July 6, 2008

80 - 35, inside and out

After Shannon got back from giving Spunky a shot of insulin (Chris & Holly's huge kitty), we headed down to the Western Gateway Park to go to the Friday's shot of 80 - 35.

We missed the Des Moines Boyz and a bit of Ingrid Michaelson. I actually liked some of her music, so I may end up buying a CD. We hunkered down and watched Andrew Bird, who put on a good show, even though I prefer to see them in a group...but in watching it, it reminded me that I still need to get a Martin Dosh album or two (probably starting with one).

Then The Flaming Lips took the stage. With a combination of giant balloons (pushed out into the audience), huge confetti cannons, encouraged sing alongs, a big ball to get tossed around the crowd on, and a round screen behind them they put on a visually stimulating show. Going though a lot of music that I know and a bit that I wasn't as familiar with, it was probably one of the better shows that I've been to. Shannon enjoyed the spectacle of it too. It was a fun way to spend the 4th.

On both nights there were sets of painted ladies. Where they were wearing boy shorts and the rest of their body was spray painted (nipples covered with tape). It was interesting...

On the 5th, I was scheduled for work at 5:PM, but being that I didn't have much to do, I headed down at around noon. And found out that the morning shift was full, with nothing to, I headed back home and headed back down again around 4. I eventually got assigned to go work at a ticket booth selling tickets for water, soda, red bull, and ice cream along with tickets for beer (much more popular). The selling of tickets was not too exciting, but people kept buying in bursts. Over the night there were a few highlights. One less then sober individual gave me a 10$ tip (not that I was taking tips, but he wouldn't let me not take a tip). So I then proceeded to use that and others, to round out peoples money so they could get 3 tickets, rather then two.

There was a little girl that got a missile pop and proceeded to hold the Popsicle by the Popsicle switching off hands and when she'd switch, she'd wipe the off hand on her shirt and then switch back and wipe her other hand. She did this until she was showed how to hold it by the stick. I got to say that it was very cute.

About an hour and a half before the show was done, a guy came up and bought 100$ worth of tickets (30 beers). I was stunned, but who am I to say no?

At some point, we were told to just give away the frozen things (since they didn't want to have left overs). So the kids of some of the people helping at the booth (I think one was a principal at one of the local Des Moines schools), went out with boxes of ice cream sandwiches, lemon cups, etc, and would come back in 5-10 minutes with an empty box. It was pretty amazing.

While the volunteer thing worked, for the most part. I think most stations were covered. However, they needed to have things better organized on the front end. There was a lot of confusion about where to get the volunteer meals, where the assignments were (I would've taken the mini-map, X'ed where they were supposed to be for every person). When and were they made assignments. I showed up, they told me to wait, and then others showed up and they started sending them out to do things, so I got back in line and got assigned to do what I did. I would've made a clear distinction int he booths selling water, soda, red bull and the ones selling beer, and having the the wristbands entirely separate (some places they were, some, not so much). Maybe they didn't have enough people on the top end telling people what to do. They'll get better next year though.

So it sounds like it was a a success. 15,000 tickets Friday and Shannon said the news was estimating another 15,000 today, which probably more then paid for the $650,000 budget for the show (somewhere in the range of $750,000 - 1,050,000). I talked to one of the finance guys and apparently for their sponsorship, Olde Main Brewing Company donated the beer, and DMMC got to keep the profits. Which I applaud them for. And considering I personally stuffed an envelope 3 times with 3 inch or so stacks of twenties and one time when I was off eating another one there handed over a big stack, and we were just one of the many ticketing counters.

For Olde Main Brewing Company, I had, over the two days, tried all the beers that they served. The only one I didn't like was their light beer, which was a lot like bud light...and...well...I'm not a huge fan of bud light. But the rest were pretty good. I had already bought some of their Off Kilter Scottish Ale from Hy-Vee and gotten through most of the six pack.

So it sounds like it was a success. The weather was awesome (2nd day being hotter and a bit more humid then the first, but still fairly pleasant), and I hope it means they'll have one next year too. It's a great thing for Des Moines.

Posted by SammyD at 6:29 AM | Comments (0)

February 7, 2008

Random Things

Work continues, deadline nears, I'll probably be working this weekend. Whee...

The other day, it snowed...a lot. In the morning I was shoveling snow, cleaned off the walks and driveway. Got some of the snow out into the street. I started to work on the intersection, to get rid of some of the snow. While I was working on it, one of my neighbor's nurses (she's under 24 hour nursing care) tried to drive down 43rd...with not much luck at all. In fact she compacted the snow down that her tires were barely touching the snow...meaning she wasn't going anywhere. A man, who I suspect was from the church down the street, who had snow blown the sidewalks from at least 42nd all the way up to 44th, came back and he helped me push, remove snow around the car and finally to use the shovels to get the snow out from under the car. With a few more pushes she was able to get down the street. The phantom snow blower, continued down the street...

Early this morning, the snow plow finally made our street, so with a bit of clean up, we're setup for the next storm...if there is one.

I haven't felt much like cooking lately...so the meals have generally been repetitive for the most part, a few highlights here and there...I've been practicing some knife skills and cooking things and paying close attention...but I'm generally really tired.

I've been staying up a bit later, and getting up a lot earlier. I've been working around 8 until 6, and I've pushed the start time back to 7 to 7:30. I've been on a total caffeine binge...coffee, tea and soda...though still no mountain dew (I have a bad history).

My 401k is moving, generally, back up to where it was before...though it is still off 13%...at least I'm hoping it's it's going up.

I got our taxes done. We, once again, used TaxAct (my dad works there). Did it all on the web this time...since they don't have an OS X client. It worked pretty much the same, I was fairly impressed. Anyways, big fan, support my pops, get your taxes done.

Obama is holding his own. I still feel very connected to him being the next president. I've watched election results...even stayed up late to watch them...it's like I care. I must say that he's a powerful speaker. Even his words put to music are impressive. The victory speech in South Carolina was amazing.

A while ago, Shannon bought a kitchen cart with money she inherited. I got it put together...but here's the rub. I had to stop the first time, because we were missing a couple of back pieces. Got those sent to us, got back to work on it. Only to finish it but using extra pieces... The cabinet doors had a few problems. On one side it was missing the door hinge thing...which I used a metal piece to replace, so I could get the door on, and on the other it had mis-drilled holes. So the handle went on, but it is not totally connected. I could drill another hole so it could fit...but then I'd have an extra hole... The customer services has been ok...not to bad on the hold times to talk to a person... I got the door parts ordered...so we'll see if we can call it done.

Due to the new places ot put things, I've been able to reorder the kitchen...it's been nice...the spices all in one place, in alpha order (save for a few that didn't fit in the drawer). All the hard alcohol in the cupboards...places to put some storage containers... and able to put the cat food out of sight...except the stuff in the bowls...but it's better then nothing...I still have some space to figure out what to do with...but in doing this latest reorganization I was able to finally get the massive amount of cookie cutters (most from the wedding) put away.

I think I really need glasses...I was looking for the spelling of one of the managers name on his placard...and I had to move my chair to see...it wasn't that far away. I did put money into our flexable spending account for this...so all I really need to do is go out and do it...but...I don't have the time right now to do so. I'm curious if the headaches I've been having are related to the caffeine, the long work hours, or the need for new glasses. I guess it could be a combination of all of them.

My car went in for service the other day. After sitting out all weekend, I went out to warm up Shannon's car and my own, and get set to go to work. After a rough start with my car, the engine light came on, so I turned it off...read the manual, called in and they told me to drive in...which I did. After resetting the light, they said they couldn't reproduces, I ended up with a new battery (was reporting poorly, prorated), tires (really needed, driving on snow has been like driving a sled), wheel alignment and an oil change. It's been driving really nice (especially over the snow, at least by comparison).

Working more hours, and bringing in my iPod charger into work, have really drained my primary listening list (4 or 5 star that hasn't been played in 3 weeks). A bit over half has been played in the last 3 weeks...it's kinda crazy since there's about 7.5 days of music...

I've been wanting to journal, but haven't been feeling up to it lately...so apparently it all comes out at the same time. I think I should probably stop now...

Posted by SammyD at 8:56 PM | Comments (0)

December 23, 2007

Haven't been feeling to good...so heres a bunch of stuff

Last Saturday we headed up to Ames to visit the Tomson's. This has been the first time in a long long time that we've seen them. It makes me sad that we don't get to see them more often. Seth and Bri decided to have a Sake party and we decided to go. We joined Chris and Holly in the drive up north. We did have a bit of a spat over driving, since I wanted to drink, and Shannon didn't want to drive, but with Chris and Holly driving, the problem was solved.

We saw their house, which seemed very 70sish in the decor, though very pretty. I've always thought that Bri had a very good eye and did lots with very little. I missed out on a lot of the house, since they had it mostly closed off, but I think they did that for the party, and since they had guests over and what not.

We drank 6 or 7 kinds of Sake, between the 8 or 9 people drinking. There were a few that I didn't like too much...they just didn't taste that good, but over all it was a pretty good experience... Bri had also made sushi (pretty good) and this little pork rolls (a pork mixture inside a roll, they were fantastic). We ate many of the pork rolls.

After we were intoxicated to some extent, we drove back down to Des Moines.

Monday I started to feel sick. So I went home earlier then I have been, and kinda camped down in front of the TV. I then proceeded to go through chills, being so cold that even wrapped up in a blanket, I was shivering. It was quite the ride. Around midnight or so, I think my fever broke. I thought I could go to work the next day...but after being there for a couple of hours, I thought better of it and came home and was lazy for the rest of the day.

Thursday afternoon my younger brother Joseph, now free of his military obligations, came up to investigate possible job opportunities here in Des Moines. We ate at Uncle Wendell's BBQ and Joseph decided that he wanted to work there. So Friday morning, we headed out to catch Wendell at the store to pick up an application. We all headed there for lunch and Joseph got a quick little interview and it seemed to go well, but besides being overqualified (5 years of Fast Food experience including 4 of that being in a managerial role), he had apparently just hired someone and it appears to be working out.

That night we went to Appare Japanese Steakhouse. We tried to go to Miyabi 9 first, but they were so busy, that we decided to head elsewhere. Being Joseph's first experience with sushi we tried out a few different kinds of sushi. We had:

• Seacoast roll
• AJS roll
• King Lobster roll
• California Roll
• Spider Roll
• Dynamite Roll
• Dragon Roll
• Monster

I really liked the AJS and the Dynamite rolls, but all were very good. Joseph, after having a difficult time with chopsticks, began to get the hang of it and at the end showed quite the interest in having sushi again. He also wanted to do the teppanyaki part of the steakhouse and will probably come back to do so, eventually.

It was nice to hang out with him for a while. We headed back to the house and he headed back home.

Saturday, we finished up the setup of the DVDs of the home movies of Shannon's mom's family. And proceeded to burn the DVDs for the family. I also did a pork roast again (since I bought two for the previous movie night) I did it fairly similar to the previous time, though I didn't follow the recipe...since I lent the magazine to Holly...but it turned out great. The pork was much juicier (not that i was dry before...just not as juicy as I wanted). I was very happy. Since there were only two of us, there were lots of left overs...for sandwiches...mmm...pork...

Today we cleaned up the 4 or so inches of snow, and then I got to baking and made some double chocolate banana bread. In listening to the Sound Opinions Christmas Spectacular and baking the banana bread, I was really starting to catch the holiday spirit (for the first time this month) and I'm looking forward to seeing our families and the Mattas over Christmas and new years.

Mmm...time to make pork sandwiches....mmmm...pork... *drool*

Posted by SammyD at 6:25 PM | Comments (0)

November 1, 2007

Starting with Today and going backwards...and then forward

I am in the process of making my first cheesecake....It is time consuming, but it smells like it will turn out well. It has the flavor of pumpkin and burbon and I hope turns out well. Long cooktime, long cool time, even before I can stick it in the fridge.

Yesterday, Iowa Health Home Care called and told me that my CPAP was back in working order, and because I left work late last night, I headed out this morning to pick it up. I still think their new building is buried in the depths of a maze. It is kind of annoying. But I got a new water chamber that has a one way valve, to help prevent any water getting into the chamber...kinda neat.

This past Sunday, we stripped off the wallpaper divider in the dining room...our first try didn't lead to much in the way of results, but after consulting the intertubes, we made much better progress. We do have some clean up work to do with little bits of whatever the heck is left, but it should be easier.

This past Saturday we trimmed bushes and picked some weeds.

Shannon did have to nag me to do both...but I guess it was good to do. Painting is next. Starting off with ceilings, priming the dining room walls and then moving on to the colors that Shannon picked and I didn't veto.

This weekend is gonna be busy. Friday night, Chris and Holly are hosting the Halloween party, should be a good time. Afterwards, Chris is having a mini-LAN party, which, as I understand, goes through Saturday. Sunday, is the Des Moines Community Orchestra's Fall Concert, which Holly is in. Should be a good time.

Posted by SammyD at 8:00 PM | Comments (0)

October 21, 2007

Food, Music and Kids, in that order

So yesterday afternoon, we headed over to Cedar Rapids to go to the CR Symphony's presentation Masterworks II: Asia Minor. It featured the Crown of India Suite (Elgar), Flute Concerto (Chesky), and Scheherazade, Op. 35 (Rimsky-Korsakov).

We met up with the Mattas, and left Jenny's mom with Taylor and Cali, while we headed to downtown Cedar Rapids. Both Shannon and I noticed that there has quite a bit of revitalization going on to the downtown area. Many new (to us) shops stores and what not, including Blend.

So Blend is a fairly modern looking restaurant. including a waterfall wall...which, when I first entered the restaurant had the faint smell of chlorine, but I may have been imagining things, cause nobody else did. We arrived shortly before six, and even though the restaurant was mostly empty, we had to wait. Nathan did notice that they had a lot of reservations at 6 and beyond that, so I guess it did explain that, but I'm just a fan where people just reserve a table or two for walk up custom...sometimes you don't know where you'll be going (we sure didn't). We were seated in a relatively short amount of time.

The tables were very angular in their appearance. They were setup in a fashion where the corners of the tables were uncovered, but the rest were with a white table cloths, to create right angles. The napkins were also folded in right angled triangles too. It was very pleasing to my eye...since I'm a fan of things like that (it makes my brain feel comfortable). The only thing that distracted me, was that my place setting was a little off (the spoon placement didn't work for me). I think it only stood out, because the rest of the placement of things seemed relatively perfect.

Service was relatively quick and she seemed nice.

I ordered the only appetizer, which they describe as: Pork confit and ginger spiced carrots in crispy wonton with caramelized cabbage, and sweet Chinese mustard aioli. This was interesting, the pork wontons were spicy and to the left, there was a salad mix in middle that was sweet, and to the right it was vinegary. Separately, the pork wontons were good, but the rest was ok. but in concert, and concept I think it was pretty good.

For our main course, Shannon ordered the Seared Sea Scallops with celeriac and Yukon gold potato pave, brown butter roasted Acorn squash, watercress-pecan slaw, pickled red pepper, and a creamy apple-fennel puree. Jenny had the Pan seared Pork Medallions with red wine-Amerena cherry risotto, roasted garlic-lemon zest green beans, local field greens with hot mustard vinaigrette, and a porcini pan sauce. Nathan had Belgium ale brined Airline Chicken breast with bacon-cider sweet potato hash, tarragon creamed Brussels sprouts, caramelized parsnips, and a dark roasted sweet onion puree. I had White truffle and Panko crusted Veal Scalloppine with pancetta and Taleggio cheese smashed new potatoes, juniper and caraway roasted root vegetables, and roma tomato potage. The ladies ordered a mixed greens salad and the fellas ordered Roasted Pheasant soup.

The fennel in the soup made it. The broth was very good, a nice mixed of flavors. Nathan said the roast pheasant wasn't a very good example, and it could've been turkey or any other roasted bird. I don't have much experience with pheasant, so I couldn't state one way or the other.

So the tastes and the flavors ranged. I thought my veal and the potatoes beneath it was pretty good, though the Panko crust on the bottom of the veal was kinda soggy because of the potatoes. Shannon's Scallops were good and the potatoe pave was also very nice. Nathan thought his meal was pretty good, except for the chicken, which was pretty bland. Jenny's pork was...well..it had no taste at all. She said the rest of the meal around the pork was pretty good.

For dessert, Shannon and Jenny both had a warm chocolate thing (I forget), I had a carrot cake and Nathan had Creme Brulée. The chocolate thing was very good, along with the Creme Brulée. The carrot cake...was...not but not really carrot like. It had orange zest in it...and..well...that was pretty much the only thing you could taste in the cake. The frosting was nice though.

Overall it was pretty good. Though I think a little overpriced. We got out of there (including two glasses of wine) for just under 100$, excluding tip.

We walked over to the Paramount Theatre and up to our seats. The music was pretty good. The Flute Concerto was a bit odd, but apparently it was the second time it had been performed. I was interesting and often times went with threads of music that were very odd together and then joined and then got very odd again. I did bring up Christian Tiemeyer, and I am still curious what happened to him. Their site said he retired... My older sister was friends with his daughter and I went to many many concerts under his 20 year stint as the music director.

Afterwards, we headed back to the Mattas and started to watch the the Boston Red Sox whoop on the Cleveland Indians (Jenny's a big BoSox fan). Shannon went up to bed and the rest of us finished the game. I started to fall asleep around the 7th inning...but it finished up pretty quickly...

We woke up the next morning, had some freshly made biscuits. Nathan then got ready to take the girls to a Halloween thing at Usher's Ferry. Both had homemade costumes. Taylor was Snow White and Cali was Cinderella. Very cute.

We left for home as they left for Usher's Ferry.

We stopped at the Williamsburg Tanger Factory Outlet, ate lunch, and wandered around a bit...didn't buy anything. We looked at some cooking stuff...meh.

And then we finished our trip home. Fun weekend.

Posted by SammyD at 8:18 PM | Comments (0)

October 19, 2007

stuff and maybe some things...

Movie night was last night. Holly made some wonderful things. Encrusted Chicken with a spicy sauce, some drop biscuits with cheese in them and some noodles. The chicken was tender and the sauce was good, though it may have been a little too spicy for Holly...though Shannon seemed to like it too. The biscuts..well..they were too salty, but I could tell that they would be very good, beyond the salt. We watched Psycho, I was reminded of how good a movie it is. We then watched a documentary on the movie, and I swear, it was as long, or longer then the actual movie. Needless to say, we didn't finish the documentary.

I actually wrote a letter the other day. And dropped it in the mail...I don't know how much good it'll be, but I hope it helps to lift my brother's spirits, though I don't know if he'll make it through.

I was very disgusted with myself the other day. Sitting at home, just kinda waiting and I was hungry. Instead of eating many of the healthy things that are around the house (apples, carrots, bananas, etc), I open up the bag of marshmallows. I'm such a binge eater...I have been since I can remember. From cheese and crackers to banana bread to whatever. I try to control it, but from time to time, I feel like I am watching myself do these things. It's dreadful. Yet, I wouldn't get on drugs for it. I ended up throwing them away...

Speaking of drugs, the Prevacid seems to be going well for the most part. I have had painful gas/bloating from time to time, but over all I'm tolerating it well (only that one time has it woke me up out of a sleep). Carrots go down well. The other two seem to be going well and my blood pressure is in line too. So, it's all settling out. I'm not looking forward to the bill for the esophageal dilation, but it should come sometime...I'm actually kinda surprised it hasn't....

So we're going to go see the Cedar Rapids Symphony tomorrow. I have many fond memories of going to this when I was a child. I think the company my dad worked for donated money or something and they always had tickets (that apparently nobody else wanted), so I went a lot. It'll be also be nice to see the Mattas too.

Tomorrow is a big day for Brandon. He turns the big 30. Shortly he'll be a father. The changes he's made in his life in the past year or so, makes me happy. I used to worry about him quite a bit, but now, it is much better.

Happy Birthday Brandon!

Posted by SammyD at 9:59 PM | Comments (0)

October 11, 2007

A new Era

In Rainbows, Radiohead's new album, marks a new era in my music purchases. I have bought single songs, but never an album entirely electronically. It was easy, and I liked that I could name my own price, but apparently I was a bit off, due to a faulty calculation on the exchange rate.

The problem lies in DRM. I love music, I hate being limited. If I buy the music, what do you care if I have it on multiple devices, I bought it. I find it frustrating not to be able to what I want, with music I own. I also find it obnoxious to vaguely be called a criminal, when companies makes claims about music, like needed to own a CD and an electronic version of the song.

I am not a pirate, but I feel like I am being treated like one...even though I have stacks and stacks of CDs.

It is good to see all the DRM free actions that are happening, now, from Apple to Yahoo. I still find it frustrating that I have a Netflix account, but since I don't have a PC (at home), I can't use part what, in theory, I'm paying for, since their on demand video requires windows.

Posted by SammyD at 6:07 AM | Comments (0)

September 5, 2007

Labor Day Weekend

Sunday, we headed down to Court Ave to go to the first annual block party. Normally I wouldn't go to things like this (except for Oktoberfest (usually things like this bring out the idiot drinkers)), but they were having Reel Big Fish play, so down we went. Yes, we.

We went down there, wandered for a bit, and then ended up eating at the royal mile. Most of the bands we saw were pretty good. I enjoyed The Vandon Arms (basically Irish drinking music). I almost bought their CD, and am still thinking about it. North of Grand, who I had a track from the DMMC album that I like...pretty much sounded the same over all their songs. Not that it was a bad sound, it was just repetitive. I think we were near one of their families/friends though, because that group seemed pretty pumped when they got on stage. However, the Goodyear Pimps or the Pimps were so annoying and obnoxious, I just kept wanting to say, "less talk, more rock"....except they weren't very good at that either. Maybe it was just the show, or maybe I'm the wrong audience, but I could've done without ever seeing them. Just a note to budding rock stars out there, you don't have to explain everything you do. Some people will get it, some people won't care about the lyrics, and others...well...they're not gonna listen anyways.

Somewhere between the Vandon Arms and the Pimps, we ran into Josh and Lindsay and hung out with them for the rest of the night

RBF was pretty good, certainly not the best that I've seen them, but it was still worth the money. Good stage presence, good set. They hit all the songs I really wanted, even the new track Another F.U. Song. They played Beer twice (once during the regular set and another in the encore). On the encore, apparently someone down front kept calling for it, so they pretty much said screw it and played it again. Oh well, kinda silly, but what can you do.

About the event as a whole, it seemed fairly organized. Security was right on top of things (we heard and saw a few questionable things, and very shortly, 3-5 security guys were right on the person to kick 'em out). Plenty of bathrooms. Drinks were...well...lame for the most part. Other then the water, there was nothing down there that I really wanted to have (have at least one semi-drinkable beer please). It was problematic where they were, since it was just as easy to see the stage from outside the plastic fenced in area (especially with the parking garage). Quite a few people didn't pay for entrance... Kinda lame, I think. The thing that bugged me the most was the lack of a published schedule...anywhere. I know schedules at all day events aren't that accurate, but it's always nice to have an idea when people are going to play and what not. I couldn't find anyone that knew...not that I tried too hard...but I did ask a few people.

Monday, we headed over to Jen and Madd's for a gathering. Even being relatively late, we were still the first ones to arrive (this is fairly normal). Jen and Madd, put up quite the setup of things, and played good hosts to the party. It was nice to hang out for the majority of the day and talk with the group about whatever. Good times.

Posted by SammyD at 5:48 AM | Comments (0)

July 28, 2007

snippets

iPod passed! after scanning for a long time, I got the passed logo. Woo! Now all it has to do is wait until the new iPods like iPhones come out...

The Simpsons Movie was really good. I laughed a lot...especially at one point where they made fun of Fox. It was a good time. Parking over at Jordan Creek was a mother though...it took us a while to find a spot...ANY spot...it was silly.

After the movie, Chris and Holly lent us their copy of the new Amy Winehouse CD, who's music I've been thinking about since I saw her on some award show...For that award show, I pretty much fast forwarded through the entire thing, but couldn't on her song. Fascinating voice. Certainly a change from the sanitized crap that you generally hear on the radio. I'm about halfway through it, and it'll probably end up being the next CD I buy. It is really to bad it's not available on iTunes + cause I'd buy it there...

Posted by SammyD at 10:53 AM | Comments (2)

June 8, 2007

The truth is here...

So last night at the Vaudeville Mews, Brother Ali took the stage.

Josh and I headed downtown and ate dinner at the Royal Mile, before we headed over to the mews. We showed up to the hype man doing his thing, before he introduced Psalm One...She was...she was pretty good, not really my thing I guess I didn't relate to well to it.

The hype man came back...the DJ was really good and they hype man was only distracting from his goodness...it was kinda silly.

Brother Ali took the stage. He seemed pretty mellow and it was a good show, he did a set and then just started doing what people called out of the crowd. It was a pretty good show.

He left the stage. Easily 2/3rds of the crowd left. Josh even wanted to leave...but who knows about an encore...until the lights come up, the show isn't over. Anyways, he eventually came back, but instead of hitting the stage, he just walked on the side, right down into the much smaller crowd. He stopped right in front of Josh and I. I think he had some sort of air of recognition...(I've seen him 3 times, and Josh 5)...but who can tell? I'd like to think he did. I did actually talk to him in Omaha, for a short while at least. Anyways, he continued on, relatively ignoring this over excited (or high) young lad that was standing to his right. He still worked up the crowd, in a relatively mellow way dancing with this young lady next to me. He turned as all around and we were all dancing and he grabbed the back of my shirt, to help my rhythmless self move in time.

A bit later he left the crowd and called it a night.

It made a good show, into an amazing show.

Posted by SammyD at 9:41 AM | Comments (0)

May 23, 2007

iPod Stats: 50 Most Played Artists

Rank	Play Count	Artist
1	343	Less Than Jake
2	304	Andrew Bird
3	267	Coheed & Cambria
4	258	Brother Ali
5	215	Punchline
6	194	Fall Out Boy
7	193	Matisyahu
8	184	Beck
9	183	They Might Be Giants
10	178	Atmosphere
11	177	Reel Big Fish
12	163	Weezer
13	133	Collective Soul
14	131	Various Artists
15	129	Bjˆrk
16	129	Queens Of The Stone Age
17	127	Johnny Cash
18	119	Ween
19	117	Andrew Bird's Bowl Of Fire
20	116	Gorillaz
21	113	My Chemical Romance
22	109	Ben Folds
23	101	Smashing Pumpkins
24	98	Radiohead
25	98	Simon & Garfunkel
26	96	The Blues Brothers
27	91	The Beta Band
28	84	Queen
29	77	Einar Steen-N¯kleberg
30	74	The Beatles
31	74	Pink Floyd
32	73	Blink-182
33	72	Yellowcard
34	69	Weird Al Yankovic
35	68	The Mars Volta
36	66	MU330
37	65	Panic! At The Disco
38	65	Tori Amos
39	65	Haley Bonar
40	64	B.B. King
41	57	The Chieftains
42	55	Gym Class Heroes
43	55	Box Car Racer
44	54	Ben Folds Five
45	53	Joe Satriani
46	52	The Beach Boys
47	51	Silversun Pickups
48	51	The Rentals
49	49	Andrew Birds's Bowl Of Fire
50	47	Monty Python's Spamalot

Posted by SammyD at 7:30 PM | Comments (0)

iPod Stats: 50 Most Played Songs

Title	Artist	Album
Girl	Beck	Guero
Don't Try This At Home	Punchline	37 Everywhere
Champion (Remix)	Brother Ali	Champion EP
Beverly Hills	Weezer	Make Believe
Blah Blah Blah	Brother Ali	Shadows On The Sun
The Willing Well II: Fear Through The Eyes Of Madness	Coheed & Cambria	Good Apollo, I'm Burning Star IV, Volume 1: From Fear Through The Eyes Of Mad
A Favor House Atlantic	Coheed & Cambria	In Keeping Secrets Of Silent Earth: 3
Truth Is	Brother Ali	The Undisputed Truth
Bad Ma Fucka	Brother Ali	Champion EP
Forest Whitiker	Brother Ali	Shadows On The Sun
Shalom/Saalam	Matisyahu	Youth
The Science of Selling Yourself Short	Less Than Jake	Anthem
Overrated (Everything Is)	Less Than Jake	In With The Out Crowd
Pizza Joe	Mediocre Superheroes	The Deathtrap Dilemma
The Fake, The Snake, And The Birthday Cake	Punchline	37 Everywhere
Indestructible	Matisyahu	Youth
Take On Me	Reel Big Fish	Greatest Hit and More
Thriller	Fall Out Boy	Infinity On High
The Perfect Drug	Nine Inch Nails	Lost Highway (Soundtrack from the Motion Picture)
Wait and Bleed	Slipknot	Slipknot
Fake Palindromes	Andrew Bird	The Mysterious Production of Eggs
Rockin' The Suburbs	Ben Folds	Rockin' The Suburbs
Wake Up	Coheed & Cambria	Good Apollo, I'm Burning Star IV, Volume 1: From Fear Through The Eyes Of Mad
Three Evils (Embodied In Love And Shadow)	Coheed & Cambria	In Keeping Secrets Of Silent Earth: 3
Feel Good Inc.	Gorillaz	Demon Days
Welcome To The Black Parade	My Chemical Romance	The Black Parade
Lazy Eye	Silversun Pickups	Carnavas
Get Fly	Atmosphere	You Can't Imagine How Much Fun We're Having
The Suffering	Coheed & Cambria	Good Apollo, I'm Burning Star IV, Volume 1: From Fear Through The Eyes Of Mad
Clint Eastwood	Gorillaz	Gorillaz
Steal My Sunshine	Len	You Can't Stop the Bum Rush
Ancient Lullaby	Matisyahu	Youth
B.Y.O.B.	System of a Down	B.Y.O.B. - Single
Once In a Lifetime	Talking Heads	The Best of Talking Heads (Remastered)
Happy Day	Andrew Bird	Fingerlings 2
Lull	Andrew Bird	Weather Systems
Fired	Ben Folds	Rockin' The Suburbs
McAllistrum's March	The Chieftains	The Celtic Harp
Keeping The Blade	Coheed & Cambria	Good Apollo, I'm Burning Star IV, Volume 1: From Fear Through The Eyes Of Mad
(Rock) Superstar	Cypress Hill	Skull & Bones
Breakdown	Handsome Boy Modeling School Feat. Jack Johnson	White People
Shake A Tail Feather	Ray Charles	The Blues Brothers Soundtrack
Duality	Slipknot	Duality - Single
Fat Lip	Sum 41	All Killer No Filler
Dope Nose	Weezer	Maladroit
-->	Andrew Bird	Weather Systems
11:11	Andrew Bird's Bowl Of Fire	The Swimming Hour
Think	Aretha Franklin	The Blues Brothers Soundtrack
Trying To Find A Balance	Atmosphere	Seven's Travels
Rental Car	Beck	Guero

Posted by SammyD at 7:01 PM | Comments (0)

February 5, 2007

The Weekend (Smokin Aces, Phantom, Taxes)

So we headed over to Chris and Holly's and I dropped Shannon off for Holly's Bridal Shower and picked up Chris. I felt extremely outnumbered (We were). We headed off to the Jordan Creek to see the movie Somkin' Aces. It was an interesting movie. The characters were very creative and interesting, the plot was fairly simple but combined together in a hurricane like fashion making it very fun. Chris seemed to really enjoy the shooting of the 50 caliber gun. Afterwards, we stopped by the Apple Store and Best Buy before heading over to On The Border for dinner.

Now I had been there before and wasn't exactly pleased with the service or the food (especially the desserts). So I guess this is our second visit. After drinking a couple of shots of tequila, I was shocked and appalled that by default they wanted to combine higher end tequilas with other things and make margaritas with them. This is sipping tequila, not mixing tequila...but whatever I guess. Both of the ones I had (the names I forget) were quite good.

We finally got our table and sat down and quite a bit later the girls joined us. Holly's mom, quite a number of her friends (first meeting), Chris, Shannon, myself and a couple of babies...apparently a miscount happened along the way, because we were a couple of seats short. So we split up...what was odd though was that a large group showed up a bit later and they made accommodations for them... Anyways 3 people at our table (Chris, Holly and myself) had the Carne Asada Sterak Tacos. In the description they use words like "Overstuffed" and "Jalapeño" which was kind of hard when there are just a few paltry strips of steak...or at least beef. I tasted no Jalapeño...at all..neither did Chris and when I mentioned that it was supposed to have it, Holly was surprised that it was supposed to have it. It does not bode well. I guess fajitas are what you are supposed to get there...cause everything else is unimpressive.

For dessert, Chris, Holly, Holly's Mom, Shannon and I headed over to Gelaterie Stam and had some wonderful gelato. I had this orange cream with dark chocolate (as did Shannon) it was fantastic! I love that place.

Afterwards, we all headed home.

The next day, I got up a bit early, got ready for the day and headed to Target to pick up a few things (Shannon exercised and took a shower), like laundry and dish washer detergent, etc etc. It was interesting cause it seemed that almost everything I bought was on sale.

I came home, we put the things away and then we both headed out to go to the grocery store. We bought light, since over then next two weeks I'll be gone for a large chunk of them, along with Shannon. At home again, we put the groceries away.

Since we had gotten our last tax form the previous day, I went ahead and got our taxes going. Of course we used TaxAct. And it was pretty easy. After filling out our forms answering a few questions, I had the taxes done! And Filed! I found it a bit odd that if we filed separately for the state we would've had to pay in a couple of dollars, but if we filed separately on the same form (wtf does that mean?) then we get a nice chunk of change back? Oh well, who can know. Pop's said it had to do with making up for some inequities...anyways We're gonna use the money to pay off some wedding debt and the rest to start some improvements on the house and get some paint and what not to make it our house instead of really just my house.

Afterwards we had a bit of time, and then headed off to the Civic Center to see The Phantom of the Opera. We had great seats (row E), which I suspect was because it was the big football game Sunday...so it was probably not the first choice of a lot of people...but it worked out for us (being that the timing works out that we can at least partially go to two weddings). Phantom was a lot of fun. cool pyrotechnics, people popping out of all sorts of places. Stuff falling from the ceiling. There was one fire burst so big that we could feel the heat from it. I heard a lot of the music before, because one of my older sisters had the cast recording of it. I enjoyed it...I think I enjoyed the Lion King more, thought, but in an entirely different way. We didn't go out for dinner to save a few bucks.

Great weekend!

Posted by SammyD at 9:52 PM | Comments (0)

December 29, 2006

I'm sorry Ms. Jackson

I'm sorry Ms. Jackson, but you and your record company....

Anyways, Shannon got the new Janet Jackson CD for Christmas. I'm not a fan, but it's for her, so...what can I do?

Anyways, I'm loading it on my macbook to put on my iPod and it goes across just fine. But in there, since it apparently was bought was at Best Buy, it had an offer to get free extended tracks. So I figure, why not, Shannon may like them, I'll get 'em.

First bad sign, they're mwa files (windows media audio). So I figure hey, I can move 'em over to my work laptop, convert 'em (itunes for windows is supposed to do it or at least that is what I read). Convert 'em, bring 'em back, it's all good.

Oh no, because they are "protected" content, I have to also reinput the code that I used to download them, in Windows Media Player.

Not gonna happen. I barely use Windows Media Player to play files that are native to Windows Media Player, Why would I want to have content in there?

Thanks for excluding the growing Apple Mac market, Janet Jackson and Virgin Records.

I guess we'll just have to miss out on these four tracks.

Posted by SammyD at 8:34 PM | Comments (0)

December 12, 2006

Music played on my iPod during the day of our Wedding (Including the reception)

You are gonna have to click in on this one...

Continue reading "Music played on my iPod during the day of our Wedding (Including the reception)" »

Posted by SammyD at 1:35 PM | Comments (0)

December 11, 2006

More iPod Stats, Top played Artists

Rank	Play Count	Artist
1	223	Less Than Jake
2	155	Andrew Bird
3	143	Coheed & Cambria
4	131	Matisyahu
5	123	Atmosphere
6	114	Beck
7	112	They Might Be Giants
8	107	Brother Ali
9	105	Collective Soul
10	104	Punchline
11	93	Various Artists
12	91	Weezer
13	85	Andrew Bird's Bowl Of Fire
14	84	Fall Out Boy
15	82	Johnny Cash
16	75	Smashing Pumpkins
17	75	Ween
18	67	Queens Of The Stone Age
19	65	Bjork
20	65	Reel Big Fish
21	63	Gorillaz
22	56	Radiohead
23	55	The Blues Brothers
24	55	Einar Steen-Nøkleberg
25	55	Ben Folds
26	53	Queen
27	51	Pink Floyd
28	49	The Beatles
29	49	Blink-182
30	47	B.B. King
31	45	The Beta Band
32	44	Simon & Garfunkel
33	43	Haley Bonar
34	42	The Mars Volta
35	41	Panic! At The Disco
36	41	Yellowcard
37	40	Ben Folds Five
38	39	Gym Class Heroes
39	39	The Chieftains
40	38	The Beach Boys
41	37	Tori Amos
42	35	Joe Satriani
43	33	Andrew Birds's Bowl Of Fire
44	32	My Chemical Romance
45	32	The Beastie Boys
46	31	Monty Python's Spamalot
47	31	The Rentals
48	30	Johnny Socko
49	30	MU330
50	29	The Cure

Posted by SammyD at 10:34 PM | Comments (0)

December 10, 2006

Top 25 Songs on my iPod

The top 25 played songs on my iPod.

Top 25 Most Played
Title	Artist	Album
Girl	Beck	Guero
Champion (Remix)	Brother Ali	Champion EP
Forest Whitiker	Brother Ali	Shadows On The Sun
Shalom/Saalam	Matisyahu	Youth
Blah Blah Blah	Brother Ali	Shadows On The Sun
Wake Up	Coheed & Cambria	Good Apollo, I'm Burning Star IV, Volume 1: From Fear Through The Eyes Of Mad
The Willing Well II: Fear Through The Eyes Of Madness	Coheed & Cambria	Good Apollo, I'm Burning Star IV, Volume 1: From Fear Through The Eyes Of Mad
A Favor House Atlantic	Coheed & Cambria	In Keeping Secrets Of Silent Earth: 3
Get Fly	Atmosphere	You Can't Imagine How Much Fun We're Having
Hell Yes	Beck	Guero
Rental Car	Beck	Guero
Loser	Beck	Mellow Gold
Late Night In Zion	Matisyahu	Youth
Ancient Lullaby	Matisyahu	Youth
Beverly Hills	Weezer	Make Believe
Happy Day	Andrew Bird	Fingerlings 2
Hockey Hair	Atmosphere	You Can't Imagine How Much Fun We're Having
Rockin' The Suburbs	Ben Folds	Rockin' The Suburbs
Air	Ben Folds Five	Whatever And Ever Amen [Bonus Tracks]
Keeping The Blade	Coheed & Cambria	Good Apollo, I'm Burning Star IV, Volume 1: From Fear Through The Eyes Of Mad
Gold Digger	Kanye West Feat. Jamie Foxx	Late Registration
Overrated (Everything Is)	Less Than Jake	In With The Out Crowd
Getting There Is Getting By	Punchline	Action
Master Fade	Andrew Bird	Fingerlings 2
Fake Palindromes	Andrew Bird	The Mysterious Production of Eggs

Posted by SammyD at 3:39 PM | Comments (1)

After Wedding Music

Wedding After
Title	Artist	Album
McAllistrum's March	The Chieftains	The Celtic Harp
Calliope House-The Cowboy Song	Various Artists	Celtic Odyssey
Alasdair Mhic Cholla Ghasda	Various Artists	Celtic Odyssey
Da–s-Tro Fisel	The Chieftains	Celtic Wedding: Music of Brittany
Heuliadenn Tonio Breizh-Izel	The Chieftains	Celtic Wedding: Music of Brittany
Jabadaw	The Chieftains	Celtic Wedding: Music of Brittany
Studentersang (Vi f¾rdes med Lyst)	Einar Steen-N¿kleberg	GRIEG Piano Music Vol. 5 - Norges melodier, EG 108 Nos. 1 to 63
Ho Astrid (Og hev' du set Aastrid)	Einar Steen-N¿kleberg	GRIEG Piano Music Vol. 5 - Norges melodier, EG 108 Nos. 1 to 63
Halling fra ¯sterdalen	Einar Steen-N¿kleberg	GRIEG Piano Music Vol. 5 - Norges melodier, EG 108 Nos. 1 to 63
Friluftsvise (Se Norges Blomsterdal!)	Einar Steen-N¿kleberg	GRIEG Piano Music Vol. 5 - Norges melodier, EG 108 Nos. 1 to 63
Springdans fra Nummedal	Einar Steen-N¿kleberg	GRIEG Piano Music Vol. 5 - Norges melodier, EG 108 Nos. 1 to 63
Gamle Norge (Der ligger et Land)	Einar Steen-N¿kleberg	GRIEG Piano Music Vol. 5 - Norges melodier, EG 108 Nos. 1 to 63
Ciaccona	Arianna Savall, Bjorn Kjellemyr, Guido Morini, Marco Ambrosini, Pedro Estevan & Rolf Lislevand	Nuove Musiche
Planxty Burting (Live)	The Chieftains	The Celtic Harp
Sonny Brogan's Mazurkas (Live)	The Chieftains	The Celtic Harp
Rubina's Blue Sky Happiness	Joe Satriani	The Extremist

Posted by SammyD at 3:28 PM | Comments (0)

Music during the wedding

Wedding During
Title	Artist	Album
Wedding March (Loehengrin)	Richard Wagner	25 Wedding Favorites
Always With Me, Always With You	Joe Satriani	Surfing With The Alien

Posted by SammyD at 3:19 PM | Comments (0)

Pre-wedding music

So I meant to get this stuff up a while ago, but never got around to it, so here it is, the music that played before our wedding.

Wedding Before
Title	Artist	Album
Shalom/Saalam	Matisyahu	Youth
Wedding Day at Troldhaugen	Edvard Grieg	25 Wedding Favorites
Hornpipe (Water Music)	George Frideric Handel	25 Wedding Favorites
Johann Pachelbel, Canon	Orpheus Chamber Orchestra	Albinoni- Adagio - Pachelbel- Canon
Johann Sebastian Bach, Jesu, Joy of Man's Desiring	Orpheus Chamber Orchestra	Albinoni- Adagio - Pachelbel- Canon
Air on the G String	Bach	Bach - Greatest Hits
Sleepers, Wake	Bach	Bach - Greatest Hits
Brandenburg Concerto 3 - Allegro	Bach	Bach - Greatest Hits
Sinfonia, from Cantata No. 29 ('We Thank Thee, Lord'), BWV 29	J.S. Bach - Michael Murray Organ	Bach Organ Blaster
Prelude and Fugue in G Major ('Great'), BWV 541	J.S. Bach - Michael Murray Organ	Bach Organ Blaster
Studentersang (Vi f¾rdes med Lyst)	Einar Steen-N¿kleberg	GRIEG Piano Music Vol. 5 - Norges melodier, EG 108 Nos. 1 to 63
Ho Astrid (Og hev' du set Aastrid)	Einar Steen-N¿kleberg	GRIEG Piano Music Vol. 5 - Norges melodier, EG 108 Nos. 1 to 63
Halling fra ¯sterdalen	Einar Steen-N¿kleberg	GRIEG Piano Music Vol. 5 - Norges melodier, EG 108 Nos. 1 to 63
Friluftsvise (Se Norges Blomsterdal!)	Einar Steen-N¿kleberg	GRIEG Piano Music Vol. 5 - Norges melodier, EG 108 Nos. 1 to 63
Springdans fra Nummedal	Einar Steen-N¿kleberg	GRIEG Piano Music Vol. 5 - Norges melodier, EG 108 Nos. 1 to 63
Gamle Norge (Der ligger et Land)	Einar Steen-N¿kleberg	GRIEG Piano Music Vol. 5 - Norges melodier, EG 108 Nos. 1 to 63
Prelude In C	Stuart Hamm	Kings Of Sleep
Sonata In D For Two Pianos	Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756-1791)	Mozart For Your Mind
Swan Lake - Waltz	Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky	Tchaikovsky's Greatest Hits
Four Seasons- Autumn- Guitar concerto in D - Adagio	Antonio Vivaldi	Vivaldi Greatest Hits

Posted by SammyD at 3:04 PM | Comments (0)

November 5, 2006

Bringing back memories

So we went to the Des Moines Community Orchestra's performance today. It brought back a lot of memories of my childhood. They started off with Carnival of the Animals by Camille Saint-Saëns. I remember that we had a tape of this and would listen to the songs of the animals and dance like the animals with my brothers and sisters (we were very young).

They also played Peter and the Wolf by Sergei Prokofiev. Images of the Disney cartoon danced through my head.

They did a wonderful job. There were a few other selections (PDQ Bach (Beethoven/Schickele), Aaron Copland, George Kleinsinger), and they were good too. But I hadn't heard them before, so it was a new experience.

It was the most full I've ever seen one of their performances. Lots of kids. Most left before the second half, which is two bad.

Posted by SammyD at 9:08 PM | Comments (0)

October 3, 2006

Honeymoon day 7 (10/1/2006)

We were both getting tired of Disney. But luckily we had bought tickets earlier in the week to the House of Blues (Orlando) Gospel Brunch. Food, gospel music, good venue? How could it be bad? It wasn't, it was amazing. I was moved. I'm not really all that into the whole God thing, as most people know, but I was touched and I would have to say that if church was like this, I'd go once maybe twice a month. The food was good too...The cornbread muffins, which were laced with some peppers, were quite tasty. It was a mixture of Sunday Brunch type food, and southern comfort food (creole, bbq, etc). They had us get up, dance, clap our hands and do what the spirit moved us to do. It was something else.

Before and after, we went to the Disney arcade, called Disney Quest. They had classics there, and newer modern games, including some VR games...which...we tried...or at least tried to try. I don't know if it was the head gear or the vision or what, but most of the VR games made me feel like someone was stabbing me in the back of the head, so we avoided them. After we got tired of playing video games (and it got crowded, we called it an early day and went home to pack. We spent most of the rest of the day being lazy.

We did discover, however, that in all that we bought, we didn't have enough space in our luggage and carry ons to actually pack all of the things that we had. Even trimming the fat where we could, we still didn't have near enough room, so I wandered over to the gift shop and bought another suitcase...a nice disney one too *sigh* Oh well, we were able to bring back all the things, which is good.

We went to our final Dinner at the Maya Grill, and we were so full from brunch (even eating as late as we were), we didn't even make it through the main course before we had to throw in the towel.

We went back to the room and finished packing.

We took a paltry 18 photos on the 7th day.

Posted by SammyD at 9:39 AM | Comments (0)

August 1, 2006

Weeeeeeeeeeeeeeen

So last night, I headed home, ate some food, and then got picked up by Dave.

We then headed to get me some money, headed back to my house to pick up my forgotten ticket and then over to Dave's to pick up Jan.

We all then headed over to the Val Air Ballroom, and met up with Brandon and a few of his Friends.

We went in, sat down, and had a few beers and waited for the show to start.

Near that time we headed up towards where Brandon & Co were camped out. To my surprise, one of my past roomates was up there. Jake Froelich (sp?). It's been years since I've seen him.

Eventually Ween took the stage and they played very well together. Not necessarily the most planned or a steady stream of music, but certainly a very good very well played show. A lot of it seem very dream like, due to the use of the lights and the huge amount of smoke effect that they used. It was something. They covered a large range of the albums that I have, and a few songs that I didn't know. I had a good time.

Part of the show for me was certainly the crowd around me. I have found that there are few things funnier then stoned people trying to hid the fact that they are smoking weed. Holding your hands over the joint so people can't see it, In my opinion, looks more suspicious...but what do I know. I saw pipes, one hitters, and several joints. But the crown of the night was the couple near me that made out...and not just kisses mind you, during the ENTIRE show. I suspect they were on somthing...

After they came on for an encore, and after they said good night (but before most of the band finished), I was too hot and wanted to head out.

I found Dave and Jan near the back and we waited for a bit longer (of them doing a phish style repetive music type thing) and then We headed home.

You know it's hot in a place, when it's cooler outside then the inside...and the city is under a heat advisory.

I got home a bit before midnight, and took a shower and went to bed.

Great Show, Wanted to see wheen for 10 years or so...so It's cool.

Posted by SammyD at 6:01 PM | Comments (0)

June 20, 2006

Radiohead

Best.
Show.
Ever.

at least that I've been to.

So I figured why go to Chicago just for the show, why not go and hang out for a bit. So I left got some water, stopped at La Mie for a bit of Mocha and headed out on the road. I remembered at the gas station that I had forgotten my camera, but I thought about it and I didn't think I'd really need it.

I made a few stops, Just past Iowa City (potty and more water), at the Dekalb Oasis (potty, lunch, gas (not that I really needed it, just didn't want to find Gas in Chicago). I ate Subway...the Dekalb Oasis has gotten much better the McDonalds and gas station that I remember. They even had a Starbucks there. I was thinking maybe I could stop there on my way back.

So then I headed into the Chi-town. I don't remember if I've ever mentioned that I was an adopted Chicagoian. I was adopted by a group of guys that lived on my floor in college that I played poker with. Traffic wasn't to bad, certainly worse then Des Moines, except for at the very worst times.

It was pretty much a straight shot in and after I figured out where I was parking (apprently for almost $20) I got out, figured out where the venue was and started wandering around Michigan Ave. After wandering up and down the street for a while, I decided some indoors would be fun, so I walked up to The Art Institute of Chicago and went through the vast majority of the collection. I think I missed part of it though... It was fun they had a lot of stuff that I have seen before (in pictures) and it was interesting. I would've like to go when I have more time to actually spend more time. They had a whole lot of religious paintings, and etc. It was interesting.

At around 5 I was getting Hungry, so I headed to find some place to eat. I ended up at The Artist's Cafe. I had a beer (anchor steam) and a ruben. The sandwhich was ok, nothing special. I was kind of annoyed with the pay as soon as I got my meal, and having to pay in cash (they only accepted AmEx).

Afterwards I Chatted with Shannon (I did when I got there too) and then ended up getting this Fruit Smoothie at this smoothie/sushi place right on the block of the venue. It was actully the best thing I had that day. I saw a lot of people lining up. So I decided to get in line too. But which line? There were 3 lines. One for regular tickets, one for tickets for those who bought through the fan club and one for "premium" will call tickets. The last one was my line. But there was a bit of confusion, since, several people that were in the line I was in, were turned away and told to get in another line.

The check in process was a bit silly. I needed my ID, the order number from ticketmaster and the credit card that I bought the ticket with. So it was a long line, but it went pretty quickly.

The Auditorium Theater was very cool. The lightbulbs were even cool. Lots of reliefs, lots of decorations, 4 levels of seats (I think), box seats. I was in row F and had a great view of the stage. I really wished I had brought the camera (not that it was actually allowed in the theater), not for just the theater but the other things I had seen that day.

So the theater wasn't half full yet and the lights dimmed. The Black Keys. A drummer and a guitar playeer. The music was interesting and good in a way. But by the end of their set I was starting to get bored, cause a lot of it was sounding the same.

So they left the stage and the crowd's anticipation grew. After a while the crowd would cheer for Radiohead at every pause in the music playing. It was kind of silly.

When they finally took the stage, a huge roar came up and they started right into it.

It was a mixture of older stuff (most of their albums being represented) and the stuff that will be coming out soon enough. It was interesting and I was just amazed...and I mean AMAZED as to how well they sounded and played together.

The stage was setup in a way to allow for many changing of instruments on the stage (including mini drum sets, pianos, guitars and etc). And they also had many lights and on the backdrop of the stage, they had about 10 trapazoidal screens that were being projected on. It's quite interesting what they did. They had cameras all over the stage, and so they might show a video of Thom Yorke broken up across the screens, singing. And they would have effects added to it. So things like inverted colors, or orange tints or dots or etc. At points you could see the drummer on two screens and Yorke on some others or the like. It worked.

The lights were amazing, being both, well timed and matching the speed and the intensity of the music.

After 2 encores, the show ended and I raced out of the theater. There were a few songs that I would've liked to hear, but all and all they covered the bases pretty well. I called Shannon when I got in the car, but the reception was pretty bad (since I was under Michigan Ave). So I told her the plan (I'd call if I was going to sleep somewhere before I got home). So I headed out of Chicago. The traffic leaving was pretty bad, until I got into the western suburbs. Then it calmed down quite a bit.

I stopped at the Dekalb Oasis, but Starbucks wasn't open, so I got a big pepsi and a water and continued on. I called my parent's house and left a message (around 11) and said I might be stopping by if I needed to sleep.

I drove on, traffic was very light and I rarely had to wait to pass anyone.

When I was on the East Side of Iowa City...or at least close to the East Side, I got a call back from Joseph to say it was ok, but I was doing fine (and by the end of the call I was passing the I-380 Exit anyways).

40 miles or so out of Des Moines, I was starting to wonder if I was gonna run out of gas (even if the light wasn't off) and I was kind of hungry and wanted something. So I saw this Kum & Go and noticed something. In Illinois premium is 92 octane, while Iowa's is 91. And it must of helped, cause on the Tank of gas from the Dekalb Oasis to Chicago and back to wherever I was off of I-80, I got Just over 33 MPG (again my car is supposed to get 29 MPG on the highway) and this was going 80 most of the way.

I pulled into my driveway at around 3:45 and I was pretty exausted, eyes dry and just kind of mentally losing it.

So I went upstairs, brushed my teeth, took my pills (since I didn't think I'd be up early enough to actually take it in the morning, and crawled into bed.

Anyways, I've been wanting to see Radiohead for around 12 years and now I have had the chance and I couldn't be more happy about it.

Posted by SammyD at 10:25 AM | Comments (0)

June 18, 2006

Wedding Plans ramp up again

It's good to have my girl back again. After the long time working for her test, it's done and Shannon's stress level is back to a more normal level.

To celebrate, since Shannon wanted a malt, we headed down to Drake Diner for dinner. I love that place. Good food. Good price. Her malt was good and my shake was good too.

Afterwards we went to Nacho Libre. The reviews that I had read were rather mixed. Either people loved it, or hated it, which sounds like Napolean Dynamite. I laughed and I thought parts were stupid...pretty much just like the previous movie. So I'm mixed but I'd probably watch it again.

Saturday, we lounged around for a good part of the morning, and then when we were ready, we headed over to University Photo and dropped off a few slides and photographs to get resized. Not to bad a price. I'm sure if I wanted to deal with my old scanner, I could probably have done it myself, but when it comes down to it, I'm not even sure that scanner works, or that I even have it anymore...

Anyways, we went grocery shopping, got home and started working on invitations.

We've gotten them designed and test printed and it's all good. And maybe, just maybe, if we do it right, we'll be able to get the maps, response card and invite in there and still remain under an ounce (thus not having to add extra postage). Shannon scanned through the stamps and foud a couple of designs that we wanted to use. So we ordered oh around 200 Stamps for around 70$. Initially when I've thought about ordered just single books of stamps, they were a little obnoxious on the price, but when you buy a lot, it's not so bad to pay $1 for shipping and handling.

Shannon talked to her mom a bit and while she was doign that I investigaged M&M prices. So we ended up getting 5 pounds of pink M&Ms, 5 Pounds of White, and 5 Pounds of Silver. Then we added a couple of custom printed M&Ms, and got 2 pounds (4 8oz bags) of a mix of Pink and White with our names on them and then another 2 pounds of a mix of dark pink and silver. So I cannot believe that we ordered 19 pounds of M&Ms or how much we paid for them, but they'll make a nice give away. We will have to have a M&M packing party (no eating of the wedding M&Ms).

Today we plan on checking and finalizing directions and maps and get the final weight of the invitation...then maybe start printing.

Tomorrow I'm heading to Chicago to see Radiohead. My seat is pretty good, but I'll miss not having company. I think a big part of the fun of going to a concert is going with someone else. But I'm not missing the show. 6 hours there and and another 6 on the way back, probably puts me home (depending on the show's end time) at 5 in the morning on Tuesday. Good thing I took Tuesday off too.

Posted by SammyD at 7:05 AM | Comments (0)

May 11, 2006

Showing Adam a good time

So I had the day off yesterday, so I was lazy most of the day...I did fix the light in the bathroom with a combination of a hing and velcro (yes velcro).

Around 3:30 PM I headed to the back to get some cash, Target to get a bucket and a marker and then Starbucks to get a coffee (it was on my way, normally I don't go there).

I met up with Josh at his house, and after he changed, we headed over to get Adam.

I drove to Omaha...and when we got there we headed into town and went to Sushi Ichiban (which was apparently inside a Japaneese Resturant).

The Sushi was actually pretty good, not the best I've had, they lost points for some of them actually crumbling while they got picked up. It was served on a big wooden boat.

The highlight of the meal, at least for me, was Ginza No Suzume Shochu, which, apprently is a 40 proof Sake, which is off dry and light bodyied...well it pretty much tasted like water and was warm on the way down. It was quite nice. It was served in a container where they could put ice in the side to keep it cold, through the meal.

After dinner we stopped for gas and then headed over to Sokol Underground. We headed in an drank for a while, waiting for the show to start. We chatted and drank and vice versa.

First up was Mac Lethal supported by Joe Good, who I found to be quite entertaining, so much so that I bought two of his albums (The Love Potion Collection 2 (Mac Lethal) and Hi, May I Help You (Joe Good)). Good beats and good lyrics and good topics. Ranging from the silly (fighting over a baby's mama) to more serious...

After that, we had Los Nativos come on stage. They were...good, but not something that I would've picked out. I just didn't really connect to it.

After that was Brother Ali. And, like before, he put on a great show. The crowd started to pack in and the heat started to rise. The good brother maintained a masterful control over the crowd.

Afterwards, there was a long wait, which gave a chance for even more people to crowd in and the temp to rise more.

Atmosphere took the stage. Slug was initially supported by both Brother Ali and one of the guys from Los Nativos. It was quite good and a fun time, lots of crowd participation. The set went on, and his backing band came out to help with the show. It was a fun time.

Behind Josh and I was a dolt who was jamming to the music and holding his full beer...or more accuratly, spilling his beer on to our shoes. Over and over he did this...Many thoughts of violence crossed both our minds, but neither of us acted on it.

It was near this time that I was getting to hot for me. During the encore, I actually had to leave the crowd to get a glass of water. But I came back and with water and ice and I was good for the rest of the show.

Leaving the heat into the cool Omaha air, was very nice. We headed to the car and then to on the interstate. We stopped at a gas station somewhere's in Iowa and then drove the rest of the way home (I fell asleep somewheres in there).

I got home around 3:00 or so and got to bed around 3:30.

By the sounds of it, Adam did have a good time, which is the whole point of the excersize.

Posted by SammyD at 7:52 AM | Comments (0)

April 24, 2006

Punchline! (It's Chris's Birthday)

I went left work headed home and ate some fried egg and dubliner cheese sandwhiches, watched the Sopranos and then headed downtown.

I got down to The House of Bricks and met up with Brandon.

So here's the line up:

New Atlantic
Cute is What We Aim For
Punchline

Cute is What we Aim For was goodish...made me get up from the bar and actually watch, instead of just listening form the bar. Maybe it was cause the lead singer was sick...or maybe cause he wouldn't stop talking during their set...Maybe I'll listen to their music somewhere's or another.

This was probably the best I've seen Punchline perform. I was pretty happy with the set list they played and how well they played them. Apprently it was Chris's birthday and there was a lot of sillyness surrounding it.

I felt really old. I think their fans are getting younger....

It's really to bad, the poor turn out to the show, a lot of people missed out on a great show.

After the show, I thought about hanging out and having a bear with Punchline, since Chris remembered Brandon (although he said he didn't recognize him at first, cause of the beard), but I decided I'd rather go home and see Shannon...

Posted by SammyD at 10:03 PM | Comments (0)

April 14, 2006

Some things from the past week...

I have a new niece! My older brother and his wife had a little girl, Her name is Laural Annmarie. Congrats!

So this week and part of last I've had a lot of new music. And I mean A lot. I ordered a bunch of CDs with tax return money (Shannon got something so I got something too).

So here's the list:

Ben Folds - Rockin the Suburbs
Ben Folds Five - Whatever and Amen
Brother Ali - Champion
Brother Ali - Shadows On The Sun
Coheed & Cambria - Good Apollo, I'm Burning Star IV, Volume One: From Fear Through The Eyes of Madness
Coheed & Cambria - In Keeping Secrets of Silent Earth: 3
Depeche Mode - Exciter
Depeche Mode - Playing the Angel
Fall out Boy - From Under the Cork Tree [Limited "Black Clouds and Underdogs" Edition]
Greig - Piano Music, Vol. 5
Kanye West - Late Registration
Kanye West - The College Dropout
Punchline - 37 Everywhere
Yellowcard - Lights and Sounds
25 Wedding Favorites
Monty Python's Spamalot (Original Cast Recording)
Thelonious Monk Quartet with John Coltrane at Carnegie Hall [LIVE]

Yeah I went a bit nuts, but right now I'm stuck on Brother Ali and Coheed & Cambria....I've seen Brother Ali at the Vaudville Mews (amazing) and I'll be seeing him in a month or so in Omaha with Atmosphere.

I started walking again, instead of excersizing in the basement (the videos bore me to tears). I changed my path so that there is more up and down hills, instead of the basically flat Franklin Ave. It's been nice.

It was hot yesterday. I think it hit 89 degrees...it's april, it's supposed to be much cooler. I actually seriously considered turning on the air conditioning yesterday... It's in the 80s again today...

My Gramma had a heart attack last week, but has recovered a bit an is back in the nursing home. From the sounds of what my parents say, she is making an effort again, so she can go home (instead of being at the nursing home). I need to get up there and see her (and my new niece).

I made pot roast this past Sunday. It turned out pretty well, I vaguely followed the recipe...more just used it as a general idea. But the beef was tender and very spiced (spicy mustard will do that).

We got chocolate eggs from Choclate Stam...and well so far they've been amazing. Good things for easter.

Speaking of Easter, Brandon mentioned that Val's family was coming for easter, and with all honesty, I asked him, "That's this weekend?". You think maybe I'm out of touch a little?

Posted by SammyD at 11:25 AM | Comments (0)

March 26, 2006

(Insert Religion Name) (Insert Type of Music) Music...

So I've long held the belief that music, like Christian Rock, are not as good as most mainstream music and the only reason why they are published is because they have a built in market of people that will buy them just for thier religous content.

This, I think, is also proven by my current artist that I'm listening to. Matisyahu. His strong Jewish beliefs show through clearly in his music and here the thing...I love it cause it's good. It's really good.

I think it really shows that if the music was good I'd like it....if you take more classical music, which is inspired by religion, I really enjoy it..

Oh well...just a thought.

Posted by SammyD at 8:06 AM | Comments (0)

March 17, 2006

Panic! and Gramma

So after work yesterday, I went home, changed, ate some dinner, and headed over to the Val Air Ballroom to see the XBox 360 tour....well ok I went to see Panic! at the Disco. The rest of the bands I didn't really care that much about.

So the first two bands, well...they were ok, I guess. The second band started and I was like hey that's a good intro, then they started singing and then I suddenly didn't care anymore.

Panic! started and it was pretty good. The last time I saw them, the lead singer said that he was a bit sick and having trouble, and it really showed. They were really good live, before, and they were better this time. The second song in I got a call from Shannon (at home, not her style of music), that told me that my dad called about my Gramma.

So I spent most of the set wondering what was going on, is gramma sick, is gramma worse then sick? did she break something?

All these things kept going through my head, it really was terrible.

so when the set was over (since I could barely hear brandon and val and they were yelling right by me), I tried to find a quiet corner to call my dad.

I did get the gist of what was going on, Gramma's got an infection, She's in the hospital, we're hoping for the best. Some of the more finer details I'll leave off, since it's her life, not mine. It was still hard hearing dad, cause even if it was a bit quieter, it was still pretty loud.

After the next band started, I pretty much shrugged at them and headed home.

Posted by SammyD at 9:51 AM | Comments (0)

February 18, 2006

Visiting Ames, The Birdman, and the rest of the week...

Wednesday night, we headed over to Chris and Pat's to watch the Grapes of Wrath, for the AFI top 100 film watching thing. It was a good movie. I brought over the bottle of white that I had chilled for valentine's day. The wine was ok, not great. The movie was pretty good. Certainly gives a few into how the whole depression worked. Good times...

As soon as I had gotten home from work, on Thursday, (Shannon had taken the day off), we headed up to Ames. We wanted to get there early enough to eat and maybe make it to the book store (I was going to buy an ISU diploma frame or two so I could put up my diplomas on the wall).

So the weather was supposed all nasty and awful, as was predicted, but it really wasn't that bad, or so I thought. The Interstate was fine, and until we turned off I35 on to Highway 30...Suddenly it was very windy. Apprenty the wind was blowing south.

I gave Seth and Briana a call and they agreed to meet us for dinner. I had been craving Great Plains Pizza for a while. It's one of the two resturants in Ames that I actually miss (The other being Battle's BBQ). So we went there. We had pizza and some soda and it was great. We caught up with Seth and Bri, which was great. I got to do my favorite part of the pizza, taking the end of the thick wheat crust and covering it in honey to finish it off. Their pizza is probably my favorite that I've had.

So being that we still had lots of time to the concert, we headed next door to the Corner Pocket. Seth, Bri and I had a Guiness and Shannon had a Bacardi Raz and Seth and I played a game of pool (which he let me win). Afterwards we said our goodbyes and Shannon and I headed to the M-Shop.

We parked, headed in, checked to see if the book store was open (it wasn't, it had closed 15 minutes before), and then, since we were still running early, headed in to the reading library (which during my 6 years at ISU I had never actually gone in), and hung out for a little while and read.

So we headed down to get into the show, and apprently because of some sort of delay, the show wasn't going to open it's doors until 8:30 (instead of 8). So we stood around and waited and waited...

and waited...

At around 8:50 they finally opened the doors. We had been near the doors, until we both started feeling a little crowded and moved more to the back of the line and less of a crowd.

It took us a while to get in and were a bit disappointed when we found out that they didn't have chairs setup...

So we took a spot to the side of the stage where it wasn't so crowded and then moved back a bit to get out of direct line of the speakers.

The first person up was Haley Bonar. She had a very breathy voice and she sang folksy songs about various things, including her cat. We both liked her, enough so we tried to buy her album, after her set...and...well...couldn't. The Andrew Bird people were not selling her stuff, and she was no where to be found...But after the entire show, we picked up both Lure the Fox and The Size of Planets. I'll let you know how much I like her albums when I get a chance to sit down and listen to them both...

Next up was Martin Dosh. Shannon really didn't like how much bass there was. But after it listened to it for a while, I kinda liked it, not enough to buy...yet...but certainly enough to see him with someone else I liked. A good example of his music and how he does it is in this video.

Then the headliner, Andrew Bird. Now this is the same guy where after I saw him in October in 2004 I went out and bought all the albums that he had. He played with Martin Dosh and Haley Bonar over his set, and he had quite the mix of the old and current (redone in the way that his music grows and changes) and the new as well. With the new really making me crave his next album, which his site says should be recorded this year. Sometimes when he was talking between songs, I wanted to whack some people on the head and tell them to stop talking and pay attention to the show. But I was impressed. By the end of the show, Shannon was getting very tired, so we prepared to go.

He did do an encore, and for that he also had everyone that had played over the night help him out on the last few songs. It really was a good time. Here's a good video from his website on how he does his shows., not the best audio quality... Over here they have an entire show, audio quality much better.

I bought Haley's CDs and then we headed home. It was really cold, but the roads were fine. We got home at around 1 AM. I had to print out maps and make sure Shannon's phone got charged up so I didn't get into bed until 1:30 or 1:45, which made getting up at 6:AM to shovel the light fluffy snow all the tougher, espically since it was windy and cold.

I was a bit grumpy until Brandon and I took a trip to La Mie and I got myself a mocha and a cinnamon roll, then my day started to look up.

Shannon's Mom was coming up to take a peek at the wedding venues, and spend some time with shannon to get a better idea of decorations, colors, and what not. So they headed over to the wedding chapel and met the caterer (Winstons/Chef's Kitchen) at the nature lodge. I met up with them and we had lunch at Palmer's over in West Des Moines.

So with discussions with the Nature Lodge and Winston's/Chef's Kitchen, we are going to have a Cash bar. The contract that I got from the nature lodge pretty much said we'd have to pay for everything, but when I emailed and asked, it turns out as long as our caterer has the license and the insurance, then it's fine to actually sell beer/wine. Of course I've now asked for a new contract, cuase the way this one is written doesn't make any damn sense, for what we want to do.

So to clarify and ask a few questions, Shannon and I went to Chef's Kitchen for dinner (through the very cold weather). They let us sample a bottle of Champagne to use for the wedding, which, for Shannon, got a "It's not to bad", which, from her, concerning booze, is more like a this is pretty damn good! from other people. It was not very strong and more fruity then dry, so I think it'll work out great for us. Dinner was good too...yes...we had champagne and french fries :) I had the muffeletta sandwhich and Shannon had the chicken alfredo sandwhich.

Aftewards we rented The Producers and Must Love Dogs, and went home to watch them. We watched The Producers, during which, since I had around 4 hours of sleep, I fell asleep once or twice, I'll probably watch it again today though. For me, around 9:PM I headed up to go to bed. When Shannon came up, I got up and brushed my teeth and actually got ready for bed rather then sleep in my clothes.

Busy at home, busy at work, it gets tiring.

Posted by SammyD at 8:35 AM | Comments (0)

December 29, 2005

little things

Shannon came home last night with a drastically changed hair cut. She went to salon that she had reccommended her by a co-worker. I did balk a little when she told me how much it cost (I gave her the money that her dad gave me and she had the money that her dad gave her and it was more then that). But has trouble believing me when I tell her she looks pretty (She has said that she thinks I'd find her pretty in a potato sack). I dunno about all that, but I did have trouble keeping my eyes off her all night...so...she should take that as a hint (she even commented on it).

Made home made mac and cheese a couple of days ago. It was good...needs a bit more sauce and less bay leaf...it was even good reheated in the microwave (had it for lunch today). It was a lot easier then I thought it'd be, although it dirtys more pans then you do when you make box mac, but it has a lot less salt...

My older brother, his family, and one of my younger sisters are coming down tonight. Alissa is flying out tomarrow, and so they thought they should stop by and visit (for longer then 30 mintes). I'm gonna cook 'em dinner and breakfast too. For dinner we're going to have veal and lamb meatloaf (mmm...baby animals), and real mashed potatoes. I'm also gonna pick up some bread from La Mie. For breakfast I'm gonna make some french toast (with Challah from La Mie) along with bacon and sausage...maybe I need some potatoes there too...

I'm taking work off tomarrow...so today is my last day of work for the year....mmm...no worky. I got all the things that I needed to do done, or am at least waiting on other people to get back to me.

I got me a bottle of Laphroaig 15 year old Whiskey. I'm taking it to CR for the tiny little quiet new years celebration at the Matta's. So no ending up passed out on the kitchen floor.

I've been playing a new playlist that was suggested to me by Brandon. It's been kinda fun. It's songs with a 4 or 5 star rating (out of 5) that haven't been played in 2 months. Some of the songs I've been shocked that I've not heard them in that long (Been Caught Stealing), and other's have gotten demoted to 3 star status. But it's kinda nice to go through.

Posted by SammyD at 1:58 PM | Comments (0)

December 15, 2005

The kids make me feel old

So I showed up last night at the House of bricks about half a hour before the show started. I left my coat in the car, in my sweet parking space across the street (so that for most of the time that I was in there I could watch my car). I went in, paid my 10$ cover and got me a Bass beer...mmmm...beer.

So the show that night consisted of:

The Fully Down
I Am The Avalanche
Punchline
Halifax

So I assume the first band was the Fully down, and well not really my style. They were from Canda...or at least they said so on stage. One suggesting here, less talk more rock. They kept trying to get the crowd to come in closer and be more active, the crowd wasn't so much into that.

Brandon arrived and we started yelling at each other about work (kinda hard to talk over the music).

Second up, was I am the Avalanche, I assume. I got groovin to this one a little, but certainly not enough to actually buy anything.

Brandon and I chatted more.

Punchline came up and Brandon and I headed towards the stage. It was fun, and by no doubt in my mind the best I've seen them. I guess being on the road for most of 3 years certainly helps your comfort level. It was a lot of fun, their short replacement guitarist was good too and really knew the songs. It was quite impressive actually (their regular guitar player apprently was on a long before planned vacation w/ his mom). The bass player was a bit tipsy and kept giving shout outs to long standing fans. Also near the end of the show, they said that Des Moines was the capitol of Snapping (yes it's silly).

After the show, with a little reminder from Brandon, they remembered who he was and Brandon talked to a few of them for a while. I think one of the highlights of the conversation was between the bass player and brandon and how wierd he thought it was that some of his friends (Fall out Boy) were now millionares...I imigine that would be wierd.

Then Halifax came on stage, meh...

After more chatting after the show ended, they kicked the minors our and shortly after that I decided that it was time to go home.

On thing that I've been having trouble with lately, is that the music I like is more youthful then I am. So, I often feel very old at these shows. At the House of Bricks, I was probably the oldest one there....excluding the staff of the place. It was the same way the Last time I saw Fall Out Boy. But I still enjoy it. Oh well...

Posted by SammyD at 11:08 AM | Comments (0)

November 16, 2005

Nintendo Fusion Tour

So I left work yesterday, hurried though the falling snow home, changed, quickly ate, headed back across town and went to the Nintendo Fusion Tour at the Val Air Ballroom.

So I parked in the snow covered grass as they do at the Ballroom (which I hate), got out of my car, and dumped my coat in my trunk and headed towards the front. I started to text message Brandon to see if they (and val) were there yet, but then got a call, so I looked up around and there they were.

So we headed in, so I wasn't in the cold for too long. Up the stairs and inside. While going in, I lost track of Brandon and Val, so I figured they'd head over and get something to drink, but I was mistaken. I tried to order something, and one guy was gonna fill my order, but then was reminded that I needed a band on my arm, so I walked all the way across the ballroom again, got my paper band, walked all the way back, and got my $4 bud light...yeah...that's a bit much. Then I started look for Brandon, so I texted him, and he called me back and gave me a general idea of where they were.

I made my way through the crowd and found them eventually. I taunted brandon a bit about the beer, but he responded that he drank some cold ones at home where it wasn't near as expensive. Oh well...So we didn't have to wait for to long before the show started.

Panic at the Disco

On the stage first. Brandon had let me listen to thier CD on his iPod and I had liked it but never got around to buy it for myself (I did this morning though). I thought they put on a pretty good show and had a lot of fun. there was even a stint where the guys on stage were dodging snow balls from fella's (I think from FOB) off stage. It was funny and at the same time pretty cool, cause it didn't really mess 'em up. The kids liked 'em too.

Boys Night Out

While waiting for them to setup, the crowd starting to go back and forth, and occassionaly you'd get some sweatty guy who basically rubbed his sweatty body on you while passing. It was quite gross.

The finally took the stage and the crowd didn't seem to like them as much as Panic! but I didn't find that too surprising since I thought they were kind of boring and all their stuff sounded exactly the same...I had trouble telling the differences between the songs. They still had a decent stage presence, and one of their songs brought a cheer from a large portion of the audience.

Motion City Soundtrack

I think it was Motion City that had quite a bit of trouble with their equipment, and during their set too. It was good. Certainly better then Boys, but not as good as Panic!. I had a decent time, even though some kid had a lot of fun jumping up and down and doing so on my toes. I think they are ok...and maybe I'll buy a CD. I know Brandon doesn't much like 'em but Val does...so who knows. I haven't really heard anything recorded but one track off a collection (which I liked). So I'll have to think about buying it...maybe.

The Starting Line

I found them boring, but the kids seemed to like them. There were a lot of kids that wanted to work their way to the front, either around or through me (happend a couple of times where someone walked right into my back...). even a few people talked about how I was the "bad guy" and wouldn't let them by. It was crowded enough (being a sold out show) without cramming more people into the front.

They stopped quite a bit