Journal

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.

stuff and maybe some things...

Movie night was last night. Holly made some wonderful things. Encrusted Chicken with a spicy sauce, some drop biscuits with cheese in them and some noodles. The chicken was tender and the sauce was good, though it may have been a little too spicy for Holly...though Shannon seemed to like it too. The biscuts..well..they were too salty, but I could tell that they would be very good, beyond the salt. We watched Psycho, I was reminded of how good a movie it is. We then watched a documentary on the movie, and I swear, it was as long, or longer then the actual movie. Needless to say, we didn't finish the documentary.

I actually wrote a letter the other day. And dropped it in the mail...I don't know how much good it'll be, but I hope it helps to lift my brother's spirits, though I don't know if he'll make it through.

I was very disgusted with myself the other day. Sitting at home, just kinda waiting and I was hungry. Instead of eating many of the healthy things that are around the house (apples, carrots, bananas, etc), I open up the bag of marshmallows. I'm such a binge eater...I have been since I can remember. From cheese and crackers to banana bread to whatever. I try to control it, but from time to time, I feel like I am watching myself do these things. It's dreadful. Yet, I wouldn't get on drugs for it. I ended up throwing them away...

Speaking of drugs, the Prevacid seems to be going well for the most part. I have had painful gas/bloating from time to time, but over all I'm tolerating it well (only that one time has it woke me up out of a sleep). Carrots go down well. The other two seem to be going well and my blood pressure is in line too. So, it's all settling out. I'm not looking forward to the bill for the esophageal dilation, but it should come sometime...I'm actually kinda surprised it hasn't....

So we're going to go see the Cedar Rapids Symphony tomorrow. I have many fond memories of going to this when I was a child. I think the company my dad worked for donated money or something and they always had tickets (that apparently nobody else wanted), so I went a lot. It'll be also be nice to see the Mattas too.

Tomorrow is a big day for Brandon. He turns the big 30. Shortly he'll be a father. The changes he's made in his life in the past year or so, makes me happy. I used to worry about him quite a bit, but now, it is much better.

Happy Birthday Brandon!

A new Era

In Rainbows, Radiohead's new album, marks a new era in my music purchases. I have bought single songs, but never an album entirely electronically. It was easy, and I liked that I could name my own price, but apparently I was a bit off, due to a faulty calculation on the exchange rate.

The problem lies in DRM. I love music, I hate being limited. If I buy the music, what do you care if I have it on multiple devices, I bought it. I find it frustrating not to be able to what I want, with music I own. I also find it obnoxious to vaguely be called a criminal, when companies makes claims about music, like needed to own a CD and an electronic version of the song.

I am not a pirate, but I feel like I am being treated like one...even though I have stacks and stacks of CDs.

It is good to see all the DRM free actions that are happening, now, from Apple to Yahoo. I still find it frustrating that I have a Netflix account, but since I don't have a PC (at home), I can't use part what, in theory, I'm paying for, since their on demand video requires windows.

Labor Day Weekend

Sunday, we headed down to Court Ave to go to the first annual block party. Normally I wouldn't go to things like this (except for Oktoberfest (usually things like this bring out the idiot drinkers)), but they were having Reel Big Fish play, so down we went. Yes, we.

We went down there, wandered for a bit, and then ended up eating at the royal mile. Most of the bands we saw were pretty good. I enjoyed The Vandon Arms (basically Irish drinking music). I almost bought their CD, and am still thinking about it. North of Grand, who I had a track from the DMMC album that I like...pretty much sounded the same over all their songs. Not that it was a bad sound, it was just repetitive. I think we were near one of their families/friends though, because that group seemed pretty pumped when they got on stage. However, the Goodyear Pimps or the Pimps were so annoying and obnoxious, I just kept wanting to say, "less talk, more rock"....except they weren't very good at that either. Maybe it was just the show, or maybe I'm the wrong audience, but I could've done without ever seeing them. Just a note to budding rock stars out there, you don't have to explain everything you do. Some people will get it, some people won't care about the lyrics, and others...well...they're not gonna listen anyways.

Somewhere between the Vandon Arms and the Pimps, we ran into Josh and Lindsay and hung out with them for the rest of the night

RBF was pretty good, certainly not the best that I've seen them, but it was still worth the money. Good stage presence, good set. They hit all the songs I really wanted, even the new track Another F.U. Song. They played Beer twice (once during the regular set and another in the encore). On the encore, apparently someone down front kept calling for it, so they pretty much said screw it and played it again. Oh well, kinda silly, but what can you do.

About the event as a whole, it seemed fairly organized. Security was right on top of things (we heard and saw a few questionable things, and very shortly, 3-5 security guys were right on the person to kick 'em out). Plenty of bathrooms. Drinks were...well...lame for the most part. Other then the water, there was nothing down there that I really wanted to have (have at least one semi-drinkable beer please). It was problematic where they were, since it was just as easy to see the stage from outside the plastic fenced in area (especially with the parking garage). Quite a few people didn't pay for entrance... Kinda lame, I think. The thing that bugged me the most was the lack of a published schedule...anywhere. I know schedules at all day events aren't that accurate, but it's always nice to have an idea when people are going to play and what not. I couldn't find anyone that knew...not that I tried too hard...but I did ask a few people.

Monday, we headed over to Jen and Madd's for a gathering. Even being relatively late, we were still the first ones to arrive (this is fairly normal). Jen and Madd, put up quite the setup of things, and played good hosts to the party. It was nice to hang out for the majority of the day and talk with the group about whatever. Good times.

snippets

iPod passed! after scanning for a long time, I got the passed logo. Woo! Now all it has to do is wait until the new iPods like iPhones come out...

The Simpsons Movie was really good. I laughed a lot...especially at one point where they made fun of Fox. It was a good time. Parking over at Jordan Creek was a mother though...it took us a while to find a spot...ANY spot...it was silly.

After the movie, Chris and Holly lent us their copy of the new Amy Winehouse CD, who's music I've been thinking about since I saw her on some award show...For that award show, I pretty much fast forwarded through the entire thing, but couldn't on her song. Fascinating voice. Certainly a change from the sanitized crap that you generally hear on the radio. I'm about halfway through it, and it'll probably end up being the next CD I buy. It is really to bad it's not available on iTunes + cause I'd buy it there...

The truth is here...

So last night at the Vaudeville Mews, Brother Ali took the stage.

Josh and I headed downtown and ate dinner at the Royal Mile, before we headed over to the mews. We showed up to the hype man doing his thing, before he introduced Psalm One...She was...she was pretty good, not really my thing I guess I didn't relate to well to it.

The hype man came back...the DJ was really good and they hype man was only distracting from his goodness...it was kinda silly.

Brother Ali took the stage. He seemed pretty mellow and it was a good show, he did a set and then just started doing what people called out of the crowd. It was a pretty good show.

He left the stage. Easily 2/3rds of the crowd left. Josh even wanted to leave...but who knows about an encore...until the lights come up, the show isn't over. Anyways, he eventually came back, but instead of hitting the stage, he just walked on the side, right down into the much smaller crowd. He stopped right in front of Josh and I. I think he had some sort of air of recognition...(I've seen him 3 times, and Josh 5)...but who can tell? I'd like to think he did. I did actually talk to him in Omaha, for a short while at least. Anyways, he continued on, relatively ignoring this over excited (or high) young lad that was standing to his right. He still worked up the crowd, in a relatively mellow way dancing with this young lady next to me. He turned as all around and we were all dancing and he grabbed the back of my shirt, to help my rhythmless self move in time.

A bit later he left the crowd and called it a night.

It made a good show, into an amazing show.

iPod Stats: 50 Most Played Artists

Rank Play Count Artist
1 343 Less Than Jake
2 304 Andrew Bird
3 267 Coheed & Cambria
4 258 Brother Ali
5 215 Punchline
6 194 Fall Out Boy
7 193 Matisyahu
8 184 Beck
9 183 They Might Be Giants
10 178 Atmosphere
11 177 Reel Big Fish
12 163 Weezer
13 133 Collective Soul
14 131 Various Artists
15 129 Bjˆrk
16 129 Queens Of The Stone Age
17 127 Johnny Cash
18 119 Ween
19 117 Andrew Bird's Bowl Of Fire
20 116 Gorillaz
21 113 My Chemical Romance
22 109 Ben Folds
23 101 Smashing Pumpkins
24 98 Radiohead
25 98 Simon & Garfunkel
26 96 The Blues Brothers
27 91 The Beta Band
28 84 Queen
29 77 Einar Steen-N¯kleberg
30 74 The Beatles
31 74 Pink Floyd
32 73 Blink-182
33 72 Yellowcard
34 69 Weird Al Yankovic
35 68 The Mars Volta
36 66 MU330
37 65 Panic! At The Disco
38 65 Tori Amos
39 65 Haley Bonar
40 64 B.B. King
41 57 The Chieftains
42 55 Gym Class Heroes
43 55 Box Car Racer
44 54 Ben Folds Five
45 53 Joe Satriani
46 52 The Beach Boys
47 51 Silversun Pickups
48 51 The Rentals
49 49 Andrew Birds's Bowl Of Fire
50 47 Monty Python's Spamalot

iPod Stats: 50 Most Played Songs

TitleArtistAlbum
Girl Beck Guero
Don't Try This At Home Punchline 37 Everywhere
Champion (Remix) Brother Ali Champion EP
Beverly Hills Weezer Make Believe
Blah Blah Blah Brother Ali Shadows On The Sun
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
A Favor House Atlantic Coheed & Cambria In Keeping Secrets Of Silent Earth: 3
Truth Is Brother Ali The Undisputed Truth
Bad Ma Fucka Brother Ali Champion EP
Forest Whitiker Brother Ali Shadows On The Sun
Shalom/Saalam Matisyahu Youth
The Science of Selling Yourself Short Less Than Jake Anthem
Overrated (Everything Is) Less Than Jake In With The Out Crowd
Pizza Joe Mediocre Superheroes The Deathtrap Dilemma
The Fake, The Snake, And The Birthday Cake Punchline 37 Everywhere
Indestructible Matisyahu Youth
Take On Me Reel Big Fish Greatest Hit and More
Thriller Fall Out Boy Infinity On High
The Perfect Drug Nine Inch Nails Lost Highway (Soundtrack from the Motion Picture)
Wait and Bleed Slipknot Slipknot
Fake Palindromes Andrew Bird The Mysterious Production of Eggs
Rockin' The Suburbs Ben Folds Rockin' The Suburbs
Wake Up Coheed & Cambria Good Apollo, I'm Burning Star IV, Volume 1: From Fear Through The Eyes Of Mad
Three Evils (Embodied In Love And Shadow) Coheed & Cambria In Keeping Secrets Of Silent Earth: 3
Feel Good Inc. Gorillaz Demon Days
Welcome To The Black Parade My Chemical Romance The Black Parade
Lazy Eye Silversun Pickups Carnavas
Get Fly Atmosphere You Can't Imagine How Much Fun We're Having
The Suffering Coheed & Cambria Good Apollo, I'm Burning Star IV, Volume 1: From Fear Through The Eyes Of Mad
Clint Eastwood Gorillaz Gorillaz
Steal My Sunshine Len You Can't Stop the Bum Rush
Ancient Lullaby Matisyahu Youth
B.Y.O.B. System of a Down B.Y.O.B. - Single
Once In a Lifetime Talking Heads The Best of Talking Heads (Remastered)
Happy Day Andrew Bird Fingerlings 2
Lull Andrew Bird Weather Systems
Fired Ben Folds Rockin' The Suburbs
McAllistrum's March The Chieftains The Celtic Harp
Keeping The Blade Coheed & Cambria Good Apollo, I'm Burning Star IV, Volume 1: From Fear Through The Eyes Of Mad
(Rock) Superstar Cypress Hill Skull & Bones
Breakdown Handsome Boy Modeling School Feat. Jack Johnson White People
Shake A Tail Feather Ray Charles The Blues Brothers Soundtrack
Duality Slipknot Duality - Single
Fat Lip Sum 41 All Killer No Filler
Dope Nose Weezer Maladroit
--> Andrew Bird Weather Systems
11:11 Andrew Bird's Bowl Of Fire The Swimming Hour
Think Aretha Franklin The Blues Brothers Soundtrack
Trying To Find A Balance Atmosphere Seven's Travels
Rental Car Beck Guero