Other info from the weekend. This one deserves more detail:
Rounding up Daniel, Mike and Nick and going down to the South Side for Philly Cheesesteaks Thursday night after basketball. (Played pretty well that night, btw)
Watching "America's Next Top Dance Crew" Friday night while Daniel and Mike were at the Hetricks. Literally clapping my hands and saying "Wow!" over and over after one of the performances.
Steve arrived late Friday night. Very good to see him in Pittsburgh. It finally happened!
The glorious epitome of musical co-operation Saturday as we slugged out the drum tracks. Finally finding bass notes to play with Steve's quixotic achordal chorus. Warm wonderful bass harmonies for verse 2. That sweet sweet drum machine. Pounding toms. Oh the joy. OH THE JOY!
Tortilla pizzas Saturday afternoon. So. Incredibly. Good.
Church people Sunday. Helping on tech team and tear-down. Listening to the song in the car. Lunch at Panera. Actually got to hang out with Wes Sames, yay!
Football games, caramel latte, they win! They win!
Late night super hungry, sated with Taco Bell. Car acrobatics in the Maxi Saver and strip mall parking lots. Got a genuine feel for throwing the car around. Felt like I was actually moving my car in a macroscopic sense, not just drooling it along the road like I only ever do.
Tuesday, January 20, 2009
Over this past weekend I traversed the gamut of happiness.
I had a moment of exquisite joy standing at the synth, ready for Steve-O to hit record. A swell of total happiness at the song we were laying down, Steve being here, actually doing recording, having it go well, Daniel and Mike around, things going on.. everything in the world lining up just right.
Sunday I was jumping up and down and shouting in glee along with everyone else in the room as Polamalu dragged down an interception and fancy-footed his way into the endzone, sealing the deal against the Ravens. The Cardinals had won in an astounding game, the Pens had beat the Rangers in a shut-out, and all was as I would wish it could be on that day.
Later that night I had a couple moments of surreality as the heavenly sounds of Mew coursed through my car and I hurtled down the snowy parking lot, building up speed to swirl into a 180 as the night watched on in stillness.
Then Monday the reality that Daniel had left for the semester mixed in with the old familiar ache of a glorious weekend gone by, and I stood with my guitar, frustrated to an internal frenzy by other hands than mine controlling the computer, burned out on music, sad that the freshness of inspiration and cooperation were gone, tired of the song, and shadowed by the loom of cold joyless days ahead. The ache continued unabated as we finished recording, Steve packed up and left, and I dropped Mike off, late for work and alone.
If I could feel like that all the time, I think I would run like a puppy into God the Father's arms and never want to leave. But work is a numbing opiate, and my mind was blustered into business mode by the time I had reached the Tin Bath. As I knew it would, the future brightened back up, and my soul settled back into normalcy. All that remains is that lingering unsettlement - my constant companion, peeking around the corner when I let my thoughts soak down. All is not right, and this is not a game. Hell peeks around the corner, and I don't know what to do about it, or if it will be OK.
I had a moment of exquisite joy standing at the synth, ready for Steve-O to hit record. A swell of total happiness at the song we were laying down, Steve being here, actually doing recording, having it go well, Daniel and Mike around, things going on.. everything in the world lining up just right.
Sunday I was jumping up and down and shouting in glee along with everyone else in the room as Polamalu dragged down an interception and fancy-footed his way into the endzone, sealing the deal against the Ravens. The Cardinals had won in an astounding game, the Pens had beat the Rangers in a shut-out, and all was as I would wish it could be on that day.
Later that night I had a couple moments of surreality as the heavenly sounds of Mew coursed through my car and I hurtled down the snowy parking lot, building up speed to swirl into a 180 as the night watched on in stillness.
Then Monday the reality that Daniel had left for the semester mixed in with the old familiar ache of a glorious weekend gone by, and I stood with my guitar, frustrated to an internal frenzy by other hands than mine controlling the computer, burned out on music, sad that the freshness of inspiration and cooperation were gone, tired of the song, and shadowed by the loom of cold joyless days ahead. The ache continued unabated as we finished recording, Steve packed up and left, and I dropped Mike off, late for work and alone.
If I could feel like that all the time, I think I would run like a puppy into God the Father's arms and never want to leave. But work is a numbing opiate, and my mind was blustered into business mode by the time I had reached the Tin Bath. As I knew it would, the future brightened back up, and my soul settled back into normalcy. All that remains is that lingering unsettlement - my constant companion, peeking around the corner when I let my thoughts soak down. All is not right, and this is not a game. Hell peeks around the corner, and I don't know what to do about it, or if it will be OK.
Wednesday, January 07, 2009
Pre and Post Christmas 2008
My last post detailed Christmas 08 with the family, in Chicago. I also did a lot with friends in Pittsburgh before and after said Midwest excursion, which would be a shame to forget and thus lose.
Before Christmas, Mom was already in Chicago--she'd been there since a week after Thanksgiving. Daniel got back I think Wednesday the 17th, I worked that day and the next, and then I was off on my long weekend, from Thursday 6pm till Monday 6pm. Daniel came home with Skipper and Chris, two guys from AEX, who stayed with us while they participated in Daniel's old roommate's wedding. Batchelor party Thursday night, Wedding Saturday. I spent a lot of time with Justin, burning the midnight oil, and making heavy use of the after-midnight diesel fuel as well :-)
I think Friday night I went over to the Harveys and Justin and I watched "The Untouchables" down in the basement. Saturday morning J and Wayne went out for lunch, and I got up and tried to figure out a good efficient plan between my to-dos and Daniel and his guys. I ended up swinging into Chick-fil-A for some food, and lo and behold! Justin and Mr. H :-) So I had lunch with Justin, and then we both headed to Cash-in Culture - the used CD and DVD store in the mall. I loaded up on music and movies, and then we split ways and I headed home.
Saturday evening the corporate mission was to watch all 3 X-men movies at the Harveys. I forget if anything else was going on, but we started out there with a bunch of people: Justin, me, Daniel and his guys, Steve Schuch, Anna, Betsy, I think Rachel, Mike, maybe Heather and Katie/Rebekah Calano, and Andrew Graham. Most folks left after #1, and everyone but Andrew was gone by the end of #2. Turns out Justin, Andrew and I had an awesome talk down in the basement, till about 4:30am. Andrew is a great guy - I'm a fan :-)
Dad and Daniel left Sunday from church, leaving me to run amuck for a couple days on my own. Justin invited me to the Harveys for the Steelers game, where I joined about 20 other peeps. I left when the game was over and went to Nate and Sarah's for a "dinner with engineers," which was a fun and classy affair. I kept inwardly shaking my head and wondering what the guys at the plant would think as we sat in the living room swirling glasses of wine and talking about biomed stuff. Sunday night my mission was to stay up late to prepare for night shift, and I FINALLY had Justin in town to do it with! He came over here, and we made mac 'n' cheese and watched Hero.
Monday and Tuesday nights I worked.. finished up Wednesday morning, drove the car to the airport, parked, made it to the gate, and flopped on the floor for a little bit of sleep. From there it was a somnolent plane flight and then I was in Chicago! And you know the story from there.
Post-Chicago, I arrived in cloudy rainy Pittsburgh at about noon, thankfully remembered where my car was parked, and headed home. Worked that night (Wednesday) and the next, and then I was off for the weekend, until Monday morning. Yay! During those two days I was working, basically everybody in Pittsburgh had been in Akron having amazing awesome times. Which was tough, and also strange, since Akron is like my city, and here's all these people there but not me.
Thursday afternoon saw Justin and most Pittsburghers, as well and Craig and Steve-O all heading to Pittsburgh. I made it through the night, slept till 3 on Friday, and then Justin called and the day began. I think there was some confusion regarding the plans, but what ended up happening was Justin, Craig, Steve and Steve Schuch came over here and we watched Rocky IV on TV. Then Heather, Erin, Anna and Rebekah Calano all came over, while most of us were jamming downstairs. They left, they returned, they toilet papered my house, they took it down, and then Katie and two friends Brenna and Debs arrived. A little later Rebekah Booher came as well, so we had a full house. There was all kinds of noise as people jammed downstairs and talked in the living room. Many folks were hungry, but my house was regrettably bereft of food since I'd been gone/working for almost 2 weeks! We ended up making eggs and scraping together enough butter packets to make macaroni and cheese. People started leaving around 11, and eventually Mikey was left on the couch, out like a 3rd strike, and I convinced Steve to stay here instead of going back to the Harveys. Turns out we had a really awesome time playing songs on my laptop, and then he got my guitar and we played through a lot of his songs, which are great and really need to be recorded. We finally went upstairs to bed, but laid there in my room talking until about 7:30. Pretty crazy.
Saturday I roused myself at 12:48pm, took a shower, and dragged Steve up around 2. We had various ideas floating around, but what I really wanted to do was hang around at the Harveys with lots of people and talk and play pool. The first step was meeting folks at Chick-fil-A for lunch: Justin, Anna, Craig, Megan, Janelle, Heather and Erin. Then we all trundled over to the thrift store and looked at clothes for awhile, eventually repairing to the Harveys, from whence to venture not again until Sunday for church. Mom, Dad and Daniel got home at 5:30pm that evening, and Daniel came to the Harveys awhile later, bringing Mike Q and Nick Schuch in tow.
The afternoon/evening proceeded pretty much as I had predicted: pool downstairs (with some occasional beating of drums and a lot of Rat Slap too), great conversation in the den upstairs, and less great conversation but good hanging out in the living room/kitchen area. Wonderful Mrs. Harvey made dinner for us all, and eventually, when the group was pared down a bit, we coagulated downstairs to watch Spinal Tap, which we had bought at the thrift store. I think just Steve, Steve, Craig, Justin and I were left for that. Very funny movie. Then came the best part of the weekend: Steve and I stayed up in the basement playing pool till about 4:30am. Craig joined in too, till his Nyquil took effect and he crashed. We just played and played, cheering not even so much to win, but just for either of us to have good shots and make them. Apparently the girls woke up at some point, 'cause Anna, Janelle and Megan came down for awhile randomly. Pretty much a great time. 'Course, I was deathly tired Sunday, but that's OK. I remember the sermon.
Sunday Justin, Craig, Steve and Janelle all left after lunch. Before that, though, we had a great big group of people at Quaker Steak 'n' Lube for lunch. Including Debs, who just moved here to intern with the Penguins as a staff writer. Like Steve Gole back in the day, she pretty much jumped right into things, and became one with the hanging out that day (and Friday night, as well). After some confusion and many rapid decision changes, Katie, Rebekah, Debs, Erin, Heather, Megan, Mike, Daniel, Nick and myself all ended up going to the Quinlisks, where we watched Hitch down in the basement. Then Debs and company made dinner for everybody, and I made espressos, lattes and noggtes. Then we went for a long walk in the graveyard in the mist and warm temperature, Mike flew his awesome new radio controlled plane, we played cards down in the basement, and at the last, Katie, Heather, Debs and I watched The Italian Job down in the basement. Somehow, I made it through the next day of work quite well, despite getting home at 2am, getting to sleep at 2:15, and waking up at 4:45. Not recommended, but I made it. And I don't regret it.
That's about it, folks. Last night (Monday night) I met up with some folks for dinner at TGI Fridays to celebrate Jess Mittelman's birthday, and we watched Office Space back at the Q's. Now I'm off for 2 days, and I actually woke up at 5am this morning since I crashed on the couch at 7:30 last night. Sleep is a wonderful thing.
Peace.
Before Christmas, Mom was already in Chicago--she'd been there since a week after Thanksgiving. Daniel got back I think Wednesday the 17th, I worked that day and the next, and then I was off on my long weekend, from Thursday 6pm till Monday 6pm. Daniel came home with Skipper and Chris, two guys from AEX, who stayed with us while they participated in Daniel's old roommate's wedding. Batchelor party Thursday night, Wedding Saturday. I spent a lot of time with Justin, burning the midnight oil, and making heavy use of the after-midnight diesel fuel as well :-)
I think Friday night I went over to the Harveys and Justin and I watched "The Untouchables" down in the basement. Saturday morning J and Wayne went out for lunch, and I got up and tried to figure out a good efficient plan between my to-dos and Daniel and his guys. I ended up swinging into Chick-fil-A for some food, and lo and behold! Justin and Mr. H :-) So I had lunch with Justin, and then we both headed to Cash-in Culture - the used CD and DVD store in the mall. I loaded up on music and movies, and then we split ways and I headed home.
Saturday evening the corporate mission was to watch all 3 X-men movies at the Harveys. I forget if anything else was going on, but we started out there with a bunch of people: Justin, me, Daniel and his guys, Steve Schuch, Anna, Betsy, I think Rachel, Mike, maybe Heather and Katie/Rebekah Calano, and Andrew Graham. Most folks left after #1, and everyone but Andrew was gone by the end of #2. Turns out Justin, Andrew and I had an awesome talk down in the basement, till about 4:30am. Andrew is a great guy - I'm a fan :-)
Dad and Daniel left Sunday from church, leaving me to run amuck for a couple days on my own. Justin invited me to the Harveys for the Steelers game, where I joined about 20 other peeps. I left when the game was over and went to Nate and Sarah's for a "dinner with engineers," which was a fun and classy affair. I kept inwardly shaking my head and wondering what the guys at the plant would think as we sat in the living room swirling glasses of wine and talking about biomed stuff. Sunday night my mission was to stay up late to prepare for night shift, and I FINALLY had Justin in town to do it with! He came over here, and we made mac 'n' cheese and watched Hero.
Monday and Tuesday nights I worked.. finished up Wednesday morning, drove the car to the airport, parked, made it to the gate, and flopped on the floor for a little bit of sleep. From there it was a somnolent plane flight and then I was in Chicago! And you know the story from there.
Post-Chicago, I arrived in cloudy rainy Pittsburgh at about noon, thankfully remembered where my car was parked, and headed home. Worked that night (Wednesday) and the next, and then I was off for the weekend, until Monday morning. Yay! During those two days I was working, basically everybody in Pittsburgh had been in Akron having amazing awesome times. Which was tough, and also strange, since Akron is like my city, and here's all these people there but not me.
Thursday afternoon saw Justin and most Pittsburghers, as well and Craig and Steve-O all heading to Pittsburgh. I made it through the night, slept till 3 on Friday, and then Justin called and the day began. I think there was some confusion regarding the plans, but what ended up happening was Justin, Craig, Steve and Steve Schuch came over here and we watched Rocky IV on TV. Then Heather, Erin, Anna and Rebekah Calano all came over, while most of us were jamming downstairs. They left, they returned, they toilet papered my house, they took it down, and then Katie and two friends Brenna and Debs arrived. A little later Rebekah Booher came as well, so we had a full house. There was all kinds of noise as people jammed downstairs and talked in the living room. Many folks were hungry, but my house was regrettably bereft of food since I'd been gone/working for almost 2 weeks! We ended up making eggs and scraping together enough butter packets to make macaroni and cheese. People started leaving around 11, and eventually Mikey was left on the couch, out like a 3rd strike, and I convinced Steve to stay here instead of going back to the Harveys. Turns out we had a really awesome time playing songs on my laptop, and then he got my guitar and we played through a lot of his songs, which are great and really need to be recorded. We finally went upstairs to bed, but laid there in my room talking until about 7:30. Pretty crazy.
Saturday I roused myself at 12:48pm, took a shower, and dragged Steve up around 2. We had various ideas floating around, but what I really wanted to do was hang around at the Harveys with lots of people and talk and play pool. The first step was meeting folks at Chick-fil-A for lunch: Justin, Anna, Craig, Megan, Janelle, Heather and Erin. Then we all trundled over to the thrift store and looked at clothes for awhile, eventually repairing to the Harveys, from whence to venture not again until Sunday for church. Mom, Dad and Daniel got home at 5:30pm that evening, and Daniel came to the Harveys awhile later, bringing Mike Q and Nick Schuch in tow.
The afternoon/evening proceeded pretty much as I had predicted: pool downstairs (with some occasional beating of drums and a lot of Rat Slap too), great conversation in the den upstairs, and less great conversation but good hanging out in the living room/kitchen area. Wonderful Mrs. Harvey made dinner for us all, and eventually, when the group was pared down a bit, we coagulated downstairs to watch Spinal Tap, which we had bought at the thrift store. I think just Steve, Steve, Craig, Justin and I were left for that. Very funny movie. Then came the best part of the weekend: Steve and I stayed up in the basement playing pool till about 4:30am. Craig joined in too, till his Nyquil took effect and he crashed. We just played and played, cheering not even so much to win, but just for either of us to have good shots and make them. Apparently the girls woke up at some point, 'cause Anna, Janelle and Megan came down for awhile randomly. Pretty much a great time. 'Course, I was deathly tired Sunday, but that's OK. I remember the sermon.
Sunday Justin, Craig, Steve and Janelle all left after lunch. Before that, though, we had a great big group of people at Quaker Steak 'n' Lube for lunch. Including Debs, who just moved here to intern with the Penguins as a staff writer. Like Steve Gole back in the day, she pretty much jumped right into things, and became one with the hanging out that day (and Friday night, as well). After some confusion and many rapid decision changes, Katie, Rebekah, Debs, Erin, Heather, Megan, Mike, Daniel, Nick and myself all ended up going to the Quinlisks, where we watched Hitch down in the basement. Then Debs and company made dinner for everybody, and I made espressos, lattes and noggtes. Then we went for a long walk in the graveyard in the mist and warm temperature, Mike flew his awesome new radio controlled plane, we played cards down in the basement, and at the last, Katie, Heather, Debs and I watched The Italian Job down in the basement. Somehow, I made it through the next day of work quite well, despite getting home at 2am, getting to sleep at 2:15, and waking up at 4:45. Not recommended, but I made it. And I don't regret it.
That's about it, folks. Last night (Monday night) I met up with some folks for dinner at TGI Fridays to celebrate Jess Mittelman's birthday, and we watched Office Space back at the Q's. Now I'm off for 2 days, and I actually woke up at 5am this morning since I crashed on the couch at 7:30 last night. Sleep is a wonderful thing.
Peace.
Christmas 2008
Holiday Season 2008
Christmas '08... what did I do? How was it? My 24th ever, the 4th since Grandpa's health issues started.
Well, it was in Chicago this year, and everybody was there except Ken. He was leading a tour in Africa for some New York lawyer's family. I think that's the first Christmas that he hasn't been here at all. The other big difference was that Grandpa was in a nursing home. He went back to the hospital a few days after I left from my Thanksgiving visit, due to the terrible pain in his back. Turns out it's a crushed L3 vertebrae, and there isn't a "fix." So he was in the hospital for a few days, and he's been in the rehab section of Manor Care nursing home since then. He walks a few times a day, trying to build up strength, but he's very weak, and if his back flares up, he's pretty much laid out till some morphine can take effect. So, each day was structured around who was going to see Grandpa when. I think Grandma went almost every morning, and various combinations of us would come in the afternoon and evening, usually bringing him some sort of restaurant food for dinner and/or lunch. I flew in on Christmas Eve, rolling from work to the airport to Grandma and Grandpa's. That evening we all went to the nursing home together and had our traditional Christmas Eve program in the lounge. KFC replaced a home-made dinner, but we still did some scripture readings and carol singings, and UK provided tech support to play "A Charlie Brown Christmas" from his iTouch on the little TV in the room. Interesting the places life takes you.
Christmas day we all went to see Grandpa in the morning, and did presents back home later in the afternoon. I actually had good ideas for most everybody this year, hooking Dad up with some tools, getting a gadgety new wrench for UK, Fiesta bakeware for Mom, and some Starbucks lovin' for Danmybro. And UK got me an ESPRESSO MACHINE!! Apparently he and Daniel went on quite a quest to find a good one, but this one is solid, and gets the job done. It was fun concocting espresso-based beverages from the hissing steaming machine in the basement. Nogttes were definitely the favorite. And I kinda think Grandma's washer and drier will forever smell like coffee :-P
Most days were split up with different groups at Grandpa's, eventually congregating back home around 9 or 10 for a movie. There were a couple exceptions, though. Uncle Keith got 4 standing room tickets for a Blackhawks game, so us four men went to the United Center on the 26th, Friday. That day was freakishly warm - 60+ degrees! The day before the sidewalks had been over an inch thick with ice. Yes, we had strange weather. But weather notwithstanding, there was nothing wierd about how the Hawks TORE UP the Philly Fliers! It was a great game (my first hockey game ever), and the crowd definitely was full of energy. Record size crowd, by the way, and franchise record-tying 8th win in a row.
The other more differenter day--for Dad and me at least--was Saturday. I had seen an ad in the Chicago craigslist page for a "Sound City foot pedal synth." In short, a very odd and rare analog synthesizer, but not the $2000 dollar mainstream one, but an off brand cheap one! I wanted to take advantage of this opportunity, so Dad and I headed out to Burr Ridge at noon. I ended up buying the synth after checking it out and talking him down to $275. Then the day got pretty more cooler: turns out Lagrange, where Dad grew up, was just 5 minutes down the road! So we drove there, and Dad had a crazy trip down memory lane. We drove up and down his street, took pictures of his old house, found lots of his friends houses, his grade school and junior high school, and even ate lunch at the local Taco Bell, across the street from the Arby's where he got his first real job. Pretty cool for Dad, and I really enjoyed getting to see what was once so familiar to him. On the way home we stopped at 2 music stores, and I got some great help in my search for a satisfactory overdrive pedal. Pretty cool day, and we topped it off by picking up Aurelio's for dinner. Ahhh :-)
Funny as it sounds, one of the marks of this Christmas was BLU-RAY. Uncle Keith got Grandma and Grandpa a Blu-ray player, which puts their huge HDTV to good use. And he had a slew of Blu-ray movies, which we watched pretty much every night. I don't know why, and I don't know if it's definitely a bad thing to be avoided, but watching those movies was a fun thing that sorta brought us together. And the picture was impressive, no doubts. Quite remarkable.
As always, we had a huge spread of cookies and sweets on the side table, complete with Grandma's chocolate cookies, Fannie May buttercreams and mint meltaways, and much much more. The basement fridge was well stocked with Dr.P and Diet Pepsi, with a new addition: Diet Dr.Pepper. It has fallen into much favor with the diet drinkers. I never did have corned beef hash and eggs for breakfast, and without Grandpa we couldn't do the jolly jump-ups, which are his signature breakfast creation. Mom cooked up a great pork roast for Christmas dinner, which was a great spread. Other than that, and spaghetti 2 nights ago, we kinda ate out most of the time.
The trip ended for me on Wednesday. UK, Dad, Daniel and I dragged ourselves out of bed at 6:30 in the morning and piled into the Suburban. They dropped me off at Midway Airport, and headed from there to down town, where they hung out until the afternoon Bulls game that UK had tickets for. I got checked in and securitied pretty quickly, and chilled by the gate till flight time. Didn't really sleep, just laid there. I decided to watch the ground for the whole flight, since the pilot mentioned that it was only 50 minutes of actual air time. So, I watched every foot of ground between Chicago and Pittsburgh. Except where there were clouds. And then I watched the clouds. Hard to make myself think that we had actually traveled that much distance.
Thus sorta endethed Christmas 2008, but folks still had a few days in Chicago till they left on Saturday, and I still had great times with people who were back on break in Pittsburgh. More on that later.
Christmas '08: Grandpa in the nursing home, espresso machine, Blu-Ray... good times.
Christmas '08... what did I do? How was it? My 24th ever, the 4th since Grandpa's health issues started.
Well, it was in Chicago this year, and everybody was there except Ken. He was leading a tour in Africa for some New York lawyer's family. I think that's the first Christmas that he hasn't been here at all. The other big difference was that Grandpa was in a nursing home. He went back to the hospital a few days after I left from my Thanksgiving visit, due to the terrible pain in his back. Turns out it's a crushed L3 vertebrae, and there isn't a "fix." So he was in the hospital for a few days, and he's been in the rehab section of Manor Care nursing home since then. He walks a few times a day, trying to build up strength, but he's very weak, and if his back flares up, he's pretty much laid out till some morphine can take effect. So, each day was structured around who was going to see Grandpa when. I think Grandma went almost every morning, and various combinations of us would come in the afternoon and evening, usually bringing him some sort of restaurant food for dinner and/or lunch. I flew in on Christmas Eve, rolling from work to the airport to Grandma and Grandpa's. That evening we all went to the nursing home together and had our traditional Christmas Eve program in the lounge. KFC replaced a home-made dinner, but we still did some scripture readings and carol singings, and UK provided tech support to play "A Charlie Brown Christmas" from his iTouch on the little TV in the room. Interesting the places life takes you.
Christmas day we all went to see Grandpa in the morning, and did presents back home later in the afternoon. I actually had good ideas for most everybody this year, hooking Dad up with some tools, getting a gadgety new wrench for UK, Fiesta bakeware for Mom, and some Starbucks lovin' for Danmybro. And UK got me an ESPRESSO MACHINE!! Apparently he and Daniel went on quite a quest to find a good one, but this one is solid, and gets the job done. It was fun concocting espresso-based beverages from the hissing steaming machine in the basement. Nogttes were definitely the favorite. And I kinda think Grandma's washer and drier will forever smell like coffee :-P
Most days were split up with different groups at Grandpa's, eventually congregating back home around 9 or 10 for a movie. There were a couple exceptions, though. Uncle Keith got 4 standing room tickets for a Blackhawks game, so us four men went to the United Center on the 26th, Friday. That day was freakishly warm - 60+ degrees! The day before the sidewalks had been over an inch thick with ice. Yes, we had strange weather. But weather notwithstanding, there was nothing wierd about how the Hawks TORE UP the Philly Fliers! It was a great game (my first hockey game ever), and the crowd definitely was full of energy. Record size crowd, by the way, and franchise record-tying 8th win in a row.
The other more differenter day--for Dad and me at least--was Saturday. I had seen an ad in the Chicago craigslist page for a "Sound City foot pedal synth." In short, a very odd and rare analog synthesizer, but not the $2000 dollar mainstream one, but an off brand cheap one! I wanted to take advantage of this opportunity, so Dad and I headed out to Burr Ridge at noon. I ended up buying the synth after checking it out and talking him down to $275. Then the day got pretty more cooler: turns out Lagrange, where Dad grew up, was just 5 minutes down the road! So we drove there, and Dad had a crazy trip down memory lane. We drove up and down his street, took pictures of his old house, found lots of his friends houses, his grade school and junior high school, and even ate lunch at the local Taco Bell, across the street from the Arby's where he got his first real job. Pretty cool for Dad, and I really enjoyed getting to see what was once so familiar to him. On the way home we stopped at 2 music stores, and I got some great help in my search for a satisfactory overdrive pedal. Pretty cool day, and we topped it off by picking up Aurelio's for dinner. Ahhh :-)
Funny as it sounds, one of the marks of this Christmas was BLU-RAY. Uncle Keith got Grandma and Grandpa a Blu-ray player, which puts their huge HDTV to good use. And he had a slew of Blu-ray movies, which we watched pretty much every night. I don't know why, and I don't know if it's definitely a bad thing to be avoided, but watching those movies was a fun thing that sorta brought us together. And the picture was impressive, no doubts. Quite remarkable.
As always, we had a huge spread of cookies and sweets on the side table, complete with Grandma's chocolate cookies, Fannie May buttercreams and mint meltaways, and much much more. The basement fridge was well stocked with Dr.P and Diet Pepsi, with a new addition: Diet Dr.Pepper. It has fallen into much favor with the diet drinkers. I never did have corned beef hash and eggs for breakfast, and without Grandpa we couldn't do the jolly jump-ups, which are his signature breakfast creation. Mom cooked up a great pork roast for Christmas dinner, which was a great spread. Other than that, and spaghetti 2 nights ago, we kinda ate out most of the time.
The trip ended for me on Wednesday. UK, Dad, Daniel and I dragged ourselves out of bed at 6:30 in the morning and piled into the Suburban. They dropped me off at Midway Airport, and headed from there to down town, where they hung out until the afternoon Bulls game that UK had tickets for. I got checked in and securitied pretty quickly, and chilled by the gate till flight time. Didn't really sleep, just laid there. I decided to watch the ground for the whole flight, since the pilot mentioned that it was only 50 minutes of actual air time. So, I watched every foot of ground between Chicago and Pittsburgh. Except where there were clouds. And then I watched the clouds. Hard to make myself think that we had actually traveled that much distance.
Thus sorta endethed Christmas 2008, but folks still had a few days in Chicago till they left on Saturday, and I still had great times with people who were back on break in Pittsburgh. More on that later.
Christmas '08: Grandpa in the nursing home, espresso machine, Blu-Ray... good times.
December 11th
Days like today are sweet. They're days I feel pretty happy with myself. I had 3 agendas for the day: go to the strip district, meet with Mr. Pierson about Youth Camp, and make dinner. So, I got up at a quarter to 9, showered, grabbed some cashews and a Dr.Pepper, and headed out into the rainy greyness. The car rang with Christmas cheer, though, as I put together a playlist of Phil Keaggy, Keith Foley, Julie Andrews and the Canadian Brass - pretty much the top 4 all-star Christmas albums of my life. They brought back sweet and heart wrenching memories of the golden, blissful Christmasses of the past as I cruised down Carson Street.
At the strip I cruised right into a rockstar parking spot on the main drag, and started working on my missions: tortillas at Reynosa, ingredients for tomatillo salsa, goat cheese and a baguette from Penn Mac, random snacks and drinks from Hermanowski's, and fresh veggies at Stan's. I also found a new coffee shop that specializes in crepes, at which I purchased my lunch (turkey asaigo crepe - quite good, and pretty different). And of course, I had to get a couple scones at the biscotti bakery, 'cause they're ~amazing~. I was finished by 11, and made my last scuttle through the rain to the blue Mazda on the curb. Back into Christmas wonderland, this time sucking on a latte as I made my way through downtown and out to Bethel Park.
Ah, just like old times: hanging out in the church office, toting around my laptop case full of jumbled papers (but I know where everything is. ...roughly..), plugging into and out of the internet, printing docs, and sitting in the chair in Mr. Pierson's office talkin' youth camp. This was the first meeting for YC09, and we got through it in good time, with good action points and deadlines to go on. I also helped the ladies at the office dispatch some musical items in their efforts to organize the place. Jere was there, and she brought up a possible opportunity with a Christian coffee house in Homestead - just a few minutes from my home! I ended up calling the pastor who runs it right then, and we talked about his vision for the place and the musical help that he's looking for. Who knows what might come of it!
At 3:30 I headed home, dropping off Rick's compressor and nail gun on the way. "I should get the mail" flashed through my head as I pulled up to the house, but once I was in the driveway the cornocupia of bags and articles to unload had seized full reign of my mind, and the mail was forgotten. 4 trips in and out, and then relegating items to their proper resting places. Or... to the middle of the kitchen table, in the case of my laptop bag. Veggies to wash, and tomatillo salsa to make first so it'll be ready for dinner. Tomatillos, jalapenos, onions and garlic. Peel, clean, cut, de-seed, place, roast, preheat, crush, chop, saute, and then it all goes into the blender with cilantro, salt and pepper. VOILA! Amazing, moan-and-groan delicious salsa. It's a beautiful thing.
Then chop and dice and rinse and shred, and at last there's a big tub of salad, and another one of fresh veggies ready to go. By then the tilapia filets were thawed, but Dad had to leave for CGLAA at 6:30, so he ate leftovers and was out the door. It wasn't quite as fun cooking for just myself, but the fish tacos were still good. Sauteeing the tilapia and frying the corn tortillas, then quick putting it all together and trying not to squeeze everything out the back end as I chomp it down.
Cooking is pretty sweet, and right now I like it a lot. Yesterday I made teriyaki chicken and rice from scratch - even the teriyaki sauce! (Thanks to MAQ for looking up the recipe for me.) It's very cool to make good, full, healthy meals, especially doing it by the seat of my pants and coming out with something delicious.
House came on at 7, so I cooked and ate and sat and watched, and at 9 I went downstairs to play electric guitar. Ugh. I really need to change the strings on my SG. One busted, and I've been using the Telecaster since, and it just ain't the same. That SG is one SWEET guitar. I did get some great Phil Keaggy-esque volume swell stuff going, proving the DL-4's analog delay simulation to not be entirely useless. Pretty much got an idea for combining that sound with an acoustic guitar melody I've already written, to make what I hope will be a killer piece. And perhaps it will fit into my germinating scheme to create an album about the human story, starting with creation, through the fall, and to the actual redemption, since we all crave the human race being redeemed (which usually ='s it redeeming itself, in the movies). I hope I can gain enough creative and concrete momentum to get this idea off the ground, since I feel like it would be a great vehicle to use vocal harmonies, synth and electric guitar sounds, and all of that combined with acoustic guitar and full rock sets. We'll see.
The day ended off with playing a heartbreak song, a heavenache song, a sea song and a worship song on acoustic, and then writing this. The alarm will shriek at 4am tomorrow, but frighteningly, 11:55pm is pretty early for me on day shift. My teeth are brushed and flossed (despite the jarring pain in my left jaw when I move it certain ways), and I'm good to trundle Daisy upstairs, bed down under the covers, and satisfy this lurking desire to read the Bible that's been mulling around in me all evening.
Peace,
--JPB
P.S. "Your Cheatin' Heart" by Hank Williams, "A Long, Long Way From My Home" by Kaiser and Mansfield, "Leave Her Johnny, Leave Her" from Songs and Sounds of the Sea, and "King of Grace," from PDI Ministries. Keys of C, E, C and G.
At the strip I cruised right into a rockstar parking spot on the main drag, and started working on my missions: tortillas at Reynosa, ingredients for tomatillo salsa, goat cheese and a baguette from Penn Mac, random snacks and drinks from Hermanowski's, and fresh veggies at Stan's. I also found a new coffee shop that specializes in crepes, at which I purchased my lunch (turkey asaigo crepe - quite good, and pretty different). And of course, I had to get a couple scones at the biscotti bakery, 'cause they're ~amazing~. I was finished by 11, and made my last scuttle through the rain to the blue Mazda on the curb. Back into Christmas wonderland, this time sucking on a latte as I made my way through downtown and out to Bethel Park.
Ah, just like old times: hanging out in the church office, toting around my laptop case full of jumbled papers (but I know where everything is. ...roughly..), plugging into and out of the internet, printing docs, and sitting in the chair in Mr. Pierson's office talkin' youth camp. This was the first meeting for YC09, and we got through it in good time, with good action points and deadlines to go on. I also helped the ladies at the office dispatch some musical items in their efforts to organize the place. Jere was there, and she brought up a possible opportunity with a Christian coffee house in Homestead - just a few minutes from my home! I ended up calling the pastor who runs it right then, and we talked about his vision for the place and the musical help that he's looking for. Who knows what might come of it!
At 3:30 I headed home, dropping off Rick's compressor and nail gun on the way. "I should get the mail" flashed through my head as I pulled up to the house, but once I was in the driveway the cornocupia of bags and articles to unload had seized full reign of my mind, and the mail was forgotten. 4 trips in and out, and then relegating items to their proper resting places. Or... to the middle of the kitchen table, in the case of my laptop bag. Veggies to wash, and tomatillo salsa to make first so it'll be ready for dinner. Tomatillos, jalapenos, onions and garlic. Peel, clean, cut, de-seed, place, roast, preheat, crush, chop, saute, and then it all goes into the blender with cilantro, salt and pepper. VOILA! Amazing, moan-and-groan delicious salsa. It's a beautiful thing.
Then chop and dice and rinse and shred, and at last there's a big tub of salad, and another one of fresh veggies ready to go. By then the tilapia filets were thawed, but Dad had to leave for CGLAA at 6:30, so he ate leftovers and was out the door. It wasn't quite as fun cooking for just myself, but the fish tacos were still good. Sauteeing the tilapia and frying the corn tortillas, then quick putting it all together and trying not to squeeze everything out the back end as I chomp it down.
Cooking is pretty sweet, and right now I like it a lot. Yesterday I made teriyaki chicken and rice from scratch - even the teriyaki sauce! (Thanks to MAQ for looking up the recipe for me.) It's very cool to make good, full, healthy meals, especially doing it by the seat of my pants and coming out with something delicious.
House came on at 7, so I cooked and ate and sat and watched, and at 9 I went downstairs to play electric guitar. Ugh. I really need to change the strings on my SG. One busted, and I've been using the Telecaster since, and it just ain't the same. That SG is one SWEET guitar. I did get some great Phil Keaggy-esque volume swell stuff going, proving the DL-4's analog delay simulation to not be entirely useless. Pretty much got an idea for combining that sound with an acoustic guitar melody I've already written, to make what I hope will be a killer piece. And perhaps it will fit into my germinating scheme to create an album about the human story, starting with creation, through the fall, and to the actual redemption, since we all crave the human race being redeemed (which usually ='s it redeeming itself, in the movies). I hope I can gain enough creative and concrete momentum to get this idea off the ground, since I feel like it would be a great vehicle to use vocal harmonies, synth and electric guitar sounds, and all of that combined with acoustic guitar and full rock sets. We'll see.
The day ended off with playing a heartbreak song, a heavenache song, a sea song and a worship song on acoustic, and then writing this. The alarm will shriek at 4am tomorrow, but frighteningly, 11:55pm is pretty early for me on day shift. My teeth are brushed and flossed (despite the jarring pain in my left jaw when I move it certain ways), and I'm good to trundle Daisy upstairs, bed down under the covers, and satisfy this lurking desire to read the Bible that's been mulling around in me all evening.
Peace,
--JPB
P.S. "Your Cheatin' Heart" by Hank Williams, "A Long, Long Way From My Home" by Kaiser and Mansfield, "Leave Her Johnny, Leave Her" from Songs and Sounds of the Sea, and "King of Grace," from PDI Ministries. Keys of C, E, C and G.
Thanksgiving 2008
What did I do for Thanksgiving 2008? What was going on that fall? Say, wasn't that the last few months before I hit it big and toured the nation? :-D
Well, for Givingofthanks day I went to Chicago to be with Grandma and Grandpa while Mom, Dad, Daniel, Daisy and UK met up down in South Carolina. I took the weekend after Tday off, so I had 7 straight days off, which was great. Dragged myself out of bed Wednesday afternoon, packed up, and suffered through a few spots of holiday traffic to arrive at 10:30pm CST. Grandpa was doing pretty well when I got there, but things went downhill for a few days and he was in pretty bad pain, and really out of it until things cleared up Sunday afternoon. Before all that, he was moving around, helping Grandma make Jolly Jump-ups for breakfast, and even went to Baker's Square Friday night. Each individual thing, though, was a big deal, and he could only take 1 or 2 things a day. We did go to his first physical therapy appointment Monday, but after I left, his back has been so bad he's actually back in the hospital at the moment. Rough times now, but we had some good times while I was there.
I got to talk with Grandma a lot, which was great, and we all had a long discussion about my thoughts regarding Guardian, chemical engineering, music, and studying recording. I rented a peck of movies on Thursday, and watched one most nights after everyone retired. I also had my MicroKorg and drum machine set up on the coffee table, and would jam on those at times. Got some pretty deef jams recorded on my cell phone! Sunday I went to a Sovereign Grace-like church, which that week was sharing their service with a nearby smaller church and having a baptism afterwards. The one church was mostly white, and the guest church was mostly black, so it was a very interesting service, and really glorified Christ with the unity that they showed. Very cool churches.
I left Monday evening, heading out from fresh Aurelio's pizza and Monday Night Football countdown to traverse the long cloudy path to Akron. I rolled into Hoffmans' at 1:20am and me and Steve hung out till I fell asleep, around 3 I think. Over the next 36 hours I packed about a week's worth of action in, which made for a fun end to the whole trip. Steve and I woke up around 11, hung around the house for lunch with Scott and Philip, met up with Craig and Guitar Center, drove in my car to the dollar theater for a movie, hit a nearby mall to look for a coat for Steve, grabbed an excellent dinner at Red Robin, and went to the Manastary (house of christian college guys they all know). Jammed in Andy's room, shot some pool, and finally headed to Northside, where this SWEET guy was playing blues. Guitar, harmonica, and a mic'd box to tap his feet on, and he was good to go. I even got to play for awhile when he took a smoke break, which was sweet! Busted out some Johnny Cash and Hank Williams, and some old Leadbelly. Made me want to learn more songs (which I've done so far).
We wrapped up the night back at the Manastary, playing Mortal Kombat in the freezing living room and then watching a movie till 6am. The sun was beginning to paint the sky with light as we rolled back to the Hoffman's and bedded down in the den.
And that was about it. I got home close to 5pm, so it was tight getting dressed and ready for work, but I got there in time, and it all worked out. Definitely a good trip, very good and right to be there with G&G, and a sweet surreal time in Akron to cap it off.
What else is going on these days? My recording rig is still maddeningly on the fritz, but I just borrowed Justin's interface, 'cause it's been killing me to be unable to lay anything down. I broke a string on the black SG, and I want to find out what kind of strings the previous owner used, so it's still broke, and that's killin me as well. That guitar is so good! Mom is in Chicago again--rough times like I said--but this time she flew, so Dad and I still have Daisy. I'm off today (Wednesday) and tomorrow, and then it's the long weekend of days. Planning to go to the Strip District this morning to do some sophisticated grocery shopping :-)
Daniel is finishing up his semester, and the Grove City dynamic is changing as a lot of those folks I think are going to Dr. Duguid's church in GC now (which is cool - a great church). Ken is having amazing experience after amazing opportunity in Africa, and won't be home for Christmas (doing a private tour for some family related to the Rockefellers). Mom (when she's home) meets with lots of different ladies in the church, and continues to make marvelous, delicious and healthy food for the household. The new house plans are maybe kinda sorta on hold with all that's going on with Grandpa, and also all the projects that still need to be done/finished around this house.
I hang out with Mike Q a lot, especially on nights like this when I don't have anything the next day. It's cool to have a friend who isn't bound by regular job or school schedules. 'Course, he could use a job though :-)
I rear-ended somebody at a red light a few weeks ago (sun in my eyes), and it's been assessed, so I think tomorrow I'll be taking it in to get fixed. Still getting lousy mileage, so I'll probably have to take it to a mechanic and get it put on the diagnostic machine to see what's up. Drinkin' coffee/caffeine every working day. Still trying to gain back the weight I lost from the flu/stomach flu/food poisoning bout. Went ice skating Sunday, knees sore from that. Wanting to do the exercise bikes and get those knees into shape a bit. Listening to Christmas music, XM, and just whatever strikes my fancy. From sea shanties to Jet.
Right now it's 1:30am. I fell asleep in the basement watching TV, dragged myself up here around midnight, gathered up the garbage and took it now, got all wakey-wakey, wrote this, and now I'm going to set up and sleep out on the patio, since it's a freakishly warm 55 degrees out there.
If I think of any other bits of life these days, I'll jot 'em down here in the morning.
Light-up night
Bitter cold lately
Daisy's weight
YC09!
AEX football game?
Well, for Givingofthanks day I went to Chicago to be with Grandma and Grandpa while Mom, Dad, Daniel, Daisy and UK met up down in South Carolina. I took the weekend after Tday off, so I had 7 straight days off, which was great. Dragged myself out of bed Wednesday afternoon, packed up, and suffered through a few spots of holiday traffic to arrive at 10:30pm CST. Grandpa was doing pretty well when I got there, but things went downhill for a few days and he was in pretty bad pain, and really out of it until things cleared up Sunday afternoon. Before all that, he was moving around, helping Grandma make Jolly Jump-ups for breakfast, and even went to Baker's Square Friday night. Each individual thing, though, was a big deal, and he could only take 1 or 2 things a day. We did go to his first physical therapy appointment Monday, but after I left, his back has been so bad he's actually back in the hospital at the moment. Rough times now, but we had some good times while I was there.
I got to talk with Grandma a lot, which was great, and we all had a long discussion about my thoughts regarding Guardian, chemical engineering, music, and studying recording. I rented a peck of movies on Thursday, and watched one most nights after everyone retired. I also had my MicroKorg and drum machine set up on the coffee table, and would jam on those at times. Got some pretty deef jams recorded on my cell phone! Sunday I went to a Sovereign Grace-like church, which that week was sharing their service with a nearby smaller church and having a baptism afterwards. The one church was mostly white, and the guest church was mostly black, so it was a very interesting service, and really glorified Christ with the unity that they showed. Very cool churches.
I left Monday evening, heading out from fresh Aurelio's pizza and Monday Night Football countdown to traverse the long cloudy path to Akron. I rolled into Hoffmans' at 1:20am and me and Steve hung out till I fell asleep, around 3 I think. Over the next 36 hours I packed about a week's worth of action in, which made for a fun end to the whole trip. Steve and I woke up around 11, hung around the house for lunch with Scott and Philip, met up with Craig and Guitar Center, drove in my car to the dollar theater for a movie, hit a nearby mall to look for a coat for Steve, grabbed an excellent dinner at Red Robin, and went to the Manastary (house of christian college guys they all know). Jammed in Andy's room, shot some pool, and finally headed to Northside, where this SWEET guy was playing blues. Guitar, harmonica, and a mic'd box to tap his feet on, and he was good to go. I even got to play for awhile when he took a smoke break, which was sweet! Busted out some Johnny Cash and Hank Williams, and some old Leadbelly. Made me want to learn more songs (which I've done so far).
We wrapped up the night back at the Manastary, playing Mortal Kombat in the freezing living room and then watching a movie till 6am. The sun was beginning to paint the sky with light as we rolled back to the Hoffman's and bedded down in the den.
And that was about it. I got home close to 5pm, so it was tight getting dressed and ready for work, but I got there in time, and it all worked out. Definitely a good trip, very good and right to be there with G&G, and a sweet surreal time in Akron to cap it off.
What else is going on these days? My recording rig is still maddeningly on the fritz, but I just borrowed Justin's interface, 'cause it's been killing me to be unable to lay anything down. I broke a string on the black SG, and I want to find out what kind of strings the previous owner used, so it's still broke, and that's killin me as well. That guitar is so good! Mom is in Chicago again--rough times like I said--but this time she flew, so Dad and I still have Daisy. I'm off today (Wednesday) and tomorrow, and then it's the long weekend of days. Planning to go to the Strip District this morning to do some sophisticated grocery shopping :-)
Daniel is finishing up his semester, and the Grove City dynamic is changing as a lot of those folks I think are going to Dr. Duguid's church in GC now (which is cool - a great church). Ken is having amazing experience after amazing opportunity in Africa, and won't be home for Christmas (doing a private tour for some family related to the Rockefellers). Mom (when she's home) meets with lots of different ladies in the church, and continues to make marvelous, delicious and healthy food for the household. The new house plans are maybe kinda sorta on hold with all that's going on with Grandpa, and also all the projects that still need to be done/finished around this house.
I hang out with Mike Q a lot, especially on nights like this when I don't have anything the next day. It's cool to have a friend who isn't bound by regular job or school schedules. 'Course, he could use a job though :-)
I rear-ended somebody at a red light a few weeks ago (sun in my eyes), and it's been assessed, so I think tomorrow I'll be taking it in to get fixed. Still getting lousy mileage, so I'll probably have to take it to a mechanic and get it put on the diagnostic machine to see what's up. Drinkin' coffee/caffeine every working day. Still trying to gain back the weight I lost from the flu/stomach flu/food poisoning bout. Went ice skating Sunday, knees sore from that. Wanting to do the exercise bikes and get those knees into shape a bit. Listening to Christmas music, XM, and just whatever strikes my fancy. From sea shanties to Jet.
Right now it's 1:30am. I fell asleep in the basement watching TV, dragged myself up here around midnight, gathered up the garbage and took it now, got all wakey-wakey, wrote this, and now I'm going to set up and sleep out on the patio, since it's a freakishly warm 55 degrees out there.
If I think of any other bits of life these days, I'll jot 'em down here in the morning.
Light-up night
Bitter cold lately
Daisy's weight
YC09!
AEX football game?
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