Monday, April 21, 2008

I'm Finally Caught Up...

...until tomorrow.

Let's see... Mom and Dad came and got the kids Thursday, and the band practiced. That went really well, actually. Then, I went out with a bunch of friends to the Legion and bought my drummer birthday drinks. Everybody but Kenny got completely hammered. (!!!) (Kenny was the designated driver, as usual, because he can no longer hold his liquor. At all.)

Friday, needless to say, I was a little slow getting around. I was majorly hungover, and did not get to much school work at all before I had to pack up the band gear and get ready to go. We had a great show Friday. There was another birthday party there, and the bar was pretty full all night. I was pleased.

Saturday, I got myself together and finished my school work for the week (except for the forum postings and reading other people's stuff). The show Saturday was even better than the Friday show, for once. We were really good, and the vocals were really, really good, in my opinion. I know that some of the songs seem a little low for me now, but, when we actually get to practice them in the lower tuning instead of just hopping up and playing them without practicing them, they'll get better. I think. Anyway, the bar owner told Kenny that they made $4,000 over the weekend, which isn't bad at all. Definitely worth what they paid us. :)

I went up to Sandpoint and did the shopping for the month with the gig money. I bought the kids each a pair of pants and got Cait a pair of shoes (that were on clearance for $3!!!) and got my sister a birthday present and Hunter a birthday present.

Wednesday, April 9, 2008

The Band

We had band practice Saturday. It was actually quite a lot of fun, and cutting it down to one day a week has given me more time to deal with school and other stuff, but it has cut down our productivity A LOT. We aren't getting NEARLY as much done in the one practice as we were with two, in my opinion. but it did go really well. We have added six new songs to our covers list.

I guess other than that, nothing's really going on.

Tuesday, April 8, 2008

First "New Computer" Post

Well, I got my new computer set up! It's going to take a bit of getting used to. The screen is HUGE!!! The keyboard is a little light and delicate for my tastes and the mouse is a little bit big.... I haven't installed all my programs yet.

I moved my mail over from the old computer with nary a burp in the delivery of said mail; the only thing that pisses me off about the whole thing is that, since I downloaded IncrediMail on my old computer in 2005, they've changed their junk mail system, so, now, you have to pay $60 a year to get your junk mail delivered to a different folder. I am about THISCLOSE to switching to another mail program, but I am going to check into having junk mail re-routed before it ever reaches IncrediMail from my server.

The weather is seriously weird. Fifteen minutes ago, it was overcast and slightly warm. In the last ten minutes, it's rained, hailed, snowed, and sleeted (is that even a word? I think not...). Strange.

I have to make a shopping list, take a shower, and write a one-page paper proposal, so I guess I better stop farting around and get stuff done. More later.

Monday, April 7, 2008

Long Week

Okay, so: my week. I stayed up all night Tuesday night and did not go to bed until 9PM Wednesday. I got nothing accomplished (except I did write a really cool new tune, but I have no lyrics and none seem to be forthcoming, which really makes me sort of pissed). I got up Thursday at about 9AM and watched TV with the kids and got through their school work for the day and got ready to go to Spokane and got the kids packed to stay at my Mom's. Mom and Dad came and got the kids at 2:30PM, and me and Kenny left the house minutes later.

We drove into Spokane and went to the Verizon store where I got a new battery for my cell phone and car charger for it, as well. Then we went to Gonzaga and Kenny dropped me off there. I met my classmates and instructors.

The first session of the residency was pretty cool. The teacher had us draw stuff upside down and draw without looking at the paper and work with clay with our eyes closed. It was mindless and kinda fun. I made a cat. :)

After the class ended at 9PM, Kenny took me to Dairy Queen where I got a chili dog and a Moo Latte. We went home, watched the new CSI that I had taped while I was gone, and then went to bed. I got up at 6:30AM, got ready, and was in Spokane at 9:00 AM. The first class was at the library, where they showed us how to request books and articles for free if we lived more than 35 miles from the campus (SCORE!), and how to use a program that I will never ever use. After that, we all went over to the admin building and got our student ID cards, and I took a majorly crappy picture that makes me look slightly insane. After that, I ended up going to lunch with some of my classmates.

After that, I walked about a mile to get to where the next class was being held. After that, I went to the next class, where we dissected a Woody Allen film called Crimes and Misdemeanors. This process took from 1:30PM to 6:30PM.

I got up Saturday morning at 6AM, got ready and went to Spokane for the last day of the residency. The first class was all about the Benedictine monks. After that, we had a short break and then back to the second session of the day, in which we meditated for an hour. After that, we went to lunch.

I ended up chatting with a gal from Tucson and a lady from Jacksonville, FL for the meal. Then, they left another of our classmates (who was from back east somewhere) at the restaurant, so somebody (not me) had to go back and get him. The last session of the residency was about Shakespeare and Richard III and leadership, and we watched three different film versions of the opening scene of Richard III: one which featured Lawrence Olivier (or however you spell his name) in the 1950s (which featured Olivier as the main character with a Little Lord Fauntleroy haircut so that he looked like the evil prince from Shrek); another film in which the dude who played the wizard Gandalf in Lord of the Rings (you know, Ian McKellen) was the main character, but who was styled to look like Hitler; and a third film featuring Al Pacino as Richard III.

Anyway, Kenny did not want to go to the final dinner, so we skipped it and came home. I had to get some papers for Mom off my e-mail. While I was printing the first one, the power to my computer went off, and, at first, I thought this old computer had finally bit it as I couldn't turn it back on. So, I called Mom and told her to send the files to my Yahoo account so that I could print them from another computer. Just after I hung up with her, I checked the surge protector, and, indeed, the switch was flipped to off, as the heater Kenny had plugged into it had surged or something.

Anyway, so we went out to Mom's to get the kids. I got up Sunday at about 8AM and watched TV until band practice, I also cooked soup. Band practice went well, and tuning to "D" made all the difference in the world in the vocals. There are some things that will have to be worked out, but that will come in a few practices.I got up today at 9AM, loaded the dishwasher, and have been doing school work for most of the day. I only have one other thing I have to get done tonight and then I can relax. I am going to take a shower tonight and maybe do some reading for school. I have more reading to do tomorrow, and there are a couple of papers that I have to work on. Tomorrow, I am going to Wal*Mart to do grocery shopping. Tonight, I think I am going to move all the files and settings off this computer and ready for the migration to the new computer and set the new on up. I've had it for almost a week and it is still sitting there in boxes. I had intended on putting my office in the porch, but, for various reasons - not the least of which is the power situation - I am not doing that. Which makes me EXTREMELY unhappy