I'm Not Dead...

So, I could apologize for being a few days behind, and I am, but I've come to the realization that this is supposed to be enjoyable but at the same time, it's not mandatory.

It's my Friday and man, I am sooo excited! I just did a 2:30a.m. run to Sobey's, we're out of water for the cooler and since Kari's working, she'll probably want some to take to work w/ her, I know I'm some glad that I have water here now, my office is a freakin' sauna, after hours, kill the a/c not realizing that people still work here.

At least I'm alone, I can wear just a t-shirt... Let me rephrase, I'm usually alone, tonight there are some techs. working but it's a clean t-shirt so I'm covered.

It was also insanely busy earlier, I usually dread working Tuesday nights, it's the night that we do all the planned maintenance and if something can go wrong, it can suck-diddly-uck.! (Thank you Homer Simpson.) - Speaking of which, tonight's music is subsituted for a list of classic Homer quotes. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=czum0Q_000c

So yeah, man, I'm dying here, it is sooo hot in here, this sucks! I'm glad that I'll be home in a/c in a couple of hours.

Anywys, my break's done so I should get back at 'er but just wanted to write a quick note, I wonder how many people are up right now, there weren't too many cars driving so I think a lot of people must be in bed in Moncton.

Today's pic. is a cute Dilbert strip.

C'mon people now, smile on your brother...

So, I had the perfect idea for today long before I even through that 1st song in Youtube and do you think I can remember it for the life of me? Of course not...

It's funny, when I forget stuff, I'll go back and walk around where I was standing when the idea came to me and often it'll trigger it, but now, I don't even remember where it was when I had it.

Sad to say that yet again, yesterday was a no write or blog day, although Kari and I did have a great walk last night, we went at about 10p.m. or so, so it was nice, there was a slight breeze and it was enough to keep the bugs away, although the trail around the neighborhood is pretty good for being bug free if we wait till after dark.

I don't want to cop out on a blog today but right now, there's nothing really flowing so instead, I'm going to post this link:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vr3x_RRJdd4

The long and short of it is that it's a guy who goes around offers free hugs.

The Free Hugs campaign in its present form was started by Juan Mann on June 30, 2004, when he began giving out hugs in the Pitt St Mall in central Sydney the months prior to this, Mann had been feeling depressed and lonely as a result of numerous personal difficulties. However, a random hug from a stranger made an enormous difference, with Mann stating that "...I went out to a party one night and a completely random person came up to me and gave me a hug. I felt like a king! It was greatest thing that ever happened."

I remember reading on the news one time about how throughout the US, there are groups you can join where you can sleep (actual sleep, NOT sex) w/ a group of people if you want. The whole point is for people who want/crave/need that human contact, people are so deprived of affection that this is how they manage. It's very sad to think about how much it would suck to not have that kind of affection from anyone, they interviewed one person who said the 1st time she went and they hugged her that she just broke down and bawled, it had been years since she'd been given a hug by anyone and she was a perfectly "normal" business woman... My heart broke.

I honestly wonder how people who don't have anyone do it, I was lucky to grow up in a household where we were affectionate and my wife especially, she's a mirror image of me in that regards, we're both physical people.

The pic. of the day is me and a half hug while taking a pic. at Rockefeller Centre in NYC last Nov.

Would Tony Soprano be in a show choir?

So, I've got a bit of a confession, but I'm a huge Glee fan, a "Gleek" if you will...
I bought Kari their 2 cds for Christmas last year and I gotta admit, I was as excited about it as she was.
There aren't a lot of tv shows that Kari and I watch together, we have a couple of favorites, i.e. we watched the Unit, The Office, and I'm sure there are a couple more, but "Glee" was one show that we made a point to watch together.
Don't get me wrong, I loved the Unit and I love when big things get blown up and there's blood and bombs, etc. but there's something different about this show.
Ryan Murphy, the show's creator, I still can't believe he wrote Nip/Tuck, that show was messed up... but he said that there was no family shows on tv anymore and this is one that your whole family could sit down and watch together. I'll never forget back in May when we were on vacation w/ my in-laws that we all sat down and watched it together, short of the Olympics or curling, there's not too many shows that I can remember doing that to.

I remember there was an episode where they had deaf people singing and signing to John Lennon's "Imagine" and then the cast joins in too... I still get goosebumps watching it and listening to it.

I think that's the sign of a really good show, where you get so engaged that it taps into your emotions b/c then you get invested in it and you start to care about the characters, you want to see the underdog persevere, the antagonist get theirs, and the guy gets the girl. I have to laugh when you start to root for the characters, or in the opposite direction, that's one of the things I loved about the Sopranos, when you hated a character, you knew they were going to get whacked eventually, minus Tony's sister, she lived and it drove me nuts, I wanted her to leave w/in the 1st 2 episodes of watching it... Ah well, can't win 'em all.

I think about the Sopranos alot too, also one of my favorite shows, and I just now realized how both them incorporate a lot of music, even some of the best scenes of Alias did that too...

(I was just getting ready to hit save and I remembered how some of my favorite Scubs scenes were music moments...I'll never forget hearing "Hey Ya" at the Janitor's wedding and the shock when I found out it was OutKast.)

So, I wonder if adding a score the way to do it? I know the best funeral scene I think I ever seen was in the Watchmen when they started playing "Sound of Silence," there was a goosebump scene for sure...

Maybe music is the the answer after all, the minute you want to add that extra element, it's a whole different dynamic, take Psycho w/o the strings and it just got a whole lot less interesting...

Yesterday was 2/3, got to write/blog but no walk, rained all day :-(

The pic of the day is from my last night at my old office before we moved downtown, I loved that desk, a lot of really awesome people used to work w/ who have since moved onto other jobs and cities...Plus, Kari used to work there too, it was only 5 min. from our place, etc. So yeah, a lot of memories from the 3 years we were there...

So, the guys from Metallica are almost 50...

Not off to a good start, missed a day of everything yesterday, didn't get to walk/write/blog... But at least I had a good excuse, Kari and I spent all day doing a mail-out, folded/stapled/stuffed/stamped 400 or so envelopes yesterday for the business, it's the summer newsletter that we wanted to get out so that was our day yesterday.

I couldn't believe it when I woke up this morning and Kari pointed out that it was raining today, it was almost unheard of (I worked nights the last day it rained so I slept through most of it.)
That's the weird thing about working shift, your timetable is so completely off of the rest of the world, my breakfast is some people's supper, I'm having lunch at midnight, and then supper at 3 or 4a.m. and when I go to bed, most often, most people are starting their days.
People say all the time that they couldn't adjust to it, I dunno, I just take away any preconceived notions, I sleep when I'm tired, I eat when I'm hungry, and that's about it, I'm the only 1 I know who doesn't get tired at night, but I think it's my ability to sleep all day.
I had no idea what today's topic was going to be, I had a couple of ideas but I didn't like anything so I just started listening to some tunes 1st, I threw on Nelly Furtado's "All Good Things," song and searched for a live version and for some reason, I started thinking about Metallica and searched for some of their stuff live.
I came across someone who has their Monsters Of Rock stuff from Moscow in 1991 so I started watching that. It's amazing to watch rock bands live who don't rely on heavy synthesizers, these are 2 guys on guitars, a bass player, and good ole Lars on drums.
These guys knew how to bring it (I'll never forget when I saw some MTV thing about them and Rob Trujillo had just gotten hired and he was the loudest of "We're Metallica, we rock!" Blah blah blah, shut up Rob, you just got the part, it was like when Van Halen brought back that guy at some MTV awards show, and he spent the whole time saying "you never thought it'd happen, we're back we're back we're back," oh wait, 2 weeks later, you were gone again, ha ha!
I think I watch too much MTV some days...

Point being, they were/are truly great musicians, completely innovative and just honest real musicians. I couldn't believe when I found out the guy who wanted to make their S&M album (full live orchestral accompaniment for those of you who aren't familiar w/ it) came up w/ the idea like 20 years ago and it came to fruition back in '99 - phenomenal album!

Kari and I watch a lot of movies, date night is often a trip the theatre, it's probably one of my favorite things to do. We rent a lot of movies home at too, usually the ones that we wouldn't want to pay full price for both of us in the theatre. A lot of times, some of the movies, i.e. Step Up To The Streets 2 are the ones where you can just sit there, tell the whole plot of the story.
Boy meets girl, girl overcomes great obstacles, friends leave girl, girl takes on the world alone, ~or so you think~ and then the friends get the heads out of their ass, come and save the day, blah blah blah... A + B = C.
Same formula for sitcoms, and if you want to have mediocre success, sure, it's a great avenue but at the same time, what's new about it?

So many authors/writers come up w/ that great original idea but that's it, it's done, how do you replicate it, I forget what movie, it's from the late 90's, and it had one of those surprise endings and that dominated the genre which was fine for the 1st few but afterwards, it's like, done now, time to move on.

And there are many ideas while absolutely brilliant are so horribly executed that they shouldn't have been brought to the public, 1 fails me right now but you know they're out there. Last week on Canoe.Ca, M. Night Shyamalan got ripped a new one and was told maybe he should retire.

So, how far do you push the envelope? Or do you just rinse/lather/repeat? I'm left w/ wondering which is better, safe and secure or fast & furious?

Today's pic is of our room from that Chateau Frontenac, we stayed on the 11th floor, it was absolutely magnificent, I told Kari I felt like Trump when we walked in there, it's an amazing hotel, I'd go back in a heartbeat.

Maybe ready to make nice?

I tried looking at pics. before I started writing this here and I'm kinda full of piss and vinegar there now and while I love a well placed and rambling rant, I'm trying to be happier and less grr!! for lack of better words, I've had ulcers and I have a hernia, so really, unless it's worlds colliding or life-impacting, I'm not going to let it get to me.

Granted, there are some people who call me at work and God help me, I want to tell them to get off my planet and never come back but then I'd lose my job and well, that'd suck and life-impacting, so instead, I take the high road and a few deep breaths and it's all good.

We had the most amazing walk today, we went right around supper time and I must've sweated a good 2lbs off at least, it was nice, the shower felt that much better, nothing like a good shower after a good workout, I'm on a mission to lose we'll say 10lbs, I like being 6'3" and 220lbs but at the same time, if it ain't muscle, then it ain't good.

I'm going through older cd's lately and writing down tunes that inspire me, i.e. today I had the Dixie Chick's "Not Ready To Make Nice," playing. Long story short, Natalie Maines who's the lead singer said she was embarassed that the president of the United States was from Texas (this being when good old George W was running the show.) Anywys, there were people furious about it, wanted to boycott the band, take them off the radio, death threats, etc. etc. and right when the song is climaxing/hitting the bridge, she hollers,

"And how in the world can the words that I said

Send somebody so over the edge

That they'd write me a letter

Sayin' that I better shut up and sing

Or my life will be over"

On a much lesser scale, right now in Moncton there's a huge flap over the "sign laws" in Dieppe and Moncton - I'm not weighing in on this, I have my opinions and I'll keep them to myself - and it's like people are so one sided, no neutral grounds. You're either a french radical or a racist englishman (if you read the comments on CBC anywys) and also, you're a crazy radicalist terrorist who should die (the Dixie Chicks) or you're like the majority of people who said George W was the worst president in the history of the US. - That was on some news site when they were reviewing his popularity ratings.

Where's the happy medium?

I'm not going to turn this thing into free speech but man, seriously, some people really need to get their head checked, ya know...

I'm on my last night shift Thank God but this is also "Hell Week" for me, I'm back in on Friday, every 8 weeks we lose one of our days off and have to pick up a 5th shift which makes for a 52 hr work week I think, but at least it's only every 8 weeks.

I'm surprised by the people who I'm learning who are reading this, it's kinda cool to think that someone's "watching me," as it were.

So, we all know now that my writing is my passion and it took a long time to admit it, it was my own l'il quiet thing and while I'm trying to find my stride as a blogger, I'm a pretty good writer for my screen plays... So, I'm wondering who all out there has a secret talent that they're hiding in their closet and if they're going to share it...

3/3 today :-)

Today's pic. is that squirrel that popped up in that pic. last year and well, he's cute and he makes me happy.

Please Don't Stop The Music...

So, I've already failed at writing constantly for a week, yesterday was just one of those days where nothing got done much, work was surprisingly busy, when I got home, it was errands and a later than usual supper followed by a much needed nap.

Next thing I know, it's 9:30p.m. and Kari and I decided to go for a walk, so at least I did get something accomplished :-)

It's funny, not ha ha funny per se but, I'm trying to not doing this like a "Dear Diary" type thing but at the same time, it's hard to be spontaneous and witty and also not planned so, I'm hoping that insight inspires these fingers pretty soon.

I'll talk about music a lot which is a passion of mine, too bad I can't play instruments better, I'm emabarrased that my absolutely beautiful Fender is still in it's case for over a year, I'm hoping once I get some free time to pick it up again, I have several dozen songs that I'm working my way through, and some day I'll finish learning Travis's "Side," it's actually the song I saw where I thought I could learn to play that and when my parents asked what kind of guitar I wanted, I said Fender since that's what they play.

Kari and I went out to Mike's the other night for supper and it was an epic failure in comparison to what it was like when we went back in April/May during the home show. Anywys, we were sitting there and Plain White T's "Hey There Delilah" came on the radio which is admittedly one of my favorite songs ever! It came out the weekend around when Kari, Jolene (The J and the K) and I went to NYC for a scouting trip.

(Total sidebar but one of my favorite stories, Kari and I were in Cape Breton 2 weeks beforehand and she said she has to go to NYC in 2 weeks, did I want to go w/ her? I was in shock in the sense that we were just on a week long trip but had it been anyone else, I would've been caught off guard, this seemed like a perfectly normal conversation so I said sure. I remember calling my parents the next week and saying oh, by the way, I'm going to NYC in 2 weeks, my Mom laughed, and I said, no really...I think they're still jealous of the amount of time on the road I've been logging.)

Alright, back to the story, so we're driving back from New York (my 1st time there) and we're listening to Ryan Seacrest's AT4o and they're playing that song and Rihanna's Umbrella and they're still to this day songs I listen to when I want to think about what it's like to be in New York, I remember where we were on the highway and everything when they came on the radio.

Dick Clark once talked about music being the soundtrack of our lives, for every big moment, there's a song that you hear that takes you back to that time and place and you'll never forget where you were when you heard it for that 1st time.

I think about the playlist that's becoming my life I still think about that 1st slow dance from Jr. High (Gotta love the rock ballads, eh? If GNR's November Rain started playing, you made sure it was someone you liked b/c it was a long one) ~or~ maybe the music you were listening to when you lost your virginity, (candles, check, music, check, clean sheets, check :-P )

That song you listened to when you broke up w/ someone or that makes everyone get up and dance at the bars/party, or the many many mixed tapes and cds for various road trips, I think Kari makes some of the best mixed cd's out there!

So many songs, and so many memories, I wonder which ones people remember the most, I think I'm torn b/w Joe Cocker's "You are so beautiful" b/c it was the 1st song Kari and I ever danced to in my basment apartment in Fredericton ~or~ Josh Grobban's "When You Say You Love Me," b/c that was our wedding song.

Either way, I love that the list keeps growing...

Today's pic, one of my favorite from our wedding, we were praying (obviously) Kari and I were talking the other night how nothing is more moving or more powerful than a group of people praying together.

Monday Fridays aren't as fun as Friday Mondays

Oh Lord, talk about a hot one today, it's one of those days you're thankful for air conditioned cars and offices, and ones where you're smart enough to not gloat about it, especially if your spouse worked in a warehouse w/o a/c for a couple of hours, I've only been married a little over 2 years and even I'm smart enough to know that.

I had a great day off yesterday, we went to Joggins, NS where they have some of the world's oldest fossils, and was even a spot where Charles Darwin got inspiration for his Origin of Species manifesto, so it was cool as literally 15,000,000 years of history took place in that location.

I couldn't believe the fog off the water, it was only 18 degrees vs. the 30 degrees it was in Moncton, oh well...

It was nice, not too far up the road, well about 45min. in Sackville is a family restaurant that is one of our favorite places to eat, we ate there when we 1st started dating, on our way back from our honeymoon, and then again last night. It's nothing fancy, just good home cooked food.
I was noticing as Kari was writing some notes as was I that there was this gentleman making the most unholy sounds, snorts, burps, and several loud BLEAH'S and I'm thinking Dear God man, have you no manners at all and every time I looked over, he looked like a 5 year old would, just enjoying the meal and it was only till he started talking to the table beside him did you realize that he was probably slightly not as developed shall we say, so you know I felt like a right proper pain in the arse!
In my defense, I had absolutely no sweet clue so it's not like it was deliberate...

Thinking about that today got me thinking about other misconceptions, I'll admit, there are people at my job that I deal w/ on a day to day basis that just plain piss me off, it's human nature, especially when your organization has a couple 1000 employees.
Anywys, there are a couple who I talked to who couldn't have been more pleasant and helpful if they tried and I gotta admit, I couldn't have been more surprised...

This ties into 2 lessons that I learned this year, just b/c someone criticizes your work doesn't mean they're right and that you have to listen to it... And, while you yourself might not like an idea at the start, often the best writing for me comes from when I literally let my pen flow and I don't censor myself.

I wonder how many ideas got lost b/c of a bad initial reaction or criticism?

3/3, I'm going for broke, here's hoping the odds continue.

Todays pic is the Valley Of Death in Gettysburg, PA, 1 of the sites of 1 of the bloodiest battles in the civil war, today, absolutely gorgeous scenery as far as the eye can see.