive and transferring some files from my overstuffed 160G. The computer stut down and wouldn't boot Windows. Having gone through this before and having been given the quick fix solution by my old friend and computer guru Chris, I reset the SATA driver and all was well - for about 20 minuutes. After that, it crashed and I couldn't get it to power on at all. Just a blinking power button. Ugh. No new toy for now, I guess.

The next day, we headed to my grandfather's for my family's half of the Christmas Spirit. The kids and I got there a bit before Sonya, who was running errands. We did our usual: grab pizza, open gifts (money, mostly, for me), catch up, and - as has been tradition most years - leave in time for me to get to work at the video store.

On Saturday, I take the morning to run some errands. First stop: MicroCenter to FINALLY get myself a decent digital camera. I found a good deal on a Nikon CoolPix in blue. It has everything I need: decent macro setting, SDslot (as opposed to Olympus's bizarre cards), video mode, compact size. I walk out happy with my purchase, even if I don't know when I'll be able to move them to my computer and upload them.

Next stop, the little computer repair shop for a preliminary diagnosis of my ailing computer. They looked at, and the prognosis wasn't good: fried motherboard. That's like terminal Chick Cancer. Not worth repairing, most likely. With a heavy heart I crawl back into my car and call my dad to vent. After all, she got me the computer in the first place, as well as the new hard dive I was so looking forward to and barely got to use. Whenever I'm hit with a Murphy's Law moment (like getting a new computer gadget and having the computer die, for example), she's the first one I dial because she'll help me focus on the irony and humor rather than the tragedy. At the very least I'll get some sympathy and catch up with her a bit. I relayed the symptoms and she confirmed the diagnosis (sigh).

"Well," she says, "you're just going to have to find a deal."

"Yea, but even a deal will take me a while to afford."

"No, you don't understand. Find a deal AND CALLL ME."

(stunned silence)

"Are you sure? That's really not why I called. You just spent a pretty penny on the new hard drive for me already!"

"Of course that's why you called," she said, with a tone of loving patience and good humor.

To be fair, I have a track record of hitting my dad up for occasional bailouts. It's rare, but when I needed my Barbershop Society dues paid so I could go to convention, I called up sheepishly, dropping hints with all the subtlety of the Blitzkrieg. When my brakes needed work last year about this time, I called her. Ironically, that bailout ended in another Murphy's Law moment when 2 weeks later, I got into the aforementioned car crash, totaling my car on Christmas Eve. I hit black ice, which the brakes couldn't have helped with, making it MORE ironic/pitiful.

"Honestly, no it isn't! ....But if you're SURE about this..."

"Go home and do some research."

So after trolling my usual techno-gadget deal sites (MicroCenter.com, NewEgg.com, TigerDirect.com), I find a good deal on a Dell at Overstock.com. I send my dad the link and next thing I know, it's on its way!

Sunday and Monday we just plain 'ol days off. I shouldn't say "plain 'ol" as days off for me are rediculously rare, but regardless, it was nice. I watched Liam make insane progress on his new RipStik.

(I have no idea where he gets his coordination from). We also wentr to my great uncle's Christmas party Monday night, which was nice.

A 5-day Holiday vacation at home. I could get used to this...

Coming Up Next: Auld Lang Syne and such...

That NEW Gang Of Mine...

2009-01-08T08:23:00.003-05:00

Last night was the quartet's first rehearsal with our new bass...yet another Dave. New Dave is the chapter president, has been active in his own quartet for several years, and is going to make a GREAT addition to Coda Honor!

After leaving work, picking up Lou (who's car was in the shop), and congealing at our baritone's house, we exchanged pleasantries. Once we started singing, things just seemed to gel. The nicest part is that New Dave has been in the chorus longer than any of us and has a litany of tunes buried in the bundle of neurons in his noggin. I composed a list of tunes from our usual repertoire and the chorus for us to try out. Of the 26 songs I came up with, at least 20 of them were solid enough to perform in public. A handful of others needed some work before we'd be brave enough to let "real people" hear them. One has officially been retired (unless we get a specific request for it). Yes, Coney Island Baby has been interred next to Heart Of My Heart in the Coda Honor Graveyard, by popular demand.

New Dave still has a half dozen songs he needs to learn from our regular repertoire, including our contest pieces, my arrangement of Rainbow Connection, and Underdog. He also has to learn his part to the chorus tunes he was too busy directing to sing. He's a CRAZY busy guy, with a legal career, teaching responsibilities, his other quartet, and hid duties as chapter president, but I have faith that he'll step up to the plate. In the meantime, we have enough songs under our collective belt to do the gig next week I was surprised to get contacted about a few days ago.

New Dave's personality is a good match for us, his sound is bright, yet bassy, and his learning curve is high. He's no Big Dave, who had to leave the state rather suddenly for several reasons - both personal and professional, but he'll do nicely. We'll all miss Big Dave's caring and gentle demeanor, as well as his great ear and low...low basement, however we wish him nothing but the best in his new endeavors and hope we'll get the chance to sing with him again soon.

Ladies and gentlemen, please give a warm welcome to Coda Honor 4.0!
(and hire us...a lot)

Coming up next: Holiday Recap!

Backblogged...yet again.

2009-01-07T08:41:00.002-05:00

You may wonder why it took so long for the previous post to show up. I wrote most of that the morning of Christmas Eve and had to head to work. I fully intended to finish that up later that day or the next. On Christmas Day, the motherboard on my laptop fried out (just after getting a new 500GB portable drive, too). so I've been relatively incommunicado since.

Thankfully, my dad came (quite unexpectedly) to the rescue! I have a new Dell laptop, and it seems I may remove the first half of my reference when talking about Fucking Vista. More details to come. For now, off to bring home the proverbial bacon...

Four Christmases?! Amateurs...

2008-12-24T08:35:00.004-05:00

Merry Christmas, my loyal followers (all 5 of you)!

So, I heard about this movie "Four Christmases", starring Reese Witherspoon & Vince Vaughn. All I could think was, "JUST four!?"

This year is an oddity for us, as we're cutting out our annual trip down Monroe ways to Ida for my cousin's Christmas Eve bash. It's usually the biggest family gathering of the year for my side of the family, with anywhere from 20 to 30 people in attendance. The only problem is, it's in Ida (a good hour's drive). After totaling my car, nearly killing myself and family, and spending the wee hours of Christmas morning in the ER, we figured maybe this was the year we decide to forgo that piece of the holidays and spend Christmas Eve at home.

Usually, this is how Christmas plays out for my family...

Christmas #1)
Christmas Eve, I'll innevitably be working for at least the first few hours of the day. I'll head home about 3ish and we'll spend an hour or so packing up gifts, fudge, cookies, and kids to head to Ida. We usually get there later than most of the family who had the entire day off, but we have an absolutely WONDERFUL time catching up, eating fabulous food, singing carols, opening gifts from extended family, and enjoying the festive atmosphere my cousin manages to muster up every year.

From there, we'll head home, and (when the weather and mode of transporation cooperate, anyway), shuffle the sleepy younglings into the house to lay cookies, fudge and milk out for Santa (along with a few carrots for Rudolph). Then we'll spend the next couple hours filling stockings, wrapping presents, having a drink, and hit the hay.

Christmas #2)
Christmas morning is at home. The kids wake us up at some sort of reasonable hour, having worn themselves out playing with extended cousins the night before. We'll open gifts, have breakfast, maybe watch a Christmas special, and play with our gifts a bit. Afterwards, we'll start gathering more gifts, kids, and a contribution to the next piece of the Christmas Mele...

Christmas #3)
We'll drive to the in-laws' for The Wife's family Christmas. We'll pile though the door and unload the gifts to the already huge pile under the tree. Before we start tearing into wraping paper, we'll spend an hour or so eating the Ferris Traditional Candy Cane-Shaped Coffee Cake as Mom-In-Law & The Wife do some can't-wait-till-later prep for the dinner with her cousins later in the afternoon.

Finally, we'll start the gift-giving. We do this one gift at a time (which drives me nuts, but the kids seem to be fine with). When all is said and done, the kids spend the afternoon with ther toys and we finish prep for dinner. The Wife's cousins come over about 4 and we socialize before dinner. We'll often play some board game or something, have the Ferris Traditional Christmas Pudding and head home about 10ish.

Christmas #4)
Sometime the next afternoon, we'll head to my grandfather's to have Christmas with my more immediate side of the family: mom, uncle, grandfather, & sister. We usually order pizza, open gifts, and just enjoy each others company.

Christmas #5)
Usually in the evening the day after Christmas (sometimes a day or two later) we'll head to my great uncle's place for ANOTHER gathering with my extended-extended family. We'll see cousins we only bump into here, munch on more great food, and catch up a bit. This one I'm not always so fond of, because the inevitable questions arises, "So how's that degree coming?" I'll cite the usual excuses for being a gnat's hair away from my degree, which is usually met with the typical pitiful look of dismay. Ugh. Regardless, we usually have fun and the kids will get some nice little gift from my great aunt and uncle that they'll enjoy much more than anticipated (or at least show polite enthusiasm toward), and we'll head home about 8 or 9.

We've followed this pattern to some degree of reliability for the past decade or so, with the occasional kink in the plan that we'll usually roll with. Every year we say that next year we'll scale it back and forgo some piece of it. This is the first year we're actually following through with it. I'll miss the gathering in Ida, as it's the one piece of Christmas left from my childhood (and several generations back) that has remained fairly consistent throughout the years. Still it'lll be nice not to have the mad dash out the door and frantic scurrying on Christmas Eve.

This year will be different, but families change, traditions form and evolve, and life goes on. I fully expect a wonderful and relaxing Holiday season.

...especially with 5 days off in a row. Haven't had that in a LOOOOOOONG time!

The Final Countdown...

2008-12-22T08:05:00.003-05:00

BIIIIIG weekend...

Friday...well...sucked. We got blasted with about 8 inches of snow early Friday morning. While the kids got the day off, I didn't. Driving sucked. No witty analogy, no clever euphemism - just sucked. Getting to work wasn't that bad. The roads were snow covered, but passable. On my lunch break, I decided to get some gas so I wouldn't have to delay myself anymore than I inevitably would anyway on the way to Blockbuster for my shift there. After trudging through calf-deep drifts to my car and gunning the engine to get the momentum to get out, I managed to crawl to the gas station 2 blocks away. I knew it would be bad when I saw a tow truck pull in, skid, nearly hitting my car, and get stuck a mere 2 inches from my bumper. I threw in 5 bucks and crept out to the streets. Due to f*cked up traffic patterns, I ended up having to try turning around in the parking lot of a strip mall - an unplowed parking lot.

I pull into what I presumed was a parking space and immediately got stuck in a snow drift. For the next 15 minutes, I tried rocking the car, turning the wheel, and shouting expletives at my tires (ya know, for traction). I finally gave up and went inside to the Coney Island for lunch. I had a nice chat with my dad on the phone, and then called work to tell them I was stuck 2 blocks away and would be late coming back. I then spent ANTHER 15 minutes trying to free the Blue Bomber II until I manage dot move enough snow to get out. My tires are now smooth as a baby's bottom, necessitating REDICULOUSLY careful driving until I replace them. Chalk up another item to the Christmas Wish List...

Saturday was spent clearing stuff out of the house and cleaning. I made a HUGE drop off to the Salvation Army of old clothes, unplayed with toys, and other odds and ends, finally packed away my summer clothed, did some dishes, and ran some items to the shed. With the plan to have Christmas Eve in our own house for the first time...well, EVER...we want to have place as uncluttered and functional as possibly by Wednesday.

That night I had a gig with the quartet to do a private Christmas party at a home in Rochester. In order to get weekend nights off of work at Blockbuster, I often barter the quartet's services to my manager by offering to sing there before the gigs. We met there and were greeted not only to the usual mele of customers, but my sister, uncle, and an old friend, Chris, from my drum corps days who saw my posting on Facebook! We tried out a few of our songs and sounded great. MEGA thatnks to ur "groupies" who came to cheer us on! (And I hope I didn't traumatize Chris's son, who burst into screaming terror at my enthusiastic greeting.)

From there, we headed out to Rochester with the help of Lou's GPS system. We decided to take Rochester Road straight up, which was a fine and logical idea - until we hit about Auburn Road or so. I had never heard of the Downtown Rochester Light Fest. Apparently, all the stores in Downtown Rochester cover themselves in sheets of lights. Quite a spectacle, to be sure, but not nearly as bright as the fury on my face as we got caught in the 3 mile backup with no way out. We got there about 45 minutes later than planned, but thankfully, the hostess was more than understanding. We proceeded to do a GREAT set (about 15 minutes more than we had planned) for the enthusistic and responsive crowd of about 15 people. She offered for us to saty a bit and enjoy some of the great food, wine, and conversation. We had a great time, finding plenty in common with the other party patrons and even sang a few extra songs. It was an absolute blast and we likely made another few future customers. From there we headed back to Blockbuster to get our own cars and I met Sonya, her brother, and his friend at the Coney Island. Sonya spent much of the time I was singing, cleaning the carpets, and wanted to blow off some steam with fun people. Thus rounded out a VERY good night.

Sunday started out with very little motivation, but we got moving eventually, as the kids were now with their grandparents in Flint. We tidied up the living room, and did a HUGE blitz of the kids' room. The house is starting to feel MUCH better.

Happy Hanukkah to all of my Jewish friends! More on the uncoming Christmas Mele to come!

In A One-Horse Runaway Sleigh!

2008-12-15T08:35:00.002-05:00

The gifts are half-bought, the bills are mostly paid, and the financial well has run dry. This last paycheck was nice and hefty (relatively), but all of it went to the wolves at the door. It's not going to be a skimpy Christmas at the ol' Keiser house, but it's not going to be bountiful by any stretch. The kids are pretty well taken care of with only one or two (rather important) odds and ends to get, but I usually get Sonya something huge on her list every year. I've usually sold one of my instruments or used quartet gig money to get it, but I've been so busy, I haven't had time to hustle up a buyer or eBay any of the remaining, dwindling orchestra in my shed. As for quartet gigs, most of what we've done latley have been freebies. We have a paying gig this weekend, but that money's slated to fix the heat in my car, as is the unexpected money for the use of my picture of my French Fry costume from Flicker (see previous post).

This means tightening my financial belt and putting a padlock on my wallet until the next big paycheck comes in...Christmas Eve. Let me make this very plain - I HATE BUDGETS!!!! I don't go hog wild or make any big purchases. I do, however, nickle-and-dime myself to death. Between fast-food meals going from job-to-job, morning coffee, and the evil cigarettes, I can easily go through $50 a week in pretty damned unnecessary expenses without even thinking about it. This week, I have put my bank card in the dark recesses of my wallet (necessitating thoughtful, rather than reflexive use of it). This usually makes a BIG difference, as the additional 2 seconds it would take me to dig it out usually slay the "gotta have it" demons.

I don't spend recklessly. I buy clothes at Steve & Barry's and other purveyors of cheaply made, foreign crap, I compare price-per-ounce prices at the grocery store, I drool over impulse buys and walk on buy, I dig through clearance racks, and I usually only buy clothes of the barest function when absolutely necessary.

I do have a weakness for bottles of Diet Coke and comics, though. I usually "treat"myself to about $20 in comics a month and a Diet Coke in the car. I don't "treat myself" to things like iPhones, techno gadgets, new shoes or even a fance ice-scraper for the car. Still, these days, I have to watch every penny. Sonya is big on that and I often resent her when she suggests I reighn in my discretionary spending, as I don't think I do much. Thinking about it, though, the nickle-and-dime stuff has been addin up a lot.

So, my pre-New Year's resolution is to watch myself more (mostly out of sheer necessity). The bank card stays in the dark corner on my wallet, work on cash only whenever possible, and pause before adding wnything to my shopping cart.

God, I hate budgets...

Mem'ries, in the Corner Of My Mind...

2008-12-01T08:28:00.003-05:00

This was a fantastic weekend. True, it wasn't one of the nice, extended ones many of you got to enjoy (lucky bastards), as I had to go to work at the office on Friday and Blockbuster Friday & Saturday. There were, however, enough "moments" that will stick in my mind forever to make it rank right up there in the "holiday memories" subfolder in the hard drive of my mind.

Thanksgiving went great. Aside from my mom skipping out on the family holiday (again) at my in-laws' house, it went as smooth as any holiday I can remember. We woke up a bit later than an average day, watched the parade in TV, got the food made, car packed, and hit the road in plenty of time. We spent the afternoon playing board games and chatting with family, had a Thanksgiving dinner that couldn't be beat (Officer Obie not included), I managed to sneak in a turkey-induced nap, and we lazed around the house until finally packing the car up and heading home. Nothing remarkable, nothing crazy, no mad dashes. Absolutely perfect.

Black Friday was all about the paycheck. After making a quick stop by the comic shop to check out Chris's specials, I spent the day at work in the office. It...was...dulllllll. No point in calling up clients, as they would all (theoretically) be to insane with customers to bother with sales calls. Not many clients calling in for the same reason. I did get a couple orders that made it worth my while to go in, though, and had a few nice chats with my coworkers.

From there, I headed to work at Blockbuster. Crazy insane busy, The District Manager popped in for a vistit, necessitating much straightening up and flying right, and I didn't get home till about 10:30.

Saturday morning, my wife and son had a parade to do with the unicycle troop. That left my daughter and me to ourselves for the day. After the initial flurry of activity to get the wife and boy out the door (they woke up late), my baby girl crawled into bed with me and snuggled with me, giggling and poking my nose until I woke up. After I got showered and dressed, we spent the next hour or so making my great-grandmother's recipe for chocolate-peanut butter fudge. I measured, she poured. We stirred, laughed, tasted, snatched chocolate chips, and had a wonderful time.

After pouring the fudge into a pan to set, we sat and watched a movie on the couch, all the while she snuggled under my arm. As the time ticked by and the other half of my family was still MIA, we finally figured it was time for lunch. We were missing one ingredient from anything I could think of, so we got in the car and headed to Taco Bell. We sat in the dining room, eating, goofing around, and truly enjoying each others' company. About this point, my precious 5-year-old baby girl said, "Daddy, I'll always hug you - even when I'm a teenager."

Fudge makings - $6
Lunch at Taco Bell - $7
A day with my daughter I'll never forget - Priceless.

A Remarkable Example of Greed and Avarice (2008 Edition)...

2008-11-28T07:42:00.004-05:00

It's Black Friday, and what does that mean? GREED!

It's a trait I try to avoid, but I'll indulge myself (as if I didn't enough last night) and give my Christmas List for the year.

1) Money to pay off this damnable college bill
I'm at the trailing end of my degree, but 2 things are holding it at bay: money and time. Time is, as of yet, not something that can be saved in a bottle and presented with a pretty bow. The $950 remaining owed to Wayne State, however, can even be paid online! Best not to give me cash for this one, as it will inevitably go to the general "tackle the Mt. Billmore" fund. Make it out to Wayne State University so I won't spend it on other silly things like heat, water, or electricity.

2) Money for Car Repair.
Between the Earth shaking rattle of my exhaust and the arctic temps in the cabin, I'm still very thankful the ol' rust bucket gets from A to B. Still, it'd be nice to do so with some subtlety and without cracking the icicles off my nose before heading inside.
Exhaust repair and heater core installation - $450. Avoiding a deaf Paulsicle - Priceless.

3) Digital Camera.
Nothing top-of-the-line. Just something adequate that takes movies as well. The minimum pixel count available these days is WAY more than I'll likely ever need, and the only bells and or whistles I want are a good close-up/macro setting and video capability.

4) 320GB (or more) portable Hard Drive
My in-laws were kind enough to get me a 160GB last year, but unfortunately, that spawned an uprising in my desire to have every movie known to mankind. After one year, it's already full, and has much more waiting to be backed up from my laptop. The price on these things has dropped ridiculously. Whereas you used to pay about a buck per GB, now you can get them for as low as 30 cents per GB. Help me fill my cinematic addiction to dumb comedies, sci-fi movies, old TV shows, and vintage cartoons.

5) New Batter for my Laptop
The batter in my laptop hasn't been particularly functional for about a year. The laptop works fine on a power cord, but the batter only lasts about 30 seconds off the cord. I have a Compaq Presario C500. I've seen them in the MicroCenter flyer for about $100. It'd just be nice to not have to find an outlet every time.

6) Archos Media Player
I'm not positive about the model number, but they have them at Blockbuster for $99 (no, I don't get a discount on that, unfortunately). It does everything my media player does...and more...with a bigger screen...and Wi-Fi. I love Archos products. They provide 5x the functionality of any other brand and about half the price.
This one isn't a mandatory, as mine still works fine, but it'd sure as hell be nice.

7) New Cookware Set
Our large frying pan of 11 years finally bit the dust last month, and the rest of its clan are showing their age. Sonya wants something "nice", but I'll take anything that is new. Just a good, sturdy, standard set with 2 saucepans, 2 frying pans, and a pot to make veggie chili in.

8) New Queen-sized bed sheets
Our bedroom decor (if you can call it that) is neuvo-clutter, mostly in light blue and tan. We currently have maybe 2 sets that work, and I think both have holes in them somewhere that are due to get bigger when I snag my toe on it in the night. No need for a full bed set with pillow shams, skirt, and comforter. Just the top & bottom sheets and pillow cases. Maybe a new pillow or two, as our cheap synthetic ones have deflated quite a bit over the years.

9) Clear out my 'hold box' at Comics & More
I have been going there for maybe 8 months and my box has seen levels anywhere from empty to "oh my God, step back!". It's somewhere in the middle right now, but I've told the proprieter, Chris, not to let me see it until after Christmas. I may add to it, but not subtract until after the holidays. He also provides gift certificates! (Comics & More, 28059 John R Rd, Madison Heights, MI 48071, (248) 399-3213).
If you ask for my box, he'll likely give you the Club Member discount (but he discounts stuff for me and gives me freebies so often, I wouldn't count on it).
I have several specific issues I'd like that he doesn't have in stock. I'll probably edit this entry later once I've counted and compelled them, so thet can quickly be dispelled (EEH!).

Baby Elephant Gifts (AKA: I know I'll never get these, but they're on my list every year, anyway)

1) Bach 42BO trombone
I've wanted one of these for years, but it's become less practical now that my ensemble requirements at ol' WSU are complete and my performance focus has shifted to barbershop. Still, it'd be freakin' sweet.

2) New Car(s)
For practical day-to-day, a 2008 Subaru Outback in blue. Hatchback, roomy, and good on gas. Subarus are "can't kill 'em" kinda cars that frequently exceed 200k miles. Repairs can be a bit pricey, but are FAR less frequent.
For the "inflate my ego" car, a 2008 BMW Z4 Roadster, Monaco Blue Metalic, Sport Package, convertible with tan roof. Standard rims, because...ya know..."my rims never spin, to the contrary...".

3) New House
Need out of the matchbox in Hazeltucky. Something with 4 bedrooms, full finished basement, garage, decent yard, prefferably in Royal Oak or Madison Heights. Central air would be nice, too.

4) World Peace, Universal Harmony, end to war...all that junk.
I just can't be totally selfish, even for a list like this. Not in my nature.

That's all I can think of for now. For those of you who aren't Bill Gates, geek stuff, gift cards to techno-gadgety stores, comic shops, and other institutions of Dorkitude are always appreciated. Also, if one of you could invent a time machine or a serum to give me Hiro Nagamura's time/space manipulation ability...that's be just super.

Happy Shopping, everyone!!

A Few Randon Ponderings...

2008-11-25T08:25:00.003-05:00

Working on a holiday weekend sucks...

Murphy's Law states that whenever I fill up my tank at what I think is a great price, the price will drop by a dime the next day...

There IS no "good time" to put up Christmas lights. Logistics or weather always get in the way...

If I just won the lottery for about $200k (and kept my job, of course), my financial problems would be solved...

What I WANT to do will never pull in enough money on its own to keep me financially afloat...

Wasting time thinking about "what if" scenarios doesn't solve anything...

What I have is good enough, and much more than many have. Time to share what I can spare...

Sharing what you have doesn't have to cost money or even time. A simple smile and kind word are worth more than money to most...

I get more pleasure making people happy by sharing my talents and making small kind gestures that I ever do by giving money or material goods...

I'll still throw my change in the Salvation Army kettle every time I one and donate my garage sale leftovers to charity...

I am a wholehearted believer in Karma...

Giving of yourself is inherently selfless. If not, it's bartering. Consider this next time you contemplate your motives for doing something nice...

I enjoy giving gifts that are appreciated. I don't focus on the price tag. It's the thought that counts, and the smile that's the payoff...

Conversely, if I sacrifice something of myself, I'm disappointed if it's not appreciated...

Michigan "snain" is not festive...

I love shopping. I just rarely have the time or money to do it...

I have a major craving to make some holiday fudge and bring a heaping plate to work for everyone...

I don't formally 'pray' often, but I often think of friends and wish them well...

I am ridiculously blessed with true friends, no matter how rarely (if ever) I see them...

With true friends, you will never hit rock bottom.

Giggidy-Goo and Thanksgiving, too!

2008-11-24T08:26:00.002-05:00

So we had the gig at Goldfish Tea. Not or best venture. 7-9pm on a Sunday isn't exactly "tea time", I guess. Probably why the owner wanted some entertainment - to draw people in. She may have broken even...almost. We had about 10 people of ours show up, and that was almost the entire clientele for the evening.

We sang...okay. It's been a while since we've been in the groove of real practicing, so there were plenty of brain farts - forgotten lyrics, mixed up verses, couple of sour notes, etc. The past few rehearsals were mostly spent on learning our next chapter show feature song, which we are to debut for the chorus tonight. It's long, complicated, wordy, and fun as hell. KILLER tag to it!

This week is going to be interesting. We're going to the in-laws' in Flint for Thankgiving dinner with the family. Sonya's making rumblings of trying to hit the parade downtown. I love the parade, but am not so keen on getting up at the butt-crack of dawn to stand in the cold for 3 hours. I have a few friends (band directors, mostly) in the parade, but I'm just as happy to wave at them through the tv screen while snuggled under a warm blanket.

Black Friday will be NO picnic. The office is open, but all are welcome to take the day off. However, you must use vacation time to do it. As I will need to use 1.5 days of vacation time for Christmas Eve and the day after Christmas (office is closed both days, but as a newbie, I'm forced to use vacation time), that leaves me only one vacation day left. I want to use that the Monday after Christmas for a 5-day weekend. So Black Friday, I work from 9-6 at the office and 6:30-11 at Blockbuster - a 14 hour day with no time to shop...yay.

Other than that, no big news from me this week. Happy Thanksgiving to all of you. Special shout-out to the Mays. You'll be in my prayers, as always, guys.

Ya Gotta Know The Territory...

2008-11-21T08:36:00.002-05:00

Without getting into too many details, being in sales right now sucks the big one. Right after the market crashed about 3 weeks ago, my sales took a SHARP nosedive to about half what they were beginning to be. I was finally getting to the point where my commissions would equal my pay from my last job, then PFFT! It all but evaporated.

It's no secret that this economy is hitting everyone somehow, but this is the first time it's really hit me, personally, this hard. Usually, markets fluctuate, consumer prices rise and fall, the cost of gas goes up and down, and I usually just make a minor adjustment to my spending to compensate. I don't have any investments to speak of, I've been paid hourly at any given job, so my check doesn't move much. I want more money, I just arrive 10 minutes early or stay 10 minutes late here and there. On occasion, I pick up an extra part-time job or freelance music thing to pay an extra bill or get a couple extra bucks. I've even sacrificed some of my instruments on eBay to get Christmas gifts.

Now that my check is directly effected by sales, I'm beginning to realize how bad things are right now. I actually had a day of NEGATIVE sales early this month (no sales + a return = money out of the paycheck). I have a difficult territory to begin with. More so than the rest of the sales staff, due to a number of circumstances that - well - they are what they are. I spend about 1/3 of my time cold-calling, trying to find new clients to increase my base. It was difficult during the spring slump, some marketing delays made things harder in the fall, and now - just when we're supposed to be insanely busy - this happens.

There are some tools the management could provide the sales staff that would help, but at this point...it is what it is. Things have picked up the past few days as we get closer to Black Friday, but nothing like what it's supposed to be.

I've always thought I'd be great at sales. Maybe this wasn't the right time.

Here's hoping things get better soon for everyone.

Doin' The Barbershop Strut...

2008-11-19T08:29:00.002-05:00

The try-out went... (wait for it)... GREAT!!!! I couldn't have felt more comfortable. I had a great rapport wit the guys. As soon as I stepped in front of them, all the years of teaching marching bands came back - the good and a tiny bit of the bad.

The bad was mostly just a few conducting techniques that work well for marching band, but not so much with chorus. My baritone, Dave, who has two (count 'em - TWO) vocal music degrees, dropped me an e-mail the day before, reminding me of some of the differences (left hand for expression & cues, no mirroring, eye contact is MANDATORY, etc.) and I started off with a couple of the old bad habits, but quickly remembered them. I was comfortable enough with the guys to tell them to call me out on those things, but fortunately, they didn't need to again. I empowered chorus, humanized myself to them, created better mutual communication, and best of all reminded myself enough to not make the same mistakes again.

I had a "lesson plan" in mind on my way up, which I went over in my head several times (in my ice box of a car). When I got there, however, they went through "I'll Fly Away" and I saw some great ways to improve that. As their interim director/bari section leader stepped down, I asked him if I played with that one a bit, with the understanding that I tell the chorus that whatever I teach is subject to "unlearning" after I leave. He said to go for it - so I did.

I had planned to work on moving ending consonants to the beginning of the next word - a good and simple trick to smooth out phrases, line up attacks, and make awkward skips easier. I did go over this, but while singing "I'll Fly Away" with them, I noticed the interim director trying to find spots for unison breaths, and there simply aren't many good ones in the music. I stepped up and taught them stagger breathing. after about 1/2 hour, a little sectional work, and calling out an individual or two (with a friendly grin, of course), we had 2/3 of the song sounding a billion percent better. Even their facial expressions and body language improved and that's not even something we covered!

As they got better, so did I, making more eye contact, using my left hand more for dynamics, moving around, mouthing words and using facial expressions. I started having more fun than I EVER had in front of a marching band!

I didn't think I stood a snowball's chance at this gig when I first e-mailed the guy in charge of the search committee. Now....I want the hell out of this job. If I could do this for free, I would. It went better than I could have possibly imagined. They spend the next several weeks trying out a couple other directors.

Now begins the waiting game. This suspense will KILL me!!!

Baby, It's COLD...Inside!

2008-11-18T08:20:00.003-05:00

I have an "audition" with the Lansing chapter for the director's position tonight. Oddly enough, it's not my 'lesson plan', conducting skills, or rapport with the members that has me concerned - it's the drive there.

When I bought my current automobile from Charity Motors to replace my Isuzu (which so valiantly sacrificed itself to save my family and me), it apparently, unbeknownst to me, had a bypassed heater core. This mean NO heat...in a family car...in Michigan...in winter. This leads to freezing kids, frosted windshields, tingly toes, an with an hour-and-a-half drive to Lansing, a VERY uncomfortable drive. I have to keep the window cracked so the interior windows don't frost over and bundle up as if for extended deep-sea diving (thank you Jean Shepherd). It was MOST unpleasant last time I made the drive, but this time, I'm prepared. I have 4 layers of shirts, my long wool coat, gloves, and plan on stopping for a hot cup of coffee on the way.

I don't complain about my car much, mostly because there's little point. It has a laundry list of repairs that need done and resembles something that might suit for a first car for a kid enrolled in an auto shop class. It's a teal-blue 94 Mercury Tracer Trio with no heat, no A/C, some busted trim, a loose and rattly exhaust, nonfunctioning thermostat, quirky tachometer, leaky front driver's tire, and the obligatory rust and dings for a car of it's vintage. It's loud, uncomfortable, an doesn't like the cold, but it gets from A to B, starts, stops, and (so far, knock wood) hasn't pulled a "Blues Mobile" and disintegrated into a pile of parts.

Also, there's simply no money to get these issues dealt with right now. Sales is not the most lucrative job to be in right now. With the econemy the way it is, bills overdue, and Christmas coming up, it looks like I'm going to have to tough it out with Blue Bomber II for a while longer. With the job market dwindling, unemployment at record highs (especially in Michigan), and forclosures becoming commonplace, I'm glad to have a job (well, 3 - soon to be 4, actually), and a functioning car, no matter how quirky.

Well, I'm off to have another wonderful day selling 1/4 of what I need to to make the same money I did this time last year. But after that, it's "Mush! Mush!" off to Lansing to wow and amaze the guys in Lansing with my amazing musical talent and knowledge...

...or at least not fall flat on my ass. Hell, I'm surprised and thrilled I made it this far in the process!

Happy Life Day!!

2008-11-17T08:37:00.003-05:00

I plan on celebrating by watching by digital bootleg of the 1978 Star Wars Holiday Special on my lunch hour. For those of you not so luck to have this, here's a little bit of Star Wars Celebratory music for ya, in my favorite style.

Prepare for the ultimate in geek...

Yub nub, eee chop yub nub,
Freedom, we got freedom,

Toe meet toe pee chee keene, g'noop dock fling oh ah.
and now that we can be free, c'mon and celebrate.

Yah wah, eee chop yah wah,
Power, we got power

Toe meet toe pee chee keene, g'noop dock fling oh ah
and now that we can be free, c'mon and celebrate.

Coat ee chah tu yub nub,
Celebrate the freedom

Coat ee chah tu yah wah,
Celebrate the power

Coat ee chah tu glo wah.
Celebrate the glory.

Allay loo ta nuv
celebrate the love

Glo wah, eee chop glo wah, ya glo wah pee chu nee foam,
Power, we got power, and now that we can be free,

Ah toot dee awe goon goon daa.
it's time to celebrate.

Coat ee cha tu goo (Yub nub !)
Celebrate the light (Freedom !)

Coat ee cha tu doo (Yah wah !)
celebrate the might (Power !)

Coat ee cha tu too (ya chaa !)
celebrate the fight (Glory !)

Allay loo tu nuv
celebrate the love

Allay loo tu nuv
celebrate the love

Allay loo tu nuv
celebrate the love

Glo wah, eee chop glo wah.
Glory, we found glory

Ya glow wah pee chu nee foam,
The power showed us the light

Ah toot dee awe goon daa
and now we all live free

Allay loo tu nuv.
celebrate the love.

Oh, the Weather Outside is Frightful...

2008-11-10T08:12:00.003-05:00

The first noticeable snowfall of the season! I headed out last night to pick up some milk & pop, and I could hear Suzie Snowflake tapping on my window. Pellets of good ol' Michigan "snain" were tap dancing on the hood of my car. When I awoke this morning, it had changed to full-fledged snow. Not much, mind you, but enough to add a festive canvas for colored lights and holiday music on the radio.

Thankfully, I don't have far to commute to work, and it's all surface streets, so I was more fortunate than many of the other commuters on the roads today. I started out listening to the local "All Christmas, All Season Long" station, but switched to my usual "All News, All The Time" station to see what what's up with the world this morning and heard the longest traffic report in a long time. Seems we Michiganians are a bit rusty with the winter driving. Be safe out there, folks. Better late than dead.

The quartet had a rehearsal last Thursday. It used to be, I would look forward to quartet rehearsals, but with some trepidation. I enjoyed singing and harmonizing, but much of the rehearsal was spent bemoaning personal lives, arguing over repertoire and interp, rehashing tips from chorus coaches (which rarely applied to quartet), going over boring standards, and fixing wrong notes (or cringing and ignoring them) in one or more parts. These days, with this new(er) configuation of the quartet, the repertoire is more challenging, the chords ring a LOT more, the songs MUCH more fun, and we can pick up new ones VERY quickly. I LOVE rehearsals again! We can easily start around 7pm, and the next thing you know, it's 11pm and we have to force ourselves to break it up.

Lately I've been introducing songs I've recorded for my client quartet in Nevada. I've always been a Sinatra fan, and their quartet - aptly named Rat Paq - focuses on tunes of that ilke. With our next chorus show focusing on songs of the 50's, there were a few tunes I recorded for them that fit squarely in that box. Being cool songs, with great arrangements and with learning tracks provided by yours truly, I though this would be a good idea.

It wasn't a good idea, it was a GREAT idea! We tried a tune called the "Flying Sinatra Medley", utilizing "Fly Me To The Moon" and "Come Fly With Me". After MUCH convincing of our lead (who wanted to do something rock n' roll), we tried it out and it sounded promising. Rough, but promising. This week, at the behest of our bass, we gave "In The Wee Small Hours of the Morning" a try and it RAAAAANG! There are some great chords, wonderful room for interp and dynamics, and it's just a sweet balad. After 2 runs through, we found ourselves talking about a new contest set.

It's going to be a busy season for the quartet. We have a gig performing with the chorus at Henry Ford Village this sunday, another at the Goldfish Tea in Royal Oak on Sunday the 23rd (7pm-9pm), and the Hazel Park City Hall on December 13th (6pm-8pm) for a neighborhood enrichment event. We're brushing up our Holiday tunes for these and sounding good. I'm hoping this may lead to a few more gigs, so I have to print up some more business cards. I'm realy looking forward to getting out and performing with these guys again. It's been over a month and I'm jonezing.

Work is getting a bit...discouraging. Sales is not a good line of work to be in at this point in our economic history. The family budget is getting strained, bills are piling up, and our savings is getting tapped more than I'd like before the Holiday season. Hopefully, the Christmas shopping rush will hit soon and things will pick up. It would help to be given the tools to be able to compete, but that's a rant for other venues (non public). I may need to look for a 4th job. I'm not sure where I'll fit it into my 55 hour work week, plus family commitments, recording tracks, and quartet gigs, but I'll do what I gotta do. There's still the potential of the directing gig in Lansing, but that won't even be decided for a few months.

Okay, time to head to work and hit the phones. Gotta keep the heat on and food on the table.

"It's Gonna Be A Great Day"...

2008-11-05T08:41:00.003-05:00

It's all been said over the past 9 hours. As is my usual M.O., I won't bother to write a lengthy blog just to echo the chorus.

Suffice it to say, I'm encouraged. I'm hopeful. I'm inspired. I'm also something I haven't been able to say with so much conviction in my lifetime...

I am proud to be an American.

Haul Out The Holly...

2008-11-03T08:37:00.004-05:00

Last week, I caught a coworker of mine humming a few bars of "Sleigh Ride". This ALWAYS starts the Christmas Season for me. It's my favorite holiday song. My fist hearing of the year is usually much earlier. Last year, as I recall, the first real noticeable snow was the first week of October, and the local radios stations followed suit by starting their holiday song rotation VERY early. My first hearing of the song occurred the same day as the snow, via a snippet in a commercial.

Last night, I filled my MP3 player with my Christmas music folder. As I piled the kids in the car this morning, I cranked up the classing Arthur Fiedler/Boston Pops rendition of Sleigh Ride.

With the economy the way it is, jobs scarce, and people shaking in their IRAs, I don't expect this to be the most successful in commercial Christmases. Maybe, just maybe, however, this may help people get back to the spirit of the season again. Peace, love, joy, and family. I love hitting the malls and stores, hearing the seasonal music, the lights and decorations, and all the ricketa-racketa, but it's rarely about buying expensive things, for me. I love getting the perfect gift for someone, but love it even more when it's some inexpensive little thing (or even homemade) that they mentioned months ago and completely forgot about. THAT shows caring, attention, and that even *I* pay attention once in a while.

I'm way behind on taking notes for such things this year. Hopefully, I'll have some brainstorm for the key people I have in mind.

Anyway, I'm just rambling now. Bring on the tinsle and sleigh bells. Let's DO this thing!

Happy Halloween!

2008-10-31T08:34:00.003-04:00

After a good decade in retirement, I dug out the 'ol Silent Bob costume for the party at work today. Not in much of a mood to celebrate there, to be honest. Long story, but I'll save that for a locked down MySpace blog, maybe.

Anyway, expect plenty of pics on my Flickr page tomorrow of Silent Bob, Anakin Skywalker, my Little Princess, and (insert Sonya's costume here)!

Hope you all have a great time amongst the little ghouls and goblins. Remember, save those disgusting marshmallow peanuts for the teens that come around with no costume.

"I Dreamed A Dream"

2008-10-29T08:21:00.003-04:00

Ever since I was in high school, I've dreamed of leading a musical group to arise from the ashes and become a formidable musical force in performance and possibly even competition. I focused this drive into my own milieu, concentrating on instrumental music - specifically high school band. For 14 years, I spent my falls running around like a madman between band and drum corps rehearsals and competitions, while I frantically juggled family, school, and work.

Then, about 6 1/2 years ago, I fulfilled a small part of my destiny by joining the SPEBSQSA (AKA: The Barbershop Harmony Society). Being a 3rd generation barbershopper, I had always enjoyed barbershop harmony, even dabbling in a few quartets in high school for singing valentines and a concert or 2. After 2 weeks, I was recruited into 2 quartets for an upcoming performance on a part I NEVER thought I'd sing - tenor.

Since then, I have been part of a district champion chorus, competed with my quartet on the contest stage, made a few bucks here and there doing gigs with my quartet, brought smiles and tears (the good kind) to people's faces, and made countless friends from around the world through the fellowship of this fraternity of music. Now, it seems, my dream and my new musical focus may be converging....and it's about damned time.

Last night I drove 1 1/2 hours to a "nearby" chorus to speak with their director search committee. Not having the background in conducting a barbershop chorus (which is dramatically different that conducting other vocal or instrumental groups), a district or international medal, or even a completed degree, I thought the chances rather slim, but worth an inquiry. I figured my background in teaching and personable nature might be at least enough to have them listen to me and get a polite "thank you, we'll let you know," at best. Well, I was wrong. Pleasantly, delightfully wrong.

I spent the better part of an hour after their rehearsal, talking with the members of the committee. They asked brilliant questions, each one of them I felt comfortable and prepared answering. They seemed impressed with my answers, smiling, nodding, and taking notes as I spoke. From what I gathered by their questions and occasional comments about previous directors, they seemed to want exactly what my strengths were: teaching, ability to handle a variety of talent levels, and an open and accepting attitude. I made it clear that I welcome contrary ideas, have no intention of being the sword wielding despot, and view the position of director as member of the chapter team. I make the chorus sound better. I don't decide the direction of the chorus, I don't have veto power, I am not the "decider" - the chapter and its leadership is. They liked that.

So as it is now, I feel I am a strong contender. This is a MUCH better position than I felt I would be in. They still have 6 other candidates to interview before they begin to whittle down their options. Within a couple of months, they will narrow it down to 2 or 3 and bring each one in to lead a rehearsal. By January or February, they will decide and allow their new director to ease into the job by assisting in rehearsals and conducting a song or 2 in preparation for their annual show, before taking the reigns.

I doubt the pay will be much more than just enough to justify the mileage and time, but beyond being something to add to my resume, it the realization of my dream. I would be directing a musical group and helping them to improve as musicians and maybe even win a few contests. A kicker of this is, it happens to be my dad's old chapter.

I'm not holding my breath for it, but DAMN if it isn't exciting!

Convention Recap, Part 2: "Damn, damn DAMN!!!""

2008-10-21T08:28:00.003-04:00

That title is a bit deceiving. Nothing bad really happened, but...let me explain...

The morning went as hoped. I got up, got prepped, and got Courtney moving just fine. We got to Aunt Val's about 7:45am, and was greeted at the door by my sleepy-eyed sister. She popped on the TV miniseries of Alice in Wonderland and my sister and daughter plopped on the couch for the next few hours. meanwhile I hit I-94 to head to Battle Creek.

Usually a 2-hour drive, I had heard that construction had completely screwed up the route (Hooray for MDOT, yet again). Thankfully, being early Saturday morning, traffic volumes were light, and I didn't have to hit the brakes very often. I made it to McCamly Plaza Hotel to meet up with my chorus in plenty of time. I run into the building straight to registration, then hit the bathroom and put on my stage make-up. As I head to our initial warm-up room, I'm greeted to a flood of my fellow VERY greateful Gentlemen Songsters exiting to walk to the contest site, 2 blocks away. I meet up with myquartetemates, Lou and Dave, and we walk to Kellogg Auditorium.

As we walk, I'm regaled with tales of the previous night's quartet prelims. Apparently, a less than stellar assortment. Last year when we competed, the field was chock-full of top-notch quartets, some of who soundly whipped our collective butt. This year, the bar was much lower. I would find out later how much so.

We arrive at the warm-up room at the auditorium and I'm greeted to a greatly relieved director. He relayed that one of our miniscule gaggle of tenors called out sick. We were down to 3 tenors in a chorus of about 40. Being in the front row and having a greater lung capacity than most of the septagenarians in the chorus, I add more than my fair share of sound to the section and was direly needed. It's nice to feel apreciated!

We went out and did a very good rendition of our contest set ("Who's Sorry Now" and "Sing Me That Song Again"). Not our best, but far from our worst. We rehearse in a church basement with a concrete ceilings. It's a lot easier to ring and balance there when you can hear everything mushed together. From there, Lou and I headed back to the hotel to change into our "civies" and grab some lunch at the local pub - one of the few establishments open in Battle Creek on a Saturday (I swear I could see tumbleweeds rolling down the street).

Much of the afternoon was spent playing on my computer in the lobby of the hotel, as I hadn't connected with my roommates for the evening yet (Paul & Rob from Chodiology). I grabbed new copies of the Polecat and Yuletide Favorites songbooks at the Barbershop Shop, as mine seem to have disappeared over the years. I managed to resisting the temptations of coffee mugs, CDs, and a variety of other musical kitsch. I was able to fit in a few tags with some other loiterers in the lobby. The favorite of the day seemed to be "The Shadow Of Your Smile, which I had recently recorded for my quartet clients in Nevada. Here's a not-so-shining example:

Then it was time to watch the quartet finals. I met up with a kid from the Grand Rapids Chapter, Pat, and we head up, talking geek stuff. For once, I actually arrived in time for the entire finals show. Last year, my quartet, Coda Honor, barely missed making mic testers for the finals show. A disappointment, but not a bad showing for our first contest, scoring just shy of a 60. This year, we decided not to compete, as our bass was in Galveston for a month helping with disaster relief and we didn't have time to prep our contest set. However, as I watched quartet after quartet strut their stuff for the appreciative audience this year, a single though kept occurring to me: "We're better than that".

Now, don't get me wrong. Every quartet up there deserved to be there and were quite good, but with all of the progress Coda Honor has made over the past year, we could have easily made 4th.
Well, maybe not easily. Having the last month to practice would have helped. Nevertheless, it was frustrating to watch these quartets up there and not be waiting in the wings to do our set. Hence the title of the blog.

I was supposed to meet with the chair of the Lansing Chapter's search committee to discuss the open position of director there. I didn't hold a lot of hope for getting the position, but figured I had enough qualifications to justify applying. I sent him a text and voicemail, letting him know where I'd be, and spent much of the first hour after the show in the lobby, hoping he'd spot me (I told him to look out for my shoes - they're kinda hard to miss). After an hour or so of playing on my laptop and chatting with friends, I made the rounds of the hospitality rooms and tagging in the hallways and lobby. Apparently, I also spent the evening narrowly missing aforementioned committee chair. Once again, damnd, damn, damn!

When things began to wind down, I met up with my roommates and headed to the room. I open the door and find the district's resident Doo-Wop quartet, Full Throttle, in the room chatting and drinking heavily. We all spent the next hour or so in the room munching on junk food, drinking, and spitballing riffs that Paul came up with. One groove was particularly catchy, and Paul had Barry (the exhuberant and 'fluffy' lead from Full Throttle) riff some melodies. He started filling in whatever songs would fit, then began singing the text of the hotel welcome card. It was a blast.

Oh, MEGAkudos, Barry, in the impending baby Barry on the way (hence his celebratory mood)!

Once the rest of his quartet practically carried a VERY innebriated Barry back to his room (no easy task, even for 3 guys), Rob Paul & I hit the hay as conversation about life and family trailed off to snores.

Oh, the chorus made 3rd. Not to shabby!

An awesome, if slighly frustrating weekend.

Convention Recap, Part 1: "I Can't Get Started With You"

2008-10-20T08:25:00.006-04:00

BOY what a weekend!! The weekend that almost wasn't.

I thought I had it all set. My dues were paid, my shift was covered for Saturday night, Sonya and Liam were heading to a weekend camp out with the Cub Scout troop, Courtney was going to be picked up by her grandma, I had a place to crash for the night, and there was enough money in the account to cover gas and meals...

...then it all started to dissolve before my eyes.

I took off work a bit early on Friday to drop some stuff with Lou and get a haircut. I stopped by the Blockbuster where my former manager, Bill (who owes me a LIFETIME of favors), was working. He had said he had someone who could cover my shift - no problem. He was a good salesman, which my current manager would be happy about. I popped in to say hi, verify things were all set, and thank him. I hang in the office door way and he says that he hadn't asked the guy yet, but it shouldn't be a problem, and I should call that evening from my shift to confirm as they were both working that shift. Somewhat reassured, I go about my errands.

When I get to work, I call up Bill's store and Jason, the guy who's supposed to cover me, answers. He tells me he's working his other job that night and can't cover me. This, plus being understaffed on my current shift and RIDICULOUSLY busy, set me in a foul mood all night. Hearing all this, my current manager, Kelly, started hitting the phones to find me a replacement, while I handled the never-ending, mile-long line at the register.

By 10:30, no one had been available. After I get let go for the evening, I call another half-dozen stores in the area to finally find one LOVELY, WONDERFUL, GOD-SENT gal - Monica from the Warren store - who would cover my shift. I nearly collapsed from exhaustion & relief right there. Content that the weekend was once again on schedule, I head home, expecting Sonya and Liam to be off at their Cub Scout camp out, Courtney with grandma, and the house empty.

After a mentally draining shift, I come home to find Sonya and the kids still there, and Jeremy, Leigh, and Jeremy's 2 high-strung dogs over for a visit. Apparently, Grandma's acquisition of my youngest wasn't as eminent as I was led to believe. I hit the phones once again and pray that my sister's offer to take Courtney early in the morning still stands. However, I had no clue how to hand off Courtney later on. Overnight at Aunt Val's isn't something we've done yet and I wasn't about to pop that on generous and accomodating sister unexpectedly. Thankfully, Jeremy offers to pick up Courtney and take her to her grandparent's in the afternoon. After working out logistics and making sure Val & Jeremy have each other's cell numbers (a mistake I made recently I'm not about to repeat), all is settled there.

This means I have to wake up at the butt-crack of dawn, shower, shave, get on my tux and make-up, get Courtney up and dressed and out to my sister's, then pray the Traffic Gods smile on me so I can get to Battle Creek before my chorus steps on stage at 11:30.

Coming Up Next... Part 2: "Damn, damn, DAMN!"

My Semi-awesome Weekend...

2008-10-15T08:28:00.004-04:00

(I couldn't think of a decent weekend-themed song lyric/title for this one)

Saturday started out simple enough: getting up and the kids moving and dressed. Sonya wanted to head to Canada with her brother to paint the cottage again, since the past month has left that kind of on the back burner to deal with her car's tire. This gave me much of the weekend to myself.

After a bit of tidying, I stopped by the comic shop to grab the IDW Comic Bios of the candidates. I didn't expect much of them, but they're surprisingly detailed and insightful! I bought both to be fair, balanced, and to hedge my bets as a collector. They don't include every vote and decision, but I must say they helped me gain a bit of respect for both candidates, warts and all. Neither changed my mind in the slightest, but they made my decision a bit clearer based on ideals, experience, and motives, rather than speculation and rumor.

After my semi-weekly pilgimage to the Comics & More, I headed to my sister's to borrow her lawn mower. It's been relatively dry lately and I haven't realy needed to mow the lawn for weeks, but it was getting about that time. I pulled up to find her waiting in her front yard for our friend Paulie B., who she had planned to have lunch with and go thrift store shopping with afterward. I joined them for lunch, though I had just had Taco Bell with the family before they took off. We had a great time sharing appetizers and chatting about everything from local music, to mutual friend gossip, to jobs and gigs. I had a blast catching up with baby sister and my aptly dubbed "inner child".

After dropping me off back at my sister's, I loaded up the mower and headed home. The rest of the afternoon was spent on mowing and chores. From there, I went to work at the video store. After work, with the family gone and no one expecting me home, I headed to my buddy Bob's for his weekly IPM internet radio show. I charged down the stairs just in time for one of the breaks between DJ's. We spent the evening over beer and music, playing Wii Bowling, discussing politics and life. Pure awesomeness. Dig it. I headed home about 1am and hit the hay.

Sunday, I spent the morning catching up with my parents on the phone. I try to call them once or twice a week, if possible. My dad and I discussed barbershop and family, as usual. She even payed my Barbershop Society dues online while we were on the phone (after some not-so-thinly veiled psuedo-begging). I then finally returned my mom's call. She calls me about 4 times a week these days, as my sister is kind of boycotting her (long story there - don't judge). She bemoaned my sister's behavior while I played the middle ground and voice of reason - my usual role. Regardless, it was nice to catch up with her and talk to her.

After that, back to chores. I got a lot accomplished before bringing the mower back to Val's and spending about an hour mowing her jungle - er - yard. Sonya and the kids got home while I was there (rather than the 10pm they often get back from weekend trips), so any recording I had planned was out. Bummer.

While checking my e-mail that night, I noticed a listing on the PioNet (Pioneer District of the Barbershop Harmony Society's Listserv) for a director position at my dad's old chapter in Lansing. I probably don't have the qualifications for a higher level, cometitive chorus (i.e. Harmony U., BHS Director's College, a gold medal, etc.), but I sent along a letter of interest anyway. If it pays enough to justify wedging it into my schedule, this would be a dream gig! I'm hoping to meet with the chir of the search committee at convention (assuming I can go). I don't expect much to come of it, but at the very least, I may be able to pitch myself for more learnng track gigs and maybe some coaching. We'll see. Networking never hurts.

A great weekend, mixed with socializing, productivity, and reconnecting with family I rarely see. The trick now is, I have at least 5 more songs to record for a couple groups sometime soon. With the weekly grind and the convention (or camp out) this weekend, I'll have to sneak stuff in a track or two at a time. I'll figure it out - I always do...

Bye Bye Blues?

2008-10-14T08:19:00.004-04:00

(I've taken to titling my blogs with old songs, it seems. Thanks for the idea, Chuck!)

So I blogged about "Barbershop Convention Blues" last week. Well, it seems those blues MAY be over. I had some major hurdles to overcome to make it to the convention: dues, child care for my daughter while Sonya and the boy were at camp, hotel costs, and scheduling. The first was handled by my dad. I called her on Sunday, mostly to just do my usual catching up, but also - if I could work it in carefully - to ask if she would be able to loan me the money to renew my dues in time for the convention. After a wonderful conversation, she offered without me having to directly ask...well, not directly begging, anyway. I think one of the factors may have been that when I gave her my society password it was a direct reference to her. She got a kick outa that.

The second hurdle was child care for Courtney while Sonya and Liam were at the Cub Scout Campout this weekend. My wonderful sister has agreed to keep her from my departure time (butt-crack of dawn Saturday morning) until Sonya's mom hopefully picks her up in the afternoon. Some details have yet to be ironed out with mom-in-law, but that snag seems to have been mostly worked out.

Next came having a place to stay, should I be able to stay overnight. There is no way I could afford a hotel room this time, and even if I could, the headquarters hotel is completely booked, with the nearest available hotel a mile away. That kinda puts a crimp in carousing the hospitality rooms and lobby, drinking and singing, till all hours. I'm not comfortable driving more than a couple of blocks after any kind of real "imbibement", let alone a mile in the pitch black of unfamiliar streets at 3am. After a couple hours of exchanged IMs and cameraderie with Paul Ellinger (the lead of last year's champs, Chordiology), he tentatively offered a spot on his floor, pending confirmation with his baritone/roommate.

Now all that's left is to call every Blockbuster in the area, looking for someone to take my Saturday night shift at the video store. I have a manager that owes me a favor at another location, so I'm not terribly worried. They're already short-staffed for the shift, however, so I do need to find someone. No calling in sick or car trouble this time (not that I usually fake such things for a night off - I'm a pretty good boy as far as that goes).

Another possible obstacle is whether Sonya can make it to the camp out. Sonya has had what we think may be viral meningitis for the past week. She was exposed to a co-worker of her mother's who had it a couple weeks ago, and since then she's had a few days of total imobility and total feeling-like-crapness. She's on the mend and gaining back some energy and mobility, but whether she can handle the elements is questionable. If she can't do it, guess who does.

So that's where it stands. The finish line is in sight, the chorus had a GREAT rehearsal last night, my presence at contest is EXTREMELY encouraged (as close to a demand as our understanding and polite director can get), and only a couple more things to work out. I'm not crazy about getting up at the crack of dawn and driving 2 hours in mu tux and make-up (I hate that part) to jump on stage in a rush, but I am looking forward to helping my chorus start it's rise back to the top. If we sing anything like we did last night, we may start dong just that.

Coming Up: A Recount of last weekend

"I'm So Tired of this Dull Routine" (A Prayer for Friends)

2008-10-10T08:40:00.003-04:00

I often complain about the regular necessities of my daily life: kids to school, work, home, rehearsal, chores, etc. Seems my life is scheduled to the second without a second of "leisure time" to spend as I wish. Lately, however, I've been very grateful for the lack of surprises.

Some dear friends of mine are going through a very tough time right now. Their baby boy is in the hospital with a mystery infection right in the middle of chemotherapy for a tumor on his kidneys. Their life has been thrown into total upheaval. Until now, they've dealt with it very well, adjusting their daily routine to accommodate the doctor's appointments, coordinating some somewhat specialized child care, and playing their work schedules like a delicate ballet in their itineraries.

Recently, however, their adorable baby boy has come down with an unknown infection, spiking his temperature into unnerving if not dangerous territory. Aside from jostling their son's surgery schedule, it's necessitated more time off of work than they had planned and sentry shifts at the hospital they most trade off. They're stressed, scared, and sleep-deprived.

I'm not particularly religious, in that I don't profess my beliefs very often of impress religion on others. I do, however, believe in the power of positive energy and thoughts in whatever form one chooses to project them. If you could all send a thought of encouragement, support, and good will - be it in the form of prayer, karma, cosmic energy, or what ever you believe in - I know they could use it right now. These are wonderful, talented, and strong people who I know will come out on the other end of this exhausted, drained, but nonetheless triumphant, but they can use all the help they can get.

"Hazak Ve'ematz" guys. There's a light at the end of the tunnel and David will be fine. You have all my love, thoughts and prayers.

Barbershop Convention Blues & Tina Fey: 7 Weeks ain't enough, and yet it is.

2008-10-09T08:45:00.003-04:00

Once again, we're nearing late October and the Pioneer District's Fall Barbershop Harmony Convention. Unfortunately, it appears this one's not going to go at ALL like I had envisioned it 4 months ago.

My plan was to go up mid afternoon on Friday, compete with my quartet, make finals, compete with my chorus the next day, kick some ass at finals and maybe move up a spot or 2, and have an amazing night touring the hospitality rooms and singing tags in the lobby till all hours of the night. I'd built up a helluva weekend in my head.

Since then, the job hasn't turned out as profitable as I had hoped (still not BAD, but this economic apocalypse has slowed my sales growth a bit), our bass has been in Texas helping with disaster relief and is on call to do more at any minute, and Liam's Haunted Cub Scout Campout has been scheduled for the same weekend. Adding to the financial frustration, I just had to pay a $195 ticket for not having my current proof of insurance in my car and now a $200 "Driver Responsibility Fee" the state has started assessing to milk the average citizen for whatever they can get away with.

In order to make convention, I have to come up with gas money, food money, pay my society dues, arrange to sleep on someone's floor at the hotel, and coodinate child care for Courtney while Sonya and Liam are at the campout...but I haven't given up yet. It's not impossible. Difficult and improbable, but not impossible.

I wouldn't feel so bad about it, but our tenor section is a bit weak and we've already lost 2 of our front row. With all humility, having me missing hurts the presentation AND music scores. I truly don't expect my presence means the difference between winning and losing - Mt. Pleasant, Lansing, and Macomb have that to worry about. It would be nice to start building up our scores again, however, and set ourselves up as contenders again. We won 4 years ago. It's not out of the realm of possibility to do so again, but we need all the help we can get.

I'll keep exploring my options.

Meanwhile, on the campaign front...

When Sarah Palin entered the race, my first though was that she looks a bit like an older Tina Fey. For the past 3 weeks, Tina has made a return to Saturday Night Live to play the Alaskan Governor in opening sketches - absolutely BRILIANTLY! Just go Google it (NBC has managed to pull most of the clips from YouTube), and you'll see what I mean. The funniest sketch was her depiction of the CBS Interview with Katie Couric. It was absolutely hilarious in that, rather just picking a few catch phrases like so many of her predecessors (Dana Carvey's "Naa-Gaa-Daait" comes to mind), she quoted one of the Governor's lengthier responses nearly verbatim - and it was ROTF hilarious! That's funny and scary at the same time.

I'd love to see a lot more of Tina Fey as Palin, but God willing, SNL will only need her for another 4 weeks before Palin hops the first dogsled back to the tundra.

Plenty of other stuff to bore you with, but time's a wastin'. Gotta go earn my keep.

Cold Shower...

2008-10-08T08:27:00.003-04:00

POSTPONED: Barbershop Convention Blues and Tina Fey-7 Weeks ain't enough, and yet it is.

Not figurative, but literal. We apparently neglected the gas bill, so they came and shut off the gas yesterday. Sonya's been sick, so she wasn't able to get to the door in time to hand the guy a check. So last night we had to grab some Little Caesar's and use the remaining hot water for a bath for Courtney. This left me to submerse myself in Arctic water this morning.

I haven't had a shower this miserable in 15 years. On drum corps tours, showers were like a box of chocolates - ya never know what yer gonna git. Usually, the schools have shut off the gas for the summer so they're ice cold. You get used to just praying for enough water pressure to actually rinse yourself off. Invigorating in late July, but in October - not so much. At this point in my life, I need a scalding shower just to loosen my joints in the morning.

Between the ice cold shower and frantic dash out the door to get the kids to school on time, and the fucktardedly basackwards traffic pattern the school parking lot creates, this is not starting off to be a good day.

To top it off, I'm greeted by my morning news radio announcers calling out the Financial Apocalypse. Great. Means my sales this week will be jack shit. I'm glad the debates last night didn't degrade into personal attacks and I commend both candidates for their restraint, but damnit. Someone needs to call out McCain for the Keating 5 Scandal and the S&L debaucle. This "deregulate then bailout" bullshit has to end. I'm used to being on the next-to-lowest rung of the financial ladder, but when that ladder's singing into quicksand and my shoes are getting wet, I get a bit pissed.

Oh, and that little "opinion meter" that CNN has of their focus group of Ohio undecideds - dat's da shizzle. Makes the debate MUCH more interesting.

Comics & More...

2008-10-06T08:22:00.003-04:00

(Not-So-Subliminal plug for my buddy Chris's comic shop)

I am now a comic book geek, in addition to all my other geek cred. Yesterday, My buddy, Chris at Comic's & More (11 1/2 Mile Rd. & John R) had his 1-year anniversary celebration for his loyal club members, which I am proudly a part of. One full year of owning the store and he's starting to make some good headway. He opened for 5 hours with some special deals for club members only to make some room for new inventory.

Unfortunately, this didn't benefit me much. The good deals were for folks who had cleaned out their "box". He will gladly set aside issues for folks who can't afford (or carry) the mountain of material they find while they browse his tiny shop, and my box is fairly packed. I did get a nice chance to chat with him and check out his new ride (a classic mustard brown '74 GM Pimpmobile with under 40K miles he found for about $700 - score).

I started out with a modest box of early Bronze Age Action Comics I got for a quarter a piece at Dave's Comics back in the early 90's. A couple have appreciated in value (I have a Supergirl #1 I'm secretly proud of), but most are in mediocre shape and more for nostalgia purposes. Now, however, thanks largely to Chris, I have 2 medium archival boxes filled to capacity of Batman, Captain America, Star Treks of all kinds, Astoniching X-Men, Ambush Bug, Booster Gold, Earth X and even a mid-70's Spiderman featuring the cast of Saturday Night Live. I've even gone so far as to special order a copy of the new Greatest American hero comic, autographed by William Katt.

God help me, I'm hooked.

I spend most of my lunch break in the break room, thumbing through my newest acquisitions over a sandwich and cheese curls (being careful not to smudge the pages, of course). Today, I have a pile of vintage Star Trek, a brand new Star Trek: Mirror Image, and the newest Batman & Captain Americas to get through. I'd wish for more money to buy out my box, but that wouldn't help. I'd simply fill it again, spending within my limits and dreaming beyond them. My eyes are bigger than my storage boxes.

Sonya finally got her car back from Canada, after dropping the kids with their grandparents for the weekend and heading out with her brother. 2 days and a plethora of amusing anecdotes and frustrating tales later, we're finally a 2-car family again...thank God. While she was gone, I managed to spend the afternoon cleaning the house a bit and re-recording a learning track for my Nevada quartet that was about 3 weeks overdue. Productivity - score.

Yesterday was supposed to be Courtney's 5th birthday party for her friends. 7-9 kids were invited, but no one RSVPed. I ran to the Meijer at Great Lakes Crossing for some last-minute needs and to to pick up mom-in-law and the kids. We got there at 2pm, the supposed start time. By 2:10 (10 past the start time) we started to worry. By 3pm all that had come by were 2 of Courtney's friends from around the block, and they were only able to stay for about 20 minutes. We may attempt this agin, giving a bit more notice and calling for confirmations. Courtney took it well, having fun on the new swingset anyway and decorating her own tiara.

After returning from my run to the comic store, we gave up on the party and went for lunch with Leigh, mom-in-law, Sonya, and the kids at a local family diner. We had a fun afternoon, despite the bomb of a party.

That's about it for now.

Coming up next: Barbershop Convention Blues and Tina Fey-7 Weeks ain't enough, and yet it is.

Politics & Debates...

2008-10-03T08:31:00.003-04:00

Some would ask why I don't blog about political subjects, such as last night's Vice Presidential Debate. The answer's simple: I don't have any more insight or anything to add to the discourse than any of the other millions of bloggers, activists, and pundits out there. I simply don't want to contribute to the already crowded discourse. I have no problem debating topics and will espouse my stance at the drop of a hat, but I rarely find the point in ranting about them, as my rant will simply echo 60% of the blogs out there, reveal no new info, and generally be a waste of time.

That being said, I'll make my one and only point about last night's debate: Are Democrats the only ones capable of pronouncing the word "NUCLEAR"?

All the rest has or will be covered by others. Go read 'em. I'm a strong-moderate liberal and am voting Obama...

...but most of you already knew that.

By the way, I finally got those videos of Coda honor's last performance up on my YouTube channel here.

GREAT weekend...

2008-10-01T08:25:00.006-04:00

A flurry of activity, as usual, but not the usual gotta-get-it-done kinda stuff.

Friday afternoon, my dad drove into town. After a semi-business trip (just enough to make the trip deductible) she decided to head back to Kansas from Jersey via Michigan. Makes perfect sense (?!?!??). Anyway, she pulled unto town Friday about my lunch break. We headed out to National Coney Island for a bite and catching up, since I was working both jobs that day.

After working the Blockbuster evening shift, I went home via AJ's Coffee Shop in Ferndale to catch an old high school friend Amy (Smith) Petty perform for a few minutes. This gal is an absolutely AMAZING talent! Her live version of her song "Broken Record" is positively jaw-dropping. She has a fantastic wit and raport with her audience and a voice so beautiful it'll make you weep. Her style is basicaly modern acoustic folk, a la Indigo Girls, if one were to draw similarities. I could only stay for a couple songs, but I am in awe of her abilities and was pleased to see so many faces from my high school days that I hadn't come across in years. I only wish I had the time to stay and chat with some of them.

Unfortunately, I had a BIIIG day ahead on Saturday. Sonya & Leigh were heading out at the crack of dawn for a breakfast with their garden club and to set up the end-of-the-season festival at the community garden. I was expected to be in Flint at 11:30am for a gig at the Applewood Fall Festival with my quartet, and needed to make some progress on the house before I left, as we had a family birthday party for Courtney on Sunday.

So the morning was a whirlwind of getting the kids up, dressed and fed, living room tidied, cat box cleaned (yeech), meeting with my dad, dropping the kids, and then heading to Flint with my dad in her car. All of this, plus the never-ending construction that ALWAYS seems to be at its worst on Saturday afternoon, meant we got there JUST in time for the gig, but no warm up.

The gig was wonderful, as always. Wonderful weather, beautiful scenery, friendly people, appreciative audiences, and some GREAT cider. We sounded great with our substitute bass, Jack Day. Again, he's no Dave Conrad, but he's by far the best second we could hope for. I have a few pictures (courtesy of Lou's finace, Linda, and my dad) on my Flickr page. I'll have a couple video clips up on my YouTube page soon.

From there, we all headed to the local Red Robin for lunch and had a great time talking barbershop, the financial market, retirement (a foreign word to me), and stuff. It was a great end to a great afternoon. Then my dad drove me home and I headed to Blockbuster for another shift.

The party on Sunday went off without much of a hitch. We just had a simple barbecue in the backyard, and a fire in the fire bowl to let the kids roast their own veggie dogs. All of my close family came: my mom, dad, sister, grandfather, and Courtney's Auntie Leigh. It's a once-every-several-year occurrance to have my mom and dad in the same locale, so it was nice to have the family back together, if briefly. Courtney loved seeing her Nana, Grandma Paula, and Grandpa O, and, cof course, her gifts. She got a Disney Princess Sing-a-long toy from Grandma Paula, a sparkley rainbow rump rope from Grandpa O, and a My Little Pony from Nana. She also got a Bratz doll, but the wife and I aren't keen on that line of toys, so we may convince her to exchange it for something else - maybe another Barbie (not that she needs 10th Barbie, but better that than a Bratz doll).

I was able to meet with my dad for coffee before she left on Monday morning. It was such a joy to see her. Throughout my life, my dad has been my most consistent, honest, and non-judgemental supporter. We can have coversations is few words and know that we both understand. This was a great weekend, and my dad was a huge part of that.

(for those of you confused about my pronoun usage in this entry, my dad is transgendered. Let the curious questions begin...)

Garage Sale Soreness & Feliz Cumpleanos!!

2008-09-26T08:21:00.007-04:00

Last weekend we tried to have that garage sale we'd been talking about all year. It didn't really fit our schedule, as we has a lot of other things that needed attention (cleaning up the yard for the Wicked With of the Park, heading to Canada to rescue Sonya's car, etc.). This, however likely being the last weekend with good weather and a flexible schedule, I managed to head to my sister's, grab a bunch of stuff and our old coffee table, mow the lawn, set everything up, and sell...5 items. We made all of $75 for all my efforts and sore muscles, but at least we got rid of a bulky piece of play equipment the kids had outgrown, an old student violin I no longer needed, and a couple DVDs.

Some highlights included selling my violin to a kid in a band who wanted to add a new sound to the band's eclectic trance/folk/rock sound. I let it go for $42 - worth every penny. Go check them out at their MySpace page Wave Eats The Walrus.

I had a nibble at my trombone. I have a Benge 165F I got off eBay a few years back because it was a huge deal and I always wanted an F rotor tenor trombone. It served me well in my college ensembles, but I prefer my Yamaha straight tenor and don't need it anymore. A high-school kid and his dad pulled up and started looking at it. As I was describing it to them, I noticed the Glassmen logo on the kid's jacket. I immediately started talking drum corps, complimenting their show this year, and immediately dropped my asking price by $50. The father took my card and said they'll "mull it over". Haven't heard back from them yet, but when I dropped by Hazel Park High's band rehearsal to say hi to the director - a friend of mine - I saw the kid in the trombone section. He's damn good. After reeling from my Marching Band DTs, I decided I may drop my price a bit more...We'll see.

Anyway, the set-up, tear-down, weed-pulling, lawn-mowing, and crazy nature of the weekend left me more sore than I've been since I started going to the gym regularly for the first time (11 years ago). It was that good, productive kind of sore, but sitting in an office chair all day made getting up to go home a bit tough for a few days. We still have a TON of crap to get rid of, though. Some I'll CraigsList, some I'll eBay, but most will find its way to the Salvation Army.

Yesterday was Courtney's 5th birthday. It was a crazy whirlwind of a party (as if we have any other kind). I came home to find Sonya had taken the kids off to pick up Jeremy, so that left me to tidy up the house a bit and get some water boiling for the tortellini. As Sonya, Jeremy and the kids didn't get home till a little after 7, it left the rest of the party a bit crunched so that we could get the kids to bed at a decent hour. We ate outside till the mosquitoes - no doubt angered at the disruption of their home when I pulled the weeds - began to wreak their vengence upon us. We moved inside for cake and presents. Leigh got courtney a Tinkerbell costume she absolutely adored. Liam got her a Webkins unicorn she went ga-ga for. Sonya picked up a couple books for her, and I - I was still recovering from putting up the new playset in the backyard from a few weeks ago.

She had a great birthday, but it's not over. With my dad visiting from Kansas, we're having a Keiser-Orton birthday gathering on Sunday. Next weekend, we're having the "REAL" party, with decorations and her friends. When Sonya's parents come back from Eurpoe, we'll have yet another party with them. This one day is turning into a downright festival.

Okay, time to get to work again. This weekend's gonna be a bit crazy. If I survive it, and they have internet access at the nuthouse, I'll write more soon.

COME SEE CODA HONOR THIS SATURDAY, 12-3 AT THE APPLEWOOD FALL FESTIVAL!!
Held at Applewood Estates, right next to Mott College in Historic Flint, MI!!

A Schedule Tighter Than A Gnat's Ass...

2008-09-24T08:25:00.004-04:00

I actually updated my Google Calendar yesterday - and it kinda scared the piss outa me. Not because I can't do it, but I got to see laid out in front of me how overbooked I can get. Pretty much any gaps in my schedule are commute time between obligations. This week's not exactly typical, but not off by much. Tonight is (unexpectedly) a bit free, but the later evening is filled with learning track stuff. I have to try and get the last 2 or 3 songs done for this quartet so I can now do another one for a fellow chorus member.

I was supposed to have quartet rehearsal with our substitue bass tonight to prep for our surprise gig this weekend at the Flint Applewood Fall Festival. This is our longest-standing regular gig. We've done this for the past 3 years running, along with occasional other gigs there for the Ruth Mott Foundation. We adore this gig. It's basically 3 hours of strolling around the beautiful grounds, singing what we want for small crowds of very appreciative patrons and volunteers. It's low pressure, gorgeous surroundings, friendly people...and a good paycheck.

This year, I started e-mailing our key contacts at Applewood about June, saying that we were booking up fast (a slight exaggeration, perhaps), and they should drop us an e-mail with the details soon so we can plan it in (yea - between opening for the Rolling Stones and our whirlwind sold-out European Tour). Anyway, 3 monthly e-mails went by with nary a peep from our favorite clients. I figured we'd been dumped due to budget issues. They usually start asking for us by July at the latest.

Last week, I get an e-mail from one of our contacts asking for names to put on the checks! ACK! With our regular bass out of town and a week to try and figure out how to cram this into my schedule (which is already packed in tighter than sausage meat in a casing), I sent out a flurry of e-mails and texts to the guys to see if we can do it. Luckily, we were all just free enough to fit it in. Being our best clients, an excellent opportunity to pass out business cards, a truly fun gig, and some much needed dough, I didn't want to pass this up.

I found out yesterday that our ringer bass can't make the only night I was available for a rehearsal this week, so we're going to do this one dry. I'm not worried. Our set list is mostly chorus songs we know backward and forward and we're so much tighter - even with a ringer bass - than we were a couple years ago, we'll still sound great. The trick is, this gig comes right in the middle of an extremely rare, semi-impromptu visit from my dad, and I want to try and fit in time to visit.

So I'm laying it all our in my Google Calendar yesterday and it goes like this:

Wed - 7:30: kids to school
9am: work
6:30: home, make dinner
8:30: kids to bed
9pm: Blitz-clean house
10pm: learning tracks
Midnight: bed

Thurs - 7:30: kids to school
9am: work
6:30: Home, dinner, family 5th birthday celebration for my baby girl
8:30: Kids to bed
9pm: Blitz-clean house
10pm: Learning Tracks
Midnight: bed

Fri - 7:30 kids to school
9am: work
6:30: work at Blockbuster
10pm: stop by AJ Coffee House to catch a friend's performance
11pm: home
Midnight: bed

Sat: - 8am: get kids up and dressed while Sonya head to a Garden Club breakfast
9am: MAJOR blitz-clean of house
10:30am: Meet with dad and head to gig (nice convo on drive)
11:30am: Meet with the quartet to warm up

Noon: Gig at Applewood Estates, Flint
3:30pm: Lunch with dad and quartet

4:30pm: Drive home
6pm: Work Blockbuster
10pm: Home

Sun: - 8am: get everyone up and moving, clean up, set up birthday party (Keiser Edition)
Noon: Courtney's birthday party for my side of the family

The rest of Sunday will be visiting with family and subsequent clean-up. Gonna be a FULL weekend.

Outa time. Gotta head to work. (deep breath)

Okay...let's DO this thing!!

Gawd, I love this show...

2008-09-23T08:39:00.005-04:00

SPOLIER ALERT!
If you haven't seen the season premier of Heros yet, you may want to skip this particular blog entry. I won't include any details on plot points (no promises on the comments), just a thing or two about geek minutia (which is 90% of the apeal of the show, IMHO).

What a freaking awesome show! My favorite parts about this series are the gentle nods to their core audience - the geeks.

2 items stuck out: Online, they have episodes and clips. One of the preview scenes online was entitled "Our Lady of Blessed Acceleration". If you don't know where that's from, flee thee from my blog, infidel!

The biggest one, though, was a WONDERFUL choice of a cameo. William Katt has seemed to crawl out from under the rock of obscurity in the past couple years since the debut of the Greatest American Hero DVDs. If you need an idea of how much I love that show, just look to your right at my profile picture - 'nuf said. Between a smattering of small parts and some unfortunately little-known films (go see "The Man From Earth," BTW), his own comic book series, the impending debut of a Greatest American Hero comic series, and the production of a movie adaptation of that shhow in which he is most certainly slated for a bit part or cameo, the guy in the red jammies is making a comeback!

He had a very brief, 2-scene cameo in last night's Heroes season premier. I caught his voice immediately and once I saw that longish curly mop of his, my jaw dropped. It was a similar reaction to seeing the license plate on Kaito Nakamura's limo read NCC1701. Nothing that the casual viewer would catch, but the UberGeeks out there eat it up. I sat there in stunned silence for a second, then as the commercial came on, I flailed wildly and shouted "FUCK, YEA!" as my wife and brother-in-law smiled and shook their heads incredulously.

...as if they didn't expect exactly that reaction...

My only problem - they killed him. Now, this IS Heroes, so that doesn't necessarily mean we won't see him again. Between time travel and spontaneous healing abilities he could be back as a regualar, but it's not terribly likely and it was a dissapointment nonetheless.

Still, it was a freaking awesome show and I'm once again hooked. From plot twists in the first 3 minutes of the episode, to new powers, to political intrigue, to convoluted bloodlines - this show never stops. I'll be glued to my tv/computer all season. Yes, it rips all all KINDS of Marvel characters and plotlines, but I believe it does so lovingly and as an homage to the comics, not simply as a way to not work so hard or rip off ideas. They're carefully chosen, woven carefully together - and at least they avoid spandex.

Geeks of the world, REJOICE! HEROES has returned!

Out of Frustration Comes Fun...

2008-09-18T08:22:00.004-04:00

Our next door neighbors are lovely people. A mother and daughter who, unfortunately, have a bit more house than they can handle. These ladies have been wonderful neighbors for the entire 11 years we have been at our current residence. Blunt and no-nonsense, to be sure, but friendly, helpful, and easy to get along with.

In the city of Hazel Park, we have one particular code enforcement witch that is on a power trip. She routinely harasses these poor ladies for minor violations. Yes, their yard gets a bit unkempt at times, but with big trees in their yard and a fence around the periphery, it's hardly an eyesore. This code enforcement witch has often asked for access to our yard to take pictures of their yard to use against them. We, of course, tell her no. Aside from being good neighbors, we figure if it's not an eyesore from the street or a breeding ground for vermin, it's not a problem.

Now our neighbors are going into foreclosure for various reasons...and the witch has trained her flying monkeys square on us next. She stopped by last week, complaining of "improper storage" on our front porch and backyard (from what she was able to see across 3 yards from the side street), and handed us a warning to have it cleaned up in a week or get a citation. The warning quotes a snippet of the city code that says anything other than "patio furniture" must be stored indoor or in a shed.

Now, I'm NO fan of clutter, but having 2 kids it's often unavoidable. Our front porch usually has Liam's roller blades, a gardening tool or two from weed-digging, and a tub of sidewalk chalk. The past 4 months or so, it's also had a pile of stuff from Sonya's trunk from when she had to clear some room for other things. Our backyard has been in transition all summer. Between the gazebo, the new swing set, the 12' inflatable pool, and preparing for a garage sale this week, I can barely turn around in our backyard.

So yesterday after work at 6:30, I stop by the grocery store for charcoal and a couple other necessities, I come home, make dinner, and proceed to clean up the yard while Sonya talks on the phone. I clean up the stray garbage, pile up the remaining wood for the firebowl, put the toys away, put some garage sale items back in our overcrowded shed, and place the firebowl in the only remaining spot in the yard with space enough for a few chairs around it.

As I'm setting up the firebowl, my best friend Lou stops by unexpectedly. At first I'm a bit frustrated at the interruption in my momentum, but figuring I had accomplished enough and it was getting dark, I grab each of us a beer and start a fire. A few minutes later, our friend Leigh comes by, followd a short time thereafter by my brother-in-law, Jeremy. We spent the evening by the fire laughing, swaping stories, discussing life, love, politics and generally having an impromptu party. It was a perfect night for it.

I'm sure Wicked Witch of the Park will still find something to cite us on, as we're clerly on her shit-list and her newest favorite target, but at the very least, the clean-up spawned a wonderful late-summer evening with friends and atmosphere.

More detail on the Wicked Witch of the Park to come, along with Garage Sale Prep, Rescuing sonya's Car, and anticipating a very special visit!

Sharing my Fortress of Solitude...

2008-09-17T08:27:00.008-04:00

I'm mostly just writing this one because I have the time (all of about 20 minutes) before work.

Kids are doing well in school. Courtney loves Kindergarten. Liam's getting a much better handle on his behavior so far this year in 3rd grade. Let's hope he can keep it up.

Sonya saw her parents off on their European vacation yesterday, meaning that we get to borrow their car while they're gone. Since Sonya's car is still stranded in Rondeau Park in Canada, the extra vehicle will be nice. I'm very picky about my car and lending it out. It's my Fortress of Solitude, where I can listen to MY music, think MY thoughts, keep MY stuff, and just be ME. Lending it out to anyone is difficult for me, no matter what pile of rusted-out junk I drive. Conversely, I don't like borrowing other people's cars, either. I hate imposing and get fidgity about making sure everything is EXACTLY as it was when I got it - from the pennies in the ashtray, to the seat and mirror positions, to the gas level in the tank (to be fair, I'm not as careful about the minutea when I'm forced to drive Sonya's car). That's how I am when I have to impose myself on anyone. I believe in imposing as little as possible and leaving as little a footprint as possible.

The past few days, I've had to share my car with Sonya. Not fun. Sonya's car is usually a flurry of stuff of varying degrees of importance, from dishes left behind from a hurried rush out the door with food in hand, to toys and changes of clothes left from visits to Grandma & Grandpa's house, to supplies and important forms for the Cub Scouts and school. Her trunk is...I don't even want to get into that...

I let her borrow my car for 2 days to run errands and get the kids from school while I was at work, and my car quickly became similarly cluttered. Not as bad, but noticable. After one day I came home from work to find it scattered with some of the kids stuff (I usually clear it out after every trip), 3 umbrellas (none of them mine), and 2 baby gates Sonya picked up for her brother to coral his dogs. Now, I'm no Mr. Belvedere. Being my portable locker and home-away-from-home, it gets its fair share of clutter, but it's usually minimal, garbage is contained to a single garbage bag, and non-essentials are kept to a minimum in the "wayback" of my station wagon. There's rarely more back there than an emergency tool kit, blanket, bag of barbershop music, empty deposit cans from my journeys (excised once a week), and some reading material. Mind you, I don't feel she was inconsiderate or disrespectful. It's not like the car was suddenly a garbage dump. She was just being herself. I don't fault her for it, but I'll just say I'm glad to have my car to myself again. I'm just that picky about my Fortress of Solitude.

The quartet was supposed to have another gig this Sunday with our fill-in bass, Jack Day. I got an e-mail from the organizer yesterday canceling our participation. I'm dissapointed, and yet relieved, because we're going to try and have a garage sale this weekend and prepping for that with a quartet rehearsal in there somewhere to prep for the gig was going to be a real hassle. On the other hand, I like the idea of getting $65/hr to do something I truly enjoy. I should develop a cancelation fee policy. Oh well...

Work's getting better. Ups and downs, but I'm slowly building my client base by "resurrecting the dead" and contacting a bunch of former customers who haven't ordered in years. Still a very gray...gray office and a bit isolating, but not bad. At least it's climate-controlled, clean, and there's no one there I dislike. Even made a friend in one of the warehouse workers - a fellow 30something geek who happens to live real close by. He was gracious enough to play chaufeur for me the past couple days so Sonya wouldn't have to load the kids up in the car to get me.

Well, 10 minutes to get to work. Better skee-daddle.

GARAGE SALE THIS WEEKEND! COME BUY MY CRAP!!!

Mr. Mom...

2008-09-09T08:55:00.008-04:00

Okay, so at this point I'm home with the kids, not sure if Sonya will be back for the morning melee of getting the kids off to school and me to work. The first few days of school this year went fairly smoothly. Sonya got up and made breakfast while I showered, we both assembled my & the kids' lunches while they get dressed and eat, I pile the kids in the car and we get there right on time. This time would be different.

Getting such a late start from the cottage in Canada, Sonya decided to just stay there the night and return the following day in time enough to get the kids from school. So I woke up a couple minutes earlier than usual (which means when my alarm actually goes off, instead of after one hit of the snooze bar) and get everyone assembled and out the door (mostly) on time. I was pretty proud of myself! No arguments, no excessive tardiness (only 2 minutes late), just a relatively smooth morning. After stopping by the district court to pay a traffic ticket, I pop home to grab one last thing before work, notice Courtney's sandwich sitting on the stove, and drop it to her classroom and still get to work 15 minutes early.

Something in my gut said I would be picking up the kids from school...

Sure enough, just after I get back from lunch, I get a call from a flustered Sonya. She was having car trouble and was still at the cottage. I talk to my office controller and take 1/2 of a personal day. I stop at my buddy Chris's comic shop on the way to the school to chat, and arrive in plenty of time to get the kids. We had fun hanging on the playground playing for about 1/2 hour, then went home to play on the new swing set and have dinner.

Shortly after the kids are in bed, I get a call from Sonya. She's had a tire with a steady leak for months, if not years, now. Unfortunately, there are no gas stations near the cottage to fill it up. It was completely flat, so they tried to change to the donut, busting off 3 of the 4 lug nuts in the process - not good for an hour and a half drive. They had a lead on a local guy who could fix it, but not till tomorrow, so once again, I'd be left to do the morning shuffle solo. No biggie, I figure. I handled today fine, tomorrow should be just as good.

Then I heard a heavy, wet coughing in the kids' room, followed by a heartwrenching cry for daddy. When the weather changes as it did yeaterday, it's not uncommon for the kids to get a bit congested, but this crescendoed to a constant hacking cough. My baby girl was sick.

I escorted her to my room and the bigger, more comfy bed and let her sleep there. About 4 am, I got up to get her some cough medecine. At this point, I knew I was going to be taking another personal day from work.

Today, Liam got up and moving, showered, fed, and dressed with nary a complaint. We got him off to school in plenty of time. His baby sister is still sleeping in my bed. I've been popping in to give her snuggles and reassurance. She feels miserable, but smiles when I lie down next to her and give her a hug.

Now's not a great time for me to not be at work, to be honest. I need to start re-building my client list - a LOT! But, being here, taking care of my sick child, I know I'm where I need to be right now.

MDOT is the Debil, Mr. Mom, and other disasters...

2008-09-09T08:09:00.006-04:00

Another week of chaos (but not entirely unpleasant) , for yours truly...

The quartet hasn't had a lot of business this summer. We've had the opportunity to get out and sing, but PAYING gigs have been few and far between. This week I managed to book us 2 gigs: a birthday pary for a 94-year-old and a business event at the Henry Ford. No sooner had I confirmed the gigs, than I get a text from our bass, Big Dave. He landed a job! Great news! The caveat is that it's doing disaster relief for the hurricane-hit regions and he's on call to leave for up to a month. Great...

Thankfully, I had an ace up mysleve. Our baritone and I have filled in on occasion for one of our other chapter quartets, and their bass is retired and flexible. I call him up and he's happy to help (whew!). We rehearsed on Thursday and, after working out some interp differences between his quartet and ours, we managed to come up with an impressive list of songs we can do well. That's the nice thing about having 4 guys from the same chorus. Our "sub" isn't as precise as our "regular", but we were fairly decent. I'm gonna miss the way we could ring with Big Dave as the foundation. I hope he gets back soon!

The weekend started out with mom-in-law picking up the kids on Friday night to spend the weekend with them. Then, Sonya decided to head to the cottage in Canada to help her brother paint it for her parents, leaving lil' ol' bachelor me home to run amok. My drum corps' alumni picnic was this weekend in Freeland, so I figured without the family to be concerned about, I'd drive the 1 1/2 hours north and have some fun with my old corps buddies.

I....HATE....MDOT!!!!

I hit the road about 12:30, after picking up some burgers, pop, and a veggie tray to contribute. I knew there would be some construction - there always is - but figured that on a post-summer weekend, it shouldn't be too bad.

Never underestimate the stupidity of the Michigan Department of Transportation...

They start squeezing 3 lanes of traffic down to one lane over the course of about 5 miles for about 20 feet of active construction. Then they open it up to 4 lanes agin...for all of a mile and a half. Then, back down to one lane again for some bridge work...and so the whole drive went. I passed through 4 sections of my route that were condensed down from up to four lanes down to a single lane. What should have been about an hour and a half commute turned into 3 1/3 hours.

I was just pulling up to the appropriate exit when I looked at my watch. If I was to make it to the quartet gig on time, I had to turn around immediately and put on my Captain Leadfoot cape. I hit the exit, get right back on and head back south (via I-69 & M-53 this time - I'm no dummy), arriving 15 minutes late for the gig. 5 1/2 hours of a gorgeous Saturday of free time shot to hell. Thakfully, they were still eating and hadn't presented the cake yet, so we were good.

The birthday girl was 94 with a bit of dementia, but when we sang she simply glowed. I was nice to see our efforts so richly rewarded. It's amazing, the power that music has. We finshed up, had some cake and coffee and basked in the glow of our warm reception (and the nice tip the gal who booked us gave us).

From there I head to work at the video store. Near the end of my shift, my good friend Paulie pops in and suggests we hang. I grab Fletch and we spent the evening watching a classic Chevy Chase flick over pizza and beer, just catching up. A shiny end to a frustrating waste of a day.

Sunday morning, with the kids still with their grandparents and Sonya still painting the cottage, I hook up with my friend Paulie again and we hit Slow's BBQ in Detroit near the old stadium. We caught up more over the meat and ambiance and had a great time. I spent the rest of the day doing dishes, laundry, mopping, tidying, and (almost) finishing the assembly of the kids' swingset, before driving up to north Auburn Hills to meet up with my father-in-law to pick up the kids.

So endeth my weekend...

...but not the chaos. More to come...

LABOR Day...

2008-09-02T08:10:00.006-04:00

Ah, Labor Day. The official end of summer. One last chance to relive the fun and frivolity of youth by spending some time playing in the sun before the stress and obligations of the day-to-day catch up to you after a well deserved holiday...

...or so it SHOULD be.

Friday was my typical day of working both jobs. I managed to get let go a bit early, but it was still a 12 hour work day. Saturday I managed to take Courtney to the comic book store and grab a few "necessities", before spending the entire afternoon disassembling the final piece of a HUGE playscape Sonya found on Craig's List. I hiked out to Clinton Twp., took it apart, loaded it up, brought it home, went to Home Depot for a few replacement screws and bolts, put it back together, and headed for work at the video store again. On the upside, it was great weather for it.

Sunday, Sonya and the kids were to head up to the cottage so I could have some time to work on my backlog of learning tracks for my adopted quartet in Nevada. I was going to knock out the tracks that evening and follow them up later that evening or the following morning. I planned to bring the laptop with me to the cottage to do some tweaking between dips in Lake Erie and a beer or two. They didn't manage to leave until about 5:30, leaving me little time to work in the evening, other than learning the parts a bit. This left me working on them on Labor Day...ALL DAY Labor Day.

Sonya borrowed my bank card to get some gas for her car on the way to the cottage, leaving me with $10 and a couple bags of deposit bottles. Just enough to pay the toll for the bridge or tunnel on my way up. What I didn't consider was that *I* didn't have enough gas to make it to there, myself. No problem, I'll just carpool with her brother, Jeremy, and save on gas and tolls. Well, he decided to be in the Hamtramck parade with the unicycle club, then spent the remainder of the day hunting down his cat to bring with him. Needless to say, I didn't manage to get to the cottage for my last dose of summer "maxin' an' relaxin'" (not that I've had a single dose of such all summer).

So while waiting to get in touch with Jeremy (who NEVER answers his phone, apparently), I worked on my learning tracks. I started at 10am and before I knew it, it was 7:30pm. I spent the entire GORGEOUS day, cooped inside infront of my computer. No e-mail, no chatting, no TV, no video games - just work. The buggar of it all was that the piece wasn't even that difficult! I should have been able to crank this one out in a few hours, but between my perfectionist nature and a computer crash or two (figurative AND literal) it ended up taking the whole friggin' day! Much of that was likely due to my lack of distraction and tendency to nit-pick my work to death, but still, it would have been nice to enjoy a BIT of the holiday weekend!

About 7:30, I realized I hadn't eaten all day, so I did manage to duck out to return some videos and stop by my friend Jack's place for a barbecue. I spent about an hour there munching on the remains of the now mostly deserted soire and chatting with Jack. That was nice. Then I headed home to finish my final mixdowns. I forced myself to watch some Comedy Central while I did the final steps on the job, just so I could pretend to have done some fun stuff on the weekend.

Only 11, 238 day until retirement!! Woo-hoo!

Oh wait, I'm a GenX'er. We don't HAVE retirement...

Kool Kitsch...

2008-08-29T10:06:00.002-04:00

Sarah Bradley got me this from Claire's. I had her get me one for each of my quartet as well. Freakin' SWEET!

Stuff, Stuff & More Stuff...

2008-08-29T07:47:00.007-04:00

Been a busy week. This is the first time I've been able to grab a cup of coffee in the morning and sit and blog. I usually try to get some "me" time a couple times a week to sit at either the Caribou in Royal Oak or the Bigby Coffee in Madison Heights to either catch up on my blog reading or blog myself, but I've just been too tired. To be honest, I probably could have used the extra hour's sleep, but mental health is important, too.

Saturday and Sunday I spent hanging with my sister, helping with her garage sale. About half of the wares in her driveway were mine, but it was mostly her stuff that sold. I brough some instruments I needed to clear out, which gleaned a lot of interest, but was asking REAL value instead of "garage sale deal" prices. Still, it was fun to hang in my sister's driveway, chatting and catching up with her while catching up on e-mail on my laptop. We're planning our own garage sale for next weekend, for which my sister will be bringing her leftovers so we can return the favor.

School's drawing near for the kids and I'm not exactly looking forward to it. Courtney starts all-day kindergarten next week, which means mornings are going to be kind of crazy. Last year I just had to get Liam ready for school in the mornings, drop him off, and would get to spend some time at the coffee shop before heading to work at 10am. Getting one kid out the door on time was hard enough, but now with TWO kids to get out the door and my new job starting an hour earlier, I expect mornings to be crazier and my coffee time to be shorter. On the upside, Sonya will have some more time to get her stuff done.

School also means Cub Scouts is starting up again. Sonya is extremely involved in the troop and has already been spending a lot of her time planning and attending meetings, as well as organizing popcorn sales, campouts, and agenda. This is going to be a crazy fall. I suppose it's a good thing that I'm not working with a marching band again this year, but I still get that pang of regret when I wake up to a cool, crisp, sunny morning and think, "this will be a GREAT day for rehearsal!"

The quartet has been getting paid gigs a bit more lately. We had a party to sing for last week and it went VERY well. We haven't had much time to rehearse lately, but that doesn't seem to affect us much. We were supposed to rehearse last night, but our baritone didn't seem to think we were confirmed. After hauling myself and my lead to Livonia (about 20 minutes drive) and waiting 20 minutes for him to show, we called him. Living a good 30-40 minutes away, we decided to cancel and go home.

I hadn't been home more than 20 minutes when I check the quartet's e-mail and find a request for our services - a 2 hour stroling gig at Henry Ford Museum. Cool! I call the guys and e-confirm. 5 minutes later, our chorus treasurer calls me with ANOTHER gig, a novogenarian's birthday party. We may have to take a bit of a rate cut on that one to fit the client's budget, but to be honest, if it's close by, we'd sing for free (but don't tell our clients that).

Wednesday was Sonya's birthday. She rarely makes any real PLANS for her birthday or decides how she'd like to spend it in time enough to get and inviting or prep done. This year, she bought a swing set on Craig's List for the kids. Between Cub Scout meetings and my work schedule, the only time we realy had to get it was the evening of her birthday. I managed to get Lou to convince his girlfriend, Linda, to help us and use her pickup truck to get it all the way from Clinton Twp. (30 minutes by freeway). I told Lou to meet me at 6:30 at my place. Lou gets the time wrong, and he and Linda show up an HOUR early. I get home at 6:30, change, and Lou, Linda and I head out in 2 cars to start dismantling. We get there to find it's a very large (not quite huge), but VERY heavy and sturdy wood playscape.

"Oy....this will be daunting."

After taking off the slide and monkey bars/swings off (destroying more than a few VERY rusted bolts and screws in the process), we managed to find about 6 of us to haul the fort section to Linda's truck, with a GREAT degree of strain and difficulty. We spent the next hour or so trying to figure out how to balance it in the truck bed and secure it with the least amount of damage to Linda's vehicle. We put the monkey bars and slide in my car's hatchback and left the ladder section for me to grab on Saturday, as it was about 8 feet tall AND wide and it was too dark to dismantle at that point.

About 9:20pm we finally hit the road and take surface streets at about 30mph to get the monster home, flashers a-blinking. On the way, I call my friend/customer, Dave, to join us for a small gathering/party-ish shindig at my place upon our arrival. We get home, unload the fort from Linda's truck and accessories from my car. Dave arrives just in time to miss the major work and I head out to grab beer, rum, and pizza.

The rest of the evening was just plain fun. We sent the kids to bed after a slice of pizza and sat around in the backyard talking, eating, drinking, and just have a good ol' grown-up time. The evening started with some good productivity and ended with some great socializing. Sonya was pleased...which pleased me.

The weekend is sure to be a flurry of activity as well. The swing set will be assembled Saturday morning, Sonya plans to head to the in-laws' cottage with the kids at some point, I work Ye Old Video Shoppe, and get some recording done for my adopted Nevada quartet to rake in a few bucks, then head up to the cottage afterwards. Hopefully Monday will just consist of just hanging with the family on the beach, maxin' an' relaxin'.

Dat's Some Funny Shit Right Der!

2008-08-19T08:09:00.002-04:00

(Overheard while my son watched Scooby-Doo)

Shaggy: "Hey Scoob! Wanna hear my radio announcer voice?"

(proceed to Casey Kasem's regular America's Top 40 schtick for 15 seconds)

I laughed my ass off and my son was completely baffled as to why.

Religion & Beer

2008-08-12T08:33:00.001-04:00

I arranged to deliver an order myself yesterday to my best customer, Dave, (who happens to have become a good friend as well). After chorus rehearsal Lou joined me to meet Dave at Four Green Fields to drop the stuff and have a beer.

It sounds like the set-up to a joke: a Catholic, a liberal United Methodist, and an Agnostic walk into a bar...

The next hour and a half was a blast. After BSing about business for a short while, transitioning somehow to the ethics of speaking ill of the dead, we got onto the subject of God. We debated theologies, compared and contrasted various religions ranging from Budhism to Catholicism, to the Flying Spaghetti Monster, and (as could be expected from such a conversation) came to absolutely no conclusions...

...and that was perfect. No anger or frustration, no raised voices, genuine interest and respect all around. Best conversation I've had in a long time.

The UN needs to hold their meetings in a pub.

Another boring blow-by-blow of My Weekend...

2008-08-11T08:11:00.007-04:00

Nothing particularly interesting in this one, just another good weekend in my boring-assed life.

Friday, I took off work a bit early to head with Sonya & Courtney to pick Liam up from his week at summer camp. We got a bit of a later start that we had hoped, but managed to avoid the traffic headaches we ran into on the way down. Liam was more than happy to give us a tour of the grounds, eagerly showing us the fire pit, lake, his cabin & bunk (with detailed descriptions of who slept in which bunk).

He had a wonderful time and not many problems. While unpacking his stuff, Sonya found a sheet of paper. One of his counselors wrote Liam a note presumably penned by the elusive "Wild Snuffy", a benevolent and protective creature that wanders the wood and watches over the campers. The "Snuffy" said he had noticed Liam having a few problems with what he considered "fair" in a few situations. "Snuffy" proceeded to give him some great advice and confidence-boosting affirmations to help him cope. It was absolute brilliance! I was extremely impressed and we plan to write the camp, singing the praises of the "Wild Snuffy" concept and giving major kudos to the counselor responsible.

Saturday, I was supposed to take my MENSA exam. I had been thinking about this for a long time - ever since my sister had passed a while back. Sonya and Liam were going to go to the Green Cruise and ride in the parade, leaving Courtney to be tended to. Not being able to take her with me to the exam, I had planned to get a babysitter for her for the couple hours overlap in the time line, but it fell through. Much to my frustration, it turned out that Sonya and Liam didn't get their stuff together fast enough and didn't go. Meanwhile, I missed the exam for no reason and have to wait another 2 months. Grr.

So, I spent the morning mowing the lawn, weeding the flower beds, and trying to be productive. I managed to watch a movie with the kids for a while before heading to work. I worked a bit longer than my shift to cover for a coworker that called off, let Valerie's dog run a bit, then headed home and hit the hay.

Sunday was busy. Woke up at 7am to join my quartet to sing at our bass's church services. We did well, singing with the praise team for the early service, on our own a bit for the second service, and a few of our favorites for the subsequent coffee hour. We added a few more religious tunes to our repertoire for the gig, which is something we'd been planning on doing for a long time. We did a bit better each song and were well recieved.

After the service I headed to the DIA to meet with Sonya, the kids, and the in-laws to see mini Muppet film fest at the Detroit Film Theater. I arrived a bit early and managed to get the attendant to let me wander the museum admission-free while I waited. I've never been a big museum goer. I appreciate good art, but never thought much about it. I only had time to wander the main floor, which holds mostly the older pieces. I found myself being absolutely mesmerized by the work of the early American landscape artists, particularly. The use of light and attention to detail absolutely captivated me. I've always loved breathtaking landscape and nature photography, but to see it through the eyes of one who can truly capture the awe and majesty of God's creation is something that reaches to the core. There's more to great nature than the simple aesthetics can convey. It takes a true artist to go beyond what they see to what they experience. Photography has a difficult way of expressing it (though Ansel Adams does remarkable work with simple black & white). I was moved.

The Muppet film show was a compilation of short skits, stories, and even a commercial from Henson's early work, partnered with his classic telling of "The Frog Prince". This was a choice of my father-in-law to celebrate his birthday. He used to play the record album for Sonya when she was a child and I remember watching it on HBO when I was about 8. We all had a wonderful time and I was more than happy to share my Muppet Mania a bit more with my children. I'm SO glad my father-in-law found this!

Afterward we headed to Slows Barbecue - a small restaurant a few blocks west of Old Tiger Stadium. I can't recommend this place enough. A wonderful selection of microbrews and mouthwatering barbecue that pulls right off the bone. They serve it dry with half a dozen sauces to choose from on the table. Go there - SOON!

After a HUGE meal, I drove Liam home while everyone else headed to the garden Sonya has been tending at a local park. I got home, Liam started a movie, and I just passed out, unable to carry the huge meal in mhy belly a moment longer. A relaxing end to a great weekend.

Unfortunately, I didn't budget in time to do any of my learning tracks. There goes my Tuesday night...

Oh, congrats to Phantom Regiment on the first titel they don't have to share!!! Power to the Old Skool!