acidbasement

Happy birthday Ian!

I need to catch up on Seanan-Mira McGuire-Grant. I swear she writes faster than I can read.

Benedict Cumberbatch and John/Hank Green fan fiction written by Maureen Johnson. It's maybe a 10-15 minute read, and bloody hilarious.

Sorry to hear about your aunt, Wayne.

Canada. Everything is more expensive, even when you factor in the exchange rate. It's definitely cheaper where you live. And totally worth it.

We recently upgraded from our Chevette "we can sleep on this while we're in our 20s without hurting" mattress to a Cadillac (actually a Simmons Beautyrest Black Grace). It's a joy to lay down now, and we don't hurt at all in the morning, despite da missus being prone to back pain. Unlike audio gear, my experience says the best strategy is find something you really like that is completely outside your budget, and then wait for it to go on sale, because it will. Ours was a $5000 mattress, and we only had to wait a couple of weeks to get it for $2000.

Happy belated whiskey-fueled birthday!

Happy birthday!

Hope it's a great one, Antonio!

Happy anniversary, Mahers!

Ah, that makes sense I guess. Probably a city vs. rural thing, to some extent. Magnus' teacher seemed to be on the receiving end of a lot of hugs whenever I've visited the school, but she's local to a small community, where lines get blurred between social and professional interaction.

Sunblock? That's a new one for me. We sent Magnus to school with sunblock this year and nobody said anything. We also don't have a no-peanut policy, which is refreshing.

No epipens allowed in school? Isn't that inviting all sorts of nasty (lawsuit at least) if someone has an anaphylactic reaction to something?

Unholy carp, that's awful!

Had dress rehearsal for a Bob Dylan tribute concert I'm playing in over the next three nights. It's sounding great, though I had a squabble with the other drummer (we take turns playing). He's an old guy, and I guess that for decades he's been counting the intro to "All Along the Watchtower" wrong, placing the downbeat 1/8th note behind where it's supposed to be. Trying to explain to him that it's not the guitarists' fault that it's a sloppy mess wasn't fun. Maybe I wasn't super diplomatic after having a couple of beers, but seriously, there are few things more obstinate than proud musicians. It's tough to walk the line between "you're really good and I respect your playing" and "but you're playing that one thing wrong and it's screwing everyone else up".

Ja, good match thus far.

There's a thread on HF about it.

Yeah, they got way more penalties, but the CR defense was very tight in drawing off-side calls against the Dutch. If they'd been less organized, I bet it wouldn't have gone to shots.

Damn right we need some headbanging smileys in this joint!

Okay, these guys are something else. I'm buying their CD now. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aMorAdnCixg

I didn't see the whole game, but from what I saw, it never should have gone to shots. Netherlands deserved that one. Fucking Robben and his diving though...

Happiests of birthdayses!

I really like the new Trollfest album. The composition and delivery are really tight, and they put a lot of humour into it. Highly recommended in the live setting as well. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=faV-_t_f_V0&feature=kp http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3FRrj-1eo6s&feature=kp

I was driving through Lloydminster AB today, and called the company that made one of my drumsets, because I'm missing a piece of hardware and they're based around there, so I thought I might try stopping by the factory and seeing if they had my missing piece. There was no answer, so I just kept driving as it was another 10 hours before I'd get home. About half an hour later, I notice that my phone, which was in silent mode for some reason, had taken a call from Canwood Percussion. Fred Pepper, the founder and master drum-maker of the company, had left a message saying sorry he missed my call. So I called him back and we had a very pleasant chat, mostly about the weather. He didn't have my piece of hardware, because he hasn't been able to source that particular piece for 20 years. He seemed like a very cool, down-to-earth guy, and he told me to stop by the shop for a visit the next time I was through. He makes really nice-sounding drums if mine are any indication. I'm looking forward to seeing how he does it.

Happy belated birthday Greg!