When is heat and humidity not a bad thing? When you’re on the beach - that’s where. Megan and I spent the last few days in Singer Island, FL - just off of West Palm Beach. It was nice to get away for awhile for sure. I didn’t bring a laptop. I didn’t bring either of my “big” cameras. Technology-wise, I just brought my Blackberry, pocket camera and my TomTom so we could find our way around down there. Oh, I did have my iPod too, but that was pretty much the extent of my “stuff” that I brought along. Megan just brought her cellphone also. She too is hard to separate from her laptop so it was a nice break for her also.

The place we stayed at was fantastic… there are nice places and then there are NICE places. This was a NICE place. I’ll post more about that later.

A lot of laying around, good food, good drinks and more laying around was all there was to do - and I wouldn’t have it any other way. I think Megan’s figured out just how banannas I am and hasn’t been scared off… We also discovered her favorite place to hang out - Meganland. She was there quite often. Hehe! I can’t really say I didn’t have moments of my own though. The best was when I was fooling around with the in-room safe. In a nutshell, with the safe open, you pressed a reset button and then entered in the 4-digit code you wanted to use to unlock it then you shut the door with your stuff inside. Easy huh? Somehow, I managed to lock my stuff inside and wasn’t able to unlock it… neither was the resort’s security. An hour later, 2 security guards and several phone calls to the safe’s vendor - they got it open.

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Sunday before last, we covered a song by the band Demon Hunter - One Thousand Apologies. Brent, our bassist, is a big fan of the band and I’m sure was a influence in getting the song on the set list. I like playing heavier stuff… lots of fun and energy to put into it. A big thanks to Chris Wilhelm for the “screaming” vocals 2/3rd’s through the song. That was the icing on the cake!

From left, it’s Jack on bass (so Brent could play leads) dancing around like it’s a bluegrass tune, Kevin on lead vocals, me drumming and Brent with leads and harmonies. In the video he kinda gets shafted as his head is obscured by the video projector.

Audio quality still leaves much to be desired - until we can run a separate audio mix for the video, it’s going to be hit or miss. I believe the audio here was from the on-camera mic.

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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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