The weekend Thread

[mainestratman]

Nothing today.

Class all day tomorrow.

Jam on Sunday.

[NWBasser]

Sign me up for that BBQ! What could be better that good friends, amphs, beer, and meat on the grill?!

Maybe a big fire!

A drum kit.

A vast selection of different guiatars and amphs.

An Engator Teaker - I want one pretty badly.

Oh yeah, I have understanding neighbors

[Brian Krashpad]

Maybe a big fire!

A drum kit.

A vast selection of different guitars and amphs.

This summer, I'm going to what will essentially be a 2.5 day jam/party, up in the foothills north of the ATL.

TONS of guitars (I'm bringing probably a dozen myself). PA, drum kit, crazy amphs everywhere in the backline, fire pit and acoustics jammin too.

These guys have been doing this for 8 or 9 years. People coming in from all over the US, Canada, and even a few Euros. They rent a rural camp/cabin type resort and take over the whole place. Whole tab, closer to 2 bills than 3, per person. This is the first one closest enough (they've been up in Canada, out in Colorado, and up in PA, among other places) for me to afford (time/$) to go.

I'ma be in hog heaven.

[Brian Krashpad]

So, how did everything go this weekend?

Our campout was ... interesting. The vicar, who's in charge of the youth group, is a poster boy for poor/no planning. We got to Anastasia Friday, and the vicar apparently has brought no dinner food, so he orders PIZZA! We had 2 campsites, one for the girls and at which we would do all the activities, and one for the guys. Get all the tents set up, have pizza at the girls' site, they did their Bible study thingy, and then we played guitar and sang for a couple hours.

The next morning the boy's site had to move to one further away (the park was booked up, and although we could reserve the girls' site for 2 nights, we could only reserve the boy's site for one). So the vicar decides instead of breaking down the whole boys' site, we'll put all the tents on the girls' site, and park the cars at the new boys' site. So we unstaked the tents and carried them over to the girls site (which previously had only 1 tent on it).

Of course, the park has rules on how many tents per site, which are supposed to be 2 max, though they will let you slide with 3. We had somehow got by with 4 at the boys' site on Friday without any flak. We now have 5 at the girls' site.

Guess what happens next?

Rangers come by and say 2 tents have to go, and then continue on their rounds.

So the vicar leaves up the large tents for the girls and 2 of the guys. He puts mine, with poles still in place but folded flat, inside the boys big tent. The fifth tent just gets broken down and put away. We have breakfast of cereal and bagels and head out for the beach.

We're at the beach all morning, and an adult couple also chaperoning decides lunch might be in order. Of course, there's no food, so we have to go on a run to buy it. They have $60, and there's no food for lunch or dinner or Sunday breakfast. And there's 16 people (including 2 vegetarians).

So we go to Publix and buy stuff to make sub sandwiches, and hot dogs and hamburgers for dinner (including some veggie versions), and more bagels and milk (still had cereal left over) for Sunday breakfast. Of course, no way could you buy all that for $60. So I have to take $50 out of my wallet to buy food with.

We get back to the beach and my idea is to have the kids come to the van and eat, rather than try to lug all the food out onto the actual sand beach, which is a trek of several hundred yards. We set up a food line in the parking lot at the van and everyone gets their subs made, and we have drinks and chips. Then we all go back out to the beach for a couple hours. I basically sat and played guitar during the morning and afternoon beach sessions, water was freezing. Of course, the kids went in anyway.

At some point during the day (probably while me and the married couple were on the Publix run) the vicar runs into an older couple who wanted to camp overnight but couldn't get a spot. Apparently without consulting any of the adults, he either gives or sells for a small sum our second site (the boys' site that currently had no tents on it). So now, somehow, everyone is going to have to sleep at the girls site, because now we have no other options.

We go back to camp, and several of the kids, including one who is emotionally/learning disabled, plus the vicar, have sunburns. The emotionally/learning disabled kid was actually lucky-- I noticed at lunch that he was getting red and made sure he had sunscreen on for the afternoon, but some damage had already been done. Apparently the vicar didn't oversee that everybody had sunscreen on and left it to the kids (mostly high school, a couple middle school) to more or less do it themselves.

So we're back Saturday night at the girls' site, and I and the married couple make dinner. The vicar and kids do some more bible study stuff and more guitar playing and singing follows. At the end of the night, however, we still have to decide where everyone is going to sleep, as we're 2 tents down from the preceding night. The vicar decides to keep my tent inside the boys tent until after lights out, then put mine up behind the boys tent in the dark, where it will be difficult if not impossible to see from the road.

We're still one tent short, so I try to get the other guy (whose tent has been put away) to use my tent, but he has a big cot he says won't fit. He decides to sleep in his van instead. The vicar is so sunburned he won't put anything over himself other than a sheet, in his tent, so he gets cold, and after a couple hours of teeth-chattering (it honestly was not THAT cold-- the vicar is a bit of a wussy), the vicar decides to sleep in his car instead.

I wake up Sunday morning at dawn and quickly knock down my tent before it can be seen by the authorities. We have breakfast and knock down the other tents, and actually get out of camp early, the vicar deciding that we might be able to get back to town and still attend the 11 a.m. service, rather than try to do a service at the campsite. So we drive 2 hours back to Gainesville and get there just in time to attend church in our grubby camping clothes and with messy hair, etc. I was wearing some surplus US army woodland camo BDU pants, a green Boy Scout Troop 432 t-shirt, and slaps. We went to church anyhow and even took communion.

So, we all got back more or less in one piece, a lot of fried skin cells on some of the kids (my Hannah is smarter than that) and on the vicar notwithstanding.

But somebody owes me $50.

And you?

[Bloozcat]

I'll be in Seattle (and Bellingham) this weekend too, Blooz. If you get the chance, check out Hales brewery. Great food and beer. In fact, BC Don, NW Basser and I will be there Saturday for lunch. If you're in the neighborhood, stop in and say Howdy! I'll be in the Marshall shirt, clutching a pint of stout in a deathgrip.

Make sure and stop in to see Sumi when you're in Bend. He said something about the first round being on him...

Unfortunately, I wasn't able to make the fretter get together on Saturday the 4th. We did arrive in Seattle that day, but it wasn't until after 2:00pm.

Bummer....

[Eric***]

So, how did everything go this weekend?

Our campout was ... interesting.

Wow, sounds like a crazy time. Good stories if nothing else.

Saturday: My wife and I just hung out at home. Slept in, painted and hung up a bathroom cabinet, did some plumbing troubleshooting (i.e. cut out soaked ceiling drywall), did some guitar practice, laundry, hooked up a new wireless router that actually works, did some garden weeding, mowed the lawn, drank some beer.

Sunday: Played in church with the SX tele and new Tech 21 TM60. Sound was a little off because I didn't have it tweaked right, but it worked OK. For once, our first service playing was on par with the second service. Went home, futzed around, and eventually went to 'real' church in the evening, where the power had gone out. Apparently, being the low-income city church that it is, the building still has the original electrical system in it, which I can only assume does not involve circuit breakers. Yikes.

So yeah, my exciting life. I actually think this was the best weekend I've had in a while. Activity doesn't always mean fun, you know?

[marnold***]

My weekend was different inasmuch as I was on vacation at my folks' new place in Michigan. Since they are closer to Bay City, they transferred back to my home congregation where my grandfather was pastor for 37 years. It was nice to worship there again and see many familiar (albeit somewhat older) faces.

The bad news is that both my mother and I got sinus/upper respiratory infections which we "enjoyed" most of the week. The worst of it, of course, was Sunday morning. Had a hard time concentrating during the service much less driving back home. Nevertheless, we arrived safely last night.

Over the week (since it was virtually one big weekend for me) we:
Had a party for my son's ninth birthday
Drank the good beer my mom bought even though this bug kept me from tasting things too well
Saw "How to Train Your Dragon" in 3D. 3D effects were cool, but not sure if it's worth the upcharge.
Got a screaming deal on a Red Wings polo and a Lions polo and hoodie. Meijer rules.
Got to see my first Red Wings game in hi def. That's the way to watch hockey.

[Brian Krashpad]

Got to see my first Red Wings game in hi def. That's the way to watch hockey.

Did you duck every time there was a slapshot?



Hope all y'all are feeling better.

[sunvalleylaw]

I attended clinic for professional ski instructors and learned a lot of really fun stuff for all mountain ripping around on saturday, and regarding effective jumping (and landing) in new skool terrain park type features and again out from features generally on the hill. Stuff like jumping off cornices, stumps or logs, etc. Basically, how to effectively goof off and play around. It is more fun when you use good, effective skills.

[Brian Krashpad]

So yeah, my exciting life. I actually think this was the best weekend I've had in a while. Activity doesn't always mean fun, you know?

I hear ya. After 2 camp outs in 3 weekends, with the weekend in between being one where I did 3 shows in 24 hours, I am looking forward to some quiet next weekend, though we have to get things cleaned up for my son's Confirmation the following weekend.

[Brian Krashpad]

Stuff like jumping off cornices, stumps or logs, etc.

That sounds like a broken ankle waiting to happen.

[FrankenFretter***]

Got a screaming deal on a Red Wings polo and a Lions polo and hoodie.

Just FYI, Rev - Polos are NOT metal. ;-)

[marnold***]

Just FYI, Rev - Polos are NOT metal. ;-)

You are absolutely correct in that, Sean. Quite non-metal indeed. These are my desperate attempts to come up with something that is "business casual" but won't make me "throw up blood."

[Brian Krashpad]

You are absolutely correct in that, Sean. Quite non-metal indeed. These are my desperate attempts to come up with something that is "business casual" but won't make me "throw up blood."

At least it wasn't Izod/LaCoste.

[mainestratman]

Since I have school on Saturdays, today is my weekend... kind of.

Plans for today include working on the 161-question "take home test" that the instructor photocopied from a second year nursing textbook (I'm a first year paramedic student, WTF?), then when that is done, I'm changing the strings on the LP and FINALLY get to play around with my new-to-me Bad Monkey. Hopefully it'll be before the neighbors get home so I can crank it up. :-)

[Robert****]

Ran my first road race of the season, my first ever Masters race as well. 1st place in this 40-49 age group. 10 mile race on the roads. Fun!

Vancouver half in two weeks!

[bcdon***]

Ran my first road race of the season, my first ever Masters race as well. 1st place in this 40-49 age group. 10 mile race on the roads. Fun!

Vancouver half in two weeks!

Congratulations! Are you running in the Sun Run? I'm doing the 10k. I'm a total fat-*** but I'll make the whole 10k. If you are here, I'll buy you a few beers after the run if you have the time.

Cheers!

don

[Katastrophe]

Saturday went well. It was my stepdad's birthday, so we all went out to eat at a local seafood restaurant. Tasty.

Today was rainy off and on, so we stayed inside while Baby Kat made macaroni art and made some beaded necklaces / bracelets.

[Spudman***]

Nice job Roberto.