Predictable Thanksgiving Post

I am thankful for...

- being able to type this blog.
- knowing that a few people out there will read it.
- my AWESOME family.
- the ability to let my wife and kids safely travel 250 miles to see my parents and aunt.
- that they all love me in my absence.
- having a job that I love in a time of financial strain.
- having a mom who is so stinkin' smart that she has been asked to work in DC for 12 weeks.
- having parents that pushed me, but not over the edge (too often)
- a family who is proud of me, and I can be proud of.
- toys, technology, powered transportation, indoor plumbing, central heat and air
- the God given ability to figure these things out.
- my health.
- my friends.
- God, who gave me everything I have typed and will type on this list.
- a fantastic financial adviser.
- my education.
- DVR and DVD, without which I would never be "in the loop."
- the farmer who works so hard to help put food on my table.
- a government that has checks and balances, and cares about the wellbeing of the country and its citizens.
- my wife, for reasons too many to count.
- my kids, who bring me such joy, and make me so proud.

And thank you for reading my blog.

Honey Do.

So I'm home for a couple of days, which means it's time to "Git 'r dun!" My first project was to hang a couple of new items.

First was a mirror in Jessica's room. Job well done, I'd say.

Then on to the bathroom to hang a large artsy thing made out of metal and a little mirror. But there was a little sticky something on the wall that I wanted to remove before I hung it. That turned out to be a little more tricky than I thought. My dad used to give me a hard time for using brute force when I got lazy. Well, point taken.













This little plastic thing helped me do...





















This. Well the good news is Katie is deciding what color we are going to paint the master bath. At least I gave us a reason to finally paint it.









I also have no idea how to format these stupid things where the pictures and words are where I want them! Oh well.

A Touching Moment

Proud Results of a Slothful Parent's Actions

Well, I/we were too lazy/forgot until it was too late/didn't want to get up that early/what have you, to go to the store and get milk for the kids to have cereal for breakfast, which is the norm. So, when we got downstairs, Jessica poured a bowl of a crispy rice type of cereal, and asked, "Where's the milk." Oops. Okay. So I respond with, "Uhh, we ran out. Sorry. What kind of oatmeal would you like?" Jessica is good about eating what is available most of the time. Ellie will eat oatmeal with me sometimes. Nolan would rather take his chances punching me in the face. But, I explained the situation, and they all decided on the brown sugar kind with dinosaur eggs that hatch in the bowl. I was shocked they would choose that over my large variety pack of organic oatmeal, but a decision was made. THEY WERE EATING OATMEAL!!! I had to get proof to share with the world.

An open letter to Chuck Todd

Dear Chuck Todd,

You've been caught! Three identities. NBC political consultant, New Zealand consulate employee, and band manager? Do you think you are Batman? Well the cat is out of the bag.

Chuck Todd

Murray Hewitt

'nuff said!

Pick an identity and stick with it. You would do better for Flight of the Conchords to at least drop their name or play a track behind your reports on NBC or MSNBC. That is a very large audience. Maybe stretching yourself so thin is why you have been having marital problems. Fans of the band just want to help however we can.

Sincerely,

Mel (the fan)

First Day of K

Monday was Nolan's first day of Kindergarten. I was actually in town, and got to walk him to class.

Walking in the front door of Henry Maxwell Elementary.














Here they are walking to class.














Coloring his first picture in Kindergarten.














I'm proud of ya boy! Proud of big sis for helping him out.

Being Vegetarian

Being a vegetarian is easy at home. On the road it can be a little tougher. Our road manager takes pretty good care of us, and that is appreciated very much. Sometimes there is just nothing you can do.Some people just can't read all the directions.

The DOMINATOR!!

THIS RIDE ROCKS!
The Dominator at Kings Dominion Theme Park in Virginia. Excellent!

Ms. Pac-Man in my pancakes!

I was making regular, and blueberry pancakes this morning for the family. (side note: I am awesome, and so are my pancakes) While I was serving them I found the most amazing thing.

Ms. Pac-Man had appeared in my pancake. Notice the eye, the bow in her hair (or I guess just glued onto her head like people do to baby girls), and the give away for me...The MOUTH. Pancakes don't have mouths.

This is very inspiring to Pac-Maniacs everywhere. I will keep the pancake on display for...

Play Ball!

I got a tee ball set for the kids.

Jessica had relatively decent form. Thanks to her coach at school.


Nolan, although very enthusiastic, needs a little help. Notice the stationary ball, and the tee on its way to left field.

Dexter Part 2

Okay. I had to start the season over (which was fine because it rocks) so my wife could join in. We finished the season last Friday. Notice the time between the posts, and keep in mind my line of work, and factor in the 3 kids, who obviously are not awake when this show is on. Yeah!

The only question now is: Can we wait until August 19th for season two to come out on DVD, or do we crowd around the laptop and watch it on itunes?

Season two of Heroes comes out on DVD August 26th!! Hooray!

Dexter

So I settled on Dexter. It is awesome. What a great premise. Three episodes in, and the sub-plots, character interaction, and story line are great. I am going to guess that it won't let me down, since a network station picked it up for season two.

BTW Eugene, I am an avid Lost watcher, and never miss an episode. They are all on the DVR. But thanks, great suggestion for someone who doesn't know about it yet.

I finished season six

Now that I have no more 24 to watch, I have a TV on DVD void to fill. My first thought is to start the second season of Heroes, which I have on the DVR. But, I can only watch that at the house. Something new could be cool too. So I need help. Prison Break has been getting a lot of praise from the guys on the road. I was also thinking of trying something I know less about, like Rescue Me, Battlestar Gallactica, The Unit, Dexter, The Wire, whatever. Chime in if you have any thoughts.

Tipping your tech

Tipping the local guys is extremely rare. But, I think the guys at Live Technologies need a little help with their approach.

Moms

While driving home from Atlanta, I found out that the mother of a good friend of mine passed away yesterday. Being in the car I had a lot of time to think. Although I never met her, I know she was a great woman because of her son. How she lived her life can be seen by how he lives his. I hope I can honor my parents the same way he has.

I love you Mom and Dad.

My prayers are with you and your family brother.

Zoo Atlanta

Just a relaxing time at the Zoo Atlanta. My mom and Katie took the younger two to the zoo while I worked. They had a great time, but I feel like they don't recognize me anymore.

Who wants pickle on their burger?

I like pickles. Love 'em on my burgers. I think my tastes have been passed on to my son.



Mmmm...burger...(drool)

New Camera!

Happy Birthday to me. I finally purchased my new camera. I got a Nikon D60 and so far I think it is awesome. Here are a couple of samples from my first day with it.



It helped having such a great subject to photograph. Thanks to all you guys on the road for pushing the photography envelope.

BTW I used your gift card Farns.

I almost wet myself

This is our Lovely receptionist helping out at JackFM. I think she won a contest and they filmed this. FANTASTIC! Probably only to those who know her.



Watch this video from youtube

Seriously unreal.

How One Day Makes a Difference

Today

I am installing new software on my old computer, to turn it into my flickery audio machine. A time consuming, and quite boring process. Install/uninstall. Out with the old, in with the new.

I saw this screen for a long time. It's all done now. YAY! I just wish it was yesterday...

Darren

From

to

to

WOW! seriously. Wow.

I know thus is a little redundant since this news is posted on the crew blog, but a couple of weeks ago I swear his wife said no cutting the hair. I think she saw him as Samson...or maybe Rapunzel. I don't know. I just hope he survives this. Seriously, you look great bro.

Sleep

I know where she gets it.

I just wish I could join her.

Twitter

So, I remembered Dale talking about Twitter. So, I am trying it out. Not quite as cool as a blog entry, but it's a lot easier to say something short and quick. Although, I am positive no one will care what is happening there. Maybe I can use it as a thought before the blog. Unfortunately for you, I just figured this out. So, here is the blog before the thought.

Office Job

I have help at the office now.

This

is Jaime.

Hopefully he and his Helio Ocean will be able to lend a hand on occasion.

For Greg. The crown was

For Greg. The crown was approx. 130 square feet. see an attached blog. I'm sure someone has a pic of the crown.

Cygnus atratus

Jessica, my 9 year old daughter, and I are working on a Science report. She is studying the Black Swan of Australia. The strangest thing I learned about it is that there are ZERO swans with black feathers north of the equator. The Black Swan of the Australian continent is the only completely black swan. I just found that strange. Oh yeah, they are herbivores, just like me.

To My New Favorite Lead Rigger

This is Chad (I think...hey I may be a jerk who can barely remember anything, but at least I try)

I know we have on of the easiest shows in the world to rig, but somehow there are lots of guys out there that obviously hate their job. Thank you to you and your crew for your attitude, speed, and accuracy. Job exceptionally well done.

I'm not hatin' on the all the rest of you out there, just some.

Go Local 42

IATSE

Thank you to Local 13 yesterday and Local 42 today. You guys did a great job. Of course 42 still has time to screw up the show or the out. HAHAHA. Keep up the great work guys. I appreciate it. This in no way discounts the labor of other locals I have encountered. These guys were with us recently and were over the top. Thanks.

We are having a meeting

We are having a meeting about blogging...right now! you may hear from more of my friends soon. Yay!

Our beard off vs. Bring Your Own Beard Tour!!

The Battle of the Beard is on in 2008. We have our own tour "Beard Off." Darren and Mike decided to see who can grow the biggest beard by the end of the tour. I believe the last day of the tour they will each pluck 3 random beard hairs and measure to determine the winner. I don"t know if we are talking single longest, average length of the three, or total length of the three. Who cares. It is awesome!

Here are our fierce competitors.


I'm not sure how this activity helps in beard cultivation, but they claim it is the best.

Now! Becoming the Archetype is out on their Bring Your Own Beard Tour.

They are requesting pics of the tour or your beard. For information on sending pics of your beard go to http://buzzgrinder.com.

I think both of these beard related issues are important for America today.

Well, we had a great

Well, we had a great show last night. It was in Nashville even. It was nice to work with people I knew. Yay for no flames!

Today is Jeff's birthday. yay.

Today is Jeff's birthday. yay. He got a Cubs cake. I got a burrito. You can probably see the cake on his blog. Culmer's thoughts.

I miss my Milo

Today we were not able to fly our PA. Okay. It should be a nice easy day. PA flown when we get in. Quick little FOH setup. Tune it. Play Wii.


Lighting is loading in right now. Uhhhh... It's now after four, and after adding some of mine, some of the building's delay speakers, and a bunch of money spent on rented PA...


I miss my Milo

Business Time!

Katie and I took the kids to the zoo today. They have made a few changes and upgrades. I know we enjoyed it, but not as much as the turtles.

Lucky Turtle!

This one's for you Culmer!

How do I type gut busting laughter? I guess that'll do it.

Stagehands

Where do we get these people





See that little box out there? Was supposed to end up where I am standing. Oh my downstage motors were in the same spot before I could get a picture. I guess they were technically right.

UT, Baby

Did I stutter? Yeah, UT, BABY!! It's in Texas, get over it.

I just glad on one was seriously hurt...

I got a new laptop.

I got a new laptop. I was about to blog about it, but my friend Harry has stolen all of the internet.

Hey Farns. Where is FOH today?

If this is my world, why the heck am I standing on a camera riser? Oh well, at least I get a definitive answer when I ask. No seriously, I think I only had to move FOH once this entire tour, and he asked if it was cool before telling the promoter it was okay. Thanks to the Farns for scouting out the domain from which I shall reign until tomorrow. It's not that I'm the best at what I do, I just tyrannically lord over those who enter my space!

Overqualified HBS

We have a new position on the crew this spring, Utility Tech. This guy puts chandeliers together, builds our lighting towers, runs Media Shout, and helps me with audio whenever I need it. It seems like a kind low level gig, but we have Harry Shaub. He is a road manager, FOH guy, and youth pastor.

The man


The youth pastor


The Counterweight


We love you Harry!

Charlotte

I'm a little nervous. Although I am using it right now, My computer took an enormous dump the last time I was here. After figuring me angles for the PA, I plugged this, yep still the same one, laptop in to charge. No luck. Not only did it not charge, it wouldn't power up while plugged in. NICE. For those in the know, I was using Soundweb for my processing. You MUST be online with your computer to make any changes. Oh yeah, I hadn't gotten around to backing it up.
Well, by the next day I had my tech's computer up with Smaart and Soundweb.

Lesson learned the hard way: ALWAYS back up your files. Thank you Charlotte.

Torn Video

Okay. So, I've talked about how fantastic this video is, but no one seems to have seen it. So, here it is.

A mime is a terrible thing to waste.

I'm in Hershey Arena today.

I'm in Hershey Arena today. 'Nuff said.

Aww, Stink!

So there's no way to explain how gross this venue smells. Most of the arena smells like nasty old shoes. In the docks by the busses and truck, it smells like pee. Oh yeah. There are rats the size of small dogs running around in the docks as well. Mmm...what's for dinner?

Part of your complete breakfast

Our stage manager prepping for truck number two.

Although the mobile blog worked, I still watched more 24 before sleepytime.

Let's try the mobile blog.

Let's try the mobile blog. If this works, you'll never be free. If not, I'm going back to my bunk to watch 24.

The Polls Are Closed!

Okay just for fun, I put a poll to see who liked what for bus food. The polls are closed and the unanimous winner is...pizza!? Who knew. Of course only 3 people actually voted. (I think I voted twice) All I know is that candied chicken crap from TGI Friday's got a big fat zero. I only know one person who can stomach that junk. I wonder if they are the same as the Boneless Shanghai Wings. Either way, it doesn't matter to me since, I voiced my opinion and actually get my vegetarian option for bus food. YAY! You guys who hate them can fight it out. Maybe the lovers of the candied chicken can speak up and be heard!

Hearing impaired feeds...a thing of the past!!!

This is the most amazing new technology for those of us who have to provide hearing impaired feeds. We all know the likelihood of people pirating the show from our fantastic board mixes.

But NO MORE!!!





Seriously. They are called Batphones

Air Guitar Amp???

I may be a dork, but WOW! Check this out. It's belt buckle, pick, and amp that attaches to your belt. Depending on how the pick passes the belt buckle, different songs play, or something like that. Click here to see the blog about it. I feel strangely drawn toward this amazing breakthru in air guitar technology.

This weekend

Actually a pretty good weekend. I don't really have any interesting stuff to say today. The weekend was good. Every day had a different challenge, but I felt like I came out on top at the end of each day. Go Team Tour!! Thanks for putting up with my crap, and dragging me through each day. Sometimes the crew chief needs his team to help pull him through. To the audio guys, Thanks. You guys did great, as normal, this week.

230 mpg...WOW!

Seriously...230mpg Aptera prototype by Accelerated Composites. They are trying to acheive 330mpg for 2008 availability in CA. I thought it was cool.

Newsboys & Conchords

I can't be the only one who thinks it's ironic that these guys look so similar.

Jeff Frankenstein: Newsboys Keyboard Player

Jemaine/Hiphopopottamus Flight of the Conchords Musician/Vocalist

Ghosts Exist!!

I was looking through some of my pictures from the weekend and found this!

Notice the ghostly volleyball hovering over FOH. I wonder if there is a lost soul of a former Penn State volleyball seeking closure haunting this arena. I didn't realize that inanimate objects even have souls. I hope the angry volleyball isn't now haunting my equipment. Who knows, I could be mixing, and...SPIKE!! Volleyball in the face! or worse.

I hope it is a volleyball...I would hate to have insulted some other type of haunted sporting equipment.

Thank God That's Over.

With the exception of the Thursday show (I had to look it up in the tour book to even remember it) this was an exhausting weekend.

This is Friday before we got a hold of the ceiling. See the Farns Focus or Culmer's Thoughts for more detail of Friday, and the post pictures.

Saturday...Armory...Floor covered in bird poop...no birds in the building...yuk...PA flown about 11 feet off the floor...Mix position at back of room...BUT...the show was pretty great...and load out was relatively easy.

In the words of Tony Nolan, "Go God!"