Dear Diary:

It's been too long since an update and there are really no excuses. So let's get down to business -- or at least give you the weekend update and a few bonus tracks.

Friday I got up early and hit the barber shop. Gosh this 3 1/2 guard feels more like a 3 guard and I'm feeling a little military. Also the neck shave wasn't as close as other times. Oh well it looked good enough for (duh duh duh) work. Deffenbaugh called Steve on Wednesday and said they wanted some work done. I talked to them on Thursday, and offered to show up at their offices on Friday for some scoping. I don't know much yet, but it could be about three months of work. That would be great as there is a purchases I'd like to make (27" iMac now please), and, well, replenishing the coffers after an expensive 2009 would be good too. Afterwards we went to the west side gym and I worked my arms and chest. I'm almost benchpressing what I used to bench when I was 15. Of course in those days I weighed 112 and now I weight 202. Hmmm. Oh well progress is being made.

Friday night Kate's friends Jenn and Chrissy (and their respective beaus) invited us out for trivia at the Brick. The Brick is always too crowded and it makes me grumpy. Even though we got there at 6:17 for the 7pm trivia, there were no tables. Luckily someone left, and we were able to snag the very last 4-person booth in the joint. 17 teams played (big night) and we were in the way back. Noisy, but not too raucous as everyone there is pretty serious about the game. We came in second place and split a $139 pot six ways. Yeah for Fibonacci Sequins.

Saturday Kate and I went to the gym and I was able to give my back and shoulders a pretty good workout. I was at about 98% so that's good. I officially call the end of Advil and back pain. Afterwards we went to see Crazy Heart with her mother and grandmother. A lovely film that could have been better. Some things just didn't seem real, other things seemed like The Wrestler with a guitar. But the songs were good, Jeff Bridges was good, and I heartily recommend it to all. Afterwards I did some work for Deffenbaugh, Kate made some manicotti, and our major Saturday night outing was to SunFresh for groceries at 9pm. When Saturday Night Live turned out to be a repeat we watched I Love You Beth Cooper (I had torrented this some months back). Don't bother. I like a good teen romp with a heart more than anyone else, but this horrible script isn't worth anyone's time.

Yesterday started with a nice trip to the gym (heavy cardio and legs), a lovely scooter ride to lunch, and delicious Kin Lin with Kate, her mother, and her grandmother. Afterwards Ryan came over and watched the Colts do what the colts do. Yeah. Then my Vikings fell. Very sad. I've been a Vikings fan as long as I can remember. When I was a kid, Indianapolis didn't have a team, so you just sort of picked one. It being the mid 70s, the Vikings were a good team to pick, so there you go. My father and I have been following them (him quite religiously and with much purple clothing) for years. Mostly bad ones, and occasional good ones. This was to be a good one (and it was), but even though the Vikings outplayed the Saints in every category except one, that one (turnovers) turned out to be insurmountable. So live it up Saints, but in two weeks time you'll have that "so close" feeling in your stomach. Kinda like the one that I had all last night, and persisted into this morning. I even wore my lucky Daunte Culpepper jersey. Now it goes back in the closet for another year.




So this week I'll continue to put together some information for Deffenbaugh, hopefully turn that into a scope document and a statement of work, and then it'll be 8-4 M-F for a few months. *gulp* So let's focus on what's not work for a second.

1) My parents will be in town from Feb 13-16th to celebrate my birthday. Yeah.
2) Kate's Spring Break is March 26th-April 5th. We had planned to go visit Gayle in Eugene, but turns out that week she will be away to present at a conference in St. Louis. Sadly that's the only time we could get out there before her (likely) return to Kansas City. So we'll have to figure something else out. I think Kate would like to go back to NC's Outer Banks so maybe we should start looking into that. Woo-hoo Spring Break at the beach! Keg stands and wet t-shirt contests here I come.

For the first time since 2003 I wont be heading to Vegas in February for the High Rollers Weekend. Turns out the rally has really run it's course and most everyone I know is skipping it. Only two Stranglers will be there, and very few of my other friends. So yeah, sad, but no Vegas and thus no Ronald's Donuts either. But there will be other rallies. I think San Antonio for Amerivespa in May though we should probably start looking at that. And back to Boston I bet in June for the Strangler's rally. And umm to England for the Isle of Wight Rally in August. So not many rally planned yet, but that one will be exciting and fun. Let's hope I can get it organised soon.

Now, well, I gotta go walk Kate up so we can go to the gym!

I haven't given you a TCM update in a very long time. For a while there wasn't much as I was working through a variety of holiday related programming, and then, well everything has been busy.

Last week I caught The Mouse That Roared (1959) with Peter Sellers. You should watch the movie for the end titles alone. The movie itself is a delightful English farce that I chuckled all the way through. Yeah for Sellers.

In non-TCM news, Katie and I caught Breakfast at Tiffany's at The Tivoli. It was Breakfast at Tiffany's. However we were shocked to hear so many folks leaving the theatre and revealing that they hadn't seen the movie before. Umm really? I heard another (oh so wise) girl tell her friends that they probably wouldn't "get it" the first time through and that she had to see it "about 20 times" to catch everything. Really? Is there anything subtle about that movie? Anything that a kid over 10 wouldn't find obvious?

This morning I caught Sunday in New York (1963) with Jane Fonda and Rod Taylor (and some talented co stars). If you're familiar with Norman Krasna plays [then you're older than you look], then this is one of his fluffy mistaken identity comedy with a wee bit of sexy tossed in. I liked it, but breezy doesn't begin to describe it.

Year end. I haven't updated in forever but at this point it seems silly to go back in time.

Christmas built up for months then it came and went. It was nice. Katie spoiled me with the 70-200mm lens I've wanted for years. I failed on her Scarlett Mac as it's too small. Frannie befouled houses across the Midwest. We climbed to the top of the Soldiers and Sailors Monument. Katie ate donuts. We bought tires. Katie bought out Macy's. I like the game "What's Yours Like?." Jonathan loves Mad Libs.

New Year's Eve was spent playing a Time boardgame from 1983 (a gift from my parents some years back) with Ryan and Megan. A fun game. And Megan hooked Katie and I up with sparking cider for a midnight toast. Dick Clark is Frankenstein's-monster creepy.

2009 Resolution: Live by the Five Minute Rule. That is to say, if it can be done in five minutes, do it right now. As Gorilla Biscuits said:

"Next time I'll try
for the first time in my life
It won't pass me by
Procrastinate it can wait
I put it off
LET'S START TODAY"

For my wrap up of 2009 in media, see separate posts on films and music.

2009 wasn't a particular bad year for music, but there have been better. Here are my top 25 songs:

1 Matt & Kim - Good Ol' Fashion Nightmare
2 Phoenix - 1901
3 Cursive - From The Hips
4 Passion Pit - Little Secrets
5 The New Pornographers - Hey, Snow White
6 Bishop Allen - Don't Hideaway
7 Bob Mould - Argos
8 Har Mar Superstar - Dope, Man
9 The Builders and The Butchers - Barcelona
10 Neko Case - People Got A Lotta Nerve
11 The Builders and The Butchers - Short Way Home
12 Chris Garneau - Fireflies
13 Conor Oberst and the Mystic Valley Band - Cabbage Town
14 Jeffrey Lewis & The Junkyard - Roll Bus Roll
15 Conor Oberst and the Mystic Valley Band - Spoiled
16 The Thermals - We Were Sick
17 Owl City (featuring Matthew Thiessen) - Fireflies
18 The Builders and The Butchers - In The Branches
19 Art Brut - The Passenger
20 The Decemberists - Sleepless
21 The Hold Steady - Atlantic City
22 Regina Spektor - Eet
23 The Decemberists - The Rake's Song
24 Modernboys Moderngirls - On the Line
25 The Mountain Goats - Genesis 3:23

You can hear the top 15 on the Too Much Rock year end podcast.

Album wise I think:

1 Conor Oberst and the Mystic Valley Band - Outer South
2 The Builders and The Butchers - Salvation is a Deep Dark Well
3 The Thermals - Now We Can See
4 Matt & Kim - Grand
5 v/a-Dark Was the Night
6 v/a-War Child Presents Heroes
7 Chris Garneau - El Radio
8 Peter Bjorn and John - Living Thing
9 Passion Pit - Manners
10 Bishop Allen - Grrr...
11 The Decemberists - The Hazards of Love
12 Built To Spill - There Is No Enemy
13 Ensiferum - From Afar
14 The Hidden Cameras - Origin: Orphan
15 Owen - New Leaves
16 Maps - Turning the Mind
17 Franz Ferdinand - Tonight
18 Regina Spektor - Far
19 I Was Totally Destroying It - Horror Vacui
20 Mountain Goats - The Life of the World to Come

Yep, only 20 as after that it gets REALLY muddy.

As usual, the caveats is that I haven't heard every 2009 album. However, I've done a very good job of covering the high points I think. Of course I'll continue listening to 2009 albums for the next few months as I pick up CDs that other folks raved about that I never bought, and re-listening to albums that everyone said were mind blowing that I didn't care for. My 2009 top list would look entirely different if I compiled it in 2010.

I didn't see every film in 2009, and there are A LOT of 2009 films that still haven't opened yet in KC. That said, these are the favourite ones I did manage to see.

Top films of the year:

1 Adventureland
2 Away We Go
3 (500) Days of Summer
4 Taking Woodstock
5 Pirate Radio
6 The Hangover
7 Up
8 The Wrestler
9 Fantastic Mr. Fox
10 The Brothers Bloom

Honourable Mentions:
Funny People
Coraline
Julie & Julia

Worst movies of the year:
1 Year One
2 It's Complicated
3 Wolverine

Sunday morning I watched "The Shop Around the Corner" (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0033045/). The second film this week from 1940 with Jimmy Stewart, Margaret Sullavan, and Frank Morgan in it. It's a great film, though I must say I prefer the brashness of Judy Garland in "In the Good Old Summertime" (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0041507/) over the snideness of Margaret Sullavan. Though Jimmy Stewart does humble yet righteous better than anyone ever -- certainly better than Van Johnson.

Tuesday morning I happened to flip on TCM when "Somebody Up There Likes Me" (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0049778/). A 1956 film about Rocky Graziano (largely fictionalized) starting a mostly-shirtless Paul Newman. Man there really should be a "Shirtless Paul Newman Film Fest." It's well acted (though I'm not sure I buy Pier Angeli's transformation from a wallflower to a powerhouse), and even though the plot is pretty hackneyed now, you still want to root for Newman's Graziano.

I think it was Thursday that I watched 1934's "It Happened One Night" (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0025316/). Oh the vampy Claudette Colbert and the confusingly unlikeable Clark Gable. It has the gay pacing of a 1930s movie, and the thin characters, but is still as warm as any Frank Capra movie. I think I first saw this in the mid 80s at my grandmother's house. When I was too sick for school my mother would drop me off with my grandmother. I'd lie on the couch, watch Good Morning America with her, and then we'd watch old movies on TBS until it was time for the news and naps.

Saturday morning, while writing more Christmas cards, I watched the 1938 "A Christmas Carol" (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0029992/) staring Reginald Owen as Scrooge. Not a terribly memorable version, though maybe as good as any. It might even as good as the new one with Jim Carrey. ;)

Hmm Saturday night and Sunday morning I watched "The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance" (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0056217/). It's one of those films that I could quote from but had never seen. While I'm not a fan of westerns or John Wayne, I am a Jimmy Stewart fan. While this is a western with saloons and gun fights and horses and hard drinking manly men, and while this was shot entirely on lot with no grand desert vistas, it still is a John Ford film with a Jimmy Stewart-sized heart. Not on my top list, but glad I watched it.

Oh bother. Remember the two houses that used to stand across the street? Just 1940s or so houses on small single lots. The ones that sat empty for so long. The ones that were torn down a month or so ago. Torn down to make a parking lot for the run-down apartment building that sits just south of the lots? Remember this:



as it became this:



and then this:



I dreamed that MAYBE, JUST MAYBE the owner of the apartment building would do it right. That he would make the entrance to his parking lot come in from the backside of the apartments. So tenants would circle their building and enter the lot. That the grassy area between the street and the sidewalk could be preserved. That MAYBE he'd even put up a nice fence between the parking lot and the sidewalk. Maybe he'd plant trees in front of it. But that's not the way it works is it?

Today a large truck parked in front of my house. Two workers got out and examined the small tree that stood in the area between the street and the sidewalk directly in front of the empty lots. Then they returned to the truck, unpacked their tools, and returned to the tree to dismantle it.

There can be no doubt that across the street from me, where two old houses once stood, will now be a 70 foot wide stretch of concrete reaching from the street all the way back to the alley that abuts the back of the lots. Gone too are the flowers and the grassy front yards. Gone is the little tree and all the grass and the defined sidewalk that separated someone's home from Locust Street. How disappointing Kansas City. How expected.

So it's been a very long time since I updated about life. Let's just cover last week okay?

Of course that means we'll skip Thanksgiving and the lighting ceremony on the Plaza. Oh and I think we can skip the Luminary Walk at the Nelson-Atkins as well. Oh and the Season to Risk show that night too. All those happened, there are photos, they were all very nice.

Monday morning Kate and I went to the gym then I played tennis with Megan. Later that night we all met up for dinner at Blue Koi. A cold scooter ride should always be topped off by the tofu and mushroom noodle soup at Blue Koi just FYI.

Tuesday was nice as well but Megan had to cancel Tennis as she wasn't feeling so well. Alas that was probably our last chance of the season. While Katie was out studying with Gayle, I stayed home and I believe there may have been a movie involved. That night I met up with Gayle and Kit and some of Gayle's friends as well as Megan and Ryan for trivia. Kate showed up late after class. We had a giant team so it may not have been entirely "fair" but we did win over 7 or 8 other teams that night. There are no photos as Gayle's camera was dead and there wasn't enough light for an iPhone photo.

I can't remember if it was Monday or Tuesday, but on one of those days I drove out to the health food store in Independence to get Stella's vegan dog food (yes). While there I grabbed a couple of cans of Loma Linda Tender Bits. They looked like this on the shelf:



Unfortunately when I got home and unpacked my bag, they looked more like this.



Drat.

Wednesday I went running errands with Megan. She got some books from craigslist for someone, then we went to the New Balance store in Overland Park and I paid $139 for new running shoes. No cross trainers for me, running. Because I'm a pro. Afterwards we stopped by Whole Foods and then lunched at Chili's. I don't remember what Kate and I did that night, but that is probably the night I made her watch "White Christmas" with me.

Thursday morning I dropped Kate off at the airport so she could head down to her brother's graduation dinner in Austin. That night I went to see Little Murders at Davey's. The show was some suck as it started late and the club chooses not to enforce the mandatory smoking ban. I was also the only paying patron left in the club when the headliners finished.

Friday morning I went to the gym, edited up the photos and video of the night before (see them here), then joined Kate's family for Christmas on the River in Parkville. Unfortunately it was too cold for Kate's family so we just stayed in her Uncle Chip's apartment watching MSNBC until the fireworks started, and then a few of us walked out to his balcony and strained to see the explosions through the trees.



Although I hoped to see The Stella Link that night, I opted for a warm house instead.

Hmm Saturday was a busy day. I upped my gym schedule so I'm going every day now and doing mostly cardio on what was previously my off days. Afterwards I took the dogs to the park as it was sunny and nice.



After a shower I recorded the podcast, then it was to dinner with Ryan and Megan and off to a reading of A Christmas Carol put on by the Westport Arts Council. It was lovely and I quickly realized that although I've seen various presentations through the years, I never actually read the book. Not that this reading was simply verbatim from the book, it was an hour and a half version that Dickens used himself. After that I went to see Softee at The Brick. Kinda disappointing as Softee's fans were just asses.

Sunday morning was cold, so staying in, watching football, and editing photos seemed like a good idea. The photos are on Too Much Rock if you're interested.

After the Chiefs big loss I went to the gym, then got busy with xmas cards:



I took a quick break to quickly make and eat almost an entire pizza:



Sunday night I picked up Kate up at the airport amidst a cold rain. No snow as predicted, just some cold rain really with maybe a floater here or there. I watched the rest of the Vikings game and then cried myself to sleep. Man they just played like suck.

Yesterday morning we went to the gym, post office, and grocery store. I made a quick lunch of soup, eating some of the sweet homemade vegan cornbread that Millie sent back from Austin with Kate.



Last night we stayed in, I wrote xmas cards, and we watched Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer (1964, Burl Ives), Santa Claus Is Comin' To Town (1970, Fred Astaire), & The Year Without a Santa Claus (1974, Shirley Booth). Afterwards Katie pulled out her hair.

So there hasn't been any update here for a while, not even a TCM one. I can remedy that one -- the other will have to wait a bit longer.

Today I watched "The Mortal Storm" (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0032811/) staring Jimmy Stewart and Margaret Sullivan. A bit heavy handed maybe but I suppose it was intentional. The movie is really to inspire America to enter into WWII. I'm not a fan of war, but many those Nazis sure seemed like dicks. Of course soon after the movie was released Jimmy Stewart enlisted and went off and fought real Nazis.

The duo also star in "The Shop Around the Corner" which I caught the tail end of the other day. I was watching, knowing the dialogue but it seemed odd in some way. Soon I realized I had only seen "In the Good Old Summertime." So "THe Shop Around the Corner" is being recorded today so I can get in more Jimmy.

When will I find time to watch "It's a Wonderful Life?"

Hmm yesterday I saw "The Thin Man" (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0025878/) which was quick and gay in that way that 30s films are. Though don't snooze on this detective movie or you'll miss crucial facts. There were seven sequels made, but I haven't seen any of them. I think I would based on the quips of Myrna Loy alone.

The day before? Well that was "Gaslight" (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0036855/). Oh Ingrid Bergman. Now there was an actress. Anyway it was wicked suspenseful and somewhat hard for me to watch as I'm very uncomfortable watching people get framed or be lied to. But the pacing was slow, deliberate, and small jolts were doled out along the way to I soldiered through (even if it took me two sittings).

In deference to my bride, on Sunday we watched "Heaven Can Wait" (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0077663/) with Warren Beatty. She has some sick fetish for movies from the 70s. I mean I understand "Annie Hall" and "Manhattan" but "Heaven Can Wait?" I think her and Ryan are secretly planning a 70s film festival. Reserve your tickets now. I was just happy with the frothy little movie was over so I could watch real football.

And I'm sure there were others, but I've also started in the holiday themed movie rotation. "A Charlie Brown Christmas" (classic), "It's Christmastime Again, Charlie Brown "(horrible), and "I Want a Dog for Christmas, Charlie Brown" (passable) have all be knocked out as has "Frosty The Snowman" (lovely). BTW have you seen NPH's "Frosty The Inappropriate Snowman?" Yeah it's here (http://tinyurl.com/yku3o2c). We also watched "White Christmas" (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0047673/) which I do love though I'm not sure why. The songs are merely okay, the choreography is outdated, Bing is too old for the role, and Vera-Ellen is entirely too thin. Still I like it. I need to nab "Holiday Inn" off of the interwebz and give that one a go next year instead. Katie tells me that her Netflix is delivering "Elf" tomorrow and that I get to watch it in retribution for all the holiday films I'm making her sit through. Okay, but really, Will Ferrell? I guess I can manage, as I do have about 6 more hours of holiday cartoons she'll have to sit through. Not to mention "It's A Wonderful Life" and "Miracle on 34th Street." Good thing the weather has turned cold and we now have Netflix on demand through the repaired PS3.

Was 2009 a bad year for music? My iTunes tells me so.

This morning I started preparing for the year-end Too Much Rock podcast that will recap the best songs of 2009. I started by making a Smart Playlist showing me everything released in 2009 that received three stars or better. It was empty.

Now let me explain a couple of things. First, I'm meticulous about my id3 tags. I tuck all sorts of information in there like release dates, where the band is from, what label it was released on and other important bits of meta information. It's pretty complete for the releases I've acquired in the last five years or so. Second, I rate every track after listening to it three or four times. It goes like this:

(no stars) Nothing stand out about this track.
* This song is okay, one of the better ones on the album.
** Oh this song is pretty good actually. Yeah it's good song.
*** I like this song. I should put this on a mix tape for someone.
**** This song is fantastic and everyone should hear it.
***** This song has literally changed my life.

Now those are immediate impressions, as time goes by, I revisit and re-evalutate and things do go up and down depending on how well they've served me since the release. Because of this I was able to look at the 55 or so two-star releases from 2009 and a few (exactly four) were bumped up to three-star status.

With these changes, 2009 still comes out a little worse than previous years. 2008, for example, has six tracks that garnered three-star ratings. Could I have missed the good albums, well it's possible though I really do keep up pretty well, adding 8 or more albums a week to my library. I'm more inclined to say I just haven't been impressed by much. Oh, and just in case you're curious, for a four-star we have to go back to 2005 and Tullycraft's "Molly's Got a Crush On Us". For a five-star, 1998 and Autour De Lucie's "Immobile."

I woke up this morning hoping to find the snow that was forecast to fall overnight. While there was a quarter inch of slushy white stuff (that I hesitate to call snow) on top of the cars and on the back porch railing, the yard was still a swampy green. Even so, all the sudden I had an incredible urge to watch "It's a Wonderful Life."

After getting up, dressing, letting out the dogs, and making breakfast, I sat down with the Daily Show to eat the spoils of my labour. It happens just like that most mornings.

After the episode was over, the DVR shut off and the TV automatically tuned to TCM (its default). "One Man's Journey" (http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000859/) was just starting. A very sappy film, but very good as well. Lionel Barrymore was made up to look a bit older than he really was, and as a result looked a lot like "Old Man" Potter. But in "One Man's Journey" he is a humble, caring, and selfless person -- totally the opposite from the Barrymore I had in mind when I woke.

Then, as it's a rainy day and I'm editing photos from last night, I let TCM continue to roll right into "These Three" (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0028356/) staring a stunning Merle Oberon. Man this is a hard film to watch. I don't like it when characters are set up or framed and golly the Mary Tilford character is wicked wicked spoiled brat. Think Nellie Oleson but capable of destroying lives. In the last film I got to see a good Lionel Barrymore, and things continued to surprise as in this one I got to root for Margaret Hamilton who plays a beleaguered maid. While we cringed when she was Elmira Gulch going after Dorothy, we cheered when she finally slaps Mary Tilford in one of the closing scenes of this film.

Stingaree is playing now, but I'm afraid I have more painting to do in the bathroom. Shame, those Australian accents are alluring...

Hey homeowners, I have a question for you.

When I first bought my house it had a crappy roof and so the only policy that State Farm would sell me had a 1% deductible ($3340). Now that I've got a new roof I have options, but still, I'm not sure I want to. I can drop to a $2000 deductible for $150 more a year. This means that I'm betting (as that's what insurance is lets be clear here) I have a claim in the first 9 years that is over $3340. Otherwise I've wasted my $150/yr. I've carried renters insurance for over 10 years and never made a claim. Have you guys made any claims in the last 10 years that was over $2000? Both "Yeses" (with details) and "Noes" are requested here.

Thanks!

Hello folks.

Did you have lovely weather over the weekend? Are you East Coasters still having nice weather? Yesterday after my last post Katie and I went for a lovely ride up to St. Joseph.

We left at about 11:00 staying on slow roads through town (running North Oak Trafficway all the way to it's northern terminus) and then it was all cornfields and country roads with names like Highway C, Country Road B, and State Highway MM. and Missouri Route 371. We rode through little towns like Ridgely (population 64), Edgerton, Frazier, and Faucett. We went around the Kendzora Conservation Area but didn't stop.




We arrived in St. Joe about two hours later. First stop? The Jesse James House & Museum. We followed that with a stop at an antique mall (where Katie got two new casserole dishes) and then a tour around the empty downtown and it's surrounding neighborhoods. Just some amazing mansions in sad states of disrepair ringing the city centre. It could be a very livable town. We even found a lovely cafe with lots of veggie options -- unfortunately, like the rest of town, it was closed on Sunday. We had to settle for a Quiznos on the way out of town instead.



Knowing that we had friends coming over to watch the last few episodes of Mad Men (thank you Mr. DVR) we headed home on US Route 169. There are some classy joints on 169.



Most of the time it is a two-lane rural highway that runs through Gower, and Trimble before reaching Smithville and greater Kansas City. I really should have taken a detour around Smithville Lake as I've never been there, Oh well, another time.

After a couple of errands north of the river, we crossed the Heart of America bridge, rode through downtown and back home a few minutes before 5pm. It was something like 140 miles (I wasn't keeping track and tricking Google into duplicating our route is too painful).

Hmm I haven't updated in a while so let's chat.

So the gym is going well but I'm finding it much easier to concentrate on my arms and shoulders and upper back than any of my problem areas (i.e. my gut). I've been playing tennis with Megan several times a week as well. I'm thinking about going pro. Before that happens I may need to run more and burn some calories. That and stop buying the Always Save brand Dulce de Leche striped shortbread cookies. OMG so sugar so plastic.

After several bad experiences with the lethal traps, we had the critter guy build the infinitely less reliable live trap set up you see below. We haven't heard any scratching noises in the house so hopefully we're free of the critters and can now move to having the traps and cages removed and the holes repaired. I just need to find a carpenter who will work on the attic dormer. Home ownership, damn, let me tell you.



Katie has been uber student lately. Last weekend and the first part of this weekend it was all student all the time, although by mid week I was able to drag her out in the evenings.

On Wednesday night we drove out to Lawrence for the Pinback show. Unfortunately when we got to the box office we weren't on the guest list. The exchange went something like this:

"I'm on Joe's list. Sid Sowder plus one."
"I just need your ID." (looks through several pieces of paper) "I can't find your name on any list. Who's list did you say you were on?"
"On Joe's list. It may be under Too Much Rock."
"Who's Joe?"
"Joe Jack Talcum, the opener."
"There is no opener. This is the Emilie Autumn show."
"Oh crap. Well, see you tomorrow."

As we walked away, Katie chimed in that she thought it was odd that there were kids in top hats waiting for a Pinback show. In exchange for dragging her out to Lawrence for no reason, she exacted a toll of a single scoop at
Sylas and Maddy's Homemade Ice Cream.

We tried again on Thursday night to better success. The night started with Rob Crow coming out on stage, setting up karaoke on his Gateway laptop, and performing the first song. Four or five others went before Crow came back out to sing Yes's Roundabout (flawlessly). Then it was Joe Jack Talcum, his acoustic guitar, and a case of harmonicas. Sadly it wasn't so good. Pinback were good but the crowd was just crazy. I just don't understand why Pinback are so popular with the underage drunken "woo!" crowd.

Friday night so we had a date night that included dinner at Eden Alley, a John Hodgman reading (which was part reading, part stand up, part lecture, and all very very VERY entertaining). He looks incredibly young in person. And he's wicked short. Afterwards we slipped over to see The Men Who Stare At Goats. Katie dozed off but I thought it was entertaining and lots of fun. Not great cinema, not a "must see" but worth your time.



Saturday I made some delicious breakfast burritos and then we headed over to Troost for Tulips on Troost planting. We dug out some giant beds and planted a lot of tulips. There's not much description needed. Afterwards I did some more yard work while Katie napped (the doggies kept us up late the night before). At 6:00 it was off to dinner at Ponak's with Megan and Ryan, before roller skating with Megan, Ryan, Kim, Craig and his offspring. Fun. I hadn't been for probably 15 years. Sadly we had to run home early as someone was meeting us at the house at 9:30 to pick up the dresser we sold on Criagslist. Soon I was in bed and asleep in the middle of SNL.



So today I need to go out for a long scooter ride. Gonna have to wake up Katie soon (it's already 9:30) and see if she's interested. This surely will be the last 70 degree day we see until spring and I want to take advantage of it. Later tonight we'll have folks over to watch the season finale of Mad Men.

And now that I've got leisure wrapped up, I'm expecting to hear news about work soon. I could be back to work as early as the 16th I guess. We'll see. Man time is going by fast.

Yesterday we packed a lot of Halloween into the eve's eve. I hung the ghost in the tree. It's not great, but it's there. As I've mentioned before, the house will need some work to become a spookatorium. We also carved pumpkins and roasted the seeds. We watched Gothkill (it was sent to me by a promoter months ago but I was saving it for the proper season). And then we met Ryan and Megan for The Edge of Hell haunted house in the bottoms. It was good, but you move through kinda quickly and its so dark that you don't really get to enjoy the atmosphere of each of the scenes. It's giant though. And folks, print your tickets out online, buy the VIP pass for like $6 and you'll save yourself a 2 hour wait. Seriously. Best. $6. Spent. Ever.



And speaking of the macabre, the squirrel carnage continues. We've had a squirrel (yeah right "a" squirrel) that has been slipping into the house between the first and second floor. We finally got critter control out to take a look at the situation and traps were set. Due to the location of the entry point, live traps are not a possibility. So a trap that looks something like a cross between a bear trap and a mouse trap was set up and 10 minutes later SNAP. A squirrel dangles with it's neck broken in a trap. Icky. The trap is reset and off the critter guy goes. This morning another squirrel dangles, and yet I still hear more squirrels scurrying around between the floors. One I feel awfully bad about the squirrels as they're simply adorable, and two, each squirrel cost us $60. I'm wondering if I should get a ladder and learn to reset the trap myself. I'll watch when the worker comes today to empty the trap and see if I can learn his secret.

Btw our occasionally spotty cable tv quality can be blamed on the little guys gnawing away on our cable line as it's right where their entry hole is. So that's good news. Once the squirrels are out, and the hole is patched, we can have Time Warner fix our line and then watch Yo Gabba Gabba without stuttering video and audio.

After riding with Katie to school this morning I ran some errands for tonight -- picking up coloured bulbs and the like for tonight. I'm not sure we'll get a trick-o-treater one, but I'll be prepared. It'll be alit chilly tonight (50 degrees) but not bad. Hopefully not too many kids will be forced to wear coats on top of their costumes.

Tomorrow looks to be great weather (Sunny and 67) so hopefully Katie and I can go out and take a longer ride under what leaves are left. We've still got a few, but these wont last far into November.

Set your clocks back tonight folks. That means an extra hour of Halloween. It also means the dogs will be going crazy for dinner at 4pm as they don't understand daylight savings time. Do you change the batteries in your smoke detectors? I don't, I should probably start doing that. It seems like the grown up thing to do.

Anyway I'm off to blow he leaves out of the bushes, set up the speakers for spooky music (I'll be hooking them to an Apple Airport Express so I can stream the haunted sounds out there), and prep the mood lighting. Probably too early to set out the luminaries. Can I put on my costume now? Oh I do love Halloween.

So I continue to go through old cassettes, make iTunes playlists out of the contents and toss the tapes. Here is a unfinished cassette made sometime around 1995 (I'd guess). It is labelled "80s Enuff." I guess my favourite songs? Man I don't ever wanna hear "Heart and Soul" or "Too Shy" or "(I Just) Died in Your Arms" again in my life. I can't imagine that I adored those songs at some point. What WAS I thinking?

Side A:

1. 88 Lines about 44 Women - The Nails
2. Destination Unknown - Missing Persons
3. Always Something There to Remind Me - Naked Eyes
4. Kids in America - Kim Wilde
5. She Blinded Me With Science - Thomas Dolby
6. (Keep Feeling) Fascination - The Human League
7. Cruel Summer - Bananarama
8. Life in A Northern Town - The Dream Academy
9. Mexican Radio - Wall of Voodoo
10. Major Tom (Coming Home) - Peter Schilling
11. I Wanna Be a Cowboy - Boys Don't Cry
12. Heart and Soul - T'Pau

Side B:
1. Too Shy - Kajagoogoo
2. Turning Japanese - The Vapors
3. (I Just) Died in Your Arms - The Cutting Crew
4. Never Say Never - Romeo Void
5. Pop Goes the World - Men Without Hats

ON THE COUCH MEANS MORE TCM. LAST NIGHT I WATCHED PAPER MOON - http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0070510/. MY FIRST TIME WITH THE FILM. IT'S A FINE FLIM FLAM DEPRESSION FILM FOR SMIRKS BUT THERE'S NO GRAND STATEMENT HERE. THE ACTING IS VERY SUBTLE -- I WANTED TO DRAG MORE OBVIOUS EMOTION FROM RYAN O'NEAL AND ITS SO HARD TO TAKE MADELINE KAHN SERIOUSLY. MAYBE ITS JUST THAT I CAN'T GET BEHIND MOST MOVIES MADE AFTER 1955.

HAPPY CAPSLOCK DAY EVERYONE!

Last night we watched Mr. Sardonicus -- http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0055200/. It just happened to be starting when I turned on the television so this wasn't a planned viewing, but rather a fortuitous one. Quick review: a plot with lots of holes, poorly-written dialogue, horrible special effects, but still lots of tension. Worth your time, but not your money.

Okay I'm trapped on the couch. My back is out again. I bent over to reach for something and SNAP. It's not nearly so bad as last time -- I can move, it just hurts. Luckily I made it back from vacation before that happened. I had hoped spending three days a week for the past four months with a personal trainer working on my core might help, but here I lie.

For details on that, just see Katie's LJ. She wrote it up pretty well. There are a zillion photos on Flickr if you want to slide show the weekend.

The house has been shaking for days as they put the new roof on. They may finish up tomorrow which will be keen as it's been pretty disruptive to the doggies. Frannie in particular has been quaking and vomiting. Fun.

Katie's birthday is Thursday. Dinner with family. We're having folks over on Friday. Are you coming? I have a cake to bake. Tonight though I want cookies. I hope I can stand long enough to whip up some oatmeal no-bakes.

I haven't seen anything on TCM for a while so no update there. I did just discover that there is a TCM HD and I've been wasting my time on SD. This opens a whole new world of couch potato-ing.

Of course I don't think I'll have time. My partner called tonight and there are three gigs all scheduled to start shortly. One may put me back in Hartford, one in Houston, and one is here in Kansas City. We'll see.

There.