Yarg, what a day. I spent the morning feeling dizzy and don't really remember anything until about lunch time. Which is actually a blessing considering I was logging video footage. There is nothing as soul-sucking as logging three hours of video.

But things got better as the day wore on. I got to visit my friend Heather and her 10-month old boy, Charlie, after work. Then the fiance and I got Chinese take-away and had a bottle of wine for dinner. Other good points about the day: they've been running various Treehouse of Horror episodes during the Simpson's hour and tomorrow is Friday (and Halloween ).

Rightous!

Ah, today was much better than yesterday. Yesterday was all panic during my one hour of unwinding. During the hour long block of Simpson's reruns no less. I received three hectic phone calls. The first was from my fiancé’s mother who was panicked about all the weddings - both the fiancé’s & I, as well as the middle sister's. The second was from my mother who was panicked because my sister was stranded on the side of the road in Jersey and was panicking herself. So I then called my sister who was having tire-trauma and panic stricken because she wasn't sure her insta-flat patch would get her to the nearest tire center. When I asked her why she didn't just slap on the spare tire/donut tire she told me she didn't know how to do it, or where to look for the tools. What's worse is neither does her live-in boyfriend. Sigh.

People! Please, if you don't know how to change your tire, get out of your chair and get your driver's manual from your car. It's not a particularly exciting read, but it will explain all. Trust me.

The evening did get better though. I saw "Belle & Sebastian" play at the 930 club. A very good concert - the sound was incredible; the set list was amazing (mostly "Tigermilk", "Sinister", and the 1st three EPs, for those that care); and the banter was hilarious. The opening band - Slumber Party - was rather trite, but they did support Sam's theory of bass-players. Sam will probably want to clarity the theory himself, but it amounts to 'generally, bass players are the coolest looking person in the band'. And this bass player was also a chick, which I believe generates double cool points according to the theory. Since we are on the topic of Sam, I'm glad that the SoCal fires aren't cramping his temperature (although it seems to be curling his temperament). I still feel bad for all the victims though. Poor souls.

Time to end these mad ramblings. I've decided that I should do some graphic designing at home at least once a week to up my design chops. And I've decided that tonight is the night I should start. It's the middle of the week, seems like a good choice.
Peace all

St. Ides Heaven

I was shocked this morning to learn of the death of Elliot Smith, who apparently killed himself Tuesday. I certainly feel sorry for his family, friends, and loved ones; for Elliot Smith who must have been so fractured as to have done such a terrible and painful thing to himself; and for his artistic voice which I held in great esteem.

While I never saw him perform live, I was always in awe of his ability to write an engaging narrative and wonderful Beatles/Brian Wilson melodies. His solo albums started off with sparse arrangements - voice and guitar - but gradually he added in instruments until he was recording/playing with full bands, which is where his Beatles fascination came into full view.

While I was also engaged by his recordings, I think I will always remember him for the way his songs touched that part of your persona that emerges only on the really bad days when the world has got your back against the wall. Some people described his music as ‘depressing’, however I would argue that it spoke lessons of defiance – that no matter how bad the thing holding you down is, you are better and smarter than it and eventually you will beat it.

I wonder if he ever saw it that way?

RIP Elliot Smith 1969-2003.

I, too, now have a comments section on my blog. Lord knows why I even bothered to add one. It will only be used for three things: to point out my poor spelling/grammar, to point out what a goon/nerd I am, and to insult my football team, the Washington Redskins.

Speaking of the 'Skins, THEY SUCK. Oh.my.freaking.god. What is the O-line's problem. Here we are at week seven and the offensive line still doesn't get it: protect your quarterback. For weeks, every team they've played against has said 'it was too easy to get hits on the Patrick Ramsey (the QB); eventually the kid is going to get hurt.' And guest what? He finally did!

I certainly don't want to see anyone get hurt playing a professional sport, especially someone like Ramsey who has take crushing hit after crushing hit for the good of the team. But if this is what it takes to make coach Spurrier wake up. Then GOOD. Either the coach needs to adjust his protection on a play-by-play basis because lord knows putting a tight end or a 5'7, 235 lb running back against a 6'2 300 lb defensive end is not going to work -OR- he needs to start benching/firing the people responsible for protecting his quarterback. Any previous points (I hope) he has tried to make is not getting across. The entire team has looked sloppy (missed tackles, dropping passes) for the last three games but that's for another post. We won't even get into the 10.7 penalties per game.

The fiancé and I had a nice weekend up in Philly visiting her folks and parading the engagement ring around. This was our first trip with our new E-Z pass which eliminated waiting in the massively long queue" to pay tolls. What I like best about it is listening to the fiancé yell 'Suckers!" to the other motorists waiting in line as we pull away. A woman after my own heart indeed.

Mmmm.....glass of milk.

Yesterday was a crazy day. Things at work have been hella-busy so when I come home it take me a good hour to unwind because I'm all pent up with go-go-go-ness. So what I didn't need yesterday was crazy drivers trying to mow me over in their massive, gas-guzzling machines.

There were two incidents - one where this dude nearly ran a stop sign - and almost collided with me - because he was too busy talking on his cell phone. The other incident involved this moron who went straight through the intersection I was attemping to cross over from the left hand turn lane. Now, I know I'm not the first person to complain about bad drivers/crazy drivers in the metropolitan DC area. However, I feel that these incidents are so easy to avoid. Simply slow the freak down and pay attention to where you. Look at the freaking pavement for the direction the lane is going; pay attention to the flow of traffic. If only the insurance companies gave you a reduction on you car insurance for every accident that you avoided would we be that much closer to a just world.

In other news, I went to a concert last night at the Black Cat. I meet up with some pals for the Pretty Girls Make Gravesconcert. And what a fabulous concert it was!! The band was so high energy and the crowd was really into every moment of the show. It was nice to get the 'rock out'; I these high stress days I need to remember that a little rocking out goes a long way to relaxing oneself.

So I have all this comp. time from my traveling to South Carolina and Delaware for work. It's nice to have some comp. time. I can pay bills, go grocery shopping, post on the blog - with ut cutting into evening activities like cooking dinner, eating dinner and cleaning up from dinner.

However, with work being as busy as it is, it's hard to judge which days to leave early. Today was one of those days - which is nice. And since there are no bills to pay, or groceries to shop for I'm going to use the extra time to.....play some video games. hachacha.

Oh, Happy Day.
And so on October 10, 2003 I proposed to my girlfriend and, happily, she said yes. We called around to family members to share the good news then went off to a nice dinner. I'm sure she will post some details on how I popped the question on her blog, so I won't steal any of the thunder here.

Saturday & Sunday we spent calling friends and other family members - and there is still more to go. Saturday was also Ocktober-fest at the town that backs up to our neighborhood. So we hit that with the mom, and the aunt. Mom, Aunt and I walked around drinking beer while the 'fiancé' stared at her new ring on her finger.

You laugh, but it's true!

Since one good turn deserves another...
Many of you may have noticed that Dawn begged her readership to bombard me with requests to outfit her blog with links and comments. Which I did. And how does she repay me?
By not linking to my blog when she was compiling her list of blogs.

So, dear readers of the semi-daily spice weasel times, please voice your concern about this grave oversite. Tell Dawn to include my blog in her links section. Tell her!

Well, after updating the missus' blog with some link and a nifty comments section I figure I should actually post in mine.

This past weekend I was in Delaware for some National Guard videotaping. The hours were not as intense as the previous trip, however there was a lot of work to be done. But who wants to here about that? We hit a cigar bar our first night in town. I smoked my first cigar then watched two bar fights break out around us. Rehoboth, Delaware is one classy joint during in off-peak parts of the year.

The ol kickball team is not doing so well. The Bobby P's have only mustered one win against our 4 losses. Losing wouldn't suck so much if the games were actually close. It's hard to stay excited about the game if your out of it in the first inning. Eh, whatever. It's supposed to be about the fun and the kicking.

Since I've been working these crazy hours I was able to take Monday off. And since it was Yom Kipper (it's a Jewish holiday; I'm not making this up) the missus was off as well. So we biked down to the local theatre and saw "Lost In Translation". At first I didn't really enjoy it, but since then I've been digesting it in little bits. First off, Sophia Coppolla gets props for making a movie without using trite scenes or quick, clean endings. Second the soundtrack was great, boasted many a cut by Kevin Shields/My Bloody Valentine. I wasn't all that bowled over with Bill Murray’s performance, it wasn't bad, but it wasn't "Groundhog Day". The part(s) of the movie that stuck with me the most were the scenes where the two characters are at there loneliest. While I wasn't that pleased with these scenes at the time of viewing, I'm started to recall them more and more, and really enjoy them. So I guess Ms. Copolla & crew got their message across. It’s definitely a movie that requires more than one viewing.

Bam! That's enough. Time to hit this with a spice weasel.