Category: blahblah

Scott, Sarah, Michelle and I hit up the Mike Watt / Flaming Lips / Red Hot Chilli Peppers concert last night. It was great.

Mike Watt has been a favorite of mine for a while, but I’ve never seen him live. The surley bastard is amazing. Watching his hands as he plays the bass is startling. There’s violence in the strumming and slapping, but amazing deftness as he plays lead in between the thunks on his old Gibson bass. Flea joined Mike & Co. for a long jam leading into a stellar version of One Reporter’s Opinion. Mike donned his standard issue flanel shirt with rolled sleves, and was everything I had hoped for.

I didn’t know what to expect from the Flaming Lips. I’ve not heard much of them. They put on an incredible show though. Between the 30 giant balloons bouncing in the crown, movie clips, strobe lights, dancing animals, and bull horn yelling, there was a lot for the brain to process. I felt as if the artists themselves were somewhat displeased by the audience reaction, but it was all we could do to not pee our pants at the multitude of happenings during the show.

The Chilli Peppers were great as usual. I never get tired of watching Flea play, and John seemed to be enjoying himself as much as we were. How Flea and Anthony can move like that and still produce music, let alone good music is amazing. The set was predominantly stuff from the last 2 albums, though Soul to Squeeze slipped in, and Fire, Under the Bridge, and Give it away made up the encore. Interludes between songs highlighted John & Flea’s chemistry, and provided some great grooves.

Best of luck to the Cubs next year, and the Red Sox tomorrow. A Marlins-Yankees series is about as interesting as a Yankees-Diamondbacks series.

I’m not a violent person, but there was no shortage of violent things I wanted to happen to the jerkwad to prevented Moises Alou from catching a foul ball. It would have been a brilliant play that would have ultimately led to the Cubs going to the world series. I hope you’re happy jerkwad.

Just pulled in from Yakima. My parents came out of the mountains for a couple days to winterize the house and take care of some other items. My mom is now running the bookstore, driving a school bus between the boat and camp, and will soon be part of the painting crew.

My dad’s duties as the medic have nearly stopped now that the busy part of the season is over, so he’s been reassigned as a mason, carpenter, and bluegrass musician, and whatever else turns up. They’re both really enjoying themselves, and seem quite happy. Senator Paul Simon came and visited, as well as a number of traveling musicians, theologians, and lots of seemingly normal people.

Oakley is getting very old very quickly, and she’s lost weight, coordination, and her back legs have lost muscle mass. She’s still just a loving, but her days are numbered. Hopefully Hilary doesn’t have to make any difficult decisions anytime soon. She’s doing well also. And her photography looks great.

I was somewhat surprised to see the cubs make it this far, and I’m very pleased. I used to pay attention to such things, and the Cubs were my favorite team. I’d put a picture up of me wearing my cubs hat (1990-1995), or even cubs starter jacket, but I don’t have any on hand. Plus, I had these really weird side burns.

Remember the Simpson’s episode where Mr. Burns tells Don Mattingly to cut his sideburns? It was a lot like that.

I’d really like to see the Cubs and Red Sox play. The Yankees are evil, and I don’t trust these “new” teams. Besides, who could complain about going back and forth between Wrigley and Fenway? Sweet.

Michelle got a job with a local firm today. She’ll be clerking for the small general/civil firm part time, and maybe even move up once she’s graduated. Its a nice start, because anymore you’ve got to know someone to get somewhere.

I got a new hat. Yup, first new hat in 6 years. Old Red will still be making appearances, but I’ll most likely be sporting a grey cap from now on.

We inherited a number of noxious weeds with our rental house. Bindweed has been my main foe so far, but now I’ve moved on to Japanese Knot-weed, also known as Mexican Bamboo, Fleece-flower, and others. The recommended method for dealing with the pest is to cut all growth to the ground for several years and wait for the rhizomes to die. Digging it up will almost certainly spit the roots, which will start a new colony.

In an interesting twist, it appears that the knot-weed and bindweed are now competing. They both share fence space, and are becoming intertwined. Both are noxious and kill off all other plants competing for the same resources, so how will it end?

I could try and play the sides against each other like the US did with Iran and Iraq. If history is any lesson, it won’t work, and the havoc, death, poverty, and corruption that resulted won’t make much for a yard. I am afraid that using a glyphosate spray may be the only way to stop these bastards. They had free reign previously, and now we’re dealing with the consequences.

Scott & Sarah got engaged this weekend on Orcas Island. Sounds like they had a nice trip up until the 14 hour, multi-delay ferry and car ride home. Congratulations both of you, we’re very excited.

In other news, there’s a possible traffic jam in next September when Scott & Sarah, Ross & Brandy, and Meghan & Troy plan to have their weddings. Please take an alternate route.

I love burping tupperware.

Though I doubt its part of some great direct marketing scheme, I can’t help but feel that dog treats we’ve been giving Barley are trying to feed my desire for a Jetta TDI Wagon. There’s just something I can’t put my finger on…

Would it be so bizarre to think that someone is watching and pulling a lever somewhere that releases the dog treat box with something specific to each customer? Maybe those RFID tags are saying something about me that I’m not aware of. Regardless, if I even had clothes purchased recently, I’m sure my tags have given the lever puller little hope.