Happy Halloween

From me and Rocky

Rocky and I don't usually dress up anymore for Halloween, but we do our part.

Four...and definitely no more

But this time I'll have company

Just when I had made up my mind that I wouldn't go to the fourth Eagles concert, just when I had convinced myself that three $250 concerts would be enough, my friend called out of the blue. Haven't heard from him for a couple of months, figured I'd never hear from him again.

When I mentioned that I'll be going to the first three concerts alone, he offered to fly over and join me for the fourth.

Tickets for that fourth Eagles concert in Honolulu went on sale this morning and I scored great seats again..but I PROMISE this is the last one I'll go to. I won't be flying to see them on Maui a couple of days later, and I won't even THINK about getting tickets to another one if it should be announced.

It's mind-boggling that our population can even support this many concerts. Who the heck are all those other Eagles fanatics, anyway, especially those crazy enough to splurge (repeatedly) on the high-end seats?? I wanna meet you!

Hawaii IS part of the United States

But not according to Ticketmaster

Dumb*sses.

Naughty little dinosaurs

They really don't care who's watching - or taking pictures.


 

 

 

Last two pics are of Mr. Big showing off and waiting for his next date.

Good Sunday

I'm ready for the week now

At 4:30 a.m. we cancelled our plans to participate in the Race for the Cure (due to inclement weather) and enjoyed a leisurely breakfast at a restaurant instead.

The weather cleared up so I took Rocky Raccoon on a walk in the yard on a leash -- and we both survived.




While hanging my clothes outside I snapped R-rated pictures of yard dinosaurs (second couple I saw that morning who didn't care I was right there). See above post for more pics.



Later went to the mall and took advantage of Macy's underwear sale -- sorry, no pictures

And finally: Used a See's Candy gift card to buy over-priced Halloween candy, and got more free samples than usual because the salesgirl recognized me!

They did it again, darnit!

Two more Eagles concerts in Hawaii

My Eagles will now put on a total of FIVE concerts in Hawaii (the fifth will be on on Maui). I already have tickets for the first three, and was hoping they wouldn't announce any more, even though it was rumored that a fourth was in the works.

At least this time I've got 'til Saturday to decide, unlike when tickets for the third concert were suddenly made available without any advance notice.

I already have great floor seats for the first three concerts, but will be sitting by myself and really would rather not for a fourth. Some of my friends will be going to the second concert but sitting elsewhere. A few others said they might go if a fourth concert was announced, but they weren't intending on getting the $250 tickets that crazies like I have done. But I'll ask around again...

Or, is three enough?

Looks like I'll live

Blood work came back normal

So why do I feel so crappy?! Tonight my back is worse than ever before, so I'm self-medicating. *clink*. You don't suppose my recent talk about needing to celebrate a mid-life crisis got my body figuring I was overdue for mid-life ache & pain session as well??

No clue yet what's wrong with me, but there's plenty of time before my concerts for me to be fixed. Three Eagles concerts, and, as of today, a Motley Crue concert (also terrific floor seats) a couple of weeks after them. I definitely have to be in tip-top shape for that one.

Good thing I like needles

Most poking I've had in a while

OK, so on Monday I had a free flu shot that was offered to teachers. Stood in a loooong line with a friend at our Teachers Institute (not quite what you might think) to take advantage of the freebie. I've had flu shots before without any ill effect, and actually like getting stuck by needles.

[Wanted to stand in the blood donation line, but until they instate a new half-pint policy, I'll never meet the required weight minimum. No matter how much I'd love to donate blood (I think that'd be the coolest), I refuse to get that fat for them. Hope I can say that a decade from now as I get heavier and heavier...]

Tuesday morning rolls around, I take a shower and realize as I'm getting ready for work that I'm surprisingly uncomfortable. This was after the shower and a few sips of coffee; I should be feeling pretty decent by now. But no..my lower back aches really bad and my stomach..is f*cken messed up.

Wednesday goes by. Same, uh, sh*t. Thursday beckons and I tell myself that enough's enough. I called in sick today (Thursday) and made an appointment with my doctor to see what the heck is wrong with me.

At my insistence the test for kidney infection was taken (I swore was the culprit), and results given while I waited. I was so bummed when they came in negative because that meant I'd have to go home without antibiotics which I *knew* would make me feel better. If I had a kidney infection like two years ago when I went kayaking for the first time and had to wade around in less-than-clean water, I'd be cured!

Had a couple of vials of blood taken (ohyeah, for some reason I've always liked that part) to see of other parts of me are malfunctioning. My doctor will be on leave in a couple of days, so if I remember to call tomorrow, I'll find out my results earlier than normal.

So here I sit, uncomfortable and bummed, and a little bit scared to find out what the bloodwork will show. I have my own suspicions what might be the problem, and if it turns out to be that, then I've been my own worse enemy.

Or it could be, as ladies my age are telling me (from experience), that it's hormonal. Hah. I refuse to believe that crap..for now. In my mind, "hormonal" is a catch-all phrase for normal sh*t that's hard to diagnose. Or something. As I've said before, I intend to flit through that stage without noticing it much.

No, I don't think the flu shot on Monday was the cause of all this. But wouldn't it be nice to blame it on something??

Tommy Lee on fire

Literally

Tommy Lee suffered minor burns on his arms and face during a pyrotechnics explosion while performing in concert in Wyoming yesterday. Apparently, the accident occurred while he was being transported from one drum set to another 30 feet above the stage. It was toward the end of the set, and he played one more song before the band decided to cut the show short.

Motley Crue has performances Friday - Sunday, and reportedly none will be cancelled.

I was thinking tonight that I might pass on their concert here (ticket ordering got a little more complicated than I expected), but this might've sealed the deal.

EDIT 7:46 pm: What a coincidink. While channel surfing I came across MSNBC with a teaser about the Tommy incident. So I watched it. Tommy was OK at the time to make jokes, and did go to the hospital after the show was cut short, but couldn't be found there, so might've already been released (or registered under some other name). Wow..wonder if they'll bring their whole shebang, elevated sets, pyrotechnics and all to Hawaii. Doubt it.

Apple's "One More Thing" Event

Speculation ended today!

Apple's highly-anticipated "One More Thing" event did not disappoint. The goodies are way better than the lackluster ROKR iTunes phone, and yes, much of it had to do with iTunes and the iPod.

[I can't believe it's been a year since the last "One More Thing" event, when the black and red U2 Special Edition iPod was debuted. As of today it's no longer is available at Apple's website, so I guess I have a real collector's item!]

Best of the best of today's announcement (IMO):

• new G5 iMacs are better, faster, thinner than before, come with the iSight camera built in, and are bundled with the niftiest mouse on the planet, Mighty Mouse
  
• new, slimmer iPods are video-capable, and come in black or white (ala the nano iPod)
  
• iTunes 6 now has more than 2000 videos and TV shows for $1.99
  

The new iPod commercial features a video clip of U2's performance in Chicago earlier this year. I love how U2 and Apple are still happy together. Rumor is it that Madonna might be the inspiration for the next Special Edition iPod because she's so prominently featured on iTunes and in the ROKR commercial. I won't be buying that one.

But the most surprising thing was Steve Jobs' outfit! He was wearing brown slacks instead of his usual uniform of blue jeans and sneakers!! Gasp!

Butch's new EP

on iTunes today!

After a 10-day countdown that whipped Butch fans into a frenzy trying to figure out what his hints meant, he came out today with an EP of five mostly live songs he's covered.

He's already been trying some new songs during his present Hotel Cafe Tour, and they're being shared online. Nice how he uses his fans as beta testers :) He'll be working on two CDs soon.

Made out like a bandit today!

Then used my savings to buy more shoes :)

A friend just bought a new Sony Vaio, so I told her that now would be a great time to buy a Sony digital camera to go with it. Decided to look through today's ads to see if any good deals were available. Lucked out: Office Depot had a Sony Cyber-shot for $129 after rebate, an Epson projector for $799 + an instant $100 gift card to be used on the next purchase, and an HP all-in-one printer/copier/scanner/fax for $149 before its 15% discount.

I bought the camera and projector for school use (left one camera for my friend if she decides to get it), and used the $100 gift card toward the printer, which ended up costing me only $32.79 after tax!! I've never liked the idea of those all-in-one models, since if one part flakes out, you're still stuck with the whole machine. But my two printers and two old scanners don't work well with my latest operating system, and the price was more than right. My test scan was a page from a magazine that I had Butch autograph :)

Office Depot is conveniently located right next to Nordstrom Rack. After loading the goodies into my car, I decided to take a look around at the Rack. Found a beautiful blouse..and two pairs of shoes. Yikes, I know I shouldn't keep buying shoes, but it's so easy to do. I threw out a bunch over the summer, but have replaced them with even more pairs since then.

The blouse is gorgeous and definitely not something I'd wear to school. It'd be great to wear to a special night out, like to an Eagles concert..or a Motley Crue concert! Yeah, it looks as if I *will* be going to that one, after all!

This one I'm not too sure I'll attend

Motley Crue to perform in Hawaii on December 14, 2005

Whoa. Maybe I'll go if Tommy Lee gives Butch Walker proper credit for co-wriiting and performing on his theme song to his reality show and video "Good Times"!

Maybe I'll go just 'cuz.

Not a big Crue fan, but it should be a trip. I do know two people who are really into them, so maybe they'll let me tag along. I haven't been all that successful getting my own friends go to to concerts with me ;)


Live 8 (Canada) July, 2005


Below is a recent silly pic of Nikki Sixx, Butch Walker, and Tommy Lee. Butch, who is 6' 2", must be slouching because he looks like their wasted little brother!

Maybe they won't suck this time

Everclear at Pipeline on Saturday



I liked most of Everclear's stuff, but hated them in concert a few years ago. They were wasted, profane (it was an all-ages/parents + kiddies show at the BayFest) and were horribly off-key. Only good thing was the t-shirt I bought, although the Hawaii venue was misspelled.

They'll be here again on Saturday. I had vowed not to go because they were so embarrassingly awful last time, but tonight wondered if I should reconsider. I actually have plans for that night, but after listening to random songs on iTunes and hearing their songs again, I might want to check them out. Don't want to park my car anywhere near the place, but the $22 ticket price (plus crappy Ticketmaster fees) is nothing compared to what my Eagles are charging, and they're over a month away. Need a fix before then.

Did I mention before how much I love live rock concerts?

X-rays don't lie

I'm a little crooked. Crooked-er in my lower back than a year ago. Neck improved some, which was the actual reason I originally started going to a chiropractor a couple of years ago. Lower back wasn't really too much of a concern.

But I guess my bad habits of driving with my left leg up on the seat, and poor posture while at the computer (many times with that left leg, if not both, on the chair or desk) have compounded my crookedness. Bummer, but I'm glad I saw what was happening so I can counteract it.

My chiropractor had asked earlier if I wanted to take pictures of my x-rays to post on my blog. Kinda wished I had a camera with me today :)

WTF!?

I might be a little riled up today..

.. but things just seem to keep on HAPPENING!

Someone (inadvertently??) deleted files on the Public partition of one of our school's servers this afternoon. It must've taken a while, and at some point that person must've known something wasn't right.

This whole school year is just not proceeding well. School-wide renovations definitely add to the mix, but other rather important things are falling through. Man, we've only been in session for about a month and a half and already we're squinting for the light at the end of the tunnel.

Old hardware is driving me batty. Printers might be the death of me. Poor teachers. They're the ones having to put up with inconveniences; we're just trying to ease them. Thank goodness I have "real" techie guy that works part-time. But the straw that broke the camel's back might've landed on him last week.

Yeah

Still got it, sorta

Been feeling old and fat and fat and old lately. Haven't been to the gym in over a year. Emailed my former trainer a couple of weeks ago, but he never got back to me.

But I still can crank out 33 pushups!

Overdue for a mid-life crisis

I really don't intend to live twice my present age, so I figured I'd better hurry and have a mid-life crisis soon, skip the self-reflection part, and spend way too much money on something that would fool myself into believing I was youthful again.

A couple of years ago when I almost bought a Mazda RX-8, I thought that would be it, but since I couldn't see out of sides of the darn thing, it didn't count. Buying my purty little Scion TC coupe last year (no, not the ugly Kleenex box model) doesn't quite qualify, because even though it's from Toyota's "youth-marketed division", it didn't cost an arm and a leg as mid-life crisis objects are supposed to cost. In fact, that's why I bought it. I've never had to put up w/car payments and wanted to find a car I could pay in full. Couldn't do that w/the Mazda MX-8, even if I was able to see out of it.

Darnit. Maybe spending almost $800 on three upcoming Eagles concerts counts? Nah, those guys are even older than I am, and I've spent much more to see them before, so that doesn't qualify.

A sudden, major change would do it. I did get my hair colored professionally for the first time today (woohoo!) -- but that was because I had tried to use a medium brown on my dark brown hair two weeks ago and ended up with an interesting mix of medium brown/dark brown/red highlights and I wanted her to even it out. In this day and age when everyone seems to be going blondish, the most daring I can be is going a teensy bit less dark brown.

Here's a picture taken earlier this week at a friend's birthday dinner, in all my waiting-for-mid-life-crisis glory. Can't even tell I tried to lighten my hair on my own. And, yeah, I realize I'm putting my pic up here for something like the fourth time, but I don't worry about it, even though my parents might. (See two posts below.)



There was no significant difference after getting it professionally colored/balanced today. Should I have gotten a mohawk while I was there?

Going light brown and getting blond highlights is so common, too many Asians are doing that nowadays (yeah, like that looks natural), and I don't want to be one of the crowd. Same reason I bought my car; it was different at the time. Hardly anyone had one back then because it was too new. Everyone was telling me to get a Camry, but that is so a teacher car and is over-represented here. I wanted to be unique, if just for a little while.

So what can I do to celebrate my overdue mid-year crisis? Get a 20-something boy toy? (No thanks.) Go sky diving? (Don't want to be strapped to a stranger.) Buy shoes? (Do that all the time. In fact, bought a pair of cute, pointed-toe boots today that I may never wear.)

Suggestions?