I can't believe it's been almost a month sinve I've blogged. I'm about a week away from finishing the mixes for the new CD. I really like what we've done. When I'm done mixing I'll have to point my attention to building out the label and band sites. All work and no golf...

Wow... where has the time gone?

I'm still unemployed but I've also just finished setting up a new venturewith a friend of mine... A recording studio/label. 48 tracks of digital bliss.

My band, Spy Glass Blue, started recording their new CD yesterday for this label in our studio. That's where the times gone.

Can you believe it? I was laid off on Friday and I received a call from a prospective employer at 4:30 pm that same day!

I have a 10:30 interview for a position I can surely fill. I'm also excited because I asked for a lot more then I was getting at the old grindstone. There is a catch... it's a traditional ad agency with a dress code. Ugh...

I should have excellent news from the music front this week. And I do mean excellent!

Wish me luck!!

I join the ranks of the unemployed today.

BTW: That isn't one of the things I was reffering to yesterday

Sorry I haven't blogged for awhile. There's some big stuff brewing. Good stuff.

I've had a dream for many, many, many years. I've dreampt of being the male Sade or a male Sade. I've dreampt of putting out a record in that genre... I think it's high time I make that dream come true.

BTW: Last night, Sade was more then amazing...

I am looking across the street at the new American Airlines Center here in Dallas. Sade is sound checking. I'll be there tonight with Baby X.

I watched a movie on cable last night called Something Wild. There's a scene at the high school reunion where the band (who is actually playing) does a cover of David Bowie's Fame. It was entertaining.

I found this humerous.

It's Monday.

My son turned 13 this morning. Happy Birthday my son!


There were at least 5000 at Six Flags Friday night to see the POD show.

We hung out with the band before and after the show. It was a good time.

On Saturday I kidnapped my old drummer, Samuel West. He was in town to play with his band Stavesacre. It was great to be able to hang out with him and then with the band at the show. Overall it was a rawk and roll weekend.

It's already Friday.

At TOM Fest we got a chance to hangout with Headnoise. I hadn't seen Robert and Edie for 3 years. T hadn't seen them for about 4. Their new CD sounds huge! It comes out next week on Grrr Records.

We also got to say hi to the POD boys after their show. It was good to see them. The last time I talked with them was in '98 right after they signed to Atlantic, so other then MTV, etc, I hadn't seen them since all of their sucess had happened. The best thing about it was that it hasn't changed them for the worst. I got the impression that it's changed them for the best. Is that possible? My former manager is thier manager and they set us up with 10 passes for tonight's show at Six Flags. They mentioned something about 8000 pre-sales for the show... damn.

My Great Kilt came in early this week as well. I have to return the ghillie brouges for an English 7 1/2 instead of the English 8's I ordered and they sent me the wrong sporran so that's going back too. No big deal.

Getting into the Great Kilt (no that's not me) is such an amazing task. How did they think that up? My kilt is beautiful in the County Cavan tartan.

I'm back from Portland, OR

Had a wonderful time. Stayed an extra day.

We couldn't get on the 2pm flight out yesterday so we had to take the red-eye last night. Arrived at 5:15 this morning and then came straight into work. Yup... should make for an interesting day. Oh, I had to leave the wife behind. There was only one seat left on the red-eye last night. She was picked up by our friends and she is apparently back at the airport now trying to get a flight.

Don't look at me that way... she insisted I take the flight to make it in to work today.
;)

This is NOT good.

Is this Harrison Ford guy the real deal or what?

The wife and I are jumping on a plane this afternoon. This is where we're going:



That's right... the beautiful North West. The Columbia River Gorge to be more precise. The TOM Fest to be more exact.

Don't let Mikee know! It's a surprise.

My mom has an email account now and this is her first email to me:

Hi mijo,
Thank you for your note, I really don't know what I'm doing.
Your dad and Cass got me this E-Mail connection.
I love you all and miss you, hope to see you soon.
love Mom

Isn't that cute?

You know what's really funny about this picture?



I got it from this website: Stavesacre Girls.com

Man I hope this kid comes out of this ok.

Why bother? It wasn't killed in sport, it was killed for food.

Many of you may not know this, but, Joe Elliot and Phil Collen of Def Leppard have been playing on and off for the last 6-8 years with Woody Woodmansey and Trevor Bolder (the original Spiders from Mars rhythm-section) in the band Cybernauts.

Here's a peek at a BowieNet interview with Joe:

BN: Top five Spiders era Bowie songs?

JE: First of all, for me this question is impossible to answer, but seeing as you asked..... My Top 5 today is:

1. Moonage Daydream
2. Rock 'N' Roll Suicide
3. Saviour Machine
4. Drive-In Saturday
5. Velvet Goldmine
6. Bewlay Brothers
(oh, go on, pleeeze!)

BN: Top five pre/post Spiders Bowie songs?

JE: 1. Win
2. Silly Boy Blue
3. Buddah Of Suburbia
4. Growin' Up and I'm Fine (I know, I know.....)
5. Little Wonder/Heroes
(I told you it was impossible!)

BN: Have you ever met David Bowie?

JE: Yes, I have had the privilege. Briefly at the Freddie Mercury gig, and twice in Dublin at those secret warm-up gigs he keeps doing there (please don't stop doing them!) Oh, and once at a BBQ at Bono's house, when David got me to go sing "Happy Birthday" with him to The Edge in some restaurant about 5 miles away. You had to be there, you couldn't make it up!

May I also add that Mark Platti (website down - Ed) introduced me to "one of your biggest fans" when Bowie played "H.Q." in Dublin, (1999 warm-up for the 'hours...' album). It was none other than fab Bowie back-up singer, Emm Gryner, who has since become an e-mail buddy of mine. ......Aaaaaaaannnnnnndddddddd has done an absolutely stunningly fabulous piano version of "Pour Some Sugar On Me", which she sent me a while back and had everybody in the band drooling! Nice to see the wheel turning around.

Can you say mullet?

It's Monday. You slither down the greasy pipe. So far so good no one saw you hobble over any freeway. You will be like your dreams tonight...

It was a quiet weekend. Watched way to many movies. Shot another horrific round of golf at the local par 3 18. I suck! The ear is still a bother but not quite as bad. More news about this upcoming weekend later. yoo hoo!

I don't believe a lot of what Amnesty International says and I don't trust them, but this doesn't surprise me at all. When is the rest of the planet, especially the USA and Europe, going to wake up and cut these assholes off?!?

Well, I forgot to take the digi cam yesterday. yeah, yeah...

I shot badly but still broke 100. I shot a 99.

So on Monday night, before going to bed my left ear is bothering me, a bit sore. No biggie I think. On Tuesday at work it's really bothering me. It's all plugged up, swollen, sore and it's a bit painful and very uncomfortable. It felt like i could pull a big bug out of it with tweezers. I figure it'll go away. I wake up yesterday and it feels worst but asprin is helping so I'm doing that but it's really sore and painful. By the afternoon I'm miserable. This morning I go to the doctor and he says I have swimmers ear (damn lake) and sets me up with pills and drops. It's still sore, there's still some pain and swelling and I have a cotten ball wadded up in there to keep the drops from leaking out... my whole left side is plugged up.

Going to watch Snatch tonight.

Life imitates art

I don't think I'll be doing any of this. Drew?

I have an 8:30 tee time for tomorrow. Going to one of my favourite courses with Dan (he got me into the game), his dad Jack and my pal John (one of the JA's). We're playing Steven's Park. They have a really bad site and all the pictures that they have online don't give it justice. It really is a beautiful course so I'm borrowing a digi for tomorrow's game and I'll post the scores and pix just for you, Drew.

So we get to our destination, Lake Quachita, by around 11:30ish Friday night. It's a little less then 300 miles and took roughly 7 hours with a stop for dinner, etc. and we hit a few patches of rain in Ar Kansas, nothing much.

We hook up the rv (gotta love it, 1 garden hose and an electrical plug-in, done) while the JA's set up their tent (we help, of course) and it's off to bed. At around 5:30 am we get hit by a pretty big thunder/lightening storm. There goes my plan to rent a boat first thing in the morning. It rains steadily til around noon. How depressing.

The guy at the marina says they stopped stocking trout over a year ago so I'm going to have to fish for bass. Not something you really want to do without a boat. I go to the shore near our encampment with night crawlers. For the next couple of hours the kids and I get a bunch of hits (pan fish eating the worms off of our bass sized hooks) but no hook ups except for X who lands an easy 3 lb smallmouth on a power lizard. Our only catch all weekend.

Saturday evening/night were delightful weather wise and after a good hearty camping meal we built a mini-bon fire for the roasting of marshmellows.

After an uneventful night and an unsuccessful morning of fishing, we packed up camp and were ready to hit the road by noon on Sunday.

We checked and replenished the automatic transmission fluid but it was slipping in drive. To make a long story short, 4 quarts and 56 miles in 4 hours later, I was seriously questioning if we were going to get home. Finally, after a very stressful afternoon, drive kicked in by the time we got to the west bound 30, getting us home a lot later then we planned, but getting us home.

So we're off to Ar kansas this afternoon with the JA's. Doing a little RV'in' in hopes of doing some fishing.

That's my only goal this weekend; fishing. The lake we're going to, Lake Quachita, claims "...stripers and trout can be enjoyed in open waters and quiet coves.". We'll see.

I'll proabably rent a boat for the day after picking the brains of the marina locals in hopes of getting my fly line wet. The weather forecast doesn't look good for the entire weekend so, wish me luck.

<*{{{{><

Ooops. Some people just shouldn't golf.

How much does this suck? I'd be pissed if I was in the band. Can you say Yoko?

This is too much: EBay halts auction of AndreaPiaYates.com

You've got to be kidding.

If you got into an accident while driving this car, no worries... they would just bury you in it.

There are way to many crimes against children in this state.

Bad Brains...

T saw Gary (Dr Know) walking around. I was bowling. She pointed him out and I decided I'd go say hi even though I had told myself I wouldn't approach the band. It's been almost 10 years since I've had anything to do with H.R. and a good 12 years since I've hung out with the band. I really didn't expect Gary to remember me.

As he walked by me I said "Dr". He stopped, said hello, we shook hands and I told him he proabably didn't remember me. He said I looked familiar and asked me my name. I told him Ramald from Los Angeles. His reaction was so cute, T said. He gave me that Dr Know grin of his, pulled back and lowered his body as if fainting, still holding my hand and said, "Ramald!. How are you?" and proceeded to give me big ol' hugs. It was cool.

He asked if I had said hello to H.R. and Earl yet. I said I hadn't and that I was just there to see the show and I proabably wouldn't and would he not tell H.R. that I was there. He said, "You know you're bound to speak to each other eventually". I said yeah, but... and then he got all mischievious about it, telling me he was going to tell H.R., etc. We talked for about 10 mins about things and then he went to the bar and his cell phone. I went back to my game (bowling).

When he got off his cell I asked him if he'd like to join us at our table. He said H.R. just walked in, he's over there, go say hi. I was, no. I'm not sure if he'd appreciate it, etc. and Gary was like, "that's what I'm trying to tell you, it's all good, blah, blah, blah...". So I said alright.

Joseph (H.R.) was playing this skateboarder game. I was watching him. When he finished he started to walk by me so I said, "Joseph, my brother". He stopped and looked and you should have seen the look of horror and surprise on his face. He stepped back, his body shook and he grabbed his chest and said, "RaMALD...". It was hilarious. He was so surprised to see me standing there, it actually took him mins to finally be able to extend his hand and then hug me.

We made some small talk. Brought him over to our table where T was. He looked like he still couldn't believe that he was seeing us. It was so funny. He asked about the kids (I thought that was thoughtful), commented on how good we looked and how he was glad to see us again, etc. all along with this very surprised look of disbelief and disorientation on his face.

He offered to "break bread" with me. Another good sign that all was well between us.

While the opening bands were playing (quack, quack, qua, quack, quack quack - sorry but that's all the "singer" of the second band would "sing" into the mic), Gary and I and H.R. made small talk. Gary got me back stage and onto the bus to say hi to Earl who recognized me but didn't remember who I was (I thought this strange that Earl didn't remember but Gary did since I hung more with Earl then Gary (?)) - H.R. was doing the smooth operator moves on some chick at the bar (some things never change).

The Show...

The band was amazing as usual even though Earl didn't seem that animated. What truly bummed me out was, I saw the greatest front man in the history of punk/hard-core last night ruin the energy, intensity and sheer awesomeness that is the band Bad Brains.

H.R.'s bonoesque fly sun glasses and camcorder routine while he carelessly slurred the lyrics to what are some of the greatest songs ever written made me want to slap him. It was as if he was mocking the very thing that made him. I felt bad for the band.

They played for about an hour and H.R. didn't give an attempt at singing till about the last 20 mins. He did of course show more interest in the reggae. Let me tell you something: Darryl Jennifer's bass tone is god!

Instead of an encore, Joseph rambled on about who knows what for nearly 20 mins (it was embarrassing) and then that was it.

As I was afraid of, it was a mere shadow of what once was. I would say I saw Bad Brains at 30% last night but we still had fun.

Stage dive anyone?

I treated myself to a round of 18 after work yesterday at the par 3 course near the house. I got through in under 2.5 hours.
I'm still working on that iron issue I mentioned but it is improving. I shot a +11/65... not bad. I still need a lot of improving.

Bad Brains tonight!

Bad Brains tomorrow night. The thought of seeing them is bittersweet. I know it's not going to be like it used to be and I'm afraid I'm going to go see a shadow of what once was.

My first Brains show was in 1983 at the Olympic Auditorium. H.R. was a no show so the bass player (his name escapes me) for Scream (another D.C. band) filled in for him.

The next time I saw them was at Fender's Ballroom, 1987 - the I Against I tour. That was so amazing. I hadn't become a friend of the band yet.

The last time I saw the real Bad Brains was the Country Club, 1989 - the Quickness tour. That was even more amazing then the Fenders show.

I'll tell you how it went.

At the end of the day, I'm just thankful that I still have a job.

ok...

This doesn't surprise me. I am still a DSL subscriber, even after being in DSL Hell!

This should prove interesting if Mr. Government let's him do it.

I finally got something up at Spy Glass Blue.

Check out the new Forum.

Well. Another busy week here at the job.

The song, "Whispering Willow", that I'm playing at saturday's wedding is coming along nicely but my meeting didn't go that great last night. The client will have to postpone their dreams of owning a dream site. So, we pursue 2 more leads instead... ahh, business.

The label was very pleased with the track I sent them for their compilation/roster CD. I'll let you know when it's out and when and where the MP3 will reside. Now I need to build that website.

Going to spend the better part of the weekend working on the kilt site. My baby X is going to be 15 this Sunday... I can't believe it. Where did half my life go?

ciao

Light Machine is mixed down to DAT and going to the label via FedEx today.

Scarborough on Saturday and a round of 9 afterward were barely possible due to the godless summer heat which is upon us and it's only going to get worst. Prepping for Saturday's wedding tonight with the bride to be and my violinist. Meeting with the realtor on Wednesday to finally scope her site project out. ttyl

Wow. It's been 2 weeks already since my last blog. I still haven't seen Moulin Rouge.

I've been hammered at work, working on freelance projects after work and doing a lot of stuff with the fam on the weekends. I've played some golf and I need to update the golf page with the last few horrible games I've played. X and C have been at camp all week and S has been sleeping over at friends so T and I have had some time to ourselves this week. We don't look forward to the time any of our kids decide to move out. That's going to suck...

We, (the fam) have been doing Scarborough on the weekends except for Memorial Day weekend, we went to an SCA event (no, we're not members) - Stepps Warlord. It was our second time. Got a very cool short sword there and some very cool gauntlets. The Scottish Festival is in town this weekend so we'll swing by there tonight after I dump "Light Machine" to DAT and send it off to the label for mastering and manufacturing. Scarborough ends this weekend so we'll be there again. I love all that shite!

More later...

I'm almost finished with the mix of that tune I mentioned. It's called "Light Machine". It needs a couple little tweaks and I'll be ready to mix it down to DAT.

Nicole Kidman was on Leno last night. Moulin Rouge looks like a fun film.

What else... I'm looking forward to doing that site for the kilt barter. I received the content for it yesterday. Tonight I start on a site my wife T landed. Other then that, it's pretty quiet around here. I do want to get some golf in soon. I need to fix the issues I've been having...

So I snuck off to the driving range and course near the house after work yesterday with my son. I broke my 5 wood on the range. The head went flying off.
I've been shooting poorly these last couple weeks. Still having a bit of a problem with my irons. The course near the house added 5 more holes making it a 17 hole par 51. I shot a 75... my goal of shooting from the mid to low '90's by May isn't happening.

I misplaced some recordings from the winter of '97 that were never released a couple months back. I found them a week ago and started mixing them for a label to check out. I'm going to try and finish mixing it tomorrow.

I was able to add to my renfest garb over the weekend. A friend of mine is going to help me make some leather armour ala Braveheart. If all goes well I should know tomorrow about those kilts. 2 more weeks of Scarborough left and then Stepps Warlord over Memorial day weekend. Good clean family fun.

It's Monday...

Next weeks season finale of the Sorprano's looks pretty intense.

This is where I'd rather be: The Byron Nelson. I've been once before. I saw Tiger score a 7 on the beautiful par 3 17.

What a crazy weekend.

On Friday I took my lovely wife T to this bed and breakfast: (sorry for the huge pix)

We ended up spending a good chunk of the night in spiritual warfare. Makes for an interesting evening, that's for sure. All is fine.

At the same time, our city and the surrounding area was getting hit by tornados.

Saturday was more relaxing. Golf wasn't on the schedule and the threat of another storm that late afternoon kept T and I from going to Scarborough for the day. We did have a nice day together, though.

On Sunday I found some unreleased Spy Glass Blue tracks I had been looking for that we recorded in the winter of '97. I started mixing one of the tracks for a compilation that's coming out this summer and we're looking at a full length rlease this fall.

This is it! Tonight's the last night! Who will be the Survivor?.

My vote is for Colby and then Tina, who, by the way, is winning by .43% of the votes (total votes: 267,666) with 47.53% and Colby with 47.10%. Keith has 5.37%.

I got to the course after work yesterday.

For the last 2-3 weeks I'm doing something really funky with my irons. They're not comfortable in my grip unless the club head is "hooded", closed over to the left which is forcing me to hook the ball. I then correct it while I address the ball but then there's a horrible tug of war between my mind and my grip. During my back swing, it feels so wrong/ackward, that I'm actually shifting the club in my hand back to the "hooded" position before I strike the ball. If I don't re-adjust it it feels like I have no grip at all and then that's screwing up my shot as well. I went through a med size bucket of balls on the driving range to try to correct it and I did for a while but by the time I got on the course, I was all screwed up again. This just started happening so I don't know what's going on. I do know that it's freaking me out.

I went to the par 3 course 12 hole near the house and went around twice and shot my typical 96 (par 72). My issue with my irons is definately not helping my score come down. Golf...

The Dallas Stars are completely blowing series 2 of the Stanley Cup playoffs. What a drag.

Good news! The prospective client never saw the problems in the portfolio! I still feel bad that I had those issues but at least the client was spared. Haven't heard a "no" from them so it's still alive and kicking.

Had a great time at Scarborough Faire except for the sneezing (allergies apparently) that lasted 7+ hours. I did get a chance to talk to a vendor from Austin that does kilts; traditional formals and casuals. She is interested in bartering a site for both kilts, casual and formal. They include the sporran, kilt pin, socks, flashes, shoes, skean dhu, etc. The kilt would be in the Cavan County tartan (O'Riley).

Sorry for the login screen yesturday. We were having some server issues.

Never made it to the golf course yesturday. I washed my car instead.

Had a great meeting with a prospective client. They seemed excited about what we proposed and took the contract to go over it. Then I get the call later that night from my inside man that my portfolio section of our site had some errors and problems (doh!) and that the client was going to be browsing through there. I fixed the errors like in 5 mins but the client had already been in there 30 mins prior. I felt like such a loser! Needless to say I haven't heard back from them. I can't believe I dropped the ball like that!

Going to Scarborough Faire this weekend! Highland Days!



Can you say braveheart?

Sorry I haven't blogged. It's been a busy week.

Played golf on Saturday. Showed up with a lot on my mind (bad way to start) and played a horrible game (I'm behind on posting the score cards, I know).

The dot-com crunch is circling around even here at work. Not sure how long I'll be here. Working on some freelance bids I hope go through.

Other then that, my trust is in HIM.

I was able to get through 18 holes in the wind yesturday. I played with a friend of mine and another player that we were matched with.

I played a 9 hole course and went around twice.

On the 282 yd - par 4 - 8th, I sank a 22 ft putt for eagle. That's right, I said EAGLE!
I was on the green in one and made the putt (score card coming).

On the 301 yd - par 4 - 5th (14th hole second time around), I was on the green in one again and staring at my second eagle putt for the day... in my life.
I made a birdie.
It was a good day.

I was +27 for a score of 93 (par 66)

This is going to suck!

Winds are gusting up to 35 mph right now. That's going to reak havoc on my golf game!! You know how hard it is to putt when the wind is strong enough to move your ball on the greens? My card is going to be embarassing...

More new dates have just been announced on the Sade tour. These go onsale everywhere this weekend:
Onsale 4/21: Jul 30 Dallas / American Airlines Center
Onsale 4/22: Aug 4 Minneapolis / Target Center
Onsale 4/22: Aug 5 Chicago / Allstate Arena
Onsale 4/23: Aug 13 NYC / Madison Square Garden
Onsale 4/23: Aug 22 Boston / Fleet Center

YES!

The wait is over for all American Sade fans!
Sade has announced details of her first tour in seven years, starting with seven shows in July.
Below are the first of 30 North American dates. More details of the forthcoming shows will be posted as they become available.

july, 2001
sat, 14 Vancouver, BC: GM Place
sun, 15 Seattle, WA: Key Arena
tues, 17 San Francisco, CA: Shoreline Amp
weds, 18 Concord, CA: Chronicle Pavilion
fri, 20 Irvine, CA: Verizon Wireless Amp
sat, 21 Las Vegas, NV: MGM Grand
mon, 23 Los Angeles, CA: Hollywood Bowl

Not much going on.

I am amazed at the amount of usage I am presently involved with by the Spy in the Sky. It's more then humbling.

So, after C's soccer game on Saturday do I:
- a. play golf with Dan, Robin and John
- b. go to traders village with the family
- c. go to Scarborough Faire with the family

?

We're back.

Inspite of the hillbilly surroundings (pix coming soon), the people were very nice and very hospitable. It was definately a stretching experience. I actually put on a robe and "sang" in the choir of their Episcopalean church. I'll try to avoid that next time around.

Played 36 holes on the hackiest course I've ever played. No fishing was done.

I'm feeling ill. I still came in to work today because I've always thought it bad form to call in sick the day you're suppoe to be back from "vacation". I was already told that if I need to leave I can. I guess my face looks ill as well.

Goin RV'in' this weekend.

(no, that isn't us in the pix but that's what the RV looks like)

Damn! I was sooo going to do this!

I forgot to mention that last Friday night I replaced my 10 gauge earrings with 6 gauge spacers. The plan is to wear 18 gauge rings through the spacers. I might have to go to a 4 gauge spacer to do this. Exciting, huh?

I added my own blog for golf. Thx Drew, for the inspiration.

Our mechanic has been doing some work on our RV for this weekend's run to TN. We're joining some friends to their parents house about 1 hour north of Alabama. Can you say deliverance? Looks like I'll be able to play a round of 18 and get some actual fly fishing in.

Speaking of golf... my brother Drew just put up a golf section on his blog. He's keeping a blog of courses he plays with par and his actual score with occasional digi-pix of the course. I can't wait to do that for myself sans the digi-pix :(

Other then that, I don't have too much time to add pix of any kind on here.

I had to uninstall MSIE 6.x (beta). Pop-Up windows were causing internal browser errors. You would think that something as basic as pop-ups would work. They could have just copied and pasted that part of the program from 5 into 6, couldn't they?

Great weekend of golf on TV. To anyone that would contest the Grand Slam... get real.

No new music. No new movies/DVD's. No new anything... yet. :)

PC Users: Is it time to switch to MSIE 6.x? Find out here.

Very busy day yesturday.

I was able to play a round of 18. It was great to be able to do that aftr a full days work. It only took 3 hours! I shot a 95. Because I know where I'm blowing up, if I can continue to play once a week, I'm confident that I'll be able to shave 3-5 strokes from my game by the end of May.

I've got to get some fly fishing in this year before I freak out!

More later...

Sade was on Letterman last night. She is so amazing.

If you use the "Discuss" feature, be aware that it no longer displays the number of comments. It's a drag I know but going there to see if anyone is leaving comments might help you leave one.

To all my critic's: BlogVoices, the utility that leaves those comments, isn't mine, I didn't write it so the fact that it doesn't display the number of comments isn't my fault. (sheesh)

Guess what I got in the mail yesturday... that's right: PAYMENT! The client sent the check like a good little client should.

Going golfing again on Thursday after work. Now that daylight savings time is here, the sun sets around 8pm right now!

The wife and kids are going to Sea World Thursday-Friday with the father-in-law. Unlike Cali where Sea World is a mere 3 hours from Metro L.A., here in Texass it seems like you have to drive across the whole state. But, Texass has been good for us financially so I shouldn't complain. The Ocean is only 8 hours away!

What else... DB's mum passed away in the last 24 hours...

We're going to pay to get the front yard manicured and totally spruced up. Then the kids can maintain it :) - we're also going to have one of our massive trees completely cut down. It's old and rotted.

If I don't stop now I'll start talking about the weather.

Are you on the 53.4% of golfers list? I thought everybody did this...

Great. Like we really need this to be happening.

Golf on Friday was excellent. The weather was perfect.
I was playing really good and looking at 90-92 till about the 14th hole and then I blew up, never to recover. I still made some really good shots that I've been re-playing in my mind. I'm not sure how I pulled them off.

That client I blogged about the other day... the check should be in my hand this week :)

Spent half of Saturday working on the front yard with T. We have a huge piece of land (.9 acres), at least it feels huge when you're out there trying to keep it looking nice. We were able to accomplish about 15% of what we need to do and that's just landscaping. It's a bit overwhelming. I know I promised pictures but I avoided the home office over the weekend.

So now Bartlesville, OK isn't just famous for being the home town of POD's manager. It was mentioned as being the home town of Meadow's psycho college dorm room-mate on the Sorprano's last night. Talk about an intense show. It lives up to it's MA rating.

A very rare look into the life of Kate Bush. She's one of our all time fav's.

Ahhh, the reality of Reality TV... gotta love it.

Not much going on around here except for all the extra emails and meetings that come wih the new responsibilities...
Tonight I shall brainstorm with the DA2G'ers. Tomorrow I shall golf.

I had to send a client an email today about paying up. Whenever I have to do that I can't help but think about that part in Goodfellas: Your mom's in the hospital and your kids are sick? **** you, pay me. LOL

Can you believe all the crap going on in Cali lately? It makes it a little easier to be glad I got out of there.

It's been a very interesting week at work. I'm pretty excited about it all. No new news really... doing an interview for a zine in L.A., having a meeting with the other DA2er's tomorrow night and a round of 18 on Friday afternoon. I hate to sound like a cheese ball but, life is good.

Ok all you duffers, Mary, Queen of Scots, didn't have it this good!

In case you get bored or your significant other suggest you "do something different" on your next night out: Stop by here.

I'm not sure how to blog this without stepping on toes that might read it, etc. but;

I've had a challenge here at the work place for the last 2-3 months that was making me question my future here, not because of my skills or anything like that but because of the picture this challenge was bent on painting of me.

Well, yesturday that challenge removed themselves from here and how they removed themselves took away any doubt that I or anyone else for that matter, might have had regarding my longevity here and today, minutes ago, I was offered their position. In fact, I would be doing both their role and mine. I am very excited, humbled and grateful. I say this:

I will give thanks to the LORD with all my heart; I will tell of all Your wonders.
I will be glad and exult in You; I will sing praise to Your name, O Most High.
When my enemies turn back, They stumble and perish before You.
For You have maintained my just cause; You have sat on the throne judging righteously.
The LORD also will be a stronghold for the oppressed, A stronghold in times of trouble;
And those who know Your name will put their trust in You, For You, O LORD, have not forsaken those who seek You.
Psalms 9

Let me give you some unsolicited advice:

1. Never - NEVER, I don't care who it's for, if there's money involved, never do ANYTHING without a contract. You're better off if you "insult" them upfront by whipping out a contract and waiting for them to sign it before you do ANYTHING. That way, in 5 months when they're trying to screw you...

2. Never - NEVER assume your people understand #1.

3. For those of you in the market for a "web site", take note:
� whateveryouthinkisarealwebsite.com wasn't built in 3 weeks
� whateveryouthinkisarealwebsite.com wasn't built in Dreamweaver, FrontPage OR GoLive. If it was, whateveryouthinkisarealwebsite.com isn'tarealwebsite.com
� whateveryouthinkisarealwebsite.com wasn't built for $5k. If it was, whateveryouthinkisarealwebsite.com isn'tarealwebsite.com
� whateveryouthinkisarealwebsite.com, in spite of what you think you know, you couldn't build in 4 hours using Dreamweaver, FrontPage OR GoLive. If you could, whateveryouthinkisarealwebsite.com wouldn't be arealwebsite.com

whew... this thing is handy... LOL

"It's Monday
You slither down the greasy pipe
So far so good no one saw you
Hobble over any freeway
You will be like your dreams tonight"
db

I haven't heard that song in quite awhile.
Another great dinner with friends at what has become "Soprano Sunday" at our house (pix to come). Another great episode. Can you believe Ray Liotta recently turned down a part in the Sopranos to concentrate on his film career? I think he had an issue with working for people that had bit parts in Goodfellas. It's not like he's made anything noteworthy in the last 3+ years.

The Contender was good.

I had a very lazy day today. See ya

I put up an animated .gif and blogvoices. Hopefully you'll use them.

My CF programmer, Kim, showed up around midday in a Ryder with his new bride. They didn't stay very long considering they came straight here and she still hadn't seen her new house. If all goes well we'll (we'll = our little shop. it presently consist of Kim, Sean and myself. Sean's a scratch golfer...) should have 3 new gigs within the next month or so. One of them you've heard of but I'll wait to share until it happens.

Going downstairs to watch The Contender on DVD. I'll tell you if it sucks.

Good Morning

Interesting... I've had about 70 hits in the last 20 hours.

My CF programmer was suppose to pull in last night from NJ in a UHaul truck with his week old bride. They never showed and they haven't called. I hope all is ok.

Rain today. No golf

Doesn't this seem a little extreme?: "mad sheep" seized in Vermont

I'm all for public safety but tests are expected to take two to three years!

I wrote a huge entry and lost it when I tried to post -

I was saying how bored I was here at work with little to do and I thought I'd share a little so, here I go again.

- I'm a So Cal native
- I've been in Texas for the last 6.5 years (another story)
- I just turned 37
- I'm married with 3 children
- we just bought a bitchin' house
- I'm ready to go back into the studio.

For the last 30 months I've been an Internet guy fulltime. I do frontend design/production with middleware/backend integration. I've done alot of contract/freelance, some gig's with firms and I have my own shop that specializes in rich media/entertainment type web work. I've been contracting for the last 4 months at a global conglomerates' Internet shop here in Dallas as an advisor/integrator. The money is good.

Prior to the Fall of '98, I was a "rock-star". I recorded records for record companies, I was on the radio, I toured the country, etc., etc., etc.. I've had the priveledge of working with some amazing talent, I have the loyalist of fans and I've been an innovator in my own right.

The hardest part about my new "eLife" is hearing about some legit rock star that's a fan of my work or that I've influenced someway while I'm stuck doing the 9 to 5. Or I hear about how so and so is on tour, doing the festival circuit or I'll be asked to do the same but I'm "stuck" doing the day job routine...

There are at least 3 things that get me through the day in my new eLife...
1.
2. My family is intact, and
3. I've done a lot more in the last 15 years and have had a lot more success doing it then the majority of those trying today and/or tomorrow.

How lucky can a guy get?

BTW: #1 will come up in this blog eventually.

P.S. Don't mis-understand me. I am extremely happy with and in my eLife... somedays I just need to remind myself.
:)

Ever wondered if your Home Theater system was up to par? Find out here.

I just got into work.

My youngest daughter, S (11) , had the tubes in her ears removed this morning. I went with her and my wife, T. They gave her some medication to help ease her before going under. I must say it was pretty hilarious watching and listening to her as it kicked in. The actual proceedure took less then 15 mins but it took her well over 30 mins to wake up and then another very uncomfortable 30 mins watching her come out of it.

I was actually feeling light headed and queesy as she wept and mumbled in her extrememly disoriented state. It was horrible. She finally started coming around after shooting her up with something to combat the anathesia (sp?). It wasn't fun.

She's doing good and gave me the ok to come into work after promising her that I'd take her to Olive Garden for dinner tonight. She's grown up so fast... Oh yeah, she took her doodle teddy bear in with her and had all the nurses and doctors sign it. Her comfort zone.

For the record: My oldet daughter, X (yes, her name really starts with an X) is 14.5 and her brother C is 12.5. I've been living with T for 16 yrs now. We've been married 13 yrs this October.

Ciao

Well... I've actually spent time working on this.

I have friends downstairs over for dinner who have started the movie without me.

I've got to go.
Cheers

Is this thing going to get me in trouble?

ok. I think I have this figured out.

I do want to add a textured background of some kind after wrapping this dynamic page within a frameset which will allow me to make manual updates such as recent desktop, CD's, DVD's, etc., like my brother Drew has done.

He suggested that I blog months ago, so... thanks Drew. Let's see where this takes me.