As a really great weekend was winding down, I was in the middle of knocking out some laundry Sunday evening when my dryer decided to crap out on me. I had one load of damp clothes in there and another batch in the washer. Once again, glad I have friends. A neighbor of mine let me bring all my stuff down to her place to dry. That was convenient. I went online and Googled the service schematics for my particular dryer and came to the conclusion that a thermal fuse had failed (or worked depending on how you look at it). Never took a dryer apart though so I some appliance people came over today and worked on it. I was right, it WAS the fuse I suspected. I’m back in business again.

Lately it seems I’ve had a string of stuff failing on me. My iPod was acting weird several weeks ago but now is acting better. A power supply died in one of my spare computers. My camera shutter broke. And of course the dryer. I hope I can avoid more breakage at least for a bit! Oh, I had to get a new grill too… but that was for a whole different set of reasons.

I’ve been getting a lot of use out of the aforementioned grill. The other night, I tried a simple preparation on a ribeye since I didn’t have the time to marinate it like I normally would. I just brushed on some olive oil and seasoned it with kosher salt and freshly ground pepper. That worked like a champ! Got a lot more flavor out of the steak instead of the sometimes overpowering flavor of marinade. I do have to watch my grilling times a little more closely as a few times my steaks have gone past the medium mark when I was trying for medium-rare. I’ll start using my thermometer - that should should help me get that squared away instead of guessing.

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I purposely kept my schedule today free since I haven’t had a Saturday without some sort of commitment since May. I didn’t lay around and do nothing of course, but I wasn’t pressed to really accomplish anything today. Mostly, I worked on some photos then tinkered around with some drum tuning. Oh, earlier I did give Kelsey a much needed bath. She seemed to enjoy the cool water and scrub. It so cool that she doesn’t shake the water off until I tell her we’re done and she gets away from me so she doesn’t get me wet(ter). I ran out later in the afternoon after a huge downpour soaked everything and cranked the humidity WAY up. Stopped over at Lowes to pick up a charcoal chimney thing for my grill (which works fabulously BTW) and some groceries over at Publix. I gave away my last bottle of wine at Danielle’s party last weekend so I went ahead and picked up one to start getting stocked back up again. FWIW, my favorite wine is Kendall Jackson’s Chardonnay. Nice flavor. I’m not a big fan of red wines. I haven’t found one I care for yet. Anyway, I got home and got a fire going then had a ribeye and some roasted corn for dinner. Yum.

Earlier this week I went out with Lesa and company to Simp McGhee’s. The original plan was to have a drink then head home - which almost never happens. At Simp’s, if you stay, it’s usually gonna cost ya. We ended up staying - a friend joined me and ordered dinner. I snacked away on some some crab fingers and the random forkful of her dish. We got the idea to go check out the Chuck and Larry movie that’s out and stopped by my place to change out of “work” clothes into something that borders on the homeless but comfortable look. Had some time to kill till the movie started so cranked up some Dave Chapelle show episodes and laughed our collective hineys off. By the time we were supposed to have left, getting off the couch was hard so we just stayed there. We’ll catch the movie another time.

Thursday after band practice, Kevi, Kyle and I tried out the new Romeo’s restaurant on the Beltline. They were packed but we were able to get a table in the bar area. For a drink, I ordered a glass of chardonnay (Castle Rock, I think: whatever). Waiter brings me back a glass of some red wine. Sigh. I knew the bartender though and showed him and he got that fixed. Salad was good but I could deal with less olives and onions next time. Got my meal of chicken marsala which was surprisingly good. The only other bump was when I got my ticket at the end - they had charged me for a BOTTLE of wine instead of the single glass I had. I’ll attribute the errors to first-week problems getting the staff up to speed. I’ll give it a whirl again soon and we’ll see if things have improved.

Thank goodness I have friends with cameras they are willing to loan me until mine gets healed. Thanks to Richard, Lesa and Jeff for their generosity. I’m still deciding on what my next camera will be but I’m leaning towards a Canon Mark IIn. The Mark III would be nice but there are some issues with it that I’m waiting for resolution on. Whatever I go with, I really do need the performance of Canon’s 1D series - especially the weather resistance. Donations to the new camera fund would be greatly appreciated. Heh.

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Today at church, I felt for the first time that my drums were the best they had been “dialed in” through the PA system yet. It felt GOOD to play them. The kick drum really had some meat to it for once and the toms themselves were cutting through nicely. The sound folks made a few changes, the biggest of which was moving the subwoofer around to the opposite side of the stage from where it was. What a difference that made.

I heard we had plenty of first-time guests there too! That’s a big plus. As we get closer and closer to our re-launch on August 12th, I can only hope we keep up the momentum we have and keep on building. With several weeks of practice setting up and tearing down, things are getting more efficient. A big thanks to everyone that helps with the logistics. Personally, I want to give a huge thanks to John - he’s been there every Sunday (’cept for last week when his daughter got married in California) to help me get my drums ready to play and then ready to transport afterwards. You’re great buddy!

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Got together with friends Saturday evening for some wine and cheese. The occasion was the birthday of Danielle, my friend Jonathan’s wife. Some of her friends from Kentucky and also Georgia came into town to help celebrate. It was a nice evening just to kick back hang out with folks. Met several new people too. You just can’t have too many friends.

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I had the pleasure of attending a clinic with Jeff Hamilton, one of if not THE most sought after jazz drummer around today.

I started off the afternoon meeting up with my friends Jeff and Mark before heading off in Jeff’s diesel Jetta (with a crazy 50mpg) to Nashville. First stop was Fork’s, our drum shop extraordinaire. Jeff had ordered a really compact drum kit that literally fits in the trunk of his car!

Hmmm… that almost sounds like a good idea.

Anyway - Mark had never been there and was amazed by how much stuff they had in the shop. They really have a very complete inventory of everything you could possibly need as a drummer or percussionist. It’s great that they’re only a 90 minute drive away. After all that, we headed for the studio where the clinic was to be held. While waiting, I met a guy from Knoxville, TN - my old hometown. We got to talking and I was completely floored to learn that he plays gigs with a guy named Rusty Holloway - MY OLD GUITAR TEACHER FROM 24 YEARS AGO. What a small world. Had a great time talking about music stuff from the past and also about Knoxville. Got a front-row seat once the doors opened and was treated to a great display of jazz on the drums. WOW. Jazz is definitely something I want to get more exposure too. It looks like so much fun to play. Jeff graciously signed autographs and had some kind words for the attendees there. Really a class act. He’s currently on tour with Diana Krall.

Had dinner afterwards at Big River Brewery before the long ride home. Broadway was hoppin’ on a Friday night and there was no shortage of interesting characters going by as we sat outdoors and dined by the river. All in all, it was a nice way to wrap up the week.

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Broken camera update. Canon provides a website so you can check on the status of equipment you have in their service center being worked on. Last Monday I received an estimate of $195 to fix my camera. I said “ok” and they charged my credit card for the amount. So far so good. The “status” on their website changes and shows my repair as “accepted”. So far so good. Yesterday, I checked the website and the status had changed to “re-estimate”. Rut roh raggy. I called the service line to see what the deal was and basically had to wait until the repair center was open so they could find out what was happening directly from the tech. I get a bad feeling about this. So, I call first thing this morning and find out that I should expect a new email with a revised estimate in it. I also check my credit card and find that the $195 I had paid on Monday had been credited back.

I get an email.

I immediately see the line of text that says “shutter release count (77,980) exceeds shutter life - re-estimated for major parts and labor”. Guess what the new total is?

 $610

Now I have to decide what to do. I was contemplating getting a new camera and using this camera, once repaired, as a backup. I could just leave this camera unrepaired and get a new(er) one, but I would still be without a backup. Sigh.

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I thought I’d save up on a few happenings before sharing with you guys.  After wrapping up an extremely busy week, I went out Friday evening with some friends to hang out at the Brick for some drinks. A band called Pla Station was there. I had never heard of them but I’m always open to listening to new stuff. Lo and behold, sitting behind the drums was my friend Larue! I hadn’t seen him in ages. The band was good - played some funk from the 80’s and 90’s and really got the crowd going. Unfortunately for me, I had a photo shoot the next morning so I had to cut out a little earlier than I normally would have.

Saturday rolled around bright and early. I headed out to Madison to pick up a white backdrop I was needing for the shoot. I thought I had one but was mistaken. Picked that up and got back to town. Spent the next hour or so getting everything set up - backdrop stand assembled, backdrop hung up, lights set up, softboxes assembled, etc. What I was shooting was a girl that wanted photos done in the “pin-up” styles of the 30’s and 40’s. I had to do a bit of research to figure out how those shots were lit as well as what poses were popular. Thankfully, my subject had selected some examples that made it easy for me to emulate what she was wanting. Made my life a lot easier. It was a fun shoot, but a lot of work also.

Sunday was the usual frenzy that comes with being part of a portable church. Wanna know what my part of the fun is? Here you go:

• Help set up stage
• Unroll my carpet on stage (keeps my stuff from moving around)
• Unpack drums
• Assemble drums
• Unpack hardware (cymbal stands, hi-hat, pedals, drum legs, etc)
• Set up hardware
• Unpack and put cymbals in place
• Unpack my microphones
• Put mic mounts on 3 toms & attach mics to mounts and then to the snake (runs to sound board)
• Set up mic for snare drum and attach cable from mic to snake
• Set up left and right overhead mics and attach to cables and then to snake
• Put all cases and containers under the stage
• Set up 6 panels of sound absorbing walls behind me and the drums
• Set up 5 plexiglass panels in front of me to contain the sound
• Play like a wild monkey

After all that, the shower I took before showing up is kind of a moot point. I’m all hot and sweaty. When everything is over, take the list above and reverse it.

Had a housewarming party for my friend Kyle that afternoon then had to run to Madison to return the backdrop I had borrowed and also a camera that my friend Richard so graciously loaned me. While there, I picked up a Wacom tablet to help me with my photo editing. That thing is the shizzle let me tell you. I don’t know why I didn’t get one sooner. It REALLY is a great tool.

Got back home and repaired a toilet. How glamorous is that? The fill valve was acting up on it. I rubbed $8 worth of parts from Lowe’s on it and got it healed. Works like a champ now. Got a somewhat last-minute invite to grilling out at Kevin’s. The one bad thing is that I didn’t have enough time to get something and properly marinate it. I ended up picking up a filet that I was able to marinate for at least a few minutes. It turned out well. After the busy weekend and a nice dinner, it was Monday again.

Got news from Canon with the estimate to fix my camera. It wasn’t too bad. I approved the repair so hopefully I’ll be using my own camera again very soon. I hope it gets here this week. I miss it.

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I must admit that I am a fan of the Harry Potter series. On a lark years ago, I decided to watch the first movie installment to see what all the excitement was about. Honestly, I expected it to be some mindless kid movie that I would regret spending time watching. I was very surprised to find the movie entertaining and engaging. Since then, I’ve seen the other movies and read the books along the way. Tonight, I saw the latest installment - Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix. It was “darker” than the previous movies, but after reading the book - you knew it would be. It was well done although the actors in it look a good bit older than before… kind of a negative.

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After a string of weekends since May where I’ve had something scheduled to do every weekend, this past one was a welcome relief. The last work week was suprisingly busy, but the highlight had to be when my camera’s shutter broke as I was shooting at the Miss Point Mallard pageant the night of the 4th. Sigh. I have put a lot of mileage on my camera especially the past few months. It just goes to reinforce how important it is to have a backup camera body whenever you’ve got something especially important to shoot. It’s ironic that I was already considering what camera I wanted to upgrade to, but this recent event hastens the planning a little bit. Anyway, I ship my camera off to Canon tomorrow for hopefully a quick repair.

Had a good time Friday night as Jo, Rachelle and I headed over to Maria Bonita to hang out. Lot of laughing and general goofiness - something I really enjoyed. Oh, there was a guy there with an iPhone that came over and hung with us for a bit and let us all check it out. I have to admit, it’s pretty fly. That is one sexy piece of technology. For the time being though, my Blackberry still does the trick for me as I have other things to budget for right now. Stayed out much too late as I had to get up at… 6 AM Saturday morning to shoot a mini-triathalon… in the rain.  My buddy Jonathan Palmer was there shooting for the paper as well as Jurgen, shooting for the local NBC affiliate. It was the same crew from the STIHL event the previous weekend. Tiffany was there too doing her thing and directing competitors the way they needed to go. Despite the sogginess, everyone seemed to have a good time. I wasn’t too happy about being in the rain but I think I got a few usable shots so that’s all I was interested in. I was done by 9 and headed back home for a shower and to revisit my bed.

Speaking of bed, I have a question to ask my 3 loyal readers… how often do you change/launder your bedsheets and pillowcases? Typically, I change mine weekly. I was just wondering what ya’ll do. I know… that was pretty random.

Up early this morning, once again at 6. Was at the movie theater at 7:30 setting up my drums. My usual buddy that helps me wasn’t there today so I had a whole lot more to do. There’s nothing hard about it, just a lot of things having to happen in a certain order for things to go smoothly. Got setup, played and then broke everything back down. Always a party. I was home in time to catch the British Grand Prix race, take a shower and then a much needed snooze. Got a lot accomplished around the house later, so I actually don’t feel as though the weekend has been wasted.

I really need to take back more of my weekend time. This one was nice.

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I tried using Safari for the PC (up until recently, was a Mac-only browser) to update my blog. That did not work out well after I made the code edits I normally do to a post I make through Flickr (paired up with a photo). The resulting entry was jacked up like nobody’s business. I went back and deleted the entry and re-did it but using Firefox instead like I normally do. Much mo’ betta.

One thing I DO like about Safari though is that it renders my blog nicely - the fonts look especially good.

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