Playlist from July 2012 Game Night

Startting off and shutting down with some Weezer...

Name	Artist	Album	Last Played
Odd Couple	Weezer	Death to False Metal	07/15/12 01:03 AM
She's Crafty	Beastie Boys	Licensed To Ill	07/15/12 01:00 AM
Mess Around	Ray Charles	Ray Charles	07/15/12 12:56 AM
To Kingdom Come	Passion Pit	Manners	07/15/12 12:54 AM
Chopin Prelude No.22	American_Pianist	2006_senior_recital	07/15/12 12:49 AM
Ain't That Just Like A Woman	B.B. King	House Of Blues: Essential Blues	07/15/12 12:49 AM
All the Pretty Girls	Fun.	Aim and Ignite (Deluxe Video Version)	07/15/12 12:45 AM
Walk Like an Egyptian	The Bangles	Bangles: Greatest Hits	07/15/12 12:41 AM
Till My Head Falls Off	They Might Be Giants	Factory Showroom	07/15/12 12:38 AM
Norwegian Wood (This Bird Has Flown)	The Beatles	The Beatles 1962–1966 (The Red Album)	07/15/12 12:35 AM
Man Up	Josh Gad;Company	The Book Of Mormon [Explicit] [+Digital Booklet]	07/15/12 12:32 AM
Suzy	Caravan Palace	Caravan Palace	07/15/12 12:28 AM
Stepping Stones To CA	Dan Potthast	Sweets And Meats	07/15/12 12:24 AM
Come Together	The Beatles	The Beatles 1967-1970	07/15/12 12:22 AM
Oh My Dear (Falling In Love)	Ween	The Pod	07/15/12 12:18 AM
Don't Mess With Me	Big Pete Pearson	Finger In Your Eye	07/15/12 12:16 AM
Nausea	Beck	The Information	07/15/12 12:13 AM
Concerto in A Minor for Piano and Orchestra, Op. 16: II. Adagio	Marian Lapsansky, Slovak Philharmonic Orchestra and Bystrik Rezucha	X5 Free Sampler - Adagios	07/15/12 12:10 AM
Romance Anonimo	Terry Muska	Celtic to Classic - Relaxing Guitars (Exclusive Amazon Digital Sampler)	07/15/12 12:04 AM
Soundtrack Of My Life	Less Than Jake	In With The Out Crowd	07/15/12 12:01 AM
Be My Baby	The Ronettes	Dirty Dancing	07/14/12 11:58 PM
Twisting	They Might Be Giants	Flood	07/14/12 11:55 PM
Belles	Andrew Bird	Break It Yourself	07/14/12 11:54 PM
Tangled Up In Plaid	Queens Of The Stone Age	Lullabies To Paralyze	07/14/12 11:51 PM
Martin Scorsese	King Missile	Happy Hour	07/14/12 11:46 PM
33	Coheed & Cambria	The Second Stage Turbine Blade [Bonus Tracks]	07/14/12 11:44 PM
Hidden Place	Björk	Vespertine	07/14/12 11:41 PM
In My Life	Johnny Cash	American IV: The Man Comes Around	07/14/12 11:35 PM
Junkie	Steve Vai	Flex-Able	07/14/12 11:32 PM
Mysterious Ways	U2	Achtung Baby	07/14/12 11:25 PM
She Caught The Katy	The Blues Brothers	The Blues Brothers Soundtrack	07/14/12 11:21 PM
Ho Astrid (Og hev' du set Aastrid)	Einar Steen-Nøkleberg	GRIEG Piano Music Vol. 5 - Norges melodier, EG 108 Nos. 1 to 63	07/14/12 11:17 PM
Imitosis	Andrew Bird	Live In Montreal	07/14/12 11:16 PM
She	Green Day	International Superhits!	07/14/12 11:10 PM
Thank You For Not Moshing	Reel Big Fish	Why Do They Rock So Hard?	07/14/12 11:07 PM
Broken Box	Queens Of The Stone Age	Lullabies To Paralyze	07/14/12 11:05 PM
Red Paint	Matt & Kim	Sidewalks	07/14/12 11:02 PM
What's Your Name	Parlours	Parlours	07/14/12 10:59 PM
I Remember	The Roots	Undun [Explicit] [+Digital Booklet]	07/14/12 10:54 PM
Rise	Flobots	Fight With Tools	07/14/12 10:51 PM
Paranoid Android	Radiohead	OK Computer	07/14/12 10:47 PM
Stan	Eminem	The Marshall Mathers LP	07/14/12 10:40 PM
Ballerina 12/24	Steve Vai	Passion & Warfare	07/14/12 10:34 PM
Only If	Enya	Paint The Sky With Stars: The Best Of Enya	07/14/12 10:32 PM
Pictures Of You	The Cure	Disintegration	07/14/12 10:29 PM
Sic of Elephants	Andrew Bird	Soldier On	07/14/12 10:21 PM
What I Got	Sublime	Sublime	07/14/12 10:16 PM
Effington	Ben Folds	Way to Normal	07/14/12 10:13 PM
Struggla (Remix)	Matisyahu	Light	07/14/12 10:10 PM
Bach: Concerto in D major, BWV: III. Allegro (III. Allegro)	Nick Van Bloss, English Chamber Orchestra, David Parry	Allegro Classical Spring 2012 Sampler	07/14/12 10:06 PM
Hey! Baby	Bruce Channel	Dirty Dancing	07/14/12 10:03 PM
Give And Go [Explicit]	Girl Talk	Night Ripper [Explicit]	07/14/12 10:01 PM
Rocket	Smashing Pumpkins	Siamese Dream	07/14/12 09:58 PM
Surrender	Angels & Airwaves	Love, Pts. 1 & 2	07/14/12 09:54 PM
Don't Let Go	Weezer	Weezer (Green Album)	07/14/12 09:49 PM
Bach: Cantata #29 - Sinfonia	Michael Murray	Bach Organ Blaster	07/14/12 09:46 PM
Meet James Ensor	They Might Be Giants	John Henry	07/14/12 09:42 PM
Set It Off	Girl Talk	Feed The Animals	07/14/12 09:41 PM
Cape Cod Kwassa Kwassa	Vampire Weekend	Vampire Weekend	07/14/12 09:37 PM
John The Revelator	Depeche Mode	Playing The Angel	07/14/12 09:33 PM
Carry On	Fun.	Some Nights	07/14/12 09:30 PM
Gayaneh - Suite from the Ballet: Sabre Dance	Royal Philharmonic Orchestra & Yuri Temirkanov	50 Classics for Beginners	07/14/12 09:25 PM
(Nice Dream)	Radiohead	The Bends	07/14/12 09:23 PM
Polynation	Andrew Bird	Break It Yourself	07/14/12 09:19 PM
Nothing Left To Say	Cage	Definitive Jux Free Amazon Sampler [Explicit]	07/14/12 09:18 PM
Rock-N-Roll Pizzeria	Less Than Jake	Losing Streak	07/14/12 09:14 PM
Old Mother Reagan	Violent Femmes	Add It Up (1981-1993)	07/14/12 09:12 PM
The Bumble Bee Tuna Song	Mephiskapheles	God Bless Satan	07/14/12 09:11 PM
Existentialism On Prom Night	Straylight Run	Straylight Run	07/14/12 09:06 PM
Campus	Vampire Weekend	Vampire Weekend	07/14/12 09:02 PM
The Clockwise Witness	DeVotchKa	A Mad and Faithful Telling (Bonus Track Version)	07/14/12 08:59 PM
Optimistic	Radiohead	Kid A	07/14/12 08:54 PM
Opposite Day	Andrew Bird	Live In Montreal	07/14/12 08:49 PM
Santeria	Sublime	Sublime	07/14/12 08:43 PM
Knights Of The Round Table / The Song That Goes Like This (Reprise)	Monty Python's Spamalot	Original Cast Recording	07/14/12 08:40 PM
Garden Statement	Hidden In Plain Veiw	Drive-Thru Records & Fueled By Ramen Tour 2005	07/14/12 08:34 PM
Maybe California	Tori Amos	Maybe California	07/14/12 08:29 PM
Look At This Face (Oh My God They're Gorgeous)	Handsome Boy Modeling School	So How's Your Girl...	07/14/12 08:25 PM
Hot Bars	Felt	A Tribute to Christina Ricci	07/14/12 08:23 PM
I Could Say	Lily Allen	It's Not Me, It's You	07/14/12 08:18 PM
All Apologies	Nirvana	MTV Unplugged In New York	07/14/12 08:14 PM
It's OK, But Just This Once!	Gym Class Heroes	As Cruel As School Children	07/14/12 08:09 PM
Furr	Blitzen Trapper	Furr	07/14/12 08:06 PM
40 Day Dream	Edward Sharpe & The Magnetic Zeros	Up From Below (Deluxe Edition)	07/14/12 08:02 PM
Roosterspur Bridge	Tori Amos	American Doll Posse	07/14/12 07:58 PM
Just Like Frank	Less Than Jake	Losing Streak	07/14/12 07:54 PM
Inside Out	Yellowcard	Ocean Avenue	07/14/12 07:52 PM
You And Me	The Cranberries	Bury The Hatchet	07/14/12 07:49 PM
Wild Cats of Kilkenny	The Pogues	Rum S****y & the Lash [Expanded]	07/14/12 07:45 PM
What The World Needs Now Is Love	Jackie DeShannon	Planet Hollywood - Favorite Movie Tracks	07/14/12 07:42 PM
Mozart: Die Zauberflöte, K 620 - Overture	Neville Marriner: Academy Of St. Martin In The Fields	Mozart For Your Mind	07/14/12 07:39 PM
I Can Dream About You	Dan Hartman	Power Of Love	07/14/12 07:32 PM
Metal Detector	They Might Be Giants	Factory Showroom	07/14/12 07:28 PM
Harold T. Wilkins, or How to Wait for a Very Long Time	Fanfarlo	Reservoir	07/14/12 07:24 PM
Et Ducit Mundum Per Luce	Angels & Airwaves	Love, Pts. 1 & 2	07/14/12 07:20 PM
Where Is My Mind?	Pixies	Surfer Rosa	07/14/12 07:18 PM
The Spider (Bonus Track)	Weezer	Weezer (Red Album) [Deluxe Version]	07/14/12 06:59 PM

Trip from Minneapolis to home (playlist)

In Holly's Dad's F-150 we put a little over 10% of the miles that were on the (it was brand new).  Big, big thanks goes to him.

We switched out what played and who was playing, we ran into some of the limitations of Sync (which is still pretty cool), but even on the way home we played from my normal list and here is what was played:

Song Title	Album	Artist
Cataracts (Live)	iTunes Session	Andrew Bird
Catch & Release	Swoon	Silversun Pickups
Catch Me If You Can	The Quilt	Gym Class Heroes
Catching On Fire	Apollo 18	They Might Be Giants
Caught A Lite Sneeze	Boys For Pele	Tori Amos
Cecilia	The Best Of Simon & Garfunkel	Simon & Garfunkel
Cecilia	Bridge Over troubled Water	Simon & Garfunkel
Cellphone's Dead	The Information	Beck
Celtic Storm	Another Nickel for the Pope	The Mighty Regis
Cemetery Drive	Three Cheers For Sweet Revenge	My Chemical Romance
Centaur	This Right Here Is Buck 65	Buck 65
Ch-Check It Out	To The 5 Boroughs	The Beastie Boys
Party Over Here	Sad Clown Bad Fall No. 10 - EP	Atmosphere
Help!	1	The Beatles
Like This	Feed The Animals	Girl Talk
MX Missiles	The Mysterious Production of Eggs	Andrew Bird
No More Long Years	Matt & Kim	Matt & Kim
Don't Take Your Guns To Town	The Essential Johnny Cash	Johnny Cash
See You When You're 40	Life For Rent	Dido
Americareful	To All My Friends, Blood Makes the Blade Holy - The Atmosphere EP's	Atmosphere
As Long As We're Together	Please Kid, Remember	Andrew Morgan
Wonder Woman	The Deathtrap Dilemma	Mediocre Superheroes
Neon for You	Crush	My First Earthquake
On Melancholy Hill	Plastic Beach (Deluxe Version)	Gorillaz
When I Don't Know My Name	Grubby Ernie	Grubby Ernie
Pas de Cheval	Pretty. Odd.	Panic At the Disco
Stop Whispering	Pablo Honey	Radiohead
Family Time (live, Featuring Judah Marley, Original Song from Ziggy Marley's "Family Time")	Tuff Gong Worldwide World Music Sampler	Ziggy Marley
Do You Know What I'm Seeing?	Pretty. Odd.	Panic At the Disco
Squeeze Box	My Generation - The Very Best Of The Who	The Who
Everybody Hurts	Automatic For The People	R.E.M.
Barco de Papel	Entre la Ciudad y el Mar	Gustavo Galindo
Battlescars	Action	Punchline
Dañs Bro-Leon	Celtic Wedding: Music of Brittany	The Chieftains
In This City	Tomorrow's Stars From Sxsw	Iglu & Hartly
One Love/People Get Ready	Legend	Bob Marley & The Wailers
Don't Push	Home for an Island	The Exit
Ball Of Twine	Skylab EP	Manplanet
Famous Last Words	The Black Parade	My Chemical Romance
Get Fly	You Can't Imagine How Much Fun We're Having	Atmosphere
Daisy Girls	Lure The Fox	Haley Bonar
Burning Down the House	The Best of Talking Heads (Remastered)	Talking Heads
Obscured	Today	Smashing Pumpkins
Daytona 500	Enter The Magical Mystery Chambers	Wu Tang Vs The Beatles

07/31/2010 - iTunes Statistics: 50 Most Played Songs

Title	Artist	Album	Plays
Girl	Beck	Guero	57
Purexed	P.O.S.	Never Better (Deluxe Edition)	53
Don't Try This At Home	Punchline	37 Everywhere	48
Bad Ma Fucka	Brother Ali	Champion EP	46
Blah Blah Blah	Brother Ali	Shadows On The Sun	45
Champion (Remix)	Brother Ali	Champion EP	43
Truth Is	Brother Ali	The Undisputed Truth	42
The Willing Well II: Fear Through The Eyes Of Madness	Coheed & Cambria	Good Apollo, I'm Burning Star IV, Volume 1: From Fear Through The Eyes Of Mad	42
Like This	Girl Talk	Feed The Animals	42
Forest Whitiker	Brother Ali	Shadows On The Sun	41
The Science Of Selling Yourself Short	Less Than Jake	Anthem	39
The Adventure	Angels & Airwaves	We Don't Need to Whisper (Digital Version)	38
Indestructible	Matisyahu	Youth	38
Beverly Hills	Weezer	Make Believe	38
A Favor House Atlantic	Coheed & Cambria	In Keeping Secrets Of Silent Earth: 3	37
Feel Good Inc.	Gorillaz	Demon Days	37
Overrated (Everything Is)	Less Than Jake	In With The Out Crowd	37
The Perfect Drug	Nine Inch Nails	Lost Highway (Soundtrack from the Motion Picture)	37
Shalom/Saalam	Matisyahu	Youth	36
Pizza Joe	Mediocre Superheroes	The Deathtrap Dilemma	36
The Fake, The Snake, And The Birthday Cake	Punchline	37 Everywhere	36
Once In a Lifetime	Talking Heads	The Best of Talking Heads (Remastered)	36
Ring Of Fire	DJ Swamp	Never Is Now	35
Ancient Lullaby	Matisyahu	Youth	35
Earth Intruders (Extended Mark) [Spike] {Stent Mix}	Björk	Earth Intruders - Single	34
Thriller	Fall Out Boy	Infinity On High	34
Lazy Eye	Silversun Pickups	Carnavas	34
Three Evils (Embodied In Love And Shadow)	Coheed & Cambria	In Keeping Secrets Of Silent Earth: 3	33
Breakdown	Handsome Boy Modeling School Feat. Jack Johnson	White People	33
Fat Lip	Sum 41	All Killer No Filler	33
The Yeah Yeah Yeah Song (With All Your Power)	The Flaming Lips	At War With The Mystics	31
You Can Call Me Al (Remastered Version)	Paul Simon	Graceland (Remastered)	31
Scythian Empires	Andrew Bird	Armchair Apocrypha	30
Rockin' The Suburbs	Ben Folds	Rockin' The Suburbs	30
Walking Away	Brother Ali	The Undisputed Truth	30
(Rock) Superstar	Cypress Hill	Skull & Bones	30
McAllistrum's March	The Chieftains	The Celtic Harp	29
Blood Red Summer	Coheed & Cambria	In Keeping Secrets Of Silent Earth: 3	29
Around the World (Radio Edit)	Daft Punk	Musique, Vol. 1 (1993 - 2005)	29
Welcome To The Black Parade	My Chemical Romance	The Black Parade	29
Dope Nose	Weezer	Maladroit	29
Lull	Andrew Bird	Weather Systems	28
I Miss You	Blink-182	Blink-182	28
Welcome Home	Coheed & Cambria	Good Apollo, I'm Burning Star IV, Volume 1: From Fear Through The Eyes Of Mad	28
Steal My Sunshine	Len	You Can't Stop the Bum Rush	28
One Day	Matisyahu	One Day - Single	28
Shake A Tail Feather	Ray Charles	The Blues Brothers Soundtrack	28
Heretics	Andrew Bird	Armchair Apocrypha	27
Fired	Ben Folds	Rockin' The Suburbs	27
Everybody Needs Somebody To Love	The Blues Brothers	The Blues Brothers Soundtrack	27

Andrew bird with Loney, Dear at Hoyt Sherman

We (Chris, Holly, Shannon and I) were running a bit late from our dinner at Alba so we headed over to Hoyt Sherman found a place to park and quickly headed in to see Loney, Dear already on stage. I liked them. The music was kind of a wave of sound. Songs would often start of fairly quiet pump up and then end back down in quiet territory. The brought out the member of the backing band for Andrew Bird (including Martin Dosh) and also one brought up Andrew Bird himself for a song. I think I may buy their most recent album, and then see where that goes (Which is why I bought the Haley Bonar albums).

After some stage wrangling, some musical chairs (apparently the people that were sitting on my left side and stolen one of the seats so they could sit together), over hearing some vapid conversation (have the young nothing better to talk about?), Andrew Bird took the stage.

He started off all by himself, like I remember seeing him the first time. After a bit Martin Dosh and a couple of others came up and joined him.

I enjoyed myself thoroughly, it was a great show.

New Play List, First Day

Song	Artist
Clint Eastwood	Gorillaz
El Condor Pasa (If I Could)	Simon & Garfunkel
Once Upon Your Dead Body	Coheed & Cambria
Diamonds And Pearls	Prince
Victory! (Come Forward)	Brother Ali
George Frideric Handel, Sinfonia in B flat major	Orpheus Chamber Orchestra
The Headless Horseman	Joe Satriani
The Weird Al Show Theme	Weird Al Yankovic
Too much	Dave Matthews Band
Sleeping In The Flowers	They Might Be Giants
Please	Ludo
I Write Sins Not Tragedies	Panic! At The Disco
Cheese2	Ween
Karma Police	Radiohead
Demons In The Suburbs	DJ Swamp
Stalk of Wheat	They Might Be Giants
Famous Last Words	My Chemical Romance
Mix Tape	Johnny Socko
DARE	Gorillaz
Fight Test	The Flaming Lips
Out of the Window	Violent Femmes
Here's Your Letter	Blink-182
Grand Theft Autumn / Where Is Your Boy (Acoustic)	Fall Out Boy
Blah Blah Blah	Brother Ali
The Truth feat. Freeway & Brother Ali	Jake One
Cornflake Girl	Tori Amos
A Girl Named Hope	Atmosphere
You're The One That I Want	Olivia Newton-John & John Travolta
First It Giveth	Queens Of The Stone Age
Just	Radiohead
Words, Hands, Hearts	Yellowcard
Nuthinduan Waltz	Andrew Birds's Bowl Of Fire
House Of Cards	Radiohead
Look What Happened	Less Than Jake
En Vise om Hellig Olaf (Hellig Olaf Stod ved Fjorden)	Einar Steen-Nøkleberg
Hope	Björk
Tin Foil	Andrew Bird
Pope	Prince
Piano Concerto No. 19 In F	Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756-1791)
Tamacun	Rodrigo y Gabriela
Closer	Nine Inch Nails
Breakdown	Handsome Boy Modeling School Feat. Jack Johnson
Our Lawyer Made Us Change The Name Of This Song So We Wouldn't Get Sued	Fall Out Boy
Main Title/Rebel Blockade Runner	Various Artists
Scott's A Dork	Reel Big Fish
Nightswimming	R.E.M.
The Willing Well I: Fuel For The Feeding End	Coheed & Cambria
Devil Went Down To Georgia	Johnny Socko
Cecilia	Simon & Garfunkel
Bring the Noise	Anthrax
Ring Of Fire	DJ Swamp
She Says It's Alright	The Rentals
Farewell To John Denver	Monty Python
Yo George	Tori Amos
Your Guts (I Hate 'em)	Reel Big Fish
The Number One	Atmosphere
Anneurysm	Felt
Hash Pipe	Weezer
Gotholympians	Andrew Bird's Bowl Of Fire
Watch The World	Box Car Racer
Fred Jones, Part 2	Ben Folds
I Heard a Sound	They Might Be Giants
Toccata and Fugue in D minor, BWV 565	J.S. Bach - Michael Murray Organ
Shake It	Metro Station
Come on Eileen	save ferris
Clint Eastwood (Ed case re-mix)	Gorillaz
I am one	Smashing Pumpkins
Road to Nowhere	Talking Heads
Sing, Sing, Sing [Benny Goodman]	Various Artists
The Man Who Sold The World	Nirvana
Walking Contradiction	Green Day
Raspberry Beret	Prince
Pat Krimson-Your Destination	Various Artists
Smooth Criminal	Alien Ant Farm
Sleep It Off	Less Than Jake
Hair	Atmosphere
One More Time	Daft Punk
Backward	Mac Lethal

80 - 35, inside and out

After Shannon got back from giving Spunky a shot of insulin (Chris & Holly's huge kitty), we headed down to the Western Gateway Park to go to the Friday's shot of 80 - 35.

We missed the Des Moines Boyz and a bit of Ingrid Michaelson. I actually liked some of her music, so I may end up buying a CD. We hunkered down and watched Andrew Bird, who put on a good show, even though I prefer to see them in a group...but in watching it, it reminded me that I still need to get a Martin Dosh album or two (probably starting with one).

Then The Flaming Lips took the stage. With a combination of giant balloons (pushed out into the audience), huge confetti cannons, encouraged sing alongs, a big ball to get tossed around the crowd on, and a round screen behind them they put on a visually stimulating show. Going though a lot of music that I know and a bit that I wasn't as familiar with, it was probably one of the better shows that I've been to. Shannon enjoyed the spectacle of it too. It was a fun way to spend the 4th.

On both nights there were sets of painted ladies. Where they were wearing boy shorts and the rest of their body was spray painted (nipples covered with tape). It was interesting...

On the 5th, I was scheduled for work at 5:PM, but being that I didn't have much to do, I headed down at around noon. And found out that the morning shift was full, with nothing to, I headed back home and headed back down again around 4. I eventually got assigned to go work at a ticket booth selling tickets for water, soda, red bull, and ice cream along with tickets for beer (much more popular). The selling of tickets was not too exciting, but people kept buying in bursts. Over the night there were a few highlights. One less then sober individual gave me a 10$ tip (not that I was taking tips, but he wouldn't let me not take a tip). So I then proceeded to use that and others, to round out peoples money so they could get 3 tickets, rather then two.

There was a little girl that got a missile pop and proceeded to hold the Popsicle by the Popsicle switching off hands and when she'd switch, she'd wipe the off hand on her shirt and then switch back and wipe her other hand. She did this until she was showed how to hold it by the stick. I got to say that it was very cute.

About an hour and a half before the show was done, a guy came up and bought 100$ worth of tickets (30 beers). I was stunned, but who am I to say no?

At some point, we were told to just give away the frozen things (since they didn't want to have left overs). So the kids of some of the people helping at the booth (I think one was a principal at one of the local Des Moines schools), went out with boxes of ice cream sandwiches, lemon cups, etc, and would come back in 5-10 minutes with an empty box. It was pretty amazing.

While the volunteer thing worked, for the most part. I think most stations were covered. However, they needed to have things better organized on the front end. There was a lot of confusion about where to get the volunteer meals, where the assignments were (I would've taken the mini-map, X'ed where they were supposed to be for every person). When and were they made assignments. I showed up, they told me to wait, and then others showed up and they started sending them out to do things, so I got back in line and got assigned to do what I did. I would've made a clear distinction int he booths selling water, soda, red bull and the ones selling beer, and having the the wristbands entirely separate (some places they were, some, not so much). Maybe they didn't have enough people on the top end telling people what to do. They'll get better next year though.

So it sounds like it was a a success. 15,000 tickets Friday and Shannon said the news was estimating another 15,000 today, which probably more then paid for the $650,000 budget for the show (somewhere in the range of $750,000 - 1,050,000). I talked to one of the finance guys and apparently for their sponsorship, Olde Main Brewing Company donated the beer, and DMMC got to keep the profits. Which I applaud them for. And considering I personally stuffed an envelope 3 times with 3 inch or so stacks of twenties and one time when I was off eating another one there handed over a big stack, and we were just one of the many ticketing counters.

For Olde Main Brewing Company, I had, over the two days, tried all the beers that they served. The only one I didn't like was their light beer, which was a lot like bud light...and...well...I'm not a huge fan of bud light. But the rest were pretty good. I had already bought some of their Off Kilter Scottish Ale from Hy-Vee and gotten through most of the six pack.

So it sounds like it was a success. The weather was awesome (2nd day being hotter and a bit more humid then the first, but still fairly pleasant), and I hope it means they'll have one next year too. It's a great thing for Des Moines.

Random Things

Work continues, deadline nears, I'll probably be working this weekend. Whee...

The other day, it snowed...a lot. In the morning I was shoveling snow, cleaned off the walks and driveway. Got some of the snow out into the street. I started to work on the intersection, to get rid of some of the snow. While I was working on it, one of my neighbor's nurses (she's under 24 hour nursing care) tried to drive down 43rd...with not much luck at all. In fact she compacted the snow down that her tires were barely touching the snow...meaning she wasn't going anywhere. A man, who I suspect was from the church down the street, who had snow blown the sidewalks from at least 42nd all the way up to 44th, came back and he helped me push, remove snow around the car and finally to use the shovels to get the snow out from under the car. With a few more pushes she was able to get down the street. The phantom snow blower, continued down the street...

Early this morning, the snow plow finally made our street, so with a bit of clean up, we're setup for the next storm...if there is one.

I haven't felt much like cooking lately...so the meals have generally been repetitive for the most part, a few highlights here and there...I've been practicing some knife skills and cooking things and paying close attention...but I'm generally really tired.

I've been staying up a bit later, and getting up a lot earlier. I've been working around 8 until 6, and I've pushed the start time back to 7 to 7:30. I've been on a total caffeine binge...coffee, tea and soda...though still no mountain dew (I have a bad history).

My 401k is moving, generally, back up to where it was before...though it is still off 13%...at least I'm hoping it's it's going up.

I got our taxes done. We, once again, used TaxAct (my dad works there). Did it all on the web this time...since they don't have an OS X client. It worked pretty much the same, I was fairly impressed. Anyways, big fan, support my pops, get your taxes done.

Obama is holding his own. I still feel very connected to him being the next president. I've watched election results...even stayed up late to watch them...it's like I care. I must say that he's a powerful speaker. Even his words put to music are impressive. The victory speech in South Carolina was amazing.

A while ago, Shannon bought a kitchen cart with money she inherited. I got it put together...but here's the rub. I had to stop the first time, because we were missing a couple of back pieces. Got those sent to us, got back to work on it. Only to finish it but using extra pieces... The cabinet doors had a few problems. On one side it was missing the door hinge thing...which I used a metal piece to replace, so I could get the door on, and on the other it had mis-drilled holes. So the handle went on, but it is not totally connected. I could drill another hole so it could fit...but then I'd have an extra hole... The customer services has been ok...not to bad on the hold times to talk to a person... I got the door parts ordered...so we'll see if we can call it done.

Due to the new places ot put things, I've been able to reorder the kitchen...it's been nice...the spices all in one place, in alpha order (save for a few that didn't fit in the drawer). All the hard alcohol in the cupboards...places to put some storage containers... and able to put the cat food out of sight...except the stuff in the bowls...but it's better then nothing...I still have some space to figure out what to do with...but in doing this latest reorganization I was able to finally get the massive amount of cookie cutters (most from the wedding) put away.

I think I really need glasses...I was looking for the spelling of one of the managers name on his placard...and I had to move my chair to see...it wasn't that far away. I did put money into our flexable spending account for this...so all I really need to do is go out and do it...but...I don't have the time right now to do so. I'm curious if the headaches I've been having are related to the caffeine, the long work hours, or the need for new glasses. I guess it could be a combination of all of them.

My car went in for service the other day. After sitting out all weekend, I went out to warm up Shannon's car and my own, and get set to go to work. After a rough start with my car, the engine light came on, so I turned it off...read the manual, called in and they told me to drive in...which I did. After resetting the light, they said they couldn't reproduces, I ended up with a new battery (was reporting poorly, prorated), tires (really needed, driving on snow has been like driving a sled), wheel alignment and an oil change. It's been driving really nice (especially over the snow, at least by comparison).

Working more hours, and bringing in my iPod charger into work, have really drained my primary listening list (4 or 5 star that hasn't been played in 3 weeks). A bit over half has been played in the last 3 weeks...it's kinda crazy since there's about 7.5 days of music...

I've been wanting to journal, but haven't been feeling up to it lately...so apparently it all comes out at the same time. I think I should probably stop now...

Haven't been feeling to good...so heres a bunch of stuff

Last Saturday we headed up to Ames to visit the Tomson's. This has been the first time in a long long time that we've seen them. It makes me sad that we don't get to see them more often. Seth and Bri decided to have a Sake party and we decided to go. We joined Chris and Holly in the drive up north. We did have a bit of a spat over driving, since I wanted to drink, and Shannon didn't want to drive, but with Chris and Holly driving, the problem was solved.

We saw their house, which seemed very 70sish in the decor, though very pretty. I've always thought that Bri had a very good eye and did lots with very little. I missed out on a lot of the house, since they had it mostly closed off, but I think they did that for the party, and since they had guests over and what not.

We drank 6 or 7 kinds of Sake, between the 8 or 9 people drinking. There were a few that I didn't like too much...they just didn't taste that good, but over all it was a pretty good experience... Bri had also made sushi (pretty good) and this little pork rolls (a pork mixture inside a roll, they were fantastic). We ate many of the pork rolls.

After we were intoxicated to some extent, we drove back down to Des Moines.

Monday I started to feel sick. So I went home earlier then I have been, and kinda camped down in front of the TV. I then proceeded to go through chills, being so cold that even wrapped up in a blanket, I was shivering. It was quite the ride. Around midnight or so, I think my fever broke. I thought I could go to work the next day...but after being there for a couple of hours, I thought better of it and came home and was lazy for the rest of the day.

Thursday afternoon my younger brother Joseph, now free of his military obligations, came up to investigate possible job opportunities here in Des Moines. We ate at Uncle Wendell's BBQ and Joseph decided that he wanted to work there. So Friday morning, we headed out to catch Wendell at the store to pick up an application. We all headed there for lunch and Joseph got a quick little interview and it seemed to go well, but besides being overqualified (5 years of Fast Food experience including 4 of that being in a managerial role), he had apparently just hired someone and it appears to be working out.

That night we went to Appare Japanese Steakhouse. We tried to go to Miyabi 9 first, but they were so busy, that we decided to head elsewhere. Being Joseph's first experience with sushi we tried out a few different kinds of sushi. We had:

• Seacoast roll
• AJS roll
• King Lobster roll
• California Roll
• Spider Roll
• Dynamite Roll
• Dragon Roll
• Monster

I really liked the AJS and the Dynamite rolls, but all were very good. Joseph, after having a difficult time with chopsticks, began to get the hang of it and at the end showed quite the interest in having sushi again. He also wanted to do the teppanyaki part of the steakhouse and will probably come back to do so, eventually.

It was nice to hang out with him for a while. We headed back to the house and he headed back home.

Saturday, we finished up the setup of the DVDs of the home movies of Shannon's mom's family. And proceeded to burn the DVDs for the family. I also did a pork roast again (since I bought two for the previous movie night) I did it fairly similar to the previous time, though I didn't follow the recipe...since I lent the magazine to Holly...but it turned out great. The pork was much juicier (not that i was dry before...just not as juicy as I wanted). I was very happy. Since there were only two of us, there were lots of left overs...for sandwiches...mmm...pork...

Today we cleaned up the 4 or so inches of snow, and then I got to baking and made some double chocolate banana bread. In listening to the Sound Opinions Christmas Spectacular and baking the banana bread, I was really starting to catch the holiday spirit (for the first time this month) and I'm looking forward to seeing our families and the Mattas over Christmas and new years.

Mmm...time to make pork sandwiches....mmmm...pork... *drool*

Starting with Today and going backwards...and then forward

I am in the process of making my first cheesecake....It is time consuming, but it smells like it will turn out well. It has the flavor of pumpkin and burbon and I hope turns out well. Long cooktime, long cool time, even before I can stick it in the fridge.

Yesterday, Iowa Health Home Care called and told me that my CPAP was back in working order, and because I left work late last night, I headed out this morning to pick it up. I still think their new building is buried in the depths of a maze. It is kind of annoying. But I got a new water chamber that has a one way valve, to help prevent any water getting into the chamber...kinda neat.

This past Sunday, we stripped off the wallpaper divider in the dining room...our first try didn't lead to much in the way of results, but after consulting the intertubes, we made much better progress. We do have some clean up work to do with little bits of whatever the heck is left, but it should be easier.

This past Saturday we trimmed bushes and picked some weeds.

Shannon did have to nag me to do both...but I guess it was good to do. Painting is next. Starting off with ceilings, priming the dining room walls and then moving on to the colors that Shannon picked and I didn't veto.

This weekend is gonna be busy. Friday night, Chris and Holly are hosting the Halloween party, should be a good time. Afterwards, Chris is having a mini-LAN party, which, as I understand, goes through Saturday. Sunday, is the Des Moines Community Orchestra's Fall Concert, which Holly is in. Should be a good time.

Food, Music and Kids, in that order

So yesterday afternoon, we headed over to Cedar Rapids to go to the CR Symphony's presentation Masterworks II: Asia Minor. It featured the Crown of India Suite (Elgar), Flute Concerto (Chesky), and Scheherazade, Op. 35 (Rimsky-Korsakov).

We met up with the Mattas, and left Jenny's mom with Taylor and Cali, while we headed to downtown Cedar Rapids. Both Shannon and I noticed that there has quite a bit of revitalization going on to the downtown area. Many new (to us) shops stores and what not, including Blend.

So Blend is a fairly modern looking restaurant. including a waterfall wall...which, when I first entered the restaurant had the faint smell of chlorine, but I may have been imagining things, cause nobody else did. We arrived shortly before six, and even though the restaurant was mostly empty, we had to wait. Nathan did notice that they had a lot of reservations at 6 and beyond that, so I guess it did explain that, but I'm just a fan where people just reserve a table or two for walk up custom...sometimes you don't know where you'll be going (we sure didn't). We were seated in a relatively short amount of time.

The tables were very angular in their appearance. They were setup in a fashion where the corners of the tables were uncovered, but the rest were with a white table cloths, to create right angles. The napkins were also folded in right angled triangles too. It was very pleasing to my eye...since I'm a fan of things like that (it makes my brain feel comfortable). The only thing that distracted me, was that my place setting was a little off (the spoon placement didn't work for me). I think it only stood out, because the rest of the placement of things seemed relatively perfect.

Service was relatively quick and she seemed nice.

I ordered the only appetizer, which they describe as: Pork confit and ginger spiced carrots in crispy wonton with caramelized cabbage, and sweet Chinese mustard aioli. This was interesting, the pork wontons were spicy and to the left, there was a salad mix in middle that was sweet, and to the right it was vinegary. Separately, the pork wontons were good, but the rest was ok. but in concert, and concept I think it was pretty good.

For our main course, Shannon ordered the Seared Sea Scallops with celeriac and Yukon gold potato pave, brown butter roasted Acorn squash, watercress-pecan slaw, pickled red pepper, and a creamy apple-fennel puree. Jenny had the Pan seared Pork Medallions with red wine-Amerena cherry risotto, roasted garlic-lemon zest green beans, local field greens with hot mustard vinaigrette, and a porcini pan sauce. Nathan had Belgium ale brined Airline Chicken breast with bacon-cider sweet potato hash, tarragon creamed Brussels sprouts, caramelized parsnips, and a dark roasted sweet onion puree. I had White truffle and Panko crusted Veal Scalloppine with pancetta and Taleggio cheese smashed new potatoes, juniper and caraway roasted root vegetables, and roma tomato potage. The ladies ordered a mixed greens salad and the fellas ordered Roasted Pheasant soup.

The fennel in the soup made it. The broth was very good, a nice mixed of flavors. Nathan said the roast pheasant wasn't a very good example, and it could've been turkey or any other roasted bird. I don't have much experience with pheasant, so I couldn't state one way or the other.

So the tastes and the flavors ranged. I thought my veal and the potatoes beneath it was pretty good, though the Panko crust on the bottom of the veal was kinda soggy because of the potatoes. Shannon's Scallops were good and the potatoe pave was also very nice. Nathan thought his meal was pretty good, except for the chicken, which was pretty bland. Jenny's pork was...well..it had no taste at all. She said the rest of the meal around the pork was pretty good.

For dessert, Shannon and Jenny both had a warm chocolate thing (I forget), I had a carrot cake and Nathan had Creme Brulée. The chocolate thing was very good, along with the Creme Brulée. The carrot cake...was...not but not really carrot like. It had orange zest in it...and..well...that was pretty much the only thing you could taste in the cake. The frosting was nice though.

Overall it was pretty good. Though I think a little overpriced. We got out of there (including two glasses of wine) for just under 100$, excluding tip.

We walked over to the Paramount Theatre and up to our seats. The music was pretty good. The Flute Concerto was a bit odd, but apparently it was the second time it had been performed. I was interesting and often times went with threads of music that were very odd together and then joined and then got very odd again. I did bring up Christian Tiemeyer, and I am still curious what happened to him. Their site said he retired... My older sister was friends with his daughter and I went to many many concerts under his 20 year stint as the music director.

Afterwards, we headed back to the Mattas and started to watch the the Boston Red Sox whoop on the Cleveland Indians (Jenny's a big BoSox fan). Shannon went up to bed and the rest of us finished the game. I started to fall asleep around the 7th inning...but it finished up pretty quickly...

We woke up the next morning, had some freshly made biscuits. Nathan then got ready to take the girls to a Halloween thing at Usher's Ferry. Both had homemade costumes. Taylor was Snow White and Cali was Cinderella. Very cute.

We left for home as they left for Usher's Ferry.

We stopped at the Williamsburg Tanger Factory Outlet, ate lunch, and wandered around a bit...didn't buy anything. We looked at some cooking stuff...meh.

And then we finished our trip home. Fun weekend.