Oh, the holidays...

Let's start off with politically correct holiday wishes! Hope everyone had a great holiday and didn't get stuck in too much traffic. We had a great time and got lots of fun stuff.

Highlights:

1. Caps winning streak!!! What a great gift, guys... Just what a hockey fan wants.
2. Buying Skye her favorite present.
3. Seeing the fam/friends/people I generally like to be around. :)

Lowlights:

1. Taking out the prickly Christmas tree. I'm just about convinced to go fake.
2. Cleaning (which includes needing a new vacuum just for the silly pine needles that now cover my floor!! errrrr)
3. Going back to work...

My lil Ovechkin...

Just last week Ty uttered the words I've been longing to hear for the past 7 years: "Mom, I wanna play hockey". And the little guy stuck to it although he hasn't skated in almost a year, and was a bit wobbly. But most importantly, he had a lot of fun. So proud...

Kickin' it with Santa...

Ty told Santa the only thing he wanted was the Star Wars ATE Walker (??). I don't know what this is but apparently it's $99.99. Grammies... ;)

A very cold but fun weekend...

Starting off with FNP. I did well. :) I couldn't believe that I actually got some good hands. It was about time, poker gods!! I thank you...

Saturday was the kids day. We had Mya and Parker over. We did ornament making, hockey game watching (hehe), movies, and pizza. Oh, and hamster torturing. :-/ Mya had the quote of the night: "Boys are so annoying. The only way you can be around them is if you really love them...A LOT". :-D So true...

And Sunday was our lazy day...sort of. We got our tree and decorated it. Tyler always cracks me up when I take our Christmas decorations out. He has a stuffed Santa that he's loved since pretty much birth. His tough-guy-Linkin-Park-lovin cover melts away when he spots that thing. And, of course, I recorded a little song. Hope you like...feel free to rate if you do (wink wink nudge nudge).



And in the spirit of Christmas, I leave you with yet another tune. Featuring Mya, Parker, and Tyler. Recorded in my bedroom/studio last year.

So many moons we have seen...

Yet another tune for you all. I've been playing around with different spots to get the best audio. This one came out clearer than the last. I'm still toying with my new audio interface to get an even better sound...but I actually think I'm going to return it. I can't get it to sound right (meaning, I need to learn how to sing well).

So, here 'tis. Please rate, comment, subscribe, buy me a new house... :)

My turkey filled weekend....

Hope everyone had an awesome Thanksgiving! I stuffed myself so much that it hurt. But it hurt so good. :)

I started off the day with a refreshing 5K run with Stacy and Tulip. I'm glad we did it, it was fun and made for a less guilty dinner. I'm now a big fan of 5K's... It's the perfect distance. Especially for my poor knees, which were throbbing halfway through. :(

Me and the FNP ladies after the run...



Then Ty and I headed to Maryland as we do every year. We had a great time. Loved that we had all the kiddies there. With that said, the fam only took up 2 large rooms. Kudos to my Aunt who makes it all look easy...and for making the better turkey (according to taste tester, Ty). :-P Here we are playing with the doggies...

Patting myself on the back...

I decided to do something a little different this year. I wouldn't even think of skipping out on my Aunt's delicious Thanksgiving dinner, but I did want have my own little dinner. I dunno, just cause...

So, I did my research. Thank you, Mr. Alton Brown. I'm now a full believer in the brine technique.

My awesome turkey...


And it gets better, Tyler (Mr. I Don't Like Anything) loved it. As for everything else, not so lucky. I just don't get how one could not like mashed potatoes! (??)

Youtube rawks...

As everyone probably knows, I like to mess around with Martin. Probably a little too much. And in my quest to become decent, I peruse youtube for inspiration. Well, I've come across the gamut of 'so awesome, I'm giving up because I could never even compare' to 'seriously?'. So, I decided to give it a whirl. It's been 2 days and I got 2 unsolicited positive comments and even 1 subscriber (hope they like kid video's too!). I was a little skeptical in broadcasting because quality is not all that great, but I think it's a step above 'seriously?'. :)

My climbing bug, so proud!!!!!...

He started off wanting to climb because he liked the monkey holds. Then he wanted to be Spiderman, he even climbed humming with his own little theme song (so cute). But in all those years, he reached halfway and was done. Not anymore... :-D

Gig wrap ups....

3 gigs to catch up on!!

First off, the Halloween party at Mike's house was crazy... So many people. Very very drunk people. :D Good times. I must say, the bands costumes were really pretty awful. I was Little Red Riding Hood (and I didn't really pull it off well considering it was way too hot to wear the hood). The guitarist didn't dress up at all...boo. Next year, it is my mission to have a cool band costume theme.

This past weekend we had a gig at Growlers in Gaithersburg. That place rocks. It was a great time. Sound guy was good, crowd was awesome...can't ask for much more than that in the cover band world.

ke @ Growlers:



And in conclusion, Dave and I played an acoustic gig last night (well, Rafat eventually joined us too and showed us all up w/ his insane guitar skills). This was the first time since "Dandelion Wine" that I've done the acoustic deal. I was a nervous wreck considering that I was playing guitar and singing w/o the band in back of me for the first time. But all went well. I wouldn't say it was my best performance, but I was content with it.

Up next (thus far): Dec 26th, Auld Shebeen.

Top 5 Positives...

Well, I'm bummed. Not only am I generally not happy with this cruddy weather, what I'm really bummed about is the Caps losing in OT. Poor Johnson played his heart out... And to lose in OT, the worst! Yes, I'm disappointed that McCain didn't win...but seriously, who didn't see that coming? So, here goes with my positives:

1. The election is over - the one and, probably, only thing that I think everyone can agree on!
2. The one goal the Caps did score was way prettier than both Sens goals.
3. ke is making their first MD appearance this weekend in Gaithersburg.
4. Election results == job security for the good folks at the NRA.
5. 2012.

Ah, kids...

So, Ty and I were chilling last night watching Charlie Brown's Halloween special when he said something post worthy...

(on TV, Lucy is in the midst of yelling at Linus...)

Ty: "Mom, Aunt Meagan is just like Lucy"

Me: "Why do you say that?" (ha, like I don't know)

Ty: "well, she just looks like her...and acts"

Well, Aunt Meagan might not find it funny but I did. :-D

Getting a bit youtube happy...

Maybe since I have blogger's block, I'll resort to narrating my life updates through video...

The Fat Kid and I took Ty to his first football game. We had awesome seats and gorgeous weather. Guess we set the standard pretty high... :-/



I attempted to let Grant Man and Ty go to town on this year's pumpkin but after 30 minutes avoiding the 'yucky stuff inside' with their spoons, the woman - of course - had to do it! ;)



More to come about ke's gig at Fat Tuesday's (awaiting some pics...) which rocked.... so much fun!

The "sleepover", Caps are back, and the Cox Farms finale...

Well, if Ty didn't have a blast this weekend...I'm throwing in the towel. We started off with a sleepover with Colin and Skye. Colin mostly played with Jumpy, or as he preferred calling it, the "hamper". And for those of you who need further explanation (Dad...), they slept over their sleeping bags. :)

We were off to the Caps game on Saturday night. Ty proudly sported his new Caps jersey with Ovechkin on the back. It was an awesome game, helps that they won too. I missed hockey oh so much over the summer...



Closed it off with a gorgeous day at Cox Farms with Parker and Colin. It was a great time. We managed to briefly lose 2 of the kids in the Corn Maze, Ty nearly got his popsicle eaten by a 2 year old (I'd explain but it was a 'had to be there' moment), and Parker got his "Iron Man" pumpkin. I hope Grant (whom I rightfully reserved on Friday!) looks back at this post and realizes how much more fun his Aunt Mandy is than Grammies. ;-P

People DO read my blog...??

That's the current rumor. So, I suppose I shall indulge you mystery viewers with my usual weekend update ramblings...

Actually, I have two weekends to catch up on. So, last rainy weekend was spent in the mud bath that I shall call the Maryland Renaissance Festival. It was actually really fun (while it stayed dry). The Fat Kid and I took Ty and Colin. And they each got what they came for: swords. So, they were happy campers. I also have some birthday wishes to catch up on: Grant Man and Skye Skye (yes, you all need to vote for that nickname...we can't let Kee-Kai(?!?) win!). Happy birthday to the cutest little niece and nephew an aunt could have. :-D I may be a little biased...

This past weekend was full of Great Falls and band fun. It was a gorgeous weekend, so...it's just about torture to not spend it outdoors. Went to Great Falls to do some hiking and climbing. The band played out at Kirkpatrick's and despite some sound issues and serious lack of practice, it went well. :) Fat Tuesday's coming up next! Oct. 24th, 11pm

No FNP drama for this post, maybe next time. Although, I have a feeling it may morph into a FNP/Rock Band (or FNP/RB) type update...

jenga! - jenga!....

Big shout out to Jason and Ying who were kind enough to throw a party for those of us who couldn't afford a trip to Thailand to be at their actual wedding. I know I should've officially said it months ago (but it wasn't official in my book until I saw the Jenga cake for myself), congratulations Jason and Ying!!

Fat Kid contest...

Contestant #1:



Contestant #2:



Now, Contestant #1 clearly does not even slow down the food shovel for a Kodak moment. And as his Aunt Mandy, whom knows a thing or two about food shoveling, I couldn't be prouder. I also can attest to the fact that he can and will use his belly as a weapon. And that's just BA.

Contestant #2, on the other hand, does have more experience as the Fat Kid although I'm not sure that his comparatively clean face will give him a win here. He does have the advantage in his philanthropic Fat Kid deeds, since he did buy a box of whoopie pies for his roommate. And in true Fat Kid style, buy a whole cake for himself.

Tough call.

Say hello to Jumpy...

Ty acquired a new hamster friend over the weekend. "He's the black thing in the picture." - Ty quote to his Grammies when showing her this pic and right after telling her it's a black hamster. It's one those, funny...but had to be there things.

My first political post...

All reading this probably know I'm not a political person. I vote, and that's about the extent of my involvement. Now, I'm not writing this to start the umpteenth online debate on who everyone should vote for. I'm just merely giving my two cents on how awesome our next vice-president is gonna be... :-D

So seriously, how can I not be excited about the thought of having a 'hockey mom' as vice-president? She hunts, she fishes... To top it off, the woman has 5 kids along with a successful political career. Anyone who can pull that off, IMHO, can do anything. Nice move, McCain.

Go Ms. Johnson...

So, I'm watching the Olympics last night and I gotta say, I wanna adopt Shawn Johnson. She's an adorable, boldsy, little powerhouse...what's not to love about that?! I'd have to say she's made the Olympics for me so far. Everyone has got Phelps phever, and while I think he's awesome as well...he doesn't quite reach the 'I-wanna-adopt' level with me.

Women's beach volleyball tonight, I hope they at least get challenged. And what happened to the men's beach volleyball? Mmmmmmm, Dalhausser... O:-)

FNP, Ty shows me how to golf, and Tuna's big day...

FNP is getting back on track. I won a whole $1.20...so watch out Stacy, I'm slowing taking 1st place back.

Took Ty to the golfing range, which was an interesting experience. Just like his mommy, he was reluctant to try something new but did it anyway. And he had a blast. I was pretty impressed with how quickly he picked it up, he was easily hitting the ball better than me (which I guess isn't saying much...yea, I'm that bad).

Sunday was Jason (aka Tuna) and Yui's wedding. Maybe now that they're married he'll get back into climbing and poker....ha! Congrats to the cute couple. :-D


The poker gang!!! Minus John and Wang (who was recovering from surgery...we missed you!).

Rocked the cas'been, climbed, golfed, partied, and climbed (again)...

Phew...so, I'm a bit tired. :)

Friday night was the Shebeen gig. Everything about it rocked...the stage, the lighting, but most of all...the security fellas guarding the stage. Because how rock star is that?! :)

Saturday morning, I dragged my smoke-reeking self outta bed and headed to Great Falls. I took my co-worker out to show her the ropes...it was fun, but her knee was bugging her. So we packed up after a couple climbs. Since it was such a nice day, we decided to head out to the golfing range where she showed me the ropes. It was a lot of fun, but I'm really bad!! How do these people keep their elbows straight??! It's just not natural...

That night we headed out to DC for Yui's bachlorette party. It was a blast!! I hadn't seen Yui for a while...I almost forgot how sweet she is. And all her friends were so much fun. Next, the wedding! woohoo :)


After 3 hours of sleep and still a bit wobbly from pineapple cocktails...headed out to Crescent Rock for some climbing. At this point, I'm just exhausted, but it's such a gorgeous day and the Starbucks is there...I couldn't not go! As always, a fun day on rocks.

$10 poorer, an ok gig, and KD...

Well, FNP was pretty brutal. Stacy took me out on maybe the 2nd hand when she flopped a straight and I flopped trip queen's. Darn queen's get me every time. The queen of hearts is NEVER your best bet...those lying Eagles. And it didn't get any prettier from there.

Saturday night was our gig in Ashburn, it was just ok. I think everyone was just grouchy from starting late and not having much of a crowd to work with. I will say this though...the 3rd set rocked! Oh, and there was a Redskin there. I did meet him but I can't remember what his name was...shocker, I know. Speaking of which, Auld Shebeen this Friday night everyone. So excited!!!

In conclusion, we took the crew to Kings Dominion on Sunday. The boys (and baby girl) had an awesome time. Ok, I'll admit it...I did too. Scooby Doo roller coaster will never get old and I pulled the victory of my life in the haunted house w/ 1680 pts!! Scott couldn't even compete with his 1200... :P As for the Tyler meltdown of the millenium that ensued at the end, well, we'll just pretend that didn't happen.

Because life has a way of just knowing...

...when you need a random bottle of personalized candy. :)

Why, Facebook, why?!....

First, no Scrabulous, now a re-design?? Facebook is killing me. Ok, the Scrabulous thing...I'm fairly shaken up about but at least they cut me off in the midst of a few games I was losing in. I'll let them off the hook for that, just so long as they bring it back before I get the shakes.

But as I'm coping with the loss of Scrabulous, they're now telling me to try the 'new' Facebook. Now everyone reading this knows that I hate change. And I really hate it when something is not broken! But I try it because I know they're gonna force it on me eventually. Of course, I don't like it. Here goes.

1. 'The Wall' and 'Mini-Feed' are now just a big honkin' combined wall. Info overload, yuck.

2. my iLike application is now on the left hand side and it's telling me that, apparently, I like songs I've never heard of. I just wanted the app for the videos...and now they're tiny. I'm doing away with it.

3. Granted, it is much more intuitive now to create a new photo album. But I don't like how I can either do it through the 'Application Tab' or 'The Publisher'. Give me one option or else I'm going to wonder what the difference is...and if I have to think, they have failed.

4. Looks like their trying to squeeze more ads in there. Boo to that. But I do give them credit for sticking to the Facebook 'style' with their ads. Maybe myspace (with their huge, flashing, distracting ads) will follow suit. Then again, does anyone even use myspace anymore?

Just my .02. Knowing me, a few of months of the new Facebook and I'll be singing it's praises.

Miami and our island hopping adventure...

As most of you already know, we are back from our vacation. Now, I don't have very many pics to share (which we'll get to in a moment), so I apologize if this post gets a bit verbose.

First off...Miami Beach. Best part, definitely the water...so gorgeous. A bit crowded for my liking but overall it was a nice place. Being that it's perfectly okay to bathe in the nude on those beaches, probably would never bring Ty there again. But hey, that's just me. We spent the day at South Beach where Ty devoured the 'best waffle' he'd ever eaten, spent some time in the ocean, capped it off with dinner with some fruity beverages :) and watched some women's beach volleyball. (Ty better look back on this post and realize what a cool mom he has...)

We sailed off on Monday and basically spent the day exploring the ship and splashing around a bit in the pool. I also believe this was the day we brought down the house with "Summer Nights" in the karaoke lounge. :) Ah, good times.

Tuesday we docked at the Grand Bahama Islands and hopped on another boat to go snorkeling. This had to be the highlight of the trip. I absolutely loved it, and it was a blast. To top it off, there was a rock wall on the boat and they did competitions to see who got to the top first. And not that I'm competitive or anything...but I smoked the Fat Kid. :P

Wednesday was Nassau, we did the whole Paradise Island thing. It was fun, but we didn't get to spend as much time on the beach as we should have because 1) it took us forever to figure out how to actually get to the beach (but thanks to some stranger... we pulled some Mission Impossible-ish moves and got into the restricted area for free) and 2) silly us, no one brought a watch.

And finally, our last day of the cruise was Great Stirrup Cay (NCL's island). It was nice, but gotta say...Disney's Castaway Cay island put this island to shame. Surprisingly, the beach area was small and it was just crowded. We did some snorkeling there as well...which again, was awesome. Now, as for the lack of photos, that would be due to the fact that a stranger now possesses my camera and all the pictures from our cruise. :( Yup, someone stole it the last night of the cruise. Leaving me with this lonely pic to share...enjoy! :)

WV trip report....

The much needed climbing weekend getaway! It was so much fun, I forgot how much I missed my little weekend road trips...but I must say, it just wasn't the same without squeaky Jimmy. We headed out Saturday morning and climbed all day at Franklin.



We had dinner at a nearby restaurant which I've coined, the "Italian Surprise". Yea...they give you little treats inside your dinner. Mine was one of those twisty wire things for your bread...mmmm yum.

The next day we climbed at Seneca. I got a good practice session on leading in before the rain hit, so I was happy with that. All in all, good trip. Need to get back into climbing shape, but I got to finally use all my new gear! Now it looks somewhat used...yay. :)

The state of my blogging's...

So, I've been doing a bit of thinking about my poor lil neglected blog. It's the summertime...I should be posting all about my awesome weekends on rocks and random, mildly amusing wedding gig posts, right? But no....

Well, the climbing posts should start popping up soon...I have little league to thank for that. But I'm crossing my fingers for a Utah climbing trip. I've been drooling at pics for far too long!

Now, the wedding gigs... those days are gone (well, with the exception of this weekend). BUT that just means that you all get to actually go to my gigs and be a part of the mildly amusing posts I'll write up. :) And with that said, mark your calendars for July 25th, we shall be rocking out at Kirkpatrick's.

And lastly, stay tuned as Guitar Hero has inspired me to start a blog series (an a.b. first!)...

Take me out to the thunderstorm....

Ty, the Fat Kid, and I went to Nats park yesterday to watch the rain. We were treated with a bit of baseball, maybe caught an inning or two. But I will say that it was pretty interesting to see the whole tarp process they have.


It rained for a good amount of time and Ty was quite the trooper, he wanted to stay until they came back on. We almost made it too, but at 9:50...I called it quits. Come to find out they came back on shortly thereafter, but then it started to pour again. Given the amount of people there when we left...they probably had about 9 people stay till the end.

Getting reacquainted with Martin...

Well, being busy with the new band and all, I haven't spent much time on the acoustic (aka Martin)...but I decided to try out a song that was recommended a while ago. It didn't come out too bad, however, the same rules still apply to my high-quality bedroom recordings...gotta crank it to hear it. Enjoy...

My Idol $0.02...

To think I almost missed the finale! Okay, I honestly didn't really care to see it...until I was flipping through the channels and saw ZZ Top! Nice. The OneRepublic tune was cool...I actually wish Archuleta (sp?) didn't join in on that. Sounded better as is. Jordan Sparks song was horrible... but that girls range just amazes me, doesn't matter what she sings. Ah, same goes to Carrie Underwood...but that song she sang was even more terrible. She's gotten a bit red-neck country. Yek.

As for my thoughts on the winner... how can you compare Archuleta and Cook? They're both awesome in very different ways. I think I was actually pulling a bit more for Archuleta just because being stamped as the American Idol can't be all that great to a rockers career.

FNP and the Burger Off...

FNP rocked. Apparently, the key is: beer. Not sure how I'm doing on the spreadsheet but if I can get a DD for FNP's...watch out! ;)

The Burger Off, which was a bit 'off', went well. The Fat Kid made an excellent burger with a touch of horseradish, twas yummy. But it was a bit disappointing that by the time he got his burgers done everyone was already full. For future reference, Burger Off's should never have more than 4 burgers! But hat's off to all the cooks, all the burgers were awesome.

Lastly...just a little rant. Now, I can't be too bitter about this because I do my fair share of ...um, raising my voice and occasionally picking up the acoustic fairly late at night. But what I do not do is yell, curse words and all, on Saturday AND Sunday mornings! I'm talking 7:30am-9am...just F-this and that...I'm a fairly heavy sleeper too! No, this does not happen during the week when I'd welcome some extra drama to wake me up. I need to win the lotto and move. :-(

Happy belated Mother's day!....

Hope everyone had a good Mother's Day! :) I know I enjoyed my breakfast in bed and Scrubs session. It occurred to me recently that I think 7 is the best age for boys. We go out and play ball and he's able to catch the ball most the time...and lord knows, he bats better than me. And now when I pick him up at the end of the day, he doesn't cry anymore! He actually gives me an unsolicited hug and even went as far as asking me how my day was the other day! So sweet. :-D

A pic from our rainy DC field trip...



And continuing on this Mother's Day post... Norweigan Cruise line is having a kids sail free deal. So, go book your vacation! (Preferably the July 21st sailing...so you can hang with us!)

You all raaaawk!!!!...

First of, huge thanks to those who came out to the Ballroom for the ke Cinco show. I had a blast and it was great seeing everyone, and actually getting to play for friends again! It was bummer that we only played until 10:30...but Everyone But Pete (super nice guys, whom happen to rock!!) probably wanted to play too. :)

We have pics from the show up here (and while you're there don't forget to sign up to be on our mailing list): http://karmaelektra.com/pics.php

In other news...

Sunday marked the first Great Falls climbing visit of the year. Yes, it's May and I'm just now getting out there...so sad. Nonetheless, so much fun.

I'm also getting my feet wet with this whole social media thing. I'm taking things slow though. I've had and neglect my mySpace account pretty much to save my sanity. So, I've been toying with Facebook of late. I'm still not sure I see what all the fuss is about...maybe I'm just a web snob, but all these applications and much of which I can't seem to get it to do what I want. Booo to that. With that said, try it and be my 'friend'!

C-A-P-S!!!!!!!......

CAPS CAPS CAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAPS!!!!!

Meet the ke bunch...

So the May 3rd details...we are playing with a band called Everyone But Pete. But I know you all will come just to see the salsa band. And without further ado, from left to right...I'd like to introduce you all to Ashish, Dave, lilsingerchic, Dana, Jake, and Mike (back).

Mark your calendars...

As many of you are aware, I recently joined another band. It hasn't received any attention on this blog due to the fact that it's online representation isn't quite what it should be. But it's in the works...

Anyhow, AWESOME news!! We played a birthday party the other weekend, and after much crammed practice and a week of memorizing 20+ songs, it went well...well enough that we got booked for the May 3rd at the Clarendon Ballroom! Very excited...we'll be playing a Cinco De Mayo Event. More details will follow. :-D

Baseball has been very good to Tyler...

It's been a very baseball-ish month for the crew here. We went and saw the Nationals at their new ballpark on Sunday. Very nice ballpark, anyone who hasn't checked it out should definitely go. Here are the boys running the bases afterwards...



Saturday was Ty's little league season opener. Here he is up at bat...



And in older news... My 10 miler was a success. I beat the sweep vehicle...woohoo!! Ahem, sans headphones. :) I could've done without the rain, but such is life.

In conclusion, I just wanted to bring up my struggling Caps. As of tonight, they are down 2-1 in the series to the Flyers. Let's all will the Caps to start Kolzig in the next game and to knock it off with the friggin' turnovers!!! errrrrr! K. I'm done.

Hello Hayden...

Congrats to Scott and Stacy!! Just look at that poker face... :-D

Keeping the blog alive, sorta new site and running sans headphones(?!)...

So, not much to report on. Busy, busy.

In old news, the IRF site finally went live. This was built on the supah dupah CMS, Expression Engine. A few pulling-out-my-hair sessions, but generally speaking...it went smoothly. Blog pages for them are currently in development. I know, I know...you all can't wait to post! Although I'd love to take all the credit, the designer and copywriter/client/Fat Kid were awesome.

Oh, and one more thing...I have a bone to pick with this Cherry Blossom 10-miler thing. I somehow convinced myself I could do this primarily because it was assumed I could wear my headphones. No headphones allowed!! Seriously, I'm doomed.

Quality education...

It's no secret that lately I've been unmotivated when it comes to school and this experience has done nothing but solidify my belief that college is, for the most part, a waste of time and money. That is not to say I don't believe in going to school and getting a good education. It's just a very sad situation that people pay a good amount to get an 'education' that is worthless.

My case: As much as it pained me to switch my major, I decided to drop business and go into IT. Mostly just sad about the two semesters of Accounting with the meanest teacher on earth...I didn't have to do that?!!

Anyways, I signed up for 3 IT courses through NVCC since they transfer over the GMU. Well, one of those courses happens to be Multimedia Software...well, seriously now...I could teach that course. And I don't mind taking it, I realize it's a requirement. My issue is what they're teaching...it's wrong. I won't go into a long diatribe, but basically, they are teaching methods and software that isn't relevant in today's market.

After emailing the instructor about my thoughts I get a nice response basically saying 'Sorry you're disappointed. Submit your assignments using the method you're used to'. Well, that's good but it does nothing to alleviate my concern that once I do get into more IT classes in which I will be wanting to learn new things...how will I know that I won't be learning methods that weren't used back in the stone age?

Oh well...I guess that's what happens when you pay $87 per credit. Which brings me to a whole other issue...only rich people can get a good education? Ok, I'll stop there. I'm not liking the education system right now.

Various tidbits...

So, Ty's and I were sick most of last week. Poor Ty got the flu and I got something that had me coughing up my lungs the majority of the week. All is better now. So, while I stayed home with my throbbing head I was reading a book on polygamy. I've gotta mention it because it was quite the interesting read. I actually found the fact that these women along with their umpteen kids would live together in a shack to be the most disturbing of it all. Of course, the husband is off marrying whatever he can get his hands on all the while... How touching.

I almost hate to say it, but anybody keeping up with the Idols this year? (hey, being sick gets boring...TV happened to be there...) The guys blow the chics away, but I haven't decided which I like the best yet. Maybe this guy, I give this the 'best Idol performance ever' title...



And lastly, Ty's had his last basketball game of the season on Saturday. That's him getting his trophy. Go Ty! Next up, baseball... again.

Ice climbing trip '08...

So, I decided to go back to NH to do some ice climbing. If you are a dedicated reader, you will already know this was the site of my first ice climbing experience. But this time, I did take part in the ice climbing festival festivities. We decided to do the ice climbing basic course and the second day we did a guided climb. We really tried to get to the slideshows...but ice climbing is so tiring!!

The first day was revisiting Cathedral Ledge, but this time since we were taking a course...I actually learned ice climbing technique. So, I faired much better. Though I still took some 'graceful' falls.

The second day we went to an area called Frankenstein and ran laps up a route called the 'Cave Route'. It was a very very cool place...





It was a great trip. Our guides were awesome and the weather was good. Should any of you decide to take a trip up there, my recommendations:

- Peaches. A "must-go" for breakfast.
- Moose Mountain (I think?? It's something like that). They make blueberry beer, and it ain't all that bad. All their beer was good. Not to mention the nachos were pretty killer.
- Do not rent a Chevy Malibu. Oddly enough, not the best car in cold weather.

The makings of an awesome weekend...

1. First and foremost, my girl scout cookies came in!! Thin Mints kick a$$.


2. I purchased a new acoustic guitar. A nice little Martin. I've managed to not get anything done around the house because of him.


3. Came out on the positive side at poker for the second week in a row. And I'd just like to add...the ladies are rockin' the google spreadsheet. :-P


4. Having Monday off.... Such a happy ending.

Next post: the 2008 ice climbing adventure.

The end of my Swiftkick days....

Well it's been quite some time since I stepped in the keyboard nazi's basement and auditioned, but it's time to move on. I officially resigned my spot as the singer/red tambourine-ist as of Monday. Once the two Ryan's left (drummer and keyboardist), I never really got back into it and the whole dynamic of the band, both on stage and off, has never been quite right with me since.

It was tough decision to make and I'm sad about it, but I feel it's for the best.

Super Bowl highlights....

Jordan Sparks...wow...really, WOW. Her National Anthem blew me away. And I actually didn't care for her on American Idol. If I may put on my Simon hat here, I'd say that was her best performance.

Tom Petty was awesome, I dug it. The performance had the potential to rock the house, but I believe any show that has a lighted stage in the shape of heart automatically is denied the 'rock the house' rating.

Favorite commercial was the baby. (Yea, Ty's made me watch some of the game...)

Ha! You didn't think this post would actually be about football, did you?? :)

'I used to have a mom...

...before eBay slashed their listing fee's by half!' - future quote from children around the world who's mother is an eBay addict.

You know who you are. ;-P

I'm 80% with Yvon...

So, upon my daily blog perusing I came across a familiar name from the climbing scene in a techy blog. Oh, happy blog day...my two favorite worlds collided! :-D

Yvon Chouinard founded the large and awesome company, Patagonia, and was (and probably still is) an awesome climber. Which makes me proud to say, I think I share in one of his traits...

I’ve always thought of myself as an 80 percenter. I like to throw myself passionately into a sport or activity until I reach 80 percent proficiency level. To go beyond that requires an obsession and degree of specialization that doesn’t appeal to me. - Yvon Chouinard

AMEN. I can't wait to read 80% of his book.

Scenes from Massanutten

Ty's first ski lesson with his instructor, Tyler :) Short, nothing too exciting...



...and his spunky rendition of "Don't You Want Me"

A resolution I, apparently, should have made...

My poor, poor abandoned blog!! I promise to give it the TLC it deserves from this point forward. I guess with the influx of parties, holidays, general kid cuteness, and things I should have been blogging about...I got overwhelmed.

So, I'll just do a quick sum up and add pics/videos later...

With that said, hope everyone had a grand holiday! :) Ours was hectic, but good. Ty will be busy for the rest of his Bionicle crazed days building all the ones he got. Yes, this year mommy isn't spending 2 weeks glued to Lego instructions.

NYE was a good time in the always happening Waynesboro, PA. ;) And for those of you who want a nice little chuckle, I forgot my gig pants. I know I am the most forgetful person any of you probably know...but c'mon! I've reached a new low. Thank god for BigK.

Okay, so that's my holiday sum up... Stay tuned for my ski trip wrap up, video included. :D