The weekend Thread

[Brian Krashpad]

Have fun Ronnie Beth!

I've found reunions to be extremely mixed bags. Went to 10th and 20th, missed 30th.

35th in in 2 years if anyone survives that long.

PS-- don't even get me started on my 10-year law school reunion. I'm still in the doghouse for that'un-- and it was in 1993.

[street music]

I heard on the news that a woman was found dead while attending a class reunion. She had fallen from a motel balcony and wasn't found till this morning.
Hope it was not at the same reunion.

[bigoldron]

I heard on the news that a woman was found dead while attending a class reunion. She had fallen from a motel balcony and wasn't found till this morning.
Hope it was not at the same reunion.

Nope, wasn't us. Everything was ground-level because we're getting too old and too lazy to climb stairs. It was a pretty good time. We had a decent crowd, but there were several locals who could have attended but chose not to. Oh well, too bad for them.

Anyway, we had church this morning, with the instruments all running through the sound system. I felt the whole time like I was too low, but there wasn't a whole lot I could do about it. Had youth band practice this afternoon and apparently I was a too firm with the kiddies, because my 2 daughters read me the riot act when I got home.

What I consider firm is apparently considered "being a jerk" as my daughters so eloquently put it. Oh well, some days it's like herding cats... :

[Spudman***]

Got in a little live music this week and fed a bunch of hungry people.
This is Music On Main (schedule)
The first event was just a couple local acts. The first one, Jet Black Ninja Funkgrass Unit, was really good.



Then more people showed up


Most everyone local showed up later - maybe around 1,000

The next day was Teton Valley Land Trust auction fundraiser. Just a bunch of wealthy folks eating in a barn in a hay field

[sunvalleylaw]

I walked down to a yard party next to a park where the Northern Rockies Folk Fest was being held, and listened to the Blasters (folk?) over the fence. Then on Sat., I bicycled to the top of Bald Mountain for the second time in three days (did it thurs. with my bike group too, but a different route for descent and slightly different climb). Phew! Then it was yard work and more painting on the remodel project for the rest of the weekend.

[Brian Krashpad]

I've been remiss over the last couple weeks. We've been doing renovations to the bathroom off the master bedroom. We pulled the vanity and toilet ourselves, then had pro's come in and do the tiling and some minor drywall repair.

Yesterday I installed a toilet, pretty much by myself, for the first time ever.

Unfortunately I didn't know about tile floors that aren't perfectly smooth. So even though I installed the thing correctly and it works, because I didn't know to shim under it, it can "rock" ever so slightly, which is turn means the wax seal inside it now leaks.

Which means I have to uninstall it and do it all over again.

Besides renovations, both weekends I've played in church, one song on mandolin and a few on guitar. Yesterday, just as I got there for pre-service run-through, I was greeted with "You missed it, some guy just came up and said the guitar was too loud."

Man I am sick of that. On the up side, it wasn't me since I wasn't there yet (must've been the acoustic-electric). But always having to worry about offending some coot is getting on my nerves. There's a traditional service for people who want to hear pipe organ instead of a band, but that is one big-*** pipe organ and I guarantee we're no louder than it is. I am becoming sorely tempted to use the line "If it's too loud, you're too old." At any rate, people who have never even heard a live band with drums before have no business playing junior sound man and informing the band a given instrument is too loud, especially right before the service. If it hurts their ears, they need to contact the pastor and let him know; there is nothing that will mess with your head more than someone trying to tinker with you mix right before a performance.

On the "up" side, probably for the first time since the "blended" service began, the first song actually began with guitar. Electric guitar, and just electric guitar. Like 8 bars of me just going through the progression and then the rest of the band and the congregation singing. It's stupid, but I was nervous as heck, and the little tete-a-tete before the service I that I heard about didn't help one bit. Fortunately I didn't mess up, although I couldn't hear my outro solo at all.

In other related news, the praise band leader writes his own material, and we'll be doing some songs at a college-student "welcome back" thingy in a few weeks. I'm playing bass and we have a drummer, he plays keyboards. It's pretty challenging for me as the style one I'm not at all used to. Hopefully it'll come together, so far, so good. We've practiced a few times so far.

And you?

PS- Spud those pics are cool, looks like fun.

[Brian Krashpad]

Friday: got an unexpectedly large profit-sharing on Friday and found this in a pawn tagged at $250, talked the pawnbroker down to $175:



More deets about that purchase in the Amphs forum:
http://www.thefret.net/showthread.php?t=12621

Saturday: got up early and bleached the front side walk, which was getting pretty grungey. Went to church for a band practice. We have this guy who wants to volunteer to play congas. I think he may have an ever so slight developmental disability. At any rate, the problem is, he is not very good at congas. On one take he would be close to getting it right, and the next run-through he'd be a train wreck. Losing the beat entirely, changing tempo. At least we had a full-kit drummer to keep the beat and drown him out a bit.

I played my one song on guitar through the new Super Champ as my stage monitor, lined out to my usual rig. Still need to tweak it, but I know that system will work. For guitar, I played my electric 12-string for the first time, with a bunch of delay.

I played two songs on mandolin. I had already chosen one based on the easy chords in it, and run through it that way, when I noticed that our third song was a traditional Celtic melody, so I figured I should play mando on that'un too. Then the band director suggested that the song start with like 8 bars of just mandolin chords-- no other instruments. Now this is just 2 chords back and forth, but I've been playing mandolin for maybe 2 months now, so that was kinda a big deal.

But it went OK.

On the way home I stopped at a different pawn and bought a couple DVD's, Bob Dyan's "No Direction Home" and the 60's spy spoof "In Like Flynt." Then a stop at Home Depot for toilet installation shims and a new wax ring, and at the auto store to pick up a headlamp for the Mommobile, and home for the evening. Flipped the toilet to drain and set it into the shower with re-installation the next morning.

Sunday: got up and re-installed the toilet bowl, knowing to shim it this time. Got the tank on but didn't have time to tighten it down, besides, didn't want to try to fill it with water and then head out for church, in case it leaked.

At church, the songs went well except for the conga player. In pre-service run-through he was a total train wreck, and only a bit better in the actual service. To make matters worse, our full kit drummer was sick and our back-up guy, who'd been there earlier, left before the late service (before we found out that the scheduled drummer was sick). At least I didn't mess up the mandolin intro. Had a long conversation with the band director about the conga sitch after.

Returned home and finished the toilet and turned the water on. No leaks! Yay! Then a quick trip to Publix so there'd be food in the house, and of course flowers (la familia had been up in Atlanta at the in-laws' all week). Family got home about 6, I ran out for pizza, ate with the family, then off to practice with Crash Pad at the office. We did a no-drums practice to work on a new song, so I just used the little Super Champ again. It worked fine for that.

And you?

[Robert****]

I went camping with the family and I ran a 10 km trail race, which I won. Our 5 year old girl placed First in the under-9 category in the 3 km race! Unreal. Our 15-year old girl was 4th in the under-19 category in the 10 km race, very good too. It rained a bit, but we have a new tent and it performed very well. It was cold at night, but we had a nice weekend!

[Brian Krashpad]

Brrr rainy and cold at night does not sound like a good weekend to me Robert.

At least the tent worked and you did well in your races. Congrats!

[Spudman***]

I hung out near this for the weekend and did my first 5K running race. Running is hard!

[Robert****]

Awesome Spud! What was your time, and where is that thing located?

[warren0728]

friday:
me and the kiddos had a pajama day (at their request)....we stayed in our pj's all day, watched movies, made brownies, ordered pizza....

saturday we went to jessie's art exhibit opening....she attended art camp this summer and they each have one piece of art in a show that runs through the middle of september....

here are the 3 of us at the opening....


and jessie with her piece of art....


sunday we went to wet n' wild water park (we have season passes)....had a blast....didn't leave until the park closed at 9pm!

here is conner chillin' in the wave pool at wet n' wild....


a fun weekend with the kiddos....

[Spudman***]

Awesome Spud! What was your time, and where is that thing located?

That's the Gateway Arch in St. Louis Missouri. I took the photo. It's a national park and I talked to one of the bike rangers and they have to wear bullet proof vest as 2 of their crew have been shot. Bummer.
My time was between 18 and 19 min. I didn't check because I went straight to the bathroom at the finish. I barely held in the extra 3 pounds I was carrying and it was wanting to come out pretty bad before the end of the first kilometer. Otherwise I would have had a better time.

[deeaa*]

I don't like camping.

It's strange, because like so many Finns, I love & must have a summer house/cottage. And at the cottage there may be no running water and no electricity, and there must be no traffic or town within a dozen miles the least. There shall be a sauna by a lake and a jetty and a nice boat, and fireplaces and a grill hut and enough room for friends too. It must be close to nature but still get to sleep in a warm log cabin. Have lots of beers with friends.

Going there this Saturday w/2 friends...a dozen beers for each& a vodka bottle, lots of sauna and driving a waterjet&maybe some waterskiing.

[Brian Krashpad]

That's the Gateway Arch in St. Louis Missouri. I took the photo. It's a national park and I talked to one of the bike rangers and they have to wear bullet proof vest as 2 of their crew have been shot.

I have some net-friends from "Da Lou."

Apparently it is a very dangerous city in a lot of places.

Congrats on your race!

[Brian Krashpad]

Warren, that looks like a great weekend with the kids.

Every now and again we go down to Wild Waters at Silver Springs in Ocala. I think that's the nearest water park to us. Although we have lots of natural springs, and tubing on the Itchetucknee for a bit more natural water recreation closer by.

Speaking of artistic daughters, mine e-mailed me this cartoon she did of me and our dog, Sadie, this morning:

[Brian Krashpad]

I don't like camping.

It's strange, because like so many Finns, I love & must have a summer house/cottage. And at the cottage there may be no running water and no electricity, and there must be no traffic or town within a dozen miles the least. There shall be a sauna by a lake and a jetty and a nice boat, and fireplaces and a grill hut and enough room for friends too. It must be close to nature but still get to sleep in a warm log cabin. Have lots of beers with friends.

Going there this Saturday w/2 friends...a dozen beers for each& a vodka bottle, lots of sauna and driving a waterjet&maybe some waterskiing.

That sounds like fun.

I like camping, but in good weather when it's cool out but not cold. A lot of the year, and basically all summer, it is too hot for me to go camping here in Florida, and be anything but miserable.

[deeaa*]

That sounds like fun.

I like camping, but in good weather when it's cool out but not cold. A lot of the year, and basically all summer, it is too hot for me to go camping here in Florida, and be anything but miserable.

Yeah, I understand...here it's basically NEVER too hot. We get maybe like 10 day maximum per year when it _is_ a bit too hot in the city & I need to sleep downstairs near the A/C unit too...but by the lake it is never too warm....or if it gets that way, just go out on a boat and it's breeeeeeezy again.

I don't really enjoy too hot a weather; when it's just sunny and warm enough to wear shorts and a T it's perfect; 20-21C or so. That I could have all year round :-)

[deeaa*]

Here's my cottage&son and then boating w/the family in our small boat. This is last spring though; kid is much bigger already.

edit: Aww this is too hard to get photos attached...don't have the energy to edit them again or post to web elsewhere and link 'em...this sucks.