Since I changed my template last night I have font issues once again. Fixed the most offensive ones this morning, will tweak the rest later. Before I get my work groove on, I forgot to mention last night that my kickball team actually won a game. However it was from a forfeit (the other team didn't have the minimum number of girls to play). We scrimmaged them anyhow and would have lost horribly had it been a real game. But it wasn't! It was our first win!

okay. time for work.

Hmm....nice new interface, blogger. Blogging was suspended for a day so they could improve the site, which was one of the reasons why this blog wasn't updated since Tuesday. Let's get caught up, shall we? After many happy apartment dances - and with a copy of the lease in hand - I am settling down to the idea of the missus & I's new place.

Friday night and Saturday afternoon there was rehearsal for Godspell instead of rehearsing lines and songs and such we worked on props and scenery. We set up a huge canvas backdrop and painted it. I was amazed at how fast everyone worked. In three hours 10 people threw down a primer base then began painting out the blacktop portion of the backdrop. The next morning they tackled the brick part and then threw down more lines on the blacktop area - and still finished early. Tre impressive, esp. since the backdrop was approx. 40 feet x 30 feet.

Sunday was a bit slower. Slept in, finished the 1st book of the Dark Tower series - The Gunslinger - by Stephen King. I've gotten in this trend of re-reading books, which is unusual for me. In some cases I'm re-reading books I read only a few years ago. However in this case I read the Dark Tower series in high school (1994-ish). Since then King published the fourth book - the Wizard and the Glass - which I've never read so when I get around to that it will be a treat. Still, I feel bad sometimes that I'm re-reading books since there is so much great literature, both past and present, that I've never read. Maybe after this series I'll return to reading books I've never read. Of course, by then the third installment of the Lord of the Rings trilogy will be upon us and I'll want to re-read that book as well.

Short work week, which is always welcome. However, I almost rue it since I'm racing to meet a project deadline at work. Notice I said 'almost'.

Norah Jones' "Come Away With Me" is on the stereo...

What a difference a day makes! The missus and I have a place to live! And not just anyplace, the exact place we wanted. It's a two-level condo, 2BR, 2BA, den, fenced in patio. It's wild, I'm so excited. We are so please. And I am so relived to have this over and done with. And, too boot, I didn't have to go to rehearsal tonight.
It's a banner freaking day.

It took me over 5 hours from getting up at 7:30 am to actually waking up, which occurred at 2pm this afternoon. Needless to say, it's was a difficult day. Prolly much more difficult for the missus (we work for the same company) who had to hear me whine and bitch about going to her rehearsal for most of the day...

Repeat three times to myself: imitation is the highest form of flattery. Or just learn to not care what others think.
There is that fine line between acting like you don't care and simply not caring. I can give off the impression that I don't care what you think of me, however when I leave your presence, what do I do about the sting that remains. Sure, you don't know that I care, however I'm still affected by it. Does that mean I won the sociological battle since I never let on that your lil joke left a sting? Or did I lose the game the moment I let you, a perfect stranger, affect me, regardless of whether or not you know - or even care.

So its was a half and half week. Good things equal Dawn's friend, Becca, was in town and we had brunch with her Sunday morning. Sat. night was a party hosted by former friends I meet during my 1 year of aborted graduate studies. It was nice to get caught up with them. Friday night the missus and I saw "The Whale Rider" (I loved it; the missus, not so much). Afterwards we stopped by a Books-A-Million and I bought her the new Harry Potter book (Harry Potter & the Gobbling of the Phoenix???) and got hit on by the cashier. Sunday was the double-headed for the kickball team, which was nice because those five innings go by way too fast.

Bad things: Still haven't found housing yet. Which really isn't so bad since it's a 'process' anyhow. However, I did have to listen to a lecture by a real estate agent about how I was calling to early and I really am expect to much. You can bet that I not giving them my business next month, or any month! And our kickball team lost both of our games too night. While I am used to losing with this team it was especially heartbreaking tonight because we were so close. Argggg.

So not really a half and half week; more a 75/25 ratio. I've got the self-titled Fleetwood Mac lp on the stereo.

What a crap-tastic week. I'm glad it's over. One of our cast members quit the day after we gave her two days off to celebrate your engagement. We are losing a fight with a church to use their space to build sets & props on the weekend. The missus and I have had many a lively 'discussion' over money and living arrangements. Which ended in me discovering I can only afford a $0 increase in rent. It's a great week!
And it's apparently going poor for other people as well. Poor Adam.

Despite the crap-tastic week and wet weather, the weekend looks promising. We've got company in town from NYC. A party with former grad. students to attend. Free concerts and lots of good movies to chose from. Also on Sunday is Waiting For Guffman's (our kickball team) double-header. Now that we know what it feels like to tie a game, maybe we can cross over that line marked 'winners' this week. Possibilities Abound!

The saga of house-hunting continues. The missus and I were scheduled to meet with a realtor during our lunch break. However the realtor didn't show up as we waited and waited in front of the house. Then, almost 45 minutes later calls me and says, " I waited around for you guys but left. Where are you? Did you want to see it tomorrow? Or I can come back later today". I called her a liar and hung up on her. But it was not all a bust, we drove around the neighborhood and took down addresses and numbers of the places with 'For Rent' signs. We are seeing two more places tomorrow- score!

So that's about it. I’m on the verge of finishing half-life, but that will have to wait for another night. Great game - can't wait for the sequel due out this fall. "he will deceive you" - creeee-py. g'night all

I hope everyone had a good father's day weekend, and that you called your dads. The weekend was crazy-mad busy. Some people from work - including I - got together and 'bought' a small section of farm in Bull Run, Va. What this gets you is crops! Lot's of green leafy veggies, eggs and sometimes cheese and/or fruit. We got our 1st shipment of the season this week. I enjoy participating in this 'crop share association' for two reasons 1) it's much cheaper than buying it from the store and 2) it forces you to learn how to cook things. Now, normally I wouldn't know what to do with 2 pounds of chard but thanks for the farm's website I discovered that you can sauté it stuff and make it rather tasty.

Sat. morning saw the continuation of the musses and I hunting for a place to live. We found two-level town home in Arlington that was not managed by a freak so we filled out an application. We find out this week and the an ti ci pa tion is killing us. We find out on Thursday if we beat out the other applicants for a the place. Sat. evening was spent celebrating mother's birthday. The musses and I, along with my sister and her boyfriend (in town from NJ) went with the mom to Wolf Trap for an evening with the NSO.

Sunday - more house hunting, then over to mother's for nice lunch. Mom made a toast to our dad's in honor of father day. I was stuck by this because everyone at the table no longer has their father in their life. My dad died in 1997, the musses father died in 2001 and the sister's bf’s father was absentee since the bf's birth.
I had anther kickball game this evening and for the first time we didn't lose. We tied the other team. The important thing is that we didn't lose.
Time to wrap this up. cheers.

Hiyo! Stealth blog. I prolly should not be post a blog entry at this very moment at work. We have some clients taking a tour of the facility this morning. However, if I wait too long most of the managers will be here, making it ever harder to post this. Despite Monday night rehearsal, the missus and I were able to catch the final quarter of Stanley Cup Game 7. By then the score was already 2-0 in the Devils favor. We saw the 3rd and final goal by the Devils as well as some amazing saves by both goalies. Since this was my first year paying any attention to hockey, I was surprised to learn that, aside from the Stanley Cup being award, the NHL gives out another prize - the Conn Smyth trophy. It is awarded to the MVP of the entire playoffs - not necessarily to a player on the winning team. I can't think of another sport that does that. It's a very classy touch by those at the NHL.

Still looking for a play to live. We saw a two-level town home over in Arlington during the lunch hour yesterday. Huge, HUGE place with tons of space for very cheap. The upstairs was great! The downstairs...not so great: grasshoppers, water damage, mildew, and circa 1970's faux wood paneling everywhere. Then we started talking to our landlord -- F R E A K! He gave us this three-page front and back handout about things he wants up to do while living in his place. Some things were no-brainers, like take out trash and area rugs for the hardwood floors. Others points were a bit demanding: professional cleaners once a month, restrictions on taping or nailing things to the walls. After we finished reading this he says to us, "This place has been on the market for a month and half now. I show it to a lot of people but I never hear from them." Well, yeah, when you hand someone a list like this. We might have been willing to live with the list and the faux wood if Mr. landlord had not changed the move-in date. I was told 7/15 over the phone on Sunday. On Monday, the move-in date became 6/15. So screw you. It’s a shame since there was soooo much freaking room.

Yo. Super quick blog cuz I'm beat after a rousing game of kickball this evening. We lost - again, but I'm sure we will win next game. We just had a bad ining where we had 5 run scored against us. Umm.....let's see. Did a lil' drinks with some friends friday night. Then we all went and saw "Finding Nemo" and capped the night off with some smores at Cosi (a sandwich and coffee chain). "Finding Nemo", the latest Pixar stunt, was great! great! great! And I was skeptical about its quality. Hang around for the credits for some good laughs. On Sat. we watched the NJ Devils choke once again in Florida. They had the chance to win the cup but failed. So now it's onto the final game in NJ. They who win, get the Cup.

Um...so yeah. It may be one fractured and poorly puncuated blog with lots of crummy spelling but its done. I'll try to write better ones for the rest of the week. later

Another night, another rehearsal. The missus felt much better about rehearsal tonight than last night. I would say tonight was the best rehearsal so far. I hope every night would be this smooth from here on out. It makes things much easier.
There are slim pickings concerning topics.....NJ Nets and San Antonio Spurs are battling in out in game 1 of the NBA finals. Actually, it's prolly over by now but I'm too lazy to check the score.

"Dead Cities, Red Seas & Lost Ghosts" by M83 is my latest acquisition on cd. And holy flying cow! What a great cd! I haven't been this excited about electronica since last year's "Neon Golden" by the notwist. Recommended!

Like I said, slim pickings for topics tonight. Maybe tomorrow a mackerel will fall from the sky and land on the hood of my car as I'm driving home. Now that would be magical!

what a difference a day makes in Godspell rehearsals. The missus was not as pleased with rehearsal tonight as she was last night. However in the lowly opinion of this stage manager I thought the kids did all right. She blocked out this whole freaking song for about 13 kids. I'd say it was a success. In other news today seemed like the longest day ever. It took forever for 6pm (quitting time) to roll out. Good lord, let's not have a repeat of that tomorrow, please.

Speaking of things that take forever...currently downloading the current (sorry, not intentional) patch for half-life. Since Sierra games seems to have deleted the file from their site (thanks guys) so I'm stuck getting it from some website with a horribly slow server. Sam will propably read this and point out, in his next blog, how I'm a dolt for doing it this way and not some other way. But whatever. Currently at 47%. Almost halfway there!

Tuesday morning blog! And at work, so this will have to be short. Which works out well since I don't have much to report. Rehearsal went well last night. I am slowly learning the names of the cast and the characters, which makes my job easier. Moving on to the Stanley Cup… I would certainly like the NJ Devils to win the cup this year, however the Mighty Ducks have just been on fire. Now they've tied the series 2-2 after being down 0-2. Still I don't think a hockey team that was fashioned after a Walt Disney movie should win the Stanley Cup so I'm rooting for the NJ Devils. Plus the Devil's goalie is a beast in the form of a brick wall. If only NJ had an offense, they might have put this series away by now.

When I'm at work I listen to KEXP 90.3 in Seattle....

Slow fried blast pit monster, oh yeah.

Weekend has come and gone. I just got back from my 1st kickball game (2nd for my team) and while we didn't win, "Waiting for Guffman" certainly represented. We lost 4-3, however there was a lot of contention about the score. We think our team cheated on a number of occasions. Our captain made an attempt to argue the score however we were hampered by certain conditions. We didn't have every rule memorized like our opponents did, so we voiced our arguments to the wrong people at the wrong time (much like the supreme courts. it's not what you ask but how you ask it). Our opponents took this game way to seriously (and we're rude and unsportsmanlike from the start). It's kickball for Christ’s sake, not a funeral. Our 'suspicion' that our opponents were class-A jerks was proven true when they started a fight with their next opponent before they could even begin their double-header. Like I said, it's just kickball.

Friday night was a treat. We saw a very cool production of "Hamlet", which was part of DC's Free-For-All outdoor theatre. And the price was right - free! The costumes and the set were great. Everyone was dressed in black leather (oh yea!) and the set was a series of stone slabs. Great Looking + Good Acting = Great Night Out.

power-up.