No Kidding

Thought I'd throw my ahead above water long enough to say hi, and yes, still alive over here. My brother-in-law had to undergo some surgery that would keep him off his feet for 2-3 weeks, and thus the only one in the family who can cook has been tasked with running his restaurant. And when I'm not there I still have work to be done for my Swedish friends, so recreational hours have been quite limited.

I'll leave everyone with some homework. 2005 shall be the year I discovered the 70s and classic rock, and I'm better for it. Hands down the best decade for music I'm just beginning to really get into the stuff I should have been into long ago. Q107 is now the first stop on my radio (no, not Y108, too much Nickelback) and I'm slowly compiling albums. I was on the Q website today and found this little quiz so I thought I'd throw it up (not literally) with my answers, and encourage everyone to post theirs in comments:

Top 3 Concerts

1. Extreme at Massey Hall
2. Jayhawks/Josh Rouse at the Phoenix
3. Son Volt at the Opera House

Top 3 Songs

1. Everything Under the Sun (Extreme)
2. These Eyes (The Guess Who)
3. Back Into Your World (Son Volt)

Top 3 Defining Moments in Rock

1. Woodstock
2. Clear Channel takes over (not GOOD defining)
3. Napster

Top 3 Bands (I know, I know..)

1. Extreme
2. Son Volt
3. Wilco

Top 3 Guitarists

1. Nuno Bettencourt
2. Jimi Hendrix
3. Gary Louris

Top 3 Lead Singers

1. Gary Cherone
2. Brian Johnson
3. Rod Stewart (no kidding)

Spank It

Mark, just to prove I'm both faster than you and more aware than you, here's me spanking the monkey at over 1,000mph over two years ago:

Click the image for the original post - 04 wasn't posted, for some reason, but it was there. Fear me.

Back Into Your World

A little excerpt from a song I wrote ~1996 called 'Touch'. Tonight I made a venture somewhere I don't go so often - a concert. The new Son Volt rode into the Opera House for a show and it was LEGENDARY (props to NPH). Paul joined me, and we met Krystle, Andrew, and four of their friends. When you find other Son Volt fans you tend to stay in groups, it's a rare sighting. Dinner was terrific - The Real Jerk - for curried goat and Red Stripe. Paul almost got the chicken until I filled him in that curried goat gives you a story to tell, whereas nobody cares about chicken. So now we have a story - the night we had perfectly cooked curried goat.

So we're sitting there finishing dinner when JAY F'N FARRAR himself walks in, orders something at the bar, then makes his escape. We followed him out shortly afterwards to a less-than-full Opera House where I should note I also ran into local concertgoer extraordinaire Frank of www.chromewaves.net. Propped myself against the amp stack in the corner against the stage and head-banged my way to nirvana. Good times. Oh, and after the show, I leapt on stage, rolled to the keyboards, stole the setlist, and rolled back off. It now rests beside me.

So now I'm all pumped and won't be able to sleep, so it's to work I go. Might be the first time I beat the Swedish office into work.

Cheers!

Good To See You

An unexpected long break again - seems to be par for the course nowadays. I have no explanation, but I should note I don't imagine it'll get any better, I've got a busy few weeks ahead of me. Today I'm actually getting some office work done, then heading downtown for a Son Volt concert at the Opera House. It's kind of funny because this is only my third concert since 1998. I saw the Jayhawks and Josh Rouse a couple years ago, and prior to that, Son Volt in 1998. Since then they've broken up, the lead singer has released four solo albums, they've gotten back together, released an album and a DVD, and obviously started another tour.

I'll try to sneak a few posts in here from time-to-time.

Cheers!

Hockey Pools

I really should have done this earlier - hopefully some of you can get in today. The Sportsnet one is the "official" one:

Sportsnet.ca Fantasy Hockey
Group: overanything
Password: moocow

SLAM! Hockey Pool
Group: overanything
Password: moocow

Get Lost

I shall make this a quick entry meant for 'Lost' fans only.

If you punch the numbers into Google Maps as a latitude/longitude loction, you find a section of ocean between Los Angeles and Hawaii:

Hmmmmm....

Ambulance Blues

Today apparently marks the 14th anniversary of the day I broke my cousin Paul's arm. He's reminded me of this repeatedly today. I like to think I helped turn him into a man by roughing him up as a young boy. I'd also like to think I had done it by some form of honest accident, but apparently I simply held him upside down and dropped him. I've blocked out all recollection of the event, for obvious reasons.

Network Wars X is happening this weekend - a house full of geeks playing video games and drinking beer. I know it's odd, we're really supposed to be drinking either Red Bull or Diet Coke. Oddly enough beer is usually our beverage of choice - I suppose we're getting older. In honour of my newly Beligish friends I've decided to partake in Hoegaarden, a nice white beer from Belgium that appears cloudy. I'm *very* impressed.

Enjoy your night, folks.