I swear I’ve done stuff since….um….January! I’m going to keep it pretty short since there are a few different topics to post.
First. You remember what my “garden” by my front door used to look like, right? Of course you do, it looked like crap! Well, I got angry at how bad it looks one day, so I did this….
Which, with Layne’s expertise and assistance, turned into this…
Since that day, things have grown, and thanks to the heat, a couple have died. Whatever those purple/green things are have really taken off too! Since that photo I’ve also added a little brick retaining wall, and Layne planted some leafy things (caladiums I’m told) along the other side of the walkway.
What’s next. Dakota got a hair cut! And let me tell you, it certainly wasn’t professional. I’m WAY too cheap for that. Instead I bought some grooming clippers at Petco (where the pet’s go!). I did the grunt work of getting loads of hair off this dog while Layne did the detailed job I’m much to lazy to focus on.
Last but not least, Curt and Andi got married! What’s this doing on The Return of the Blog you ask? Well, I officiated! It was an excellent ceremony and went really well I think. Apparently I did forget to tell people they could be seated after the bride walked down, but they got around to it eventually…
That’s all for now…(and probably all for later too.)
Not going to be a huge update, but I've been harassed my at least two people for letting my blog fall out of date. That's two people more than I thought even looked at it!
Anyhow, as the Christmas break ended and I got back to work, I realized I had 9 days off of work and didn't even think to improve my house at all. Soooo......I bought a load of paint and a new chandelier for the breakfast area. Here's a "before I lived here" and an "after I got off my lazy ass and did some work" photo.
So this isn't my favorite song from Arch Enemy, but its not bad. Angela Gossow can scream like nobody's business. I'm envious. Any time I try to imitate vocals like that I feel like I'm going to hack up a lung!
I don't know
I cannot see
Who we are now
How we used to be
Is it you?
Or is it me?
Look in the mirror
We are a fading memory
Who are we?
We got lost
In the cold
I will live again you'll see - tomorrow's not scaring me
Far away from yesterday - Just take away this pain
Fatal chaos
Hurtful lies
A broken dream
Is all we left behind
Is it you?
Or is it me?
Look in the mirror
Just a fading memory
My big sis had her second baby today and mom, dad, baby girl, and even big brother are doing great! Starting off as a night owl, just like her uncle, Paige Elise Solether was born at 2:38 am on Friday (Thursday evening for me but we'll go with local time for her night owl status).
I have spent the last 9 months attempting to stay in the dark regarding whether they were having a boy or a girl, and I almost made it too! 4 days before Paige was born Stacy thought it'd be a good idea to type up the meat and potatoes of the baby announcement email but accidentally hit send instead of save! We'll try again with the next one sis!
It's a little hard to go visit these guys since they live on a speck of an island about 900 miles west of Portugal, but I'm hoping to get out there in November or so.
The first coat of "moosewood" went on the wall in the study tonight. The other three walls will eventually become "harvest brown". It's a few shades darker than my other beige/tan walls but not too dark to really shrink the room. At least that's what I'm telling myself right now. Here's a sneak peak.
After I put the first coat on the wall I decided to change out the chandelier in my entryway with one I picked up. Overall I think it is much improved over the last one I had. Of course, that could just be the mercury from the CFL I dropped talking...
This photo also finally shows what my new tiled entryway looks like.
On a more personal level, life is.................well......................that about sums it up......
Meh.
A few weeks ago the installers finished replacing all the flooring in my house. I replaced the majority of the carpet with engineered spanish hickory hardwood floors and the vinyl with porcelain tile. Here's a small taste of how the living room has turned out. Sorry that they're a bit grainy but I didn't want to use the flash and I'm too lazy to take more right now. You'll get more (read: better) later!
I went out and bought some longer curtains and I think they work out pretty nicely although I need to think about opening them up. I'm undecided.
Poor Rock Band sitting there all alone while the stupid xbox is back in the shop for the 2nd instance of the red ring of death repairs.
I've been a big Sevendust fan for about ten years now or so and "Licking Cream" is still one of my favorite songs of theirs. I've always enjoyed female vocalists in hard rock bands such as After Forever, Arch Enemy, Nightwish, and Lacuna Coil and I find that Skin (the female singer) really complements Lajon in this song. Enjoy folks!
Corrupt my hope
In joyous hell
Between the lines
Lick the cream that smells
I wish you weren't so beautiful in my eyes
(crawling down your spine to make you stay)
I wish you weren't so beautiful in my eyes
(covering your eyes to make you pay)
Beyond the high
Lies burning eyes
Crashed down to soil
Fucked up and coiled
I wish you weren't so beautiful in my eyes
(crawling down your spine to make you stay)
I wish you weren't so beautiful in my eyes
(covering your eyes to make you pay)
Too beautiful
(repeat)
You want to feel it
But you can't reveal that
Conceived the meaning
And caress the demon
All those callous eyes
How they infect you world
So you pretend to reason
But you've lost your soul
I wish you weren't so beautiful in my eyes
(crawling down your spine to make you stay)
I wish you weren't so beautiful in my eyes
(covering your eyes to make you pay)
You shouldn't be so beautiful in my eyes
(crawling down your spine to make you stay)
I wish you weren't so beautiful in my eyes
(covering your eyes to make you pay)
Too beautiful
(repeat)
For the 1J THOR team building exercise we all piled into Ivan's minivan and headed out to Shiner, TX. That's right ladies and gentlemen, we rode in style. While I'm not a beer drinker myself I almost became one that day. It's fascinating to look at the process and manufacturing lines they have there. For as small as a place as it is I was baffled by the fact that they output almost 500,000 bottles a day.
On the way up to Shiner we stopped at a barbecue place Vic recommended. I must say that I've never seen so much taxidermy in one place. It's also good to see Jesus showing his support next to the fajita tacos and chicken salad sandwiches.
Unfortunately after we got there we were unable to get any photos inside the brewery, but I did manage to get some snapshots of the folks outside ye olde K. Spoetzl Brewery.
There are a couple more photos as well in the photo gallery. All the youngins of the 1J team showing those 11A oldies what's up!
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| 1J Shiner Trip |
So a lot has happened in the last week and a half since my last post...
All of the floors in my house have been replaced. The entryway now has a fancy new tile makeover, along with the kitchen and the bathrooms. The living room, dining room, hallway and office have had some gorgeous engineering hardwood laid down. And lastly, the bedrooms have been re-carpeted. I promise you'll get some photos soon.
I was fortunate enough to get invited to go on a canoe trip with some of the ADCOs and their Russian counterparts that were in town. A bunch of us (16) took a day trip to Piney Woods to go canoeing on the river near there. I must say I had an awesome canoe partner, the kind that just likes to hang around in the back and cause trouble.
Josh took the majority of the photos on his camera and was fortunate to upload them to his gallery. Of course I had to steal them all and provide them on my own photo gallery for your viewing pleasure.
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| Canoe Trip |
This week we launched another space shuttle. The purpose of this mission is to bring up the new Japanese laboratory module, or JPM as us nerds call it. While I'm not scheduled to work in Mission Control for this flight, I'm the Team 4 person for THOR which means that if things go really wrong I can get called in to support those guys working console in whatever way they need.
My Krav Maga martial arts classes and the whole diet thing have been going well, I've lost another 5 lbs! That brings me down about 20 pounds overall in the last couple months. Not Bad!
There may be a few other things off in the distance, but I'll just let you sit and wonder for a while.
Daft Punk's "Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger" has become the subject of quite a few YouTube videos. For you Kanye West fans out there you probably recognize the source now of the sample in his song "Stronger".
I picked the video rendition off YouTube I find most entertaining, but feel free to check out the rest!
Work It
Make It
Do It
Makes Us
Harder
Better
Faster
Stronger
More Than
Hour
Our
Never
Ever
After
Work is
Over [x2]
Work It Harder Make It Better
Do It Faster, Makes Us stronger
More Than Ever Hour After
Our Work Is Never Over
