PREPARE TO HAVE YOUR MIND BLOWN AWAY!!!

This was way way too strange to not show you! We endured this for like forty minutes and lived to tell. Mind was blown away. Wish it hadn't been but Sleepercar warned us Jon Hopkins would "blow your mind away."

But Seriously. Doesn't this sound like CSI music when they process a crime scene or go to the lab to do some DNA testing?

November 18, 2008 Coldplay in Houston

Tuesday Night, 7:30pm, The Toyota Center, Downtown Houston Texas...

COLDPLAY

I was very lucky to have a chance to see Coldplay in Houston tonight! Dawn and I were able to go and spend the evening with 8000 fans in the Toyota Center and witness one of the GREATEST concerts I've ever seen.

But in order to get to the great stuff we had to endure alittle of the not so great but okay, to the downright boring and pretty lame.

The alright was a group that first opened at 7:30pm called SleeperCar. Now I didn't mind them too much. It wasn't anything really great. We really got a kick out of their guitar/keyboard player. He was constantly looking to the side as he would play and look out to the crowd like he was something hot. It got really stupid. And Dawn didn't really like the lead singer. The band was solid. They sounded good but the singer wasn't anything to jump up and down for. At one point, he spoke about a song that he wrote for his cousin that died like two weeks after the two had a fight. He never got to say goodbye and more than that, he didn't ever get to say he was sorry. "Wow, this will be good," I thought. Then it was the dullest and unemotional song I'd heard. It actually sounded like a ripoff of a U2 song called Kite. But Kite was a way better song. That you didn't have to have Bono tell you what it was about or why. You know it.

This was Dawn's first concert. When Sleeper Car came on, it was really really loud. She ended up going to the restroom and getting some paper to put in her ears. Then she was fine. I went without and suffered for about three hours after the show. And alittle the next day.

Well they took up a half hour. Then at the end the lead singer tells us, Jon Hopkins is coming up and he's gonna, "BLOW YOUR MIND!" Alright, let's get our minds blown and it will hype us up for COLDPLAY! He comes out and proceeds to play on two Mac Books and a keyboard and synthisizer. And it turns into a 40 minute CSI background music number with Animated pictures shown on a screen that we can't see and we're only fourteen rows back from the stage. You know the music that they play on CSI where they are processing a crime scene or testing evidence in the uber labs. It was like that but just drawn out even longer. I like my atmosphere music faster than 120 beats per minute. This was dull. And it seemed like it never ended. I looked around the crowd. No one was into it. I didn't see anyone bouncing their head or anything. I said to Dawn, "NO ONE IS INTO THIS." This DJ guy was more into it, flaying his arms around and hitting his keyboard and constantly typing away on his laptops and stuff. It just wasn't that good to me. Or Dawn. Or at least 70% of the audience.

We were very very glad when it was over. It was about 8:45pm when he left the stage. Then we just had to wait about 20 minutes and in that time all the prep was going on. One of the craziest things we saw were these small guys had to climb up into the light set up above and out away from the stage and then climbed on the scafolding to these suspended chairs that turned out to be spotlights suspended about the crowd. WOW! I'd never seen anything like that. It was awesome.

Then they began pounding JAY-Z and the crew was dancing and flashing lights at eachother. Something was up. Then in a very very loud way, they began playing The Blue Danube (forgive my spelling) through the speakers. And these curtains began lowering on the stage. And it got louder and louder until the end with it thundering, the lights went out all at once!!!

And the crowd went NUTS!!!

Setlist:
Life In Technicolor
Violet Hill
Clocks

In My Place
Speed Of Sound
Cemeteries Of London
Chinese Sleep Chant
42
Fix You
Strawberry Swing
-The Group walks out to a little stage lit from below

God Put A Smile Upon Your Face (Electronic Mix)
Talk
-Chris talks to a little girl with awesome seats and sings alone

The Hardest Part
Postcards From Far Away
-Chris runs back to the stage

Viva La Vida
Lost!
The Scientist

-The Group Runs out to the back of the Toyota Center

Death Will Never Conquer (Will plays guitar and sings the song!!!)

The Group runs back to the stage and we wait

Interlude:
Viva La Vida (Thin White Duke Remix)
-They get back to the stage

Politik
Lovers In Japan (The Butterflies fill the Toyota Center!!!)
Death And All His Friends

Encore:
Yellow
The Escapist

What I felt that was really great about the whole set list was that every song, even the not so well known ones were full of energy and excitement! One song would end and then they would go into the next one and everyone would cheer because it was THAT song!!! Yes! They're playing that one!!! Not once did I ever feel like they were doing a song that I didn't want to hear. Everytime a new song would start, I'd throw my hands up and say, "YES!!!"

There were some really great moments throughout. But a really memorable moment from Houston, was during the part when the band played Death Will Never Conquer accoustic, Chris pulled out his harmonica and began playing and moving around. He accidently pulled the plug on Will's guitar as he was singing. The sound cut immediately. He stopped and looked right a Chris and he had to appologize and they all began laughing. A human moment! Chris had to tell him to finish it all the time while trying to keep it all together. Will got the sound back and finished the song. Also, Chris said that they do that (walking through the crowd to get to the back of the center) everynight, but Houston was the hardest city to get through. Everyone loved that!


Of course the show stopper was "Lovers in Japan." The butterflies drop from the ceiling and fill the Center. It's amazing to watch and they dropped them at least three times. We lucked out and walked down to the floor after the show and a guard gave us a hatfull of butterflies! They're die cut out of thin paper. But they do the effect perfectly. So we got something a little extra from the show.

For me, Lovers may have been the show stopper, but of all things, the interlude while waiting for the band to come back to the front stage was the defining moment of the concert for me. Why? Because during the wait, they began playing this remix of Viva La Vida at full blast. It was one of the best remixes I've heard of the song. I know now that it is called "The Thin White Duke Remix." It took three days to figure it out. It was awesome to me. I felt that it was something special that you don't hear anywhere except the show. And it kept the energy going at full blast. I loved it. I did find it and now it's going into my playlist so that I can relive the whole show on my ipod.

After the show, we walked to our hotel. We were only one block away from the Toyota Center. That was really good. Before the show, we just walked over to this awesome little chinese resturaunt. They had really good food. Then we walked a block to the center. It was all right there with in a block of our hotel. So we saved at least $15 in parking. That was crazy to charge that much for parking.

I watched Dawn and her reactions to her first concert. I know that she's liked Coldplay and some of their songs. Some she's thought were weird. But when it all started and the lights went out and slowly came on, I saw her. Her hands were up to her mouth. Her eyes were bright and bewildered. She was in DISBELIEF. She couldn't believe that fourteen rows away, Chris Martin and the band that she'd heard of through radio and cd's was actually standing there. Singing for real. I grabbed her arm and shook her and yelled it's really them!

At one point it even looked like Chris was looking at ME! I know, I know, "sure he was." But it really seemed like it. He looked up towards us and I slowly raised my arms up and waved at him, and it looked like he was taken by my wave! It felt like he saw me. Mabey he did, and mabey he didn't, but it was a cool feeling for a second to think that. I do kind of stand out in a crowd. But that's what makes a concert feel personable. That moment when just mabey that band saw you and connected. I felt that and it was awesome.

It's been several days now, and I keep thinking about that show and how truely incredible it was. We saw one of today's Super Bands! Coldplay! Seeing someone in concert like that makes them even more real. We hear music, we buy CD's, watch videos. They are making this music for you to hear. But they are at a distance. But when we walk into that auditorium or stadium, they are really there. In front of you. They are real people. It's amazing. I want to see them again. I miss it. I miss the feelings I had during that show. I was happy as could be. It was one of the best birthday presents I've had. Hopefully, in a few years we'll be able to do this again with Coldplay.

Thank you Coldplay, for coming to Houston, Texas, and sharing your music and show with all of us that were able to attend. I feel very lucky and privilaged to have seen you and experience your music first hand.

Alright. Now, where's U2?

It's Here It's Here It's Here!!!

This is it! Today is the day!!! November 18th, 2008! I've waited patiently for almost six months for this day! Tonight at 7:30pm Dawn and I will be fourteen rows away from Chris Martin and the Band. For those who don't know, COLDPLAY! I remember when I got the tickets in the mail four months ago, I was all excited but had to say, " Well it's still a while to go." I put them in my dresser and they've been sitting in there since. Until just a little while ago. I opened the drawer and pulled out the envelope. I gazed at them and I am finally allowing myself to get really excited about this. Dawn is really excited too. This is her first REAL concert that she's ever gone to. So it'll be neat to see her reactions and how she will be to all of this. I'm so excited to spend these two days with her. If this wasn't awesome enough, tomorrow night we are eating at our favorite swanky place, NELORE!!! Brazilian barbeque!!! It's worth it. Well, I'll try to get some pics and tell you all about it when we get back!!! YES!!! IT'S TIME TO GO!!!

It's almost HERE!!!

I've been waiting patiently for this for almost six months! NEXT TUESDAY I WILL BE IN HOUSTON TEXAS SEEING COLDPLAY LIVE!!! Remember that I bought these tickets way back in June. They went on sale all the way back then and literally sold out with in hours of going on sale. I was luck to get them when I did. But I really had to put that behind me after I bought them. I would have gone crazy if I had thought about this every day for six months. But it's finally here and I have to say, wow, It's finally here. We even got luck enough to get a hotel room right across from the TOYOTA Center so we can just walk over there and back when it's over and not have to fight the traffic. Who knows, mabey we can see them after the show. I'm not holding my breath for that one though. And of course you know that I will be telling you all about it when it's over. I'll try to get some pics with my cell phone. They aren't allowing cameras inside the show unlike Garth Brooks. But this is going to be a great show. I am really looking forward to hearing Lovers In Japan and FIX YOU. Lovers is really awesome because they release these paper butterflies and it looks awesome! So I'll be talking again soon. Oh, and I'll be 35 on Wednesday!!! YES!!! and YIKES!!!

Can you feel it?

Here's some music for you all to munch on... Have a listen...



WOW!!! Are you feeling the love? Me neither. But it says it's "Christian." How? I have no earthly clue. Try arguing about this one.

We had a really good weekend...

This weekend turned out to be a really great weekend. I was able to come home on Thursday fairly early in the day. I was up in Shreveport, Still doing my AMTP training. I had taken my test and scored 45 out of 50. I was pretty happy with the results. And asked my supervisor if I could come home. Of course she said it was okay and I was on my way.
Thursday was my daughter's 8th birthday. So I was able to come home and Dawn and I went and picked up a couple of things and got her presents wrapped up and ready for her to open later. I also ran out and picked up a ice cream cake from marble slab creamery. It was strawberry and sweetcream. It was delicious. She enjoyed her presents from everyone.
Friday, I had my interview with Perry, my manager, at Lowe's. I am trying to get a position as the Administrative Manager at my store. I was able to spend some time with Perry and I think it went well. Dawn and I went out to have lunch. Something we don't do all that often. It's always nice to have some time with my wife. I miss her when I'm here in Shreveport. Oh and we also did some much needed cleaning in the living room. It was really messy and dusty. We cleaned until the dust was too much to handle. It turned out really good.
Saturday was the day that we as a family went to Lafyette to go to the Build-A-Bear Workshop. That was what my daughter wanted to do for her birthday this year. So all of the girls got to have a bear. It was cute and they all made them their own. But I have to day that I really don't like the Lafyette mall. It was way way WAY too crowded for my taste. The bathrooms were awful. I was glad to get out of there.
We then went to this place called The Incredible Pizza Company. It was a pizza buffet and Family Fun Center. We once went to a place similar in Kansas City and Dawn hated it. I was concerned that she would feel the same for this place. But she was really impressed with it. The food was VERY good. Not the run of the mill CiCi's pizza type food. They had full salad bar, baked potato bar, soup, Pizza, and some fancy dishes too. There was plenty and it was clean. Then we went to the games portion and had three hours of fun. The girls played miniature galactic golf. They loved it. Then spend a ton of time playing Skeet Ball. They also really enjoyed this little game where they took some guns and shot at animated targets that gave them a score and tickets. Nat really took off and was a markswoman!!! She amazed us with how good she was. They really had fun there and so did we. It is a great place and I recommend it to all.
We then went to Aunt Jessica's and Uncle Daniel's home. She made a cake for her and Nat. The both celebrate their birthdays at the end of this October. We also got to see the improvements that they've made to their home they bought earlier this year. Then we went home after a little while.
Sunday came and this was the most important day of this weekend. This Sunday is the day that I was able to Baptize my Daughter. She also had a primary program for sacrament meeting. Dawn did an excellent job directing the music and the spirit was there in great abundance. You could really hear Nat sing too. It made me happy to hear her so loud. She used to, what I call, "belt" as a little girl in Primary, but over time she stopped. I missed hearing that distinct little voice and it was so good to hear it again. Nat and Rach and Kim all had parts in the program and they all did an excellent job. Rach had a line to say and she did it perfect and Kim had a talk that she had prepared with Dawn and did great.
I am very greatful that I was able to baptize my own daughter today. We had an excellent program for her baptism. Jessica and Jonathan both gave talks and The family sang. I was able to do the actual ordinance of baptism and also comfirmed her a member of the church and bestowed upon her the gift of the Holy Ghost. I was so proud of her and her decision. I will remember this day. Along with the day that I did the same for Kim. It's just such a big thing for such a tiny little person to do. I sometimes forget just how little they are until I'm there doing this ordinance. I am so humbled to be the one doing this for them. I love them very very much. So I guess that's two down. One left to go and that will be three years from now.
I guess the only real bummer of the whole weekend is that it had to end and I had to run home and get myself ready to come back to Shreveport, where I am now. But I only have one more week to go. Then I get to come home and hopefully have a job as the AM of Leesville. This week should be really fun and I hope to learn a great deal and on top of that, I have my final. Which I really want to pass and do well on.
This has been a great weekend that I am very greatful to have been home for. I am very tired and it's time for bed. Goodnight everyone. I'll be back again to say more and share.

A little dance everyone can do! THAT MEANS YOU!!!

Living out of a bag

Hello, How are you all doing? I'm doing alright. Starting back on Monday, I've been living up in Shreveport, Louisiana. I'm living at the Clarion Hotel. I'm actually training at one of the Lowe's stores in Shreveport. I'm going through what's called the Administrative Manager Training Program. It's been okay this first week. I'm looking more forward to the coming weeks as we really start to get into the whole administrative role. But I have been living out of two bags in my fancy hotel room. It's got a flat 32 inch plasma screen TV, with a fluffy king sized bed. Every day when I get home from the store, there are two mints placed on my pillow. I do know that I want to get one of those curved shower curtain rods. They use it on a standard sized tub in the room and it gives you so much more space! It's been kind of boring up there. I've been pretty much living in the room and going to eat within a mile radius. But there are a ton of places there. I've been to Olive Garden, Ruby Tuesdays, Longhorn, Monjuni's, TGI Friday's, Pasada's, Buffalo Wild Wings, Joe's Southwest Grill, Chick-Fil-A, and IHOP. And there's even more places all with in this mile radius. I've still got to try a chinese place. I honestly thought I'd be eating more chinese, but with so much to choose from, it's gonna be a little while before I get to that. But I'll go and eat and head back to my room and just chill out. I checked out the best buy and circuit city. But that's as far as I've gone looking around. It's kind of boring with out Dawn here. But I have to go back up on Sunday and be there for the second week. I've got one week down and Five to go. I do enjoy seeing how another store operates and seeing what they do that is effective and what they do that's not. Silent note taking as I watch. I did get to see some of my Leesville guys. They came up for training and weren't told that it was cancelled. WOW! That's a two and a half hour drive. I felt bad for them. We went out for lunch. It was good to see them. I think I even suprised a few people there for them to see me with them and just how close we are as a store and team. I know one person told me that they thought is was cool to see how open and all we were as a team. That was cool. Well, I'll be on my way. I'll try to report again next weekend on all the cool going on's. Later!

ANOTHER EMOTIONAL SONG

I'm just in a mood this week. Here's another that takes me back to the late 80's. The CURE!!! Pictures of You is one of my all time Cure Favorites! It's another "emotional" song that brings back all those feelings. EMO before there was such a thing. But it seemed that more of the Cure's following adpoted the look of Michael Smith. The eyeliner and black clothing and all. I didn't do all that. I just liked the music and the emotion. It's okay to feel emotion... sniff sniff... I'm going to go for a long walk now...

One of my Favorites!!!

This is one of my favorite singers from MY day! MORRISSEY! I love this song. It's one of my favorites! This really takes me back to the late 80's. I really remember how I felt. I love the tribute to James Dean. This one's a more upbeat song. Be sure to check out some of the other songs that pop up afterwards. EVERY DAY IS JUST LIKE SUNDAY is another one of my all time favorites. Morrissey is so way ahead of the curve. This is EMO when it was okay to be all intouch with your feelings. They didn't call it EMO, it was alternative. And even then, that was a broad term for it. Funny note, it used to be said that he would put his hand up infront of his face alot to hide his tears!!! How AWESOME IS THAT!!! Have fun!!!

I'm SICK!!! Pnemonia is awful!!!

I am sick as a dog today. I actually have been sick for a little over a month. But it has culminated into what I now have. I've been working and doing all I can, but it just came to a head today. I went last thursday to the doctor and they gave me some medicine. But it just didn't work. Eight days later and with IKE on our front door, I had to go back to the Doctor. She could tell I was doing awful. Earlier that morning I looked on the net about my sickness. Pnemonia looked like a good guess. And sure enough it was. So now I'm on a nebulizer because my asthma is all out of wack. I can't hold onto any inhaler. It all disapears within a few coughs. They took xrays and even I could see my lungs were full of gunk. So I have all sorts of medicine. They even gave me two shots in my rear! You know that burning one that works miracles. Then on top of all of this, I have to be out of work for three days. I walked in and everyone could see I was all messed up. Randy kept a 10 foot distance from me! I don't blame him. NO ONE WANTS THIS! I gave my doctor's excuse and went home. Problems are all over the place with everyone evacuating the lower parishes of Louisiana. It took a long time to get my meds. Everyone is running all over and lines in stores are crazy.
I knew I was feeling better last week and had really been sick for a long time. I took those meds and I had so much energy! It was amazing to see just how sick I had been. Then it turned into something worse. But now with all of this stuff, I should be able to be better real soon. I hope. I have to. End of next week, I have my administrative management training start. I'll be in Shreveport for 6 weeks. I just got my corporate credit card yesterday! That's crazy! HR gave me my training manual today. I've been waiting a long time to do this. I'm excited.

And with that, I am off to try to eat some dinner. Until next time.

GUSTAV came and went...

And we were shut down...

I don't think you see that too often. This shot above was taken on Monday in the late morning. We had taken most of Sunday and had gotten things ready for the storm. It had been projected to move into our area as a cat 1 or Tropical storm.

Lowes decided to use the lumber and put it up on most of the glass in the front.

And with everyone to the south being evacuated before the storm got here, most of the business were out of gas and out of food. McDonalds and Wendy's were both closed. There was really only one place that didn't shut down and I'm sure they had a HUGE day...

Yummy!
But, the storm ended up coming through and though it was alittle rough, we didn't lose power, we had plenty of food, we even had sandbags just in case the water got too high. But the storm seemed to do more damage to the east of us than here. We were very lucky. But with more storms out there in the water, we still have a long way to go before the Season is over. I'm gonna go get another taco. Bye!!!

(Here's something you don't see everyday)

November 14, 2007

November 14th, 2007. Garth Brooks had announced that he would be coming out of Retirement to do a show for Wal-Mart. It was to celebrate both his new 2 disc best of collection and to thank Wal-Mart for being his biggest distributor of his music. Well, one show sold out in like 15 minutes. So he decided to add another, and another and soon had NINE shows lined up for Kansas City.

They decided to do this in Kansas City, rather than Fayettville, Arkansas (Home of Wal-Mart.)

Kansas City had just built the Brand New SPRINT CENTER! I think they did this because of several comments and complaints from other artists that refused to come to play at the Kemper Arena, which was really the only place they could play for the Kansas City area. U2 had actually stated that they would not be returning to KC if they had to play at Kemper again. So we missed out on their last tour! I have missed seeing them since 93!!! Still to this day I have not seen them!! That's another story.

Anyway, The Sprint Center is AWESOME!!! There are six story escalators that hang in mid air the whole way!!! That was crazy! But it's a huge venue and Garth's people decided to use it. I think it had opened in time just for this concert! I can say, having been to both Kemper and Here, it's a 1000% improvement!

I was able to park in the Kansas City star Newspaper parking lot which was only a block away. So I walked up to the building and they already had all the Garth Swag out and started selling it. So I got Dawn some stuff. Got me a hat and was able to walk back to my car and put it away. I didn't have to carry it with me. I Did think it was funny too that when I purchased my stuff there was hardly anyone infront and I got everything I wanted with no problem. I tried to get something after the show and it was all gone. And when I got back from my car the front was filled with concertgoers!

I was able to get a ticket for the sold out show from someone on the net. It was risky but for $30 more than the actual selling price, I was fortunate. It was going to be in the top but it was close to the stage. Some people were selling a $30 ticket for outrageous prices. But I found a good guy from SMSU trying to sell his ticket. I didn't know anything about this concert until I tried to call my friend Josh to see how he was doing and when he answered his phone, I could only hear people screaming. He was at one of the earlier shows! I then started looking for tickets. And found this one. They also were planning on showing this in theaters Live across the country!

So the show started promptly at 8pm. And it was TRUE GARTH greatness. If you ever get a chance, watch the GAC ONE NIGHT, ONE CITY, ONE MAN concert (or named something like that.) That was the show I was at!!! I wish they would put that out on DVD! I watch it and totally remember all sorts of stuff.

THE SETLIST
The Fever; Two of a Kind (Workin’ On a Full House); Rodeo; Good Ride Cowboy; The Thunder Rolls; Shameless; We Shall Be Free; Unanswered Prayers; The River; Papa Loved Mama; The Beaches of Cheyenne; Callin’ Baton Rouge; More Than A Memory; Friends in Low Places; The Dance. Encore: Ain’t Goin’ Down (Til The Sun Comes Up); That Summer; Much Too Young (To Feel This Damned Old); Two Pina Coladas; medley (“Fire and Rain,” “Turn the Page,” “Unwound,” “The Fireman,” “Amarillo By Morning,” “Piano Man,” “American Pie”).

This last picture is one of my Favorites. It's one of those shots that you do and you don't realize what you have in the picture. I think it sums up the whole experience. A bunch of cowboys and gals having a great old time! And one Lone Indian in the mix! hehe. I really enjoyed the show. Got all sorts of pictures and things from it. I just said to myself, that this was the last concert I would go to by myself. I had fun but it would have been way better had Dawn been with me. And this was a bittersweet time as well. This would be the last visit to Missouri to see my Father alive. He passed away a few months after this last visit. I got to spend some time with him and Mom. They were very excited for me to see this concert.

ALRIGHT!!! 79 Days to go Until COLDPLAY!!!!

Why in the world did they have to go and sell these tickets WAY back in JUNE!? I swear that I'm gonna forget it by the time it gets here. I was scared for a second the other day. I am going to go into another manager training session in September, and it was thought to run for 8 weeks. Which would have run into the date for the Coldplay concert. But then I looked at it again and it's only a six week session. So It'll be over after the first week in November. Whew... That would have been a good lot of money wasted.
Well, 79 days isn't all that too long. But one note, supposedly that is also when the NEW U2 is coming out!!! NOVEMBER 18th!!! That's going to be a fun day!

A New Sort of Grill

My family and I went to Port Arthur over the weekend. We went to see my wife's grandfather for a little while and we went to eat out for lunch. We went to Luby's cafeteria. That was the most overrated place I'd ever gone to. The food was expensive and really didn't taste all that great. Me being the meat eater, I purchased a steak. I would have to say that Ryan's makes a better steak on Friday night than Luby's. The green beans had this weird taste to them. Like too much peper and onions. But everyone else seemed okay with the choice. We visited with the family for a little bit. My sister-in-law had to find some school supplies and we found a place on my phone that was called Mannings. There was a place in Port Arthur and another in Beaumont.
But before we went there, we went to my wife's uncle's place. They had a gas grill the weren't using anymore and asked if we wanted it. It's been well used but there is hope for it. It's going to take alot of work on it. I took it to the carwash and tried to get as much junk and caked on grease off as I could. Now I have to get into the inside of it and take off some things and get a bucket and just dig into cleaning it off. It's going to be really messy and a job. But I think we can revive it. My only concern is that the hoses and connections still work well. We'll try that in a few days and see what happens. If I had a camera, I would take a picture of it. I'll try in a few days. I'm excited to see if we can get this thing going. I've been looking at gas grills. They can never replace charcoal but it'll be neat to see how it works.
Oh, we went to IHOP in Beaumont. The food was cheaper and better than Luby's but the service was way off. You know it's all about customer service. And that place lacked that. They even got my wife's order wrong. She ate about half of it before realizing how off it was. Funny! Remember, you can never go wrong when you get the Colorado Omlette!!! Or the Monster Cheeseburger!

I DON'T LIKE DOGS!!!

What possesses an animal to poop on a person's floor? We have some dogs here in the house and they keep pooping on the floor, which then gets smashed by people's feet. Over and over again this week it's been happening. It's gross! These dogs keep going on the floor. What's bad is that they get taken out all of the time. It's not like they are stuck in the house. It's really getting gross. They just unload on the floor. And then it stinks and smells all over the place! It just lingers there. UGH!!! Then these things want your attention and climb all over you wanting it. Why would I do that? These dogs should be outside animals. Then they can unload anytime they want. Please, if you own these dogs, come get them. THEY STINK!!! Then they can poop on your floor. But they probably won't. Since they LOVE you and hate us! Then also if you come and get them, my children might actually be able to get some sleep at night, instead of being constantly woken up by these dogs barking at nothing in the middle of the night!!! They just go off. WHY??? They are psycho pooping pets!!!

Finally!!! I got a movie to watch!!!

A while back, I had seen a preview for a movie called LAGAAN. It's a Hindi movie that was nominated back in 2001 for best foreign film with the Academy Awards. It kind of was lost in all of the Chaos of late 2001. But I've seen a preview of it and it interested me. I tried to get it through netflix but it all of a sudden disapeared off of there. So I tried to see if I could see it on the net. Could only find songs on youtube. They weren't subtitled and after trying to get subtitles, I just gave up trying to watch it on the computer. I went to ebay and found it. After two long weeks, and a letter to the sender asking where it was, I finally got LAGAAN!! But, I won't have time to watch it until tomorrow night! The movie is FOUR HOURS LONG!!! I kid you not. And every review I've seen says it's worth every minute! I can't wait to see this. But for the moment, I will wait and I will leave you with this one song from it. Check it out! Yes, it's a "bollywood" musical!!!
Tell you more about it after I see it! BYE!!!

WOW! It's been a long time...

Well, It's been a while since I got a second to write. Dawn has been taking up all of the time on the computer playing her game. She's playing that World of Warcraft game. I don't like it like she does. I can play it and have fun with it for about two hours or so and then I get all bored with it and go and find something else to do. I've actually gotten into playing some of my other games like RollerCoaster Tycoon 3!!! Love that game! Also I have Battlefield 2 and I want to get back into that. I also have Company of Heroes and I've only played it once. That was when I loaded it on the computer. So there are other things to play besides World of Warcraft.
But here's the real kicker! Dawn was up late playing like always and so was Shannan. And they kept on playing and playing. I wanted to go to bed like at 12am and they were playing. It's right next to my side of the bed, so when she plays I can never go to sleep. It's too loud with the clicking and typing. So at about 3 in the morning, Shannan made it to level 70 in the game. This is the highest level that they can get to until the new game comes out. Dawn's already there. I asked when I wanted to go to bed the second time, couldn't it wait until tomorrow? I wanted to go to bed. She didn't get off. So I fell asleep on the covers. So for most of the night, she couldn't pull the covers over to her side! HEHEHE! That's what you get when you play all night.
I really can't stand that game. I've considered taking it off the computer all together. I once deleted a character from her game, just to see how she would react. She Flipped out!!! I've lost games and saves all the time with my ps2 and computer. What did I do? The same thing that everyone else does. We start over and play again. What's the big deal?
That's it. I'm out. Just had to get this out and off my chest. BUH BYE!!!

Worst Movie of the SUMMER!!!

Prepare yourselves if you find that you begin having this conversation...
"Hey, you wanna go to the movies tonight?"
"Sure, what's playing?"
"I don't know. I see that HANCOCK is showing at 7pm."

STOP!!!! Don't go any further into that conversation. Just stop right there.

For the love of all that is good and righteous in this world, do not go and see this movie!!!

Dawn and I went the other night to see this and it was horrible. I actually was ready to walk out of this movie within the first five minutes. The language was what you would find in a R rated movie. Even managed to get the F Bomb dropped in that time too! What class.

I didn't care about the character at all. He's horrible. Acts horrible. Says horrible things. When he finally trys to act good, I could have cared less. There is no investment for me. I didn't care for him, or the horrible story. Something to do with him being around for ages. This movie just was terrible.

So don't waste your money on this one. This was only 90 minutes long. But it seemed like it was over two hours. I wanted to walk out at least twice. Save your money and time.

Let's hope Hellboy 2 and The Dark Knight do better! Which we all know will! Buah Bye!!!

I GOT COLDPLAY TICKETS!!! HOLY COW!!!

I have been patiently waiting for this for a month. Today was the day that tickets for the Coldplay Houston concert to go on sale at 10am. I was there on the computer waiting this morning. But once they came up for sale, I had no idea what I was doing. Everytime a set would come up they were in the back of the floor, or way in the back of the Toyota Center. I wasn't getting a good shot at good tickets. At one point, I found some okay tickets, but the time it took to put in all the information wound down before I could finish! ARGH!!! So they went back to be sold to someone else. Dawn, finally got home and I had been frustrated for an hour and a half. She came in and after several attempts, I was given a chance at a set of good tickets once again, so we got them! Dawn was looking and telling me what I needed to type. I was watching the clock wind down, and got really nervous that we were going to lose these too. But we did it. So now, we have tickets to one of the most anticipated concerts this year!!! Now, we have to wait until November. WoW. That's a long way away. But we are looking forward to it. Of course, I'm more excited about it than Dawn is. But hey. I Love Coldplay. She Likes them.

I really want her to come with me on this one. I went to Garth Brooks concert Last November in Kansas City and it was just me. I really missed her, I was kind of bored. The concert was terriffic. Nearly two and a half hours of Garth. And Dawn is a big fan. But she wasn't there. I said that the next concert would be the both of us. It was going to be U2 or Coldplay. Coldplay came first. Hope to see U2 one day. I actually have come very close to seeing U2 at least twice. Each time my plans never came through. And I've been saddened because it was so close. I did see Richard Marx at Worlds of Fun on summer. Got in free because I worked there. My first real concert was Weird Al Yankovick on the Poodle Hat tour!!! I said that Garth was my first on my wife's blog, but I just remembered that. I still have the stub in my wallet!!! I guess you can call Garth the first Real Concert. Weird Al was a comedy show but it was AWESOME!!! But I did go to that on my own too. Dawn's never gone with me. Why? Bad timing...???

But not this time. I'm looking at getting a room next to the Toyota Center. Litterally next door. We could just walk across the street!!! And of course, we would have to go to NELORE!!! Oh HECK YEAH!!! Those two day in November are going to be AWESOME!!!

I'll try to write some more about my concert going experiences. All two or three of them. I even got pictures at Garth!!! Gotta put them on here! See YA!

ATTACKED IN THE FRONT YARD!!!

While walking out to my truck during my lunch break today, I closed the front door and walked to the truck. Then, I began to feel some pops on my shoulder. Then those pops began to burn really bad! I was getting attacked by wasps or hornets! They flew down from above my head. There were about 5 or six of them I think. They kept hitting my shoulder, and as I finally realized what was happening after a few seconds I tried to move forward towards my truck, only to get hit in the forehead by them. I swatted a few with my hand, but another slammed into my finger and hit it two times! I finally ducked my head down and kept yelling and hit the front door of the house. Somehow in the swatting, I also knocked my glasses down off my face so I couldn't see anything except black flying things swarming around me. I managed to swat and swipe them off of my shoulder and hand long enought to get away and as I hit the door, I was afraid they were flying towards me. I opened it up and got inside. I locked the door and just let out this awful yell. My shoulder burned really bad. My forehead was burning. And my had was just in a mess with really bad burning sensations. It wasn't going away either. It seemed to burn sold for a good hour. It like 3 in the morning and it still hurts. My finger is really tight and it hurts to move it or really use it. I think I actually got hit five times. Twice in the shoulder, once on the forehead, and twice on the hand. Dawn came running in, and all I could ask was if there was anything on my back or shoulder. She looked and told me no. My body was just burning and hurting. I haven't been stung in 31 years. No joke. I took my shirt off and my wife had to put some kind of junk on me with amonia. I called my boss to let him know I was going to be late getting back. He told me to spray some windex on the stings. But I was the whole time in pain and I don't usually show it often. It hurt that bad. I was shocked at how much it did hurt. I couldn't help it as I kept letting out groans and those breath in breaths through your teeth.
I called my mother in law and warned her not to come in the front door. She went to the store and bought some killer. After spraying them, they knocked down the nest. I don't know how long it had been there, but it was a good baseball sized nest. How long had it been there, and they just lay dormant. I wonder what set them off.
Funny thing though, Dawn gave me some kind of pill and within an hour I was nearly falling asleep as I walked and stood at work. I still don't know what it was.
Now I'm all like cautious and a little fearful of walking out there. I know that Dawn knocked the nest down after her mother sprayed it. But it's still alittle scary to know where they came from after never seeing them before. I got some pictures of where the nest was. I snuck out the door to look for where they may have come from. Sure enough it was under the awning. I took pics with my phone and sent them to Dawn, showing where they were. That was kind of cool.
Well, there's my adventure for the day...

It's Father's DAY!!!

My wife got me an aaawessommmee gift. She got me a new radio for the truck! Which I was completely shocked. It had everything I wanted in a radio/cd/mp3/ipod ready player. This radio actually attaches to my Ipod and can control my ipod. I was looking at one earlier in the year but didn't get it. Was going to buy it and have someone install it.
Well, got this one and studied the instructions and did some online research. It looked like I could handle it. So I decided to do it myself. It actually wasn't too hard to do. I've never done this before though. So I really found some good info out there and with a deep breath I jumped into it.
I ended up having to buy another adaptor for my truck. I bought one that said it was for my truck. Took it home and hooked it up with some crimpping connectors. Then got out to the truck all excited. Took off the dash and pulled out the old radio. The tried to hook it to see if it was going to fit. It was completely wrong! It wasn't even close! Oh I was angry.
Then I had to push the new bracket into place for it, since you had to put it together and then the nuts and bolts stuck out way too far! But it still fit. Somehow.
Then I had to run to Lowes and get some connectors and went to Wally World and got a new bracket that actually looked right.
Got home and had to reconnect all of that together. Then took it all out and put it all together. And IT WORKED!!! It just took me like five hours to get it all working right! I was sitting outside just listening to it when I was done. Had to clean up the truck though so my wife could sit in there and listen to it too with me.
She really surprised me with this one. That's a hard thing to do.
This radio is awesome! It's amazing what a difference the sound is. It's the same factory speakers and all, but the unit has such a better sound quality, it's terrific! Better Highs and Lows. Larger bass. And the sound coming out of the ipod is great! I ran the wire to the glove compartment. So I can have it inside and not even seen! There's a remote that I can use too! This is an awesome radio. And just in time. I'm going to Missouri at the end of this week. It's going to be great. Last two trips I've used a FM modulator and power cord. It's worked okay. It did the job. But I was always having to find new stations to tune to when I was driving and the sound started going bad. But this is even better! This is a great father's day present. Thank you my loving wife and family!
Looking forward now to driving to Missouri and listening to that new Coldplay I preordered and the new Weezer album too!!!

Technology is AWESOME!!!

An empty room???

Well, What can I say? I don't like to keep up with BLOGS!!! It's a fun thing but at some point, it becomes, or I should say, it crosses that line that seperates it from being fun, to becoming a job that isn't so much fun as it used to be. Blah Blah Blah... You know how it goes.

HORRAY FOR JESSICA AND DANIEL!!! I'm excited that they are going to have a new pet Hotel for their cats and dogs!!! Free Trogdor is finally coming to fruition!!! He shall be free. And we here at the Free Trogdor Foundation are truely pleased with this outcome. We shall miss him and his antics. But like all good things, it too must come to an end. So good luck to you Trogdor. Hope you poop all over the place and give your owners the same treatment that you have so freely given to us! (See how it feels to step in a pile when you wake up in the morning!!! That'll wake you up in less than two seconds.)

Bella Cat sends her best wishes to the cats that will be moving out. She's all happy as can be knowing that it will all be over soon. She will have the room to herself again. Just her and the Shadow! Peace at last. She won't be so eager to run out the door everytime it opens just so she can get away from those other cats. But she has taught them a few tricks as to how to get out of the house when their owners aren't able to do anything. Princess and the bad word named cat are pretty good at it now. They will show them how to do it and I'm sure that they will be able to share this with others. Good luck to all the cats in their new home! But be sure to use that litter box as well as you do here. (Which means that they will be loving those moving boxes and showing how much they "love" being in a new home...)

GOODBYE animals. Farewell and to you all the best wishes. And be sure not to let that door hit you on the way out! Just hope they don't get car sick!!! That is a long drive with no potty break either! Great!

WOW!!! I Liked This One BETTER Than IRON MAN!!!

I was totally BLOWN AWAY by Speed Racer this past weekend!!! I really didn't know what to expect with this movie. I knew that it was going to be a visually hyper experience, but as I was starting to read reviews from the trusted sites I visit, I began to see that this was going to be more than just some silly attempt to turn a cartoon into a live action movie!

These two steal the whole movie!!! It's SPRITLE and CHIM-CHIM!!! I think one of the greatest things about these two are that you can really see how much Spritle loves and adores Chim-Chim. I really would love to see a whole line of Spritle shirts come out. Che Chim had to be one of my favorite shirts he had on. That and be sure to check out the Pajamas these two sport early on.


I don't really know how to explain how it felt watching this on the big screen. There were so many moments that really drove this movie. This was a total family movie and it was about a family sticking together. Loving and admiring eachother's gifts and talents and not detouring eachother from reaching their goals. You knew that this family loved and supported eachother. You knew that from the moment the film started. The first 10 minutes of this movie is true story telling at it's finest. With in all of the racing and action, it tells the story of Speed's older brother Rex and the tragedy that befalls the Racer family. Interwoven so well, I got chills and was amazed at how well it was told.

I'll be honest, there were alot of moments that gave me chills. Without giving away the ending, all I will say is that I was FLOORED. Chills galore. Even Dawn was taken with this movie. She saw the previews and already had set her mind up that she thought this was going to be stupid. I told her she might be suprised. I think she's this movie's biggest fan now. She said there were several times that she welled up with tears. THIS MOVIE IS THAT GOOD!!!


To see this movie in action is incredible. How well it flows. The backgrounds are just as important to the screen as what 's happening infront. And it gave me chills and hypnotized me the whole time. It's a living comic/cartoon!!! I wish I could see this one again. But time will not allow it just yet. It's another reason though to get that Blu-Ray player and High Def Television. This is one that will set the standard of High Def.

So, all I can say is get to the theater and see this movie! Fan or no fan of the cartoon, it doesn't matter. This movie is Fantastic! The kids will be glued to the screen with everything happening on it, and the older viewers will love the story. Next time, Indy and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull!!!



(Just watch out for those Chim-Chim cookies!!!)

My New Love!!!

I have finally realized after all this time that I LOVE CRAWFISH!!!

Oh look at those scrumptious looking crawfish! It's taken some time for me to fall in total love with this food. I've been living off and on here in Louisiana for over 12 years now and it's not been until now that I have been brave enough to try and really like this.

I've done it once or twice and didn't like it. One reason why I didn't like it was that I thought it was too much work for such little results. You have to break and tear and get stuff all over your hands to get this little tail of meat. Why would I want to go through all of that for this?

Second reason why I didn't like it very much was that the couple of times that I had it, it tasted gross. One time I had it at a casino. Not very good. Another time, I had one and it was way too spicey. I put it on my lips and it burned for five minutes. Not good at all.

Then, I went to a barbeque place in DeRidder, and decided to get two pounds with some potatoes and corn. Let me go back a second. Everyone at my work rants and raves about crawfish. They love it. They all say which place is the best. I kind of felt out of place since I didn't really like it all that much. I went with my friend Kevin to a seafood place for lunch and he ordered some. He let me try a few and gave me a few pointers on how to eat it with out so much mess. They were okay. But once again, it was burning my lips.

Then we went to the Barbeque place. I ordered the two pounds with potatoes and corn. They were awesome! My mother-in-law helped me and even showed me how to eat the claws! The spice was really good and it did get hot but not burn your lips hot.

It finally hit me. This really isn't about eating it and getting full. Eating crawfish seems to me like it's more about having fun! It's not formal. It's realxed and laid back. If you fingers get messy, so what? I really enjoyed eating it. I had fun and when it was over, I was hooked! I keep begging my wife for more.

She finally caved in on Saturday. She let me run out and buy some. I got 10 pounds of the critters from J&T's here in Leesville. They made them perfect! Only wish that I had more potatoes that were cooked in with them. Brought them home and we chowed down on them. See the pictures?

(This is the aftermath. We tore through these suckers!!!)

So Now, I can say with out a doubt, I love me some CrawDaddys!!!!

I can't wait to do it again. But after eating this, I think I've had my fill for a few days. But I do feel the urge to buy some more coming soon. HEHEHE!

(I wonder if this is good for dieting???)