What an eventful weekend! Friday kicked things off as Megan and I had dinner with another couple that were meeting each other for the first time. I don’t normally get involved with matchmaking, but this one time I did. They met and seemed to like each other so my job is done - whatever happens now is their business. Afterwards, we headed over to the Relay for Life event where Megan’s employer had a tent. She manned the cotton candy and snow cone stations like a pro.
Morning came early Saturday as it was Megan’s graduation day over at UNA. We picked up Jessica along the way and made it to the ceremony in the nick of time. Megan’s folks and Livvie met up with us there. Somehow, I found 5 seats for all of us in the crowded gym. Graduation went off without a hitch although there was an extremely funny moment when this one student’s name was announced followed with someone yelling “IT’S A MIRACLE!”… LOL! Everything paused while all involved regained their composure. Afterward, we all enjoyed a much needed meal at Rigatoni’s.
Sunday I had a bumpy time on the drums. I made it through okay but I wasn’t particularly satisfied with how I played. That happens sometimes. Amber didn’t make it through warm-up before falling ill. She’s okay but thankfully Pam was able to step in and sing in her place (Pam sang with us regularly in the past). Thankfully, the rest of the service went off without a hitch.
Ended the evening with a big meal of steamed crabs at Kevin and Stacey’s. Afterward, we played several rounds of Mario Kart on the Wii before calling it a night.
Monday morning was off to a good start… until my pest control guy left my gate open and my dog got out. Nothing like running 1/4 mile in your dress clothes to make you kind of grumpy. Finally caught up with Kelsey and dragged her back home. I was livid. Thank goodness for yesterdays message on forgiveness. Both my dog AND the pest control guy benfitted from me hearing that so recently.
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Today in church, one of the songs we were playing was ended early by Kevin. I didn’t know it at the time, but he had broken a string on his guitar. I was glad I was paying close attention to what was going on because as the drummer… if you keep going accidentally - it’s kinda hard to cover up or make it seem as though you “meant to do that”. Anyhow, I’m trying harder and harder to not rely on written music as much as I have in the past. Today, I only had music for the two new songs in the set and played the other three older songs from memory. It’s nice to have the safety net of being able to look over at my music and see what I need to be doing. It’ll be a LOT nicer to know the song backwards and forwards though and not have to look at music at all. How can I do that? Practice more. On the weeks I play, I practice a couple of hours - more if we have new songs to learn. I could stand to add more time to that though. I mentioned to Kevin an idea we bounced around in the past, and that was to go to 2 band practices a week instead of the 1 practice we’ve been doing for years. If we really want to get better, we have to start doing things differently now. That’s really all it boils down to.
I was also the holdup during sound check today… not so much me, but the sound techs dialing in my mics. Things sounded “wrong” in my in-ear mix only to find out the channels I was using were still set for the other drummer… he and I use totally different microphones and also have totally different requirements for what we hear in our monitors. So… all my stuff was messed up today. In the end, everything seemed to work out but I can’t deny that it’s a little frustrating. Despite that, everyone stayed pleasant and got things worked out and that’s what really matters.
In other band stuff, Megan was up on stage today playing keys. She did a great job especially considering she only had 2 days notice. She put a lot of effort into getting ready - playing the piano at my house going over her parts for most of the day Saturday. She even had time to help me in the yard too…
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Livvie and Kelsey played around with each other while Megan and I worked in the yard. I took a break and hauled a camera out in case something worth shooting ensued. I was in luck. Got plenty done in the yard today. There’s still more to go, but things are shaping up. Ended the day grilling some steaks and asparagus to go along with some baked potatoes. Mmmm good.
Off to bed now. Playing in the morning so gotta get some rest.
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Last night I headed to Monaco Pictures to see “Ironman” on opening night. I wasn’t sure what to expect, but I was pleasantly surprised at how good the movie was. Robert Downey Jr. did a great job of playing Tony Stark - a weapons designer whose company, Stark Industries, was a dominant if not THE dominant player in the weapons market. I don’t want to spoil it for anyone that wants to go see it, but let me just say that I thought the movie was fun and the special effects and CGI just amazing.
While I was off at the movies, Megan and Livvie were enjoying High School Musical on Ice. We all got back together afterwards and had a nice dinner at Dolce. While the food there is really good… it’s a little on the spendy side. Also important to note is that the menu is not what I would consider “kid-friendly”. Remember when you were a kid and you went to a restaurant and there were no burgers and fries, just all this stuff with weird names and vegetables you didn’t like? It’s like that.
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By all accounts, this weekend had been predicted by the local meteorologists to be a total washout. With that in mind, I went ahead and mowed my lawn Thursday night. It’s Sunday night now and all we’ve gotten is a sprinkling so far. So much for that.
LOST got cranked up again this week with a new episode and BOY was it a doozy! It was an action-packed one to say the least. For me it was one jaw-dropping event after another. Any of you guys LOST fans?
Since the rain held off, I finally went to battle against the holly bush hedges in front of my porch. Those beasties get a little out of hand if left alone too long. Luckily, I think it was last year I picked up an electric hedge trimmer that made the job of manicuring them less of an ordeal than with hand clippers. I got done with one set but need to turn my attention to the shrubs beside my house before I can check that off my list as “done”.
I took a short break in the afternoon before going to dinner with Megan, Livvie, Jessica and Mark. We met up at Macaroni Grill and had a delicious dinner. I tried a different wine this go around as they no longer carried the Kendall-Jackson chardonnay that I’m so fond of. Instead, they had the brand “Toasted Head” that turned out to be pretty good so I really had no complaints. After dinner, we headed to a local bowling alley for a game. That was a nice way to end the evening.
Today was Mario Kart for the Wii day! I picked up my copy after church as well as 2 extra steering wheels (for total of 3). For some reason I thought I had 3 Wii-motes. I went back and got a third when I discovered my mistake. Played that most of the afternoon. In my downtime, I watched the F1 race - they were in Spain this weekend. Ferrari is starting to look pretty strong after a bumpy start to the season. BMW is looking good too.
That wraps up the last few days… Oh, I mentioned I shot a wedding a week or so ago. Here’s one shot from that event:
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I’ve been eating rather high off the hog this week. Sunday night, Megan and I had dinner at Outback. It wasn’t anything we planned, we just decided that we wanted something different than was available in town. I had filet medallions and sea scallops… my favorite thing though was the seared ahi tuna appetizer. It was great. Megan even perked up when she tried it. Fast forward to Monday night - the plan is to go grocery shopping then pick up something quick to eat on the way home. While strolling through the meat department, I thought I would pick up a steak or two to grill out later in the week. As luck would have it, a friend of mine that’s a butcher there cut two THICK filets for me. It was already 7:00pm but I was gonna fire up the grill. I also got some new seasoning to try as well (which turned out to be fantastic). I skimped on the baked potato though and got one of the microwaveable ones. I’ve had good luck with those in the past. By the time I got the charcoal ready, it was around 8. By 8:30 I was feeding my face. I could probably go about 2 or 3 minutes less on the filet though. It was closer to medium than the medium-rare I prefer. It was still good.
Tuesday night was a dinner at Simp’s with Megan’s co-workers. I had several stuffed mushroom caps, wings and breaded fried asparagus along with my main course of prime rib. Another good meal. After work today, I hit the grocery store again and picked up some sea scallops - 5 BIG ones as well as some stuff to make pan seared scallops with. I had one filet left over from Monday so I seasoned and tossed that on the grill while I prepared the scallops. Everything turned out very nicely. I made the adjustments on the cooking time for the filet to get that just right only now I could have used about 2 minutes less oven time with the scallops. It was my first time to try that and the results were pretty good despite the slight overcook.
I probably should ease off the red meat just a little with all I’ve already consumed over the past few days. Before you think all I eat is steak - I had Taco Bell for lunch today.
Bon apetit’
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Last Saturday, I took Megan and Livvie down to Barber Motorsports Park with me to attend the AMA Superbike race. It’s such a great facility - it’s like a country club but instead of a golf course, there’s a road course. I had been there a few years earlier for a Rolex Porsche Cup event and knew what to expect. Normally I don’t follow motorcycle events but I wanted to try my hand at photographing one for fun. I used my Canon 5D although in retrospect, my 20D may have been a better choice with it’s higher frame rate and cropped sensor. Despite the camera choice, I made the best of the situation. The high pixel count of the 5D made extreme enlargements possible though so that could outweigh the speed advantage of the other camera.
I recognized a few of the front runner’s names but don’t follow this sport enough to know who is who on the track without a list of racer numbers in hand. Matt Mladin, Miguel Duhamel, Ben Spies and Tommy Hayden were the ones I knew of. The others I’d have to read up on. I didn’t know who rode for which team or who their sponsors were so I was just a noobie with a camera in the crowd - LOL!
I’ll post more pics from Saturday as soon as I get some time to sort through them. I got several keepers but PLENTY of discards. I also ran into my friend Nicole there. She was there with Honda doing grid-girl duties.
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After much wrangling, I was able to get some output from Final Cut Pro. I think the breakthrough was acting on my suspicion that the version of FCP I was using (5.0.4) didn’t play well with either my Powerbook or Leopard. I’m thinking the latter.
Anyway, from the left it’s Kevin on keys and vocals, Brent on bass, me on drums, Amber on vocals, Jack on lead and Will (although he was obscured by the projector most of the time). Enjoy.
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After hitting around 80 last week, temperatures over the weekend dipped back to winter levels even prompting a freeze warning a few nights. How special is that? The cold was especially bad Monday evening when I brought my camera along to snap some shots of some friends playing their first softball game of the season. Wearing my winter clothes and wearing a toboggan is just plain WEIRD for softball. Things should be returning to more normal temperatures soon though. I hope that Saturday turns out nicely as I plan to head down to the Barber Motorsports Park (just east of Birmingham) for a Honda Superbike race. I’ll keep an eye on the weather report - even though they run in the rain, I’m not a big enough fan yet to watch motorcycle racing in the rain.
On the music front, we rocked some Switchfoot on Sunday. Big crowd there - 186 folks. No mishaps (that anyone noticed) despite having a slightly bumpy warm-up. A huge thanks to Chris W for getting my drums sounding good through the PA. It’s nice having someone that knows what all the sound gear does and how to get the best out of it. You really can tell when he’s driving.
On a separate subject, Final Cut Pro is kicking my behind. Never have I had so much trouble learning how to use an application. I’ve got a feeling that most of the problems I’m encountering are tied to issues with the version of FCP I am using (5.0.4) and the Leopard operating system. I’m going to load it on a Tiger system and see if I get better results. We’ll see.
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Now that I’m back to 100% again, I’m able to return to getting things done on the weekends once again. Today I:
- Did a load of laundry
- Finished up my wedding photos from last weekend
- Made a CD of photos Kevin was needing
- Went to band practice
- Visited Home Depot and picked up: string trimmer, weed blocker fabric, pins to hold the fabric down, a small landscaping rake, 40 lbs of lime and a fresh pair of work gloves
- After eating a quick lunch, I finished my taxes online - both federal and state
- Mowed back behind the fence on the rear of my property
- Clipped all the stuff growing up into the chain link fence
- Clipped all the stuff growing over from my neighbors yard into mine
- Put lime down on the front lawn
- Got rid of all the grass and weeds around my a/c unit
- Went to the grocery store
- Grilled out
- Showered
WHEW! Megan was a big help today. While I was doing all that above, she was cleaning out flower beds as well as cleaning up around the patio. After dinner, she washed all the dishes before she and Livvie took off.
Anyway, I’m serious about trying to get my lawn back in shape again and maybe enjoy it a little more this year. It will probably be next year before the grass starts looking better but in the meantime I’ll take care of what I can. I think I’ll wrap up the evening packing up my gear for tomorrows service and fold the last basket of laundry and I’ll call the day done.
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