Blowing off the cobwebs...

Ok, in my defense....ehhh, forget it. I have no defense. I suck. But, there are other blogs out there that have gone longer, so oh well. Let's just move past this sad little point.

So, let's bust out the ever-effective point-by-point method to catch you all up on what's new:

• Lamplover got into the school she applied for. BIG YAYS!!!
• Christmas passed happily with good friends and family, and we all ate too much and drank too much.
• I have a new roommate - haven't gotten a good pseudo for him yet. What say you, oh Unfortunate One? Did you have any not-too-embarrasing monikers for him we could use on here?
• Serenity is out on DVD - go buy 5 for your friends. While you're at it - get Firefly on DVD too. They rock.
• I finally finished Insomnia. Great book, of course.
• I started reading The Chronicles of Narnia after seeing the movie adaptation of The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe because the film reminded me of how fun it was to read the story when I was a kid. I'm a bit bored with it now that I'm on the second book, but I'm determined to trudge through all 7 in the series. Perhaps it'll pick up again.
  
• Found out my mom has yet another difficult health problem to struggle with...I don't know who she pissed off in another life, but she must have been one evil little creature, cause she's getting an undeserved heaping of shite in this life.
• It's a new year - 2006 - onward and upwards...

Illness and the Impending Mall Trip

I've been sick for over a week now, thanks to a particularly tenacious little flu bug that is making the rounds here in Texas. At first I thought it might be allergy related, since the weather was still warm and I didn't seem to have any flu-like symptoms aside from the runny nose and sore throat. But, much like the warm weather, that theory is just a memory. I've had body aches, fevers and chills along with the continuation of the aforementioned sore throat and it's new buddy, a deep chest cough. Ugh. The worst part of it is, I've been so busy with a very important video conference at work, that I can't take time off to rest and heal properly. I have upped the amount of fluids I've been taking in and have tried to make sure I'm getting more rest than normal, and I think that has helped. But damn - I can't wait to have this flu pass. Maybe I should look at the bright side: that I've dealt with this strain of the flu, and hopefully won't have another for the rest of the winter. Well, I can hope not at least.

Christmas is coming quickly this year - I haven't had the time (or money for that matter) to do all the shopping I'd like to do. I've picked up a couple of presents already, but still much shopping has to be done, and apparently most of it will be done with a couple of days to go before Christmas. For, as much as I'd like to get the shopping done early, the bills won't wait due to the holidays. Grrr. Ah well - it will keep the tradition of this year's 17th annual December 23rd Mall Blowing very much alive. Perhaps this year it will catch on even further! It's easy to do folks. You need to get as many people together as you can, go to a mall on one of the busiest days of the year and do your last minute shopping. One key thing you must buy, however, is something for yourself. Because, the 23rd tradition is a rather selfish one. In addition to the shopping, you must go out for lunch with your group of friends, and also take in a movie. It can be done as a rental, but going to the theatre really makes the tradition much more fun. Leave comments if you plan to do it - I'd love to hear if there are others celebrating my group's little self-determined holiday.

Lighters in the Air, Please

You Are an Emo Rocker!

Expressive and deep, lyrics are really your thing. That doesn't mean you don't rock out... You just rock out with meaning. For you, rock is more about connecting than grandstanding.

What Kind of Rocker Are You?

WiredMonkey Writes

I hadn't realized so much time had passed between my last post and today. As the old idiom goes, "Time's sure fun when you're having flies." Well, it's something like that.

Part of what has aided my failure to notice the rapid passing of time has been a renewed interest in reading and writing. whup! Hold your tongues, smart alecs! There'll be time for illiteracy jokes at a later point. The big monkey is talking.

Yes, it hasn't really been ground shaking or life altering in it's implications as of yet, but I've realized I'm wasting away my life in a job that I will resent (despite the fact that it probably IS a decent job) because I'm not doing what I would love to be doing. I'm not crafting with words. I'm not out there building stories, instead letting them rattle through my mind on their way to oblivion, all because I'm afraid of taking a chance - or what is much more likely...too lazy to take a chance. It's a lot of work figuring out the many kinks and convolutions in the world of publishing. But, if I don't do it soon, I'll never realize my dreams. And that is something I think I will really end up regretting. Extensively. So fuck it, man...let's do this thing up right.

I started with a book I've been meaning to read for about 4 years now - Stephen King's On Writing. LampLover saw me with the book a day after I started and commented it was a good, insightful read. I said, "shhhh...I'm reading." She hit me. It all works out for the best, I guess. Anyway, she was spot-on in her assessment of the book. Stevie has a way of cutting through all of the excess and getting right at what is important, whether it be in a story or just an interview. He provided some good pointers and allowed the reader to see how he works and the processes he follows. I think it will be a pretty helpful weapon in my arsenal when I sit down to do this. The key thing I took away from the book was something I've always believed, to an extent. In order to be a good writer, you have to be a good reader. I really need to step up the volume of books I'm reading. The last month or so has been good - I've packed the latest Harry Potter book and the Stephen King book under my belt. I've finally picked up Neuromancer by William Gibson once more. I haven't picked it up in about 4 years, and this time I'm giving it a good go. My goal is to try and get up to 52 books a year again - a very attainable goal if I read every day, which I'm doing.

So, after a few months of heavy reading, I am going to start tackling the task of sitting down and working on my fiction again. Short stories, scenarios...anything to get the juices flowing. Maybe just more blog entries as long as it's descriptive and in a prose style. My goal will be 1000+ words a day to start and ramping up from there until I'm writing at about 2000 words a day. That, along with my job and tiny social life, should keep me quite busy.

Wish me luck folks - hope you'll enjoy the increased (and hopefully improved) writing that is to come.

Oh, yeah...and we're in the house now. W00t!!

This Weather is Downright Un-Texan...Thankfully!

It's wonderfully cold here today. Not the type of cold that the Northeastern U.S. typically sees in October, but nonetheless, a nice cold temperature that is very unseasonable for this time of year. The WiredMonkey is thoroughly enjoying it. Earlier in the week, I was having the argument I sometimes have with myself as my hair gets longer: do I want to shave it or do I want to go pay $15 to a stylist to make it look good, and not all one length like some sort of organic Q-Tip? I opted to stay home with my clippers and save the money. So, when cold weather hits, the top of my head is usually the first to complain. Last night, I was walking Hunter on his appointed rounds, and actually felt the need to dig out a winter hat. A "tuque" or "toboggan", if you will, though I'm not fond of either of those words, particularly. Okay, tuque is just fun...but not toboggan. This morning, when deciding what to wear to work, I actually decided upon a sweater. It's nice when you get to wear the clothes with sleeves in Texas - it's not something you can count on, necessarily.

Tonight, if the temperature holds, I plan on finding a nice warm spot on my couch, mixing myself a drink to warm my insides, and curling up with a nice book. Reminds me of Autumn Days past...

Speaking of which, I was showing some co-workers slides of pictures of Maine Autumns. *sigh* This is the time of the year when I miss my home state the most. The weather is chilly and the mornings have a bite to them, if not actually producing frost. You can see your breath in front of you and the tingle in your cheeks from walking around in the cool air. The whole reminiscing made me a tad homesick. So to any of my Monks (or Pseudo-Monks) out there reading this - enjoy the weather and hometown for me, cause I'm missing it quite a lot right now.

In Honor of Hockey's Opening Day

Best. Site. Ever.

P.S. Go Stars!!!

For My Inner D&D nerd....

Mystic Theurge 40% Combativeness, 46% Sneakiness, 70% Intellect, 52% Spirituality

Brilliant and spiritual! You are a Mystic Theurge! Score! You have a prestige class. A prestige class can only be taken after you�ve fulfilled certain requirements. This may mean that you�re an exceptionally talented person, but it probably doesn't. The Mystic Theurge is a combination of a cleric and a mage. They can cast both arcane and divine spells, and are good at both, making them pretty terrifying on the battlefield. They have more raw spellpower than just about any other class. You're both intelligent and faithful, but not violent or deceitful. I guess that makes you a pretty good person.

My test tracked 4 variables How you compared to other people your age and gender: You scored higher than 18% on Combativeness You scored higher than 73% on Sneakiness You scored higher than 52% on Intellect You scored higher than 66% on Spirituality

Link: The RPG Class Test written by MFlowers on Ok Cupid

Long time no blog...

LampLover and I enjoyed our first NHL hockey game in over a year on Wednesday. My dentist, a season ticket holder who just happens to be the coolest dentist around, called me up at work and offered me his tickets for the evening, as he wasn't going. It was a great night for it - the hottest day of the year, culminating in an evening temperature in the 100's, made the prospect of a game on ice sound very tantalizing indeed. And, hey, it's the Stars! What's not to love, pre-season or not? I'm pretty happy with what the rule changes in the NHL have produced: the games are much faster and exciting. The Stars played a rather sloppy game against the St. Louis Blues, but managed to pull out the winner in overtime, 5-4.

Work has been keeping me busy with lots of jobs that aren't necessarily under my list of job duties. This makes for a stressed-out and annoyed monkey. LL hasn't enjoyed my mood because of it either, I'm sure. I'll be thankful when the large project I'm working on currently is finished this upcoming week, and I can let loose with a large sigh of relief. Things have been going well though, and today I was even rewarded with a small praise pellet from my boss. He came by and told me I had made myself quite the asset to the company and we would have to rearrange my schedule soon to be more in line with the corporate timeline (9-5, I guess). Regardless of the daunting prospect of earlier mornings, it made me smile.

Oh. And my asshole dog bit me again last week. I say that half in jest...anyone who knows me knows I love my dog...it's just that this biting issue is getting really old. It's about the 4th or 5th time he's bit me now. It's a good thing I love him, or he would have made the final trip to the vet years ago. LL suggested we get a training collar that he wears all the time now. It has made him a much better behaved job and he is starting to understand what is expected of him.

Welcome Back, Hockey

Today is a very good day, despite the fact that it is a Monday. Normally, I would hesitate to label a Monday as a "very good day", but it is hard not to do that when hockey has returned.

Yes, today my very own Dallas Stars, and many other NHL teams, have officially returned to the ice as they open training camps around the nation. The Stars will hit the ice at their official practice home, and location of one of the newest and shiniest of the Starscenters. I am going to do my best to get up to a practice by the end of the week. All of the practices are between 10am and 2pm, so I don't know how much luck I'll have at catching them until this next weekend, but I'll do my best. I'll be sure to take my camera if I go so everyone may get a glimpse of hockey through my site.

LampLover and I went to one of the Starscenters this last weekend to hit the ice. It had been over a year since I had been on the ice, I sadly realized once I was on. But, it was very much like riding a bike: after a few laps around, I was able to do crossovers and switch back and forth between skating forward and backward and of course doing slide stops. It felt wonderful to be skating again, and I truly loved it. I'm hoping to start doing the puck & stick times they have at the centers on the weekend, and try to get myself back into shape slowly. Eventually, I'll try and get back into league play by being a substitute for a team and perhaps find a good group of guys who are looking for an out-of-shape defenseman slash forward and whip myself back into good fitness while having a great time.

High Pump Prices Give Me Gas

Gas has gone up once again. This time, presumably, under the pretense that the devastating Hurricane Katrina that has pummeled the southeastern United States has crippled our domestic oil production and therefore is deserving of a .25/gallon raise in price. The oil companies are telling the gas stations and convenience stores that in order to get their new loads of gas, they must raise their prices. So, they are forced to do so in order to even have gas. I'm sorry, but there is no way that the price of gas has been effected so quickly that it has necessitated a quarter per gallon raise in one day. Everyone seems to have their theory as to why this is happening now. Today, on a local radio talk show, I heard one person espouse their theory that gas prices are rising because of the automotive makers latest "employee discount" sales strategy. There are somehow "more cars" now on the road so we need more gas and that supports an upturn in gas prices. At least that theory was good for a laugh. It's about the only laugh I've had regarding the entire issue.

President Bush has stated his interest in exploring the idea of tapping the U.S. oil reserves to take some of the pressure off the American pocketbooks. This is precisely why we have built these reserves in the first place, to my understanding. When an event occurs to disrupt oil production, we have resources to lean upon until the situation can be repaired. To quote the above article, "the reserve was established to cushion oil markets during energy disruptions." Sounds exactly like this is the case. So, why is this even a topic to ponder? We have to think and decide if this is a "natural disaster"? I believe the folks of Louisiana and Mississipi will tell you it certainly is, and would be supported by the rest of the nation. The article also aims to correct the misguided notion that gas prices even should be effected by Hurricane Katrina. Again quoting the article: "The expected move would be designed to give refineries in the area a temporary supply of crude oil to take the place of interrupted shipments from tankers or offshore oil platforms affected by the storm. It would not be intended to keep a lid on soaring gasoline prices." I guarantee if this happened last year at this time, being an election year, we'd be paying just over $2.00 a gallon now, and not closer to $3.00 as a nation, because this is about as "hot-button" of a topic as the war here in America right now.

Anyway, I really dislike being political...but this whole subject has me really agitated right now. I miss living in the northeast where I could make a tank of gas last a week very easily. Living in a big city that is so spread out like the Dallas/Ft. Worth metroplex, I use 4-5 gallons a week easily, and I don't even travel that much right now. *sigh* I guess I can cling to the hope that my favorite fillup station, QuikTrip, will keep the prices low. They're always the lowest price, plus, they have the yummy drinks. Love me some QT drinks! Mmmmmmmm....Orange Cream-Vanilla slushes.

Movies and Snoozing...

This last weekend passed very quickly for a time space that was filled with such a dearth of activity. Nonetheless, it was still enjoyable. I tend to prefer the weekends that leave me and LampLover home relaxing on the couch/bed/floor/dog.

Friday was recovery from a long day at work - I stayed up watching movies with LL. Once again, Vince Vaughn didn't disappoint. We watched a silly little flick called Blackball in which he plays a sports agent. The premise of the movie is rather absurd, but not implausible in this day and age. A young Brit is destined to turn the sport of lawn bowling into England's second biggest sport because of his brash, rebellious attitude and amazing skill. Wacky hijinx ensue.

Saturday we slept in and then puttered around the house. LL went to work out, as she does most everyday. I'm so proud of her for being able to stick to her workout plan on a regular basis. I am horrible about being faithful to a workout schedule, especially lately. That might explain the belly. Anyhoo - Saturday night we watched Kung Fu Hustle, which was really very entertaining. It flirted with being a bad movie several times, but the artistic direction in it was so brilliant that it managed to keep us both engrossed and left us quite happy we had watched the film by the end.

Sunday, I was very lazy. I slept until early afternoon. I haven't slept that long in a LONG time. I could cling to the flimsy excuse that I was up until 4:30am, and really I didn't get much more than 8 hours of sleep, which is an acceptable amount of time to sleep, but that's really pretty sad. By the time we were both awake and I had dressed and walked Hunter, it was 2:15pm. We had 15 minutes to make it to Cafe Roti - the Indian-style buffet that LL and I had planned to visit - not enough time. So, we drove around trying to find food that wasn't horrible for us (fast food) or too expensive (most everything else). I was not a good boyfriend...let her down by having us miss the Indian Buffet in the first place...which made ME sad too, cause I really like the buffet. But, we had to let it go - it's time was past. So, we scrounged around the house for food and then met up with Da Cheat to look at some houses. Da Cheat is buying a house and BurntoutZen and I will be his roomies in the new casa, if all goes according to plan (crosses fingers and knocks on wood). LL, Da Cheat and I met up with BZ, and we visited 3 houses. We believe we have narrowed it down to 2 houses, at this point, and one of those may potentially be unavailable. So, we very well could have picked our house this weekend. We should know for sure at some point this week.

That New Blog Layout Smell...

{inhale}

...wait for it....

{exhale}

Ahhhhhh....oh yes, the pleasant aroma of a new blog. Or something. Well, I guess just picking out a new layout would be more like Fabreze-ing a used car, but you get the picture.

I felt a good change was needed, and hopefully this will be embraced as such. New fonts, new design - definitely more modern in feel, and that keeps in line with the spirit of my posts. Feel free to leave comments on what you think of the changes (good/bad/indifferent) if you have seen the old one.

This just in...

Not quite a real post here - just photo updating y'all.

I finally updated the Flickr page with toobing photos - they're viewable if you click on the link I just gave you, or you can click on the Flickr flash box on the left-hand side of the blog.

Thank you. That is all.

I'm Alternative to Alternative

Well, not really. There's nothing particularly ground-breaking or revolutionary about my newest fascination. But, it's still kind of an "indy" thing and makes me feel counter-culture. So, I giggle about it on occasion.

What I'm talking about is the new Podcasting phenomenon. LampLover got me my first mp3 player for my birthday, and it's great to listen to all my mp3s on, as I have thousands...but one of the other new, fun things to do is check out podcasts. The genre is sort of a mix of ham radio, college radio and MTV's old show 120 minutes. But, what it lacks in polish and flair, it often makes up in humor and just good, old-fashioned great music. One of my favorite 'casts so far is a show called Accident Hash. The dude that runs the show, C.C. Chapman, does the show from Boston, MA and seems to have pretty good taste in music from what I have seen so far. I've heard everything from local New England bands (which I miss - lots of great places to see small shows up in the northeast) to bands from Oklahoma, Washington state and California. By listening to his show, and others like his, I've stumbled upon some bands I never would have heard before. Some merit no more listens than the one I give on his show, but others are very good and worth hearing more. You can download the songs from the Podsafe Music Network he is a part of, or you can go and do what I would recommend - support the band and buy an album.

In the last week and a half, I've found several new very good bands, and have found a new "indy music" side of myself I had kind of given up on, due to lack of resources and time. Podcasting has made it very easy to get back into the small music scene. And, it sticks it to big corporate radio at the same time. Bite it Clear Channel! hehehe...

Happy Birthday to Me...

So, last weekend was my birthday - the medium-sized 3-1. Ugh. It's taken me a while to post everything, mostly because I've been playing a game of catch-up since returning home. It's amazing how far behind you can feel after only being gone for four days. But, things are finally returning to normal just in time for another weekend. MUCH less action this weekend, which is fine by me. I need some unwinding time. I do have to say, though, all in all, last weekend was one of the best of my life, hands down. My friends rock.

BurnoutZen started planning the trip a couple of weeks ago and we had only some loose structure to the idea - go to Austin, hit 6th street and have some fun, and take a trip to Shiner, all over the course of a weekend. Simple but brilliant. Brilliant! Slowly over the course of the following week and a half, the plan started to form a bit more structure. A timeline was formed: We'd drive to Austin, stay with LampLover's friend from college at her house north of town, meet up with another group of friends who were coming down to do some toobing on the Guadalupe, hit 6th street with them that night, meet up with my sister the following day to do something and then, before heading home on Monday, go to Shiner and tour the brewery. Rock!

It was one of those rare plans that managed to stay mostly intact and be very successful all at the same time. We ended up toobing on a branch of the river called the Comal (a branch of the Guadalupe), but the area was fantastic! (the "toobing" link will take you to the website of some person who I don't know, but their pictures look similar to the ones I took - I should have mine by next week sometime, if all goes well - check back).

The portion of the trip where we did something with my sis was fun too - We got to tour a cavern to the Northeast of San Antonio - Natural Bridge Caverns. I had never been exploring through caverns before - it was really fun and pretty educational too. Afterwards, we went to the Riverwalk in SA and went to Hooters (yay!) and had drinks at a piano bar called Durty Nelly's (DN doesn't get a link, cause I'm mad at them - they put a hold on a large chunk of money from my debit card and it caused overdraft fees 4 days later. So, while they're fun and it was a great time - you'll have to google them yourself if you wanna see them).

A good amount of pictures from the outing have already been posted for your enjoyment. I went out and got myself a Flickr account, which seems to be pretty cool. If I start doing more pictures, I may have to upgrade myself to a pro account, but even that is reasonably priced. I've heard good things about the site from friends, so it should be a good investment. Anyway, in the meantime, I have a free account and you can see the photos. Just take a look on the left hand side of this main page, and you'll see a little flash display of the photos. Click one and it will take you to the my area on the site.

I can't thank BZ and LL enough (since they were the chief orchestrators and perpetrators of the weekend) for making it such an amazing weekend. They were generous to the point of martyrdom, willing to do anything I wanted to do (and cheery about it) and supplied their own great personalities all weekend, which turned the fun on the weekend up several notches. Thanks again!!!!

That said, another weekend is looming, and, as I remarked earlier - this one will be much less hectic. Last weekend, over the course of 3.5-4 days, we drove 1,000 miles and visited dozens of people. This weekend's goal - 10 miles and maybe 2 people. Enough...time to veg!

A Poultry Affair....

I, chicken, take you,game hen...

The scene above was from this past Saturday's party held for LampLover. LL celebrated taking another round trip on this fun rock we call Earth, and so I pulled together a little soiree for our guest of honor. We had a lot of good drink (enough so that many of us had a very rough Sunday). Our meals even got in the action a bit - the Drunken Chicken above (compliments of BurntoutZen) are sitting on some mighty uncomfortable chairs, if you look closely. But, what was a tight fit for them ended up as a fine marinating/roasting method for us. The birds came out quite tasty (thanks Zen) and along with the little snacks we had, left everyone very happy, I think.

LL opened presents and then had an unfortunate meeting with her nemesis, Vodka. She had sworn it off for quite some time, but decided that for her birthday she was going to attempt making her beverage of choice the official drink of James Bond - vodka martini (shaken, not stirred). After a few hours and 3-4 martinis, LL was all smiles and quite droopy eyed. She made it an early evening and cashed in her chips near 11pm.

The rest of the party continued bravely on (bless our souls), and in the early hours of the morning, I closed the door to Chez WM on the last party goer leaving (and locked in the couple crashing on my couches) and crashed.

The morning did not dawn gently. It rolled in around noon and invited a loud percussion section...and punched me in the gut several times. I'll spare the gory details, but needless to say I was not a happy camper. Almost 31, and acting like I was almost 21. Ugh. No wonder I don't do the all night drinking thing very often....

But, big picture - FANTASTICALLY fun party with lots of great friends...and Lisa had a good time (despite being sad that she crashed early and had to miss out on visiting with friends and mingling. She was feeling a bit guilty the next morning about it, but we assured her that friends understand and the Birthday Girl makes the rules.

Besides, there will be a chance to make up for mingling with friends and enjoying food and drink when WM takes it to Austin for his 31st this coming weekend. More on that to come...

Alright, listen up you primitive screw-heads!

Tonight. One night only. Appearing and signing copies of his new book at the Northwest Highway Barnes & Noble.....

THE Bruce Campbell.

*trumpets blare and awed faces sit slack jawed at the magnificence of the moment*

Oh yes. I'm gonna go get me Ash's autograph! w00t! After a particularly long and crappy day at work, this might just be the thing I need to balance it all out.

That is all. Oh, and remember - Shop smart. Shop S-Mart.

Unkymoods no more?

As you might see...my "how I'm feeling" section on the left is blank right now - when I went to Unkymoods to see why it wasn't linking, it hooked up to a godaddy.com page...apparently there is something gone wrong. Hope they're aren't permanently gone. If anyone has info on what happened or perhaps can suggest a similar site to use in the interim, please leave me a comment!

Update (7/11/05): Unkymoods is back up now and working as well as ever. Please go see them for all your emoting needs for YOUR blog and/or website. Nifty little place, it is.

Kaboom!

The Fourth of July weekend was a fun one. I'm not a super-patriotic person, but I'd say I'm moreso than your average joe. I don't ride around with "support our troops" stickers on my car, though I do. I don't fly a flag at my apartment (would be tough, anyway), but I certainly love seeing when people do and I love our flag. As an American, though, I'd say I'm fairly informed as to what is going on the world, knowledgeable about our history and the events that have shaped this nation into the country it is today. I can tell you where Missouri is on a map and point it out for you (go ahead and laugh - it puts me in a small percentage of my countrymen). Yes, I'd say I'm relatively patriotic, but not overboard.

I think you're required to be overboard to live in Texas.

There were roughly 12 firework shows this past weekend to celebrate our nation's Independence Day. Think about that for a moment - imagine the money that was spent on the combined arsenal for these shows...it's a little scary, but impressive at the same time.

LampLover and I settled on seeing a show close to home - the fact that it turns out Kaboomtown is one of the largest and best shows in the nation is all just icing on the cake. I called up BurnoutZen to join us, and we readied ourselves for fun. The town of Addison always does a great job on their events, but Kaboomtown is one of my favorites. They let you bring your own blankets, chairs, coolers, food and even beer to the event, and the admission is free. That's a rare thing in these days.

The show was on July 3rd, so we had a day to sleep in and recover after a fun night of celebrating, and we prepared to take advantage of it! LL and I loaded up the cooler with lots of goodies (chicken from Popeye's, Shiner and plenty of water) and prepared to brave the heat. We arrived at the park around 5pm, and the temperature was hovering right near the century mark. With the heat index factored in, I think we were somewhere near 105 degrees. A cool breeze teased us from time to time, but for the first couple hours, there was little to keep the heat at bay. We were very happy we had lots of water, in the end, since we would have been quite dehydrated if we hadn't brought it along.

In addition to the sun, relaxing comfy chairs and delicious Shiner & chicken, there was great music to be enjoyed too. The first act, an army band from Oklahoma, played mostly marches and hymns, but they were enjoyable as I don't hear them often. The second two acts were more in tune with my tastes - Five Times August, a local acoustical one-man band that is starting to get play in larger media (MTV's Laguna Beach to be specific - I had only heard about the show, just reading about it now as I hyperlinked it - but apparently it's all the rage with "The Kids") performed for about 45 minutes. I really liked his music; his style is very similar to that of John Mayer (as LL aptly pointed out) but with a bit more pep to it. He was selling CD's and tshirts, so I picked up a disk and got it autographed by Brad - he's very young (just out of high school himself) but is very likeable; was very gracious to be playing in front of a large audience and thanked everyone he talked to. He's playing again in a few weeks at some more local free shows, and I'm sure LL and I will be going again. After 5x August, the headliner of the show took the stage: Jackopierce. JP has been around for about 17 years, known mostly as a "college band", but receiving radio play in smaller markets around the country. They were decent, but I wasn't bowled over by their performance. Their set was pretty short, as daylight was running out, and after a speech by the mayor of Addison, the fireworks were set to commence.

The fireworks show lasted for about 25 minutes and was choreographed to music by one of the local radio stations, Jack-FM. It was a very enjoyable show...lots of oohs and ahhs, and with the enhancement of Shiner, was a lot of fun. My roomie, The Cheat, showed up with his girlfriend just before the fireworks began, and stayed for a while. After the fireworks, they put up a big screen and ran the last of what they were calling "Lone Star Drive-in", a series of movies in the park. The last showing was Days of Thunder, which I had never seen. It helped to watch it on a big screen with good sound, otherwise I probably never would have seen it. All in all, even with many of the events being rated 'so-so' at best, it was a very enjoyable afternoon and evening.

I Found My Thrill...

I have slacked, and I repent. Two weeks without an update...eek. I told myself I wouldn't let that happen, and have doing good at avoiding a situation like that, for the most part. But, apparently I have slipped.

In my defense, there hasn't been a lot in the way of news in ye olde WiredMonkey's camp. My weeks have been filled with lots of work, dealing with a couple minor crisises....crisi? I'll go with crisises. I had a battery go out on me one night while returning movies to Blockbuster. The Cheat seemed to think it was my alternator, since I was having belt troubles in my truck (squealing like a long-tailed cat in a room full of rocking chairs), and I feared he was right. Luckily, it seems to have just been a bad battery, and after spending $50 on a new one, I'm right as rain once again. That was the biggest thing I guess in the last couple weeks.

This past weekend was LampLover and my three-month anniversary. Or, monthiversary as she is fond of saying. Being the resourceful monkey that I am, I came across a story in the newspaper the weekend before this last one that talked about blueberry farms in east Texas. I thought to myself, "that'd be fun to do for our monthiversary next weekend." Well, when I called to find out what LL thought of it, she said she had seen the same article and was excited about it too. So, our road trip was born. Over the course of the week, we added some new ideas, such as brunch at Humperdink's and a picnic lunch to take with us (since it was an 80 mile drive to get there, and it was in the middle of nowhere, we didn't think there'd be a good lunch spot...besides, picnics are kinda romantic).

We drove out Sunday morning, after a late start. The heat in Texas has been oppressive of late; this weekend was no different. As excited as I was about spending time with my sweetie while raking in a good crop of blueberries, standing out in the 100-degree heat for 2 hours was NOT on my list of fun to-do's. But, it would be worth it, I figured. We had little trouble locating Blueberry Hill Farms, the place we had decided to do our picking. The store was a quaint farmhouse-style building with a couple acres of berries on the backside of the unit where people could walk as they please, picking berries. The article and website had suggested bringing long pants and a hat, along with water, lunches and sunscreen...I highly recommend the sunscreen, water, food and maybe even that hat. But forget the pants, man...what are you nuts? June & July in Texas are NO time for pants...shorts all the way. I was glad I wore them.

LL & I had a great time...we picked about 4lbs. of blueberries, and are going to make lots of fun foods with them this week. Tonight, I'm gonna go home and just plow through them a bit all by themselves. Yum!