quarter23cd

Maybe. We certainly do spend an awful lot of time chasing after "things" that keep us distracted. And not even "leisure" in the way we normally think of the word, but just glancing at my monthly bills I can point out several things--cellphone, cable tv, internet provider, web hosting, satellite radio--that I've come to think of as "standard" expenses, although they are things that didn't even exist a couple decades ago. And I wonder where all my money goes... And yet I would argue that access to leisure time seems to be diminishing. (anybody else here carry around a pager that is always o

Yeah, that's what I hear. Doesn't look like they're coming to my neck of the woods anytime soon, either. Louisville arguably isn't all that far of a road trip from Columbus, but I think I'll wait for them to come to me.

There was a cd with Searching for the Sound? Hmm. I didn't get that, but maybe because I bought it at one of those overstock stores for like $4. I'll have to re-read the part where he talks about that performance.

For the record, I vote YES on the sewage plant name and NO on whether it actually means anything. Kudos to the people of SF for their 5 minutes of hilarity. I had to google that thing that Aman posted b/c it sounded awful Onioneque to me, as well, but it does indeed appear to be legit. Wow. Just wow. What an a-hole.

Makes a lot of sense. There is still a considerable amount of frustration and outrage these days, but also not a very cohesive vision of how things should be different. What is the common ground we should be protesting for? And would it really make a difference, anyway? I think the apathy is the biggest obstacle. Nobody really feels powerful enough to change anything. Particularly in this bizarro decade we're living in now I notice the detachment I feel when I watch the news and hear reports that America did today (pick any topic you want) and my reaction is "OMG, America did WHAT??!"

I give you permission to not like it. This band has thrown me for a loop. For years I didn't get what the big deal was about them, and then just in the last year or so I've started to see the light on At Dawn and It Still Moves. And then this record landed on me with a thud and seems to have stalled my overall momentum in getting into this band.

Yeah, I don't know that casino shows are necessarily taboo. When I lived in CT, there seemed to be an increasing number of big name shows out at Mohegan Sun. Mostly nostalgia acts, I guess (which is really what the Pumpkins are, at this point), but not all. I think as casinos are becoming more all-around entertainment-oriented, they are starting to be seen as legit venues. I dunno. Along similar lines, I once opted out of going to see The Slackers (badass ska band) on one of those harbor-cruise boats out on Long Island Sound because the whole jam-cruise thing sounded kind of cheezy...but

Yep. Followed closely behind by Mountain Jam. And Jessica.

Give it a week and that casino venue will probably get branded with the FillmoreTM tag, anyway, and then it will sound less uncool.

That's a great story. I love hearing stories like that. For me, truthfully, the day I began to understand the Dead unfortunately wasn't until the day Jerry died. Before that, yeah, I knew them and I listened to them some and even caught one show in the early '90s, but it never really clicked all the way. Not the way it seemed to for all these people I knew who were really into it. And yet on the day he died, I remember hearing the news on the radio and having this really hollow feeling--a sense of loss of greater proportion than made sense to me, seeing as how I was only marginally a fan

I skipped my senior prom in '94 to camp out for tickets to the Stones at RFK. In an ironic contrast to your story, I missed out on all the putting-out going on after the prom in order to sit in a parking lot all night with a whole bunch of people who were old enough to be my parents. The concert was just ok, but I still think I made the right choice--the camping out turned out to be a pretty memorable experience in itself and time revealed that the one night of HS revelry I missed was nothing compared to the 4-5 year continuous fiesta of college.

I've never listened to that show and don't know if I ever will. Seems like the kind of thing that would be nice to have a copy of just for historical purposes, but I just can't listen to it. Its a shame if the "Black Muddy River" was lifeless, cuz that would have been a fitting end, otherwise, too. But "Box of Rain" is a pretty inspired choice. It's arguably my favorite song in the world, although I don't know that I've ever heard a live version that I like very much. (sorry, Phil) Still, the sentiment of that song......yeah, it just feels like the right way to end. At the Ratdog show I

Heh. I haven't even moved on to the wild world of text/picture messaging. I pay enough just to keep the freaking phone running each month, I can't bring myself to purchase a data plan. Which makes me a bit of an oddball, I suppose, being a software developer and working in a place where everybody I know is a gadget-head. I dunno, the more I work with technology from a professional standpoint, the more of a Luddite I become in my real life. Its amazing the shit people will pay for. (that said, I probably wouldn't turn down an iPhone if one were to offer me one for free)

Link? I'm willing to forgive some misspellings if he can offer some unique insights into the nature of chicken nuggets and monkey doo.

Yeah, we're in that boat right now. We have 4 enrolled full-time and it really is a toss-up about what to do. We used to have them go only a couple days a week and Grandma helped out the rest, but she's dealing with some health issues, so we've gone full-time. Mothly childcare ends up costing roughly the same as my wife's entire salary (a little more, actually). So part of her is inclined to stay home with them instead, but at the same time she has an extremely cool (and pretty flexible) job that is the kind of opportunity that will likely not come around again if she were to give it up no

Here's an off the wall sports-related one for ya: When I was a kid, that scene in The Bad News Bears In Breaking Training when Tanner is running around the outfield to escape the umpires who are chasing him and trying to call off the game and the whole damn Astrodome is chanting "Let them play!" gave me goosebumps every time. I watched the hell out of that movie on my parents' old Betamax. I haven't seen it since I was like 8 and refuse to watch it now, because in my memory, at least, that movie is right up there with The Godfather.

I'll have to send this one to my wife--she'll get a kick out of it (and/or pull her hair out). Kudos to Google for creating a quality childcare experience--boo for making it almost useless to their employees. Any type of childcare is not cheap. It just isn't. My monthly childcare bill costs way more than my mortgage. I probably would question the costs more if my wife didn't used to run a center and I've seen the budgets she used to work with and I know that the expenses are tremendous and the employees still get paid crap even when tuition is high. It doesn't make it any easier to p

Phil and the Bros at Merriweather sounds fantastic. I might have to go visit my parents that week so I can be in town for this. I spent so many great nights out on the lawn at Merriweather as a teenager. Easily my favorite outdoor venue (that I've been to), if nothing else just for the ambiance of walking through the woods from the parking lot to get to the venue. Good times.

This weekend at a neighborhood block-party type thing, my one year old was dancing her butt off to the 60s/70s cover band that was playing. She was probably the only person dancing at the entire party, as boring suburban adults gathered together in groups to talk about boring things like new carpet while they sized up the quality of each other's lawn. When the band took a break to hit the BBQ line, she made a beeline over to where they had been playing and I had to keep pulling her away from touching all the instruments. She totally wanted to rock! Cutest. Damn. Thing. Ever.

See, this is why you want to make sure you stay on Disney property when you book your vacation...

And if by some chance you should survive the war (where we are sure to send you directly to the most dangerous assignments), we might even consider letting you stay! (maybe) Sounds like a sweet deal to me!

Heh. I was going to post a similar statement, but you guys beat me to the punch. It never ceases to amaze me when people are shocked by the idea that teenagers want to (and do) have sex. You hit a good point about the abstinence-only ed omitting that these impulses are naturally-occurring. Peer pressure and cultural cues play an "aiding and abetting" role, but the fundamental drive is hardwired in us. It just is.

More than I do, but hey, whatever. I still haven't discovered the magic here, but who knows? This band took me a couple years of off/on listening to warm up to in the first place. Maybe this album will suddenly open up to me sometime in 2012 or something and all will be gumdrops and rainbows. For now I'm thinking that guy is on just as much crack as Kot. But, hey, who am I to knock it when people find music they like?

Well, that was....enthusiastic.

I think you're onto something here.