Christmas

Christmas was pretty good this year. On Christmas Eve I picked up Tony and Clarissa and headed to the parents house in Stockbridge. We lounged around for a little over an hour and then headed to my Uncle Mike's in Fond du Lac.

It was good seeing all of my cousins again. I haven't seen Laura, Matt or Shawn in a while. I got to talk to Grandpa Mac for a little while. I asked him a few things about WW2. He said that his unit was supposed to go to Japan but the war ended right before they were to go there. He said that he was relieved. He also talked about how he was an old man. He said that he's lucky that his heart is strong or he might not be a live right now.

That night my family returned to Stockbridge with Grandma Lee in tow. We were up until 3:30am opening gifts. I was surprised towards the end of the night when Troy gave me a new Ephiphone SG model. I was so stunned I didn't know what to say. Tom got a lot of books. Kelly got to play Santa for the first time this year. I nick named her TrixiClause. Clarissa complained about that though because she said that was her nickname. Really, I only remember her using it a couple times during video games. I guess it was such a big deal that Tony talked to Kelly later and Kelly decided to go with a different nickname. Really, I'm at odds to see what the big deal was. Anyways, Kelly's tag line was "blow, blow, blow". It was funny and I think we'll be hearing it next year.

Christmas day we communicated with Sarah Horne over the quickcam. Since we were on dial-up the connection was somewhat choppy. She e-mailed a few pictures taken that day (one of them is posted at the right of this). Tony spent alot of time ripping songs to the hard drive for Mom's new iPod.

Around 2pm we headed to Clarissa's Mom's. The night ended with a Christmas party at Tony and Clarissa's house. All in all, a pretty good couple days.

The day after Christmas Kelly came up to Appleton and we spent about five hours shopping for bargins. We spent hundreds of dollars on Christmas crap. Really nothing useful. I bought a couple pairs of black dress pants.

Tomorrow I have to go back to work. It really feels like time slipped away again.

Computer

My computer is finally fixed. Now I can upload photos and actually use a CD drive. It's been a while.

Here's a picture of my roommate Adam. He just got an iPod Nano. So of course, he's quite happy that the computer is fixed as well.

Well, I couldn't go into work on Monday because my car wouldn't start. Yesterday I took the day off because someone was coming over to fix my computer. Today we had a QBR at work. It's an awards day for meeting our numbers. It was a very easy day. A meeting in the morning and then games in the afternoon. I drank way to much and am feeling the on start of a hangover. Tomorrow is going to be a long day.

I hope to get the video editing software up soon so that I can get those two wedding videos done. It's going to be nice not worrying about those anymore.

A week from now my last class of the semester will be over!

The Beat

Not to much going on. The semester is winding down and I've been paying the price for procrastination. Everything should be done on time.

My car wouldn't start today. I think and hope that it was the cold weather. Tony and Clarissa brought me some Heet after they finished work. Tony and I even tried jumping it. No success. Hopefully it will start tomorrow morning. I might try it once more yet tonight.

Monday

Seems like Monday comes around pretty quick nowadays. I fear Wendesday now more than anything. I have a four hour class every Wednesday. The class is pretty easy so far. The part that makes it tough is that we have to give speaches every week. ugg. I can't wait until the semester is over.

Lots of things stressing me out as normal. My room is looking a little bit more clean today. Tony helped me take some stuff out to the garage.

That's really about it.

The Flu

September 14, 2005

7:00 am - I wake up and get ready for work. The night before I spent an hour at the gym. I haven't worked out in a while I was feeling it now. My shoulders, back, chest and arms were killing me. I liked that feeling though. I was pretty groggy from not going to sleep early the night before.

7:55 am - I get to work and log into all of my systems.

9:00 am - The guy in the cube across from me is eating one of those Butterfinger wafer candy bars. I'm not feeling to hungry or awake. Thinking it might wake me up, I go down to the breakroom and buy one of the candy bars and a can of Mountain Dew.

9:10 am - I'm forcing the candybar down. I realize that I'm not even enjoying it. I'm just eating it to get rid of it.

11:00 am - I feel like I have to go to the bathroom. My stomach doesn't feel the best. I sneak away to the further bathroom. Turned out to be a false alarm.

Noon - It was agreed upon that the Central team would all eat lunch at a buffet together. I wasn't hungry but decided to join the team anyways. Someone wondered if they could ride with me. This ruined my plan to stop by my apartment and use the bathroom on the ride back. On the drive to the restaurant, we talk about my fan, and Prince.

12:15 pm - I get one plate of food. None of the food looks very good. I didn't put to much on my plate. I end up only eating half of it. I grabbed a bowl of icecream before I left. (it's hard to resist).

12:45 pm - Jesse and I head back to our workplace so that he can get his car.

12:55 pm - We get to where the QBR is going to take place. I realize that for the next three hours I'm going to be in hell. I notice that the bathrooms are right at the back of the room. Luckily my name is on the back table closest to the bathroom.

12:57 pm - I use the bathroom. It has a typical setup. 2 urnals and 2 toilets. Ones a handycap stall. I use that one. My stomach is still pretty upset and I fear that I'm getting sick. Sorry, this is where the story starts to get graphic. If you have a weak stomach, please do not read any further. This is where I find out that I'm in the beginning phases of diareah.

1:00 pm - I return to the bathroom and enter the handycap stall. I throw up. Tasted like it was the icecream. Unfortunetly some goes into my nasal cavity. Everytime I sniff, I get this puke taste in my mouth. I get worried that someone sitting next to me for the QBR will be able to smell it.

1:03 pm - Although not at all hungry, I eat a couple pretzels to cover the smell.

1:30 pm - I feel like I have to use the bathroom again. I'm just about to get up when...DAMN...someone at our table got up and walked for it. Now I have to wait. I'm getting cold and dizzy.

2:15 pm - They said that we have a 10 minute break. I go out to my car and drive to a gas station. I dry-heave so hard in my car that I feel like the blood vessles in my neck are about to explode. I use the bathroom at the gas station. I felt like Sex Machine from From Dusk Till Dawn. You know, the part where he's turning into a vampire but doesn't want anyone to find out. At the gas station, I find out that the diareah is getting worse. I realize it's going to be a long day.

2:25 pm - I get back to the hall.

3:20 pm - I slip away to use the bathroom again.

3:30 pm - I tell my team lead that I'm not feeling well. She tells me that the flu has been going around. Right away I see some of the eavdroppers shift in their shoes like they don't want to come near me. I don't blame them.
3:55 pm - They want to get the whole program to stand behind the supplies gathered for Hurricane Katrina victems so that they can take a photo. I leave.

4:15 pm - I arrive home and go right to my bedroom....then the bathroom....then back to my bedroom again. This thing starts again at 6 and goes until 9:30 pm. I figure maybe a nap would help.

For the next 11 hours I drift in and out of sleep. My dreams are strange. All of them are about the flu. During this time, I use the bathroom about 8 times. Every time I clear my throat I taste puke. I felt like I was going to puke all night. Obviously I skipped the second half of the QBR.

3:15 am - I get up and watch some Peoples Court. I'm dizzy and cold while I watch it. I end up crapping a bit in my boxers. Mad, I take a shower and return to bed.

7:30 am - I wake up with a sharp headache. I call into work. The first time in over a year.

If you haven't allready....go get your flu shot. This isn't fun.

Some Stories to Think About

Today I've posted a few links to an editorial and some other sites of interest.

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/09/06/opinion/06kristof.html?ex=1126670400&en=a5719fcd228a4865&ei=5065&partner=MYWAY

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/09/03/national/03walmart.html?th=&emc=th&pagewanted=print

www.factcheck.org

Labor Day

Saturday night, I went up north with Tony and Clarissa. Saturday night was kind of rough but got better after we started playing a new board game I just bought. Sunday was a blast.

This is the first Labor Day in a while that I haven't had to work. The day off was for the most part, busy. Woke up and went out for breakfast with Beth and Amanda. Followed that up with a trip to Stockbridge. I thought we'd play volleyball but it was way to hot out.

Returned to Appleton and called some people over for a cookout. It wasn't bad for short notice. Had six people total. Grilled out some spicy chicket breasts, brats, and hamburgers. Jill and Peter brought some Vegan food. Played some washerbox and Taboo.

If you've been keeping up with my blog, you might have noticed that I've been talking way to much about politics. The thing that's been getting me lately is how the current administration has been spinning the hurricane.

Read this artical, and then come back and read the rest of this:
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/09/05/national/nationalspecial/05bush.html?ex=1126584000&en=030cf85ee8fc90d7&ei=5070&emc=eta1
Alright, so Karl Rove, who can feed America a piece of crap and then get the media to say that someone else did it, is working at a whole new web. If you can remember back a couple weeks, Bush was under fire for his extra long vacation time. The republicans said that they are working vacations and that Bush can do everything he can do at the Whitehouse from Crawford. They really pushed home the point that they really weren't vacations at all.

The hurricane hit and all hell broke loose. Many people died because Bush didn't take leadership to get the ball rolling. When he realized what a PR disaster this was, he came out swinging with his normal "tough guy talk". "I am not satisfied with the results". They are trying to make it seem like he's got everything under control.

Now the administration is trying to say that Bush and most other officals were on vacation. Wait...see what happened? He wasn't on vacation and now he was. He could do everything before...and now he couldn't. I heard the same thing echoed on Air America the other day. It made me happy to know that someone else realized the same thing. I hope America isn't dumb enough to fall for it this time. Chances are, they'll forget about the whole vacation thing and go for the story about it being the local officals fault. I'm afraid to say that America's memory just isn't sharp enough.

Today

- Trained someone at work.
- Adam cooked us burgers for supper
- Played Washerbox
- Went to the bar and had a soda
- Had coffee with Beth
- Stayed up to late
- Didn't get anything important done

Early to Bed

Tony and Clarissa have been spending the week over at our apartment. It hasn't been that bad so far. Tony has looked pretty tired though. It's pretty hard working early in the morning. I have the same problem. You can't really go to sleep when everyone else is staying up later. It always seems like there's something to do as well.

Kelly called me earlier and let me know that she got pulled over. Her plates were expired (May 05'!) She got lucky and got a warning.

I film another wedding on Friday. I wish that Geno would let me know how my computer is doing. I have no idea if he is actually working on it or not. I sent him an e-mail a couple days ago and didn't recieve a reply. This makes me think that he hasn't touched it yet, or, he can't fix it.

Another Wild Weekend

I did a lot this weekend. Friday I went to a brewers game to watch them take on the Braves. I learned that 75.00 tickets aren't worth it. It was one of the better games I have seen. I was sitting by mostly Braves fans. I was getting vocal with them. It was great.

Saturday was Wade's wedding. One of the best weddings I've been to this year. Lots of people. Tony, Phil, and I got to play a handfull of songs while Jenny's Dad's band took a break. Everything went over pretty well. Keeping up with tradition, Phil came over after bar close and we had an afterbar. A girl named Rebecca came by. She was in the wedding party. Friends Renee and Abbey also came over for a while.

Today, (Sunday) we had a volleyball retirement party for my Dad (Stealth). We wrote some pretty funny cards and Kelly bought him an ice cream cake. We played three games of volleyball. Dad's team (Kelly, Tony, Tom, Dad) won all three games against us (Adam, Clarissa, Amanda and I).

Not bad compared to some of the past weekends I've had. Just got home a little while ago and took a bath. Installed an old quickcam from my parents house as well. Not looking forward to another work week.

Shirley Manson and I

SoundStage Setlist

Soundstage Set List:
Queer
Bad Boyfriend
Boys Wanna Fight
Sex Is Not The Enemy
I Think I'm Paranoid
Push It
Metal Heart
Happy Home
Shut Your Mouth
Not My Idea
Why Do You Love Me
Vow
Stupid Girl
Only Happy When It Rains
Right Between The Eyes
Happy Home Retake #1
Right Between The Eyes Retake #1
Happy Home Retake #2

Garbage in Chicago

Alright, I'll attempt a review of the Chicago Soundstage show.

Originally I was supposed to go with Tony. We were really looking forward to it. Tony's boss wouldn't let him leave work early though. I thought about taking Troy but I couldn't get Kelly to answer her phone. So, instead of Tony, I took Clarissa.
We got to Chicago at around 2:45. We pulled up to the studio and cars weren't allowed in the lot until 5. A very fun-loving-humorous security gaurd said we could park on the road. There were already three people waiting along the sidewalk. They were passing the time by playing cards.Clarissa and I decided to take a walk. We walked a few blocks to a public library and used the bathroom/looked at some books. We then strolled back to the sudio. The time was 4:30 and the line had grown to about 7-9 people. We got in line and waited.
The line started to significantly grow. Lot's of familiar faces started to appear.Eventually we were allowed to go up to the studio and form a line outside. Various band members arrived during this time. The security gaurd said that she had thought they were already inside rehearsing. I suppose it could have been the techs.At 6:30 we were let into the building. We went through a metal detector and then present our ID to get our tickets. We then went into the studio. It really was small. The 125.00 tickets had the rows directly in front of the stage. The 75 had an area kind of in front of the stage a little off the corner. And radio and website winners had a spot a little further off to the side.
It seemed to me that they positioned certain people closer to the stage. For example, people that were in front of the line and waiting since 2 were seated a ways back. They were leading certain people to the front of the stage. I think they wanted to create a certain look in the first couple rows. Seemed like a lot of girls and couples were brought up front.My seats were pretty good. I was off to the side a little bit. Maybe 7 feet away from the stage with no one in front of me. I couldn't really ask for a better spot....well maybe first row in the center.
They had a guy from Second City come out to warm the crowd up. They had to delay the start a little bit because one of the projection screen wasn't working. This led into a guy climbing a really unsafe looking ladder. He earned applause when he climbed down.When Garbage hit the stage they looked a little nervous. Butch wasn't with them again because of his Mother passing away. Matt Walker was playing drums in his absense. The first song they played was of course Queer. I don't remember the setlist, but I do know that they played Shut Your Mouth, Not My Idea, Boys Want to Fight, Sex is Not the Enemy, Only Happy When it Rains, Stupid Girl, Vow, Push It, I Think I'm Paranoid, Happy Home, Right Between the Eyes, Metal Heart and possibly a couple others. During Stupid Girl, Shirley came out and walked into the audience. It was great.Shirley talked a lot in between songs. At one point someone yelled "Madison" and Shirley respond "Scotland". The sound was pretty good.
After the show we went outside to some warning tape that was placed in front of the busses and cars. After a short wait, Duke came out and signed stuff. Then Steve, Then Shirley and Eric. I thanked Steve for updating his blog and he thought I was being sarcastic and said "yeah, I know, thanks for reminding me, I need to do that tonight". Then I clarified and said that I appreciated that he took the time to write anything at all in it. He stuck his hand out and shook my hand.
No one gives Eric enough credit. I mean, come on, the guy was a founding member of JANES ADDICTION. The bass on Caught Stealing is legendary! I made sure to get an autograph from him. The problem was, he didn't have a marker so he had to go ask Shirley. Shirley didn't want to give hers up so he got one from someone else in the crowd. Shirley was nice. Some people had like a gazillion things they wanted signed, which is kind of rude in that situation, but she signed everything. I have a lot of pictures, which I hope to share here soon.
The night was tarnished when I got home and my keys were locked in my car. In the morning, Adam spent a while trying to get the door open with a coat hanger. I ended up calling a locksmith and they opened it for 30.00. What a great night though!

Sunday

Got to sleep in today. Felt nice to get a good nights sleep. Went grocery shopping with Beth today. Afterwards I showed her the DVD from our show in Wisconsin Dells. Worked for a while on songs for Wade's wedding. Tony and Clarissa are coming over later. We'll probably play 007 on the PS2 or play cards. Not quite sure yet. I hope to get some biking in today as well.

Friday Night

Last night was a long night. After getting out of work I came home and took a nap. Around 6:30 I went to Chris McCoy's house and had a couple of beers. Then I went to a party at Matt's house. It was a pretty big party. A band called the Wandering Sons were playing. Phil ended up getting there around 11:00. We were able to get to the bars for a little bit. After that we went to an afterbar at Jenny's. We were there until about 5:30 in the morning.

Instead of driving back to Oakfield, Phil spent the night....or a couple hours in the early morning sleeping at my apartment. I woke him up at 9:30 and he left.

Tony and Clarissa came over in the morning. We drove together to Uncle Bob's house for Grandma's 76th birthday party. It was a good time despite the fact I felt like crap.

New Blog

blogger.com is new to me. I've blogged before, but not to the extent which I plan on doing here. Use this as your one stop overdose of Andy Mac.