Last Show Of The Week

The show went well last night. Today's producer show will cap off the first week leaving everyone a much deserved few nights off. The cast has weathered the toughest week of a show well and survived to receive two standing ovations for their efforts.
Great job everyone!

The nights off will coincide with the return of Shark Week on Discovery Channel! What a great week this is! Yeah there have been some Shark Week flops before and lots of repeats however this year should be a benchmark for the annual marathon.

Yes there will be some repeats in there from previous years but overall it's still an enjoyable week of marine biology with these ancient predators.

Recipe For Success?

I've been a casual observer of bad reality shows for a long time. Here's the recipe for a moderately successful show, and yes mediocrity is a bar they strive for.

You take a high maintenance "star", surround them with incompetent helpers, and hit the red button on the camera. It's actually that simple. I'm watching, I take that back Amy is watching Nail Files about this woman who has a nail salon called The Painted Nail in Los Angeles. She has an assistant, a publicist, and has been celebrities visiting her store.

Every tiny little thing causes a meltdown mainly due to helpers who don't help much. For example while dining at a very posh restaurant after a stressful day of fixing her assistant's mistakes of not paying the utility bills she gets a call from her assistant saying she is quitting. Now a minute ago she was telling her about how she doesn't trust her anymore and complaining to the camera about how much responsibility she has to take on as if she were Atlas himself. Now she is having a meltdown because the incompetent person quit!

She literally said the line, "How much can one human being take in one day?!"
Gee I don't know, why not ask the starving kids in India about how much they can take in a lifetime. You incompetent, self indulgent, vulgar, elitist, fake drama queen!

That's the drama. It's again that simple! I'd actually love to be a show runner for a show like this. I'd love it. I'd point actual reality out every second of the day to these idiots. I'd take every single foot of tape and design it to put the "star" in the worst light possible.

Anyone wonder about the decline of civilization? Yeah, this is a reason.

Rain!

Opening night went very well! The cast and orchestra melded together for a very good show! Over all it was solid despite a glitch or two here and there. Nothing major and nothing the audience would point out though as they don't get scripts to follow before a show:)

The cast party at Jamal's went very well. A rowdy time was had by a few while a good time was had by all. Jamal always lays out a great feast of cast party food as he loves cooking for others as much as I do. We said our goodbyes a little after one AM and headed home for the evening.

This morning I arose a bit after eight and put on a crock pot meal of roast, potatoes, an onion, and a sliced carrot. Along with spices and some beef broth it'll be finishing up late this afternoon. Just in time for a great comfort food meal before heading up for the second show this evening.

All in all it's been a fine week albeit busy week. I knocked off early yesterday afternoon to try and rest up before opening night. It helped, I had the shop in pretty decent shape.

This morning we also had an unexpected surprise. Rain! A full fledged rainstorm complete with thunder and lightning! I was going to mow this morning as some parts of the yard are needing it a bit but that's not happening now. The garden is going to grow very well now though! The squash looks amazing, the weather has been too hot for much tomato growth but the plants are doing well and growing great. The purple tomatillos plant is growing like mad! Next season we'll get things going much earlier as they are supposed to and add more staple crops like onions, potatoes, and such.

I plan on adding two or three more gardens next season as well to really get a lot of crops in the ground. It's about a month away from planting garlic which I cook with a lot. I've been investigating what kind to get, I'm sure there will be more than two or three varieties when we decide to buy.

Opening Night

Things went better last night than all previous shows that I've sat in for. The lights will be tight tonight, the actors and show the same.

I'm looking forward to going to bed tonight and waking without the alarm tomorrow. That'll be nice! It's been a long week for sure and now it'll be a nice weekend. It'll be a busy day at work, I know what's there to do.

All in all it's a satisfying feeling though to tech one of these shows. This show is a big show, lots of cast members and it's the season ending show. It's the finale and as such it should be remembered.

Hopefully the audience will be sold out, most summer musicals are sold out but with the Obamaconomy as it is I wouldn't be surprised to see half full houses either. Extra money is scarce with high gas and food prices right now.

Final Dress Tonight

After tonight it's showtime! The show is gelling and I'm sure the final bugs are ironed out this evening. I made a couple of more tweaks to the lights and a couple of more notes for myself.

I should be perfect this evening and for every show after this. As for now I'm getting ready for another day at work. I'm tired. I woke up tired. I'm mentally drained even though my body is willing.

My shop lacks air conditioning and it's be particularly busy this week. Lots of priorities and me to carry them out.

I've still got my loving family, The Date is still enrolled in school this coming semester, and we're going to do alright. Breaks are hard to come by right now but we'll survive the lack of them.

Another Long Night

Thing 2 and I left the theatre again around ten thirty. That makes for a long night and short sleeping hours. I hit the snooze button this morning twice.

The show was much better from last night, I expect it will be better again tonight before final dress tomorrow. Right now Jet is in my lap staring up at me, he had a long morning so far (about ten minutes) of running, chasing the big cats, and attacking anything that might move.

The rabbits are fed and have water, the dog is outside barking at who knows what, and I'm ready to go back to bed. Can't do that though so I'm going to stop and get a coffee and paper at the quick shop on my way to work. That's actually my custom to do so but depending on how hot it is I sometimes get a coke instead.

I'm more than a little upset with Speaker Boehner's debt ceiling plan. It essentially raises the debt ceiling by a one point five trillion dollars and cuts the same amount from spending. It will last until next April and really sounds like a wash to me. The simplest way to do something like this is to promote first a congressional reform act as I've blogged about before and then a ten percent spending cut across the board. Lowering the debt ceiling would be nice along with repealing fully Obamacare. The cherry on top would be a balanced budget amendment!

And that's why I wouldn't get along with anyone in Congress if I were ever elected.

Long Evening

The start of tech week went well enough. I got there at five thirty along with Thing 2 and we helped Tech Guy with the final stage preparations. We adjusted curtains and gave our best effort in getting an air conditioning unit going again.

After that I went to my perch in the tech booth to start loading cues. There's around thirty cues so it was easy enough. It was the first time I have seen 1776 since I'm not a theatre fan nor a musical fan so I had to find my way in the dark for a bit.

I believe I'll blow one or two cues tonight just because I'm still on the learning curve, by Thursday's final dress I'll be golden though.

I'm still sleepy and even hit the snooze button this morning. That's really pretty amazing for me as I'm usually awake and alert a few minutes before the alarm goes off but lay in bed regardless. That's the joy of tech week, and that's what we sign on for when we do a show:) It's a satisfying tired and a tired you can be proud of.

Tech Week

Tonight kicks off tech week, the busiest week of any show. The tech crew is brought on board to set light cues, tweak backstage prop wrangling, and get things set for opening night which is Friday.

It'll be a long week of long evenings. The show will be gone through with a fine tooth comb to get everything as polished as it can be. Tech week is also why I'm being selective with the shows I do now, it's a lot of work and demands a lot of time from you.

Fortunately Thing 2 is also stage managing and I probably would have been there anyway to either drop her off or pick her up. But we've got another show together and we'll both be there for it. I can't keep that girl away from the theatre, she'd actually live there if they'd let her. An old cot upstairs in the apartments/prop rooms and she'd be the happiest person in the world.

By the time her theatre career is over with here she'll be part of maybe fifty shows in come capacity, she's on pace for that many and she's going to be a freshman in high school next month! Yeah, she loves her theatre family!

So tonight 1776 gets the tech treatment and I'll be in the booth with my polishing rag.

Worked Hard Saturday

In the morning Tech Guy and I set up the lights for the summer musical and in the evening T and R came over and R and I cut down a tree in the back yard. He cut it down and Thing 2 and I hauled it out to the street for pick up by the city.

Hopefully they'll pick it all up this week and get it out of here.

Nothing much going on today thankfully.

Nice Evening

We visited with T and R along with Court and Mrs. Beersnob last night. Then we came back home and Court and Filmmaker Friend Chris came over and we just had a fun ole' time!

Nothing but a fun conversation and good memories!

After I came home from work I did catch President Obama pitch a fit on TV about the debt talks breaking down. There is no deal in place but they had come close. 3.7 trillion dollars over a decade? Yeah, that won't happen. Any time politicians can put off spending cuts to a later date they will because they won't happen.

We have a fourteen trillion dollar national debt and a 1.3 trillion dollar deficit this year alone.

Hear this, ANY DEAL must start with congressional reform first and foremost. Congress must be forced to live under the same rules they impose on us. No super sweet retirement pensions, no lifetime health care, no keeping of the campaign war chests. They should serve as intended and go back to the private sector and live with the rules they helped create.

That is the absolute starting position these talks should take.

Woohooo!

Yesterday I painted an entire aircraft, well the first coat anyway. We ran out of time before we could get to the second coat. It's been a long time since I've done that and it felt good that I could still do it well, fast, and efficient!

I was a walking sweaty bundle of clothing after though. I came home and took a shower. Caught a few winks on the couch and then headed to Third Thursday to run the sound for a night of guitar playing.

It went fairly well, a couple of technical glitches here and there but overall a good show. I'd change out the guy who plays at the end and put him in the mix somewhere else though. He's got a high smooth voice and he's a great player and singer but I don't care for his stuff. Everyone else loves him though so he'll probably close the show for many more shows.

It's Friday and I'm so happy that it is! Right now Jet is chasing Baby Kitty around the house. She'll go hide and Jet will poke around and stalk her, very funny for a kitten that's less than a quarter of Baby Kitty's size. Scotch is camped out somewhere and ready for a long day of naps.

I'm ready to put in my eight and kick off the weekend!

Third Thursday

Woohooo, one of my favorite days of the month!

Tonight is an acoustic guitar show at the theatre and I run tech for it! It's really a great show and anyone is welcome to come up on stage and play. The talent is solid and the songs laid back.

This heat wave is taking a toll on everything. First of all my temperament at work. My fuse is shorter and shorter each day. The fact that we are short handed while other shops are overstocked with people just infuriates me anymore.

It's hot and it's going to stay hot for weeks apparently. Our streak of days over one hundred is in the thirties now I believe. The paper said the record for a streak like this was in the nineteen fifties. So it's not unprecedented but that doesn't make it any cooler either.

Very Busy Day

First of all it was a hot and busy day at work, that lead into cleaning and organizing the apartments above the theatre that are used as prop rooms now. They were filthy, dirty, dusty, and hot as well. A handful of us attacked them though for the second week in a row and are making very good progress.

In a few more weeks they'll be organized and much easier to access for everyone in the theatre. After that I checked the lights for the musical 1776. I liked how they were set for the most part but will have to make a couple of changes. Mostly the gels will have to be switched out on the light bar in front of the stage.

The pickles are very good but I would like to change the recipe a little and add less canning salt. It called for a quarter of a cup for a gallon and honestly you can taste it and it taste competes with the garlic, onion, and dill and that shouldn't be happening. The second thing I'll change is putting them into the fridge immediately as they are crisp and crunchy but not as crunchy as the last batch from the alternate recipe.

This evening I'm making homemade grilled pizza again. It won't happen next week as I'll be in tech week rehearsals for 1776. So this week is it for a couple of weeks for Wednesday night cooking!

Pickles

The pickles have gone into the fridge this morning! That means as soon as they cool off all day they should be finished! They'll be cold, very crisp, and garlicy, oniony, dill goodness in a jar!

It's hard not to love a good crisp pickle, I actually enjoy looking at the jar with the pickles and spices around it. It just looks amazingly delicious and makes you hungry for more! Next season I'll be planting several pickling cucumber plants and I'll make gallon jars of them.

They are easy enough to do in large or small quantities. They really lend themselves well to making big batches of them.

Tonight I feast on pickles!

Early Morning

I've been awake since nearly three o'clock this morning but in that morning sleepy daze. Aware and awake but still sleeping in a way. I made Italian Beef yesterday and that's what I plan on having for lunch for a couple of days.

It's just an incredible and easy recipe to put together and let cook for hours. Get a roast, a crock pot, some sweet pepper rings in a jar (up to three jars depending on the size of your crock pot) a packet of zesty Italian dressing mix, a little beef broth, and the rest with water to cover the roast.

Put all of the ingredients into the crock pot, roast on the bottom and pour the jars of peppers over it as well as the dressing mix, pour in a little beef broth, and let cook for ten to twelve hours on high.

Take a fork and separate the beef, it should fall apart very easily but get the fat out of there. Scoop out the peppers and put them onto the beef and mix them with the meat, again with a fork. Serve on dinner roll or a bun. You'll be in meat lover's heaven for a good twenty minutes.

The Date and I watched the first season of Breaking Bad yesterday and then Thing 2 and us watched Insidious. She's been wanting to see that for a long time so we rented it and gave it a spin. It was ok but I believe Thing 2 is getting to the age where she realizes horror movies aren't really scary anymore. The Date even said it wasn't very scary. I thought it had a decent story, it crossed over into hokey a couple of times though.

The really bad bad guy that they were setting up the movie for really didn't do much in the end. That kind of sucked as it would have been more fun to unleash that creature instead of letting him almost disappear from the screen.

Breaking Bad is a very good series. The first season is only seven episodes long but we both believe we can get into it. Yeah it's a tough subject to watch as it involves making meth but it's really got enough humor to offset a lot of that horror. It's got drama by the shovelful though and situations pop up that really make you either laugh or cringe or both.

Give it a watch.

Pickles And A Wedding

While I was out getting a haircut yesterday The Date and T had gone to the farmer's market and she brought home a surprise for me. A bag of pickling cucumbers! So I found a different recipe and got right to making a batch of Claussen Clone pickles!

I used this recipe right here this time instead of the recipe that I used last time. The recipe last time was stellar, I just wanted to try something different. There is no shortage of Claussen Clones out there and I'd like to try as many as I can find.

This one was a bit easier as it used less spices and had onion in it while the last one did not utilize onion and had more spices. This one called for fresh dill heads and canning salt, the last one did not use much salt and used dill seed and crushed dill weed.

I did add a tablespoon of red pepper flake to one jar to spice them up and see how that goes. This recipe is also done faster, they set out on the counter for three days first and then go into the fridge for another day. That's four instead of seven days. This recipe is for a full gallon of pickles while the previous recipe was for each quart jar and was a bit more expensive to make as it used more spices.

So now they are on the kitchen counter and I shake them up to make sure the cucumbers are fully covered at all times. After that we attended a wedding.

Hollywood Actor and Red got married last night. It was very nice and the reception was great as well! World famous opera singer Leona Mitchell sang Ava Maria and it literally made everyone weep with how beautiful it was. It was so cool as she took the stage and walked passed the microphone and filled the hall with her voice only.

A great time was had by all! Thank you both for allowing us to be part of such a great time!

The Weekend And Grilled Pizza

Yes it's Saturday morning! We've got a wedding to attend this afternoon and Thing 2 has set call this morning. I'm going to have to get part of the lawn mowed, the rest I'm going to have to water so it doesn't die off.

The pets are all fed, coffee is brewing, and I'm blogging. It's the right kind of morning, the kind where you wake up! Last night I fell asleep around nine o'clock on the couch and woke back up close to midnight when I decided to head off to bed.

The Date had bathed the bunnies earlier in the evening, then we went to get some new air filters for the air conditioner. It was kind of slow at work but a few important jobs came in that had to be done quickly.

The other night I made pizza on my Big Green Egg. I learned a lot and plan on making it this coming Wednesday as well. Wednesday is typically the night where a couple of people come over and I make a nice meal. I love cooking for people, it's really one of my favorites things to do.

I know I need to do a couple of things different, first I didn't have enough fuel for the Egg to reach the 450-500 degree temps it needed to get to. I'll need to clean it out and start with a fresh bunch of lump charcoal. It hit 350 for a short time and could maintain 300 easily. That made for a longer cooking pizza on the baking stone. It tasted fine but I know I can do better.

Next I need to butter the crusts so they brown up a bit instead of being done and looking undone. Third I want to use a different sausage and possibly make my own pizza sauce. We used Boboli which tasted really good but it was sweet like Papa John's. I like tangy a bit better and found a recipe for that and I want to make it.

Everything else worked just fine though. The dough recipe was simple:
2 cups of flour
3/4 cup of hot water
1 tsp of fast yeast
1 tsp of salt
1 tsp of olive oil

Let it rise for a half hour to an hour and put a dab of oil on it so it doesn't crack when it does rise. Then you flatten it out, any old shape will do, spread some oil on it so the sauce doesn't make it soggy, then sauce it, add cheese and your toppings. If your grill is at the right temperature then it should take around eight to nine minutes to finish up. Oh and make sure you cook your ingredients such as raw meats first before putting them onto your pizza.

Drain the grease off of them for a while and your pizza won't be greasy like delivered pizza is. I microwave the pepperoni first for about thirty seconds and let it set on paper towels to get degreased:) It makes for a LOT better pepperoni pizza! Grease isn't floating on top of everything that way.

Grilling pizza is just that simple.

The Alarm Is Off

It always feels great to turn the alarm clock off on a Friday morning after you get up! It's a lot like meeting a goal successfully. Yesterday was and today is going to be very busy at work, I'm the only one there in my shop. My coworker has gone to a cooking contest at Fort Worth.

It's ok though, I can handle things by myself. It just gets very busy because without fail everyone wants something at the same time and it has to be done right then.

Regardless today is Friday, payday Friday in fact and it feels good! The kitties have been fed and now are running around the house at full speed chasing each other. The rabbits are eating their timothy hay and nicknacks. Zip is outside watching the morning arrive. Me, I'm typing this out to you and getting ready to meet the day.

I hope you have a great day and a fine weekend!

Here's To Not Caving In

The debt talks are taking front stage this week in politics. So far very little progress has been made. Both sides are agitated with the other side because they won't give in. Time is on the conservative side though as if they hold to their line of deep spending cuts and no taxes then it'll happen with or without a deal.

No deal means there will be automatic deep spending cuts as the debt is the first thing to get serviced and it will be serviced as money will still flow into the government on a daily basis. Obama wants taxes raised though but is refusing to cut his record amount of spending.

Senator Obama voted against raising the debt ceiling but President Obama is singing a different tune. I can't hold that against him though as he was against President Bush's war efforts but has continued every Bush wartime policy. Things are different from the campaign trail than they are after you swear your oath.

However that goes only so far, the Tea Party put into office a massive amount of conservatives with one united goal, cut federal spending. Not only were they put into office on the federal level but at the state and local levels as well, liberals are scarce in the halls of government now. That's a good thing but conservatives are going to have to stick to their campaign promises and rein in government and it's overreaching powers.

We are taxed enough as it is, all three levels local, state, and federal. When I can't pay my bills no one steps in to help so government will have to live under the same restraints as the rest of us, conservative and liberal alike. Normal American families are hurting right now and jobs are scarce, the economy is tanking after the bailouts AND the stimulus package. The Obama administration hasn't got any bullets left to try but to raise taxes which is its ultimate goal anyway.

The problem is he can't. Conservatives hold the House and they won't cave in to any tax raising pressure, hence the standoff. It'll be interesting to see how much in spending cuts happen now and in the future, Obama is stuck and must deal with the House on the Houses' terms now.

Half Way!

Perhaps I pay too much attention to the day of the week and getting through the day. After work we went to the theatre and started cleaning the upstairs apartments which house all of our props. It was dirty, dusty, and very hot work...until it rained!

Then half of the electricity went out and eventually all as we were about to finish up. We got a good jump on the place though and soon it'll just be organizing things. I came home after and took a shower. I was filthy and sweaty. I fried up some potatoes and onions and had supper.

The Date and Thing 2 were at the theatre for auditions for a teen show. It'll be a traveling show to raise awareness of teenage problems. The Date will have to play one of the adults in the show while Thing 2 will get a part, we just don't know which part yet.

Back to the rain for a moment, it was sweet! It was a heavy rain for a bit and really cooled off the triple digit temperatures. I didn't have to water the garden or anything, it was very nice. A welcome reprieve from the oven baked surroundings of nature.

As I type this all three cats are in their post eating crazy phase. The littlest, Jet, is chasing around the bigger cats and having a great time! The other two have accepted him in just under two weeks and have played with him nonstop. Both are big enough they can hold Jet down with a paw as he fights them so that makes it especially funny!

How The Garden Grows

It's really doing well! I believe the beans I planted have died due to the heat but everything else is growing and blooming! The grape tomatoes are doing well and they actually taste very cool! They have a sweet flavor to them and are smaller than a cherry tomato.

The bigger tomato plants are still growing right now and doing their best against the triple digit heat. I make sure they get plenty of water in the mornings and usually cool them down again when I get home for a little bit. I don't want to over water them but in this heat they need water too.

I think I planted squash because that's what looks like it is growing in one square. I thought I just planted beans but I might have changed that up some. The cucumber plants are doing well as well as the purple tomatillos. We'll have a ton of sweet potatoes for sure! I hope Thing 2 likes them as much as she says she does!

Begin The Grind Again

This hot weekend is over and a new hot week begins. I was baking a ham late afternoon yesterday, which reminds me it needed to cook perhaps another hour as it was still wasn't quite as tender as it should have been, when R knocks on the door.

We'd been expecting him as T had texted to see if he could borrow a rake from us. I sat the rakes out and thought it was him picking it up. Instead he was dropping off. He had a roof vent with him, the spinning turbine kind. He must have noticed weeks ago when we were installing the window that ours didn't turn anymore so he brought a new replacement and we installed it.

Fast job too, fifteen minutes we had the old one removed and the new one secured and it was spinning away. The Date packed up half of the ham and R went off on his merry way:)

Rehearsal is going very well for The Date. They had one yesterday and Thing 2 and I had her very prepared. We ran lines with her all weekend. Three times from me alone we went through from the start and I believe Thing 2 took her through once. She'll have her lines down and be off book very soon!

Hot

It's just hot out, it topped one hundred fifteen yesterday and got up to one hundred seventeen in some places around the area. That's dangerous, deadly hot. It'll repeat today so stay inside, drink water, and be safe.

All in all it's been a quiet weekend. Last night I made an appearance to Hollywood Actor's bachelor party at the theatre and enjoyed a few nice hours of fun and frivolity with friends. Filmmaker Friend Chris arranged everything and I believe everyone had a great time!

I delivered my music video project product yesterday evening around six. She was happy with the final cut and I made her a few extra copies as well to pass out. It was really a fun departure from what I'm used to and what I've done. I'd shoot another one again in a second if the opportunity came up!

A Good Morning To You

I've got one video project to wrap up this weekend that I traded a set of family portraits for. Work for work essentially. After that I've really not got a lot to do after. Beersnob and I have been waiting on a reply from our contact in Texas about our super project but it's been a week thus far and no reply.

I was going to get a shooting schedule hashed out with him but he said it's a very busy time of the year for him and his family. I know he'll get back to us as he has every time but right now I'm optimistic we can get it worked out and shot very soon!

I'm glad it's the weekend but I'm pretty well rested and don't really need the weekend to recuperate.

I'm watching Jet run around the house, stumbling plenty in his wobbly little gait. The seven week old kitten is a bundle of energy, unfocused kinetic energy! He'll be a great addition to our other two cats and all in all a great addition to the family:)

One Day Of Work

Well the past two days have been an adventure, I'm glad it's over with and we've returned home safely. The herd of pets we've got were also happy upon our return home!
Jet didn't really notice other than no one was there to feed him as much as he'd like.

Court came over twice a day and took care of everyone though and stayed for a couple of hours to make sure they didn't get lonely:) She's such a sweet person and thank you very much Court for doing that:)

I hit bed last night around nine and I don't think I tossed or turned one bit. I was out out out. The Date caught a nap on the way home, well pretty much everyone riding did at one time or another but me. I can do pretty well at long distance driving as long as we stop for bathroom breaks once in a while.

I work today and then I'm off for the weekend with no plans that I know of this weekend either. It'll be nice!

The Warped Tour

I don't think I saw anyone over the age of twenty three or twenty four go into the show. I'm positive they got younger.

As the teens streamed out no one appeared to be over seventeen. We were remarking on who had the worst sunburns as they walked past our parking place. One particular couple, again seventeen at the oldest walked past as I was reading lines for The Date's show had a pretty bad sunburn.

The Date heard a thump and I looked over the book and saw the boy laying in the grass with his girlfriend fanning him.

The Date got out and walked over to see if he was alright and he wasn't. He either collapsed of heat exhaustion or low blood sugar as he had not eaten since earlier in the day. She came back to our ice chest and got him a Powerade and a package of sliced apples with a caramel dip, both were ice cold. Then we took a pillow case and soaked it in the cold water and placed it around his neck. He was shaking so badly and weak he could barely chew anything. The Date alerted the firemen who were standing outside the gates who summoned the event's medical staff.

After a bit of time he was sitting up ok, getting a little better and his ride arrived. His girlfriend waved to us and off they went, hopefully to get him more to eat and drink.

We also had a very pleasant visit with two people from my past. They predated The Things one and two. I am very proud to see how wonderfully well they are doing, and while I'd like to say I had some influence on how they turned out I can't. I didn't have them long enough to make that difference but they are great now:) Wonderful family and one family starting out with what looks to be a promising future ahead!

I'm glad after the chaos they endured that they are well adjusted and happy adults:) The world is a better place because they are in it!

Country Boy

Today we'll be traveling to Bonner Springs Kansas to the Warped Tour this afternoon. That means I'm writing this Tuesday evening as we are leaving by five in the morning. I'm fine with early hours driving, I'm more of a morning person anyway. That's when I'm the most creative and the most alert.

However I'll just not have the time to get everything written out in a timely fashion. The subject of this blog is Aaron Lewis and his song Country Boy. The official video seen here features Lewis singing along with cameos by legendary country stars Charlie Daniels and George Jones.

Lewis proudly sings about his upbringing outside a small Massachusetts town. It's not Staind at all, the flavor isn't depressed nor hopeless, instead it offers glimpses into his rugged lifestyle as an individualist and self sufficient. That's America my friends.

It's not preachy but it's not lyrically complex either, instead it plays more like a modern version of Bocephus' signature anthem A Country Boy Can Survive. Instead of Lewis' nine or forty five Hank sings of a rifle and a shotgun. The album cover in Lewis' video even features the album cover of Hank's Greatest Hits.

A very pale but more contemporary attempt is Dirt Road Anthem by what I'd consider the developmental league of country music. Neither the heart nor power is present in such top forty trash. Anthem is a strong word as forgettable is more applicable. The testosterone fueled anthems by Williams and Lewis aren't even in the same category as Aldean which is seemingly more along the lines of movie of the week.

In fact when Aldean drawls out biscuits it's actually laughable while you actually know that Lewis lives the lifestyle he sings about. It's heartfelt and genuine and that's the difference. It's as if Aldean has painted his portrait in pale and sickly watercolor pastels while Lewis and Williams have laid out masterpieces in deeply saturated oil colors.

All in all that's my blog today and as we've just awoken to undertake this trip for Thing 1's birthday the family is all astir and waking. We'll return home Thursday afternoon so wish us luck and I'll report back tomorrow:)

One Day At Work

This is it, I work today and then tomorrow we're driving Thing 1, to the Warped Tour tomorrow by Kansas City.

We got a hotel and are coming back on Thursday. It should be quite the experience, The Date and I aren't going to the concert or anything like that but probably looking around to see what is to see.

Yesterday was spent around the house, then we went over to Witchy's house to swim for a bit with Court. After that we drove down to the park and met R and T to watch the city's fireworks show.

Got out of that and traffic and got back home around eleven. All in all a nice holiday!

Happy Birthday America!

Two hundred thirty five years ago we broke away from England and King George. America went on to become the most amazing country ever founded. Now it seems that I read reports that America is descending as the world's lone super power and it on track to become an also ran or average in a few decades.

There are entire genres of books dedicated to a post apocalyptic America, while I do read these and find myself looking at them as sort of a text book for preparation, I also firmly believe if it ever happened it would be a long ways away provided the dollar was never removed as the world's reserve currency. Then it would be a short fall into a more chaotic world.

That is something that the world doesn't really want though, they want clear leadership. They want the knight to come to their rescue when they need it. They want that knight to come from a shining city on the hill and that is America. It's very true we used to innovate everything here in this country, many things are now designed here and outsourced to other countries for production where they don't have the EPA hoops to jump through or the oppressive tax codes that prevent innovation and spur further production.

As I type this there is a debate in Congress about the debt ceiling. This debt ceiling is almost a boogieman or sorts as it is a limit Congress set upon itself not to go above. The GOP wants trillions of dollars in spending cuts while the Dems want tax hikes to fill the gaps. There is a clear standoff and it'll likely end with a compromise deal of sorts to temporarily raise the debt ceiling.

So what happened? Did the Founding Fathers foresee how far America would come? Did they see what kind of wreck our government would become, how corrupt, how singleminded it would become with partisanship?

I think they likely did. There are so many warnings in the Federalist Papers as well as specific amendments against an oppressive government to keep it in check. In many many ways the federal government has overstepped its Constitutional boundaries. It's massive now, spending more in a few hours than what our Founding Fathers had to spend in lifetimes.

Now what has evolved is that the more radical liberal Dems see the Constitution as an obstacle to be overcome or gone around while the GOP sometimes aren't any better at it. The true facts are that both sides are riddled with politicians who get elected and go on to become self serving leeches instead of servants of the people, no matter how well intentioned.

Both sides are just as bad, they both have people who benefit from backroom deals, fill bills with riders that benefit their districts, and enjoy the company of lobbyists way too much.

If I ever lost my sanity and ran for Congress the first thing I'd author and the fastest to be shot down was to replace the Congressional pension program with social security. Every single Congressman would live under the same rules they impose on everyone else, period!

No massive retirement program for servants of the people, they would then be inclined to go back to working for a living after serving and wouldn't impose rules that oppressed industry rather than using ideology as their guidelines. They would literally be servants once again as intended.

However I know that is a pipe dream as there are too many self serving politicians that would make sure the bill would never see the light of day.

America, baby we've come a long way, we've got many more good and great decades ahead of us. Yeah we're hitting a four year pothole now but hopefully we'll have lots of fiscal discipline come from this and many more good unforeseen things!

A Day With Jet

Jet and I napped, he got a bath, we played, and we got fed. He crawled on my lap, how to climb up onto the couch and almost jump off. He did jump off of the couch once, landed on his little head and rolled over onto his back.

Unfazed he trotted off to jump into his kitty cube. Jet is so tiny he frequently falls over when he isn't concentrating on walking. He gets fed about every two to three hours and takes long naps.

Yep, it's safe to say Jet and I are bonding well:) Baby Kitty is still jealous but we give her a lot of love and attention, Scotch is adjusting well enough. He likes newcomers to the family. Zip wants to play and the bunnies are oblivious.

All in all life is good.

Up Early

Teehee needs a hand this morning with his moving van so I volunteered to give him that hand and get up early on a holiday weekend. I'm awake at this time anyway so it's no big deal, might as well help him out:)

We also have a new arrival to our family of two teens, one dog, to rabbits, two cats, and now one six week old black kitten I've named Jet. He's still so small he'll knock himself over if he sneezes. I couldn't name him Rocket after my last beloved kitty but Jet is close enough.

He's having quite the difficult time right now washing his face and staying upright. Sometime today he'll get is first bath. That'll be an adventure. Cabaret was pretty good last night. I stayed for half of it, Thing 2 wanted to go home early so I took her home. I went back because there was a family onstage singing gospel and I wanted to see the rest of their set. Amazing!

My first day off was very nice, productive, and now I'm ready to tackle the second day!

Busy Day Off

I got up and edited the shoot from last week for a photographer friend this morning. I set it to music and essentially made a music video montage. It took around four hours after digitizing to sync up the clips with the music. She was happy with it when delivered but we are going to add some higher resolution pictures and double the of stills so I don't have to repeat them twice.

After that I purchased a small air conditioner for our bedroom as there are three full sized windows and two face a very hot southerly direction and bare the brunt of thermal force from the sun. It makes our bedroom very hot. I paid our bills for the week and filled up with gas and got a car wash.

Now after a busy working morning I'm going to post my blog, sign into League of Legends, and play away the afternoon on my day off, the first of a four day weekend!