The weekend Thread

[Jimi75]

Took a week off from sports, so this weekend will be a very relaxed one. My son's got a friend who's sleeping over, my daughter is at a friend's sleep over party....the noise level will be drastically reduced at our house this weekend. I'll take my favourite place on the couch and see what the TV delivers this weekend.

[Robert****]

On my way home from college xc running nationals in Fredericton. Lots of fun!

Photos at
http://www.flickr.com/photos/9630716...7625259927355/

[Brian Krashpad]

Nothing Friday.

Saturday:
Got an e-mail from a client and decided I needed to run by the office to get the digital versions of some hard-copy files I had at home, to complete a rush project from home. Watched the Gators get destroyed by South Carolina here at home, on TV. Skipped football parking as one kid was out of town (went to Busch Gardens in Tampa) and the other wasn't interested, as well as church band practice which was then called off, since we were undermanned this weekend.

Sunday:

Picked up son (back from Tampa) at his friend's house, then to church (son had to crucifer) to run through the 2 songs we were doing. Had no keys or drums, just acoustic, electric and bass. I played electric on the first song and mandolin on the other. Since our acoustic player used to sing along with our praise band leader, who has left, the acoustic player (our interim leader) decided to stick a mic in front of me, since I had been singing (off-mic) a backing with one little harmony part during our run-throughs. I've played in church for more than 15 years now, and have never done a mic'd vocal.

No one died.

It's weird for me to sing mic'd in church though. I don't have a great singing voice, even though I've never let that stop me in my rock bands. Just have to see how that goes. I guess if I'm low enough in the mix it'll be OK.

After church I gave my backup mandolin to a friend who is buying it (she'll pay me after payday), then discovered that my son needed to stay for Boar's Head practice. That's an elaborate Christmas Pageant with elements going back to the Middle Ages. I went by my office and set up for practice later that day, grabbed some lunch, and went back to church to pick up my son.

At home, did some cleaning/sorting of all the junk sitting on the top of our "entertainment center" which is really just an old cupboard that we keep records, CDs, and DVDs in. This isn't from yesterday but gives you some idea what it generally looks like:





At 6, I and my daughter went back to my office for a practice with one of my side bands, Pedagogy. We had been using the church fellowship hall for practice, but the lead singer is the praise band leader who just left (long story), so we no longer have church as a practice spot. I've been playing bass, along with drums and mainly keys (singer plays guitar on some songs). Now my daughter is going to play bass and I'm switching to guitar. We had a good time and she did really well, especially since she's still really a beginner and has only played in church band before. Now I have to work up new guitar parts for all the songs, though.

Went back home and watched some "Paranormal State" episodes about ghosties.

And you?

[kidsmoke*]

my weekend was very very full.
Friday night was my monthly open mic that I host in Chicago. I bring in the sound system, promote it, do the whole shebang. We had nearly 80 people in the room, and 15 or so performers. Went pretty well. Got home from that at 2AM and at 3AM, left with my daughter to go visit Quincy University in downstate Illinois. They had an open house at 9AM and it's a 5 hour drive. We wanted to have time to sit down and eat, and we pulled it off.

Walked and talked from 9 to 2pm, drove across the Mississippi so that my daughter could say she has, and filled up the tank in Missouri, then got back on the road and was back in Chicago at 7. At that point I'd not seen my bed since 6AM Friday... Tried to catch up on some chores and hit the hay.

Sunday AM, I was up for brunch and off to buy a guitar I'd found on CL (another thread on the forum) spent the afternoon doing chores, cleaning, restringing and playing guitar, and watching my beloved Patriots act like an NFL team again. Got back to work this morning, not feeling the least bit rested or refreshed.

[bigoldron]

Last weekend started off with the first round of the state playoffs. We got beat, but might have won if the crowd had got into the game. Flattest crowd and team I've ever seen. Especially being in the playoffs.... Oh well.

After the game, we had our final "5th Quarter" Youth Service. It was a slim crowd as most of them were tired and probably a little depressed about losing. At least I got to play one last time with my friends. The youth pastor (bass player) and his wife (keyboards and lead vocals) who make up the band lost their job recently (as Krash says "a long story") and are leaving here at the end of November. We've had a good time playing for these services. A high school kid plays drums and does a really good job. Gonna miss jamming with these guys...

Saturday, our youth had the "opportunity" to run concessions for a high school rodeo being held at a member's facility. Got there about 9:30 and left about 3. Nice place, but VERY dusty. Came home and crashed.

Sunday was the usual rush to get there for practice, then I had to prep the presentation system and play for church. Ate lunch, went by the greenhouse and watered the poinsettia's, then went home and DIED. I woke up about 5:30 and decided it was a good night to stay home!

[Eric***]

Well...much has happened since last weekend, but other than Thanksgiving activities, I suppose the big news was that I had my gall bladder removed last Tuesday.

Woke up Monday at about 4:45 with ridiculous amounts of pain and pressure in my abdominal region. Spent the morning trying to puke or go to the bathroom to get whatever it was out of there. Eventually I called my doctor and they told me to go to the ER, since they couldn't fit me in.

Went to the ER, and they said there were gall stones, including one blocking the entrance/exit to my gall bladder. That tends to inflame the gall bladder, so in such a case, surgery is the usual thing to do. They put me on medication and I waited for the surgery on Tuesday afternoon (this was mid-day Monday).

After the surgery, they said the gall bladder was not only severely inflamed, but also mildly infected and partially perforated! No wonder that sucker hurt! After another day to make sure I was OK, they let me out on Wednesday afternoon, and I went home, changed, and headed to the airport for Thanksgiving.

My words of "advice" for anyone: avoid this if you can! Holy crap did that whole thing hurt!

[Brian Krashpad]

Dang Eric, hope you feel better soon. My wife had hers out in March.

I had a mellow weekend, still recuperating from neck surgery from a week prior to Thanksgiving. My inlaws came down and my father-in-law helped set up a wireless connection for Casa Krashpad. My brother-in-law's family came down on Friday too.

Saturday just hung out, except for a church band practice at 7 p.m.

Today I went and played guitar at late service at church. We had 2 songs, no keys and no drums, but we nailed them both pretty well. The second song was a rocked up version of a hymn. After the service, a lady came up to the loft and said that our version of "How Great Thou Art," the second song we did, was the best she'd ever heard. So that was nice. It's odd enough for anyone to even bother to come up to the loft, much less to pay us a compliment.

This afternoon me and the Missus and El Krashpadito went to see the new Harry Potter movie. Apparently I missed the prior one, so it was pretty difficult to follow.

Almost out of Vicodin. That sucks.

[syo***]

Well...much has happened since last weekend, but other than Thanksgiving activities, I suppose the big news was that I had my gall bladder removed last Tuesday.

Sorry to hear of your pain but glad everything came out alright. Sounds nasty...

[Eric***]

After the service, a lady came up to the loft and said that our version of "How Great Thou Art," the second song we did, was the best she'd ever heard. So that was nice. It's odd enough for anyone to even bother to come up to the loft, much less to pay us a compliment.

Seriously, that almost never happens for us. People just mumble stuff to the band leader. That's a pretty big compliment for you guys, so good work!

[bcdon***]

Well...much has happened since last weekend, but other than Thanksgiving activities, I suppose the big news was that I had my gall bladder removed last Tuesday.

Glad you are feeling better!

[Duffy]

Eric. Wow. Glad to see you made it thru that without any complications.

I have gone thru the major surgery experience three times in recent years. Last time I was in the hospital for nine days. The surgery was six or seven hours long. During my recovery I couldn't have morphine because it caused my blood pressure to go down real low, real low. So I had like a ten or twelve inch incision and two percocet every four hours - you can't imagine how this didn't kill the pain at all after two hours and only made the pain barely tolerable for first two hours.

So, if you are tolerating the pain now, you are way ahead of the game. Sounds like most of your pain was before the surgery, but that situation could have taken a definite turn for the worse with that perforation had that gotten going real bad; as you know.

Glad you made out so well and good luck with your recuperation.

My weekend was definitely great. It was the best Thanksgiving of my life.
Charity, my fiance, was the most wonderful and we had a great time being together, just us. Had the traditional meal and did work around the house refinishing the stairs and sanding a plank bedroom floor in our old farmhouse, to be stained red mahogany and finished with minwax polyurethane, satin finish. The staining and polyurethaning will get most of the way done next weekend.

We picked up a 47 inch Sony LCD TV on Wednesday night after returning a similar Visio that just we bought the same night and when we set it up it just didn't cut it - cheap looking, not working right. Got the Sony and plugged it in and our Direct TV fired up perfectly and the picture quality was like twice as good. Have that hooked into my home theater system with Cambridge Sound Works speakers and a Klipsch subwoofer. DVR'd a bunch of concerts from the Paladium station, real good concerts. When Mick Taylor was with the Stones the guitar playing was incredible, and they still had Bill Wyman on bass, an incredible bassist - a big loss. The current guy is mainly a straight line bass player, where Wyman had a style all his own. Mick Taylor didn't even want to play with the Stones but he sure sounded good.

Things look good on a big TV.

[sunvalleylaw]

Wow Eric, glad it came out all right, so to speak.

Krash, good on ya man!

Winter arrived in the Sun Valley area over the Thanksgiving weekend. Beautiful! The resort opened, and snow is everywhere.

I marketed the kids ski program, the Sun Valley Freeride Team at the local showings of this really good Warren Miller movie, Wintervention:


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y_qNBysg8Rc

It was the best Warren Miller movie that I can remember. For those that don't know, Warren Miller started shooting ski movies like back in the 1940's from a van parked in the Sun Valley parking lot, and essentially launched and industry and tradition that survives to this day. With snow flurries coming down, and skiing in the air, it was a great way to welcome winter! Great rockin' sound track too!

[Katastrophe]

@Eric... Man! I'm glad you came through it okay!

@Krash... Great job! "How Great Thou Art" is one of my faves. Wish I coulda heard it.

Not much on this end... Worked Friday and Saturday, and part of tonight. Looks like I might get some sleep tonight. Got my last big paper for the semester due on Tuesday. As usual, the procrastinator in me put it off until the last minute, and I'll be getting it done tomorrow. We get to write it on any disease we choose.

My choice: the bubonic plague. Oh yeah, I'll be opening with a short description of the "Quest for the Holy Grail" scene: bring out your dead! Nothing like a little dark humor to liven up a technical paper on a nasty bug!

[Brian Krashpad]

Eric, hope your recovery is progressing nicely. Duff, congrats on the TV. Steve, the snow and skiing looks bosstastastic. But I'ma stick to warm and sunny Floriduh.

Had a wild week. As noted in my "Rutherfordectomy" thread, I found out I'll be doing both radiation and chemo. My weekend started late Friday with a chest X-ray.

Saturday morning I weighed in at under 180 for the first time in a lonnnnnnnnnng time. Which is good. Was just under today as well. Went to praise team practice at 2 pm, stoped on the way home and picked up some CD-rs and spare Christmas lights, but otherwise just hung out at home, watching some of the college football games. Bought some N/A "beer" so it'd seem the same. Well, same-ish.

Played guitar and sang backing vocals (mic'd) in church today. The (~interim) praise band leader (PBL hereinafter) has got it in his head that I can be a backing vocalist and that he can mic me. This was only the second time I've done it (in church-- I've done it tons in rock bands and even sing lead in my punk band; but rock bands and church are 2 different things!). So far no catastrophes, but I'm pretty sure we cut the first song short by a final chorus (either that or I mis-counted), and I started in on one for just a second (literally just one syllable) before I figured out they weren't going to sing. Asked the missus about it later and she hadn't heard it so I guess I backed off the mic quick enough.

The PBL got a nice wine red Gibson LP Studio w/ohsc for $550 this last week and played it on one song (he played his acoustic on the other). I played the LP yesterday at practice and it's quite nice. Score! Today I played my Danelectro Hodad, as it's nice and light and my left shoulder is still ****ed up from the surgery (nerve damage). I need to work on using that left arm and shoulder, or later I'll hafta do physical therapy, which just means more bills.

Went home and worked on the Casa Krashpad Christmas Tree.

Have a side band (Hoyt & the Hotheads) practice in an hour, prolly will be playing bass, which could be a challenge for the shoulder.

No pain, no gain!

[Katastrophe]

Brian, I hope the shoulder heals quickly, so you don't have to do physical therapy. Those folks tend to lose count and make you do extra reps on the exercises! Take it easy on that shoulder, man. Don't want you to overdo it and injure the shoulder worse. Get some rest when you can!

Mrs. Kat is on the way to Tacoma, Washington today. She should land pretty soon. Flying out on a Sunday was a good thing, especially for her departure. Absolutely NO traffic on the way to the airport (for Houston, this is a rare treat), and in and out of the airport in a matter of minutes.

Other than that, this weekend has been a blur of work and general lack of sleep. My mom's watching the kiddo today and tonight so I could sleep and work, and I'll be picking her up tomorrow afternoon.

[Duffy]

Eric, How are you doing buddy?

You have been silent. We hope you are doing okay and making that recovery. Got a new guitar on Wednesday, a new Epiphone Les Paul Custom, black with gold trim, naturally, including a really nice epi case - 650 out the door with a real good eighteen foot Ibanez cable and and new strings and a set up. This guitar sounds great and is a contrast to the Agile fully bound cherry burst. I was going to get a black fully bound but decided on buying locally and getting this nice Epi Custom LP that plays great and sounds real good acoustically with the vibration being nice and strong. Must have to do with the way it's built. I will review it later but know you have been comparing your Godin to your Agile.

Hope you are feeling better. Get back to us.

I will tell about the new Epi LP Custom in the Epi section. I have, by the way been taking a bunch of new p[ictures with my new Nikon auto focus fixed focal length 35 mm fast lens. Equal to 50 mm on a standard format Nikon in terms of aparent viewing size of the picture - approximately the same scale that the human eye views the size of things at. I have not taken any guitar pictures yet but will be doing a lot of them, including the new black LP Custom - a mighty example of an Epi and LP in particular. The sound is beautiful and LP bassy, full and full of lengthy sustain, stock.

Constantly playing myself to sleep with it. Woke up this morning with Jackson Browne's, "Everyman" playing. Had to jump in there real quick straight from a deep sleep.

This guitar is pretty versitile for a LP.

We also got a new playstation 3 and a bunch of games. Charity and I are about to play some snowmobiling game now. Got a bunch of accessorits to go with the playstation and it looks great on the big TV.

Around all of this I have been able to spend a lot of time playing epecially the new LP Custom thru the Hot Rod Deluxe, mainly straight up, but also with some outboard reverb and Boss OD-3 overdrive sometimes. This Custom sounds great.

Sorry to hear about your radiation and chemo Krash . . . You can email me anytime if you want to. I have my own experiences. This type of thing can bring out the best in us.

[Eric***]

On the surgery point, things are progressing well. The painkiller withdrawal seems to be over, and I can almost inhale deeply without feeling anything, so that's good. Seems like I'm almost in the clear!

So, for the weekend:

Friday: Went to play with the drummer and bassist I usually see once a week. Songs are sounding decent, but we still need a singer something fierce. I fricking hate singing when I'm trying to focus on the guitar.

Saturday: Slow morning. Waited around for the carpet cleaners to show up and spiff up some of the carpeted areas in the house. Once they were done, we went out and picked up a Christmas tree -- Douglas Fir. Seems to do the trick nicely. Dinked around a bit at home, then got ready to have a Christmas party that night, where we made "gingerbread" houses out of graham crackers, frosting, and lots of candy:

Ye olde gingerbread village:


Sunday: Played in church, where it was the praise band leader's last day there, as he's moving back to his home country. We ended up doing some guitar-centric intro to this one song, where we practiced it a whopping 10 minutes before the first service. It didn't go so well.

After church, I went to audition as lead guitarist (a stretch, I know) for some band I bumbled on via craigslist. Turns out I think it's just one older guitar player with very high expectations. I basically told him after about an hour that he knows what I have to offer, so if he get the other components in place and wants to practice or anything, he can give me a call. I don't have very high hopes for this, but it never hurts to try.

Went to church in the evening and then out for some beers at a watering hole in the city afterward.

[Spudman***]

Eric - my daughter did gingerbread houses too this weekend and got 2 place at her school. I'm eating her work while I'm typing.


I did two gigs at an art gallery. Pretty casual.

[Brian Krashpad]

Glad to hear things are progressing Eric.

Thanks Duff. What kinda C did you have? Congrats on the LP!

Spud: pics? Was that a solo gig, I take it?