Man's best friend

The history of the TV remote control.

My niece and nephew are in town. Four rowdy kids in our tiny house made me a little claustrophobic, so we went to the spray playground. They had a blast.

Our sweet niece

O and Z...

Daddy and A

About time to go...

MIT Survey

I took this survey that a student at MIT is doing about weblogs. If you are a blogger, check it out. Thanks to Kris for the link.

A recent conversation

Dad -- "Hmmm.... sounds like one of you girls is lying."

Kid Z -- "It's not me."

Dad -- "How about you? Are you lyin'?"

Kid A -- "Yeah. Me tiger. Roaaaarrrrrrr!"

I think we might go....

.... to the Bowlful o' Blues this year. I'm not sure what the kids will think of sitting on a blanket all afternoon listening to the blues. But it sounds like a good time to me.

Check out my new electric guitar.

It's made by Ibanez and it's a model from 2003. They don't make this same model any more but the SA320 is pretty close.... if you're interested.

I've had the Ibanez catalog from 2003 laying around my house for quite a while. Every now and then, I just pick it up and browse... for the fun of it. This guitar is the one that always stands out and THE one I would pick... if I could pick any one. I never actually dreamed I would own one though. The $999.99 price tag was too steep for me.

Well... I recently started shopping for a new guitar. After looking around a bit, I decided to see if anyone was selling these anymore. I punched it into BizRate and found them at zZounds for half-price. But even better..... they also had 2 "blemished" ones for $389.

It's so cool. My "dream" guitar... at a price I can afford. I still haven't figured out why they consider it to be "blemished." It looks and sounds great to me.

Fender Bender

I have recently started noticing the bright yellow signs by the interstate that say "Fender Bender" and then something like "Pull onto Shoulder." I don't remember exactly what they say... but it pretty much falls into the common sense category. I'm guessing they put them up while the interstate is under construction because a small accident could completely stop traffic if the common-sensically impaired aren't somehow spurred to get out of the way.

It's funny.... every time I'm driving along and see one of these signs, I get this mental image of some obsessive, slightly crazed, guitar collector slowly shaking his head during his weekly rehab meeting. "Yeah.... I went on a Fender bender this week. I bought.... five. --groan--"

Buddy Guy... Your menu has got me singing the blues

We had a yummy dinner with Blue's parents at Outback Steakhouse to celebrate Father's day. My stomach is happily full of prime rib, potato and salad. It had no complaints... until now.

We came home, visited with the folks for awhile until the girls' bedtime. Now the girls are in bed and Steve is watching the Crossroads Guitar Festival DVD. It has all kinds of awesome guitar performances from all kinds of music genres. He loves blues guitar, and when his favorite guitarist, Buddy Guy, came on, I thought I would google Buddy Guy for the heck of it. I found his blues club in Chicago here. He is originally from Louisana, and the menu looks awesome. Here are the appetizers on the lunch menu:

Spicy Frog Legs marinated in hot sauce and breaded in cornmeal. fried and served with our creole honey-mustard sauce. $7.95

Southern Fried Okra a heaping basket of this unique southern vegetable is served with our own creole honey-mustard sauce for dipping. $5.95

Big Ole Chicken Wings whole chicken wings served five ways: cajun, barbecue, tabasco, curry or "b.g." (butter & garlic). available by the basket or bucket. $5.95 / $10.95

Cajun Popcorn a basket of tender crawfish tails, cornmeal breaded and served with our special cajun cocktail sauce and fries. $7.95

Legendary Catfish Tenders see what “Gourmet” magazine and folks at the Taste of Chicago are raving about!!! these tender, flaky strips of farm-raised Mississippi catfish filet will melt in your mouth. served with our own secret recipe Cajun tartar sauce. $6.95

Fried Oysters a basket of fresh, plump & juicy oysters in traditional cornmeal breading, served with creole honey-mustard sauce and our famous fries.$7.95

Blue Crab Cakes real jumbo lump maryland blue crab and a unique blend of spices! served with our special cajun tartar sauce and lemon. (small shell fragments unlikely but possible. it’s real crabmeat!!!) $10.95

See what I mean!?! And that is just the lunch menu appitizers! Sorry, Outback. As good as you are, you don't tempt me to drive six hours and eat every lunch and dinner there for a week so I can try half of the things on the menu that tempt me. Does anyone know if there is any good cajun in Des Moines? I've got etouffee on the brain...

Mozayik

Playing at Ogden Fun Days was.... well.... fun. When we got there they were having some sort of a talent show. I think it was try-outs for the state fair or something. There was a wide assortment of talents including piano recitals, dance routines (including two girls tap-dancing to The Devil Went Down to Georgia), and a couple of people doing what I can only describe as "opera" singing. It was an interesting mix.

And to add to the humor of it all..... the park is right next to a set of train tracks. So every 10 minutes or so.... a train would go by. It was deafening.

So after the whole talent show awards thing, we set our stuff up. Thankfully the guy running the sound system was really nice... because apparently no one told him that we were going to be needing to use his system. --eek--

It all worked out well. In fact, it turned out a bit better than expected. You see... there was supposed to be a deejay playing after us. Well... he flaked and didn't show. The people organizing the whole Fun Days thing figured this out about the time we finished playing our first set. They asked us if we'd be willing to stay and play until about 9:30 or 10:00. We, of course, said yes.

By our third set (around 9:00) I was finally starting to wake up and have fun. Heh... And then it was time to pack everything up and head home.

I definitely had a good time. And I got a pork-chop-on-a-stick. So it was all good.

Ogden Fun Days

Well..... I get to be a part of Ogden Fun Days this year.

I've never actually been to Ogden. In fact, I still haven't quite figured out exactly where it is.... or how to get there. But I'm going to be playing music in the park tomorrow night.... in Ogden.

So.... if your friday night happens to find you aimlessly wandering around Ogden, Iowa.... come to the park. We'll be playing from 6:30 - 8:00.

Band practice

It's funny. Some people seem to think band practice is some sort of drudgery you have to go through so you can be prepared for the "real thing" when it comes around on Sunday morning.

I don't get it. I love band practice. It's the time when you get to try out new stuff and see how everything meshes. And when you screw something up... it's just something to laugh about. Don't get me wrong. Sunday morning is great... but it's different. A bit more focused.

Practice tonight was great. No one there was in the "drudgery" mood. We spent time doing songs several different ways.... just for the fun of it. The singers were playing around with different harmonies. I was playing bass.... so I felt completely comfortable. I usually play electric guitar.... which I really enjoy..... but I'm not nearly as confident. It all just "clicked" tonight.

As we were leaving, Steve (the leader) said "Thanks for coming to practice." It kinda struck me as odd..... because I'm thinking... "Thanks for having practice.... so I could come."

Kid quote

During an Elmo's World thing about how cavemen lived millions of years ago.... before music existed....

"That's not really true. That's just what they think on Sesame Street."

I'm glad my kid has some common sense.

I'm back from Atlanta

After a week of attending lectures about microbiology, my brain is fried. I need to spend considerable time going through all of my notes to come up with recommendations for my laboratory.

Right now I'm just going to enjoy being home with my family :)

My best score so far is 3

Another time waster...

Thanks Popping Culture!

Kids

I test them over and over.... and they always get the right answer....

"Now remember... what is the most important part of slumber parties?"

"Umm..... sleeping."

"Right."

How come it never actually works? I mean they say they're going to sleep when they go to grandma's house. BUT.... of course.... they never do.

--sigh--

Well..... this is why I stayed home from Atlanta.

SoulFire

I went to see my buddy Kris play with SoulFire tonight. Lots of singing... lots of dancing... with a bunch of kids. It was a blast.

But now I'm beat.... and now that I think about it I'm kinda hungry too. Hmmm....

Ahhhh.....

Shipped the wife off to Atlanta for a week of Microbiology meetings...... dropped the kids off at grandma and grandpa's house for an extended slumber party...... and now I've got the house all to myself.

What to do..... what to do......

Of course, I've got a long list of stuff I'm supposed to do this week while everyone is away. But for tonight I think I'll just kick back and be a lazy bum.

Ahhhh......

MacGyver

Blockbuster online has MacGyver seasons 1 and 2. I'm watching season 1 - disc 1 now.

It's so cool.