Today was a good day to....

grill. These burgers were meant for the grill at the neighborhood party the other night, but it was a little late after returning from Monte Sano...

I don't know what made me start thinking about my 20 year HS reunion (if the Butler High School c/o '88 has one), but it should be less than a year from now. Scary, eh? Here's the official alumni page from Butler's web site. As it is often noted, time flies...

Well, I think I'll end this for now. It's almost time for South Park followed by Lil' Bush. It should be a laugh-filled close to prime time....

One can't place the blame for most....

of the results of the newly declassified executive summary regarding CIA shortcomings leading up to 9/11 on the current administration. The .pdf file is linked from near the bottom of the page. Sure, there were probably things that Bush and Company could have done differently, but it seems that many of the failures (through the various branches of government) were political and systemic. Unfortunately, it often seems as if the will to change the political side of things doesn't exist because the two beasts of power in this country are more interested in longevity in office and partisan bickering than actually achieving much.

Glancing over the news today, I found it somewhat laughable that the President was pointing out the flaws of the Iraqi government (first question in the press availability). To be sure, there are flaws. It is (or should be) MUCH HARDER to correct the errors of the government of a sovereign country than it is to fix our own shortfalls. An admittedly cursory search for any remarks by the President on the GAO report comes up surprisingly empty. There are things that are going OK over there, but much of the lead-up to and follow-through in this war has been farcical.

Anyway, enough complaining....

Y'all have fun, now!

It just occurred to me that I forgot to mention something the other night...

Yes, Assemblage 23 will be in Nashville on September 24. And I'm ready to go right now. However, I noticed that the supporting act will be a band named Cryogen Second. After the shortest amount of looking around, I discovered that Cryogen Second is actually local to Nashville, TN. It's a little bit unusual to hear music like that come from a town so closely associated with country music. I know that when I heard the first track on Cryogen's myspace profile (Outside the Light), the first impression that popped into my head considering the distortion vocals, dark melodies, and pulsing beat was Funker Vogt...

Very nice! If you are able to tolerate the kind of music I listen to, check'em out....

Ahhhhh, weekend recap.....

It's been a nice weekend to just chill out....

We attended a friend's wedding up on Monte Sano mountain in Huntsville yesterday. The wedding was very nice albeit very HOT. Tracy and Ashley, if you read this, CONGRATULATIONS! Heck, congratulations anyway! After that, we came home and dressed down a bit so we could go to a little neighborhood party. We didn't get over there until about 7:30 PM. We had fun. I finally finished the rest of the Sparks Plus that's been in my fridge for at least a month (only 3). That was topped off by a few pints of Guinness (draft bottles). Tasty! Oh, and there were also a few jello shots that appeared out of nowhere. Anyway, we called it a night around 11:00 PM.

Having had that "energy beer", I couldn't get right to sleep. That wasn't necessarily good because I had to get up around 5AM this morning. I had planned to go out riding (bicycles) this morning around 6:30. 5AM sure came early. At least I had enough time to down a cup of coffee. Ric and I rode about 15 miles out here on the back-roads this morning. After we rode, we split up to shower so all of us could go eat breakfast. Over breakfast, we learned that one of the restaurants that we enjoy in Huntsville is closing at the end of this week. We made plans then and there to go to Qdoba this evening. After returning home, the bed was calling me to take a nap. Unfortunately, we got to Qdoba to eat and they had closed up for the day. There weren't enough employees to keep the place open for their normal hours. I'm just wondering if things will be like that the rest of this week. We went to the "alternative" down the street and had a big old time....

And here we are.....

I almost don't know if I'll know what to do with myself tomorrow. I'd love some rain, but I wouldn't mind going up and trudging around the trails on Monte Sano mountain. And there's a chance of having this for dinner tomorrow night. It doesn't matter what's for dinner because the food at Chez Terrell is always awesome! This does mean that I probably won't be going in if I get called for OT tomorrow. C'est la vie! I can't turn down some tasty vittles.....

Peace, y'all!

As it was the first of seven days off, I took it easy today...

Work even called for OT EARLY this morning, but I had a few things to do to get ready for a buddy who's getting married tomorrow. I suspect that they'll call again a few times this weekend, but I'll be fairly tied up. Hopefully they'll have some slots available next week. I used to be the one to sell my soul for the OT money...

Check out some of the biodiversity from my neighborhood:





I could probably make it out to Denver, CO to see Assemblage 23, Tristraum and Leiahdorus on October 20, but I just can't see spending the time and money when I'm already planning to see A23 in Nashville in September. Speaking of Leiahdorus, go on and click "read more" for a video via YouTube. They sound a lot like they're from the 80s....

Fortunately....

The fine people of Athens made (again, my humble opinion) the proper decision last night. I'm not saying there are no adverse effects of alcohol. Heck, I'm living proof. However, it is possible to work through those kinds of issues and just making the city dry wouldn't have ended them anyway. Besides, I found out (I kind of suspected before arriving) that our precinct wasn't voting on the wet-dry thing anyway....

Well, it looks like people aren't being as careful on the roads during the "Take Back Our Highways" campaign as they probably should be. It's not like this little traffic jihad came unannounced or anything....

EARTHQUAKE!

I was glad to hear that my father and family survived Flossie out in Hawaii. I forgot to ask him if he had been that close to a hurricane before. I imagine that he's seen a typhoon or two from the time he was in Korea. I'll have to ask him. Yo, daddy-o, ever been through a tropical-type storm?

Well, I need to go shower right now. I'm stinky. Good night, folks!

PS, for a cool video (this was very spiffy live), click "read more"...

As I am often driven to extremes....

I am going to have to find a way to grow some of these. The site admin for Children of Acid happens to have a great picture of some of these peppers that he has grown. I enjoy insanely HOT food and I believe that these will be entirely too hot for me.....

It looks like the wet-dry issue has kind of stirred things up on al.com's Limestone County forum. As a last plea for common sense (in my humble opinion), if you are reading this and voting on the issues in Athens tomorrow, remember this:

Prohibition Worked Wonders

Howdy, folks...

For those of y'all in my immediate neck of the woods (i.e. Athens, AL), don't forget to join the fray in the wet-dry vote on Tuesday. Obviously, I have my own opinion on the vote. For those who swear that repealing sales will cut down on drinking and driving, I DO NOT BELIEVE you. For those who vaguely invoke the "adverse effects of alcohol" (I saw that in a recent article about the wet-dry issue), alcohol is still for sale in at least some of the surrounding counties. Those who desire alcohol will go to those areas and purchase alcohol to bring it back or, worse yet, drink it on the way back into town or before coming back into town.

For those of you in any part of Alabama, don't forget that the "Take Back Our Highways" campaign begins on Alabama roads this week.

I forgot to mention that we saw The Bourne Ultimatum last week. Great movie!

Running on fumes...

Well, I got back from Columbus in one piece and (amazingly) free of road usage fees around noon today. Of course, I left from Columbus at 6 AM EDT. I dropped my daddy-o off at the airport and then engaged ludicrous speed...

Once I got home, I chilled for a while. Since I had missed it for the past couple of days, I had to partake of the hot sauce on a spoon ritual and then go outside to sweat for about an hour. I knew before I returned that we were going to a Huntsville Stars game with friends this evening. Man, it's been a while since I've even thought about watching (let alone attending) a baseball game. That was quite fun.

All in all, the early rise, seven hour drive and baseball game as a finale should make it supremely easy for me to get right to sleep.

In conclusion, click "read more" for a nifty video (from Tristraum via youtube.com) that I've also included on my myspace profile. Sorry, I like exposing the world to different music...


Tristraum - First Embrace

Yeah, we're cookin' with gas now...

I'm in Columbus, OH. Unfortunately, it's under sad circumstances. I'll be at a viewing for my grandmother tomorrow and a memorial service on Thursday. I've only been up here to visit several times in the past twenty years. I'd say that I'd change that, but I'm never totally sure where life will take me anyway...

The drive from Athens, AL to Columbus was almost perfect (i.e. no speeding tickets and no serious traffic SNAFUs). I say almost because I get to within 5 miles of my aunt and uncle's home and almost have a big wreck. Fortunately, I'm well schooled in the tactics of insanely diversionary driving. I missed hitting the woman who pulled out in front of me by less than one foot. Whewww! That was too close....

My dad and brother are supposed to be flying in fairly early tomorrow. On that note, I'd better skedaddle. It's approaching 1AM and I should try to wake up fairly early in the morning. I am stoked about the wi-fi connection. Later, folks!

It is with an extraordinarily sad heart...

that I have to say farewell to my Grandmother Metcalf. I can say that I don't feel that I ever spent enough time around any of my grandparents but that can't be changed now. She was a TREMENDOUS person. I know that she played a larger part in my life than any of my grandparents because of things that happened long ago.

RIP Grandmother Metcalf! We'll miss you immensely!

Delerium - Angelicus

This video was released soon after Delerium put out Nuages du Monde. Different...

Fairly recently, myspace.com added a feature to be able to list your status and mood...

Now maybe it's just me, but I find it very odd that one of the "moods" they have available is "high". Even the little emoticon looks kind of like a stoner. Maybe they just mean ultra-happy. If not, I'm not sure that I would list "high" as my mood in such a public place...

Speaking of MySpace like things...

Check out MyDeathSpace.com in the next couple of weeks! Unfortunately, the site received an immense amount of traffic after being the subject of an article and isn't currently available.

If this bit of research is true, I might be better off than I thought. I was overexposed to the sun frequently when I was a kid. Back then, it would have taken a team of wild horses to drag me out of the swimming pool during the summer. I had a few sunburns that were excruciating. Hopefully, I never experience skin cancer (or any kind for that matter).

Speaking of caffeine, it's about time to load up on some more. I tried stay awake by loading up on caffeine last night, but the strangest thing happened. After downing a 16 oz. can of sugar free ROCKSTAR, I was out within thirty minutes. I never expected that to happen...

Anyway, y'all have fun. I'm going to get hyped up on caffeine, taurine, guarana and B vitamins! Bye!

As far as campy movies go...

My Super Ex-Girlfriend was fairly funny. I had recorded it on the ReplayTV on a whim and we finally got around to watching it. I think that I'd say I'm glad I didn't pay money to see it...

The latest news from NASA brings up lots of questions....

So far, my latest book is fairly interesting. I wouldn't call it riveting (which is why it's taking me a little while to read it). However, Ted Gup does a good job of discussing the dangers to democracy of living with so many (he argues too many) secrets.

If you can appreciate the humor (quite rough around the edges at times) of Carlos Mencia, check out the "Mind of Mencia Blog". I just discovered it a couple of weeks ago, but I read it whenever there's something new. Funny! Lil' Bush needs a blog now. I don't see Lil' Bush having the same staying power as Mencia. Long live Carlos!

Well, it's probably beyond the time that I should have been asleep, so sweet dreams folks! I'm gonna crash!

If you tend to drive, oh, perhaps a little above the speed limit at times...

Well, always be careful. However, you might want to exercise more than the usual amount of caution from August 13-17. al.com has a write-up about the 'Take Back Our Highways' initiative here while the official press release from "the man" can be viewed here (.pdf file). Mind you, I don't advocate speeding or anything...ha-ha-ha!

I should be asleep! Nighty-night world!

Can you tell the difference between a phishing site and a legitimate one?

Test yourself with this little phishing quiz. The knowledge gained from this quiz can be fairly useful and potentially save you some trouble...

Well, I sure as heck hope that I'm ready to wake up EARLY tomorrow. I am not naturally a "morning" person. Coffee helps with that, but I still hate getting up before the sun! Unfortunately, this morning, I was up until around 5 AM. But, I napped for a few hours and then loaded up on, you guessed it, some coffee. Maybe I should have gone to the grand opening of the latest addition to Athens restaurants, Chick-Fil-A.

I might have had a chance to work some overtime today, but I got plenty done around my house. I'm glad I stuck around here. Top the day off with some fine pizza from Village Pizza, and all was well!

Good evening, folks!

Oh yeah, lest I forget...

There's a fairly new restaurant over at The Village of Providence(in Huntsville) called Market Street Cafe. The selection and food are good. I know for certain that the meat loaf and the banana bread pudding were super tasty!

I like cats and all, but....

I'm quite certain that I wouldn't want this kitty coming over and curling up next to me any time soon...

A little bit of aimless wandering about the internetS (with the help of a Google news alert for TVA) brought me to an old school picture of power generation by TVA. I wonder what the place looks like now. The idea of a "100-year-old photo blog" is fairly unique...

My daddy-o's site for Zzaj Productions has been relocated to a new server. Check it out! Also included are archived issues of Improvijazzation Nation (new one linked from the front page), my dad's improv music e-zine.

Just a quickie here.....

A little further exploration allowed me to find the following bands:

Chinese Theatre

Tristraum

Quite interesting!

W00t!

This stretch of nights is over. I consider myself somewhat of a creature of the night. I naturally tend to stay up very late at night when I have the chance. There's just something nice about calling a set of the night shifts over. Now it's time to see how long I can stay awake. RED BULL...!

So, I get home and see a friend request on myspace.com. It looked like a band profile. I check it out and well....

I have to say that I thoroughly enjoy the music of James D. Stark. It's kind of cool to hear goth/electro in the form of (mainly) love songs. The sound elicits Depeche Mode, Camouflage, and other similar bands. Seeing that I enjoy that sound already, this stuff's right up my alley. But, it's not a clone of other music (though there is a DM remix on his profile right now). Support independent artists and check out this dude's work, if you dare...