Emo-Core?

Went to an awesome show on Friday. Bands: The Get Up Kids - Straylight Run - Lucero Venue: House of Blues Chicago (HOB).

HOB Chicago is one of my favorite venue's in Chicago. It is big, but also intimate, almost anywhere you stand, you can see the band pretty well. Unless of course those 6" 5' fatheads stand in front of you (which pretty much happens at all standing room only shows, doesn't it?). For being a good venue, they really jack you for drinks though. $4.50 for a can of beer? Thats right we paid $27 for a six pack. Ouch. Luckily, no fatheads on this night! Now for the good part (very long review ahead):

We drove downtown right after work. 5:00. That is right, for all those people that know, 5:00 is not the time you want to be driving in Chicagoland, anywhere. The doors opened at 6:00, show at 7:00. We figured, OK if it takes us more that 2 hours, we'll just miss the first band, Lucero, who I have never heard of before that day, and listened the 5 songs that you can stream on their website. The drive was as perfect as a rush hour drive could ever be. There was little traffic going through the I88 construction, and even the Hillside/Oak Park traffic wasn't horrible. It was stop and go for a few minutes, but it was less than 10, so a trip to downtown was actually close to the 50 minutes a 40 mile drive should be!

We arrived about 10 minutes to 7:00, driving by the HOB, we can see that the sold-out-show was a little late opening the doors to let people in. It was about 15 minutes to showtime and there was still a line around the building. We parked nearby (parking garage) and stood in line. 10 minutes or so later, we found a nice cozy spot at the bar and waited for the show to begin. The curtain opened and the band played. I wasn't too excited, after listening to the 5 songs, and reading their bio, I kind of thought they were a mix of Bruce Springsteen, Bob Dylan and Nirvana. Kind of different for sure. Their bio was something like "Lucero was started by someone that wanted to play country at a punk show". I have never liked country, and this wasn't something that interested me. They were very slow and I wasn't that impressed, but I can say it didn't hurt my ears, so it wasn't bad either.

Next up Straylight Run. My brother is a pretty big fan of this band, and he even let me borrow the CD. I think I listened to it once or twice, but never gave it a chance. I can tell you this, if you are a fan of The Get Up Kids, or any other emo band, you should definitely see them live. I have a ton more respect for this band after watching them, and am a little disappointed that I didn't give them a chance so I could "sing along" with them (I try not to sing aloud, ask anyone who has heard my sing). They put a lot of EMOtion into their music, which I felt, and it made me all warm inside. I have since listened to their CD, which is now much better!

And finally The Get Up Kids. I have seen the Get Up Kids and one of their various side projects before. They have announced this as their final tour, 14 shows, 2 of them in Chicago. I guess they have a connection to Chicago, recording one of their CDs here, and playing countless shows at The Fireside Bowl, the Metro, and of course HOB. I was very excited to seem them, even if for the last time (reunion?!). They did not disappoint. I was so glad we decided against our new theme of not driving to Chicago for anything during the week, i.e. Cubs games, Concerts, etc. They played all the old favorites and 2 songs off their latest CD that I had not heard (but have now!). They played for over an hour without delays, and finished with the Favorite "Don't Hate Me". Amazing performance, great stage presence and the crowd was great. I haven't been to too many EMO shows, but it wasn't smokey, and there weren't a lot of crowd surfers (allowing the Body Guards to stand in front of the band so you can see them), quite impressive. Guess I am getting old, but it was a great night, except for the vast amount of money we spent, but we came home with 2 T-Shirts that I'll get some use out of and a CD full of music that I'll definitely get some enjoyment out of!

Well that ends the review... Not sure what is next, nor when it will be. Thanks for reading until the end!

Waj

Fantasy Baseball

A little update on the fantasy front. Vladimir is down and the Corked Bats Squad is not longer corked. I'm on the verge of losing 2 weeks in a row, after not losing a week yet. Some good things must come to an end. Even though I was winning the margins weren't enough to keep me that far ahead in my league.

In my other league on the other hand, there is no competition. I'm destroying every team that I play, and am well ahead in the standings. I had to post about it, because it really can't last much longer. I'm probably jinxing myself royally, but if I don't post about it now, it will be lost forever, long forgotten as I lose the rest of the season. Right now I am 23.5 games ahead of second place. I'm playing the team in second place right now, and am winning 11-2, which may not end up that way on Monday, but even so, it will take a few shutouts for anyone to make ground.

Have a happy holiday weekend, I'll be relaxing, drinking some brews and playing a little cornhole. Too windy for disc golf, still haven't been out yet, but I will be very soon.

Waj

I can see my house from here!

Google has done it again. First their search absolutely destroys yahoo and msn. Then their maps system (although still in Beta) is by far much better than mapquest or yahoo maps. The clean interface, dragging of the map, in my opinion, is way better than mapquest or yahoo. Now they have a link where you can actually view a satellite image of the address you are looking for. Some addresses you can zoom in further than others, but still amazing. I'm not sure if all images were taken at the same time, but judging by the buildings in our area, we estimated they were about 5 years old.

Hey there's my house!

Waj

Obligatory 60 day post

What can I say, who has the time? Went on a fishing trip this past weekend in MN, near Wynona if anyone knows MN. Its walleye country up there, but out of our group of 10 people, only 2 were keepers. We also caught a few Northern, big suckers too.

I've been pretty busy so far this year, can't believe we're going on the 6th month already. Summertime is here again. Weekend gatherings, daylight until 9:00, and of course the evergrowing grass that needs to be cut.

The new job is going great, though its really diminishing my IT skills. I piddle around on the server a few times a week(next up SBS SP 1), but the day to day troubleshooting I am used to doesn't happen when you have 10 PCs to support, and even though some aren't the most PC saavy people, they are smart enough not to cause problems. Speaking of support, I had an offer to support a side project of our graphic designer. She was thinking about hosting a web site and setting up a mini network. Any of my faithful readers that host their own sites have any suggestions on firewalls? I don't know much about hosting a site, as far as the incoming Internet traffic and how to keep it under control. I would be mostly in charge of the hardware, but I'm sure I'd be doing most of the initial setup.

That's about all I have time for today, but I'll try to post more often.

Go Cubs. Beat Valley!

Waj

Home Improvement

Warning: Long post ahead.

Well were going on two years in our house and its amazing the difference in owning your place than renting (for me anyway, not sure about anyone else). If you are a fellow homeowner, you should be able to relate to this post, if not, you might be bored.

For one, those chores you used to do when you were a kid don't seem like chores. Namely, mowing the lawn. Yes, I live in the burbs. Yes, all the houses in my neighborhood look similar. I've also turned into an obsessive compulsive when it comes to mowing my lawn. Since spring is fastly approaching, it will be that time of year again, I guess it can be OK to blog about it. I think mowing my lawn is FUN. Its no longer something I dread, something I put off until my parents force me to do for that all important allowance. My step dad would mow the lawn if whoever's turn it was to mow hadn't cut the grass in two weeks. Then you were in trouble. I now can see why. Something I never thought would change me, but if my lawn needs cut, I don't hesitate, I get the mower out and get it done. Granted my lawn isn't very big, so I can cut the grass and trim it in less than an hour. But as a kid, I would put it off as long as I could.

Another thing about being a homeowner that has changed me is how everything works. From the clothes washer, to the sink, toilet, furnace, pretty much all of our appliances. I always took it for granted how they worked, just knew that they cleaned your clothes, made water come out and heated the house. Then all of a sudden it doesn't work. Then what do you do? Either call a repairman or fix it yourself. Of course being a male, you have to try and fix it yourself first. And if your like me, the first thing you do, google search. I tend to search the Internet for as much information as possible before starting a project. There is so much information available, usually I can find what I need within a few tries. Sometimes it takes a little digging, but after fixing the washer, sink and toilet, I think I can fix anything. OK maybe not the furnace, yet. We had to call in for service a month ago, but it was well worth it. Turned out to be the flame sensor, a small part, not too complicated looking, but quite expensive. $100 for something that probably can be made for a few dollars.

I guess maybe I should have a point to this post, but oh well. Point is, I guess I'm growing up. Weird huh?

Waj

Account Deactivated?

Actually, it is still active. Over 60 days and no posts, I don't think it should be allowed. Much to my dismay, most of my readers (all 4 or 5 of them, OK 1 or 2) have mentioned to me about my lack of posts. Seriously this one is short.

I've been really busy lately, in a good way. I finally landed a full time job, even though it is with the company I've been working for part time the past few months. Turned our really well, I love the company, my commute is 3 miles and I work with family.

Recent purchases include the Rockford Fosgate Ominifi bundle from Woot, a new HTIB system (damn Koss system fried after less than 18 months, but well worth the $150 paid for it), and a treadmill. Yes, I know I don't look like it, but I am really out of shape. Plus the WWDN post regarding the 5K run was inspiring.

Waj

Vegas Baby, Vegas

Well I'm back from my first ever trip to Las Vegas. Weird eh, been all over the place, to 4 other countries, but never to Vegas. Guess its because I'm not really a gambler. I do enjoy the occasional poker game, but more because it gives me a chance to hang out with friends and enjoy a little competition, and feel like I'm a good poker player, even though its mostly luck (for me anyway). I also live 2 miles from a casino and have never been there. I've actually only been into a casino one time before this trip, stopped in Reno and played $20 in slots a few years ago on a cross country camping trip.

So I guess I've never been too excited to go to Las Vegas. Even though I've had plenty of people tell me how exciting it is, I haven't taken the time to plan a trip to Vegas. I was a little excited when I found out I was going with my wife to help her company set up their booth at the world of concrete. She found a few tickets were still available for the flight out their with them, and get a return flight for Monday (flight out was Saturday) for a decent price (since I'm not working, we had to be cheap). Even if it was only for a couple days, at least I could get the whole bright lights and big hotel experience.

Most of time out there we had to work on setting up the booth for the World of Concrete. It really wasn't that easy, as nothing seemed to go our way. First off we didn't start until 3 O'clock on Saturday because one of the people on the trip had an allergic reaction on the flight, we had to meet him at the hospital. Once we finally got started on the booth, we had to unpack the two large crates and start putting it together. It was like a giant tent, only without the canvas cover. There was no specific way it went together, so we had to rely on the memory of those that were there last year. Soon we were missing pieces and had to take a few things apart and put them back together a certain way. By late Saturday we finally had the base down and were ready to lock up for the night. We all were very exhausted, and went back to the hotel to clean up before dinner. We didn't know where we were going to go, just take a walk and find someplace. Joe's Seafood was across the street at Caesars so we found ourselves there a short walk later. The food was excellent, I had the red snapper, probably one of the best pieces of fish I have ever eaten. Although the service wasn't what I would expect from a restaurant like that. After dinner, around 11:30 PM, we decided to walk around and check out Vegas. We checked out the Flamingo, walked into the interior where they had the live pink flamingo and African penguins. Pretty need to see a life pink flamingo, although it was late and they were all sleeping. They had coi fish in the water, they had to be 25-30 pounds, they were gigantic. After checking out the Flamingo, we decided to get one last drink before bed. We went to Tequila Joe's, the bar right in front of the Imperial Palace, a nice little walk through the casino and up the elevator to our room. It turned out to be a karaoke bar, which I am not a fan of, but since we were going to have one drink we decided to hang out. Like most karaoke nights, there were one or two good singers, and the rest were so annoying most people walked out. Also too much country music. We also waited 20 minutes to get $1 Coors Light drafts, the only thing that kept us from walking to the casino bar. So ends the first night in Vegas. Very tired from all the traveling, work and food!

We woke up early the next morning to get a good start on finishing up the booth Sunday. Still tired, we got the large coffees from the donut shop on the way to the car. Things started off pretty well getting the booth set up when all of a sudden an electrician drives by on her little cart and is eyeballing the lights we were setting up. Turns out that Halogen light fixtures were banned the previous year, due to the local fire marshal's regulations. If we didn't fix it now, the booth wouldn't be allowed to be open. So two of us went to the store while the rest of us worked on getting the rest done. Things would have been done really quickly had all of us been there. We still worked hard to get as much done. I hadn't eaten anything that morning, just the coffee but it didn't catch up to me until about 1:00. Had some lunch and went back to work. Finally we had everything close to where it would be and it was time to go. We had put in nearly 9 hours of work and all of us were ready to call it a night. The few things that were left could wait until the plasma had to be delivered the next morning. This also ends my duties working on the booth, and again I was rewarded with another excellent meal. We decided to get steaks, and asked the information about cheaper steak houses. She said we would have to go off the strip, and mentioned Mortons. We drove by it a few times going to and from the hospital the previous day and I had heard that it was a nice place, although I thought it would be pricier than she had made it sound. She didn't really give us any other options though, so we were on our way. Turns out she was dead wrong about the price and our meal turned out more expensive that the previous night. I had the New York Strip and it was the best steak I have ever had (also the most expensive). Our server was a little more friendly than the previous night, but still not what I would expect from a restaurant such as that. I guess I'm used to the Midwest where most places have decent service most of the time, plus I couldn't imagine what it must be like to work in Vegas, I'm sure the customers are a lot more inebriated and tough to serve. After dinner, still early, we all were still tired from all the work that had been done, we went back to the hotel. I was thinking we could just take a little nap and go out around 11 or 12 O'clock, since it was my last night in town. We fell asleep fast and there was no waking up.

The next morning I woke up early, hoping to get something out of my last few hours in town before my flight left. We didn't really know what our priorities were, so we talked about where to go, I packed up all my stuff so we could just grab it and go to the airport and soon we were walking the strip. It is strange how everything is so big, so close together and yet take so long to get anywhere. We walked through the Venetian, a block north of our hotel. It took about 10 minutes to walk there, and 30 minutes to walk through! It is truly amazing how everything is built there. You walk into a shopping area inside, and its made to look like you are outside. It is basically a mall, with stamped overlay (thin layer of concrete) everywhere. The stores look like building fronts with apartments above them and the ceiling is painted sky blue with clouds. The lights shine up from the tops of the stores and it is so bright, it seems like daylight. They even had a canal and gondola rides. Truly amazing. Walking the strip in the daytime isn't much different than the daytime, although there are a few less people handing out stripper/hooker advertisements and less people drinking. The lights are on, but you don't get the same feeling as the night time. The weather was absolutely beautiful too, upper 60's and sunny. I guess it was about 10 degrees warmer than average. It was about perfect. There were people sun bathing at the Mirage, in the middle of January. Definitely different than the sub zero temperatures back in Chicago. We then walked by the Bellagio, no fountain show during the day, big bummer. Walked to Bally's looking for a restaurant, we heard an advertisement for tapas, but couldn't find the place. Ended up in the Paris at an Italian place called La Provencal. It was in our price range and again the service wasn't very good. The food was on the other hand, which I prefer over good service and bad food.

After dinner it was back to the hotel to get my bags, jump on the monorail (every time I say or read that I get the monorail song from the Simpsons in my head, I'm sure that will stick for the rest of my life) to the Convention Center to meet up with the rest of our group and catch a ride to the Airport. Timing was almost perfect, I didn't have to check any bags and they had an easy check in machine open right when I walked in and made it to my gate 30 minutes before boarding. The flight back was nice, I had a window seat and the seat next to me was unoccupied, very nice. The movie Collateral was playing, decent movie, although they edit the movie of curse words, even though it is a very violent movie. I don't get it, everyone can see the violence even if they aren't listening to the movie, but those who chose to listen have to hear edited dialogue?

Well just like most of my posts, turned out to be longer than expected, but I had to get as much in, so I can read this later and remember the first trip to Vegas.