Korea's missile aimed toward Hawaii??

Yikes, first we're being warned that California is long overdue the "big one" (hopefully not when I'm there later this week) and now it's been reported that the failed North Korea missile was aimed thisaway:

By Ruth Mantell
Last Update: 8:28 PM ET Jul 6, 2006

SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) -- North Korea targeted waters near Hawaii on Wednesday when it fired a long-range missile, according to a media report Thursday evening. Defense officials in Japan and the United States have concluded that the Taepodong-2, one of the seven missiles fired Wednesday, was targeted near Hawaii, according to the Associated Press, which cited a Japanese newspaper. Lt. Col. Ellen Krenke, a spokeswoman for the Department of Defense, declined to confirm the report, but said: "We are monitoring the situation closely." Officials decided that the missile was pointed at Hawaii from the angle of its nose cone immediately after its launch and the altitude it reached before falling into the Sea of Japan, the report indicated.

Half over

Not that I'm complaining (what other profession gets weeks off each summer), but this summer break is the shortest yet, and half of it has flown by already. But the best is yet to come: Butch's new CD comes out next week, and as Rock Star: Supernova's album producer, he'll be making more guest appearances on the show. I'll have to miss some episodes and will catch up later, but that's OK, because I'll soon be having a great time on vacation from my vacation. So no more blogging for a while, like I do much of that anymore, anyway :)

ButchBits3 videocast

Rich People Die Unhappy

Butch's video is pretty dark, and I guess I should've lightened it up a bit, ohwell. My aim was to figure out how to get a couple of pictures and my voice in there since the video track replaces the podcast track. Dunno if it was actually the "right" way, but it worked!

ButchBits2

My second attempt at podcasting is online and on iTunes. I think I'm sounding less doofus-like. Helps to have some idea what to talk about.

I sound like a doofus

The more I listen to myself in that podcast, the more I don't like what I hear. At first I had no idea what I'd be talking about, so I rambled on a bit until I decided to narrow the subject matter to Butch. I edited a bunch out, but I still sound awkward and unsure of what I was doing -- which was exactly how I felt!

I'd like to eventually get it going where I can create education-related podcasts, but for now I'll stick to butchbits or whatever comes up.

For what it's worth, the podcast is now a free download at the iTunes Music Store!

First podcast

HissyFitz and ButchBits

Gotta keep up with the cool kids. Unfortunately, the cool kids probably have something cool to talk about, while I just wanted to see if I could do it.

Created my first podcast today, with Butch Walker content, of course. Don't like how I sound, but it wasn't that easy while leaning over the desk with my face practically against the monitor of the iMac. Gotta pick up an external microphone someday. I purposely tried to speak slowly since I tend to rattle on quickly, but the effect makes me sound half-asleep.

The best things in life are...

..redeemable with Rewards Points!

Nuthin' like closing a rarely-used credit card account and discovering there were enough rewards points on it to get five $25 Macy's gift cards -- and receiving them in the mail just before heading out for a combo birthday celebration/Macy's shopping night. Cute stuff from that night:



A close second: finding out the person you'll be traveling with to SF has more than enough rewards points for a free car rental!

I was phone-phished by Sam-I-Am!

I received a call from a male with a heavy pseudo-sounding accent today. At first I thought it was a joke.

Sam: Hello, I am [garbled] from [garbled] [garbled] [garbled] calling about your domain ***.com.
Me: I'm sorry, who is this?
Sam: My name is S-- (garbled again, but definitely started w/an S), calling from Domain Registry [garbled] about your domain..
Me: Who? Calling from Domain Registry what? (By now I figured this was either a joke or a scam, so figured it was OK to be a bit rude.)
Sam: I am Sam (I think) calling from Domain Registry S-- [garbled]
Me: OK. I understand Domain Registry, I get your junk mail all the time, but what is that word that you're saying after that?
Sam: S-- [garbled] (his obvious attempt at enunciation made it even worse)
Me: Sorry, please spell that.
Sam: s-u-p-p-o-r-t, supppououurrrt
Me: Oh! OK, support! Don't tell me you guys are now actually CALLING people??
Sam: Yes, this is about your domain, ***.com
Me: Heh, ok, what are you trying to ask me?
Sam: We need your fax number to send you more information.
Me: More information about what?
Sam: We need your fax number to send it to you.
Me: But what kind of information do you want to send? Can't you tell me what it is now, over the phone?
Sam: No, we need your fax number...
Me: Hey, this is actually getting pretty funny if you're for real. Can't you at least tell me what kind of information you want to send?
Sam: silence
[disconnect]

I was actually a little disappointed the guy didn't try harder. Did a little bit of research after I hung up, and found that others have had similar experiences. Turns out DomainRegistry.com knows about it this scam (they even received a phone call from them!) and says their company has nothing to do with these guys. They just want to spam-fax owners of domains in hopes of transferring them to their company -- the same thing Domain Registry does, but by email and snail mail.

They probably got my phone number by doing a whois, but I already had a fax number listed. My other domain names don't show my phone number or any other personal information, and thought this one didn't either. It doesn't anymore!

What's your guilty pleasure?

My definition: An indulgence that wastes time and money, makes you feel a tad guilty but waaaay too good.

Some people have certain food fetishes, shopping pleasures, trashy reading preferences. Mine is going to concerts.

Living on a rock in the middle of an ocean makes it difficult to feed my habit (with the exception of the four Eagles concerts, along with The Who, Steely Dan, Motley Crue, and Elvis Costello shows that managed to stop here recently..and U2 who will reschedule later this year). I usually have to fly out to see my favorite bands or artists, but I try to keep it financially reasonable, so it's off again to California for my Butch Walker concerts!

Bought the last of my tickets today, booked my airfare to LA, and am working on the SF portion of the trip. This is already consuming me, even though the concerts are a few months away. I want to make the most of my SF trip: wine country tour, ferry ride to Sausalito, shopping, good hotel. It all adds up, but the travel costs that accompany the concerts are a necessary part of the splurge, aren't they?

The damage so far:

concert tickets: $80

airfare/hotel/car: $750

seeing Butch again: you know it -- priiiceless!

Yes, I survived

Someone posted a comment on my other blog today, wondering if the diet had done me in since I hadn't blogged since I started it. It's just that I haven't had much to say the past four weeks, but now that school's out I'll probably start talkintomyself again.

A quick update of the past few weeks is below..might be WAAAY BELOW, depending on what browser you're using. Blogger did funny stuff w/the HTML table. Shows up fine on my other blog!

	The diet's officially over but I'm going to continue parts of it. Didn't lose quite what I wanted, and the get-together at Todai, a huge all-you-can-eat seafood restaurant, on the last day of the diet sure didn't help. That's OK, I just want to lose a couple more pounds.
	Summer vacation has begun, no more dirty looks til July 27th!
	Celebrated the end of school with yummy lychee martinis (and more) last night. Lychee's a fruit, so that's OK on my diet. Not too sure about the vodka.
	Butch recently announced four concerts in California -- see ya in September! His new CD will come out next month..but I'll be at a conference in Oregon when it's shipped to my home :(
	How'd my eyeball get here?

Offline and out of touch

Not sure if it's my darn ISP or my DSL carrier that's at fault, but I haven't been online for two days. Attended an off-campus meeting today so couldn't even get online at work. Had to resort to checking email at my parents' home.

Between this and my diet, I am not a happy camper.

Day 1

Purification diet

I'm not one for dieting, but I could stand to lose a few pounds and this new diet will not only do that, it'll detox me, as well. If I can follow it.

It's actually a 21-day purification diet that involves taking a bunch of supplements w/essential vitamins and minerals, drinking their shakes, and eating organic veggies/fruits. Doesn't sound so hard, but I was kind of hungry today and my (non-organic) veggies and fruits didn't really satisfy me. But clearing out toxins is a good thing, and I weigh a little less tonight than when I woke up this morning.

Not sure yet if the hardest part will be swallowing 10 capsules three times a day or not drinking wine in the evenings.

Don't swat that!

Hawaiian picture-wing flies

HONOLULU — Twelve species of rare flies known for their elaborate courtship displays and found only in the Hawaiian Islands are now protected under the Endangered Species Act.


Photo by Kevin T. Kaneshiro/AP Wide World

At least they're two to three times larger than the common housefly so they won't be mistaken for them. But I suppose it could still happen.

Vote for Honolulu

Monopoly is being redisgned in the "here & now"

Hasbro is conducing an online poll that will allow consumers to decide which new cities and their famous landmarks will appear on their "Monopoly Here and Now" game board that will be in stores in the fall.

Landmarks in 22 cities are up for grabs. Honolulu has Diamond Head, Kalakaua Avenue, and Waikiki Beach. Personally, I thought that was a little redundant since Waikiki Beach fronts Kalakaua Avenue (and how many people who've never been here can even pronounce "Kalakaua"?), but I'm all for putting us on the map, er, game board.



Vote now through May 12th, and vote often! The live results show that Honolulu needs more support, but it appears you can vote for that city just once a day. Technically. Honolulu just got 4 votes from me today from my different computers at home. Note to self: Enlist kids next week from the computer lab!

Definitely hate Definately

Think there's a trend?

Months ago I lamented the decline in people's spelling abilities, which shouldn't rear its ignorant head in this day and age of spell-check. A while back I ranted about the use of "there's" when "there're" is meant, and, more recently, complained about the stupid new use of the word "random". Can't help it, it's the teacher in me.

What's been bugging me for a while now is the misspelled usage of "definitely". Because kids (and adults!) see it misspelled so often online, I think those who are on a shaky ground, spelling-wise, probably think that's the correct spelling. I mean, if so many people are spelling it EXACTLY that way, it must be right, right? WRONG!!

What freaked me out was the email I received from a TEACHER on Friday, with that damn misspelled word!! I've read it in other adults' writings and could brush it off, but auuugh, no, not from a teacher!!

UrbanDictionary.com even lists "definately", with this as its first entry:

Idiot-speak for "definitely". One of the most common moronic misspellings found on the internet.

New Venture

Motivational (??) Posters

Been wasting too much time playing with pictures I've taken, so I decided, hey, why not make something worthwhile from them? I was leaning in the direction of those hilarious de-motivational posters, but I quickly discovered that not only am I not hilarious, I guess I'm just not cynical or depressed enough. Today, anyway.

Don't know if these three I made would actually motivate anyone to do anything, but it's a start. I won't quit my day job just yet.


click for 3-poster slide show

Happy Easter -- woops!

It's a beautiful-as-usual day. No more torrential storms, scary floods, nasty sewage-y stuff in the water. Perfect for taking pictures..you'd think. The first three above were taken this morning from my mom's church on the slopes of Diamond Head (where I visit a few times a year, coincidentally during holidays), and the fourth was at the restaurant where we had lunch afterward. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to take any more pictures because the fish were out to get me.

Those peaceful koi have pondmates, a bunch of huge-@ss ulua (the largest was 80 pounds and is displayed over the buffet table, see below) that sometimes splash around, causing the walkway around the pond area to be slippery. After taking that last picture, I crouched down to get another view. My high heel slipped in the water, my butt hit the floor, and while the camera never left my hand, it also hit the floor. I got up quickly before someone took a picture of ME, and took one last glance at the fish. I coulda sworn I heard someone or something giggling under water.

And, yeah, the camera is out of commission for now. I was zooming in to take a shot and it's stuck in that position. But not to fear, I have access to other cameras...


Star-Bulletin photo by Cindy Ellen Russell

Musical cat

PG-rated picture

Geezer needed assistance

I like words and don't like them to change meanings on me without warning. Lately I've been reading and hearing "random" used more and more often (hey, I don't hang with the cool kids, and I work at an elementary school on a military base in the middle of the Pacific Ocean where slang usually arrives on our shores late), so when I tried to explain its "new" meaning to another person last night, I needed some help. Turns out the definition is pretty random itself, according to UrbanDictionary.com, ranging from "irrelevant", "unrelated", and "unexpected", to something said "out of the blue by mindless teenagers". Several posts reflected these opinions:

"For the love of God, stop using this word. It's not clever, it's not funny and it's not original. You sound just the same as all the other clone-like teenagers who think they're oh so unique for saying it. Give it a fucking rest." and "Trouble is, being 'random' is predictable, boring, moronic and extremely sad indeed."

OK. So you'll never catch me trying to be hip at the risk of sounding clone-like, not to mention moronic and sad. Not that it ever occurred to me to even try out the word. I can't even speak pidgin properly, and I live in Hawaii where it's pretty much the State Language.

Where DO these things start, anyway?? A lot of new stuff originates from gamers, and those are actually interesting, but what lame-o came up with "random"??

My visit to UrbanDictionary.com was enlightening. In fact, I might add its Word of the Day to my blog. Today's is below, which reminds me, I have to revisit my state return because TurboTax took liberties and shortcuts with my information, and I think I could do better manually.

April 14, 2006
Taxgasm

A heightened state of excitement or ecstasy over the completion of any facet of the taxation process. Usually experienced by CPAs.

I am so excited about the new tax folders I am having a taxgasm!

After the storms

The weather's been gorgeous all week*. Tourists are back in the relatively sewage-free waters of Waiklki, potholes are being filled, cars are being dug out of landslides, yards and homes are drying out. Mazes of yellow tape are a little less labyrinthian.

Huh?

A little background info: the mall near my house was flooded last Friday as water overflowed the street, crashed through walls in the theaters, and swept through the different wings of the mall. It was closed for several days, and while most of the stores have since re-opened, some still are boarded up or shrouded in plastic. GNC had reopened earlier in the week, but just as I was about to make my purchase, there was a power outage so had to return today to buy my bars. Yellow tape mazes still wind throughout the mall, but as the floors are repaired, they're being removed, so there's a little less zigging and zagging to get from point A to point B.



* Would've been a great night for a U2 concert :(

Flooded!

March 31, 2006 was finally our turn

It had been raining for weeks, so when another thunderstorm began, I pretty much ignored it, figuring it wouldn't cause much damage. I only looked outside when I heard my dad, who lives next door, banging things around. Turns out he was wrestling with trash bins that kept floating away. That's him in the picture below, taken from behind my screen door, just before water started to come into my house.

I live upstairs in an old, two-story house. Thank goodness downstairs is mostly used for storage..and shoes. Unfortunately, my car, that was vandalized last month and was just brought back from the body shop the day before, also lives downstairs and got flooded.

After 4.5 hours of sweeping, scooping, and mopping water up, I finally ventured out in my soggy car to get a Shop-Vac. Shoulda done that earlier. Yesterday my father ripped out the living room carpet and threw out the two couches. They were old and only Rocky would miss them. Most of the things in storage are OK, with the exception of some older printers and monitors. My stuff is all upstairs, safe and dry.

Click the image below for a slideshow of my view of the flood. I couldn't go outside to take better pictures because I was trying my damnedest to block the water from coming in the doors! Once it started seeping in, it gained power, pushing away towels, rags, and rugs I used to try to stop the flow.



I'm very lucky. Nothing of real value was damaged. The first thing I did was scoop up my shoes that were on the floor, and make sure the rest were out of harm's way :) It's mostly the days of clean-up that are a pain. Others weren't as fortunate. It's been raining off-and-on, but mostly on, for about five weeks. Hawaii hasn't been hit like this in decades.

GENIUS

I wouldn't have been able to type that word days ago, since the "g" on my keyboard stopped working. The forward delete and return key wouldn't work, either. Might have had to do with the fact that I rinsed out the keyboard a few days ago...

Anyway, my underscore key got lots of action. I typed emails saying "_ood luck" and "_et back to me later". That got old, so I just came up with other words and phrases to get around using "g". (For blogging I used a keyboard utility and eventually a different keyboard.)

The novelty had worn off by yesterday so I decided to make a trip to my local Apple Store. The particularly spastic little geeky Apple "Genius" (he really was, I'm not making that up and would never make fun of a fellow Mac enthusiast) just plugged it in to his laptop, and the darn thing worked. He never even flipped it over where he might've spotted the water puddles through the clear iMac keyboard casing.

Guess it just needed extra time to dry out, LIKE EVERYTHING ELSE ON THESE SOPPING WET ISLANDS! It's thundering and lightning-ing as I type. As of today, it's been 40 days and 40 nights of sogginess.

30 Years of Apple

1976 - 2006

Founded in a garage by two college dropouts to become the cultural icon it is now, Apple Computer will celebrate its 30th birthday on April 1st. "One long April Fool's joke."

As I was cleaning out my closet and drawers the other day I discovered I own at least 15 Apple or Mac-related t-shirts and one sweatshirt. That I kinda figured, but my next round-up surprised me.

I have nine Macs in this house! Not all are mine, and not all are in tip-top shape, but they're definitely too precious to abandon. Actually, that's why I have so many, a few are downstairs, having been rescued from a computer donation site. A couple will be used in schools. One classic may not even be working, but it was adopted to keep another we had from years ago company. Kinda like bookends.



Aww, aren't they cute?

Public transportation ain't so bad

in spite of the rain



I took my poor, keyed Scion to the body shop this morning. The street was ponding as I got out of the car. Stepped in a submerged pothole, so by the time I got to the office, I looked pretty pathetic. They took pity on me, gave me a bunch of paper towels and a ride to the mall where I was to catch the bus. Who knows, I might've drowned, otherwise.

Nothing was really open at the time except Starbucks (of course), a couple of eateries, and the supermarket. I was bummed that the new Borders, with their yummy Cinnamon Dolce Latte, wouldn't open until 9:00 am, so I just wandered around..and took pictures. Kind of wanted to, but didn't, take pics of the homeless hanging around the market. Actually, I tried to avoid them, especially the ones talking loudly and gesturing to who knows what.

Tried to clean up and dry out in the bathroom. Several others came in looking pretty soggy, but no one but me took pictures of herself looking like that :)

The last time I took TheBus was probably decades ago. The actual ride was pleasant, but I almost wasn't on it. It appeared on time, but passed right on by! If it weren't for a stop sign a little ways down that gave us a chance to run after it, we would've had to wait another hour for the next one. The driver claimed that wasn't his stop, even tho it was clearly marked and I had spoken to a supervisor earlier to confirm the time and location. (Yeah, I submitted a complaint online a few minutes ago. So there.)

The bus was pretty empty because most people going in that direction hopped on the more-frequent Waikiki buses. Ahh, Waikiki. Instead of the usual sunburned tourists, there were umbrellas, sandbags, puddles and more rain. At least Diamond Head was greener than usual, but no one would want to hike it today.

Won't get my car back until Friday, but will borrow one of my dad's cars 'til then so I won't be doing any more bus-riding for a while.

Between the rainstorms

an excuse to take pictures

The end of April will mark a year since I started blogging. It feels longer than that, and I've yet to find my groove. I can yammer on only so much about Rocky Raccoon, Apple computers, the bands I like, and the occasional personal/topical/news-related comment, before I run dry for weeks at a time. I wouldn't think about dissing work, and always keep in mind that my parents, some colleagues, and even my brother if I ask often enough, actually check in (tho rarely comment!!) once in a while.

I don't have a killer sense of humor, a controversial slant on politics, or even kids to write about. I don't live an exciting life filled with crazy highs and despairing lows..hmm, maybe there's the problem. I don't really have much of a life.

Yet I will muddle on, but, as someone commented recently, I've been in an unusual posting frenzy. (But he also called me a sporadic blogger, which is closer to the truth.) Digital cameras are so nifty. Photoshop is even cooler. And when you have nothing to say, hopefully a half-decent picture or two will fill the bill.

Here's the latest from today, in between rainstorms:

RIP, crazy tree

:(




It put up with a lot, but the recent downpours were too much for it.

Weird Hawaii Weather

Hail and tornadoes

Hailstone drift in geraniums
Honolulu Star-Bulletin, March 25, 2006

Horizontally-flying hailstones the size of quarters on the Big Island of Hawaii, tornadoes on the island of Lanai, lots of flooding, landslides, and power outages state-wide. Roads and homes were taken out, and seven lives were lost on Kauai.

Not your typical Hawaii weather.

This is Hawaii??

Five weeks is enough

EDIT: Both QuickTime and Windows Media Player versions of the 29-second video are now included as links, for those who couldn't view the original QT version and whose browsers were having hissyfitz. Thanks, Joey, for letting me know.

I wasn't feeling well, so stayed home from work today. I never use video cameras, but we ordered a couple for school and I wanted to try it out. It actually started to let up as I filmed, but later at night the island was rocked by thunder and lightning.



OR
[Select QuickTime (.mov) or Windows Media Player (.avi)

The QuickTime version is nicer. Install QT!

It's alive

But what is it?




I thought I had killed it, or at least, put it in a state of suspended animation. It hadn't bloomed in probably a year, then one day I noticed its spines turning pinkish, and soon long, dark purple flower-like protrusions emerged!

About a week later the flowers wilted and the spines returned to green, but soon the same amazing thing happened on the other side of the plant.

I'm not fat, I'm fluffy

Rocky Raccoon could probably could stand to lose a pound or two. Maine Coons are one of the largest domestic cats and males can reach 20+ pounds. Rocky is nowhere near that, probably closer to 14 lbs.

But this big guy is the considered to be the largest Maine Coon -- 45 inches tall and 35 pounds!!

Where are the magazines?

That's what I wondered when I went to my nearest Barnes and Noble for a Cinnamon Dolce Latte* today. And this is what I found out:




Their magazine display fixtures were wiped out when the car crashed through their plate glass window.

* Our Starbucks coffee shops don't carry the new Cinnamon Dolces. B&N does, but they're sure no Starbucks. I've been there twice, and twice they messed up my order. What's so difficult about no fat, no whip??

21 shots

of Grand Marnier



Do you recognize these? They're little sidekicks from Chili's, you know, the little chili-shaped plastic shot "glasses" that dangle precariously from the rims of Chili's margarita mugs. My shot of choice is always Grand Marnier. I savor its sweet, velvety goodness by sticking the end of the straw in it, pressing my finger on the top, and sucking the mmmyummy (40% alcohol!) nectar, which is barely enough to coat my tongue. This way I usually manage to make it last longer than the margarita itself (on the rocks, never blended), which, to me, is incidental. No way would I unceremoniously toss the shot in as suggested. Unfortunately, because I take so damn long to finish them, at least a few sidekicks have been knocked off by people wielding menus or carelessly reaching for something. So sad.

I've also forgotten to take a few home with me when I was done, but, as you can tell, I've frequented Chili's enough to round up a pretty good collection. Brought home the 21st tonight. I don't go there often, and don't go there for the food.

Never got around to doing what I said I'd do: take 'em out of my kitchen drawer where they've lived for probably a couple of years, fill them with red and green water, and hang 'em up at Christmas.

I'd like to put them to some fun, tacky use. Any suggestions?

When times get tough

The tough go.. you know


Recent cute purchases.

Too lazy to retrieve the shoes downstairs for a photo session.

Postponed

It's official


[image doctored..for effect]

Vertigo '06: Final Dates Postponed

It is with great regret that tour promoter The Next Adventure announces the postponement of the final ten dates of U2's Vertigo '06 tour. This action is unavoidable due to the illness of an immediate family member of one of the band. The effected dates are listed below.

'Any fan of U2 will realise that this decision has not been taken lightly', said TNA President Arthur Fogel. 'We will announce further details as soon as we have them.'

The effected shows, which are all sold out, are: March 17th & 18th, Ericcson Stadium AUCKLAND; 21st, Queensland Sports & Athletics Centre BRISBANE; 24TH & 25TH, Telstra Dome, MELBOURNE; 28th, AAMI Stadium ADELAIDE; 31st & 1st April, Telstra Stadium, SYDNEY; 4th, Nissan Stadium YOKOHAMA; 8th Aloha Stadium, HONOLULU.

We'll bring you more news on U2.Com as we get it.

It took something like this

..to get me blogging again



It's been about a month and a half since I last posted here. Didn't really have much to say.

Until today.

MY POOR LITTLE CAR!

Someone keyed it maliciously, deliberately, even neatly. From the front to the back. Very carefully.

Who hates me and my car so much to do that??

I don't think I p*ssed anyone off; didn't cut anyone off in traffic, didn't park too close to anyone, didn't ding any doors. I don't think I did ANYTHING to deserve this painful, deep gouge to the side of my injured Scion Tc coupe. Damn fr*cken little middle-schoolers whose parking lot it was in this afternoon!!

U2-phoria

Don't know if I coined that, probably not, but that's how I feel at this moment.

I've rattled on here about music and bands and concerts I've gone to, but my all-time favorite (living) band is U2. While I've flown off this rock to attend other bands' and musicians' concerts on the mainland, I thought I'd never get the chance to see U2 live, much less get good seats right in my backyard.

35,000 tickets were available at the Aloha Stadium in Honolulu. The 15,000 general admission tickets were snapped up in 10-15 minutes this morning (and during earlier pre-sales). Most of the rest were gone a couple of hours later. This is par for U2. But some crappy seats still remain, so the show isn't considered 'sold out' yet. Those nose-bleed tickets should just be given away so the second concert can be announced already.

I guess I can wait a few more days for my chance to see U2 twice..in the meantime the 100 or so U2 songs/videos/DVDs I've got will have to tide me over!

What to do with all these pictures?

For the past few days I've been taking lots of pictures at family gatherings, get-togethers with friends, and, of course, of Rocky Raccoon. I've posted 'em online and forced friends and family to view them, but recently discovered Comic Life which adds a new spin to the process.


click the picture to go to my Comics! page

People have been too nice to tell me that they're sick of cat pictures, but I work with what I've got, and I've a TON of cat pictures! I'll need to broaden my horizons or risk losing friends.

Happy New Year

A look back at 2005 from Rocky's point of view

Have a Warm & Fuzzy Christmas

Best wishes for the holidays from Rocky and me

U2 in Hawaii?!

No longer just wishful thinking

The radio announced it, rumor websites are all abuzz, so it MUST be true!


(slightly doctored image)

It's that time of year

.. to paint the toenails and fingernails red-green-red-green (with white Christmas trees on the big toes!) ..


.. to buy stuff and have others pay for it (like this too-orange, but oh-so-cute sushicat t-shirt) ..



.. to receive goodies in time for the holidays (new Butch Walker DVD, free camera phone) ..



.. for good times and good friends!

Scaled-down Carnival of Sins

Motley Crue concert

I'm vertically challenged, as you can see from the pretty crappy pictures taken from the 17th row at last night's concert. I have lots of shots of people's hands and backs of heads, because THAT'S ABOUT ALL I COULD SEE!! Since there was an aisle in front of our row, much-larger guys kept getting in front of me (and kept getting kicked back by security). In fact, when I first got to my seat (after missing the first song, Shout at the Devil, dammit), there were a bunch of huge guys standing there because our group hadn't arrived yet.

They didn't bring all their tour props and special effects, but there was enough smoke and fire to satisfy everyone. I couldn't see some of the "extras" (strippers, midget, etc.) because some of their antics were done low on the stage and I couldn't see with all those tall people in my way! Not that I really needed to see the midget being walked on a leash by a stripper, but hey, I paid over $70 and wouldn't have minded the full effect. You can see some of what I saw in the pics below.


click to view slide show

Tried to join someone I knew who was in the 5th row but couldn't because security was checking tickets at the 16th row. During one of the encores I decided to go for it, climbed over a chair, only to be blocked by a guard. I'm short and harmless, and wouldn't have taken up much room. They shoulda let me go. Other guys were pushing their way to the front, but most were being "escorted" back.

Vince Neil's voice is pretty shot, but the hyped-up crowd sang better than he did and helped him along. Even after his recent facelift and makeover I still thought he looked pretty pudgy.

Mick Mars's degenerative disease didn't prevent him from blowing the crowd away.

Nikki SIxx was..Nikki Sixx. I can see why Butch Walker digs him.

Tommy Lee sounded great, but I couldn't really tell you much more becauseI COULDN'T SEE HIM until he stood up at his drum kit and later came out to the front as they all said their "Alohas". He held up a bottle of Jagermeister and thanked everyone repeatedly.

Someone at work who sat up in the nosebleed section told me today that the sound was muffled and people up there pretty much sat in their seats the whole time. I can tell you the floor was a huge party, with all the seats folded and everyone singing and screaming and whistling and dancing and holding up their arms and..BLOCKING MY WAY, unfortunately. But I had a great time and wished the two hour show would go on longer.

Stuffed

'Tis the season



Rocky snuck up there the other day when I was decorating our tree. He didn't pose well with the tree itself, though did try to "mark" it as his!!

Eagles concert slideshows

OK, it seems that some people missed the two links to the photos of the Eagles concert at the bottom of the previous entry. Hmmph, they probably didn't want to read my ramblings all the way through ;)

I like Flickr's little slideshows. Clicking on each picture below will lead you to the slideshow pages for the pictures, but not the actual photos themselves.

     

Aloha, Eagles

It was a great week

The Eagles landed in Honolulu for four incredible concerts that I was fortunate to see from great floor seats. (Not that I sat in them for long.) While I'd been to quite a few Eagles concerts years ago, it was obvious that many around me hadn't, and the crowd LOVED them! It's such a huge (and rare) deal when bands as incredible as the Eagles come our way, and to put on four Honolulu concerts and one Maui show is simply amazing.

One review call the crowd "sedate" and "somnambulant". I'll tell ya why: the security MADE people sit. I spoke to a security guy on the second night who said that they got "yelled at" the night before by the Eagles' security guys who insist that anyone in Rows 5 and beyond do NOT stand until "The Long Run" (song just before intermission). LIke that's easy to enforce.

I was solo the first three nights but was able to bring a friend down from her nosebleed section the second night to join me at intermission on what she now refers to as the "dance floor". The whole experience is so much better when you're with friends!

I kind of made a few new ones, too. Two ladies who partied with me the second night, and two others from the last night who I shared my pictures with. On the third night a guy directly behind me kept grabbing me by the shoulders to tell me that I sure knew how to party, and that of all the people there, I was probably having the best time. Gee, do you think it showed?

I snuck in a camera and managed to not get it confiscated, though on the last night I came very close. Most of the pictures didn't turn out too well, but here are the best of the bunch: nine from the first night and four more from the last.

Generations Apart

Butch Walker fans / Eagles fans

A message posted on the Butch Walker message board today:

how can all of you afford to travel so much to these shows? do your parents pay for it? im just curious since it seems like a lot of you travel to a bunch of the shows on a tour.

An earlier post from the Eagles board:

I took my daughter, 13 years old at the time, along to Earls Court to complete her musical education. Having grown up with me as her dad she had little option but to listen to the Eagles (I believe in bringing up chidren properly) and was going through a phase of listening to the "Eagles Live" album, enthusing particularly about "Seven Bridges Road".

I shall never, ever forget the look in her eyes when the concert opened with that very song.

After the Eagles concerts next week, I probably won't be seeing them for a while, if ever. I've actually outgrown them, but felt obligated to go to all four Honolulu concerts since they'll probably not come this way again. While I wouldn't fit in the crowd that follows Butch on tour, I'd love to be able to catch him a couple of times a year. It sucks to be thousands of miles away, in the middle of an ocean. But at least I don't have to have my parents subsidize my habits. (To their credit, most of the younguns who do follow Butch earn their own money or save up their allowances...)

Of course, when I hear The Eagles' perfect five-part harmony perform Seven Bridges Road a cappella next week, I won't be thinking about Butch a bit.

I've lost that blogging feeling

Wow, it's been two weeks since I last posted an entry. Haven't even felt like stopping in on other people's blogs. If I make it through next weekend, I'll probably check in here more consistently. Next weekend will be the real test.

Don't really wanna bitch about things that haven't been going right, so scraps of silver linings are:

• The long-awaited 30 lab computers arrived at school and were set up
  
• My fundraiser from hell will hit its do-or-die climax (uh, probably not the right word) next weekend
  
• A club I used to frequent , The Wave Waikiki, celebrated its 25th anniversary the other night and I got to go
  
• Macy's had some pretty decent stuff on sale today for 70% off
  

With the exception of the last item, the others should be appended with "but..." since there's way more crap behind them than meets the eye.

And I guess last month's splurges were bad timing. Four $250 Eagles tickets (plus crappy Ticketmaster fees), $80 Motley Crue ticket (plus crappy Ticketmaster fees), computer, projector, printer, digital camera, and my usual clothes, shoes, whatever actually added up to more than my recently-reduced account can handle. Darn, and I thought transferring the "extra" money out of it wouldn't make a difference. Hah. Forgot I live on a teacher's salary.

Ooh, Rocky Raccoon reminded me he's got a secret and he's not.. you know.. letting the cat out of the bag =^.^=