9/21/2006: Sound Advice Amphitheatre
So, it has been a few days since my last post, and a few cool things have happened. I booked the trip to St. Augustine for our 2 year anniversary, so ... "Who you gonna call.... Ghostbusters!" We head out on Saturday morning. And, by the grace of God, I finally got the Treo 650... yeah I know, I'm obsessed, but its the only Mac compatable phone that we sell here at Alltel, so damnit, I'm excited. And by the title of the post, you can probably guess that I went to a concert.
Well I did, and that concert was the Family Values tour, featuring 10 years, Stone Sour, The Deftones, and headlining - Korn. The show was last night, and it was awesome. We left after the Deftones played their last song - and the "hurricane - force" winds started to take effect. I was completely drenched from the rain in about 7.3 seconds. Before the big acts went out on stage, over on one of the side stages, Brandon and I spotted an interesting sort of thing going on, so we decided to go check it out. It was like a traveling sideshow or something; tickets were five bucks, so we checked it out.
Inside were fire-eaters, and sword swallowers, and some guy piercing himself on stage. They also cut a girl in half.... though I'm not falling for that one! And, its not the best picture ever taken, but I did get a good shot of one of the guys blowing a huge fireball out of his mouth. Hey, its only an LG phone.... I didn't have the Treo then!
Speaking of that.... yes, I finally got it, and its everything I've always wanted. It instantly attaches to my Mac OS X dock system and allows me to interactively change any setting or data storage on the phone. And it is amazingly easy. I took a couple shots of it last night, next to its mate, my mac mini.
Behold the phone you will all now bow before... muha ha ha ha....
Well, the concert was great, the Deftones played a few new songs that are gonna be on their album thats to be released in November. They were awesome live, and I hope to see them again soon, if possible. Though, I still desperately want to see Tool live, and I fear that they will never come close enough for me to see them. But, everything is going good, and this weekend is gonna be great, I'll have lots of pics and updates for everybody when I get back in town. So for now, I'm signing off, but hey...."Its better to burn out, then to fade away." D-Out
together at last.... together at last..... ahhhhh......yes.....
Quote of the Day
"They always say time changes things, but you actually have to change them yourself."
Andy Warhol (1928 - 1987), The Philosophy of Andy Warhol
9/17/06: Sunday, Sunday, Someday...?
Yes, it is Sunday... or is it someday? Who really knows? Well, who would know? Do you know? I'm rambling.... I'm at work today, its going really slow, not alot of customer influx today. Last night was fun with Meredith, I cooked some spaghetti, we had some Honey Browns and watched about half of The Prophecy before I decided to fall asleep as I tend to do. I really wanted to watch the whole thing, what I saw of it was really good. It was nice to have a home cooked meal again, its been awhile since either of us has eaten "real" food. It was a good time, a good day for that matter, hopefully today will be equally as good.
Before I went over there, I was playing around on the internet and I stumbled onto a page called Fat-Pie.com. It is a flash animation page, and the content is very odd. There is a character on there called "Saladfingers", yeah, its very weird. Apparently he likes rusty spoons.... you just have to see it. If you wanna check out the site, click here. It is pretty demented, so be advised, and oh yeah, turn up your speakers to here all of the sound effects they have integrated into the videos, because thats the best part of it. And if you like Saladfingers, then do a "google" for the Saladfingers soundboards, which are always fun to mess with people. If you're into that sort of thing, then you already know that the king of soundboards on the net, is Arnold Schwarzenegger. ( search for his too... have some fun once in a while... call your mom with it, fun! ) Well folks, sorry about the short post today, but hey, its Sunday, and I'm supposed to be resting anyways, so screw you! No... you know I'm just kidding, enjoy your Sunday, or is it Someday... hmmm, and thats for everybody. D-out.
Hey did you guys hear... Arnold and Michael Jackson are doing a new sitcom together, this fall on HBO, its called "Tales from Michael's Crypt."
Quote of the Day
"Nothing is permanent in this wicked world - not even our troubles."
Charlie Chaplin (1889 - 1977), O Magazine, October 2002
9/16/06: A Creepshow, Gummo, and a Prophecy.
Good morning, or good afternoon to some, but none the less, it looks to be a good day. It is amazingly not humid outside, atleast for right now. But don't think for one second that it isn't scorching hot outside today! And its not going too bad down at the Jensen Beach Alltel either, though it has been really busy today. Busy is good when you are in the retail business, cause that means the day goes by nice and fast, and in my case that means I might actually be able to make some money today. So, on to last night's adventures. Meredith, myself, and Jamie Lliorca headed up to TGI Fridays when I got off from my 2-hour shift last night and grabbed some grub. The new appetizers are awesome, I wanted to try the fried mac and cheese, but we had the potato dippers, and they were great. After that, we hit up the Crown Liquers and "Spritzers", as some would say, and picked up some brews. I saw some rather interesting beer there, so guess what, I snapped some quick photos.
Drink with the Devil himself...... if you're into that sort of thing..... wierd...
Man, Sony is really pushing the Spiderman franchise, now theres beer too
After they pulled me away from the coolers with my camera, we hit the road again, and wound up at the ol' Blockbuster to grab some flicks to watch. Of course I picked out the cheesiest of the selections, and we ended up with The Prophecy, Gummo ( what the hell....just watch it and you'll understand), and the original Creepshow.
Now, I'm a huge old horror movie fan. I love the use of actual, real life special effects - makeup, prostetics, and lots of fake blood. Its just comical to me to see some guy in a monster suit chasing some poor soul around for an hour and a half ( standard running time on all B - horror movies ). Creepshow for me is right up there with the Evil Dead trilogy, and for those of you who just said... " theres only two of them, " Army of Darkness is the third one. Creepshow is brought to you by the seriously demented, and delightful mind of Stephen King, who has pretty much scared every person alive atleast once in their lives, and makeup and visual effects done by George A. Romero - the zombie movie god! Stephen King actually stars in the movie, as he does in almost all of his movies, in the second act called "The Lonesome Death of Jordy Verrill".
He plays a poor farmer, whom after touching a meteorite that lands in his back yard, is completely covered in a fast growing, moss lifeform. Its great, but say for ol' Jordy. The movie is quite "star - studded" you could say, with appearances by Leslie Nielson, Ed Harris, and Ted Danson, and come on, how many of us wouldn't want to bury Ted Danson up to his neck in sand at the beach and let the tide come in to drown him... seriously? So, We ended up just hanging out over at Meredith's until the early morning until there was nothing left to do but sleep. We didn't get to watch The Prophecy, which I've never seen... yes, I know, I can't believe I haven't seen it either.... So tonight, when she gets off of work, I'm heading over to watch it and to fix dinner for the both of us. It looks like our time together today has come to a close, but one more thing before I go....
"Here honey, just come look under the stairs.....gooooood.....gooooood...."
But wait theres more.... I found a movie a blockbuster that is, quite possibly the dumbest attempt ever, at a horror film. I know you are all just dieing to find out what it is, so I will end your pain, end the waiting.... enter the GINGERBREAD MAN!!!
Gary Busey ate the Pillsbury Doughboy, took steriods, and became the most diabolical, grotesque creature to ever walk the Earth!
Quote of the day
"No passion so effectually robs the mind of all its powers of acting and reasoning as fear."
Edmund Burke (1729 - 1797), "A Philosophical Inquiry into the Origin of Our Ideas of the Sublime and Beautiful", 1756
9/14/06: St. Augustine on my mind...
Well folks, I'm back to it, back to the daily grind, missing the time off. But hey, who doesn't miss time off when they just had it? I know I do, but I should not fret, I have another "mini" vacation coming up from the 22nd to the 26th, for Meredith's and my 2nd anniversary. Married for 2 and together for 6, its been a journey, an adventure, and I want it to keep going forever. I think we are gonna go to St. Augustine, FL for our anniversary, just a little getaway. As I said in my previous postings, it is a place that both of us have wanted to visit for some time now, or atleast since we both started seeing it on those "haunting" shows that are on late night on TLC. The St. Augustine Lighthouse is supposed to be the most haunted of any of the "haunts" in St. Augustine.
Apparently a woman's ghost haunts the tower every night, pacing up and down the stairs... yeah, this actually sounds like fun to me! We could stay at a little haunted hotel, have a haunted continental breakfast, and at night we'll just have a haunted ol' time. But seriously, It looks like a beautiful city to check out, all of the old architecture and culture that lingers there, will make for an unforgetable little vacation.
I've been able to find some interesting places that we might be able to visit while we are there, as long as the ghosts don't decide otherwise. Apparently St. Augustine is home to the oldest, single room school house in the nation, and you guessed it, its supposed to be haunted. I've only been able to find one picture of it, and
its not the greatest shot in the world, but you get the idea... haunted. And you know the ghosts that are in there are the "dunces" , the class clowns, cause back then if you were laughing in class you got the dunce hat and then you were probably castrated!
There really aren't alot of good photos out there of the city, but I managed to get a couple from what I think is the downtown area... but I really woudn't know because I haven't been there yet. Looks like maybe a historical district or something.
This photo... obviously not taken by me... its off center!
beautiful architechture, you can tell how when its mixed with the idea of ghosts, it can become creepy.
I guess where I should begin with this whole thing is to book the hotel, so I will. This time though, I'll actually read the customer feedback section of the site for the hotel before I decide to book it! Don't want to end up like those poor souls in that movie Hostel. Well, they didn't have to get all freaky with crazy hookers... but, they didn't have to go backpacking in Europe either... so, its their own faults! Anyways, I'm just sitting at work, getting through the day, day dreaming, missing Meredith, and missing being on vacation together. The trip to Orlando was so much fun, and I wish it never would of had to end. More reason to make the next one even better, right! Well, I gotta get outta here for the day, get back to work, get back to dealing with this blackberry - what a nightmare - its been driving me crazy... more than normal. All I want is a little bit of "Treo love", not like that.... I mean a PalmOne Treo 650!!! Duh.
I know it says Verizon Wireless... shhhhh.... and its not a 650... its a 700w....
Quote of the day
"History is the witness that testifies to the passing of time; it illumines reality, vitalizes memory, provides guidance in daily life, and brings us tidings of antiquity."
Cicero (106 BC - 43 BC), Pro Publio Sestio
9/12/06: CityWalk-ing in the Sunshine State Pt. . 2
So, on to day number two, thats "dos" for some, and "zwei" for others. At any rate, lets get to it. I left off with us leaving the CityWalk at Universal Studios. So, we headed back to "Silent Hill," where we found ourselves immediately switching rooms; the ants were taking over the bathroom and the lingering aroma of the feline urine was the straw that broke the camel's back! So, we decide to switch rooms... and what nice rooms they were...
Welcome to hell my friends... welcome...
So, anyways, we go to our "new" room, which is directly across the hall from the one we are in now, and we were greated by the same pungeant odor from before, along with a couple "clots" of hair all bunched up in the tub. I'm not sure if it was the smell or the hair in the tub that set us over the edge of acceptance, but that was it. I got on the phone with Expedia..... "dot com", and Meredith got on the horn with her mom to help find us a new place to stay.
We decided to hit the road again, now at about 12:35 in the AM, and head towards Jacksonville. So, we hit the road, for about 3 straight hours. We got to drive past St. Augustine, a place Meredith and I have wanted to visit for some time now. Its like the oldest city in the country or something, and is supposed to be haunted like crazy. I think we are gonna go there for a few days over our 2 year anniversary, which is right around the bend! Anyways, back on track, after about 35 minutes of playing "find the damn road to the hotel" with Jenni on the phone helping, I decided I didn't want to play anymore, so I found the road and we arrived at the Holiday Inn Express at about 3:30 a.m. The next morning, or at like 1:00, we got up from our slumber and
started heading for the stadium. Jacksonville is a beautiful city, and neither of us had ever been there before. It was nice to drive through a city again, we both miss driving through downtown Indy very much. So, I finally find a little parking lot, so I shoot in there, hop out, the attendant says its $20 to park in here... so I'm thinking, " Yes, this is a great location, the Stadium must be really close..." But, I was mistaken. We hiked the rest of the way, all 4 or 5 miles of it. ( of course I'm exaggerating, it was more like 3 miles... silly ) When we got to the stadium, the tailgate parties were in full force and we met up with my boss Larry and his wife and daughter at the Alltel Tailgate Party. We had some free hamburgers and drinks and then it was into the stadium for the game. Jacksonville played a great game against the Cowboys and came out victorious. Surprisingly to me, there were alot of Dallas fans at the game, probably a 4th of the crowd. And let the rain begin! It started raining about a 4th of the way into the game, so
I went down to one of the shops to purchase some ponchos.... now these were no ordinary ponchos, these were "industrial strength" ponchos... well they should have been bullet proof for the price! Twenty dollars and 45 minutes later, Meredith and I were covered in thick, government plastic and enjoying the game. The atmosphere at the Jacksonville game was breathtaking. Every person seemed to be a die-hard fan, jumping out of there seat at every turn. And, I wasn't there to see it, but the Colts also had a victory, so congrats fellas and keep it going!
After the game, we headed for home, and with Meredith at the healm, we made it alot faster I'm sure! We had a few run-ins with some crazy truck drivers - I even called the highway patrol on one of them because he almost hit us twice! It was a great little getaway, and yeah, it was crazy at the same time, but we had a blast and that's what matters! So, this is me saying goodbye now, so goodbye.... for now....
Jason Vorhees says hello from Camp Crystal Lake, and its not even Friday the 13th!
Quote of the day
"Everywhere I go, I find a poet has been there before me"
Sigmund Freud (1856 - 1939)
9/11/06: CityWalk-ing in the Sunshine State Pt . 1
So yes, this is just "Part 1" or "Part Uno", if thats your cup of tea. I've been having trouble with my iphoto on the ol' macintosh, so last night when we got in, I was unable to import the photos we took on the trip... and what a little adventure it was! We started off with a little "Crank" on Friday night... no, we're not shooting black-tar heroin or anything, its a movie! Starring Jason Statham, whom you may remember from the recent Transporter movies, or maybe his role in the film Snatch. At any rate, Crank is a great action movie, so if you're into that sort of thing, go check it out. After the Movie, Meredith and I went out to eat, had some drinks, and crashed out, believing we would get up early and hit the road. Well, we ended up leaving the next morning ( thats Saturday Morning if you're not paying attention.... I know, its boring without pictures....) around 1:30 in the PM, and arrived in the Universal/Orlando area around 3:30.
And what a gem we had found... what a diamond in the rough, the oasis to my desert... oh, I'm sorry, its the Imperial Swan Hotel! Just so you know, I was exaggerating. Let me put it to you like this, the hallways and rooms smelled like cat urine, yeah, there were ants and clots of hair in the bathrooms, yeah, there was a sign on the glass sliding door that read, " For your own safety, use safety bar, and keep locked at all times.", yeah, the blankets were so over starched, the swat team could use them to push back crowds, yeah, it was disgusting. So, we hung out for a little while, and then we hit the "Citywalk" at Universal Studios. It is the coolest place I've been too in a long time. There is so much going on, its hard to stay focused!!! And ofcourse, the Hard Rock Live!
Yeah, whats this place look like? I'm an idiot...
After a brief walk around once we arrived at CityWalk, we headed right over to the Hard Rock Live, restaurant and theater. I've always loved the Hard Rock restaurants, the atmosphere is always amazing. We hit the gift-shop for a minute or two, and then got a table and enjoyed some awesome food. Meredith had the "Twisted Mac & Cheese" and a Hurricane and I had the "Legendary Burger" and a Screwdriver... what weird combinations!!! After we ate we headed to the Velvet Bar - attached to the Hard Rock Cafe, and then into the theater for the Lisa Lampanelli show. We had a couple more drinks to get loose before the show - which started about 30 minutes late - but that doesn't even matter because my stomach still hurts from laughing. From start to finish, she was great, she didn't miss anybody with her jokes. And to make it even better... get this, it was Christian Rock Weekend at the Hard Rock Live with Lisa Lampanelli! HA HA!!! I thought that was hilarious! So after the show, we decided we would go grab a "world famous" Margarita from Jimmy Buffet's Margaritaville.
Well Jimmy, let me just tell you something, the last time I checked, a Margarita has Tequila in it, awww, its o.k., you probably didn't know that, but you'd think for $6.50 a 1/2 cup size Margarita, you'd be able to pay to educate yourself on the matter. Lets just say, we were not impressed, but it was a nice slushy! So, at that point, we just called it a night, and headed back to "Silent Hill" errr, our hotel room. And at that, I'm gonna end it.... you gotta toon back in tomorrow for the rest!! Ha Ha Ha, thats how I rope you in, gotta get my ratings up! Check back tomorrow for more photos and for the conclusion of our trip! Peace to all.
Remember today, 9/11. Never Forget.
Quote of the day
"In the truest sense, freedom cannot be bestowed; it must be achieved."
Franklin D. Roosevelt (1882 - 1945), Speech, September 22, 1936
09/08/06 : The Lizard King
Don't look directly into the eyes of the beast!
Hello to all on a beautiful Friday afternoon. You'd think if its so nice than I'd be outside enjoying the wonderful bliss... but, I gotta lot of stuff to do today before we can hit the road to the Lisa Lampanelli show. When do we leave you ask? Well, the plan is to leave tomorrow morning kind of early, but that still may change if I can find an awesome deal on a hotel tonight, we might drive up tonight, that way we have the entire day tomorrow to enjoy the city. And whats with the title of today's post you ask? Well, let me tell you. I guess I'm the lizard king now, since the recent adoption of mr. Jamie Baker's iguana, Hayden. She is an interesting creature at the least. We let her out, and let her rein supreme over the cats - who by the way are totally freaked out by her, and now she never wants to go back into the tank! She slept on the back of the couch while we watched a movie the other night, all covered up in a blanket. It was really cool to see her just relaxing there... but, there came the time when I needed to put her back in the cage - let the hilarity ensue...
At this point, I can say I was frightened, not for my life really, but for the lives of a couple "special" friends of mine, that I hold very dear to my heart. This happened after a horrible attempt to place the lovely Hayden back into her tank, which as you can see, failed miserably. Jamie Baker and Meredith were laughing histerically in the background, and I was just trying not to laugh - not to provoke the clinging beast between my legs at the moment. She held on for good 5 minuutes, during which she dug her claws into the denim of my jeans, I was worried about hurting her to get her off of me because I've heard that an iguana's claws can be pulled out rather easily and they can bleed excessively if this happens. So with a little strategy and whole lot of special attention to my "special friends" we managed to get Hayden back into her tank for the duration. I feel this was a good bonding moment for the both of us, a kind of "getting to know you session" if you will.
Well that pretty much concludes that fiasco. Hayden is gonna be a great pet, I knew it the moment we had our mutual agreement that very moment, looking into those reptile eyes, we decided diplomacy over war. Well I gotta get outta here soon, get the bills paid and start plotting our little journey to the Hard Rock Live and then on to the big game on Sunday... Oh yeah, my apologizes, its the Jacksonville Jaguars not the Panthers... thanks to Meredith that one is rectified.
You see, I told you she likes me!
Quote of the Day
" I don't know the key to success, but the key to failure is trying to please everybody."
Bill Cosby (1937 - )
09/07/06 : Finally a Celebration
Well, for what you might ask? Yes, my return to your regularly scheduled station. Thats right, I've decided to hang my head low no longer and re-enter the blogging world. I've been out of the loop for some time now, so it'll take a little bit getting used to - I mean posting everyday again, but I do find something theraputic about doing this. Its like having your own little piece of the world to express yourself however and whenever you see fit. I do miss my little visits with my little cornerstone of the universe. And one more thing, I'm adding a couple new things to my page this time around, so make sure you give a good "twice over", if you know what I mean. Well, to let you all in on whats been hoping on
over on my side of the fence, I've been taking some "anger management" classes, and no, not anything like the movie, but I figured it was only appropriate! I feel great, better than I have in a long time - dealing with all my issues. Being in a good mood is nice, its refreshing, its amazing, and I only wish I would have done this so long ago. But enough with the past for right now, I'm on to the future! Meredith and I are off to see the " Queen of Mean " a.k.a. Lisa Lamponelli, this Saturday at the Hard Rock Live in Orlando. I purchased the tickets about a month ago now after we happened to catch one of Lisa's stand up performances on Comedy Central. She is definately an "aquired taste" of comedy. She is very vulgar and can't get very offensive if you don't have a sense of humor, and she loves to make fun of innocents in the crowd. Hopefully we'll be sitting far enough back to not get humiliated!
So, after the show in Orlando, we are driving up to Jacksonville, for the Panther's season opener against the Dallas Cowboys at good ol' Alltel Stadium. Yeah, I got the tickets free cause I'm cool like that... well, not really, my boss gave them to me and the day off to go to the game... what a coincidence! Also, last night, we watched United 93, and it was amazing. Very well done, moving, it will definately make you cry... and if not, then you're either one of the terrorists or just a soulless idiot. Rent it, Buy it, Watch it, NOW! It will make you remember everything about that fateful day, whatever it was you were doing when we all saw those news reports. It makes you think of family, and how beautiful it truly is to have family and friends in your life, and to charise those moments we do get with the ones we love. Well, enough with the girly stuff, right!! Ha Ha, well, I do gotta get outta here, but I'm back now, so I'll see you soon.
D-out.
Quote of the day
"Hope is a waking dream."
Aristotle (384 BC - 322 BC), from Diogenes Laertius, Lives of Eminent Philosophers
