Holy cow, It's been a while.

A lot has happened since the last time I posted. I will get to that a little bit later, but I thought I would let everyone know about this awesome application I downloaded for my phone.

A lot of people want a GPS, but they hate that their iPhone doesn't have turn based GPS. Well, now it can.

Check out Waze.

...J-baggin' was born.

See this guy here, he came up with one of the best ideas ever.

It's called J-Baggin'. Here is the basic concept.

1) Order from Jimmy Johns online.
2) Order your stuff.
3) Put in driver notes. Most people say "use side door"

That's not what this genius did. And he and I have teamed up to tell you about it.

Today, we give you the following: http://jimmyjohnsbagart.blogspot.com/

Gears of War 3 is out!

Yes, I'm a video game nerd.

Yes, this is nothing but blood and gore.

Yes, they added a chick this time for good measure.

But, come on. If you own an XBOX, you have to play Gears of War.

It's a must.

A right of passage one might say.

...goodbye caffeine.

I have said it before, and I've actually done it before. Each time I slip back in to it. I have had a 20+ year love affair with Mountain Dew. To me, it's probably the best tasting soda out there.

I have been trying for a while to cut back, not have any for a couple days here and there but I always fall back and feel like I need one

this guy won America's Got Talent.

Last night was the results show for America's Got Talent, Season 6. I watch this almost every year. There are a couple I have missed. I love it. I'm a sucker for talent shows and watching other artists that nobody has every heard of show up and do their thing (some for the first time) on a stage in front of hundreds. 

I am recapping the weekend that was my vacation.

This picture right here summed up my vacation. More Greeks than you could shake a stick at (not recommended) and a lot of dancing. There were a few times that I even got out there and danced as well. I only know one of the dances, but I tried anyway.

There were kids of all ages doing their thing out there from the smallest baby who couldn't have been more than a year old doing his own zembekiko while a good fifty or more people stood by and cheered him on, to the elderly joining in the line.

I got an intersting email this weekend.

This is an actual email that I got over the weekend. It was a wrong number. I hope it was a wrong number. I didn't recognize it at all. But, to my amusement, there was singing and apparently it was in an elevator.

I got my money's worth and then some.

On the suggestion from a good friend of mine, I picked up the Saints Row double pack from the might Best buy a while back. I have never really been a huge fan of the big box style games where you can free roam. Yes, you can do what you want.Yes, at your own pace and when you feel like it. I will have to say to anyone that challenges me on this that it is a linear game. There are things you have to do to get from point A to Z, and you do have to do them in order. You can't just walk in to the last mission of the game and finish it the second you start.

That being said....

I'm going off on a tangent about music in general.

We're going to start today off with a couple definitions from Dictionary.com

mu·sic   [myoo-zik]noun
1. an art of sound in time that expresses ideas and emotions insignificant forms through the elements of rhythm, melody,harmony, and color.
2. the tones or sounds employed, occurring in single line(melody) or multiple lines (harmony), and sounded or to besounded by one or more voices or instruments, or both.

...I'm recapping last weekend.

So, this past weekend I had a lot going on. I turned 37. I went to a Packer's pre-season game and sat on the 50 yard line for it. Chicago was a blast, and Sunday was nice and lazy.

...I have completed level 36. On to level 37.

For all my geek friends out there, I have dinged level 37 this morning. Level 36 was complicated, tiring at times, and quite awesome as well. Here are the highlights, starting with the Level 36 ding itself.

August: I had a bunch of friends with me to celebrate while I at sushi and hibachi.

September: Back to school. I took a guitar class and learned quite a bit.

October: I learned that some people are REALLY in to Halloween. I also moved jobs from broadcast to corporate.

November: My first vegan thanksgiving. There is a turkey alternative, and it's fucking amazing (pardon my swearing please)

December: I saw a play for the first time in years, and I had a good time with it. Promotion at my job.

...I'm throwing away "at work" social media.

At work today, I realized I spend too much time on Twitter, Facebook, Google+, Gchat, and many other "distractions". This blog is one of them.

Starting today, I will not be logging in to Facebook, personal Gmail, Twitter, Blogger, or any of the other time wasters I have while I am here at my desk. It's distracting and really causing me to not do what it is I need to do while I am here. Which is, help people, and make a living. I'm not paid to surf Facebook or Twitter. I'm paid to help people and manage people.

If I seem like I'm ignoring, or not answering, well... I'm not. I'm working.

...I'm on the road to a better me.

I, like most people, hate the dentist. I just don't like going. I am ok with the needles in the mouth, the root canal work, the teeth pulling (all four wisdoms gone from non-surgical extractions), and everything that comes with it. 

The problem I have had is that my gums are not all that great. But, over the past months/years I have gotten better about all the brushing/flossing and general care of the teeth. This visit went much better than my last few I have had. I tried out a new place (the new Dental Associates in Sturtevant) and I really like it. It's very clean and in a completely new building. It's at the old Saturn dealership that was only open for about a year before GM decided to fold that division. 

They really do seem to care and did some great work for me. I am actually happy I am getting all of this done finally.

Still, the day of cleaning. Man. My teeth hurt.

...I realized that politics make absolutely no sense.

Home of people who make no sense

I was talking with my girlfriend's mother last night about the recall election last night. We were discussing just how much money was spent on something such as a recall election. From what I have read and heard on the radio, this is the most expensive recall election in the state to date. Numbers heard this morning on the way were reporting that over 10 million dollars (reportedly 15 million) were spent just on the Democrat side to get the Republicans out. Who knows how much more the Republicans spent.

I'm going to take a lot of flack for this, probably from both sides and from all my friends when I say this.

It was a huge waste of money for both sides. If you think I'm attacking one side or the other... read on.

...my little studio of fun is almost complete.

I have a little bit left to do in here. I'm still not sold on the layout. 

We shall see what happens over the next couple of days. I'm just happy I can start doing some demo work for am.psych again.

...the carpet is in. Now I am home.

Today the carpeting went in. My girl stayed at the house so that I could go to work and not lose any money or vacation days.  As she said to me "It's not like I have anything else to do." So she stayed here and cracked the whip on the installers the whole day. 

Last night was a pain in the ass. I know she'll punch me for saying it, but it was. I had been at work all day and the last thing I wanted to do was move a bunch of furniture around and clean like I was moving. But, I like staying in good standing with her. It helps me out in other avenues. Over the weekend I had moved everything to what is now my office. I had it all in there and I was happy that there were only two things left... 

...I will be going home to a new home.

The carpet is being installed right now as I frantically type out my words here.

I bought the house in 2002. In mid 2002 I pulled all the old dingy carpeting out of the house and pretty much did nothing to the floors for a while. They were 9in shambles. I had found out there were spots in the floor that used to be walls, and areas that were not finished at all. I had laid laminate flooring down on the floor, but in the end, it got destroyed by numerous pets, children, and bad upkeep. It was never really all that finished anyway.

So, 10 years in the making, carpeting is going back in today. This is going to be a great step for me to move forward in my life in a house that has really sucked the life out of me since I got there.

Cat is busy making sure that the installers are not messing things up and having them move furniture back in place once they are done. She has a grand plan to help really make this place somewhere that I really do want to come home to and spend time in each individual room.

That being said, she almost killed me last night. So much moving, cleaning, moving, cleaning, "what do you mean I have to do that now?" and so on. It's all worth it. Things will look great once they are all in place and I have known for a while that I should just get it all done. But, I am stubborn and I get stuck in my ways. So I should really just learn to go with the flow and listen to her once in a while. I know that my way is not always the right way to get things done, but it's also the only way that I know of getting it done.

I can't wait to see the house. I am sure it is going to look fantastic.

...I didn't die in an elevator today.

So, I was headed down to the lobby at work today. I'm on the 5th floor. Thanks to my knees, I rarely take the stairs.

Inside the elevator.

So, as I am headed to the front bank of elevators I was thinking what a great day it is. I was quite happy really. It was a sunny day outside, and there were just the right amount of clouds in the air for a summer day. Traffic didn't give me a hassle, my work day was going great.

I stepped in the elevator just as I have done many times before. I pressed the button to the first floor and awaited my swift transport to the ground floor. On the way I heard the pleasant dings of the bell alerting me that I have moved down another floor. After the third bell telling me I had reached the second floor, there was a loud "ka-chung" sound as the elevator stopped. I thought maybe it just hit hard on the first floor. The doors surely would open as they have done many times prior to this. However, today is not like every other day. No, today it decided to stop just after passing the second floor door. I opened my side of the door so I could better tell where I was. Sure enough there was a large #2 staring me in the face.

...I can see the end in the horizon.

This has been a hell of a weekend. The carpeting goes down on Tuesday and I got the painting that needed to be done completed. Now, I will say this. I would not be as far as I am without the love and support of my lady telling me I can do it. I would also be much further behind if it were not for my kids. Most people would not let a 10 and 12 year old do any painting like this. But, I have faith in them. And... they were my only helpers. And... they had no choice.

...I got a hell of a lot farther than I thought I would.

So, I had a plan. I thought I was not going to finish at all. But, I got what I wanted to get done for the night already. And EARLY. I can't paint any more here in the house tonight because it all has to dry.

Don't worry, Sally and Susie, I have an open window with a fan pulling air out.

Lou, once the room is done, I will give you a call. I'll actually have one fully completed room in this house. It's the big entrance room. Carpeting goes down on Tuesday, I should have everything painted before then. It's going to look great.

I would not be as far as I am tonight though without the help of my monkeys. They did a lot too, they also paint quite well if you give them good instructions!

...I have more time to be painting!

This is the weekend I normally have my kids. I will still have them, I just don't have to drive to get them. They are being brought to me. 

This is good for a couple of reasons. 1) I get really tired after being in a car for 5 hours. 2) It gives me more AWAKE time with the kids. 3) It's going to give me more time to paint. 

I have a project going on in the house right now that has been a long time coming. About 7 or 8 years ago I ripped out all the carpeting in my house. Since then, it just kind of sat there. Well, no more pets, and my kids are old enough now that I don't worry (too much) about large spills. Carpet is going back down. This will be so nice. 

But, I also decided to paint this room I am putting carpet in. It's going to be pretty awesome actually. The colors that are in there will look good and compliment my furniture. Things will be moved around a bit too. The dining room will be moved near the front of the house and serve as a seating area for gathering. What would be the "dining room" will actually have my couch and TV. The current "den" is where the TV is right now, and that will have my music equipment and computer stuff in there. Sort of like a studio.

It's going to look great. I just have to get my ass in gear now and paint paint paint!

...I get to watch some monkeys today.

My sister's monkeys to be exact. I love these kids. They are hilarious. Why are they funny? Well, for one they are not mine. That means they can do annoying things and I can send them home. 

The other part is that they just get a kick out of me.

Watch the video below for some of their antics.

...sometimes you just have to let it out and rant.

I keep things positive on here, so I made another site to help me with something that annoys me (and from feed back I've seen, other people as well).

Check it out, read up, re-post, or be angry about me doing it.

But, today was better because I found an outlet for my annoyance.

http://wiscomorons.blogspot.com/

...I made a permanent home for the blog.

So, today I made the decision to get an actual domain name for the blog. Previously you were all going to http://todaywasbetterbecause.blogspot.com. That just doesn't quite do it for me.

Starting today, update your bookmarks. The blog is now at http://www.todaywasbetterbecause.com.

The old link will re-direct you for now, but it would be best to actually go to the new link.

Thank you to everyone for reading and following along.

...baby steps.

This weekend was a good one. It's the first time my lady has stayed at the house for the weekend... while the kids were home. It's a big step. One she didn't know if she was ready for. But, if we are going to move forward with our lives together, she can't just go stay somewhere else every other weekend.

It went quite well. My kids get a kick out of her. They respect what she has to say and don't pull the "You're not my mom" crap I have seen other kids pull on adults. My kids respect authority. They also know that they are at my house and that I won't stand for it.

So, this weekend had a lot of things that were different about it and will continue. My kids kind of got the law laid down about the house and how we need to keep it clean. They were shown the chores that they need to do on the weekends they are home and what they can "earn" for doing these chores.

It totally worked.

Right away Saturday morning, they started cleaning without being told. I was floored. Friday night we had told them they should leave a room "better than when they entered it" and I heard my daughter tell my son "no, you have to fold the blankets up before you leave the room!"

The one thing that was great was that I kept the video games to a minimum. They really should be a reward and not the norm when they are here. I get so little time with them. So, I confiscated the GameBoy that they each have and put them away. No "video" games for the weekend. Games were played though. We had a super long game of Sorry! that was quite fun to play. It took forever, but it got all of us talking and playing at the table instead of in front of the TV.

This needs to happen more often. It really sucks that more families don't do this. Eat at the table. Clean together. Reward for good. Play games as a family.

It was a fun weekend.

...I got to hold a four day old baby today.

See this guy, this is William (or Willie as they will be calling him). He's four days old. Quite cool for four days old. He opened his eyes and was looking around at me. He had the hiccups while looking at me and crapped twice (both times NOT while I was holding him) during his trip to the office.

So, congrats to Holly and Billy on their newborn baby.

Holly, I'm sure the older two will be great with him... and Andy seems to like not being the smallest one anymore.

...good things are happening around here (update)

Well, what would it be if I didn't update people on how things were going around the house...

The biggest thing for me is that I see a huge project and I don't know where to start. Then that means I just don't start it. It's work. I already work 40 hours a week. I want to rest.

Well, this shit needed to happen too. I got a lot done over the last couple of weeks. Cat helped with a lot too. She has been a huge motivator along the way in more ways than one.

(And yes, my kids have sheets... they are in the dryer)

Hannah's room

Hannah's room #2

Ro's room 

Ro's room#2

Kitchen 

More Kitchen

The big room

Even more big room

Sanctuary

Ze bathroom

More big room

...I took control of my email again.

That's right - I love me some Gmail

I used to sign up for everything. I was getting offers and deals from everywhere. Then I realized that I really didn't need all that. So, last week, I started unsubscribing from everything.

Since then, I don't get woken up by a 3:54AM message from GuitarCenter telling me about the latest deal, or any of the others that seem to send over and over and over. Apple, you are by far the worst offender. I only need the email once. Two to three times to tell me about the new iNeedthis is enough, thank you very much.

It's great. I don't hear my phone going off all the time any more. It's quiet. I'm not rushing to see what it is. MAYBE I WON A MILLION DOLLARS!

I love having a clean inbox. I have embraced the "Archive" button. Do I need to do anything with this but I need the info for later...archive.

It's so nice having a clean look to the inbox. I don't feel like I'm getting behind anymore.

...I'm teaching people how to add a +1 button to their Blogger site. - Updated!

So, you want to add a +1 button to your Blogger page do you?

It's pretty easy.

Click on the Design tab, then click Edit HTML. Search for the </head> tag.

Paste this in the line after </script> but before </head>
<script src='http://apis.google.com/js.plusone.js' type='text/javascript'/>

Save your template and you are ready to go. You will now have a Google +1 button at the bottom of every post.

UPDATE! Apparently, you can also update and add the +1 button by clicking on the Design tab, then clicking EDIT in the Blog Posts box, uncheck and re-add the "Show Share Buttons" and it will be there as well.

...I found a voice-mail I was unaware I had.

This is waaaaay too funny not to share. I'm pretty sure I'm going to be hurt for this.

I was going through my Google Voice account and found an old voice-mail message that I was unaware of.

...good things are happening around here.

Nine and a half years ago, I moved in to the house I currently live in and own. As odd as it sounds, I can honestly say that it has never been as clean as it is right now. NEVER.

This house has seen quite a bit. Two marriages, four kids, four dogs, a multitude of cats, and various other animals. To say it was chaos around here is an understatement. Now, I will admit this... I am a lazy bastard. And because of such, I do not like to clean. Only one person is really to blame for this house getting to the point that it got to and that was me. I should have got on the kids to make things right around here, I should have got the people who lived here to pitch in more and help me keep the kids in line. All of that is going to change real quick. My kids are not going to like it. I'm not sure how much their mom makes them do around the house, but I am pretty sure it isn't a whole lot. I have to make sure that my kids understand that you get to do the fun things after you do what needs to be done. I have that approach at work so I need to bring it home too. I don't get to play chess at lunch if there are things to do. Why should my kids be downstairs watching TV if their bed isn't made, or if there are dishes to be put away.

I have someone to thank for this. My lady. She made me realize that there really is time for this once you just decide to get it done. That's what I'm doing now. I should have done it a long time ago. Let me tell you this, when you feel depressed, it just grabs a hold of you. You might not know it at the time, but it's something that just makes you want to sit there... do nothing... feel nothing... I'm glad she helped me snap out of it. It took her over a year. Most people would have quite almost instantly. Not her. She stuck with me, believed in me.

For those of you who have been here and don't believe what I'm writing, come over. I'm not ashamed of this house anymore. I still want to get out of it, but I am going to make the best of it while I am here. It's the only think I can do to stay sane... and it might make August 9th that much better for me. I have quite a bit more to get done here. Flooring will get laid down upstairs and downstairs to make it look even nicer around here within a month or so. Painting is going to begin as well. You're not going to recognize this place when it's done people.

...I started reading a book.

I started reading a book that was written by a long time friend of mine. By long time I mean I've known him for 32 years now.

He's got three of them up there now. This is the first one. I'm all about helping the starving artist. So, if you like mysteries, check it out.

It's a digital download only. So, get your Kindle app ready. Fire up your brain and start reading.

...I want to take a vacation.

I want to take a vacation, but how do I go about this. I am short on cash right now, but I would really like to go back down to Tampa.

So, I started figuring shit out.

According to Google Maps...it is 1270+ miles to the Castle, from my house. Driving straight through, that would be about 21-22 hours of driving. SO....

my car gets about 32 miles per gallon... 1270/32 = 39.6ish gallons of gas to get down there. I have a 14 gallon tank... so 39.6/14 = 2.8 tanks of gas to get down there, and lets say that gas is at $4 a gallon just for fun... that's $56 per full fill up... $156 to go TO tampa... and $156 back.

shit. it's still cheaper to fly...

I need to do more math on this.

...I got a few things done around the house.

So today did not go as planned at all. This was the original plan...

Wake up and go to home depot and get myself a new garbage disposal
Install said disposal
Deep clean the kitchen
Deep clean the floors on the first floor.
Go to dinner for my lady's belated birthday dinner with her family.

...here is what actually happened.

woke up and got the new garbage disposal from home depot
started installing said disposal.
heard running water when none should be
found leaking/burst pipe near the basement toilet (yes, I have a toilet in the basement)
removed toilet piping from the line (had to be at least 40 years old) and went to home depot again...
bought 1/2 inch galvanized plug
plugged the line
water is now back on and not leaking everywhere ruining my basement floor!
back upstairs...Start hooking up disposal pipes...
pipe in the wet wall breaks (SON OF A BITCH)
Off to home depot... again.
get parts I think I need....
realize the pipe in the wall is very badly damaged and again... back to home depot...
Got the right parts for sure this time.
Now everything is all hooked up.
Tested, water tight. no leaks...
...had to miss dinner with my love and her family.


I guess the good that came out of this is that it is done. I won't have to worry about it any more. I still want to get the downstairs toilet operational again, but I don't use it all that often, so it's not a rush.

...I am posting this ahead of time.

Today will be a great day. I already got to ride in on the motorcycle. I will be leaving work in an hour. And this afternoon, I will be heading up to a nice bed and breakfast with my lady for the night. Tomorrow we top it off with a day at Summerfest and watch the fireworks.

It's going to be a good 48 hours where I don't have to worry about anything really. Just what to eat, and lounge around.

...I went to State Fair Park and it didn't flood.

So, I went to State Fair Park this weekend to attend Greek Fest. My lady dances in it every year and last year I was unable to attend because am.psych was celebrating our latest and only cd release with a 3 day mini tour on the same weekend.

Well, this year, I was able to attend... and, a Jorgensen of Crego decent stepped foot on the fairgrounds and it didn't flood.  Laugh all you want, it's happened twice before.

The fest was interesting. I have never seen so many people just happy to be entertained by dancing. They went late in to the night last night and the band kept playing past 10 even though that was when it was supposed to be done. Greek time I guess.

I liked it. I'll be going again. It was really a fun time... minus the ride where my leg was almost crushed.

...it's been a while.

I needed this break from the blog. It was really starting to be a burden and that was not the intent of it when I started it.

So, I am going to be changing things up in here. Yes, I will still post. Yes it will still be about what is better for that day or moment.

Thank you to everyone for sticking around. The posts will be a bit longer than I usually do as well.

...I'm truly enjoying the bike.

I dont care that it was 60 today. I still rode. It seems I'm only going to get to do this once every week or so. As my luck has it, I get one good day a week to ride. The rest of the time it's too cold or raining. Then, when I have my kids... it's f'ing amazing outside and I can't go for a ride. So, I am enjoying every second I can.

I took Hwy 38 tonight. Once you're past 7mile road, it's got nice twists and turns and you can go off on other country roads and get a good lean going. I think I was leaned further out than any other time I've rode before. There is just something about it. I can't put my finger on it. I'm getting more comfortable too because I noticed I am not biting down and tensing my jaw while I ride. I just relax.

Until the next nice day....

...I feel rested and ready to take on the day.

It was a long weekend for me. There was a roller coaster of emotions ranging from love and anger, to euphoria and confusion.

This past weekend, Am.Psych played what has to be the largest crowd we've ever played for in Chicago. It was amazing. Dave Shock should be given a fucking medal for what he did. To get everyone together in one venue for four days and just let us all do our thing is more than any of us could have asked for. Even more, we all got to meet people and see bands that we ALL have so much respect for.

Who else can get Christ Analogue, Die Warzau, and Stromkern to all come back to Chicago and play a show? DAVID MOTHERFUCKING SHOCK! THAT'S WHO!

I owe so much to this guy. It's going to be really hard to pay him back over the years for all he has done for me personally. And, not just for the am.psych stuff either. He's been a very good friend to me since we first met back when we did our Thanksgiving show with USSA and Chemlab.

So, I have lots of other thank you's to go through on this, bear with me here.

Thank you to Dan Clark for playing with us once again.
Thank you to Jim Semonic for just being awesome and pulling out the ole Jimmy Semtex for Reload (kind of fitting actually)
Thank you to Joe Graham for coming up to the fest. I'm glad I wasn't the only old guy there.
Thank you to Chris Demarcus, Kerry Peterson, Galen and all of SV for the disc.
Thank you to the Milwaukee crew - Kathy, Isaac, Lucy, David & Angie. It made it feel like a home show.

and, most of all... Thank you to Cat and Meg. You both know why.

...it's a three payday month.

I just noticed that the pay schedule makes it so I have three paydays this month. Bonus.

...The WTII Minifest starts today.

We've been waiting a while for this and it starts tonight. Due to having to work tomorrow, I can't be down there until tomorrow when I get to hang with many of my friends, Matt Fanale of Caustic included in this one....

oh, and if you were interested in talking to Matt, make sure you know the rules.

I still can't stop laughing over the rules.

...impromptu Brewer game.

...I am going to get back in the groove on this blog.

Sorry about the lack of posting. Life kind of got in the way. Many of you have noticed that a lot of my postings are either during the work day, or late at night. Well, I've been limiting my personal internet time at work on purpose and I have been trying to go to bed earlier and be a responsible adult.

Other than that, I've been spending time with the kids. We watched Tron Legacy this weekend. I'm going to watch it at least 20-30 more times as loud as I can because it sounds awesome. It also makes me want to get on my motorcycle more. I did ride in today. I didnt care that it was 80 when I left the house. I needed to ride. I'm still getting used to it, but I am handling it better each time I am on it.

More posts to come... on a more frequent and hopefully daily basis again.

Thank you for reading.

...I had a great ride in to work.

She's been named "Black Widow"

Today it's official. It's mine. I transferred the title over to me.  Got a plate for it. Rode it in to work. It was really windy out this morning but it didn't really feel all that bad once I was out there. I missed the feel of doing 70 on the freeway with the wind pressing against my body. For people who don't ride and are afraid of it, it's hard to explain. There is nothing like it. It's the most alert you'll ever be while driving. You know where everything is. I hear it, see it, smell it (not all of it is good.) There is a huge feeling of freedom while riding. I love every second of it. Some of the people I love are not too thrilled about it, but they understand that it is something that lives within and won't be going away anytime soon. For those of you who are concerned about me riding. I always wear my helmet. I have an armored jacket as well.

Today was better because I had a great ride in to work on a bike that is all mine.

...I won't have to get my drivers license renewed until 2018.

So, I had to go to the mighty DMV today. I needed to get my license renewed. They let these things go for 8 years now. Nice to know that as long as I don't lose it, I wont have to go back until 2018. I will have to go again to get the bike titled and plated. That's easy stuff.

I'm actually not one to complain about the DMV. They changed how their system works so that it runs MUCH faster. They make you go to an information window first. You tell them why they are there, then they give you ALL the forms you need to fill out and a number. Then, you fill them out and wait for the number to be called.

It's a lot better than 20 years ago when I got my license. I must have been in line for hours just to find out I needed to fill out something and get back in line.

...I am one step closer to the weekend.

I have a lot going on this weekend. Movie and dinner along with a housewarming is tonight. Tomorrow I have house things to work on. Sunday is the yearly cookout at Rob's. And Monday is just a lazy day with my lady.

...I know the one guy I never want to make angry...EVER (Interview with Chris DeMarcus of Stiff Valentine - WTII Minifest II hype #6)

Stiff Valentine

Stiff Valentine from Vancouver is one of the recently signed bands on WTII Records. Their latest release "America Bleeding" is out now. I had a chance to do some correspondence with Chris DeMarcus and ask him about SV, Deathproof, audio engineering and battles with sea creatures and large mammals. If that doesn't make you want to read this interview, you're dead inside.


Falken: Thanks for agreeing to do this, I know we've met in the past. We had a conversation about this a few months ago. You were doing sound for 16 Volt when they were touring with Left Spine Down and Chemlab.

...I didn't fail this semester.

Well, another semester has gone by. The bad: I ended up having to take less than an A for the first time in my college corsework. The good: I didn't fail. This was a bitch of a semester. See that first class there. The one with the B+. I worked harder on that class than anything else I've worked on before and I still managed to squeak out a good grade. I dealt with the following: group work, group members not showing up, getting everyone together, figuring out we needed to use Google docs to collaborate, times and schedules for everyone, work, home, life in general. All of that in a class that decided there was weekly group work and a term group project.

But, I conquered the class. I won. That B+ is nothing to sneeze at. There were other groups that I am sure did not do as well.

...she's found a new home.

Pictures will be up soon, but I have added another motorcycle to the garage.

I stuck with Kawasaki, this time it's a 1979 KZ650D-SR. So, It's a bigger engine and has already started going through the paces of being turned in to a sportier bike.

She's got a fairing on it that needs to be brought back a bit. a really bad multi color paint job, and handlebars that need to go away.

Lucky for me I have a set of clubman z bars at the house ready to go. This Saturday I am picking up the paint for the bike, and it's going to be a very nice matte black all slick and ready to roll. I'm still toying with getting header wrap on it. I'm not sure if I want to do that this weekend. The pipes are already black and the 1:40 minute drive from Oconomowoc to Racine really didn't heat up my legs that much. So it might just stay the way it is for now.

...error PRJ0015 : The NULL device is missing from your system. (Interview with Eric Oehler of Null Device - WTII Minifest II Interview #5)

Null Device Interview (WTII Minifest hype-a-palooza)

It took me a while to get this interview out there as life got in the way. So, today we got this pig finished and published for the people.

Falken: I myself love the work you do. I will come right out and say that I am a complete fan. It's completely different than what I usually listen to, but just amazing melodically. So many different instruments and amazing vocals. It's not something I normally see in "the scene". What led you down this path with Null Device?

...Steve showed me that there is place for guitar in techno...

 

This is just damn amazing. I mean, really. I can't stop watching it. I love the soundtrack already so this is a no brainer for me to watch. 

Kick back, and watch this kid's fingers fly.

...I'm done with that class.

I had a hell of a time this semester with my Information Architecture II class. It's one of the classes that is for the major I am in currently and it is something that I do for a living. So, I thought it should be a snap. Did I ever think wrong. Information Architecture I was all about HTML, so I figured II would be much of the same. I was wrong. It was all about Systems Analysis and Design. Otherwise known in the IT and Business worlds as SDLC. I put the book we used for the class over to the left. I am not selling it back either. It's actually got quite a bit of useful information in it that I can transfer over to the current job.

The worst part about this class was that it was all group work. Weekly group assignments, and a term group project. Getting five people with five different schedules together is not the easiest thing to do. One of our group members missed so many classes he was dropped from the class. He didn't do a whole lot anyway, so it wasn't anything all that major. But it just pissed us off that we were doing all the work at the time while he was just riding along. I will say this, thank god for Google Docs. Without it we would have been dead in the water on all of our assignments. We were able to work miles away from each other and all be editing and collaborating on the documents in real time. The class wanted us to use Visio, we used Google's Draw. There was a learning curve, but in the end it worked out well. We even noticed a couple other groups starting to use Google Docs after we told them that we never actually "meet" up. We just did everything over the internet and that it was working out well for us.

But, today was better because I turned in our final group project for L&I Sci 340... and because I'm done with that class.

...I was reminded of some fun I had many years back.

On the way to work, I got sick of the usual blabber on the radio that I have been listening to for many years. I plugged in the iPod as I am known to do from time to time and let it go to shuffle mode. I have a lot of music, it's a 120 gig iPod and it's over half full. I can go for quite a while without hearing the same song twice.

Tony, Terry, and Cal

This morning I was reminded of a time that was a lot of fun for me when a song called "Over my dead body" happened to play. A few years back, a local band out of Racine called "Snooky" needed a guitar player. They were committed to 3 or four shows still and didn't want to have to pull out of them and let their fans down. I knew these guys for years. Opened up for them when I was still in Lithic for MANY shows and the guys became good friends of mine. So, when Tony, Cal, and Terry were down on their luck and needed someone to step in... I did. I learned a set of about 8 or 9 songs and helped them out. In the end, Bill (amazing guitar player) ended up taking over and they kept on rolling.

While they are not playing together anymore, I still consider their music some of the most influential on my playing in am.psych. John has mentioned that he can still hear it in things I play from time to time.

...I got a gift in the mail.

A while back, I re-upped my XBOX Live Gold Subscription so I can play all my fun games online and watch Netflix on my giant television in HD.

People always ask me, "Why do you pay for that crap?" Well, anyone else see PSN go down for a couple weeks and not be able to do jack on it? Microsoft uses money to help keep that shiz secure people. Keep hackers out, keep cheaters out, bring content to you like ESPN3 live events, Netflix in HD first, Hulu+, DLC exclusives before other systems. That's what my $60 a year is going to and I don't mind it one bit.

This year, they gave me a gift for subscribing at just the right time. I got 13 months for the price of 12 and a copy of Halo:Reach. It just showed up at my doorstep today. I think of it like this, I bought Halo:Reach.. they gave me free 13 months of XBOX. I would have bought this game at some point.

...I got to talk am.psych today. (Interview with John Verbos of am.psych - WTII Minifest II Interview #4)

am.psych live

In doing all these interviews, I toyed with interviewing John because of the fact that I am in the band as well. So, for this one, it's a little more relaxed and yet I do try to get some info out of him for everyone reading.

Falken: Here we go. Let's start this thing off right.

Talking with John of am.psych about life, music, and anything else we decide to talk about. I talk with him on a very normal basis (I am in the band as well) and know him quite well. We're going to dive right in and start asking some questions.

...his beard makes him look like Cthulu (Interview with Dan Clark of The Dark Clan - WTII Minifest interview #3)

Dan Clark is the front man for The Dark Clan. With the WTII Minifest II coming up, I decided to ask him a few questions to help gain interest in the fest, his band, and maybe his production work for those looking to get some studio work done. The following is what transpired:

Falken: Dan, thanks for taking the time to work on this with me.

Let's start things off right and give the readers a little bit of a history lesson on Dark Clan. Who's in it? where did the idea come from? That kind of thing.

...Blogger is back up.

Sorry that I didn't post yesterday, it was not my fault. Blogger was down for emergency maintenance for almost 24 hours.

But, it's back up and that means I can post again. That makes me happy. There should be at least one more today.

...my jacket arrived.

Yup, I finally got me a riding jacket. I needed one. Yes, that's the same color I got too. I want to be seen when I'm on the road. My helmet is black, so I needed something bright to offset it.

Happy camper, I am. The bike will come home soon and I'll be up on two in no time.

I just realized this is the third post today. Guess a lot was good today.

...Semonik happily answered some questions (WTII Minifest Interview #2 - Jim Semonic of Rein[Forced])

Seems Harmless enough.

 After doing the Caustic interview, David Shock of WTII Records liked what I had going on with my style of questioning. So, after interviewing him as well, the idea of talking to some of the bands that are playing at the WTII Records Minifest sprouted. Today, we have Jim Semonik. Front man of Rein[Forced].

...I found some awesome vegan pizza.

After my last class of the semester, I was a bit hungry. Classic Slice just opened up their East Side location on North Ave. not too long ago, so I thought it would be a good time to see how this location was compared to Bay View.

To my surprise, they have soy cheese at this location. I have been to the one in Bay View many times, and they have never had this!! I haven't had a decent pizza in ages. They completely nailed it. So good.

...Feuer Frei!

I've been waiting for this show for since 1998. The last time I got to see them was when they toured on the first Family Values tour. I was a doing street work promotion for TVT Records at the time and they had me handing out cassettes with the latest songs from Sevendust, Gravity Kills and others on there. As a thank you for doing that bit of work, they gave me two tickets to the Family Values show here in my town and I took one of my good friends to the show.  He'll be there with his wife and our former room mate as well (he didn't get to see them last time).

...I'm finally in my last week of school.

That's right kids, I'm nearing the end of this semester of higher education. That brings me smack dab in the middle of my second year of classes. It's been a silly ride so far, and one that I know I would have not done so well on if it were not for the fact that I have experience in this field.

Work has really prepared me for these classes in ways I can not explain. But, with that being the case, I feel bad for businesses in the future. There are some people who are taking these classes that have no idea what they are in for. No clue what corporate culture is like. Most of them have either only worked at a fast food or retail environment... or they have never had to work at all. That's probably the scariest part to me. I've worked for the last 21 years now, raised kids, played in bands, and worked my way up the corporate ladder. Most of these kids have just ... gone to school. No leadership skills, no customer service qualities. No putting in the extra effort and not caring if they get rewarded for it because it's something they love to do.

But, today was better because I'm finally in my last week of school for the semester... and that means I won't have to deal with it until Labor Day again.

...ROAD TRIP

It was road trip weekend out to Madison. We headed out to Inferno with a good friend of ours and went to the monthly Leather and Lace outing that they have there. It was quite packed. Lots of people just being themselves. It was a good time.

All I know is that I had just a tad too much last night. When we woke up this morning, I feel really bad for the cleaning staff today. They might not want us back.

...my doctor made a mistake he'll regret.

I recently posted about a doctor's appointment I had about a month back. I hadn't been to one in a few years. So, with everything that went on I decided to get some blood work done and make sure everything was in check. Well, it wasn't.

Here is the kicker about it. At the visit, I had to insist on getting these labs done. Not only that, but I had to call for the results, the Rx for what is ailing me due to these results, and call back SEVERAL times because nobody was calling me back even though I kept getting told I would be getting a call.

So, yesterday, I called the managing director of the facility. I left a voice mail for him and let him know that I was very displeased with the lack of care I was getting from the facility. I had explained how I visited on April 6th, but had to call back two weeks later to get my lab results. Then when told that a Rx was going out for my vitamin D deficiency, I went to Walgreens later that day... nothing. So I called back when I remembered a week later and talked to another gentleman who told me he'd get in contact with a nurse who would call me to get it taken care of. No call was ever received. I let him know I was quite concerned over this and was thinking of switching health care providers due to the lack of service I was getting from the facility overall.

Today, I got a voice mail from him. Seems he wasnt too happy about the service I was getting as well. He's looking in to getting me in to a different doctor and will be working with the one who WAS seeing me. As for my Rx, a nurse called me almost immediately after that to let me know that she called the Walgreens here near my house and that it was indeed there and filled last night at 5:30 (glad they let me know last night when they faxed it in!).

So today, I get home, there was a piece of mail from my doctor's office. It was a survey. About my visit.

I'm so going to have fun with it.

Today was better because my doctor made a mistake he'll regret... and I get to do the right thing by voicing my concern about a healthcare system that *I* have to pay for out of my own pocket. So, if this sounds a little bit mean... I really don't care. I expect to get top notch service if I am the one paying for it. It's my body, my health, and I'm going to make sure it's taken care of.

...I saw a flower.

No, I wasn't actively looking for them at a florist. I just happened to be coming back from class today and there they were.

It lets me know that spring in and of itself IS going to show up one of these days. There were white and yellow daffs all along the streets. I didn't notice them until today.

I had just been thinking this morning on my way in that the trees are not green yet. That has been depressing me a bit. I want my trees to be swaying in the wind while I lay on my bed with the window open and the sun shining on my face as I take a nap. It's a great sound. I mean, wind itself doesn't make noise. But, when air goes through all the leaves it makes me sleepy and brings me back to a time where I would put on my headphones and just listen to music. Not a care in the world back then.

So, today was better because I saw a flower. And it made me remember.

...when she makes herself crack up...

She snorts and looks like this picture. I tend to start laughing too.

I love her.

She's going to kill me for this post, but it's true. Love this girl.

...It's time to start pimpin' the WTII Records Minifest 2 : Interview with Dave Shock of WTII Records

Falken: I'd like to start off by saying "thank you" for agreeing to do the interview. I had a lot of fun interviewing Matt and hopefully getting him some new people listening and buying his music.

So, I am sure there are people reading this asking themselves "who is this Dave Shock guy?", "what is WTII?", and "That guy runs a record label?"

Give me some background on you, the label and what it takes to run one. Because I'll admit, I've known you for a while and *I* don't even know the whole story.

...I can't...stop...watching...

I love high speed photography and filming. It's just way fun to watch. So, with that, I'm glad someone finally put this up on YouTube.

I could watch this on loop for days.

...I feel refreshed and relaxed for the first time in over a week.

Yesterday, I had planned on going directly home to do some cleaning and go to sleep. The last week or so has been a whirlwind of not getting a lot of sleep compounded by other stress in my life. Over the last week, I have had an average of about four hours of sleep a night. Some nights were less than that. With school, work, Easter week services, and two shows since the 15th... I was pretty run down.

So, that was the plan. What ended up happening is I went over by the lady and spent some time with her just relaxing. She cooked me up a great dinner, and we just sat watching television and playing chess. At about 9, it was time to go home. After my 45 minute drive home, the effects of my non sleep routine started to really kick in. I won't get in to specifics. It was not pleasant. 

I got some really good sleep last night, and I dont think my body knew how to handle it. I woke up at 2am, and then at 6am. Both times I was ready to go and thought it was a super great day. I haven't had that in a while. 

It was nice to wake up and feel refreshed. Getting that "good morning, love" phone call on the way to work was nice too.

...I finished the interview with Caustic...THE LIGHTNING ROUND! (Caustic interview : Part III)

This is the final part of my three part series of the interview with Caustic. If you have not read the other parts, click HERE for part one, and HERE for part two. I had a great time doing this with Matt. He's a no bullshit kind of guy and he helps make my day. I've really looked forward to his responses over the last few days and they have made my day a bit better than the last. For those of you who are new to this blog solely because of the interview with Caustic, I urge you to become one of my regular readers. You can subscribe on the right side of the page. This is here mostly for me as an outlet where I can tell people what made my life better today. In a time where so many people put a lot of time and effort bitching about things, I am trying to do the exact opposite and shine a light on things that make me happy.


Now, for the lightning round... I asked Matt seven questions that for some reason I thought would be short answers. I should have known better than to expect a word association type answer to these...

...I whip my questions back and forth. The Caustic Interview (Part 2)

This is Part II of the Caustic interview. Part I can be read here.

The interview continues....

Falken: That's great that you're not limiting yourself though. I've listened to Pre-Golden Vag Caustic for a while now and taking a listen to the new album... I'm blown away. It's a great album start to finish that is probably going to be in my rotation for months to come now. That doesn't happen too easily, and not just because I know you.

What is your take on remixing music in general (yours or others)?

...I'm having a good little interview with Caustic (part 1)

A face you can trust.

Earlier today, Matt put it out there that he's up for doing interviews. Being a very curious person about all things music and what people think when they are making their art, I decided "what the hell, worst thing he'll say is no." 


Background, I've only "known" Matt since early 2010 when Dan Clark and Eric Oehler put together the Fading Belief tour and had am.psych and Caustic on the bill for the Madison/Milwaukee/Chicago shows. I must say, Matt is a riot, I love what he does on stage, and I wish I got to see more of his performances in my younger years. Great stuff. To this day, I get Lady Business in my head out of nowhere and just rattle off "boom boom boom, lady business." It scares people. 


Other than that, I just have good conversation with the guy. We hit each other up on Facebook from time to time, and I've even sparked his interest in possibly doing a cover song of an old 80's tune with me in the future.


So after the jump is part one of my interview with Matt of Caustic: 

...I'm working on something with Matt.

I'm working on something with Matt from @_caustic_ . You'll all see it very shortly. He made an offer, I took him up on it. It's not working on music or anything, which would be awesome. But, it's going to be just as cool. Keep an eye on this blog over the next couple of days.

...what started as a joke, is now something serious.

A long time ago, a friend of mine thought it would be funny if after every post I made he would put the line "rub one out" somewhere in the thread. Well, 6 months later it got shortened to r1o. Mistypes changed it to R10 and so on. There have been many variations of it. So, with that, I recently started really getting in to prog house. I don't know why. I just really like it. So, I have decided to take a stab at it and take Falken to a different area of music than I have in the past. Normally it's dancy/electro/wtf. But, I'm going to blend my own style of prog house with industrial low end nu-metal guitar goodness that I have become known for in to what is going to be a great project for me. I am actually excited. I've learned quite a bit on my own in what spare time I have managed to get together and I know my synths and drum stations better than ever.

So, now what started as a joke is quickly becoming something I enjoy. No longer will I blush or facepalm when I see R10 anywhere.

...it's nice and sunny outside.

Καλό Πάσχα

It's been real crappy lately and it has been affecting my mood. It's still cold, but at least there is sunshine! I'm happy about that. I woke up, felt recharged and ready to face the day. Having the sun out there helps. I do hope it stays like this for a few days. Easter is coming up which means that I'm in store for what looks like a tradition of doing Easter with the lady's family and her extended family. I did this last year after only dating her for a couple of weeks. It was really eye opening to see a different religion and how they do easter...and man, do they do it up big. Mass is held every night from starting with Palm Sunday. The mass itself is not too long (that's what she said.)

This is something I have actually come to enjoy. While I do not actually participate in some of the things that they do, only because I don't know the full meaning behind it nor am I part of the church itself, I understand what is going on. Anyone who has known me for any period of time knows my past with church and religion. So, this is a departure from what I myself have been "comfortable" with.