Arrived a day late. Typical.


On the plus side I love this song.

And I got a very kind email.

Gotta take the good where I can find it.

Here's a flow chart to help you out!



link to larger view of chart

So there.

The new Church album that is -- the one where they thank me (and a bunch of other people) in the credits. Yep, that album.

The review's actually not bad (a 7.0 score)...this guy is one of the few who likes ULTC better (I quite like ULTC myself, but the lack of a PK-sung song on the new one really helps it in my view. I always skip the songs PK sings ). I agree that Deadman's Hand would have been a better single, but for bands such as the Church singles don't mean...

I haven't even taken the plastic outer wrap off yet.

I wonder...

Will I like it?

Will I hate it?

Will I ever listen to it again?

Guess it's time to find out.

Last night I managed to find myself responsible for manufacturing, assembling, and packaging a cd and small prints package deal highlighting Steve's current exhibition in time for their US tour in early June.

I mean we were just chatting away about how great it would be to package the cd of spoken word pieces over music (one to go with each painting) with small prints (5x7s) of each of the paintings and have it for sale at the merch table on the US tour when all of a sudden...

Talked to my sister tonight and it looks as if I might be able to go to five or even possibly six gigs. The pretty definite ones are Falls Church, VA; Annapolis, MD; Philadelphia, PA; Foxborough, MA; and Londonderry, NH. Pittsburgh, PA is a maybe depending on when she can fly in. Actually, now that I think about it, the Londonderry one might be a maybe because of when she has to fly out. It's an 800 mile drive back home, so that will take a while. If I do that show I might have to see if my...

Just finished and filed my taxes. No too bad this year. My income was just about the same as it was in 2007, but my expenses were higher last year (that SK exhibition was expensive!), so my taxes were lower this time. I'm self employed so I have to pay estimated tax payments quarterly. Well with the extra expenses I had overpaid last year, so I got a refund!!

Unfortunately that refund isn't quite as much of a thrill as it is for many people because I just applied it to this...

I'm going to splurge and buy a GPS unit. I figure with any luck I'll be doing a lot of driving to unfamiliar areas this summer and since my sense of direction completely sucks I need all the help I can get. I've gotten by without one for years, but I just checked some out and the prices have dropped to the point where they are really quite reasonable, especially if you go for a more basic model. I figure with a GPS system, good maps/road atlas, Mapquest or Google directions (or maybe even a AAA...

The Church just released their US tour dates today and I couldn't help noticing there isn't a single gig in a state that voted Republican in the 2008 US Presidential Election.

June 25 -- The Magic Bag, Ferndale, MI
June 26 -- Beachland Ballroom, Cleveland, OH

US Church gigs!

Yippee!!

...except my sister, who said she'd come and take care of Diane and the cats and dog for while I go see some gigs, can't do it that one week. And you just know a Chicago show is going to be either the 24th or the 27th. While I hate getting into and around in Chicago (I always get lost there and drivers in Chicago honk at everything -- actually...

Yep, over the past couple of months I've stimulated:

-- the veterinary industry. Zeke, Oscar, and my brother's cat Annie all needed some pretty major workups. Good news on Zeke, ok news on Oscar, bad news on Annie. All damned expensive. And Oscar could cost substantially more over the next several months/years. Annie won't cost much more, but the near future will be sad (she has a large mass -- almost certainly cancer -- and any treatment other than pain relief would just be futile)....

But the new Church album arrived on Friday, so I still haven't listened to it. I haven't even removed the plastic wrap yet.

I find I have to be in the right mood to listen to new albums and although Thursday was a good time to buy the album (it was on sale, plus I had an extra 10%, plus I was actually at the store), it wasn't a good time to listen to it. There's just too much other stuff going on right now. But at least I have it now and one day will be the right day and...

Except it wasn't about Bono and the guy it was about wasn't ok. ...Well, he's ok now, but he was a sick little puppy for a bit.

A couple of days ago The Church had to cancel a couple of shows because a band member was ill. Now I wish none of them ill, but I know SK the best, and as quick as anything this "Oh I hope Steve is OK!" thought popped into my head. Now Steve had a one in four chance of being the sickie (and indeed it was him), which...

Zekie doesn't have cancer! But he will have to go in for fairly frequent rechecks for a while to make this little bump doesn't do anything weird. But I'm very relieved. Zeke, of course, is just his usual charming doggie self. We both thank everyone for your positive thoughts.

I took Oscar (one of the cats) into the vet when I went to pick up Zeke from the biopsy (and teeth cleaning -- Zeke also now has super nice clean teeth ) because he seemed always ravenous. Sure enough,...