The weekend Thread

[Brian Krashpad]

May eventually upload the sand castle pic. But not today.

OK, here!





******

Went to the movies Friday, early, with Mrs. K. Saw "The Kids Are Alright." Good movie but a bit sad. Don't let the lesbian angle throw you, it's really more about couples and parents. One does get to see an awful lot of Julianne Moore's freckles in some semi-graphic sex scenes.

So that's a good point.

Walked out of the movies and Mrs. K asked if I had been bitten on the neck. It was swelling into a rather large bump, and since I am allergic to bug poison, even though I couldn't remember getting bit or stung, we ran by the after-hours clinic and had a doc look at it. He says its parotitis, which is inflammation of a saliva gland, probably caused by a blockage. Or could be a tumor, but that more rare. Anyhow, he put me on an antibiotic and an anti-inflammatory, and I scrubbed plans to go to a show to write up for the mag I write for later that night.

Saturday-- went to church band practice and then just hung out at Casa Krashpad all day. It was rainy so couldn't do yard work. Actually took a nap that afternoon as both meds can cause drowsiness. Watched Repo Man on the ol' VCR that evening with the missus.

Sunday-- played in church, first song went great, I blew the intro to the second because I was still turning up my guitar volume when the band kicked in, but after that it was OK. Third song was mellow and without incident. Went home, had some lunch and mowed the front yard and most of the back.

Just hanging out and listening to Continuing Legal Education CD's while both girls are out with friends and son is up in ATL with grandparents.

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Spud, great pics as always.

[Eric***]

Yikes, Krash. Hope everything's cool with you.

Friday: Went to some guy's house that I found off of CL to play a bit with him and his friends. Turned out to be pretty good. Did a couple of covers, with one or two turning out halfway decent.

Saturday: Worked on the house and did some minor gardening. Mostly just took it easy and went into the city for some people watching later. I love looking at the crazy outfits and scenesters on a Saturday night; it's free entertainment.

[sunvalleylaw]

Just got back from vacation in the homeland, western WA, Tacoma, Seattle etc. Will post some pics or links to pics as I have time after working to catch up! It was nice to mostly be off the computer for a while. Nice to see everyone!

[sunvalleylaw]

Until it goes up on the internet.

Ok, back to finish up my weekend/Vacation post.

I just got back from two weeks vacation. I worked some the second week, but not too much. What a nice re-connect with family!

Click here to open a window with the pics.

http://gallery.me.com/sunvalleylaw#100185

As we usually do, we visited my home of origin (Tacoma, Gig Harbor area). We stayed at my parent's cabin near White Pass, WA on the way over, then hiked to High Rock Lookout (an old fire lookout) with a great view of Rainier. See the first few pics in the link. It was amazingly clear that day.

Then it was out to Hood Canal (really a part of Puget Sound, not a manmade canal) to Seabeck Family camp. The pics show some of the action, but not nearly all. Non stop family games, discussions, playing music, singing, campfires, sports and games ladders, morning polar bear swims in the salt water lagoon (I love salt water!!!), evening libations and fellowship with old family friends, and no tv, phones (except for cells if you want to turn them on) have to work to get on the internet, etc. A true un-plug.

As I said, lots of music. Many bring guitars. I played mostly acoustic, and one pic shows me accompanying my Dad on "Somewhere over the Rainbow" on the lawn. We performed the song on the saturday night skit night that is put on each year. I was really nervous, as Dad has performed since his teens in the late 40's, is really good, and is known as being one of the music kings in camp. I played my son's fullerton strat knockoff through a borrowed Fender G-dec type amph with some reverb dialed in. I practiced most of the week on and off using my new iRig to get the jazz chord changes down better, and it came off well. The layer of jazz voiced chords laid a texture that fit well with my Dad's lead on his bari sax.

After camp was done, we hung at my folks in Gig Harbor, then went for a tourist day in Seattle, to the Experience Music Project again (always fun) and then on a ferry boat to Bainbridge Island to spend the day at an outdoor academy there. Sophisticated learning about the environment and other issues in an outdoor environment. Fun! Very Ewok forest.

Then hung in Gig Harbor, did some tubing and water skiing, and visited family and friends in Tacoma. I toured some of my old haunts and neighborhoods where I was raised in Tacoma, and had a grand time. Checked out Chambers Bay golf course that is there now, soon to host the US Amateurs. It is built on the site of an old gravel pit that was active when I was a kid. The neighborhood is completely changed there now. Roundabouts and sidewalks with planter boxes, etc. have replaced an old county two lane with gravel on the sides with trees and a chain link fence separating you from the pit.

Really a nice break! Now I just wish I could keep touring around. It is this working for a living that interferes gall dang it!

[Bloozcat]

Looks like a fun time, Steve!

You're not kidding it was clear. That's as clear as it gets in Seattle. I thought we had a clear day on Easter Sunday this year when we were there, but it wasn't that clear. It was clear enough that we went up the Space Needle to see the area though.

Looks like the family enjoyed themselves as well.

[bigoldron]

Great pics, Brian. To me Florida's Gulf Coast is as pretty as it gets!

This weekend is "back to college" weekend. Time to move Number One Daughter back to Mercer. Mrs. OldRon and College Girl are in Macon now and will begin moving in Friday morning. I'm going up Saturday morning to help finish up. Sunday will be a typical "go till you can't go anymore" kind of day.

[Brian Krashpad]

Great pics Steve, that camp sounds like a great place. Is it set up for trailers, or cabins, or both?

Travel safe Ronnie Beth, and don't get too tuckered out on Sunday-- ain't it supposed to be a "day of rest?"

Am out of work today at the office, which is not a good thing. Will run some errands, then get back on the horn to the neck bump doctor, who I saw on Wednesday (since the lump did not respond to antibiotics) and who sent me to get a sonogram (or hologram or some such thing) of my neck at some other place across town, which didn't schedule me until Sept. 22 (AFTER they wanted to schedule me for 9/30, and I told them I can't schedule anything on the first/last days of the month due to work schedule), to see if he can get me bumped (pardon the pun) up, since he'd said "they always get my patients in within a few days."

Sigh.

So tonight I have to play a gig with a huge lump on my neck. With the hippie band. Other than the bump, should be fun. Mrs. K and her friends will be there, maybe my son and daughter too.

Tomorrow will be praise band practice, with service on Sunday. Will be playing acoustic for a change.

Have a gig with a different side band at a different venue next Thursday, hoping neck lump will be gone or lessened by then. Looks bad. Am getting a little taste of how people with physical differences probably feel. Probably good for me.

[sunvalleylaw]

Sorry about the slow work and neck bump Brian. Mojo sent your way.

Thanks about the pics. It is kind of cabins. http://www.seabeck.org/ Really, it is the remains of a 19th century logging town, and a couple of buildings from that era are still used for accommodations and meeting space. The old Inn, built with narrow halls and low door knobs for drunken loggers to get to their rooms, is one example. Back in that day, Seabeck was as big or bigger than Seattle at the same time. It is a special place for sure.

[Bloozcat]

Closing out week 6 of the kitchen remodeling that turned into half the house, remodeling.

Everything is going well and we're on schedule (even a little ahead in most areas). The one slow area is with the granite fabricator. We were shorted one kitchen cabinet which held up the measuring for the granite top. Then, it's 10 working days (two weeks) before the granite people finish their work. So, next Tuesday at the latest, we'll have kitchen counter tops. It will be nice to have a kitchen sink again...

This weekend will be more moving stuff from one room to another, putting up french doors to the porch, and putting the living room back together again. Tileing a whole house while you're living in it is a real pain.

I had to disassemble my music/hobby room last night so the tile can go in. Well, one good thing about that, no more boomy tone because of carpeting!

I'll post before and after pics when the project is completed.

[Bloozcat]

Prayers going out for you and your family, Brian!

This bump's got a lot of nerve messing with a child of The King...

[Brian Krashpad]

Sorry about the slow work and neck bump Brian. Mojo sent your way.

Thanks about the pics. It is kind of cabins. http://www.seabeck.org/ Really, it is the remains of a 19th century logging town, and a couple of buildings from that era are still used for accommodations and meeting space. The old Inn, built with narrow halls and low door knobs for drunken loggers to get to their rooms, is one example. Back in that day, Seabeck was as big or bigger than Seattle at the same time. It is a special place for sure.

Wow, that place looks cool. Kind of like a more historic version of the place we had the Moestock thing at a month or so ago. Funny how those places used to be called "camps" or "lodges" and now are all "conference centers" and such.

[Brian Krashpad]

Tiling/stuff moving mojo, Bloozcat! We put laminate flooring in our entire downstairs, but since we did it ourselves we stretched it over the better part of 2 years, doing it one or two rooms at a time (front hall/bedroom, then family room/kitchen, then living room/dining room).

[Spudman***]

I've got something big brewing for Saturday. If everything goes well I'll be posting some legendary pictures and a great story.

[Spudman***]

I've got something big brewing for Saturday. If everything goes well I'll be posting some legendary pictures and a great story.

The deal was that we were supplying the catering to the Bob Dylan band along with the 4,000 to 5,000 people that were in attendance. We had a crew that was supposedly going to spend the whole day attending to the band but when they arrived in the morning the local resort had already staffed it and didn't tell us. So our guys came back to the shop and my "in to the band" was blown.

I tried taking some video and pictures but it seemed no matter where I went during sound check or during the show someone was telling me NO PHOTOS! I did get some stuff but I'll have to wait until I get home to check it and post it.

[omegadot]

The Polish inlaws were down this weekend. Terrible planning and complaining ensued.

Monday night can't come soon enough.

[otaypanky***]

I had a great time kayaking on the Susquehanna River no in-laws in sight
















Oh yeah, and I taught the kittens how to dance

[Brian Krashpad]

Spuds: man, I hate those double-bookings. Looking fwd to what pics you may've got.

Omega: welcome to the Weekend Thread! We'll need deets on the family drama, though.

Otay: Those pics are bosstastic. Those rocks look unreal, like the kind you see at Disney World. I'll pass on white water though.

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FRI: Had a great gig with Cinnamon Hill, the hippie side band, on Friday. We'd had a rough practice Wed. night but it all came together at the show. Plus my wife and a couple of her friends came, and my daughter and one of her friends, and a lot of other bandmates' family and friends were there. I know our lead guitarist's wife got photos, if I can get a hold of them, will post. Got a unique perspective on my place in the band (I'm the most recent member and really not a core person in the band) when a fan who's seen us a few times asked who the new guy was-- but she didn't mean me. The lead player had been gone for a couple months so we played shows without him (which is when my role was expanded to split time between mandolin and electric guitar), so in her mind he was the "new guy." For some reason that made me feel good.

SAT: Band practice at church in the a.m., not much else. Both girls went off in the evening with their respective friends and I held down the fort while my son had one of his friends over for the night. Ended up staying up late to await daughter's return, watched some catch-up episodes of Sons of Anarchy on telly.

SUN: played in church, all acoustic. First song was the acoustic-electric (the infamous Esteban!), second was the acoustic-electric mandolin, and last song was the ol' beater Yamaha 12-string mic'd. Went really well. Ended last song with an instrumental tacet and repeated singing the chorus a capella.

That afternoon I went to the skatepark with my son, got a couple pics I may post tonight. Back home for dinner with la Familia Krashpad and my daughter's best friend. Seems we've often got an extra kid around of late, although just as often one of ours is out somewhere else, so it all evens out.

[sunvalleylaw]

Nice pics all! I like those rocks and water shots. Looks really fun! We went to pick up my sons from the airport in Boise (they had stayed with the grandparents for extra vacation) and went to the water park there to beat the heat and welcome them back.

[Brian Krashpad]

Here's some video from the show mentioned in my last post.

Now here's the vid, but it requires explanation. I didn't make it. It's a mash of live video and a couple stills (to show the guys in the back better), with the live footage being from at least 2 different songs (I can tell what songs they are by what I'm playing and what the other electric guitarist is playing). However, the audio is not the song(s) we were playing live (although it was in the setlist), and instead is from our studio recording. The lead guitarist made this sort of as a "commercial" for our next show, which will be at the same venue.

And yes, I know I look like an idiot because what I'm doing does not match the song that's playing. Which is not to say I wouldn't have looked like an idiot anyhow.