It's time...

for a road trip. I need several days of scenery, photography, and relaxation. There are things coming down the pipe that when they come to pass I should be able to make some things happen.

Thanks go to Brian for doing his job.

In other news, only two weeks left of Godspell. Those faithful readers in the Sacramento area should get out and see this show. It's a lot of fun!

Oh wow... "Rikki Don't Lose That Number" by Steely Dan just came on Accuradio, one of the music services I listen to at work. Man, that songs stirs old school flashbacks:

The song came out in 1974. I lived in Hawaii then Nebraska that year. Yeah, that did suck moving from Paradise to Husker country. Though as an adult I realized it was worse for my Dad than anyone else. He had become an avid SCUBA diver, and our family would spend weekends with other families at different beaches on the island for dive parties. The rolling... err, flat lands of Nebraska is almost a punishment after 4 years in the Aloha state.

I did my first couples skate at the roller rink when I was 12 to that song. Yep, stud=me.

And let's not forget John Mahoney's classic sing along to the song in the movie Say Anything.

It's amazing what can happen in 3 years...

Britney 2003 in Esquire:


Britney 2006 in Harper's Bazaar:


Let's all be very grateful these weren't pictures of Rosie O'Donnell. And finally, remember even though you might not be a fan of her music (Lord knows I am not), there is always the mute button.

Happy Thursday before the Friday before the Holiday weekend.

Now this is exciting...

Paramount Pictures announced today that Iron Man is coming to the big screen in 2008. Am I the only one who thinks this is cool?

OK... now this is just cool!!!

Some people are just Frickin' brilliant! This is the future of armor for our boys.

In other news, I saw "Over the Hedge" today. I had to change my underwear when I got home -- it was too damn funny! So slap on a Depends and run to the theater to see this one! Honestly, it is worth the effort!

It's HOT!!!

Damn hot... Tarzan couldn't take this kind of hot..."

I walked 2 blocks to my bank during my lunch hour -- I sweated off 19 pounds. I had to tighten my belt to keep my pants on.

Who needs Jenny Craig? Walk around Sacramento this weekend. That'll do ya'!

OK... Uber-crazy wench ALERT!!!

Check out this and this. You have to actually watch these more than once to decipher her message. If she is married, she can't be far from being a widow. No man can put up with that for long.

I guess I am not THAT messy after all...

This is picture of a gamer's workstation. Careful, I think you might be able to catch something from the pic alone.

Who needs Viagra?

call me impressed!

A day in review...

Overall, Saturday was a great day for me! Even though I was fighting allergies, the company was fantastic, and we had a lot of fun. The MC Escher exhibit left a little to be desired, as it didn't have a lot of his famous works, but there was definitely enough to see just what an amazing artist he was. Since the Escher exhibit only filled one room, we toured the rest of the Crocker, and the 2nd floor is where their "modern" art was. I gotta say, most of it left me wondering who let the 4 year-olds near the paint.



Then you turn a corner and I was presented with this:



At 9.5' tall and close to 10' wide it is truly breathtaking. Click on the picture to get a better look (there is a zoom tool -- zoom way in). This one piece made the whole trip worth it for me. I studied it for a good 10 minutes. For more on this piece, READ THIS.

Thanks Ygraine for the links.

Crap...

It's 3am... insomnia sets in. I am supposed to have a nice, easy day tomorrow...err today. I am going to the Crocker Art Museum (I believe for the first time in my life) to check out a MC Escher exhibit. I am really looking forward to it, but will not be worth anything if I can't get any sleep.

I am also fighting a cold... so far it's a tie. It hasn't been able to take over and I haven't been able to kick it. I am sure fatigue will help my viral foe!

Seriously...

I don't understand tattoos. I honestly cannot think of any piece of artwork I love so much I have to permanently embed a copy of it into my skin. If it's the needles and pain thing you're into, go jump into a pool full of razor blades.

I have friends with tattoos, and they are tastefully done, but personally it just isn't for me. The thought that always pops into my head when I consider a tattoo is my 85 year old wrinkly body emblazoned with the Van Halen logo (or insert your favorite logo here). Now THAT'S attractive.

Babe Alert

I haven't posted any hotties in a while. I came across these two pictures I thought were pretty stunning: The first is Rachel Stevens. She's a British Pop Star formerly from the group S Club 7. The second is a very nice picture of Lindsay Lohan. When she keeps it natural, she is quite gorgeous.

Awesome!

Godspell is a hit! Check out this review. Running thru July 9th, you probably won't want to miss this one. This is the 4th production of Godspell I have done, and it is the best of the bunch.

GO CONGRESS!!!

Yeah, our government is spending its time debating and voting over how much control it can legally exert over our private lives! I have said this before... the government, neither federal or state, has any business debating or trying to legislate matters concerning sexual orientation. What gives Ted Kennedy, Diane Feinstein, George Bush or even the local grocer the right to tell consenting adults that their choice to love each other is illegitimate? Whether you approve with homosexuality or not, do you or anyone else have the right to forcibly exhort that viewpoint on someone else, much less try to legalize your assertion? AND... if you manage to believe this IS an issue for our government to tackle, is it of a higher priority than say, oh I don't know --

• Resolving issues with Iraq
• Finding the 7' Arab on dialysis running around in the mountains of Afghanistan and remove his genetalia with a dirty spoon
• Resolving the issues regarding the price of gasoline
• Working on providing healthcare for every man, woman and child in the United States
• Ensuring that the education of our children is superlative -- on par with the rest of the world and ranked appropriately for the richest and most powerful nation on the earth
• Making sure a sequel to "Purple Rain" is never made
• Perfecting beer flavored ice cream

just a short list off the top of my head.

Good to know the important stuff is taking center stage.

Damn...

My best friend loaned me "Far Cry" to play on my new computer. That was 2 weeks ago. I have slept for a total of 45 minutes since then...

I am more than a little reticent

to post that I have actually started seeing someone romantically. Being 40 and single, people automatically feel it is imperative to know every detail about the girl and whether or not we are headed for the altar because...well... it's about damn time. But to tell the truth, the last time I took a girlfriend to meet my parents (theoretically just my parents), it became a live re-enactment of a scene from "My Big Fat Greek Wedding." So we know THAT's not happening anytime soon.

Leave it at this: She and I are getting to know each other and currently enjoy each other's company. When there is more to report I will. Don't be surprised if your inquires go unanswered or get brief mono-syllabic responses. I am pretty open and straightforward here at the Compendium, but this is one area where I just don't want to play 20 questions quite yet.

Another busy week

concluded today... err yesterday... Sunday. It was tech week for "Godspell" which means pretty much being a slave to the theater from about 6:30 on each night until we got it right. I have mentioned to pretty much everyone how much I love my drum kit, and how a digital kit like mine really helps when performining in theater. Most of the time, the balance between the music and vocals becomes very tough as the volume of acoustic drums becomes the baseline against which everyone else has to be set. With the electric kit, I simply can adjust my volume to suit any required needs.

That said, electric drums don't come without their own challenges. I ran into a big... HUGE one Saturday night -- yep, Opening night.

All the pre-show tests (my regular routine) worked perfectly and I was pumped and ready to go when the lights went down at 8pm. After the opening lines of the show, the rock band kicks with a loud overture, setting the tone for the show. As the band director gave the cue I brought my sticks down in perfect time, when to my dismay my drums started to "cut out", sputtering on and off in various volumes I couldn't control. My mind racing, I spent every available second troubleshooting the problem and had it narrowed down to a short whenever I hit the crash cymbal HARD. Scrambling, I tried changing instrument cables between songs, first between the crash cymbal and the "brain", then between the brain and the direct box (for the non-music person, a direct box allows me to safely and quietly split the signal for the musical instrument to go both into the house (theater) soundboard and my amplifier. No success. I struggled through the first act, changing my playing tactics to minimize whatever was going on. I made it to intermission where the problem was finally analyzed and corrected. It all came down to... really.. bad wiring decisions.

As the tech crew and the band were working on ensuring each musician had the proper lighting for his needs, the power configuration where my brain was plugged in was changed. Someone plugged in the cord (which is actually one of the big "wall wart" type of plugs) into the end
of the power strip, with the result being the wall wart was covering the actual on/off portion off the power strip it was plugged into. When I struck the drums hard the platform the band is on was vibrating, effectively power-cycling the brain with each heavy vibrate. Luckily the problem was solved and the 2nd act went very smoothly.

More later...

It's been almost a week

since my last post. Sorry about that faithful readers, but I have been moving. Over the past 15-20 years, I have built up a major amount of "moving karma", so much so I should have been able to sit in my easy chair and watch my stuff move itself from point A to B But alas, that didn't happen.

Major kudos to my Sister. She has single handedly repaid her family's portion of the moving debt.

To my sister-in-law Tammie, thanks to your efforts I am getting the whole deposit back.

Thanks to my friends for not trashing the place over the years.