Spongey Monkey

Spongey Monkey Archive

2011-03-21T20:45:00.003-05:00

This is the start of the Spongey Monkey archive project. So far we've only scanned SM #2. We can't find a copy of SM #1, so if anyone has one they'd loan us please let us know. Along with the scanned issues we'll eventually create a podcast to go with each one. Podcasts will eventually be loaded on our mac page: http://web.mac.com/kellyenriquez/Site/Podcast/Podcast.html

The link to the PDF of Spongey Monkey #2: http://www.scribd.com/doc/51267710

Alaska or Bust!

2009-07-08T22:30:00.014-05:00

A week ago yesterday we got home from our 2+ week vacation to Alaska. We last went up to visit in March(?) 2001, and it was still a chilly winter. This time it was lovely summer weather, with all night daylight and Solstice (the longest day of the year). Part of the kick in the pants that prompted our trip was my 20th high school reason (more on that later), although the main reason was to visit friends and family in the summer and get away from the heat of the south. Plus, Kelly had enough frequent flier miles to purchase both of our tickets, and with me recently unemployed we figured it was a good time to go.

We left early on a Saturday morning flying from Huntsville to Atlanta, a 4-hour layover (that turned into 6 hours), then a direct 7 hour flight to Anchorage. With the 3 hour time change (4 from Atlanta), we were pretty beat when we arrived at Anchorage International at 9pm on Saturday night. My aunt Nancy was there to pick us up, so after grabbing dinner at a 'Greek' restaurant, we headed back to her place and crashed. It took a little bit of time to get used to the still light sky outside, but we were exhausted enough to fall asleep pretty quickly.

The next morning we woke and had breakfast, then went out with Kelly's cousin, Stephanie. We walked around downtown and ended up at Snow City Cafe where we had brunch. Yum! This became a favorite for me during the time we spent in Anchorage. I enjoyed the baked tofu and brown rice sides, but the mac and cheese that Kelly got was pretty good. After brunch we walked around downtown a bit more and Stephanie took us to see a few other sites, then we went back to Nancy's. After eating dinner at her place, she drove us up to Chugach State Park (just outside of town) to show us some of the local hiking trails as well as the nice view of the city and inlet. We had our first wildlife experience with a pair of moose off in the distance.

Monday morning Nancy let us borrow her car, but before we dropped her off at work we stopped at Fire Island Rustic Bakeshop where we picked up some bread and croissants for after our morning hike. That place was AWESOME!!! Totally the kind of little shop I eventually want to open. Another fave spot in Anchorage for me.

Kelly and I drove up to the parking area and went hiking to find 'Hidden Lake' (I think that's what it was called). Not too many people out on the trail so we had a nice quiet walk mostly to ourselves on a day that started out a bit cloudy but became sunny as we went along. We hiked a good distance in, but unfortunately never found the Hidden Lake. Kelly hadn't worn her hiking boots and there was a large, impassable field of muck that we couldn't avoid without her possibly sinking in over the top of her shoe and getting soaked, so we headed back down. On the way we heard what we thought were some young foxes in the bushes and looked up the hill off the trail to see a pair of wolves. We were a bit concerned that maybe they had friends and were surrounding us, but it ended up just being the pair and they were heading in the opposite direction, so no problems. We went back to the car and had pain au chocolate and ham & cheese croissants. Got back to take a shower, then went to get on-line for a bit at Kaladi Brothers. We also spent some time in REI and the bookstore browsing the used books.

Tuesday morning we went downtown to the bike rental store and picked up a tandem bicycle to ride along the Tony Knowles trail which runs along the edge of the inlet. Nice pathway. Our first time on a tandem bike together went pretty well. We didn't fall over at all and communicated pretty well. I know that Kelly would rather ride in a rickshaw with me pedaling, but this worked well for us. It was a touring cycle, and didn't have the most comfortable seats, but still a good ride. If we ever get a tandem bicycle ourselves, we decided that it would definitely have to be a tandem cruiser. After biking around a bit we had lunch at Glacier Brewhouse, then went to get coffee and geek before going back to read at Nancy's. Stephanie was picking us up after work to take us down to a place in Girdwood (Alyeska Ski Resort) that baked sourdough bread. It was actually a small sandwich shop, but the bread was pretty good. At least it wasn't too far outside of Anchorage, and on the way back we saw some people stopped on the shoulder and up on the side hill looking at something (which usually means some kind of wildlife), so we stopped, and sure enough on the other side were a couple of young grizzly bears in the tall grass down the other side. They were far enough away from us to be safe, but close enough to be wary. Many people were snapping away with their cameras, including Stephanie with her nice digital SLR. Our first few days in Alaska and we'd already seen wildlife that people living there for years don't see that often. Pretty cool. We got back into town and had some great pizza at Moose's Tooth. That was the end of our first half of our time in Anchorage because the next morning we were renting a car and driving up to Fairbanks for a week.

Experiment Failed

2009-06-04T22:25:00.006-05:00

Or maybe I should say I failed the experiment. Tomorrow is my last day at Mellow Mushroom. I decided last weekend after a lot of thinking that it really wasn't fair of me to ask for 2+ weeks off for vacation at the end of this month, then in the next couple months a few more weeks off to take bread-baking classes in Vermont and North Carolina. Plus I was only doing prep work with Paul, a guy I met there who lives close to us and has been driving us to work each day. He's almost my age and we get along pretty well, which has made the job more enjoyable. Actually, working with the younger 'kids' really hasn't been that bad, but I just can't totally relate to the drugs, alcohol, or 'drama' lifestyles some of them seem to revolve around. I know I'm old and don't really want to, but it does annoy me to be around slackers that do as little as possible to squeeze out the extra hours. What's annoyed both Paul and I this week is the laziness of the pizza and salad lines coming back to tell us they've run out of something which we've prepped earlier and we go up and point it out to them in the front cooler which they didn't bother to check even though it was right in front of their fucking face. The work ethics of some individuals is just not acceptable. I may have higher than normal standards, but this isn't difficult and would seem to be common sense- look first and use the oldest dated items first.

I'm fine with my decision and look forward to getting back to working on unpacking boxes and getting the house in order. Our bookshelves arrived yesterday, so I'll be spending most of next week unpacking many boxes of books and getting the guest room ready for Gary when he comes down to stay with the cats while we're gone. I also plan to start working on pimping out my new ride. I have a new single speed bicycle that I am going to add new toe clips and a green chain to go with the brown frame. We also have the pest control, termite contract, and air conditioning to be serviced.

I'll be keeping busy but enjoying making my own hours. AND I'll get to practice making some more bread. I made a couple of cinnamon loaves that turned out pretty well the other day. I still have more recipes to try.

-Chris

A New Experiment

2009-05-18T22:36:00.004-05:00

So, the house in Mississippi finally sold and we closed on April 30. One year to the day from when we put it on the market. Even our listing agent said that was pretty weird. Either way, we have pretty much severed our ties to the coast (besides our friends) and are finally both together again in the same household in Alabama.

It had been about 2 weeks that I had been jobless and working on things at the house last week like unpacking boxes, putting away the cd's, etc. I received a phone call on Friday morning from the opening soon Mellow Mushroom where I had placed an application online. They asked if I wanted to come in and interview that afternoon. I figured, sure, why not? A few hours later I was meeting with one of the managers and after about 10 minutes he hired me as a morning shift oven person. The next day (Saturday) was orientation and Sunday we started the training. Plans are to open on Memorial Day after the completely new crew has been trained and goes through a trial run next weekend for family and friends.

The funny thing about this place is that other than some of the owners/managers of this franchise location (they're all from the same family), I am the oldest person on staff. Not that big of a deal, especially since most people think I'm in my 20's anyway, but amusing. It's been about 15 or 16 years since I worked in food service (Pizza Hut), and I have PLENTY to learn to get on track with some of the 'kids'. Working a desk job and working in a kitchen are WAY different. I can take directions easily and learn pretty quickly, but the menu is pretty extensive (many new items from the store we used to go to in Ocean Springs). I think I can handle it, but it'll take a bit of time.

It's funny that after making about $35,000 per year that I'm back at a job making $7.50/hr. I'm not knocking it, since I am doing this more to get out of the house a bit and so we have a little bit of extra spending cash. I was getting a bit antsy staying at the house most of the day just unpacking boxes and not really accomplishing much. It wasn't too bad being by myself listening to music and not dealing with people, but at the same time the joblessness wasn't me. I think my parents just raised me to have a motivated work ethic, although my mom may sometimes say I'm lazy.

I was surprised that they hired me after I told them I'm going on vacation to Alaska for the last 2 weeks in June, but more credit to them. Maybe I'll be saying something different if I come back and don't have a job still. Ah, that's okay. I'll have least gotten a bit of recent experience in a restaurant and a better idea of whether I want to ever deal with opening a place myself.

I'm looking forward to the bread baking courses that I'm taking in July and October. I may also fit one in during August or September, or maybe wait until November. I did find out that baked goods can be sold at Alabama farmers markets which were made in a kitchen not inspected by the Health Department as long as one has a sign on the baked item stating so. That is good to know in case I decide to ditch the pizza joint and just bake bread at home for the farmers markets. I think I've pretty much perfected my whole wheat/oatmeal loaf, so now I need to find a new type to master. Any suggestions?

-Chris

2 Months Past...

2009-03-22T23:12:00.003-05:00

A lot has happened in the past two months. Highlights include buying a house in Huntsville, snow on the ground after waking up the first night we stayed in the house after closing (it melted off quickly), going out to dinner on my birthday with Kelly, Jason, Ellen, and Peter(good food, so-so service, and great company), sitting right next to the Thrashers bench when the Avs came to Atlanta (and lost), movers packing up and taking most of the contents of our house in Diamondhead two weeks ago (leaving me bare essentials), Kelly coming to visit this weekend (but sadly taking the cats with her)

As if the house here in Mississippi wasn't empty already, it feels more lonely without the kitty girls to keep me company. Our house is currently under contract, although the buyer is going through the USDA with her loan, so we don't have a closing date set yet. We're hoping it will be the end of April if not earlier. I think I can survive another month or so here alone, but it's a bit lonely.

Today after we loaded up the Element and got the girls settled in (had to wait awhile for Tura to show up, so I bike 15 miles in the wind towards Pass Christian before heading back), Kelly headed home to Huntsville. I showered and went over to Jason's to do laundry and help him with a bit of yardwork (moving some grass patches and building the fence gate), then we watched Bleach before I headed home. Stopped at the grocery on the way. Came home and made two loaves of bread (in the fridge to be baked tomorrow night) and watched the Avs lose yet another game. Made some basmati rice with green peas for dinner. Folded and put away laundry, now I'm updating the blog before heading to bed.

Updates may or may not be more frequent. Depends on how bored I get. At least I have the computer with PLENTY of torrents to watch (courtesy of my pal, Gary). Now I'm spending most of my time baking, biking, geeking, and reading. Only really watch hockey since I have the little television and no Tivo hooked up. Taking the receivers to Huntsville when I go up in a couple of weeks for Yo Yo Ma and Neko Case in Birmingham (2 different concerts, although together could be interesting). DirecTV is also coming out to the new house to set up our service there. Now Kelly will get to watch the last week of the NHL regular season and the playoff push. I'll be stuck with on-line or nothing unless I go out somewhere that shows hockey. We'll see. It'll be worse when the playoffs start and no-one has Versus since the local cable provider doesn't carry it. Things might be 'rough'.

-Chris

Post Script

2009-01-27T06:08:00.002-06:00

I forgot to mention that a couple of weeks ago I also went to New Orleans to see 'Frost/Nixon'. Another great film that has inspired me to want to rent the dvd set of the actual interview tapes from the 70's that was released recently.

-Chris

14 Years

2009-01-26T20:40:00.021-06:00

It may seem that's how long it's been since we updated this site, but it's actually the number of years Kelly and I have been married. It seems like yesterday...how cliche. I'd have to admit though, I'd do it again.

Unfortunately, Kelly is out in El Paso right now, which is definitely further than the six hours to Huntsville. We did have a nice anniversary dinner a couple of weeks ago though when I was last visiting her. A place called Grille 29. Not spectacular, but pretty good for 'fine dining' in Huntsville. Thinking about it later it was kind of an upscale equivalent of Bonefish Grill. It was nice to go out and find a new, non-chain restaurant in Huntsville.

Let's back up though to when I last updated the blog though. We've done a lot, mostly involving extensive travel via car. Back in December I drove up to Huntsville on the Saturday before Christmas and we went to see the Huntsville Havoc (SPHL hockey) play that night. Sunday we went shopping and went out looking at homes. For our big drive we rented a vehicle with AWD in Huntsville to get up to Michigan. We scored a Nissan Murano, which I have to admit was a pretty stylish ride. Plenty of space for all of our crap, comfortable seats, and an auxiliary jack so we could plug in our mp3 players. We left early on Monday morning and made an extended stop at REI in Nashville for some winter clothing and snacks at Whole Foods, then proceeded on our way to Dayton, Ohio. This was a little less than the halfway point of our final destination the next day. We stayed at this hotel out in the middle of basically nowhere next to the Air Force base. Not a bad hotel, just not close to anything. We drove back into the old downtown area and had dinner at an Irish pub. Can't even remember the name, but it was pretty decent pub food. We then headed back to the hotel to read and use the free wi-fi. Our fantasy hockey team had been on a downslide and we made a few player moves (hasn't helped a lot as of late, but we're hopeful after the All-Star break this past weekend).

Tuesday morning we awoke and made our way up to Michigan. Slight drop in temperature as we continued north, but no snow yet. It really wasn't a bad drive at all, but then again we've been on so many roadtrips we entertain each other. As soon as we got into Michigan though the winter storm warning was in full effect. It snowed lightly at first, but steadily grew heavier. Our first stop was at the REI near Livonia, one of the many Detroit suburbs. The REI in Nashville didn't have the raincoat/windbreaker jacket Kelly wanted, BUT they did have her size in stock in Michigan, so we had them put it on hold and went to pick it up. After getting the jacket (and a new bike frame pump for me), we called our friend John Myers who used to live on the coast, but is now a professor at Michigan State in E. Lansing. He and his friend Eric were on their way back from a different suburb of Detroit where John had left his phone at a bar, and we met them for lunch at a little burrito place near the REI. It was nice to chat with John for awhile, but we then headed to downtown Detroit where Kelly and I were going to see a Red Wings game. Our eventual goal is to go to a game at all of the NHL arenas (Kelly's current count is at 11 and mine is at 10, and there are some different ones on each of our lists), so it worked out well that St. Louis was in town a couple days before the Christmas break. Even more of a bonus was that hockey legend, Gordie Howe, was going to be there signing copies of his book that night. Of course one had to pay for the book and signature combo deal, but this guy is Mr. Hockey. It was pretty cool to wait in line for him to come to the small table set up. He was very cordial and friendly to the fans. He signed our book personally and kind of took a second glance when he saw Kelly was wearing an Avalanche sweatshirt, then kind of smiled. The Joe Louis Arena isn't really anything special, except like the Bell Center in Montreal with the rows of championship banners lining the ceiling. As expected, the fans were kind of obnoxious assholes, some of them seat-hopping and obstructing view while the game was in play. I guess they can be that way since their team skates circles around other teams with the depth of skill. St. Louis looked like a peewee team against the Red Wings that night. We ended up leaving after the second period had ended because Detroit was already up 5-1 and the final was inevitable. We also wanted to beat the horrendous traffic leaving downtown after the game since by this point the snow was coming down pretty hard and the plows weren't totally able to keep up. Fortunately, the AWD on our rental and my 'expertise' at driving on the winter roads in Alaska did well for us and we made it safely to Grand Rapids (about 4 hours later), passing by jackass Michigan drivers who had gone off the road into the snowbanks on the side. We didn't stop because all the drivers were fine or getting assistance from other passing drivers. Only one vehicle had turned up on it's side in the wide median, but those passengers were also being assisted and seemed to be getting out of their vehicle uninjured. We were staying in a hotel near the mall as opposed to Kelly's aunt's place (smoke free and more room), so it was fine that we got there late. We spent the next day doing a bit of shopping (making our required trip to Vertigo Records to stock up on too many cd's) as well as Uncle Jim's Jerky (yum, turkey jerky). The next few days we spent with family opening presents, playing cards and a new game Kelly's cousin got us called Sequence, chatting, baking, and enjoying our holiday vacation. We also took Kelly's mom to her one movie of the year and saw the excellent 'Milk' (which STILL hasn't made it to the MS Gulf Coast or Huntsville yet).

After a quick week we headed back on Sunday morning for the long drive back to Huntsville. No overnight stops this time. We got an early start by 6am and made really good time. After snow the first few days in Grand Rapids, the Saturday before we left the temperature rose up to around 50 degrees melting a lot of the snow, plus it rained, flooding some of the streets around town (including the one near our hotel- yay 6 cylinders!). Crazy weather. The only thing we had to deal with when leaving was high winds. Those lasted all the way down into Indiana, but didn't cause us any problems. Our only problem was north of Nashville when traffic was stop and go for some kind of incident ahead on the interstate, and I didn't listen to Kelly and get off at an exit and find back roads to take to Whole Foods so we could do some grocery shopping. That set us back about an hour. (helpful tip: always listen to your wife) We picked up some groceries and made it back to Huntsville at a reasonable hour with dinner from the grocery. Monday morning was the time to return the rental and drive back to Mississippi.

Kelly came back down to the coast with me to meet some of her friends from her old office for work and watch all the recorded programs she had on the Tivo while I was at work on Tuesday and Wednesday. On New Year's eve we went to Jason and Ellen's where they had snacks (excellent home-made veggie samosas) and a group of us played Cranium and Sequence that night. A pretty low-key event, but that's how it's been the past few years as we've gotten older. Not that we ever really 'partied', but staying in and avoiding the drunks on the road seems the best idea. On New Year's day we watched the Winter Classic between Chicago and Detroit then some college football before going to a late night showing of 'Doubt' (another very good film that actually DID make it to the coast). The rest of the weekend we met other friends and I biked a bit, but it was pretty much just hanging at home with the cats and watching hockey. I went back to work on Monday, then we drove back up to Huntsville that night after I got home from work. Kelly had a doctor's appt the next morning, then we were going to see the Avalanche up in Nashville. We sat in the lower level behind the net the Avs defended twice, in a section that wasn't very full, and happened to be seated next to two couples who had driven out together from Denver for the game. Kind of ironic, but a lot of fun to be next to fellow fans. Kelly had even brought her foam 'puckhead' hat to wear, and although it looked like it might be a long night when Nashville scored first, the Avs ended up winning a pretty exciting game 2-1. Our record this season for Avs games we've attended is Kelly 2-1 and me 2-2. We have one more game in about a month in Atlanta, so maybe I'll come out above .500. We drove home after the game and I was heading back home early the next morning to Mississippi when Kelly left for work.

When I'm home I still do my weekly bike ride down to the Mockingbird on Saturday or Sunday, and then on my last off Friday when it was colder than normal outside, I took the car to get new tires and road my bike from Hwy 49 in Gulfport down to the dentist, hair salon, and lunch with my friend Kendra. It was quite a brisk ride of 20 miles that day, and with more traffic I apparently pissed off more people (who yelled at me out their car window to get the fuck off the road). Nice.

I did go back up to Huntsville one last time recently (as I mentioned above). I drove up on Saturday and went to the Havoc game alone that night while Kelly entertained her friends Cathy and Allison driving back from Virginia with Allison's stuff. Sunday we spent the day touring homes with our agent. We decided that since Kelly's lease ends in March and interest rates are so low right now that we might as well purchase a home in Huntsville and move most of our things up there (leaving only minimum items for me here until we sell our house here) and maybe make our home more attractive to potential buyers with less things around. We found one we liked a lot and made an offer, but someone else made an offer at the same time so we had a 50/50 chance. Unfortunately, we lost, but there are still plenty more available. I'm actually going up this weekend to view some more homes (as well as the main reason I was originally going up, seeing the Killers and M-83 in concert in Nashville on Saturday night).

This past weekend I was busy going to Seawolves games on Friday and Sunday, cleaning the house for showings at our lowered price, going on a 'virtual date' with Kelly and watching another excellent film nominated for an Academy Award ('Slumdog Millionaire') on Saturday night, biking to the Mockingbird during the day Saturday, and baking oatmeal chocolate-chip cookies and Lazy Magnolia beer bread. I keep myself entertained, even if it's usually alone.

I'm looking forward to this weekend in Huntsville looking at homes on Friday during the day and riding with the local Critical Mass that evening (must remember warm clothes along with the bike for cold weather riding). Saturday I'll be able to explore Nashville a bit before the show at the Grand Old Opry. I'm going to check out an indie record store and maybe find a beer store to get Jason some local microbrews.

One thing that we DID finish before the end of the year, and Kelly completed the editing before she went to El Paso, was our annual top songs and top albums of 2008 podcasts. Here is the link to the page (takes a little bit of time to download each podcast) that has separate links for our lists. Enjoy!

-Chris

Ups and Downs

2008-12-15T21:20:00.012-06:00

Kelly and I finished watching the injury-plagued, inconsistent Avs stun (well, maybe just surprise) the Detroit Chicken Wings a little while ago. I was in Diamondhead, Kelly in Huntsville. At least it was on Versus so we could both watch it. Kelly gets the Nashville feed locally there since we haven't moved the DirecTV account yet, so I get the NHL Center Ice package. That's pretty much all I watch now, hockey and anime. There are a few others, but Dexter and Californication ended their seasons last night on Showtime, so all that's left is CSI (the original) and Heroes, and those haven't been spectacular lately. It's probably time for CSI to throw in the towel, but at least they started a new arc last week with the introduction of the new 'token black character' played by Laurence Fishburne, and it should prove the wind the season (series?) down well.

I've been going to hockey games lately as well. The trip up to Nashville alone was a bit disappointing. For one, Kelly wasn't there. Second, the game was a total snooze-fest after the first period. Both teams looked asleep, and the crowd (filling less than 2/3 of the arena) weren't really into it either. Maybe a game without fights in Smashville is a travesty. I sold our extra ticket for $10 outside the arena to an obvious scalper since they couldn't give tickets away to the game. The guy who ended up buying it paid $40 for it, so I'm glad he got a good discount, and he was pretty cool. A businessman up from Chattanooga for the day taking in a Predators game. We talked hockey and football before the game and during intermission. It was nice that he was a good guy to talk to. I'm not expecting as much from the pricks in Detroit at the game we're going to next week. The trip WAS successful in that I did get some shopping done before the game, stopping at REI, Whole Foods, Great Harvest Bread Co., and an Apple store. I picked up a USB microphone (the 'small' one they sold is about the size of a golf ball) and power cable to hook up Kelly's Macbook to the rental car. We're going to be doing a podcast on our drive up next week (more about that below). So, the trip wasn't a total waste. It's nice that Nashville is only about an hour and a half from Huntsville, so even driving back to the apartment after the game it wasn't that late.

I've also been watching Seawolves hockey down here. Sadly, Augusta folded last month, which really doesn't bode well for the Seawolves, or hockey in the South in general. When we moved down here in 1996 (about the same time the Seawolves did) it was a surprise to find hockey, but many teams have come and gone in that time. Lafayette, Baton Rouge, Mobile, Pensacola, Beaumont, New Orleans, Jackson, Tallahassee, and Birmingham have all had teams at one time, with Pensacola and Texas (Beaumont) both leaving the area after last season, our closest rival is now Gwinnett. To adjust the schedule with the loss of Augusta the Seawolves played Gwinnett about 7 or 8 times in two weeks. It gets kind of old seeing the same team over and over again. It also doesn't help that attendance figures are low here for the Seawolves. I think one night there couldn't have been more than 500 people in the stands, despite what the reported attendance figure may have been. Ah, well. The team has had it's ups and downs, but they played well on Wednesday and Saturday nights when I went to the games. I really hope they do stay on the coast, but I'm not optimistic. At least we'll have Havoc hockey in Huntsville. Kelly has been going to some of those games and I'm looking forward to watching them for the first time this coming Saturday night. They average about 5000+ per game. Cool!

Still continuing to bike every week. If nothing else I'll make my usual trip down to the Mockingbird and back. Unfortunately, my shoulder and sometimes my back have been bothering me quite a bit lately. I've been putting on Tiger Balm patches at night when I go to bed to relieve some of the pain. I guess my body is just getting old, which is really quite sad. I'm not letting it stop me, since I didn't stop after I broke my ankle two years ago.

So, it seems all sorts of music outlets are coming out with their top records/songs of 2008. Of course we have our own lists as well. We're trying something new this year though, we're going to create a podcast and probably link it to this site when we get back from Michigan (we're driving up for Christmas week). We figured it would be a good way to kill some time when we drive from Huntsville to Grand Rapids (we're renting a small SUV there with traction control since we'll be going into wintery weather). Looking at the lists on NPR, Pitchfork, and Sound Opinions, I'm not that impressed with what listeners chose. I don't totally disagree with some of the choices, but fucking Vampire Weekend is totally overrated. I think my top picks will be more in line with Brainwashed when their list is released in early January. At least the Sound Opinions guys have their own opinions and say so with their own personal lists. They aren't trying to compile the list of every other college sheep schmuck who listens to the music spoonfed to them by repetitive play on corporate media outlets (or even some of the small college/community stations as well). We're just going to be two more losers ourselves trying to be relevant with the outdated podcast format (no, we don't twitter).

-Chris

News (Or a lack of )

2008-11-29T13:49:00.010-06:00

I've been laying low most of the month. Nothing too exciting out of the ordinary. My days/nights usually consist of watching hockey (Avs are losing more often than winning lately, and Joe Sakic has been suffering from a back injury sustained while lifting weights. Sadly, when one gets our age after playing a long successful career in a punishing sport, the dreaded 'R' word for the player and fans starts to creep in. One of our favorite Avs blog hits the nail on the head.) when I'm not either biking or baking (I'm not even going to mention work, because I'd rather avoid it completely). Kelly and I have a Fantasy Hockey Team, which unfortunately is sitting in last place in our league right now. It's only our first year doing it though, so we're still learning. Even though our Avs aren't doing so well, I'm still going up to see them play in Nashville this coming Thursday. Unfortunately, Kelly was detailed to El Paso after we purchased the tickets and can't join me this trip, but we'll be heading up together to the re-match in 'Smashville' on Jan. 6. We are going to see a game at the Joe Louis Arena in Detroit though on our way up to Grand Rapids for Christmas. Our plan is to eventually hit all the NHL arenas, and this is another stop on that agenda. It should be a good game against division rivals, the St. Louis Blues. And Gordie Howe is going to be at the game signing copies of his book. How cool is that?

I'm glad the weather has finally cooled off and it's not as humid and muggy. I've been biking more often (although this week I've slacked off a bit with Kelly in town and rain today, but I'm planning the weekly ride down to the Mockingbird tomorrow morning). I've done my regular 32 mile Mockingbird ride each week since they didn't close down. Last weekend I pulled out my mountain bike and rode the 9 mile loop around Diamondhead (and came back pissed off because of stupid drivers who obviously don't know what hand signals are and almost ran over me when I was turning left off a main street) Friday night, Saturday was the Mockingbird run, then Sunday the Gulf Coast Bicycle Club had their regular Sunday ride in Latimer (north of Ocean Springs in Jackson County), which normally I would avoid like the plague since their posted 'average 18-19mph pace' is more a 22-23mph pace, but there was a professional photographer taking pictures for an upcoming issue of South Mississippi Living magazine and the club wanted as many cyclists as possible to come out. I figured I could ride another 22 miles Sunday afternoon, so my total for the weekend was 63 miles total. It's nowhere near as cold as the winter riding I used to do in Alaska, but brisk enough that I bought a light hat to go under my helmet and an extra pair of liner gloves to keep my hands warm while riding. I'm also planning to get a messenger style merino wool jacket to keep me warm on Urban Night Rides locally, and when I eventually move to Huntsville and ride in the monthly Critical Mass.

Kelly came down for a short visit this week. She drove down on Tuesday night and headed back to Huntsville early this afternoon. We both baked on Wednesday night while watching the Avs game, then went to Jason's parents house on Thursday for turkey dinner and cards. We brined a turkey in a maple brine overnight to fry that day, and it turned out really well. Nice and juicy. Yum! It was nice to have a family to hang out with for dinner and conversation, then an evening of dealer's choice poker (we all used change instead of chips). Yesterday, we went out and met Gary (who had come down for a few days) for lunch at a newer Mexican restaurant in Gulfport called Azteca's. It was really quite good food. Definitely a place to go back to again. It was nice to see Mr. Cross and chat with him for awhile. After lunch we went to Barnes and Noble to kill some time and use two 40% off coupons we had received that expired tomorrow. Kelly picked out a cd box set of folk music and I picked out a live Miles Davis cd box set. Not bad deals at all. After our trip to BN, we went to finally go see 'Quantum of Solace', the new James Bond film. We were surprised that there were many people there, since it came out two weeks ago. It was pretty good. Daniel Craig plays a good Bond (although Kelly was disappointed that he didn't take his shirt off more). The story in the last film (Casino Royale) was a bit better, but this was still an enjoyable film. After the movie Gary headed back to his parents and we went to kill some time at Books a Million before the Seawolves game. It was a pretty evenly matched game against the South Carolina Stingrays (Kelly said she thought it was a bit boring), but the Seawolves ended up winning for the second night in a row against the Stingrays. After the game we went to Marig's to chat with our friends Carrie-Ann and Mike and have a late dinner before heading home.

Now it's Saturday afternoon and I'm killing some time at the house before meeting Neal (in town from Austin for a few days) to attend game three of this weekend's match between the Seawolves and South Carolina. I'm going to watch the new 'Mobile Suit Gundam 00' series that started airing on SciFi this past week and 'Hell Girl' (who avenges grievances by sending chosen individuals to hell) before I head out. I'll probably update again next weekend after my long weekend of driving up to Nashville for hockey, then back to New Orleans for the Deerhunter concert. Later in the month Kelly and I will be posting our top music picks for 2008 and maybe adding a podcast. Stay tuned...

-Chris

Election Burnout

2008-11-06T23:01:00.009-06:00

So, it's finally over. After a long two years, especially the past few months, the presidential election is done with and we have a new president come January. I had been so disgusted with first the Democratic race between Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton, then the real turnoff campaign between Obama and John McCain. I was impressed by Obama's speech in Denver as well as the speeches by Hillary and Bill Clinton during the Democratic convention, didn't pay much attention to the Republican convention, then got ever more frustrated with the whole thing by the time September had tolled around. I had been debating who to vote for the past two months (between Obama and Ralph Nader, NOT McCain), all the way up until this past weekend. My parents were touting Obama and the Democrats when we visited them last month, which was fine, although I don't think they were convinced of other options out there. My brother sent me this video the other day via email. I guess he sent the same thing to Kelly as well. It's kind of funny, but pretty much another liberal ploy to guilt people into voting for their candidate. It's the same partisan crap that is put out by conservatives who have views like this (although this is another tool of the liberal agenda to make individuals with conservative viewpoints appear as crazy).

I admit to have somewhat liberal views on many things, however I am more moderate on others (probably becoming jaded by working for Medicaid so long), but I am so tired of the two-party system that runs the country and all the special interest groups and lobbyists that go along with it. I really did almost vote for Ralph Nader as a 'protest' vote since it was going to be a foregone conclusion that Mississippi would go to McCain when the electoral votes (even more of a serious joke in relation to the popular vote). However, I was listening to 'Tell Me More' the other night on my way to New Orleans and there was an interview with David Duke (yes, that David Duke that was a politician in Louisiana and KKK member) that just made me cringe and pushed me to defy the stereotype in Mississippi and vote for Obama. Bill Moyers was on Fresh Air yesterday and he was discussing the election and race and said that only 1 in 6 caucasian persons voted for Obama in the state of Mississippi. I haven't fact-checked that figure yet, but it goes along with how the majority of states that were part of the Confederacy still voted Republican. Of course that is a HUGE over-generalization, but the election map figures show the results and how there are some parts of the country that still might not be ready for an African-American president. Sad but true. It's probably the similar case for a woman being president, although more people seemed to be more willing to accept a woman for president. Ah, but I don't really know what I'm talking about. I'll be happier when there's a viable third-party that is included in the major political system.

Part of the reason I decided to do more research and really consider my vote and the election overall (besides the garbage forced down my throat every day from all media outlets) was Tim Foley of Electioncycle.com. He spent the past couple months riding his bicycle from New York City to New Orleans (check out the website) interviewing people along the way about politics in general. He limped into Pascagoula last Tuesday (the 28th) with a flat tire, so we loaded his bike onto the bike rack and I raced over to Competition Sports in Gulfport before they closed to get him some new tubes and fix his tire. I had invited him to stay the night previously anyway, he just didn't get to see as much of the coast as he had intended. We went down to Bay St. Louis and had dinner at Ricky's (where he found an interviewee), then I gave him a night tour of some of the post-Katrina scenery. Not as breathtaking as during the day, but he got an idea. We came back to the house and discussed politics for a bit before he typed up some of his daily observations and went to bed. The next morning I took him down to the Mockingbird for coffee and a bagel, where I was depressed to find out that it would be closing at the end of the week. We had coffee and I said goodbye to Tim and went back to the house to have the quarterly pest control spraying, then came back down to get lunch to go from the Mockingbird one last time and head to work. On Thursday night they had a final party at the Mockingbird where I went down and got a coffee since they stopped serving food just before I got up to the counter. I didn't stick around long, but the place was packed with people spilling out into the street listening to the band playing outside on the side porch/stage. What I missed was the news that the Mockingbird wasn't actually going to close as announced. I didn't ride down this past weekend to celebrate, but now that I know their new hours, I'll be biking down this weekend for sure.

Friday was Halloween and our office was having a party. About 1/4 of the staff dressed up in costume, including myself, and we brought snacks. I made some pumpkin/chocolate chip bread and vanilla cake with buttercream frosting, both of which turned out and went over well. That evening I stopped by Jason's (Ellen was at work) to pass out candy to kids trick-or-treating for a bit (which was a lot of fun and a different feeling since we have not had one kid come in the 8 years we've been at this house), then I went home to eat before heading to New Orleans. I was planning to see Quintron and Ms. Pussycat for their record release party show at One Eyed Jacks, but after a late start with a touring puppet troupe, and three opening bands, by the time the third band was just starting at 2.15am, I said 'fuck this' and left with my friends Carl and Rachel, who I saw late in the evening and were also ready to leave and not wait until the headliners maybe came on stage at 3.30am and rolling home at 7am. We walked back to our vehicles parked near each other at the Canal Place outdoor parking lot and decided to go to the show in Mobile in a couple of weeks after work and ride over together.

Saturday I ran some errands, visited Pete at their new house, went to see the movie 'Religulous' by Bill Maher (who can be a real smartass, but made a really funny and scary movie about how ridiculous religion can be, hence the title), and went to the Seawolves game where they played poorly and lost dismally. Sunday I baked some homestyle bread which turned out pretty well, but a bit dry probably due to adding some wheat flour.

Not much else this week. The Avs are on a 5 game losing streak, including tonight. Sigh...and the Seawolves also lost again last night in front of an announced crowd of 1,962 which looked more like less than 1,000. I'm going again tomorrow night with my friend and former co-worker, Chris. Hopefully they'll fare better. I woke up yesterday to find water pooling in our drainage ditch, unfortunately it wasn't from a recent rainstorm. There seems to be a leak somewhere, fortunately not inside the house. I called the Diamondhead Water & Sewer District and they told me this afternoon that the leak was between the house and the meter so it was my responsibility since they only do repairs when it's between the meter and the street. They did shut off the water to the house this afternoon so the meter wouldn't be contstantly running to save us a bit of money, but when I came home and briefly turned the water back on at the meter, it seemed to be leaking inside the meter 'box' itself'. It's my off day tomorrorw (Friday), so I'm going to give them a call again to come out and see exactly where they came to the conclusion that the leak is between the house and the meter when it appears to me to be at the meter. If they don't repair it, I guess I'll be calling a plumber to come out and tear up our yard. Fucking great way to sell a house with the yard all dug up.

Speaking of house selling, I'm still here and the house hasn't sold. It was supposed to have been shown Thursday morning, but when I got home it didn't look like anyone had been inside the house. Even after I did an extensive cleaning the other night. I guess maybe I'll hear tomorrow or next week if they had any comments about it. Enough rambling for now...

-Chris

Back from Vacation part 2

2008-10-26T17:31:00.025-05:00

Kelly did a great job of describing our trip. It was nice to see the family, experience real fall weather (changing colors of leaves and crisp, cool air) which we should have in Huntsville, and get out of the office for a week. It was also fun going to a couple of Avs games, biking with my dad, cd shopping, and going to see the live action 'Death Note Movie 2' (not live action Bleach as Kelly mentioned, but then it's all anime to her).

Opening night of the Avs against Boston we went with my parents. They aren't as big of hockey fans as we are, but they enjoy going to a live game. The place was pretty electric with a pumped up crowd getting a chance to see new players begin a new season. They had this big video production to introduce the new season and the team on the jumbotron, which was surprisingly not that cheesy. After the team came out they had a special recognition of this year's inductees into the U.S. Hockey Hall of Fame, Cammi Granato, Brett Hull, Brian Leetch, and Mike Richter, who all came out onto the ice near the corner we were sitting at. Unfortunately, our old digital camera crapped out so I didn't get any good photos that night. A wild back-and-forth game, with both teams skating fast and taking turns scoring goals on each other. The Avs had a few problems with defense and shaky goaltending, but their offense came out flying and did a much better job of puck handling then the previous season. Unfortunately, Boston's goaltender, Tim Thomas, was stoning a lot of the Avs shots and chances and with the score tied 4-4 winding down the third period, a turnover by the Avs in the defensive zone gave Boston the 5-4 victory. A heartbreaker, but still a fun event overall. It looked like it should be a good season if they do a little bit more fine tuning.

Friday before hiking, I made a pizza dough and put it in the bread machine (yeah, much simpler than I normally do) and my spicy sauce (with found spices in my parents kitchen) so we could have homemade pizza when we got home that evening. It all turned out really well, and each of my parents, Kelly, and I had our own little small pizzas.

On Monday in Ft. Collins we wandered around town a bit and I rented a road bike at a local bike shop. There are a lot of bikers in Colorado, and Ft. Collins seemed like a very bike-friendly city. This could be due to it being a college town, but there were a lot more people than just college students riding around.

Tuesday in Denver was fun. We did some shopping for cd's and books, picked up some bread at Great Harvest, had a nice dinner with Matt, and saw a great show. Kelly's right, Le Loup unfortunately sucked, but Monade (Laetitia's other band) and Stereolab were both really great. I had really wanted to see Monade live and was definitely not disappointed. I even got a chance to try out the new digital camera we had purchased that day, but I don't think the photos saved or at least Kelly has the camera, so I'm not sure. Oh, well. Stereolab played a pretty similar set than Atlanta, but did change it up a little. I think the 'hippy' crowd in Denver were a little more into it than the Atlanta hipster crowd. Either way I was happy to go see them again.

While my mom, sister, and Kelly were hiking around the house on Wednesday, my dad and I went down to the bottom of the hill and road 18 miles on the paved back roads near Loveland. It was a bit challenging riding at a higher altitude, not to mention at times against the wind, but overall it was a really nice bike ride. I haven't ridden with my dad since he came down in 2003(4?) and rode the MS150 with me. We came home and relaxed a bit before going back down to the New Belgium Brewery. I purchased a bicycling jersey and socks while Kelly sampled the beer. She dropped me off at the movie theater early so I could get a seat for 'Death Note 2'. It wasn't that crowded, but definitely some other fans there. One individual was cosplaying as L, one of the main characters. Pretty funny to see this person walk in wearing a baggy white sweatshirt, loose jeans, and biting their thumbnail. It wasn't as fun without Gary and Jason joining me as for the first movie here, but I still enjoyed it.

Thursday morning my dad and I drove down to Ft. Collins and road on the walking/cycling path that goes through and around the city along the river. It was maintained pretty well, although the land shifting made the path rough in some sections on the east side of town. We had gone 23 miles when I was the victim of a pinch flat and had to pull over and wait for my dad to ride back to the car and come pick me up. It was only 5 miles more, so I didn't miss too much riding. We dropped the bike back off at the shop, picked up some Guiness & Gouda bread from Great Harvest, and headed back to the house. I got dressed after eating and then Kelly and I headed down to Denver for our second Avs game. They hadn't been doing so well, losing their first 3 games by one goal, but they were facing the winless Philadelphia Flyers tonight, so we were hopeful.

Before the drop of the puck, the team recognized defenseman, Adam Foote, for playing in his 1000th NHL game a few nights previous in Edmonton. His wife and kids and an NHL official came out on the ice for the presentation of roses to his wife and a silver hockey stick to him. Very classy.

The game was another exciting match, but the Avs really dominated this struggling Flyers team from the opening face off. We got points for our fantasy team from all of our players in the Avs 4-1 win. Admittedly, the replacement of Budaj in net by Rycroft wasn't that much more impressive, but he did get the team's first win (although he wasn't challenged often). At least after two wins by Raycroft the team has now gone back to Budaj in net and won their last 3. One of the highlights of the game was Kelly's new 'puckhead' purchase. She wore it with pride (see top of page) and is looking forward to wearing it at the upcoming Nashville and Atlanta games.

We stayed at home on Friday to rest and pack while my parents and Katie went hiking. We were also waiting for the water tank service to come out to repair my parent's water system. The water had stopped running again so they were coming out to put more clamps on the hose (or some description like that). It was early afternoon and no-one had showed yet, so I went down the hill into Loveland to mail a box of purchases home at the UPS store. I also picked up 10 gallons of water, but the water was working again when I got back. We all decided to skip the original plan of dinner and a movie, but instead met my brother in Denver at the Chophouse, which is famous for steaks and Kelly was hoping the Avs might be eating there (no suck luck, they had an early game Saturday in Denver). Everyone except my sister and I had steak (well, Matt had the steak and lobster), but Katie enjoyed her salad and onion soup, while my tuna chop was fabulous. A very nice final family dinner before we flew back home the next morning. My parents drove us out to a hotel near the airport(with a shuttle), so we wouldn't have to get up so early the next morning. Probably good as well since the hideaway bed with futon mattress had been bothering both Kelly and my backs all week.

I got up early on Saturday morning because my flight was leaving Denver about 2 hours before Kelly's was. She slept in so I said goodbye and looked forward to seeing her the next weekend when she was coming down to visit. Both flights from Denver to Atlanta and then Atlanta to New Orleans were fine. I stopped at Whole Foods in New Orleans on the way home to get a frozen mocha and a large salad for dinner.

Not much has been going on this past week since I've been home. I went on my usual bike ride to the Mockingbird last Sunday because the weather was still relatively mild. Watched hockey at night, including a couple more Avs wins. Lyndsay came over to buy the 3-day Voodoofest tickets we wanted to get rid of, and then Kelly got in on Thursday night. We got to watch the end of an Avs win together.

Friday while Kelly went to her old allergist to have records sent to her new doctor in Huntsville and then to lunch with Lauren and Kathy, friends from her old work, I rode my bike down to the coliseum in Biloxi to pick up our hockey tickets, then back to the Mockingbird where I had lunch and met Kelly to bring me home. It was a great day for riding. Started out cloudy and cool in the 60's, but warmed up into the low 70's when the sun burned off the clouds. A good 55 mile workout ride, which was my ride for the weekend. We came home to rest and watch the first episode of 'True Blood' which we had been recording on HBO, but I hadn't started to watch yet. Vampires in the redneck, cajun swampland of Louisiana= very interesting entertainment. We then went to the Seawolves home opener and chatted with our old season ticket holder friends and enjoyed watching the Seawolves prevail in a high-scoring match against Charlotte. Saturday we got up and cleaned the house (it's much faster with two people) and hung out at the house for awhile before going out to run some errands. We stopped to drop off some kolaches and New Belgium beer for Jason, went to a small army surplus shop for an item I didn't find, had lunch and coffee in D'Iberville, bought some ant killer at Lowe's, a wig for Kelly who is going to see 'The Rocky Horror Picture Show' play this Thursday, then to the second Seawolves game of the weekend. Unfortunately, the Seawolves were scored on in the last minute of the game which threw it into overtime, then Charlotte scored quickly into OT to end it. We made a quick exit to snag a table at Marig's for dinner before more fans and the team showed up. The place was packed with a lot of college football fans watching Penn State and Ohio State, but when the final play was made most people cleared out. We had grabbed the last booth and were right under a television that was showing the Avs/Sabres game. We were able to watch almost the whole third period as well as the overtime and shootout. All 30 teams were in action yesterday, so they were showing a couple of the games at Marig's. The Avs were down 1-0, but tied it up, then won the game in overtime. They're officially on a streak now. Our friends Carrie-Ann and Michael came from the game for dinner and beer as well, so we watched hockey and chatted for awhile before they went with some of the team to party up at the Hard Rock while us old folks headed home.

This morning Kelly loaded her stuff back into the Element, then we went to have an early lunch at a new sushi restaurant in Gulfport called Fat Sumo Sushi. We met Bobbie, Jay, Pete, and Lauren there. Jason had said it was pretty good. They had some good flavored rolls and despite not being rolled well (the problem with many sushi places on the coast), it was decent and they have potential. They're grand opening is later in the week, but it was good for a new place. After eating I said goodbye to Kelly since she was driving home from there, and I went to pick up groceries. I came home and watched anime this afternoon and didn't really do much else. It's a bummer that Kelly is gone again, and I won't see her until Thanksgiving. Good thing she has internet at the apartment now and of course we have text messaging.

-Chris

Back to work...

2008-10-19T21:15:00.005-05:00

Chris & I had a great time in Colorado. Not only was it nice to be together for more than a week, it was great seeing family & enjoying CO. We flew in on the 8th, got picked up by his folks and went for sushi in Boulder. The drive to their house took about 1.5 hours from Boulder. They live in the foothills of the Rockies - probably just 30 minutes from Estes Park if there was a direct route. It's a really nice area, just remote from any town. The closest is probably Loveland which is about 45 minutes away.

Our first day we slept in, with cats crawling all over us throughout the night. We had a nice lunch at the house before heading out to Denver & the opening night for the Colorado Avalanche. Chris will talk more about the games, but it was lots of fun. The next day we went hiking in Rocky Mountain National Park. It was beautiful out as we walked a fairly easy trail about 4 miles. On the way out of the park we stopped and watched the elk. There were several herds and the male of the herd closest to us was herding the ladies while trying to ward off suitors. It was fun to watch, but getting cold outside. Later that evening we went to see the Colorado Eagles hockey team play. We ran into two former SeaWolves players who are now playing in the CHL.

That Sunday we went into Denver again to attend the ballet. The Colorado Ballet company performed Swan Lake. It was my first time seeing that ballet & I really enjoyed it. Chris seemed to enjoy it some too. Or at least he tolerated it. After the ballet we met Matt, Chris' brother, for dinner at Cheesecake Factory...always a decent place to get way too much food. On the way back it started raining, which turned to snow in the mountains. Monday Chris & I did some browsing/shopping in Ft. Collins. That evening Chris' sister, Katie, flew in from Albuquerque.

Tuesday was another trip down to Denver for shopping and Stereolab. We stopped by Tattered Cover and bought lots of books. Then we met Matt for dinner at an Ethiopian Restaurant (it was good, but not great). The concert was really good, except for the opening band, Le Loup, who sucked. Monade played second and they were really good. Like a more subdued, less "disco" version of Stereolab. Stereolab played for about 1.5 hours & sounded great. I'm glad I went, even if I'm not as huge of a fan as Chris is.

During the day Wednesday, Mom, Katie & I went for a hike along their property. It was a bit rough, because we climbed up the mountain overlooking their house, having to trailblaze along the way. My legs were pretty sore after the climb and somewhat-treacherous way back down. On Wednesday eve Chris & I headed back to Ft. Collins. First we stopped by Fat Tire Brewery where I got to sample 4 different brews, my fave being the pale ale (Mighty Arrow). Then we headed for coffee before I dropped Chris off to the movie theater to watch the live action Bleach movie. I met an old grade/high school friend, Cyndi. She contacted me via Classmates.com and when I found out she lived in Ft. Collins I told her I'd get in touch next time we were out that way. It was strange seeing her after 20+ years, but fun reminiscing about school and people.

Thursday was another trip to Denver to see the Avalanche play Philly. First we dropped Katie off in Boulder so she could meet a friend. We had a great time at that game & ended up eating dinner (junk food) there. On the way back home we saw a fox. Lots of critters along the road to the parents' house.

Friday was our last full day CO. Katie and parents went hiking that morning while Chris & I packed & relaxed at home. The fitting to the cistern had come loose, so we had to "rough it" without water for several hours before it got fixed. In the meantime I watched the movie I'm Not Here - a fantastical tale about Bob Dylan's many lives. Very good & makes me want to know more about Dylan. Later in the eve, we all went to Denver for one last meal together. We met Matt and all ate at the Denver Chophouse. The food was excellent and it was nice having the family all together one last time before we had to fly home. Chris' parents dropped us off at a hotel near the airport afterwards, so we could easily catch our flights home the next morning.

All in all it was a great trip to Colorado. Makes me miss the West. The weather was great...a bit chillier than I was expecting, but it felt wonderful. We saw lots of critters and fall colors, and had fun hanging out with the family.

Fall heat

2008-10-05T16:47:00.018-05:00

I was biking this morning, thinking that it might be a little cooler outside since it's already October. Foolish me, I should have known better. It was in the low to mid 80's, which isn't horrible, but was still warm when I was biking back from the Mockingbird.

Hmm...I guess it's been awhile since either of us updated the blog. Kelly has an excuse because she didn't get internet service at her apartment until this past Friday. I don't really have an excuse, so I'm writing today.

Last Thursday (a week ago) I went up to Huntsville to spend the weekend with Kelly. On Friday morning we met with our real estate agent along with the agent and builder whom we're discussing having a house built for us. We weren't too excited with the initial plans they had provided, but they showed us a couple more floor plans that morning and there was one that was almost perfect. At least it had pretty much everything that we're looking for, mainly a larger kitchen with plenty of counter and pantry space. We had him do a few minor tweaks to the floor plan then picked out the lot in the subdivision that we wanted. We chose a lot that has trees behind it so the kitties can roam safely nearby. It should take about 5 months to build, but that will give us time to sell the house here. We're pretty excited.

After the morning meeting we hit the road for Atlanta. I had filled up the Altima the previous night on the way up so we wouldn't have as many problems with the 'gas shortage' in Georgia and Tennessee. Even Alabama had some gas stations that were out of fuel. Weird. The range in prices for regular unleaded jumped from $3.43 to $3.99. We did fill up in Chattanooga and I also purchased some Powerball tickets then we made it to Atlanta around 4.30pm (we kind of forgot that we were losing an hour entering the Eastern Time Zone). It's only about a 3 and a half hour drive from Huntsville to Atlanta, which will be really nice when we're moved.

We had made dinner reservations at Roy's, which happened to be just down the street from our hotel. It was a delicious meal. Very fresh fish and Kelly had some martinis that she really liked. Of course the chocolate lava cake dessert was pretty rich as well. Yum! We've been to the main location in Hawaii, but this one proved to be just as tasty.

After dinner I took Kelly to one of the upscale malls nearby and dropped her off, then I drove to Little Five Points where I was going to see Stereolab at the Variety Theater. It's been awhile since I've seen them live, but I was looking forward to the show. I parked near Criminal Records and went inside to browse before walking down to the theater. Surprisingly, I didn't find one thing that I was looking for (out of stock) and left empty handed. That's a pretty rare occurrence. I walked down to the theater and entering the lobby purchased the tour single at the merchandise table. There was music coming from inside the theater, and after I went in realized that it was one of the local opening acts, The Harris Twins. They weren't too bad. Next was Atlas Sound (Bradford Cox from local Deerhunter). He was the support on the first half of the Stereolab tour, and I was looking forward to seeing him. His album is really good, although the live show didn't play out as well, but he apologized and seemed to be having a pretty good time opening for one of his favorite bands. Stereolab came out and opened with an older favorite from 'Emperor Tomato Ketchup', then wove their way through most of the new album and some gems from many of their previous albums. I can't help to mention that Mary Hansen (the other female vocalist who was killed on her bike by a truck in 2002) was noticeably missing, but the band still pulled off a great show. Laetitia Sadier appeared in good spirits with a little crowd banter and announcing each song prior to playing it, plus she was dancing around a bit on stage. Overall they played for about an hour and a half before the final notes ceased. I'm really happy that I went and both Kelly and I are going to see them in Denver on the 14th with Laetitia's other project Monade and Le Loup opening. After the show I got a great blended mocha (organic, free trade coffee) from Java Lords Coffee House, which was right next door to the theater. Imagine that, a coffee place open at midnight. They were showing some foreign film on a big screen. A place to remember the next time we're in Atlanta.

I got back to the hotel and Kelly was watching 'Dancing With the Stars' on her laptop. I checked email and researched a few things on my laptop then finally went to bed around 3am (it felt like only 2am, plus I was wired). Kelly had found a Home Expo for us to check out the next morning on our way out of town. We were looking forward to getting ideas for the house we're building, and Viking was one of the main sponsors, so we could check out their ovens. We got coffee at the nearby Starbucks then went to the Convention Center in one of the suburbs (I can't even remember which one). It was a pretty large space, and we went home with a lot of information. Of course there were a lot of booths that had people pushing stuff we had no interest in at all, but such is the expo experience. After a little less than an hour of walking the aisles we left and stopped by a new Great Harvest bakery, tried some great slices of bread, chatted with the owners, and left happy with fresh bread.

We drove a different route back, taking I-20 towards Birmingham, then cutting north on a smaller highway at Anniston. It was a pretty scenic drive that Kelly had taken previously. The prettiest part was near Guntersville and the large Lake Guntersville waterways which feed off the Tennessee River. We stopped in town for a snack and ended up at Percasso's, where we got good coffee and a rich slice of chocolate cake. Mmm. Arriving back in Huntsville we took a nap at the apartment for a bit then went out to price televisions (Kelly currently has her old 13" from her college days) before settling on Ruby Tuesday for dinner.

Unfortunately, our choice for dinner didn't settle with our stomachs. We both had the salad bar and shared some 'Asian dumplings' (basically pot stickers), and both ended up quite sick later that evening. Upset stomachs and everything. Ugh! At least Kelly had some Sprite in the fridge which helped slightly, but both of us ended up being sick for about 3 more days. Fucking food poisoning from Ruby Tuesday's, so needless to say we'll never set foot there again. At least at that location.

As a result I didn't leave as early as I had hoped on Sunday, but still was on the road by 11am. I made it home in time to participate in the Fantasy Hockey League draft with some of the HPPL members. I think we picked some decent players after doing our research the past couple of weeks. It makes it a bit more difficult with others who pick the same players you want, but it looks like it's going to be fun.

Not much happened during the week. Friday night there were again 7 riders for our Night Ride, and it was another nice relatively cool night. We rode 23 miles. Yesterday I was going to meet my friend Kendra for lunch, but she was sick, so I went to lunch alone and ran some errands. The NHL season started yesterday with a couple of games in Europe (Tampa Bay vs. New York Rangers in Prague, and Ottawa vs. Pittsburgh in Stockholm), then re-matches of the same teams again today. NHL Network carried the games yesterday and Versus showed them live today. New York won both of their games 2-1, while the Pens and Sens split their series. The Pens won in overtime yesterday 4-3 while Ottawa won today 3-1. It's great to be watching hockey again. It'll be even better when Kelly and I attend opening night in Denver with my parents this coming Thursday when the Boston Bruins come to town. We're going to get to see quite a few Avs games this year. Woohoo!

-Chris

Lazy

2008-09-21T20:07:00.007-05:00

Friday's Night Ride had a showing of 7 bicyclists. Not bad at all. We rode 25 miles and only got sprinkled on a little bit in Biloxi. I got home and watched Ace of Cakes and The Daily Show and some other recorded shows before finally going to bed at 2am.

Saturday morning I slept in until 9.30am, then I got up and cleaned the house before driving to Gulfport to get the oil changed. I came back home and watched a little bit of college football before heading to New Orleans. I was taking a trip to New Orleans to get some groceries for making pizza. I found all the things I needed plus I had a yummy frozen mocha drink. I didn't even lock the keys in the car this time (unlike my last trip to Whole Foods where AAA had to come out and assist me in getting back into my vehicle). I was driving home when the rain was literally coming down in sheets just as I was nearing the MS/LA state line. I didn't do much last night either since the rain continued the rest of the afternoon into the evening. I had dinner at the Mockingbird and wrote a letter to my friend Lili in Alaska, then I picked up a few things at Walmart including some rapid release Tylenol PM and Tiger Balm because my shoulder and neck had been bugging me for the past few days. It felt somewhat better this morning though. I watched Bleach before going to bed since it's on an hour earlier now, then I read for awhile until the Tylenol PM kicked in.

So, I slept in some this morning and didn't bike from bridge to bridge as I had been considering. I just rode down to the Mockingbird after leaving the house at 9.45am this morning. Damn if it wasn't humid outside. I guess the cold front is gone and the cool weather has passed by. Not too surprising after the torrents of rain pouring down yesterday. After I got home I watched Code Geass and Moribito then I made my own homemade pizza. I first made the sauce and let it sit for a few hours in the fridge to really mix the flavors, then I made the crust. While I was waiting for the dough to rise I watched some of the New Orleans Saints/Denver Broncos football game. It was close, but Denver pulled off the win 34-32 mainly due to the inability of the Saints kicker to make a couple of key field goals.

I rolled out the dough and tossed it in the air a few times, then I made my first pie (both had the same ingredients, but only one pan meant one pie at a time). Spicy sauce with chili pepper flakes to give it a kick, buffalo artichoke hearts (found these in the produce section of Whole Foods), fresh basil, tempeh bacon, and a mozzerella/cheddar cheese mix. I have to admit that it turned out really well. Since I made two pies, I'll probably take some to Kelly when I visit her next weekend and maybe give some to Jason and Ellen.

Listening to NPR the other day I heard the story about this video. Funny!

-chris

I Hate Politics

2008-09-18T20:36:00.012-05:00

I think the 'All Politicians Suck' bumper sticker that we put on the Element is so very fitting right now. I am SO tired of hearing the typical negative ads from both of the Presidential candidates. And then it's the main topic on the news, even NPR which I listen to on the drive to and from work. It's like they re-hash it all just like the mainstream television network 'news' programs. Even on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart making fun of all of it, it's still nauseating. Now that's not to say that I won't vote, but at the same time I'd prefer it was all over with, but we still have to put up with two months of this shit.

I also hate the Diamondhead POA (Property Owners Assoc.). I guess they (or some other self-righteous Diamondhead prick) finally got tired of the For Sale signs I had left up all week long. I got home this evening from work and all 4 (including the flyer box in our front yard) were gone. Not even a warning note or anything. How fucking rude. Sure, I admit that we were not abiding by POA regulations by having the signs up, but it would only be more justifiable if the POA were enforcing ALL of the regulations for ALL residents (that is if it actually was the POA). Ah, whatever. I'm undaunted though and if Paul is willing to give us more signs I'll put them up as soon as I can. This time though maybe I'll just put them out on the weekends again like I had done previously.

Let's see, we were really fortunate that Ike went further west and didn't really have a great affect here. Some places in Hancock County near the water were flooded again, but overall the coast was VERY lucky not to have another Katrina-like storm hit us dead on. Hate that it hit Texas, or any populated area for that matter, but at least not here. The amazing thing is how many people stayed at their homes in Texas instead of heeding the evacuation order, even the encouragement of Katrina survivors who urged the residents of the Texas coast to leave after their own experiences. It's surprising that there weren't more deaths, but the destruction is pretty severe. I'll be glad when we are finally away from the coast, even though there are a wide variety of natural disasters everywhere, the lack of a hurricane threat will be a major relief.

So, since I didn't have to evacuate with the cats I instead drove up to Huntsville 'distraction free' last Thursday night. I pulled in a little before 11pm, which is about what I expected. A little less than a six and a half hour drive. Kelly was still awake when I arrived, but I was exhausted and crashed soon after getting there. She was up early for work the next morning so I got up and unloaded the Element of the boxes I had brought up to store at the extra room in the apartment. After having toast for breakfast I went for a short 14 mile bike ride on the road towards the Tennessee River which is on the south side of town. Didn't get to the river, but I had a nice ride checking out the neighborhood and some of the new housing subdivisions being built down the road. After getting back to the apartment I got dressed then met Kelly for lunch. We were going to get a new AL car tag for the Element, but discovered that we needed the vehicle title, but the woman at the license office was really nice and gave us a form to take to the credit union to complete and fax back to them. Once they receive the required information it shouldn't take long for Kelly to pick up a new tag. We'll probably go next Friday when I'm back up in town and we head to Atlanta where we'll stay the night so I can go to the Stereolab show.

Friday night we went to his co-worker Andy's place before going to dinner at the Indian restaurant we all really enjoy, Spice of India. Unfortunately, we had spent too much time talking before dinner and were a bit rushed since we had to be at the movie theater across town where we were viewing 'Burn After Reading'. We DID make it just in time though and were able to miss the pre-movie advertisements but still caught a couple of trailers. The movie was pretty over the top and really fucked up at times, but was still really funny. At least WE thought it was really funny. Some others may not have thought so, but there were some people laughing. After the movie we went to pick up the Altima at Kelly's office and fill both vehicles with gas. We had watched some of the local news and found to our dismay that gas had risen by at least fifty cents or more overnight in the wake of Hurricane Ike hitting land, and some stations were out of fuel completely. We did find a station selling mid-grade at $4.59 per gallon (OUCH!), but talk about serious gouging.

Saturday we got up and ran errands most of the day. Actually, we had brunch at Another Broken Egg then went to Stearn's Coffee to do research for our Fantasy Hockey team. We've never played in a Fantasy sports league before, but some of the guys in the HPPL invited us to play in their league this year, so we said 'why not?'. We came up with a list of players in all positions and ranked them, so when the draft comes up on the 28th we should be ready (provided someone else doesn't pick our players). After good coffee and research we went to the yuppie mall where I checked out the brand new BIG Barnes and Noble while Kelly went shoe shopping. We then drove out to check out another potential subdivision for a home we could build in, which was okay but not our first choice, then we went to what was supposed to be 'good' Japanese food and sushi. We knew a Japanese steakhouse wasn't a choice option, but we had an open mind. It wasn't horrible, but needless to say we are still searching for decent Japanese food in Huntsville, if it exists at all. Finally, after having fun it was time to hit the laundromat so Kelly could have clean clothes before heading to Panama City for the work week. We did make a good time of it though with our never-ending gin rummy match. I ended up overtaking Kelly in points before we quit. We were going to throw down the gauntlet and challenge each other to a game of Ms. Pac-Man, but the game was broken. Too bad. We stopped by the Super Target to pick up some groceries, then headed back to the apartment to watch USC walk all over Ohio State. This was supposed to be the big game of the week? What a joke.

Sunday morning we got up and went to Panera Bread (there are a LOT of chain restaurants in Huntsville, but at least it offers a wide variety) for a light breakfast and free internet. Then it was back to the apartment where I loaded up the Altima and headed home. A very enjoyable weekend with Kelly. The drive home wasn't bad and I found that gas prices in Mississippi had risen about twenty cents over the weekend, but were still a reasonable $3.79 per gallon and no place seemed to have run out. I had no problems when filling up around the halfway point in Meridian. Even today the prices that were near $4.00 per gallon at the beginning of the week here on the coast have gone back down to $3.59 per gallon, which is about what it was before I left last week.

Gary finally got everything packed into his POD and the moving van and he should be driving up to Tennessee tomorrow morning. It'll be weird not going to lunch with him again down here, but at least he'll be close enough to visit once we're settled in Huntsville.

My plans are to catch up this weekend on the biking I didn't do last weekend. There seems to be more stories of bicycles vs. autos in the news lately. A couple of stories hit a bit close to home, so I'll have to be extra cautious, although I do follow the rules of the road when riding. One story from Huntsville (with comments) and one from Biloxi. And from NPR. I'm thinking of riding from bridge to bridge (the Bay St. Louis bridge to the Biloxi/Ocean Springs bridge) then back home. I'll probably do this Sunday and hopefully the great weather we've had this week with the cool front that moved through Sunday will stick around for a couple more days. Tomorrow night a Night Ride is planned though, so at least I shouldn't be going solo in the dark.

-Chris

Dodging a Bullet?

2008-09-07T21:25:00.004-05:00

The forecast for Hurricane Ike has it moving further west and making landfall somewhere towards the Louisiana/Texas border, although it still deserves careful observation during the next couple of days. Everyone says they don't want to wish a hurricane on anyone, but the underlying theme is still 'anywhere but here'. I'm tired of thinking about or watching the tropics right now, so I've decided to discuss something else I've had on my mind.

I was listening to the most recent All Songs Considered podcast the other day and on this particular episode they have a round-table discussion where they pick apart the music of the 1980's. Now granted, they do make quite a few points that hit the mark (like almost the whole Footloose soundtrack sucked ass, there were a lot of 'buttrock' bands that came out with big hits/albums, and there WAS some really bad music), however there were quite a few great bands that released music in the 1980's. The show itself really made me think about the 1980's and how the music of that era related to me. My parents (well, mainly my dad) had always been into music with a nice stereo system including a Technics turntable (which I'm still regretting I didn't go up and get it when they moved from Alaska) and a reel-to-reel. They also had a decent sized record collection mainly consisting of John Denver, Captain & Tennille, Ramsey Lewis, and various classical albums. When we were really young and living in Colorado, we would take family camping vacations in the Rockies and I always remembered either on 8-track or cassette tape listening to John Denver and the Paint Your Wagon soundtrack. I mean we ALWAYS had that music to listen to . So, music has always been a big part of my life. At the age of 37 now I think the 1980's were quite formulaic for me in my musical tastes and exploration.

I do admit that I did listen to quite a bit of Top 40 (hey, I was living in Alaska at the time, so there were slim pickings) in the early 80's, but as I got into junior high and high school I found the college radio station KSUA, plus I met other people who introduced me to new music which I guess can be called 'post-punk' now, but was also referred to as 'new wave'. Probably the biggest influence though was a place called The Comic Shop. Of course it sold comics, but I think it was probably also a head shop (although I had no clue at the time about drugs), and it also had a small section of independent, punk, new-wave, avant-garde, and just plain strange records. Some of my earliest purchases there were early Butthole Surfers (still on Alternative Tentacles), Dead Kennedys, and The Residents (which no-one else I knew could really stand). From that starting point I did a LOT of mail order, mainly from Ralph Records in San Francisco, purchasing almost every release they put out (since they were the home of the Residents, the other stuff must be good as well, right?) and Fallout Records & Tapes in Seattle (specializing in punk/skate rock). There were frequent deliveries of the latest goods on our doorstep. Of course the music wasn't free, so I had to get a job, and during my junior year of high school I got the 'dream' job of helping to open up a Musicland store at the mall and become one of the sales associates. That's where I learned a lot more about a variety of different types of music (including music I could only tolerate because I had to), and was like a drug addict getting my fix with my 15% off employee discount. Compact discs were still a new medium, but my collection started to grow, plus I was able to order cd's and get first dibs on some of the 12" remix records of the latest Love and Rockets or Cure singles. Score!

After I graduated high school in 1989 and went on to college, one of the main factors that influenced me to choose Oregon State in Corvallis over Washington State in Pullman was the proximity to a big city where bands played and the college radio station (both schools had radio stations). My first term at OSU my friend James and I immediately got involved with the radio station by apprenticing then getting our own shows. I quickly found out there was so much more out there to listen to than the latest Cure, Oingo Boingo, and Depeche Mode albums (which I still enjoyed).

So, in all of my rambling about old times, I have to say that the 1980's overall did NOT suck for music, if you searched beyond the commercial crap forced down your throat. The best year for music is all relative, mainly to one's age and their own personal tastes. I would like to think that a lot of the music that came out in the 1980's is a lot better than some of the garbage that is coming out currently. Some of the music that gets raved about I really have to say, 'what the hell are these idiots thinking?'

I baked my oatmeal bread this morning and it turned out really well. I spent most of the rest of the day reading manga, watching last night's episodes of Bleach, Code Geass, and Moribito, and some of the Anthony Bourdain episodes, plus I caught the end of the Saints game. I also baked some more cinnamon bread, but in the process I burned my fingers like adumbass when I tried pulling the pans out of the oven. Not a good feeling. At least the bread tastes good. Tomorrow I'm planning to take a loaf of oatmeal to Gary and a loaf of cinnamon to Jason and Ellen. I can only eat so much bread myself!

-chris

Here Comes Ike

2008-09-06T18:35:00.013-05:00

I can't remember where I heard it, but there was some joke the other day about Ike being bad when he was beating on Tina (reference to Ike and Tina Turner of course). It was one of those kind of uncomfortable funny jokes. Had to be there.

Anyway, so the latest track for Ike is not 100% certain, but it looks like it's going to be heading our way towards the end of next week. Even most of the computer models are in agreement that Ike is going to come right towards us. That doesn't give me a very good feeling, especially since it's forecast to be a pretty major storm when it hits land. It's currently a category 4 storm heading towards Cuba, and although it should decrease some in strength when it crosses Cuba, it should grow again quickly in the bath tub water of the Gulf of Mexico.

So, it appears that again when I go to visit Kelly next weekend that I'll be bringing the cats along with me. At least I'll have the Element and they can wander around again, although hopefully they'll stay calm because I think the drive up will be longer since I'm guessing that a lot of people will be on the road again and I won't be able to avoid them. At least I'm used to the drive now. Oh, and this time I am definitely boarding up all of the windows. I only boarded up the window on the east side for the office when I left last weekend, and of course everything was fine as Gustav went further west and didn't intensify as much as anticipated, however Ike just gives one a sinking feeling of Katrina repeat. IF it does hit though, and our house survives with little to no damage, I think we could potentially sell it quickly. I'd rather it NOT hit though.

I did go biking early this morning with my friends Jack and Kelly down to the Mockingbird Cafe. They didn't receive much damage it seemed and were open for business. It was a GREAT morning for a bike ride. Cloudy, overcast sky with the temperature in the low 70's and not much humidity at all. Probably the best day for riding all summer. My back is still sore, but it did feel good to be out riding again. After I got home I showered then went out to have the oil changed in the Element and picked up a few items for next weekend. A new pillow since my old favorite one was ruined when poor Tura couldn't hold her urine any longer on the drive back last Tuesday. It was probably best that I threw the pillow away since it was so old it probably had all sorts of bacteria and crud in it. The pillow case cleaned up well though after a wash in hot water. I also purchased some cat food and a litter box for the car. Don't know if they'll use it or not, but at least it will be available for the kitty girls. I also stopped by Barnes & Noble and picked up The Hockey News 2008-2009 preview guide which ranked all the top players as well as each team. I joined a fantasy hockey league with some of the guys from the Hockey Playoff Picks League and Kelly is going to help me determine which players to choose in the draft in two weeks. I've never played any fantasy league sports, but it sounded like fun and since we're such hockey fanatics anyway it seemed like the logical progression. There's also a $50 entry fee for the group we're playing with that will end up being a cash prize at the end of the season, so we could end up getting paid for enjoying hockey. Word.

The rest of the afternoon I watched a little college football, some of the recorded Anthony Bourdain episodes, and read. I don't have anything else planned for this evening except maybe some more of the same. Tomorrow I'm going to bake some more oatmeal bread because it turned out really well last time. I'll also probably make some cinnamon bread on Monday or Tuesday night, and then decide early in the week whether I'll be boarding up the windows on Tuesday or Wednesday. I may take leave from work Thursday since our agency won't be smart enough to close the office that day and leave storm preparations until the last minute again. As usual, no plan and no clue. I'm sure any suggestion of closing the office on Thursday so the staff can make their own personal preparations will be shot down, but I'm still going to make the suggestion anyway. Better to be safe than sorry and I think the personal safety of our staff is more important than that stupid agency that I currently work for.

More to come in the next couple of days.

-Chris

Good Riddance, Gustav

2008-09-04T22:02:00.011-05:00

It was a bit harrowing watching Gustav become a Category 4 hurricane last week as it moved into the Gulf, bringing back memories of Katrina as over a million residents evacuated. I got pissed off at the incompetency of our state office to not have a disaster plan, but still try to pull something off the Thursday before a holiday weekend in which the hurricane is forecast to hit within 3-4 days. What a bunch of fucking morons!

I myself was planning to go visit Kelly for the weekend in Huntsville anyway, but I ended up packing up the kitty girls with me and made it an evacuation trip. Let me tell you, two cats that HATE traveling in the car was all the more miserable of a trip in the Altima. Even the sedative I forced down their throats early in the morning didn't kick in until I had gotten to Tuscaloosa (more than halfway). Tura was thrashing so violently in the kitty carrier between Gulfport and Hattiesburg that I had to let her out, then Josie wouldn't stop crying so out she came as well, both roaming around the car interior. Josie was more calm and found a spot to plant herself on the floor of the back seat, while Tura finally curled up in my lap and calmed down.

I had gotten ready the previous night so I got a pretty early start Friday morning after picking up the new Share the Road tag which had recently arrived at the tax office (this was a pre-sell required to become reality, but after about 5 years the new design is very impressive). I arrived in Huntsville a little before 4pm. Kelly met me just off the interstate coming into town and I followed her to the new apartment. We brought the girls and other things I had loaded into the Altima inside, then relaxed for a bit. Being the last Friday of the month we were going to head downtown to ride in the Huntsville Critical Mass. About 25 people showed up as we rode around town in the cool breeze of the night (8.5 miles total). We talked with a few people and one rider said that it was a small group because there are usually about 50 riders, but a lot of the regulars didn't ride that night. Hell, 25 riders is twice as many riders than we get on a big Urban Night Ride down here on the coast, and it's the same kind of ride. I'm going to like this town. After riding we went to see one of Kelly's co-worker's husband play in one of his jazz ensembles at a coffee shop, plus I met one of her other co-workers who seemed pretty cool, and I had a good iced mocha. Then it was back to the apartment where we had macaroni and cheese for dinner. I didn't even have to stay at home to have hurricane food. Yum!

Saturday morning we went out to Atlanta Bread Co. to have a light breakfast and get on-line with our laptops (no internet at the apartment). We also went to the subdivision we're thinking about having a home built and picked out a lot we both agreed on, did a small amount of shopping, then we went to get a new plug for my bicycle handlebar end at the bike shop before having lunch at a great Indian restaurant. It was a buffet, but there were many items to choose from, and what we both had was really good. We'll definitely be bringing our friends who come visit back to this place. After a late lunch we came back to the apartment for awhile and I took a nap, then later in the evening we went to Buffalo Wild Wings for a small dinner and watched most of the Oregon/Washington football game. They even turned one of the television sets on just for us to watch that game (most of the other televisions were showing the end of Auburn trouncing whatever small school they played or the Alabama/Clemson game). We're definitely in SEC country up there in Alabama. Most people are either Alabama or Auburn fans, or just hate both and would cheer to see both of them lose, no matter who they played. Funny.

Sunday morning we went to one of the Greenways where Kelly rode her bike and I rode through the nearby Research Park (lots of tech companies), which is a great place for training rides. After coming back to the apartment and showering, we went to the laundromat. It's been awhile since I've had to wash clothes at the wash-o-matic. It didn't take too long so after stopping to get internet access we went to see the movie 'American Teen'. It was shot in a documentary style, but seemed a bit staged. It was funny that of the 6 people in the theater watching, 3 'older' people left before it ended. We spent the rest of the evening in the apartment watching 'National Treasure' on NBC. We also were hoping to get a few more hurricane updates as well, but the local networks just don't have coverage running 24 hours like the cable news networks.

Monday morning we got up and saw that Gustav had hit where it was forecast, just west of New Orleans, but fortunately had decreased down to a Category 2 hurricane and the levees held, really giving the residents of New Orleans a sigh of relief, despite what other damage may have occurred. We then went biking and hiking at Montesano. I only had my road bike and did some hill climbing training, but I look forward to riding the mountain bike trails out there in the near future. After biking we came back to shower and change, but then I don't exactly remember what we did. Oh, we went to Panera Bread Company to use their internet. Or maybe that was Sunday. The days were kind of a blur. We did get take out Thai and sushi from Phuket, which was pretty decent food.

Tuesday morning we got up early because Kelly was going down to Anniston for some field work and I was hitting the road home with the girls. Kelly and I swapped vehicles so the trip would be a little less miserable driving back, and I'm going back up next weekend to switch again and co-sign with Kelly so she can get an Alabama tag. After seeing Kelly off I packed up the Element and was on the road by 8am. Of course the girls were again crying and wandering all over the place, but they were a little better with more room to roam. They settled down when I got to Toomsuba, MS (just over the MS/AL state line) and as the heavy rain started between Meridian and Hattiesburg. After I got south of Hattiesburg it stopped raining and cleared up a bit. I was home just before 3pm. The house was fine with no damage and maybe a few branches in the yard. I unloaded everything, started some laundry, and relaxed watching a couple of shows I recorded over the weekend before going to bed early.

Now there are still 3 storms in the Atlantic. Hanna, Ike, and Josephine. All are storms to watch, but Ike seems to be the biggest threat to the coast. Not to wish it on anyone, but we're hoping it takes a turn to the north and doesn't cross Florida and pop back out into the Gulf. I don't want to make the trip up to Huntsville next week another evacuation trip. One long ride with the cats is enough until I move up there for good with them.

The democrats had their heyday last week at the convention in Denver, now the republicans are Obama bashing this week in St. Paul. Prior to either convention I wasn't totally swayed one way or the other, but the Democrats had pretty good speakers that fired up the crowd and seemingly a lot of the country. The republicans just seem like bitter, petty losers who can only take potshots at their opponents. I tried to listen to Sarah Palin's speech last night, but it didn't seem to have much substance. McCain's speech tonight was just more blah, blah, blah. I really hate politics and even more politicians, but I'll probably be a pinko liberal and vote for Obama since as I said previously there really isn't a viable third party candidate. I did enjoy listening to his speech last week though, even though a lot of it I don't totally believe other than the pandering to voters that it is.

-Chris

Fizzle out

2008-08-24T19:44:00.003-05:00

Looks like Fay turned into a Tropical Depression as it came ashore for the final time and kind of fizzled out. It steadily rained today, but more of a slow drizzle than heavy rain. Kind of like Portland in the winter, but warmer. I went to bed late last night after making a loaf of Norwegian Whole Wheat Bread (which turned out pretty well) watching Bleach, and most of the Olympic Gold Medal basketball game between Spain and the United States. It was an exciting game with the Spanish team giving the U.S. NBA stars a run for their money. I finally shut the tv off at 3am and let the Tivo record the rest. I watched it this morning after I woke up at 9.30am. The U.S. ended up winning, but it was close down to the end.

After the game I showered and went down to the Mockingbird to have lunch. No biking in the rain today, but I got my 30 miles in earlier this week. When I got home I baked some oatmeal chocolate chip cookies for the going away party for two co-workers transferring to different offices. Between baking I watched Code Geass and a premier of a new anime series on adult swim called Moribito. It was good. I even read a bit as well. And now as it gets late into the evening I'm finishing up a couple loaves of cinnamon bread (the dough is rising while I type). I'll probably give one to Gary when I see him this week since he's moving up to TN for good in a week, then I'll take the other up to Kelly when I visit next weekend.

The Olympics are finally over and the closing ceremony tape delay is being broadcast right now on NBC. It's been pretty exciting to watch this year and I'm surprised that I and some of our friends have really gotten into it. I guess that's what happens when you get older.

I'm SO glad it will be a short work week this week. Not thrilled about all the end of the month work, but it's the same as always, just a little more work without Gary at the office. Hopefully soon I'll be able to get my last day at the office.

-chris

Waiting for Fay

2008-08-23T17:17:00.009-05:00

Last night I drove down to the Mockingbird with my bike and rode over the bridge to Pass Christian and back for a quick 11 mile ride. It was muggy outside, but there was also a pretty strong wind coming from the north. After my ride I had pizza for dinner at the Mockingbird then I picked up some groceries including a few 'hurricane rations'. I'm not so concerned with Tropical Storm Fay, although keeping a watchful eye on the tropical updates. I purchased some baked beans, macaroni and cheese, and Mahatma rice in case the power goes out later in the weekend. I came home and watched some of the Olympics before going to bed.

The outer feeder bands haven't reached all the way over here to Hancock County yet, but I'm expecting them later this evening. Earlier today it was breezy and there were clouds overhead, but they blew by and the sun came out again. I stayed up late and got up late this morning, so that nixed my thoughts of an early ride down to the Mockingbird. It did cool off some though when the clouds were overhead, so I biked the Diamondhead loop and made a stop at the grocery store up front to pick up some milk and butter for baking purposes. A short 10 miles, but it felt good to get out and ride.

This afternoon after I got back from biking I took a shower and watched some Olympic coverage while eating leftover pizza. After lunch I started making some Norwegian Whole Wheat Bread. A new recipe for me, but I think it should turn out pretty well. It will probably be a pretty dense bread. I've also done a bit of cleaning of the house. Like last weekend with the rain, I'm not expecting the house to be shown this weekend with Fay heading towards the coast. Prospects will probably be better with the long holiday next weekend. As I write this I'm waiting for my bread to rise before I pop it in the oven. Tonight I'll probably watch more Olympics or read manga.

Last weekend Kelly came to visit and we had a nice, relaxing weekend. Friday we went to lunch with Jason and Ellen at Pho 777 and did some shopping, then got take out from Trapani's for dinner (yum, seafood!) before coming home to watch the Olympics. Kelly also made some oatmeal -chocolate chip cookies for 'game night' the following evening. On Saturday morning Kelly got up and went to the spa for a treatment while I drove out to Mobile to take the written examination for ABC Sales Associate (a position with the AL State run liquor stores). It wasn't really that difficult, and I think I did pretty well. I came back home and we went to Jason and Ellen's where Jason grilled turkey burgers and the spicy red potatoes that I brought. Pete, Christy and Dwayne and their baby Aiden, Ellen's boss Swan(?) and his partner Shannon, and Kevin were there and we watched Michael Phelps win his 8th gold medal as well as one of Usain Bolt's races, then we played Cranium Turbo. We had broken into teams, but some people had to leave, so we re-did the teams. It was a fun night playing something other than poker and hanging out with friends.

Sunday morning we slept in a bit then got coffee at the Mockingbird before Kelly hit the road for Panama City. She was meeting one of her co-workers there to do some work the first half of the week before driving back up to Huntsville on Wednesday. I was going to go visit her this weekend, but changed my mind with Fay heading our way. I'm planning to go up next weekend, which will be nice since I have a 4 day weekend with the holiday and my off Friday.

Monday night I rode 20 miles around Diamondhead on my bike. Tuesday I watched 'Gurren Lagann' and 'Now and Then, Here and There' that I had recorded on Monday night as well as some of the Olympics. I also baked some beer bread to take to our friend Jared the next night in New Orleans when he was in town for the Melvins/Big Business tour.

I came home after work on Wednesday, changed my clothes, then headed to New Orleans. I had dinner at Rock-n-Sake, but was kind of disappointed in the roll I got. I wasn't expecting it to have cucumber, and that ruined it slightly for me. I easily picked it out, but initially biting into a piece was an unpleasant experience. After eating I walked to One Eyed Jacks, stopping on the way at Harrah's Casino to get a caffeine fix at Starbucks. I arrived at the venue and saw our friend Alex out front and talked with him for awhile before getting in line to get my ticket. Alex used to live on the MS coast and is doing well in New Orleans. He's starting work at a new job soon. He's worked at the Cigar Factory for quite awhile on Bourbon Street, but now he's going to be working at a smaller, different cigar shop in the French Quarter, but away from Bourbon Street. Good for him. When I got inside I didn't see Jared around, so I gave the loaf of bread to the merch guy to give to Jared later. I then made my way towards the front near the stage. Alex was already there, so I stood and talked with him some more. Before Big Business played Dale, the drummer for the Melvins, the new guitarist for Big Business sans guitar but with his effects pedals, and I think the guitarist from Porn (who also had a huge rack of effects pedals) came out and played 20 minutes of noise. Coady from Big Business also came out at the end so they had two drummers. It was kind of a cool short set. Big Business came out at 11pm and Jared was right in front of us on stage. Still didn't talk with him (he was playing, duh!), but we made eye contact and he smiled at me during their set. They were AWESOME!! They played quite a few new songs as well as ones from the previous two records and sound great with the addition of the guitar, although they were great previously as a two piece. The best song was a new one called 'Cats/Mice'. It was fun to watch them ROCK out again, and the sound was really crisp during their 40 minute set. Now I admit I didn't stick around for the Melvins set since it was already almost midnight and I didn't want to get home too late since I had to work early the next morning. I admit, I'm old. If I lived in New Orleans it would be a different thing, but that hour drive home is pretty boring. I really only went to see Big Business anyway, even though they are part of the Melvins now. Their new album has a few songs I like, but overall it's not spectacular. I'm looking forward to the new Big Business album. They did have their 3rd tour ep for sale at the show which I did purchase.

I came home and went to bed around 2am. I did sleep in a bit, but my body is used to early mornings, so it wasn't that much later than usual. Thursday night I watched 'Eureka' and some of the Olympics before heading to bed early.

I saw that Obama picked Joseph Biden as his running mate in the presidential election. Honestly, that doesn't really do too much for me. It helps Obama because of the experience that Biden has, but overall I think it will split the Democrats and hurt Obama in the long run. Not that he's a bad choice, but supporters of Hillary Clinton will feel slighted no matter what support Hillary outwardly gives to Biden. I voted for Hillary Clinton in the primary and am a bit disappointed myself that she's not on the ticket this time. I don't dislike Obama, but am more ambivalent than anything in my feelings towards him. I'd probably vote for him over John McCain any day, but it will be curious to see who McCain picks as a running mate. I always wish there were a more viable third party candidate that I could vote for. I'll probably try not to watch the Democratic Convention in Denver next week, but I will check out the coverage on The Daily Show to see what I'm (not) missing.

I'm looking forward to visiting Kelly up in Huntsville next weekend. We're going to check out the subdivision where we're considering building a home from some of the floor plans of a builder we liked when I went up in June and viewed homes. I'm bringing my bicycle because Friday night is Huntsville's Critical Mass, which I want to ride with to meet some of the local riders. Maybe after I get back I'll post another new update.

-Chris

Two in one day?

2008-08-09T18:37:00.003-05:00

This will be a quickie. But I wanted to share this lovely picture of me and another student in our chemical suits. This was while I was in Raleigh, NC last week for the 40 hour HAZWOPER training. It was interesting stuff & I got to sweat my chachas off in the chemsuit for a little while. Yee haw! I didn't do too much in Raleigh because I had work to do in the evenings. But I did take one night off & went to see She & Him in Carrboro (near Chapel Hill) at a club called Cat's Cradle. The show was pretty good - sold out. Freakwater opened & they were good in a bluegrassy kind of way. She & Him is Zooey Deschanel (actress & singer) and M. Ward. They were fabulous. Zooey really has a nice voice. I was just disappointed that Matt didn't have a more pronounced role.

Not much else to report. Just wandering around Huntsville looking for ways to keep myself entertained. I watched the movie Dr Strangelove out in the park by the Art Museum last night. That was fun & it actually got a bit chilly after that front moved through the previous day. Today I got a pedicure at a nice day spa called Terrame. Thanks Mom & Dad for the gift card (from my b-day back in May)! I'm going to head to the sports bar in a bit to watch the Olympics (I have no tv at the apt). Most evenings I've been watching Buffy the Vampire Slayer or Weeds (which I've gotten addicted to thanks to Netflix).

My Ipod died a few weeks back, so I dropped it off at Best Buy to either get fixed or get $$ for a new one. So I haven't been listening to much new music, which sucks. I did buy the new Sam Phillips cd. It's pretty good...female singing with varied background music. It's grown-up music that I kept thinking "I don't think I would have liked this 10+ years ago." That's ok...I like it now.

All right. That's all for now.

-Kelly

I Hate People

2008-08-09T14:14:00.004-05:00

There was supposed to be a Night Ride starting in Gulfport last night, so I brought my bike with me to work and stopped at Competition Sports on the way home. When I arrived Robert told me that when he had brought the idea up at the GCBC meeting the previous night, there wasn't any interest so he was canceling the ride. I was disappointed, but not deterred. I decided to ride solo. I rode down to the pier in Gulfport then near the high school stadium by Gulfport Memorial Hospital, back the other direction into Biloxi and the usual turnaround point of Hiller Park, finally finishing back at my start point. It was a really nice night for riding. Still a bit humid, but not nearly as much as it has been the past few weeks, and the temperature was much cooler than most evenings lately. Overall I rode 27 miles in just under two hours. Screw the bike club, I'd rather ride alone than with some of them anyway.

This morning I woke up early and met my friends Jack and Kelly, who live in Diamondhead and have a tandem bike. I met them at the pizza shop near our house at 7am and we rode down to the Mockingbird as we had done last Saturday. Today was much nicer though because the cold front that moved through the other day took the humidity with it and it was cool and dry this morning. It warmed up on the ride back, but was still quite pleasant. When I arrived back home I took a nap on the couch while watching some of the Olympics, which started last night. I did get to see the U.S. women's fencing team sweep all 3 medals in that event as well as the start of the grueling 150 mile cycling event. I can't even imagine riding the equivalent of a Tour de France stage (which this event featured many of those riders) in the smoggy air of Beijing. Yuck! The route would be really neat though winding through the city and many of it's historical landmarks. I watched a couple of recorded shows while women's beach volleyball was on and just got finished making some soba noodles and tofu with peanut sauce to eat this week.

So, what other news has there been in the past two weeks? Not much, really. Gary's final day at work was at the end of July. Everyone threw a going away party for him which was really nice, so I baked cookies for that. He's getting the rest of his things packed up and putting some cabinets in the basement. I did go to Mellow Mushroom on Wednesday this past week to meet him for dinner. We ate and talked for awhile which was cool. It's not the same not seeing him at work every day. Myra was at the office the first half of the week, but it wasn't as bad as I had anticipated. I pretty much stayed in my office reviewing cases, although she's coming back again for half of this upcoming week, so we'll see what happens.

Last weekend it was my off Friday so I took Josie to the vet in the morning for some kind of nerve irritation on the base of her tail that seems to be bothering her. The vet had to do some research, but called me back a couple of days later and said it was not something to worry about. I guess I'll believe her since Josie isn't in pain, but it just seems to be causing her some slight discomfort. Poor child. After the vet I brought her back home then headed out to Gulfport to run some errands, then I met Jason at his office and we went to Pho 777 to have some noodles and spring rolls for lunch. Damn, that was some good food. The spring roll was fresh, then Jason had the vermicelli noodles with shrimp while I had the seafood noodle soup. I made the mistake of ordering the large portion because it was only $1 more, and they brought out a HUGE bowl of soup broth with noodles, daikon, shrimp, and fish balls. It was really good, and even better with the pouring rain and thunderstorm outside. I had plenty leftover for lunch the next day. After that I headed home and had a pretty uneventful weekend otherwise besides my ride to the Mockingbird on Saturday morning with Jack and Kelly.

Oh, I forgot that on Thursday night the previous week I had gone to 'Trivia Night' at Marig's in Biloxi with my friend Carrie-Ann. It's not the video version at most bars, but an actual live version with questions that the owner makes up himself. It's done in three rounds with a series of multiple choice questions each team can assign point values to when answering. Kind of difficult to explain well, but turned out to be a lot of fun. It was Carrie-Ann, Michael, Christine, and I at the start, but Christine wasn't feeling well so after the first question Michael took her home and it was a team of two. We ended up doing really well, and after the first two rounds and the halftime bonus points question were tied for second place in points. The final question was a big one where each team had to put in chronological order a series of events from oldest to most recent. All of the events happened between 1989-1999, which helped and we actually ended up answering correctly, but unfortunately Carrie-Ann and Michael (who had come back during the second round) decided not to wager any of our points and we ended up not being in the top 3. It was a lot of fun, although there were a lot of cheatin' mothafuckers with their cellphones or iPhones either calling up friends for the answers of sitting near the front window of the restaurant and doing an internet search for the answers. Fucking jerks! We know we're smart and didn't need to cheat.

Saturday I was a little less of a hermit and went out to get groceries and had lunch at the Mockingbird prior to shopping. That evening I made some homemade whole wheat bread. That turned out really well and I had a loaf for sandwiches all week long. I took the other loaf to Jason and Ellen on Sunday before the Def Leppard/Joan Jett show at the coliseum in Biloxi (I only stayed for Joan Jett because Leslie bailed at the last minute and I had no interest in seeing Def Leppard). I thought it turned out really well, although the outer crust was slightly browned more than it should have been, but it was still good. I had it with my Bocaburgers each night for dinner. As far as the concert, I felt kind of old seeing people my age with their teen kids at the concert. Some of these kids had the obligatory Def Leppard t-shirts on, maybe because they were conceived while their parents were listening to a Def Leppard song. I have to say 'arena rock is okay' because Joan Jett really ROCKED the place and got the crowd prepped for Def Leppard. She and her band played for a full hour including old favorites (duh, who knew she had a new album?) and some new songs which were good as well. We've seen her before, but the discount $17 tickets I got were well worth it just seeing her rock shit again.

Two nights ago I met with Paul to discuss some different ideas about our home listing. We cleared up a few miscommunications and lowered the price again to $124,000 with a $1000 bonus to the selling agent. He said in talking with one of the agents that works in Bay St. Louis and lives in Diamondhead (and had shown the house a couple of times already) that lowering the price should help draw more traffic in to view it. We had previously had a $500 bonus, but Paul said that $1000 was quite a bit and would encourage more agents to bring by sellers to see our house. I hope so, and maybe he's right. He called me a little while ago to let me know that an agent had seen the listing and noticed the bonus and was bringing some potential buyers over tomorrow between 2-4pm. That works out well because I was considering going over to New Orleans to get some groceries at Whole Foods and some face cleansing products at the Body Shop, now I have more of a reason to get out of the house. I did some cleaning Thursday night and today, but now I can do a little more and make it more inviting.

So, I mentioned the other night when I was intending to update the blog the following day (which didn't happen until now) that I had some music reviews. Not really reviews but more some of the things I've been listening to lately.

The title of this post is the title of the new cd from Windy Weber of the duo Windy and Carl. She just put out a solo cd which is two long tracks of dark, creepy (well, not THAT creepy) music. The title of the cd is very fitting for the music, although it's just something to listen to while alone in the dark. The kind of music I used to play on my Happy Death Ritual radio show, and still enjoy listening to.

Another new cd that I've been enjoying a lot is the new DJ Spooky called 'Sound Unbound'. I've always enjoyed the way he creates a collage of sound, but this one is even better because it's on Sub Rosa records (which I also enjoy and have some cd compilations in our collection) and has DJ Spooky taking releases from the Sub Rosa catalog to create his masterpiece. The spoken word snippets combined with the assorted musical genres is fabulous. Probably listening to this more than most things. I read there is a book he wrote to go along with the cd, so I'll have to search for it.

Another favorite cd that I have been listening to a lot since it came out in the spring is the latest Portishead album 'Third'. Kelly said it's kind of spooky, which it is a bit, but it's very addictive. The first listen I wasn't sure, but it grew on me quickly and I can't say there's a track that I don't like. After 11 years since the last album they released (not counting the live album), this picks up right where they left off, but creates new reasons to like this band and listen to them often.

Other albums on my mp3 player in heavy rotation are the tour-only cd 'Carte-de-Visite' from Stars of the Lid, 'April' by Sun Kil Moon (which is more Mark Kozelek than anyone else in the band), 'Supreme Balloon' by Matmos, Mogwai's 'Young Team' re-issue, and 'Monstre Cosmic' by Monade (Laetitia from Stereolab, whom I'm seeing in Atlanta in late September with Atlas Sound opening). The new Melvins has a few decent tracks, but overall it's not that spectacular. I probably wouldn't care about it much except for the fact that Jared and Coady from Big Business are still part of the Melvins for this second album release and I'm looking forward to the Melvins/Big Business show in New Orleans in a couple of weeks. It's much better live than on cd.

Hmm...my train of thought is pretty scattered. I guess I'll do a bit of cleaning and maybe get out of my bike clothes and go get dinner later on after I shower.

-chris

Update coming soon

2008-08-06T21:51:00.002-05:00

I've looked at this and thought, 'gee, I should write something,' but then I get distracted with something else. I am going to post some recent news (or not news) tomorrow night. Not really anything thrilling or very exciting at all, but I have gotten some new music lately that I want to mention.

-chris

I Want (ed) to Believe...

2008-07-27T20:42:00.004-05:00

So, the reviews for the new ' The X-Files- I Want to Believe' movie had been pretty negative, but I still was interested in seeing it. Kelly went to see it on Friday night and said it wasn't great, but wasn't bad. I decided to go see it this afternoon, and came to pretty much the same conclusion. It was set a few years later than the series and was pretty much a stand-alone, extended episode itself. Not the best story, but still decent and it was neat to see Mulder and Scully back on the screen together again, although maybe about five years too late. Fans can enjoy it, while also being a bit critical of it, but it's a summer 'blockbuster' which one goes to be entertained. What kills me is that some of these same reviewers (on Rotten Tomatoes) that panned this film for a dismal 33% rating total, were the same schmucks that raved over 'Hellboy II- The Golden Army', which I saw last weekend and despite it's visual appeal, was much less impressed by. It just goes to show that critics frequently have their heads up their ass and don't know what the hell they're talking about.

It's been a pretty uneventful week here. Long, very hot, humid heatwave of summer in the south. I've been watching the Tour de France each night when I get home from work and it was awesome to watch the big mountain stages earlier in the week including the infamous Alpe D'Huez. It's so amazing to watch those cyclists put such a toll on their bodies for 3 weeks in July. I watched the final time trials yesterday morning and then the final stage today as they rode into Paris. Carlos Sastre won this year's tour after holding on to his lead yesterday and posting an impressive time trial time to beat out Cadel Evans for the overall victory. Americans can be satisfied with the impressive 5th place finish of Christian Vandevelde of the Garmin Chipotle team, as well as the overall results by both 'American' teams, Team Columbia and Garmin Chipotle. Teams to watch for at future races.

Friday night I led a Night Ride starting this week at the Mockingbird in Bay St. Louis with a total of 8 riders. Not too bad for an out of the way location. We rode from the Mockingbird to almost the Pass Christian/Long Beach line, then back to our start point for a total of 20 miles. I even made it back just in time to order a pizza and frozen mocha 2 minutes before they closed the kitchen. It was pretty decent, although a slightly thin and crisp crust. When we got back I ate and talked with Lee and his wife for a bit before I headed home myself.

Besides watching the time trials and cleaning the house on Saturday morning, I didn't do much else. The house was shown around noon to a younger couple, so I let them in with the realtor and went out to the back patio while they walked through. It was also supposed to have been shown on Friday afternoon, but when I got home it didn't appear if anyone had come through. I guess I'll find out tomorrow or Tuesday from Paul. The weather ended up turning pretty nasty with quite a few thunderstorms and heavy rain moving through the rest of the afternoon and evening. I stayed home and finally watched 'The Departed' which we've had recorded on Tivo for almost a year. It was pretty good, but somewhat predictable at the end. I'm glad I watched it though and freed up some more space to record other things.

This morning I woke up early and rode down to the Mockingbird and home again. And like I said, I watched the Tour finale and took a short nap on the couch before heading out to the movie. When I got home this evening I watched 'Batman Tech' on the History Channel, which was quite interesting. Now I'm updating the blog before looking for free wi-fi sites for Kelly while she's in Raleigh for the week.

Gary's last day is this coming Thursday. How fortunate for him, but I plan to follow soon. Hopefully he will get all packed up and headed out to Tennessee soon, with his house sold not long after. We're having a 'surprise' party for him at work on Wednesday (whoops, don't read this part Gary) and the staff is bringing food. I think they're getting something for him as well, but they won't even tell me what that is. He'll be missed by everyone, and it's interesting that some workers have now tried to convince me to apply for his position. No way in hell, but I've found better ways to defer without giving away my plans. It's going to be quite different come the following weeks.

-chris

Dark Knight, Tour de France, and more

2008-07-19T10:51:00.003-05:00

I went to see 'The Dark Knight' yesterday afternoon since it was my off Friday. I also dropped the Altima off for a tune-up and biked down to Competition Sports to get a few minor bike repairs. The bike repairs turned out to be more than expected when I got a flat tire riding down Hwy 49 and had to have one of my former co-workers, Dana, from the Gulfport office come rescue me. I had a patch kit that wasn't very effective for a pinch flat, so Dana came to pick me up with her Jeep Cherokee and dropped me off at the bike shop, which happened to be just down the road from the old office. I was most grateful. After getting my tube replaced and my grip tape rewrapped I got a frozen coffee at Nezaty's then I stopped by the Gulfport office. I thanked Dana again, said hi to Leslie, and had a nice chat with Kendra. We discussed the rumors about Gary's soon to be available position, which were kind of funny like the one where Kendra is going to transfer to Pascagoula because I'm over there and that Leslie and Ursula who also live towards the Pascagoula office were also going to transfer with her. Or the one that another assistant in Gulfport was going to transfer to Pascagoula and I was going to transfer back to Gulfport. They were all pretty amusing knowing that the staff at Gulfport sometimes come up with some really crazy shit and rumors. I decided that I would tell only Kendra that none of those would be coming true because I was leaving for Huntsville, hopefully soon. I've been wanting to tell Kendra for quite awhile, and this seemed like an ideal time to tell her. Still didn't tell anyone else though.

After talking with Kendra I stopped by Coldwell Banker down the street and picked up some new yard flyers for our house that Paul had printed up for me, then I biked up to Crossroads. Surprisingly, no one tried to run over me along the way. It was getting pretty warm by then (11am), but it wasn't so bad with a slight breeze while riding. The movie theater kind of irritated me when they told me I couldn't lock my bike on one of their railings, but I kind of understood. Get a fucking bike rack! I ended up locking my bike to one of the posts that hold the 'handicapped parking' signs. There was a decent crowd at the noon showing, but not at all crowded, and better yet no noisy, obnoxious kids. A few trailers of note including the new James Bond film 'Quantum of Solace' which comes out this November (and yes Kelly, Daniel Craig does remove his shirt, even in the trailer), the next Terminator film coming out next summer which features Christian Bale, and the comic geeks' wet dream, 'Watchmen' coming out next March. I remember collecting the 12 issue graphic novel series when I was younger. It looked pretty cool.

The Dark Knight itself was pretty impressive and lived up to all the hype. I watched an 'HBO First Look' special the other night about the film which made me more eager to go see it. They do a lot of the actual stunts as opposed to CGI, which I thought was amazing. Heath Ledger did a squeamishly awesome portrayal of The Joker and Christian Bale continued to BE the Dark Knight. My only real criticism is that I felt maybe they tried a bit too hard to put a lot of story into it, but I think it worked well anyway. I only wish there was an IMAX theater nearby showing it because it would be all the more visually amazing. Kelly is going to try to see it later in the week at the IMAX in Huntsville (something else for me to look forward to when I move).

After the movie the car was ready so I biked up to the mechanic, picked it up and drove home. I hadn't eaten much during the day so I snacked a bit and took a nap because I had a headache. I got up and was on the computer for a bit before my sister called me. It was nice to talk with her for a bit. Afterwards I drove down to the Mockingbird and had a grilled chicken burger for dinner, then took a walk across the Bay St Louis bridge and back under the full moon. It was nice and somewhat cool, with a bit of humidity of course, and I wished Kelly was there with me to take a nice walk like we used to late at night when we lived in Waveland. At that time though people would pull over and ask if we were okay or needed a ride because we were walking. The coast has changed quite a bit over the 12 years that we've lived down here.

Came home and watched the recording of Friday's Tour de France coverage. It's been pretty enjoyable to watch so far. I record it live in the morning, then watch it when I get home in the evening and can fast forward through some of it. Unfortunately, the sport of cycling is still being tarnished by riders who think they can get away with doping. That really sucks because non-cycling enthusiasts will just say it's just a bunch of dopers, and even the fans of the sport have doubts. At least they've already suspended three riders this year and part or all of their respective teams have pulled out, so that's a good sign that cheaters won't win, but at the same time it pisses me off that they have the gall to even try. I'm optimistic though and know that not everyone is cheating or doping and that the awesome finishes in the mountains or sprints at the end aren't all a lie.

Today I'm going to have lunch at the Mockingbird then go see 'Hellboy II' with Jason, despite Kelly's not so positive review of it. Afterwards we'll probably have sushi for dinner then go hang out with all the 'punk' kids and see the Winterset reunion show. That should be entertaining. If nothing else it will be nice to see some people we haven't seen in awhile. Guess I had better get going.

-Chris

When it rains it pours...but the temp is dropping & things are looking up

2008-07-16T20:46:00.005-05:00

Long time no blog. Well...Chris told all about my exciting long weekend back in Mississippi. It was lots of fun & I really miss Chris & the kitty-girls. I need to start praying harder to St. Joseph to help us sell the house so that my honey-bunny can move. In the meantime, I'm moving to a more permanent apartment next week. My days of living large off the government are winding down, so I needed to find somewhere cheaper. It's a nice place called Sunlake. The funny thing is that I had to get a 2BR because all the 1BR apartments had long wait lists. And I just read a bunch of reviews that make this place sound kind of sketchy. Suck!

Anyway, that's what I may have to put up with for awhile until the house sells. In the meantime I've been looking for furniture. Nothing fancy - a bed, chair, table & dresser. Yep...that's all that will be in my 2BR apartment. It'll be pretty bleak. Oh well.

In other news, I've been keeping myself busy this past week. Going out to a few new restaurants. One of them was pretty disappointing - Mezza Luna. They are new & experiencing typical new place problems. But on top of that, the food that I got was over-salted. And not once did anyone ask me how everything was, because I would have told them. Last night I ate at Cantina Laredo, an upscale Mexican place at the yuppie mall. It was decent, except 1 out of the 3 different types of enchiladas I had in my combo was pretty bland. And they sat me at the bar, because they didn't want to waste a table on poor, single me. At least the bartender was nice & the margaritas were good. On Sunday I went to a soccer game featuring the Rocket City United, our local minor league team. The game was good, except they lost to the Mexican team (from Monterey). It was fun...I may try to catch one of their last games next weekend. On Friday a co-worker's husband's band was playing at the Botanical Garden. The band is called Mambo Gris Gris and as the name suggests is a blend of Latin & Zydeco. It was entertaining...even if it was hot outside until the sun finally set. On Monday night I saw the movie Hellboy II, and I have to say I was disappointed. I thought the visuals were cool, but the dialog was rather lame & the story was contrived. Que Sirhan Sirhan, as the Didjits would say.

Oh yes...the rain this week has been metaphorical - first the car battery died as I was trying to leave the dentist office to go back to work. Then today I get home and it's 85 degrees inside. The repair guy got here after about an hour & it seems to be working now, so that's a plus. And of course, now having just read some horrible reviews of my future apartment...I'm having lots of doubts. Does this make 3 bad things or is there something else coming?

I think this weekend I'll go see Mama Mia and save the Dark Knight for a weeknight, when it's hopefully less crowded at the Imax. And pack. Ugh!

The Tour begins

2008-07-10T21:48:00.002-05:00

Gary pointed out today that it's been awhile since a blog update. I told him I haven't really felt like it, especially this week. I've been particularly irritable and I can't really explain it.

The weekend was good. Extended days away from work and Kelly down to visit from Huntsville. Her plane arrived last Wednesday night in Gulfport and I was at the airport waiting with Thai food from Kim Long for dinner. The Vietnamese noodles I got were a disappointment, but the panang curry and spring rolls were good, at least that night. Both of us had upset stomachs the next day unfortunately, so the noodles and spring rolls were tossed in the garbage. I ended up with curry leftover on Thursday night while Kelly went to New Orleans with friends for the bachelorette party. I was watching something I had recorded when I get a random call out of the blue from a friend from college who is still living in Oregon. It was nice to talk with her since I really haven't kept in touch with anyone from OSU, but at first I thought it was the university hitting me up for money. We talked for awhile and decided to keep in touch via facebook. Makes one wonder who's stalking you online or researching your info through internet searches, but I have to admit I've done the same thing.

I was surprised that Kelly was home relatively early at 11pm. I hadn't expected her until sometime after midnight, but I guess she and a couple other 'old folks' (she said it, not me) decided to skip the Bourbon Street adventures. I can understand how she feels. We're just getting too old for certain activities we would have jumped at 10 years ago.

Friday was the 4th of July and we started the day by heading down to the Mockingbird for lunch. I hadn't had a sandwich there in awhile, but it was as good as always. After lunch we visited with some friends in the Bay then came back home for awhile to clean the house before heading up to Jason's parent's house. They were grilling and then a small group of us were playing poker. It ended up being only 7 of us playing poker, but it was a good game. I ended up splitting the pot with Jason at the end because by 11pm we were both pretty much ready to quit. A $70 win wasn't bad for the evening.

Saturday morning we got up and headed over to visit Gary and see the completed work in his basement. After seeing it post-Katrina and prior to construction, the contractors did a really nice job. Now he's ready to sell his house and move away from Mississippi. We all had lunch at Mellow Mushroom in Ocean Springs (mmm...pizza), then went to see 'Wall-E'. Had a few doubts about going to see a Disney 'kids' film, but this was surprisingly really good. It was geared towards family, but some of the subtle/not-so-subtle references to society, pop culture, and future vision were things that only some adults would get and kids definitely would not. After the movie Gary headed home and we headed to Lauren and Pete's for boiled shrimp, corn, and potatoes. Lauren's brother, his wife, and their kids were in town for the weekend, but the real reason was for Kelly to see Lauren and Pete's baby. We talked with all for awhile, then I went back home to get our poker chips. We played for awhile, then shot off fireworks (which were pretty cool), and left after Paul got under my skin with his poker play. It's only a game and I know he purposefully plays to get under one's skin, but it kind of ticked me off since we weren't originally planning to play and he was 'filling in' for Lauren while she tended to a fussy baby. It was getting late, so it's just as well that we left.

On Sunday we vacated the house early and went down to get breakfast at the Mockingbird, but were disappointed they had run out of biscuits. We had a cookie and muffin instead, but along with frozen mochas it was too much sugar. We played gin rummy for a bit then headed to Covington to kill some time while our house was being shown at two different times. We window shopped at some different stores, then had Lebanese food for lunch before I bought some groceries for the week and we bought some black sunflower seeds for our bird feeder at a bird shop. We got home and watched Iron Chef, but then went to bed early because I was falling asleep on the couch.

Monday morning I rode down to the Mockingbird and Kelly met me there after going early to walk across the Bay St. Louis bridge and we had the biscuits we had wanted on Sunday. I biked back home and we spent the afternoon relaxing inside because it got really warm outside. We did get to meet Jason and Ellen for dinner though. It was somewhat pricey, but the food, service, and view from the 32nd floor of the Imperial Palace casino at their 'fine dining' restaurant, Thirty-Two, was awesome. We all ordered an appetizer or salad, then had seafood entrees. Ellen and I had the special which was a grilled rainbow trout on top of risotto with crawfish and shrimp, and Jason and Ellen both ordered the Hawaiian Hebi fish with different preparation styles. The trout was good, but the Hebi had a really good flavor as well. The portions were also quite hearty (well worth the price) and I ended up with both Kelly and my own leftovers for the next couple of nights. For dessert Kelly and Jason split the bananas foster, I had an amazing flourless chocolate cake with vanilla ice cream, and Ellen had the creme brulee. It was all really great food and probably one of the best meals we've had on the coast.

Kelly had to leave early on Tuesday, so I dropped her off at the airport on my way to meet Gary for the supervisor's meeting in Hattiesburg. He turned in his resignation letter to his supervisor right as the meeting was about to start, which made me really envious that he was able to turn his resignation in before I was. Everyone was pretty surprised and when Gary had to send an email from Hattiesburg to let our staff back at the office know (due to the failure of the fucked up Outlook program we use not sending the copy of the letter when it was supposed to), there seemed to be quite a commotion. A couple of workers even called Gary on his mobile phone (he answered it with his Bluetooth hands-free device) to try to convince him not to leave. Interesting. When we were back at the office the next day there was even more pleas for him to reconsider as well as declarations of intents to look for employment elsewhere. Made for an interesting couple of days. Of course our new thin client notebook computers which jacked the whole system up didn't help in making the past two days any better. By the end of today I had a headache when I left work, and that doesn't usually happen.

I have been watching the Tour de France in the evenings which I've recorded live early each morning and it's been pretty exciting. New teams of riders making a valiant effort to show how the sport is not completely corrupt and it is still fascinating to watch during the post Lance Armstrong years. This weekend I'm planning to ride a lot in honor of the Tour. Friday night I'm leading the Urban Night Ride through the streets of Biloxi, Saturday morning I've become the ride leader for the Tato Nut ride in Ocean Springs, and Sunday I'll make my weekly Mockingbird run. Pedaling fast to beat the heat.

-chris

What's happening in Huntsville?

2008-06-29T08:21:00.003-05:00

Lots been going on in the last week or so. Last weekend my friend, Amy, came to town. We had a great time visiting & checking out some new places. That Friday we went out to eat at this restaurant called Pauli's. I was told that it was supposed to be the best restaurant in Huntsville, but I was dubious because of the strip mall location & name. Well, I was wrong to prejudge. It was really good food & a nice atmosphere too. Definitely some place I'll go back to with Chris. On Saturday we slept in & then drove around scoping out the area. We ended up going to the Love Guru at some point that day. It was really lame. Ok...it had a few funny parts, but they were few and far between. Sunday I dragged Amy to a few open houses to give her a feel for the kind of place we're looking for. We also went to Donaldson Space Center and marveled at the Saturn rocket on display. After that we went to a chick flick called Then She Found Me. It was pretty good & nice because there was no one else in the theater, so we could gab throughout the movie. Monday we ate a decent breakfast at this place called Market Street Cafe. It kind of reminded me of something you'd find in DisneyWorld (go figure, the only other one is located in Celebration, FL). Then I took Amy to the airport...boo hoo...and headed back to work.

It was a fairly uneventful week at work, more reading manuals /reports and taking training. I did go in yesterday for a couple of hours to help Bob with some GIS stuff. That was fun...at least I felt like I was contributing something. It'll be better once I get that software set up on my computer (and get set up with a new computer). I'm also waiting to take HAZWOPR training before I can be sent out in the field. Right now I'm scheduled for a week-long class in Raleigh, NC towards the end of July.

So this last Friday I went to a concert after work with a co-worker, Debbie. Another co-worker's husband plays upright bass in the band & got us free tickets. The concert took place on Monte Sano at Burritt Museum. It was a beautiful night & cooled off nicely, plus there were fireflies about as the sun went down. The band was a Classical Blues Cabaret with Microwave Dave and Phil Weaver. The first part was more subdued and had moments that reminded me of Bill Frisell. Which inspired me to get tickets to see Bill perform in Birmingham tonight. Anyway, it was definitely a nice evening.

Yesterday I headed over to Blue Plate Cafe for breakfast & had the best banana pancakes I've ever had. I ended up sitting at the counter, because it was really busy. But for the price & food, no wonder it was so crowded. Definitely another place to go back with Chris. I also did some shopping at Belk & Dillard's. Found a new wallet, one where my change won' keep falling out into the bottom of my purse because it's double-zipped. It's a big travel wallet w/ room for airline ticket & passport if needed. Should come in handy. I also found a few items on sale...and yes, Chris, that should set me up for the rest of the summer. It's hard not to shop for entertainment. I used to do that in college too. When I was bored, just wandering up & down University ("the Ave") mainly buying tapes/records. After shopping I headed to the office, because Bob was supposed to show up & need some help. But he didn't show up right away, so I headed back out to check out some apartments. I only got to see one, because the other 2 I went to had signs out saying back at such & such time (even though I was there at such & such time and they weren't back). Definitely a possible apartment to rent...just wish we didn't have to get stuck with a 6 month lease. I did go back and work a couple of hours before kicking Bob out the door before he missed his flight out that evening. Then I headed to the Hollywood theater, where they were showing 3 "indie" films (The Visitor, The Promotion, Standard Operating Procedures). I was having a hard time picking one and ended up getting a ticket to The Visitor. I had the theater to myself, but just as the previews started a group of loud & obnoxious kids came in. So I bailed on that one and ended up at The Promotion instead. Again I had the theater to myself & thankfully no more kids hanging out in there. Anyway, it was pretty good...dark & dry comedy that had me laughing throughout.

Today I'm getting together with Loweeda, our realtor, in the afternoon for some more home searching. Then I'm heading down to Birmingham to see Bill Frisell. It'll be a late night, so I'll have to bring some Diet Cokes for the road home.

Voodoo or Hoodoo?

2008-06-24T21:26:00.007-05:00

So, after my mom kept after me about it I finally was able to get ahold of a small statue of St. Joseph (courtesy of Jason's mom) and buried it upside down in the front yard this evening. My mom told me that when she and my dad sold their house in Colorado Springs they did this and were successful. My brother, Matthew, put his house on the market last fall but it was much later that he buried St. Joe, and he was finally set to close on the sale of his home today. Jason said that when he and his brother, Kevin, were selling their old house in Biloxi (prior to the storm) that it finally sold after their mom buried a statue in the yard (possibly the same one on loan to us?). Jason and I joked that it's a mixture of Catholicism and Voodoo, but at this point, I'm willing to try anything with a bit of faith. Despite the heathen I may be now, I was raised Catholic, so maybe that will score me some points. This site tells all about the history and tradition. Very educational.

Not too bad of a weekend. Friday was my off day and I got up early and biked down to the Mockingbird for a frozen mocha and a warm, fluffy biscuit fresh out of the oven. Yum! After I got home I ran some errands then took a brief nap in the afternoon. One of the Coldwell Banker Real Estate agents showed our house that evening (and I'm still waiting to hear feedback about what the couple thought- maybe they're deciding on an offer and my evening burial will hasten their decision). The rest of the evening I watched a bit of television then went to bed early.

On Saturday morning I slept in a bit, then I went shopping for groceries and Powerball tickets in Slidell (didn't win anything this time). I came home just before it poured rain outside and watched some of the Euro 2008 Football (soccer) on ESPN. That evening I went to the Hard Rock Cafe in Biloxi and met my former co-workers Kendra, Leslie, and Dana to hang out and chat while they drank margaritas. I really had a good time. Of my former office mates, those three are the ones that I'll miss the most when I move. I almost told them about my moving, but decided to wait. Dana did ask where Kelly was this time (since they knew she's been out at sea for work previously) and I did tell her Huntsville, but left it at that. She was already pretty tipsy, so she may not remember anyway, although Kendra may catch on since I told her that I was going to Huntsville for the weekend before I left at the beginning of the month. That's the funny thing, I've not directly told any of my co-workers past or present (besides Gary), yet at the same time I've hinted at moving or have mentioned it indirectly, so I'm really kind of surprised no-one has figured it out yet. Or maybe they just aren't saying anything. I left them as they were heading to one of the bars to listen to the live band and came home to watch Bleach and Death Note.

Sunday morning I got up and rode down to the Mockingbird again, but I didn't get going until 10am, which was a bit too late in the morning to be riding. The ride down was fine, but on the way back I think I was nearing heat exhaustion due to increased temperatures and humidity. I made it back to the house right before my water bottle had been emptied completely. I was pretty worn out, but showered and went over to Jason's house where he and Pete were working on repairing Pete's effects pedals (Big Muff). They figured out that a switch needed to be replaced, then Jason fed us turkey burgers and Pete went home while Jason and I went to watch 'The Incredible Hulk'. A surprisingly really good film. I figured it would be another entertaining, action-packed, super hero film, but it was really much better than both of us had expected. Edward (don't call me Ed) Norton did a really good job playing Bruce Banner (and the Hulk). There were also some really funny cameos that comic geeks as well as fans of the old tv show from the 80's could appreciate, plus there was also another cameo from another Marvel series, but I'll leave out any spoilers. Definitely worth the $5.00 Sunday matinee price. After the movie I went back to Jason's and watched Death Note with him because it was seriously a WTF?! episode that I wanted to talk about with him. It's winding down with only two episodes left and this had some major surprises. When I got home I read for a bit then went to bed. Another hot, summer weekend in Mississippi.

-Chris

P.S. Oh yeah, in hockey news Barry Melrose was officially introduced as the new coach of the Tampa Bay Lightning. That should be interesting and it'll be cool if we take a trip over to Atlanta to watch the Thrashers since Tampa is a division rival, we might get to see Mr. Mullet in person.

Other hockey news besides the NHL Draft (which I admit I did watch some of over the weekend) is that the Pensacola Ice Pilots have had their membership in the ECHL terminated. That's really a bummer because now all of the Mississippi Seawolves 'cross town rivals' or closest competitors are gone. The closest team will now be Gwinnett, in the suburbs of Atlanta. Good for us if they play more games there, but bad in that the costs for travel will increase. Time will tell if the team can survive financially after the upcoming season. We hope so.

And finally, RIP George Carlin who died Sunday night. Best known for 'Shit, Piss, Fuck, Cunt, Tits, Cocksucker, and Motherfucker,' but funny for a lot more, which HBO is airing tomorrow night into Thursday morning as well as Thursday night when they air a lot of his old live routines and specials.

Another week in Diamondhead...

2008-06-17T20:12:00.002-05:00

I can't believe that it's been a whole week since I came home from visiting Kelly in our new home (well, mine to be eventually...).

On Wednesday night I went to the first Bleach movie with Gary, Jason, Jason's nephew Matthew, and his quiet friend Chad (kind of like the Chad character in the series who doesn't say much). Not as big of a crowd as we had anticipated, and surprisingly a bit older than the crowd at the showing of Death Note a few weeks prior. We had seen the film previously courtesy of the fan-subbers on-line, but it was pretty neat to see on the big screen in the theater. If only they had a DLP digital projector. After the movie we went and had a late dinner at TGIFriday's since it was close to the theater and open late. A nice midweek break.

Friday night after work I led a group of cyclists on an 'Urban Night Ride' through the streets of Gulfport and Biloxi. It was impressive that we had a larger than usual turnout of 11 cyclists. No-one got hit either, although the group said that two vehicles came very close to making me their hood ornament as we rode along Railroad Ave. in Gulfport. They would have had a pretty ugly gargoyle ornament if they had hit me. Overall we rode 30 miles, although I left the group in Hiller Park and rode back to the start point in Gulfport because some of the group were annoying me plus my stomach was still percolating after being upset earlier in the day. Didn't ruin my ride though.

Saturday morning I got up early and cleaned the house, then Paul stopped by with a couple of 'For Sale' signs with directional arrows to place on the main street to lead to our house. Early in the afternoon I drove over to Slidell to pick up some groceries and bulk items at Sam's Club. I also picked up some Powerball tickets (which ended up winning $7). I came home to relax for a bit, then went to meet Jason and Ellen for dinner at Kim Long, a Thai/Vietnamese restaurant in Biloxi. It was really tasty food. We ordered fresh spring rolls, Panang Curry with tofu, a rice porridge/soup with shrimp, and pineapple fried rice. It was all really good. We were all hungry and ate most of it, but they did get to take home some leftovers. After dinner we went back to their place for a bit, but Ellen was tired after a long day(s) at work, so I came home to watch Bleach and Death Note. The funny thing is that after watching Death Note I went to bed and ended up having a dream about the show. It's pretty random to have an anime dream, but Gary found it amusing later when I told him.

Sunday morning was another early one for me. I wanted to ride down to the Mockingbird Cafe in Bay St. Louis before the forecast thunderstorms arrived. It was cooler outside when I left at 9.15am, although a bit more humid. It wasn't even that busy at the Mockingbird when I arrived. I rode back home and made it just in time to miss being soaked by less than an hour. I spent the afternoon catching up on other recorded programs on the Tivo.

Monday night I came home after work and baked bread for today's supervisor meeting at our office (total waste of time). The bread turned out well and everyone seemed to enjoy it (or were lying to me). I had an extra loaf so I dropped it off for Jason and Ellen on the way home.

I came home tonight feeling kind of bummed about our house. I have no choice but to face the harsh reality of a crummy housing market. We lowered the listing price by $6000 this past week so it could make the deadline for the upcoming local real estate publications. Hopefully the weather will be better this weekend and maybe we'll have some more showings. It's just depressing to be sitting here yearning to leave and be in Huntsville with Kelly, but at the same time knowing it isn't financially feasible for me to quit my job while it's still paying for our current mortgage. If the house doesn't sell soon my other hope is that I'll get a call from the state of Alabama for a job interview as a Medicaid Eligibility Worker which pays almost as much as my current supervisor position and I can get hired there. If that works out then I can leave here and still be able to pay our current mortgage. What I can't figure out is how my brother managed to swing two mortgage payments at the same time on one income.

-Chris

Another week in Huntsville

2008-06-11T19:21:00.006-05:00

Well...we had an action packed weekend. Chris came in on Friday afternoon. We grabbed a bite to eat in Madison at this old-style cafe (I even got jello salad with my meal). Then we rested a bit, documented shaving Chris' beard, before heading out for coffee and dinner. Dinner was at this place in SE Huntsville called "I Love Sushi". We figured with a name like that it ought to be good, but I don't think they really love sushi there. Then we headed to the Flying Monkey for some Bamalama Festival. It was miserably hot and not air conditioned inside. At least it cooled off some when the sun went down. We only stayed for the first couple of bands before deciding to call it a night, as the Japanese food wasn't agreeing much with either of us. At least the 2 bands we did see were good, especially the Carrots!

Saturday we slept in and then drove around, so Chris could get a feel for the different areas. We ate lunch at home and went to some of the afternoon Bamalama Fest activities. The bands were playing outside under a tent. Again it was really hot, but there was a decent sized crowd. We stuck around for a couple of bands and then we went to Buffalo Wild Wings to watch the Belmont Stakes and the very disappointing finish by Big Brown (I watched, Chris played video poker). For dinner that night we went to Bandito Burrito which was kind of lo-fi Mexican food. It was good & cheap & didn't make us sick. We spent the whole evening at the Bamalama Festival checking out the bands. Lots of good punk rockage. Also another entertaining puppet show from Ms. Pussycat. Unfortunately Quintron got sick in the middle of his set and cut it short. I wonder if he had Japanese?

Sunday another sleep in...then breakfast at Atlanta Bread Co, shopping and more driving around looking at neighborhoods to possibly house hunt. We decided that we weren't up to the last day of Bamalama...so we went to eat Thai at Surin in SE Huntsville and then to see the movie Son of Rambow, which was an awesome movie! Perfect for our age range and very funny.

Monday we went house-hunting, meeting our realtor bright and early. We hit a few homes in Monrovia and then out west in Limestone County. There were plenty of possibilities, particularly with the newer homes. We decided that 2200-2400 sqft is about right for us, 4 BR, decent kitchen w/ pantry and of course lots of closets. I don't know that I want to live all the way in Limestone County and fight that traffic on University every day, but it's an option. After house hunting in the morning I dropped Chris off at the airport for his early afternoon flight. Then I went to eat at this new restaurant called Ketchup, which was like being in an Andy Warhol painting. I think I'll take Amy there when she comes to visit.

So this week besides work, I've been watching Buffy since my satellite has been out since Saturday morning, and moping that Chris and the kitty-girls are still in MS. Somebody buy our house already!!! OK...I can hang here by myself for a little while longer, I suppose. If I have to.

-Kelly

Bummed

2008-06-04T22:07:00.002-05:00

Well, the NHL season is over for another year. After the snafu of driving around to 4 different places with some friends to find game 4 on Saturday night, we ended up at Beau Rivage where it was playing on the whole wall of Coast Brewing. Unfortunately, the Penguins lost to take it back to Detroit on Monday night with a 3-1 Detroit series lead. Then the most amazing game was played where the Penguins blew a 2-0 lead, tied it up at 3-3 with 35 secs. in regulation, then scored in the third overtime period to force a game 6 tonight back in Pittsburgh. Unfortunately, the Pens still looked tanked from the long game two nights ago and couldn't match the skill of Detroit. If only another second and another couple of inches at the very end of regulation and there may have been another overtime, but it wasn't to be. The Detroit Red (chicken) Wings are this year's Stanley Cup winners. Despite the Avs getting swept again in round 2, it was overall a great playoff year. We're looking forward to living closer to two cities with NHL teams (Nashville and Atlanta)and are already planning to see the Avs the two times they roll into Nashville.

The beard will come off this weekend when I'm up in Huntsville. Kelly has the digital camera and we want to take a few last photos during the stages of removal, but I'm ready to be beardless again.

Not much other news to report. I'm anxious to get the house sold and get the hell out of here. Job or no job when I get to AL, I'm ready to go. After I get back home after a weekend visiting Kelly the only thing that I'm really looking forward to is going to see the first Bleach movie with Gary and Jason on Wednesday night. Other than that, not much. It's time for a change.

-Chris

Long week

2008-05-31T00:31:00.003-05:00

I am so glad it's Friday, even though it was only a four-day work week, it seemed to drag on forever. On the plus side, the Pittsburgh Penguins were fired up on Wednesday night for game 3 and beat Detroit 3-2 to stay unbeaten at home since February. It was a great energetic game with lots of hits from Pittsburgh. Brooks Orpik was a total monster during one shift. Go Pens! Our friend Carrie-Ann came over to watch the game which was nice to have someone to root for the Pens with. Pete and Randy were supposed to come over as well and cheer on the Chicken Wings, but unexpected events came up and they weren't able to show up. Oh well, their team lost anyway, but what they really missed out on was in the photo above. Yeah, it's a shitty frosting job I did at the last minute when I was running out of frosting, but it was a tasty chocolate cake. And the Pens did indeed ROCK that night. Tomorrow night I'm going to watch the game at Marig's in Biloxi because the coon-asses at New Orleans NBC affiliate are screwing hockey fans again with their Children's Miracle Network Telethon. Fuck them. Don't they know that kids would rather watch the Stanley Cup Finals than that other bullshit? I'm not that surprised though since they did the same thing last year during the Cup Finals. Maybe I'll get to take out my frustrations and smack talk with some Chicken Wings fans who are bound to show up. We'll have leftover cake though and they won't.

We had a first offer on our home Wednesday, but after our counter offer we haven't heard anything and it's past the deadline, so either they didn't like our counter or I'm optimistically hoping that maybe they're in talks with their financing to see if they can pull it off. Wishful thinking maybe? I did do a small bit of cleaning tonight though in the house in case it's shown to others this weekend. Haven't heard of anything yet, but maybe later in the weekend.

Not much else going on. I was talking with Gary and Jennifer today before we left work and Gary was discussing how he might just not show up to work one day, and be at home with the U-Haul backed up to his garage as he loaded his things up to move away. Jennifer didn't believe him. Then I told her how I had been packing things up to get the clutter out of the way. I still haven't told anyone else that I'm leaving soon (mainly because I don't know an exact date yet), so she didn't really think anything of it. It's going to be a real shock when I give my two weeks notice in the near future, then Gary turns his in a week later so he can move up to Tennessee where some of his family lives. The funniest thing is that Gary was looking at a possible job in Chattanooga, which is only a little bit more than an hour from Huntsville. I joked with Gary that Kelly would be cursing at me (or happy to kick my ass out the door) when I tell her that I'm going to pick up Gary to go to the anime convention in Atlanta in September. She still says he's a bad influence on me. Nah...

-Chris

One gone, one to go...

2008-05-26T21:51:00.003-05:00

I just finished watching the Pittsburgh Penguins lose game 2 of the Stanley Cup Finals in Detroit by myself. It just wasn't the same without Kelly here, but at least she made it up to Huntsville safely yesterday. While she was driving I went to our friend Paul's house with Jason and we joined other friends for a crawfish boil. It was quite hot outside, so I'm glad that they had a canopy with chairs to sit under out of the blazing sun. It was nice to see some people I hadn't seen in quite awhile, plus I was actually semi-social. Later, in the early evening, Jason and I went to see the new Indiana Jones movie. Like Kelly said in her previous post, it wasn't great, but wasn't horrible. It was entertaining, which is about to be expected. It was kind of 'Indiana Jones meets the X-Files'. Go watch and you'll see what I mean. After the movie I came home and watched 'Bleach' and 'Death Note' from Saturday night as well as 'Witchblade' from Friday, then I went to bed.

Today I woke up around 8.30am and was going to go biking, but it was really humid outside. I ate breakfast and watched 'Code Geass' and 'Speed Grapher' then went biking around 11.30am. It was hotter, but less humid. Rode down to the Mockingbird which was packed, then rode back home. A nice light breeze at my back cooled things off ever so slightly. When I got home I watched the Memorial Cup Championship I recorded yesterday and was pleased that Spokane defeated Kitchener 4-1, but this was the strangest thing to happen following the win. Funny, but fucked up. I also made a large pot of a spicy risotto. I included two peppers (one jalapeno and one cayenne) from our herb garden, as well as a chipotle pepper in the fridge when I pureed all of them together with an onion. That gave it a good kick, along with some red and black pepper and hot chili powder to go with the shrimp, corn, and peas. Yum. When I finished cooking it was time for the game.

Now the game's over and it's about time to head for bed. I talked with my dad briefly, but they had lightning outside, so I'll talk with them later in the week. They did say that my brother had someone make an offer on the home he's been trying to sell for quite a few months, so hopefully they'll have some encouraging news later in the week.

-chris

Sweet Home Alabama

2008-05-26T14:00:00.006-05:00

I made it to Alabama around 3:30pm yesterday. That's after leaving Diamondhead a bit before 9:00am. Not too bad a drive...pretty uneventful. I just kept myself entertained with podcasts, satellite radio and new music by Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds.

After unloading the car and putting things away, I headed out for barbecue at Dreamland. I had a half rack of ribs which were good, but messy. Then I finally found the cinema after almost giving up, and went to see the new Indiana Jones movie. It was pretty decent, not great but not horrible.

Today I woke up after a restless night's sleep (nerves and new place) and went shopping. I got some odds and ends at Bed, Bath & Beyond and then the Super Target. Then I headed out for a drive around to get a feel for the area. I still have lots more areas to cover, but it was a start. Tonight is game 2 of the Stanley Cup Finals. I doubt I'll stay awake for all of it, but hopefully at least the 1st period. Then tomorrow I report to the new job. Stay tuned for details....

-Kelly

Not going to Iowa...

2008-05-23T20:33:00.002-05:00

Kelly and I slept in until 8.30am this morning, got dressed, and headed to New Orleans at 10.30am. We ran a couple of errands for her on the way, had lunch at Whole Foods, stopped by Barnes and Noble so I could get something to read at the airport, then she dropped me off a little before 2pm.

My flight was scheduled to leave New Orleans at 4pm, I'd arrive in Memphis with about an hour layover, then fly to Kansas City and rent a car to drive up to Des Moines. Well, around 3pm the gate agent announced that our plane was having some mechanical problems and would be delayed. A bit later she said that there was some kind of leak and there was water on the floor in the last three or four rows and that if passengers wanted to try to change their reservations and get on another flight they could go to the front counter. I didn't go then because it was still a little before 4pm and I figured that if the plane left by 5pm I would still make it in time to Memphis and my connecting flight. Well, as 5pm got nearer it seemed as if we weren't going to leave in time for me to make the flight, so even though they appeared to start letting passengers board the plane at 4.50pm (although still not definite), I decided to cancel my flight completely.

Some others in line were discussing how the gate agent had given incorrect information and that she wasn't very helpful, so I just went to the front counter and explained to the agent that I wanted to cancel my ticket since I wasn't going to arrive at my destination on time. He first looked for another flight to put me on and did find one that went to Houston and had a connection to Kansas City that arrived at 11.21pm, but I declined since I didn't want to drive 3 hours to Des Moines at that time of night, then have to get up not too many hours later for the graduation ceremony. He was very helpful and had my bag pulled from the plane and sent to the baggage claim downstairs, then told me to call the Northwest Airlines reservation center and give them my confirmation number and that he would put a note in the computer so I would get a full refund due to 'involuntary cancellation due to mechanical problems'.

I went downstairs to wait for my bag to come out from the tarmac, and as I was waiting I saw our friend Bobbie in the baggage claim area, having just gotten in from being TDY. I asked how she was getting home and one of her other co-workers (who used to work with Kelly) had driven over and was taking them home. I asked if they wouldn't mind giving me a ride and they were gracious enough to let me ride home with them. What a great stroke of luck (or something).

On the way home I canceled my auto rental and was able to get ahold of Northwest who said that I would get a full refund credited back to my credit card. That really surprised me, but I am quite happy.

I arrived home and unpacked and watched the Kitchener Rangers(OHL) totally dismantle the Belleville Bulls (OHL) 9-0 in a qualifier for the Memorial Cup on Sunday against the Spokane Chiefs (WHL). Now Kelly just arrived home from her going away dinner with girlfriends so we're going to watch last week's episode of Battlestar Galactica to catch us up with the series.

That's one good thing about today's travel events. I get to spend the day with Kelly tomorrow and watch game 1 of the Stanley Cup Finals tomorrow night at home. She also said that I get to help her load up the Element on Sunday when she's getting ready to leave.

Stanley Cup Finals Beard

2008-05-22T23:01:00.006-05:00

Here is a photo of my gnarly, scraggly beard. I've been growing it out for almost two months now. I have to say with the temperatures of summer going up and the humidity levels rising, I'll be ready to shave it off when the Cup finals end in about two weeks. I'll have some fun with it though, shaving off sections at a time and keeping a fu-manchu mustache for awhile, but it's too damn uncomfortable to keep a beard in the Southern summer. It also really itches when I'm biking and have the helmet strap clamped against it.

Anyway, I'll be watching game 1 of the Stanley Cup finals with Pittsburgh and Detroit (chicken wings)at a sports bar in Des Moines, hopefully being able to coax some of my family members to join me for part of it. Go Pens!! I'm leaving tomorrow afternoon from New Orleans flying to Kansas City, then driving from Kansas City to Des Moines tomorrow night. My sister is graduating from medical school on Saturday morning and the family is meeting for her ceremony this weekend. It'll be nice to see my parents, brother, sister, and grandmother again. Unfortunately, Kelly had to cancel her ticket with her new job and moving up to Huntsville on Sunday. At least I'll get to visit her in a couple weeks up in Huntsville to look at houses, etc.

Not too much else to report. A few days break from hockey since both the Conference finals ended earlier in the week. Last night Gary, Jason, and I went to see the live-action 'Death Note' movie at the theater in Gulfport. It was really good. Better than I had expected. Based on the anime and manga, the live-action movie was done really well, with a decent dub job using the voice-actors from the anime (currently airing Saturday nights on Cartoon Network's adultswim). Of course, it ended with the two main characters/protagonists (L and Light) meeting for the first time, then they had a special 'behind the scenes' of filming and a preview of part 2(which has already shown in Japanese theaters and will hopefully be shown domestically later in the year). The theater was surprisingly crowded, although a large portion of the crowd were high school (or younger) teens and pre-teens. They were a bit obnoxious at times, but probably could have been a lot worse. Thanks to the Cinemark in Gulfport for bringing this limited showing to the coast so we don't have to drive to New Orleans (or further) to see it. Next up is the special showings of the first Bleach movie in a few weeks, which we'll again be in the front row for.

That's all from me for now. I'll have more early next week with game 1 and 2 thoughts as well as tales from the trip to the Midwest.

-chris

Kitty interrupted...

2008-05-21T20:46:00.005-05:00

Hard to believe that I only have one more day left at the old job. I spent most of today shredding floppy disks and wandering around the office getting people to sign my checkout sheet. Tomorrow I have to finish packing up all my crud and then hopefully get out of there early. My Dept had a going away luncheon for me at Los Tres Amigos in Bay St Louis. It was a pretty good turn out and fairly mellow. I didn't have to make any farewell speeches or anything like that, which was nice.

So I've been at that office for 12+ years now. It's been fun at times, I've met some great people along the way, but it is time to go. It's kind of bittersweet, because I need the change but it's always difficult to leave behind people that you really like and are going to miss. I've talked with my new boss a couple of times and she seems really nice. Plus it sounds like that group of geophysicists are excited about having me come on board. So that's a good sign.

Anyway...before I start boo-hooing. We had a nice beer tasting get-together at Jason & Ellen's last night. As usual, I tend to favor the pale ales and IPAs. It was a good time!

Well, I have a kitty on my lap now. So enough of the typing, she is demanding my attention.

-Kelly

Happy Birthday to Me!

2008-05-16T08:46:00.003-05:00

OK...40 came and went and it was a lot less traumatic than I thought it would be. In fact, I think I freaked out more over my 30th. I guess I'm resigned at this point to getting older. At least people usually say "You don't look it", which makes me think that all these years of moisturizing aren't for nothing. Some of the things that helped my b-day: Chris made me my traditional German chocolate cake - yum!, I took 3 days off of work to recuperate, I lounged by the club-house pool for 2 hours, I came home to find a lovely bouquet of flowers from my friend Amy and a bottle of champagne from Deb, I got lots of phone calls and e-mails, and to cap it off I had a delicious dinner with Chris, Jason and Ellen at BR Prime. Speaking of our great dinner (I had steak for entree and lobster for appetizer - how decadent is that?), I had a great glass of red wine. If you're into red wines, check out the 2006 Tikal Malbec from Argentina. Very smooth and drinkable.

Anyway...today my b-day / upcoming move celebration continues. I'm meeting friends for lunch at Emeril's Gulf Coast Fish House and then Bobbie and I are going to the Hard Rock Casino for massages and pedicures. Should be lots of fun! Not sure what else we have planned this weekend. Bay St. Louis is having BridgeFest tomorrow. Chris mentioned biking down there and checking it out. I probably ought to start packing some boxes of clothes and shoes...since I leave it about a week. Hard to believe!

You may have noticed that we added a playlist to our blog. Hope you like the music...it's pretty eclectic since it has things that both Chris and I have added, and sometimes are tastes do vary quite a bit. If you hear something you like, drop us a note. We always love to talk about music!

Biking

2008-05-10T22:42:00.003-05:00

Today was a good day. The Gulf Coast Bicycle Club was sponsoring a 'Bike the Bridge' event, an inaugural group ride across the Biloxi-Ocean Springs bridge. I went to bed a bit earlier than usual for a weekend night so I could get up early this morning and bike down to the starting point in Biloxi. I left the house at 6am, just as the sun was starting to rise on the horizon, and rode on the fairly quiet streets of the coast communities. It took me two and a half hours to ride the 40 miles to the starting point at the base of the bridge on the Biloxi side. Since I was early (the ride across wasn't until 10am), I rode across and back the bridge alone. There were quite a few people out walking, jogging, and pushing strollers across the bridge in both directions. It's pretty amazing to see how well used this and the Bay St. Louis bridges are. When we first moved down to Mississippi in 1995 and lived in Waveland, Kelly and I would take walks at night and have people stop and ask if we were alright or needed a ride. Of course another time I also was stopped by the police when walking alone late at night. It's so damn hot and humid here one has to walk at night when it's cooler, but I digress. As I was saying, it's really impressive to see how much the coast has changed it's attitude towards exercise and outdoor activity in the 13 years that we've lived down here.

I rode over to the Ocean Springs side then back to Biloxi where the GCBC had started to show up around 9am. It was an impressive group of riders. In total we had about 25-30 riders. I ended up being a lead rider across since I was going to lead the group in the 'long ride' through Ocean Springs on the semi-regular Tato Nut route. After a slower pace across the bridge for safety (don't want to run down the pedestrians), the lead group kept a steady pace of 15mph. The second group wasn't too far behind, however I did lose the second group at one turn in the Gulf Islands National Seashore Park. Our lead group went the usual route to the visitor's center, but the other group went the other direction which looped down to highway 90 and back, which we were going to ride anyway. We caught up with them though and everyone made it back safely, but my leadership skills are obviously lacking. It was 11am by the time I was heading back to the start point, now sweeping at the rear of the group to make sure no riders were left behind. It had warmed up considerably and was miserably humid now (the norms of summertime in the south). When I started at 6am it was actually somewhat pleasant and cooler with lower humidity, but now I was dripping sweat and sunscreen which stung my eyes. Fortunately, when I got back and called Kelly, who had gone to the Mayfest in Ocean Springs, she came over to pick me up and we headed home.

On the way home I got coffee at Starschmucks, we picked up sandwiches for lunch at Grate Grills Deli, and Kelly upgraded her phone at the Alltel store. She had been wanting a new phone for awhile since hers is older and isn't keeping it's charge anymore. She found a nice orange phone with a keypad for texting. A nice feature since that's how we'll be communicating for a couple of months when she heads up to Huntsville in a couple of weeks and I'm stuck down here. We got home and I ate my potato salad and baked beans sides, then took a nap for a couple of hours because I was exhausted. I woke up in time to watch Dallas lose game 2 to Detroit in the Western Conference Finals. I picked Dallas, who played much better tonight but still lost the game. I'll be damned if I'm going to pick the Chicken Wings. We then watched a couple of episodes of Battlestar Galactica we had recorded in the past few weeks while we had been watching hockey instead.

That's all for today. Tomorrow we're going to have lunch at the Mockingbird Cafe, although I'm not biking down this time since I doubled my mileage today. We'll then go grocery shopping and I'll come home and bake a German Chocolate Cake for Kelly's birthday which is on Wednesday, but she can take cake into work on Tuesday. And of course we'll be watching game 2 of Pittsburgh and Philadelphia again tomorrow night and probably some of the Hornets/Spurs NBA playoff game. It'll be too hot to do anything else with temps in the mid 80's and high humidity. Maybe when we move to Huntsville and away from the water there will be less humidity, although I know it will still be hot. Guess we'll find out soon enough.

-Chris

Baby Baby Baby

2008-05-08T06:28:00.002-05:00

Yesterday I was out shopping and heading over to get Thai take out for dinner when I got a call from Carson, Lauren's Mom, telling me that they were going to have the baby. So I headed over to the hospital & got to be the camera woman for the event. Lauren ended up having a C-Section, so I didn't film the actual birthing. It took a few hours of waiting for the C-Section room to open up (it was a busy night at the hospital), but once they put the epidural in the rest of it went by quickly. Carson and I waited in the waiting room for about 15 minutes or so before Pete came in to tell us the baby had been born at 8:14pm. Lauren was only at 34 weeks, so Kincade was only 4lbs 4oz...but he was perfect & healthy, breathing & eating on his own. I'm glad I got to experience that at least one time. Most of my other good friends either don't have kids or had them when I was away at college. So thanks to Lauren, Pete, Carson & Kincade for letting me be around for the big event!

More than hockey

2008-05-04T00:47:00.002-05:00

Kelly and I went over to New Orleans today so we could drop off her old bicycle and some other random bike parts (tires, rims, pedals) at Plan B, the New Orleans Community Bike Collective. They have limited hours, but are open from 2-6pm on Saturdays. We arrived at their warehouse location (also home to Iron Rail Book Collective) which used to be The Ark, where they had punk shows years ago, in the Marigny district just as their volunteer, Zach, wheeled up. He seemed pretty happy to take a complete bicycle in relatively good condition (needed a tune-up and air in the tires) and our other donations. We both felt really good that they were able to find a good home, or will find a new owner soon. Many other things we've decided to get rid of was either thrown away or is going to the garage sale that Lauren and Pete are having next weekend. It really does feel good to be getting rid of some of our excess junk.

After going to Plan B, we went to Canal Place to see the movie 'Young at Heart', a documentary about a group of seniors that sing songs by The Clash, James Brown, Talking Heads, David Bowie, The Ramones, and more. A brilliant film. Funny, sweet, and sad all at the same time. A definite must see for a good laugh and great songs. When the movie got out we walked up to say hi to our friend Alex at the Cigar Factory and chatted with him for a bit, then we walked up to The Preservation Hall because we had found out in one of the local music papers that Kid Koala was going to be performing there that night. Well, when we arrived we found out that his set wasn't starting until midnight. That would have been fine with me, although we had quite a bit of time to kill if we had stayed, plus Kelly has a nasty cough (walking pneumonia?) and goes to bed much earlier than the show would have finished by, so we decided to fore-go the event. We drove down Magazine Street to Whole Foods where we picked up some groceries and coffee, then we drove to have dinner at Crepe Nanou. There was a bit of a wait, but fortunately I had brought along our deck of cards and notebook for keeping score at Gin Rummy (this is the on-going game that we'll be playing and keeping score at into our senior years when we're sitting on the porch in rocking chairs with our many cats). Kelly was WAY ahead of me, but I gained some decent ground tonight, which she wasn't too pleased with. She still is 74 points ahead, so I have quite a bit before I catch up.

Dinner was pretty good. We started with a sampler plate of French cheeses. There was an awesome blue cheese, a Gouda, a sheeps milk, and a goats milk. All were pretty good, especially with the bread. Kelly had a creamed spinach and jumbo lump crab meat crepe for her entree and I had the bouillabaisse. Both could have used a bit more spice, but were overall pretty good. For dessert we shared a crepe with chocolate and vanilla ice cream and chocolate sauce. A filling, but not overly stuffed feeling. After dinner we went out to the Barnes and Noble in Metairie to get some greeting cards and book gifts.

On the drive home we listened to some of the New Orleans Hornets game. It was game 1 in New Orleans of round two against the San Antonio Spurs (last year's defending champions). We had considered going to the game, but weren't able to get tickets. The Hornets were down by 4 points at the half, but then rallied witha 13-0 run in the third quarter before the David West and Chris Paul show took over completely in the 4th quarter (which Kelly watched when on tv when we got home) and the Hornets pulled off an impressive 101-82 win in front of the home crowd. Nice way to start round 2.

Of course Kelly mentioned how the Avs were unceremoniously dumped out of the playoffs by Detroit this past Thursday night in the worst game I've ever seen, losing 8-2. I do have to say though, despite getting swept, this team was not one to go down without a fight. Prior to the playoffs they had lost their top scorer, Marek Svatos, and Brett Clark, the defense man who logged the most minutes per game on the team. After defeating the Minnesota Wild in round one, it was one injury after another. As a result most of their top players were out of the line-up. A story in the Denver Post on Friday showed how serious some of those previously undisclosed injuries were. Detroit may have been the better team, but had they faced a fully healthy Avs team, the results may have been different. There are many years of this rivalry to continue in the future. Another small item I noticed is that the story didn't mention the reason why Ryan Smyth, probably their best player during the playoffs, was out during game 4. Maybe he had a worse injury. I'm still keeping my 'hockey playoff beard' until the Stanley Cup is hoisted in June. I don't want it to be Detroit and hope that Dallas (or San Jose if they complete their comeback from being down 3-0 against the Stars) can knock out the chicken wings in the Western Conference finals. Montreal, the top seed in the east, finished their meltdown and lost game five to the #6 seeded Philadelphia Flyers Saturday night on their home ice to set up their tee times on the golf course, losing the series 4-1. Sunday afternoon Pittsburgh could finish off the Rangers and make the in-state rivalry against Philly a nasty match-up in the Eastern Conference finals. I'm pulling for the Penguins. I'm hoping for a Penguins-Stars match in the Stanley Cup Finals, but we'll just have to wait a few more weeks to see who moves on.

Oh, on Friday night I went on a Night Ride with Rod. No-one else that said they were riding showed up. It was cloudy and a threat of rain hung overhead, but it ended up being a pretty good ride. The rain held off and the only inclement was the strong wind blowing into our face as we rode east. Coming back from Hiller Park and especially on the access road that parallels Highway 90 we cruised along with the wind at our backs. A short 16 mile ride, but a fun one. Tomorrow I'm planning the usual ride down to the Mockingbird in Bay St. Louis to meet Kelly for lunch then back home. Of course this will fall between watching two hockey games and doing some cleaning around the house.

It sure is a chore getting ready to move, but I am excited. I look forward to a new town to explore and hopefully being able to do much more biking and commuting. We're going to have plenty of stories to tell of our new adventures in Huntsville.

-Chris

It's raining babies...

2008-05-02T13:36:00.003-05:00

Seems like a lot of people that we know are having babies this year. One of which is my friend Lauren. Me & some other friends from work are throwing a baby shower for her today. I've done all my prep work food-wise and am going to head over there shortly. We're playing shower games at the request of Lauren. One of which is match the baby picture to the person game. So I was going through old photo albums to find a good one of me as a baby. The one above is me in our backyard in Scottsdale, before all the construction behind our house. You can see that even back then I loved grapefruit. Anyway...another game is the melted candy bar in the diaper, guess what kind of candy bar. I know - pretty gross. Should be fun and lots of oohs and aahs at all the cute baby clothes.

In other news...the Avs lost in a big way to Detroit last night. It was really sad to see the big meltdown. Chris is still growing his playoff beard. Maybe he'll grow it out until the Stanley Cup is hoisted by one lucky team?

We listed our house today. Know anyone looking for a starter home in Diamondhead? Only $135K. Hopefully it will sell fast, since I'm moving imminently.

Separated at birth?

2008-04-26T22:31:00.008-05:00

The other day we were watching hockey (I know, big surprise there) and Versus had an intermission report about the top graybeards of the game. Owen Nolan (Calgary) was it on that particular day. They had a picture of him & with his playoff beard, he looked a bit like Chris. Plus they're both the same age. You can't tell so much from the pics above/below, but perhaps you get the idea.

So the big news that I announced at work last week...we're moving. Well, actually...I'm the only one moving at first. At least while we try to sell the house. Hopefully it won't take too long. I got a job in Huntsville. It actually seems like a pretty cool town & I think we'll be happy there. Except for having to make a whole new set of friends. At least it's only 6 & 1/2 hours from this area.

So aside from watching lots of hockey, I've been stressing over the upcoming move and new job and having lots of weird dreams. We have plenty of things to do around the house still, but are charging forth and listing it this week. So if you know anyone looking for a house in Diamondhead (among the 200+ that are already for sale), let us know. At least our's will be listed for a much lower price that the vast majority. Hopefully that will give us an edge.

Oh yes...he's back, baby!

2008-04-20T00:02:00.003-05:00

And oh by the way, Peter was awesome tonight. Definitely showed signs up his old hockey skating supremacy! I think the Avs are looking good for round 2, whoever their opponents may be.

Playoff Beard 2008

2008-04-19T23:44:00.008-05:00

Yep...with the Avs in the playoffs this year, it was once again time for Playoff Beard 2008! And now that the Avs have gotten into round 2 after defeating the Wild in 6 games tonight, expect the beard to get a little thicker. More pictures to come.

So we just finished watching the Avs beat the Wild & were doing happy dances in the living room and lots of "yee-haws" too. If only we could've been there in Denver tonight to cheer them on.

In other news today, I went to New Orleans with a couple of friends. We shopped along Magazine Street for baby clothing & what not. Not only for Lauren who is due in a couple of months, but for other friends who are having kids. I always love shopping for baby things, and there were several cute shops to choose from. After shopping we went to eat at Cochon Restaurant. The food there was excellent! I had pretty much skipped lunch, so I was pretty hungry. I had the grilled shrimp with chow chow (pickled veggies that were really good) appetizer and the cochon with turnips and cabbage for my main course. It was awesome! Some of the best pig I've had. I also had a Louisiana mojito cocktail that was really good & refreshing. And for dessert strawberry cobbler with ginger biscuits. I know that sounds like a lot (and it was), but I was surprisingly not overly-stuffed afterwards. Anyway, it's definitely a great new restaurant in New Orleans & one that I'd love to go back to. If only Chris would believe me that there wasn't just pork on the menu.

Hockey all the time...

2008-04-16T22:49:00.002-05:00

That's about all we've been doing in the evening. Watching playoff hockey. Last night the Avs came out flying against the Wild and scored 3 unanswered goals in the first period, then 2 more in the second period, and that's when things got really chippy. The Wild were taking all sorts of stupid penalties leading to a total meltdown. Unfortunately, the Avs power play is still lacking, and despite scoring 2 power play goals in the second, they didn't capitalize on a one or two man advantage 11 other times. In the third period the one goal the Wild did score was on a penalty kill, which is two short-handed goals in two games, although this should have been called offsides. Tough guy Derek Boogaard ('Boogey Man' or Boogerman as I'd rather call him now) really gooned it up and got thrown out, but so did Cody McCleod and Ian Laperriere of the Avs and Stephane Veilleux of the Wild. The final score was a 5-1 Avs win, but the penalty minutes were 89 for Minnesota and 53 for Colorado.

With the win, the Avs tied it up making it a best of 3 series now that goes back to Minnesota tomorrow night. At least it's earlier in the evening so I won't have to stay up until midnight unless it goes into overtime again.

Our Hockey Playoff Picks League is in full effect again this year and we even have a website. The Pittsburgh Penguins were the first team to move on to the next round tonight by sweeping the Ottawa Senators in four games. Some of the other series I'm doing pretty well in, but quite a few are now tied up at 2 games each, so it could go either way. I've got the beard growing in full effect now, but I'll add a photo later this weekend. I have quite a bit of 'salt' around my chin area.

Here are a few hockey links, mainly Avalanche related:

http://www.hockeyfights.com/

http://www.milehighhockey.com/

http://coloradoavalancheblog.com/

http://inthecheapseats.com/

http://www.denverpost.com/avalanche

http://jibblescribbits.blogspot.com/

http://tsn.ca/nhl/

-chris

More hockey news...

2008-04-15T21:06:00.002-05:00

Well, the SeaWolves lost on Sunday, ending a great comeback season. They really were a different team from the one that had the prolonged losing streak at the start. Hopefully at least a good chunk of the team will remain for next season.

In other hockey news...the Avs are down 2-1 in the series against Minnesota. All games have gone into overtime so far. Game 4 is about to start...in fact I hear the National Anthem. So I'm going to cut this blog short for now. Hopefully the guys can even it up.

Check out my first 3 attempts at making videos on You Tube (links on lower left). I've got a long way to go before I turn pro, but it's fun playing with the software on my MacBook!

Go AVS!!!!!

-Kelly

Victory in OT

2008-04-13T00:34:00.000-05:00

SeaWolves won in OT tonight, thanks to Mike Hartwick's awesome slapshot from the point, keeping the Wolves in the hunt. Game 4 tomorrow night!!!

Let's Go SeaWolves!

On the edge...

2008-04-12T10:03:00.000-05:00

Tonight is game 3 of the Seawolves best of 5 series against the Texas Wildcatters in the ECHL playoffs at the MS Coast Coliseum. Texas won games 1 and 2 at home this past Wed. and Thur. by scores of 4-1 and 5-2. Ouch! I've said it before, it's been a building year for the Seawolves, but it's been exciting to see the team even get into the playoffs after two years of not playing due to the hurricane, and recruiting a whole new team of young players. Hopefully they can build on this year with a core of returning players and improve next year.

Last night was a good Urban Night Ride. Only 3 of us, but Lawrence, Rod, and myself had a good ride from the Mockingbird Cafe across the bridge into Pass Christian down 2nd Ave then back to the Mockingbird. A total of 20 miles on the route(in addition to my 16 riding from the house down there). Kelly and I took a pizza to go, which was pretty good, although the crust at Mellow Mushroom in Ocean Springs is a bit better. The Avs presented another fast-paced, exciting game against the Wild, that again went into overtime as did game 1 on Wednesday. Unfortunately though, this time the Avs ended up the losers quickly into the overtime period, 3-2. The ironic thing is that the winning goal bounced off Avalanche defenseman, Ruslan Salei, so the Wild won the game, but via an Avs player. Go figure.

Today we're going to get groceries and Powerball tickets soon in Slidell, then a bit of clean up at the house before the game tonight. We'll probably watch some other playoff game on tv this afternoon as well.

Go Seawolves!!!

-chris

In the Beginning...

2008-04-11T17:45:00.001-05:00

Chris is working on his playoff beard too. Stay tuned for pictures!

I don't have too much to say right now. Chris is off biking down to Bay St. Louis while I fiddle around with this here page. I'm meeting him there later for take-out pizza from the Mockingbird Cafe (http://www.mockingbirdcafe.com/bakery.php). Then it's back home to watch the Avs take on the Wild in game 2 of their series.

I guess I could mention that we went to a super-spiffy concert in New Orleans on Wednesday. Iron & Wine played at the House of Blues. Califone opened for them, but we got there late & only caught their last couple of songs. We'd seen both bands last summer at the Pitchfork Music Festival in Chicago. Iron & Wine was great...but the HOB was packed and hot & there were a lot of irritating people who wouldn't shut the hell up, even though there were signs posted around saying "Due to the nature of this show, please keep your conversations to a minimum..." I'm getting too old for this crap!

Anyhoo...this will be the new blog site. For our music posts, you'll probably have to go to our Facebook or Myspace pages instead.

Ciao for now...Kelly