AchtungBB

Tulip Fest 2011

2011-04-18T20:29:00.000-07:00

This week, we attended Tulip fest. I practiced getting some close up of some of the flora. One of my favorite events in the spring.

Finally getting what I wanted

2011-04-04T22:22:00.000-07:00

I have kind of made a breakthrough with my photo shooting. I love taking pictures of waterfalls and finally got the right setting to give them that "glazed over" look. Kind of a breakthrough for me. This is Bridal Vail falls, which I must have taken tons of pictures of in the past, but none of them have turned out the way I really wanted them to. With a new polarizer on the lens I and a slow exposure time, I can get the effect of water that I have always wanted. Of course, it helps to live in an area were there is no problems finding running water. Thanks to my brother for the tip.

Vacation at the Redwoods

2011-03-27T22:33:00.000-07:00

2011-02-20T22:23:00.000-08:00

Rather than take up another URL address- I've decided to restart this blog. The purpose is for photography. I've been having a growing interest in photography and recently got a pretty decent camera. I want to save some photos that I think are pretty good (not great because I have never had any formal photography lessons).

November's music

2008-12-03T21:45:00.001-08:00

Because my life is so unexciting right now (no more spills in the kayak), I have nothing interesting to write about except my albums I picked up last month.

Coldplay Prospekts March Since it's original release earlier this year, I've been listening a lot to Coldplay's Vivi La Vida. It gets better with every listen. This month, Coldplay released a bonus ep of songs that didn't make Viva La Vida . With Coldplay, it's hard to go wrong. Most of the songs here are as good or better than the main album songs such as "Glass of Water", which could have easily have been a single. What Prospekts March did was add to my appreciation of the work that Coldplay has done for the Viva La Vida sessions. Only a duet with rapper Jay'Z hits a low point. Still, I admire the effort to reach out to different genres of music.
http://www.myspace.com/coldplay

Longwave Secrets are Sinister A band recommended to me from itunes was a good new find. Longwave has been on the indie scene for a while, but only now caught my attention. Longwave takes some of the elements of shoegaze (such as the waves of guitar)and mixes it with current indie rock melodies. More atmospheric than most indie bands out there, but it works well for me.
http://www.myspace.com/longwaveofficial

Travis Ode To J.Smith Another big release this month was from one of my favorite Scottish bands-- Travis. Once compared to Radiohead, Travis have remained dedicated to melodic brit pop that Radiohead left behind years ago. Travis has written some of the finest guitar driven songs over the last decade. On this one, Travis tries to be a little harder edge, but comes back often to their melodic sounds that have worked so well for them. Pretty good results.

http://www.myspace.com/travis

Rosie Thomas A Very Rosie Christmas I have never cared for traditional Christmas albums. I have never liked Bing Crosby, Nat King Cole, or Johnny Mathis. Their music doesn't bring to mind warm Christmas memories, or move me to roasting marshmellows. To me, it sounds out of time (I understand not everyone feels the same way). Worst of all, it's everywhere. When a song is played repeatedly over the loud speakers at Wal Mart, it just loses that personal feeling. There's a lot of contemporary albums played repeatedly over the holidays that I can't stand either. However, when one of my favorite indie artist makes a stab at a Christmas album, I'll take notice and play it over and over again through the Christmas season. This year, my favorite songbird, Rosie Thomas made a warm and heart felt Christmas album as only she can do. Some are traditional covers, others are new songs. Works for me and puts me in a holiday mood.

A cold swim

2008-11-18T09:37:00.000-08:00

I guess I will write about a little incident that happened this weekend so years from now I can reflect and maybe laugh a little.
Since Wah-Wah's birthday in Aug, I have discovered the joys of kayaking. With all the rivers and lakes around here, Oregon has plenty of places to kayak. I have found kayaking to be a very relaxing hobby.
Recently, I bought a hard shell kayak that I really wanted to use before the rainy season sets in around here. Last Saturday seemed like everything was going to fall into place. I just got a roof rack for the car installed and the skies were clear. So I took my new kayak down to the Williamette River (this is the main river that runs through Portland). As I was out on the water, I noticed that the river changed drastically from earlier in the year. First, the water level was much higher and there was much more debris in the water (due to all the recent rain we've had).
I ended up paddling pass Ross Island and into downtown Portland before I decided it was time to head back. Little did I realize that going back was going to be against a tough current. By the time I passed Ross Island again, I was exhausted. Next thing I know, I hit a current that started to turn the kayak side ways and I was in the water. I didn't see that coming.
Once a kayak flips, you can't get back in without taking it to land. With all the water, in the boat, I was lucky my kayak didn't totally sink.
Anyway, I was in the water for about 10 mins. I have to say that the water was pretty chilly. It was at least in the 40's. Thank God a boat came by and tossed me a line and then pulled me and my kayak to shore. They gave me a towel and said I better take off my wet clothes before I catch hypothermia. I told them I'd rather catch hypothermia before I get undressed in front of everyone. They also led me use their cell phone to call Wah-Wah and bring me some dry clothes.
Amazingly, my cell phone still works after being in the water for so long. Unfortunately, my ipod wasn't as lucky (at least I had an excuse to go buy a newer one). I also noticed my body has been pretty sore for a few days. I guess it was from all the treading water.
I've learned a few things from this experience. First, never bring electric devices on a kayak. Second, stay off the water till the summer. Lastly, God was watching over me that day.

Oct. Music

2008-11-02T19:53:00.000-08:00

Oct was a great month for music. 9 new albums! Kind of made up for all those months of nothing.

Snow Patrol A Hundred Million Suns My favorite new album this month comes from Snow Patrol. A couple of years ago, they released a great album Eyes Open which was my favorite of that year. I thought that would be a hard album for them to top, but turns out they did with this release. Recorded out in the remote Irish country side and in downtown Berlin, the album blends the two worlds together nicely, by offering both deep thought and chaos. Lots of "ready for radio" tunes that fans from their past couple of albums will love.
http://www.myspace.com/snowpatrol

Jesus and Mary Chain The Power of Negative Thinking I love that title. Jesus and Mary Chain were one of the coolest bands ever. They practically invented "noise rock"
and turned pure feedback into song. Best of all was their "I don't give a crap attitude." They eventually broke up about a decade ago and have slowly begun to reemerge. The 88 songs here are all B-sides and outtakes from their years together. Some of the songs are unnecessary and can be found on some of their imports, other songs are just crap and should remain unheard. The third disc here has most of the unreleased gems that I haven't heard before and are worth owning. Mary Chain fans would love it.
http://www.blogger.com/www.myspace.com/thejesusampmarychain

Starflyer 59 Dial M Another great album this month was from Jason "Can't fail" Martin. Jason has been on a roll lately putting out great album after great album. Dial M continues to blow away expectations. Most of the songs here have been on his "vinyl only" Ghost of the Future series, but more polished up. After listening, it's hard to believe that Starflyer isn't selling out stadiums.
http://www.myspace.com/starflyer59

Keane Perfect Symmetry Like Snow Patrol, Keane has often been called a "knock off" Coldplay band, but the two bands are moving in different directions lately. The songs here are a little retro 80's sounding. Keane really knows how to write some catchy tunes which they continue, just with a more retro sound. Still very grand sounding like most of Keane's albums, just a little different direction.

http://www.myspace.com/keane

Mowgai The Hawk Is Howling Yes, that is a eagle on the cover, not a hawk. I have to admit, that after seeing them live a few years ago, I've kind of lost interest in this post rock band. Their latest album, peaked my interest in them again. This is a vast improvement from their last album, Mr. Beast. Like all Mogwai albums, this is filled with songs that spiral upwards, before exploding at the climax of the composition, before droning out with a guitar. Like always, cool names for songs: "I'm Jim Morrison, I'm Dead" and "I Love You, I'm Going To Blow Up Your School".

http://www.myspace.com/mogwai

The New Frontiers Mending Bought this album on a whim, when I heard some of it on Facebook. Sort of an appealing middle America- post Coldplay band would best describe them. Unfortunately, there will be no follow up, since the band just quit.

/http://www.myspace.com/thenewfrontiers

The Cure 4:13 Dream It is always a big deal to me when the Cure put out a new album. The Cure were one of the first bands I ever got into, and are probably in my top 5 favorite bands of all time. After a long break, the Cure returned this year with a new marketing tactic- releasing a new song every month for half a year. I found this tactic kind of annoying by teasing the fan with samples of the album way before it's release. This is more up tempo than anything they have ever done. The songs are there, but over all it is not as focused as their best albums.

www.myspace.com/thecureofficialsite

Oasis Dig Out Your Soul I really don't know why I still get their albums. Oasis is way past their heyday, and frankly, they are a bunch of jerks. I guess I'm still living in the past, when Oasis were a bunch of jerks, but they at least had really good music. Oasis doesn't do anything new on Dig Out Your Soul but they at least revisit some of their finest moments on a couple of the songs here. It is better than I expected.
http://www.myspace.com/oasis

The Radio Dept. Lesser Matters A few months ago, I really started to get into this band, and find their lo-fi, fuzzed out, brand of indie rock genius. Not very popular around the states, so I've had to resort to buying everything off itunes. This is their first album. Really relaxing to listen to.

http://www.myspace.com/officialradiodept

Halloween Activities

2008-10-26T19:46:00.001-07:00

I've never actually liked the holiday of Halloween that much. I think I cared too much what people thought of my costume and the fact that I really just never ate a lot of candy. I do look forward to the fall however. I love the cooler weather, the cider donuts, and the pumpkin patches. This year, we did our usual round of pumpkin patches with the kids.

Here is Woogy at Lee Farms, just outside Portland. Love their cider donuts.

Here is Nibbles doing her favorite thing in the whole world-- ride a horse (or a"moo" as she still says). Nibbles will absolutely throw a fit if she doesn't ride one when she sees it. Maybe we should just buy our own.

Saturday night, I took Woogy out to Fantasy Trails (about 45mins south of Portland). I found it pretty charming. Wasn't too scary and it was geared towards little kids. It also doubles as a X-mas village in Dec.

On Sunday we went to Leoipold Farms (half way to Mt.Hood). I spent my Saturday there with some foster kids, and decided that my own kids would like it too. Of course, they had horses that Nibbles had to ride. 5 bucks for less than a 5 min ride. Like I said, it might be cheaper to buy our own horse.

I remember when I had to push Woogy on these tricycles. Use to hurt my back. Now he can peddle himself.

Sept.'s Music

2008-10-01T21:07:00.000-07:00

It would appear as if the economy has effected my music shopping habits. Only 4 new albums this month. Unlike the economy however, I'm optimistic that Oct will be pretty good with new albums from the Cure and Keane on the way. As if anyone cared, here is my albums of Sept:

Rilo Kiley Under the Blacklight Yes, the band that opened for Coldplay all those years ago put out this album last year, and I finally got around to listening to it. It's not too bad. Surprisingly, it has a real 70's disco vibe to it that works surprisingly well. Many of the band's core following didn't really care for this last effort, but I enjoyed it more than watching them play before Coldplay.

http://www.myspace.com/rilokiley

Camera Obscura Let's Get Out of This Country My big discovery this month was this band from Scotland often associated with Belle and Sebastian. The songs are amazingly tender ballads that can break your heart with the slightest twist or vocal harmony. Has a nice old "girl group" harmony going on here that brings you back to the 60's. Simply enchanting.

http://www.myspace.com/cameraobscuraband

Bell X-1 Flock Having been out several years in Ireland, it took this album another three years to hit the states. That's the problem with liking music from other parts of the world. Pretty good debut, but nothing earth shattering. I would draw comparisons to Snow Patrol (which isn't bad, it's just no Radiohead or Coldplay ) Supposedly they are one of the biggest bands to come out of Ireland in a while.

http://www.myspace.com/bellx1

Radio Dept. Pulling Our Weight EP My favorite new band lately is Radio Dept. coming also from Scotland. Not a true "shoegazer" band, but definitely influenced by the sound. Mixing light and airy vocals to shoegazer distortion turned down a few notches. The result is not as hard on the ears as a real shoegazer album. Radio Dept. only has released a couple of albums over a decade, but have put out a handful of EPs . Pulling Our Weight is a good mix of their pop sensibilities and their creativeness.
http://www.myspace.com/officialradiodept

Challenging job

2008-09-26T23:06:00.000-07:00

Sometimes we have to live with the decisions we make, and right now I'm beginning to question if it was wise to leave my job at Trillium for my new job at Kerr. Let me clarify that I don't hate my new job, but it is more difficult than I could have imagined. My job at Trillium was pretty cushy compared to my new one.
I can't possibly count how much time I'm spending doing paper work. In fact, that is a majority of my job. Every time I feel like I'm beginning to get it, more papers comes my way that I have to learn.
One of the things I need to work on is some organization. My office is a mess. And it seems like when I start to get a head, more paper work comes down.
On top of the endless paperwork, there is documenting the endless paper work. Basically, one document seems to produce another. On top of being a desk jockey, I also have to write treatment plans and lead treatment meetings which consist of lawyers (I hate lawyers), as well as other professionals. Then there is the reports and the psychological testing. Some reports I don't mind, but I've never written a comprehensive assessment before (those are usually done by people above my pay grade).
With all this paper work, I don't actually see much of the children that I'm there to help. My home visits are basically interviewing and going over paper work with the foster parent. Most of my clients don't have a clue who I am.
I guess I'm just venting because this week has been pretty rough. I've put in well over 40 hrs. and even missed Woogy's first open house. But I'm hanging in there. I don't like to back down from a challenge.
Things sure have changed around here. Between getting the kids to where they need to go and having to get to work a lot earlier, I've given up shaving (since I don't have the time).
My coworkers say that it will get easier as I learn and go along, but they could just be saying that so I don't run out of the office screaming. I don't mind keeping busy, but this is a little of an over kill. I think the days of blogging during half the work day are over.

My new job and other things

2008-09-09T22:12:00.000-07:00

Things have been kind of hectic around here with Woogy starting kindergarten, Nibbles returning to preschool and me starting a new job as a Case Manager at Albertina Kerr.
I've tried to "hit the ground running" at my new job only to find a lot of barriers that are a little frustrating. One of the problems I have is that I have no space yet. The employees that were suppose to move out, still haven't, so I've got no place to sit yet. Also, I have no computer or phone access yet, making it difficult for me to do my job. Perhaps the biggest frustration is that I haven't been cleared to start seeing kids yet because my finger prints haven't come back yet. HR says that this can take several weeks to months to be cleared Of course, I've been working with kids for 10 years now, and this is the first time I've been told that I haven't cleared to work. I guess there is nothing worse than starting a new job only to find out that they aren't ready for you yet.
From what I can tell, my new job seems more challenging. I guess this is a good thing since my job at Trillium wasn't very challenging. After a while, it seemed pointless to have a degree. Hopefully this will be a nice balance. Ironically, I already know a lot of staff over at Kerr. Most of them were former co workers or are in some way are related to someone I've worked with. Seems to be a small world.
In other news, Woogy seems to be enjoying his new school. All the schools around here have an all day kindergarten and a relatively cheap after school program. Woogy attends the after school program just a couple days a week when Wah-Wah gets home from work a little later.
My own kindergarten experience was rather traumatic since my kindergarten teacher was rather abusive (she was later fired after I left) so I think I was more anxious about Woogy starting school than he was. So far so good. He seems to be enjoying it. I guess that is all I can ask for.
I'm also a little anxious about Nibbles's starting school. Her preschool is a little far, and with my new job, it is a little difficult for me to get her there. The other option is that she takes the bus. Somehow, I just don't see Nibbles getting on a bus without me, nor do I want to traumatize her by making her. Since everyone at my job knows me, they are understanding and say that I can flex my time. Hopefully Wah-Wah and I can work something out.

August Music

2008-09-01T20:53:00.000-07:00

In case nobody checks out my music on Facebook, here's a closer look at what I got this month.

The Verve Fourth This month's big new release came from The Verve. Over a decade ago, they released their last album Urban Hymns containing the song "Bittersweet Symphony" which got them a lot of attention. Urban Hymns is often regarded as one of the best albums of the 90's. But the band members have never got along very well, and following their commercial success, they broke up. Now they released Fourth which is a fair effort, but doesn't come close to achieving what the Verve did on Urban Hymns. Without a doubt, it does have some good tunes, but a lot of the songs drag out to over 8 mins. Too long for a brit pop band. Still, it is good to have The Verve back.

Hem Home Again, Home Again EP I've been interested in Hem for a while now, but haven't been able to get into any of their albums. The lead singer has a beautiful voice and borders on the same gentle sounds of the Innocence Mission, but a little too folksy sometimes. This EP is a pretty good introduction to the band. The lead song "The Part Where You Let Go" is beautifully delivered. The rest of the EP is pretty manageable being only 6 songs.

http://www.myspace.com/hem

The High Violets To Where You Are My only shoegazer album this month comes from this local Portland band. They are the biggest shoegazer band in the area. Of course, they might be the only shoegazer band in the area. Best of all, they prove that Portland has got some serious talent outside of the Shins. Very ambient and pop sounding.

http://www.myspace.com/thehighviolets

Glen Hansard and Marketa Erglova The Swell Season I recently saw the movie "Once" after several people highly recommended it to me. It's a low budget indie flick, staring Glen Hansard (former lead singer of the Frames ) as a vacuum repair man who also is a street performer who meets Marketa Erglova and discover that they musically are a kindred spirit. The movie goes on to show them start to develop a more personal relationship (which ultimately doesn't work) and the struggles of putting a record together. Personally, I liked the movie and the way it showed how artist pour their soul into their music. After watching the movie, I immediately went out and got the soundtrack. It's gorgeous and heart aching all at the same time. Marketa has a beautiful and sweet voice that enhances Glen's arching emotional lyrics.
http://www.myspace.com/theswellseason

Elbow Leaders of the Free World After hearing Elbow's latest album The Seldom Seen Kid I decided to go out and check out more from this band. Leaders of the Free World came out a few years ago, and isn't as good as the one before (Cast Of Thousands) or their latest. Elbow tries to get out their political views, but it just doesn't work as well for them as other bands.

http://www.myspace.com/elbowmusic

Camping and other updates

2008-08-25T22:32:00.000-07:00

Like Dust, I've jumped off the bridge. As most of everyone knows by now, I'm on Facebook. Please bare with me while I try and figure out all that Facebook offers. I must say that I was pretty surprised to see nearly everyone I know on it. Friends in Iowa, Kansas, and Oregon are all on it. Everyone I know seems to have "jumped off the bridge."
I guess I like "user friendliness" of blogger, but Facebook offers a lot more. I particularly like the music section "social tunes." What a great way to talk to others about music and rate your albums.

In other news, I turned in my two weeks at Trillium today. It was a tough decision. I usually haven't been given much of a choice on leaving a job. Either I'm told to leave or I have to relocate. I really can't understand why some people job hop so much. So in two weeks, I'll start at Albetina Kerr as a Foster Care Case Manager----wow.

Last weekend was our big camping trip with our home group from church. I guess everyone knows by now, that I'm not a big camper. In fact, my camping trip with Dash, Dust, Dar, and A Forest was my first camping trip. This last camping trip had it's ups and downs however.
First off, the camp site was a 1/4 of a mile away from the cars. I arrived late when it was dark and wandered through the woods for a while until I found it. Anyway, being far from the car made dragging the gear a real pain.
My second problem was that the site had a no camp fire sign. How can you camp without a camp fire?
For Wah-Wah's early birthday present, I brought her a inflatable kayak. Unfortunately, we didn't have a pump that would work on it (one minor mistake). Luckily, Wah-Wah found a guy with the kind of pump we needed and we were able to inflate the kayak.
Here's some pictures of our camping weekend:

This was our camp site at Oxbow Park, just 15 minutes outside of Portland. The bigger tent on the right is ours. It was suppose to be a 4 person tent, but it was awfully tight. I guess it could hold 4 really small people or 4 regular people if they slept on top of each other.
Here is a picture of the Sandy River where we camped at. I think Wah-Wah took this picture since no one else was up this early. I spent Saturday afternoon just laying and relaxing in the river. Sure it was cold, but very refreshing.
Here are some of our fellow campers playing in the river.

Here's Wah-Wah bringing in her kayak after it's maiden voyage down the river. She took Nibbles down the river about a 1/4 of a mile. Apparently Nibbles hated it and screamed the whole time. I guess the kids will sit out on our next kayak adventure. We had to carry that kayak all the way back to the campsite so others could use it. Without a pump, we couldn't deflate it to carry it. I got to go down the river finally at the end of the day.

After getting back from camping, I went to go see Neil Halstead at the Doug Fir. Neil is a great singer song writer whose warm (yet often humorous lyrics) sounded nicely in the "log cabin" atmosphere of the Doug Fir. Neil's sound was pretty stripped down to just the basics. He even played a few tunes from his band- Mojave 3.

Big decisions

2008-08-13T22:16:00.001-07:00

I'm not good at making decisions. I've never liked making big decisions and I never will. I'd like to think of myself as a "risk taker", but I'm fooling myself. Being indecisive is something that runs in my family as well. I remember growing up, we would argue for hours on where to eat that we always ended up at McDonald's. It took my brother years to decide to get into the medical field. It even took me a long time to decide to have another child and even longer to decide if I wanted to move to Oregon. Tonight, I'm agonizing over another fork in the road.
A few weeks ago at work, my old supervisor called me and suggested I interview for a case manager position at a agency known as Albertina Kerr (where she now works). After secretly going through the interview, I received an offer this morning. However, the offer wasn't for substantially more money. It was for a little better than what I'm doing now, but not enough to make it an easy choice.
I called Wah-Wah about the offer, and she said that if I'm really unhappy at my current job at Trillium, I should take it, otherwise it may not be worth the extra drive (it is approximately 7 miles away vs Trillium at a nice 3). I called back my supervisor and said that I would pass.
As the day went on, I began to question myself if I had made a mistake. I don't hate my job at Trillium but I know there are big changes coming down the pike (such as smaller office space). I then remember saying in the interview that I wanted to get back into case work and to have more control over a child's case. Currently, I'm in the dark about where my cases are going while others above me steer the direction of the case.
I called back my old supervisor and said that I was reconsidering and asked for a little more time to decide. She assured me that she wasn't in a hurry- but the sooner the better. I guess part of me is torn with where my loyalties are. Kerr has stolen a big portion of Trillium's business and many former staff. I also hate to have to tell the kids that I work with that I would be leaving. A lot of them, I've grown attached to and I don't want to just be another adult who says "good bye" to them.
I ask myself repeatedly if I would regret turning down a chance to get back to doing what I've always done, or would I leave a relatively stable situation for a bad situation?

July's Music

2008-08-02T23:04:00.000-07:00

I guess you could say it was slow month for music, with not as many good releases as in the last few months. I took the opportunity to get some stuff I put off for a while.

Elbow The Seldom Seen Kid This month I rediscovered the critically acclaimed band: Elbow. I say "rediscovered" because I bought their album Cast Of Thousands a few years ago and had a hard time taking it in. It was one of those "hard to listen" albums that isn't immediately accessible. The Seldom Seen Kid (their latest) is a little more "listener friendly" and pulled me right in. With strange musical textures and with some immediate pop song chorus, this is a pretty big sounding album and deserves a listen. Great art mope rock. I also reconnected with Cast Of Thousands and began to appreciate it more. I guess some music, you just can't give up on.

http://www.myspace.com/elbowmusic

Neil Halstead Oh! Mighty Engine The only new release this month that I found was the second solo album from the lead singer of Mojave 3. Neil Halstead is a excellent song writer and the last Mojave 3 album Puzzles Like You, was a excellent (and surprisingly upbeat) album. Here, he works pretty much by himself and strips the sound down even farther. Even though he's not backed by much of a band, his songs still have the great hooks that makes Neil's music so great. He will be in Portland in a few weeks.

http://www.myspace.com/neilhalsteadofficial

The Charlatans UK Wonderland I have always kind of liked the The Charlatans since I bought their first album back in 1990. The problem with these britpop survivors are their albums are pretty inconsistent. Sometimes they are OK, other times they stink. Wonderland was probably their best effort since the early days. They just released a new album and ended up giving it away on their website. I didn't find it worth my time.

Panda Riot She Dares All Things Another "indie shoegazer" band recommended to me from itunes. Sounds like a lot of the other shoegazer bands that sound like My Bloody Valentine. A fairly young band that uses the "fuzzed out" guitars with the breathy female and a drum machine. We'll see what the future holds for them.

http://www.myspace.com/pandariot

The Daysleepers Drowned In a Sea Of Sound You guess it, another "indie shoegazer" band from itunes. I think at this point, I'll take a little break from the shoegazer sound-- perhaps a couple of weeks. Anyway, these guys have the endorsement of "shoegazer founder"- Robin Guthie (Cocteau Twins), as well as Neil Halstead (Slowdive) and that has got to count for something. This NY band knows their influences and have a pretty impressive debut.

http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendID=105845710

Pictures from Kickball

2008-07-29T21:25:00.001-07:00

As I mentioned a few weeks ago, we had the annual Imago Dei Kickball. Here are the pictures:

We were the Super Mario team. As you can see, we had lots of props and even a ghost from Super Mario 3.

Here is me and Woogy holding a mushroom. They always have a snow cone machine on hand that is very refreshing after playing kickball all day.

Here we are playing against the Scots (or the Bravehearts). This was the team that sent us home finally after 6 games of kickball.

Woogy made a friend during the final game and started playing with my mustache. Can't wait till next year.

Weekend in Seattle

2008-07-20T22:29:00.001-07:00

This weekend, we celebrated our 8th anniversary/ my birthday-- by spending the weekend in Seattle. My parents came up and watched the kids for the weekend (although I don't think they will do again. Our kids are pretty hard to manage if you don't have the energy) so Wah-Wah and I could visit a city we've been wanting to see since we moved to the northwest. So Wah-Wah and I left early Saturday morning and drove three north to the Emerald City.

This is Seattle's skyline as scene from a boat. I didn't realize that Seattle is actually about 80 miles from the ocean. According to Google, Seattle also gets more rain fall than Portland (only by a couple of inches). I didn't think that any place got more rain than Portland. We lucked out this weekend with not a cloud in the sky.

Our first stop was the Seattle Aquarium. Since my parents volunteer at the Oregon Coast Aquarium, we get in that one for free, but this one we had to actually pay for. It was nice for the diver to pose with Wah-Wah.

The highlight of the aquarium was this real life "Marlin and Dory" from Finding Nemo. It was just like watching the movie-- but in real life. I guess I just don't get that excited in aquariums anymore.

After spending a couple hours in the aquarium, we went on a harbor cruise on this delightful ship.

We got a pretty good view of the city from the boat. Here is of course, the Space Needle. Just to the left of the Space Needle, up on the hill side, Frasier Crane lives. Actually, I learned that only one episode of "Frasier" was filmed in Seattle.

After getting off the boat, Wah-Wah and I rushed over to the monorail and rode it to the Space Needle where we had a dinner reservations at 5:15. Eating in the Space Needle is an experience. The restaurant rotates once every 45 minutes. I took the picture above on our second time around. It's pretty cool that you can get up and go to the bathroom then come back and your table is gone to the other side of the restuarant.

Here we are at dinner. Unfortunately, due to a late lunch, I wasn't very hungry. However, they have very little on the menu for under $30, so I ended up eating an Alaskan Grilled Halibut. It was delicious. In 8 years of marriage, we have never had such an expensive meal. I think we ended up spending over $120. Can't afford to do that but once a decade.

On Sunday, we took the bus to Pike's Place Market. It is a pretty famous area in Seattle with about everything. Lots of fresh produce, ethnic food, arts and crafts, music, and Starbucks. Yes, this is hollowed ground. This is the first Starbucks--ever. Sadly, I already had my coffee at the motel, so I didn't need another.

Another great discovery down the corner was this bakery that sold gluten free muffins. We had to stop here twice for some treats for Wah-Wah.

Our last stop in Seattle was at the Science Fiction Museum/Experience Music museum. This was a pretty cool building next to the Space Needle where visitors paid one price and got into both museums. We went to the Sci Fi Museum first. We saw lots of replicas of from Star Wars, Star Trek, Battlestar Galactica, Buck Rogers, etc. I enjoyed this since it was a history of Science Fiction- from Jules Verne to George Lucas. Unfortunately, cameras were not permitted, but I still took the picture of Yoda with my flash turned off. I can be such a rebel sometimes.

You would think that a music buff like myself, would dig the Experience Music museum, but I didn't really find it that interesting. The first half was devoted all to Jimi Hendrix. I'm well aware of Jimi's status in music, but I never had to patience's for his 20 minute jams. Upstairs, was jam area where you got music instruction on being in a band. Finally, towards the end, they had a area devoted to the Seattle scene of the 1990's. I did enjoy this area with such displays from Nirvana and Pearl Jam. I would have preferred a U2 section.

McKinley Cup 08

2008-07-14T20:34:00.000-07:00

" Imago Dei Community has a long and deep-seated history with kickball. We play to create unity and have fun, not to battle out grievances. Kickball is a complex game consisting of two teams, bases, and a big red ball. There is to be no bounces, bunts, tantrums, or hollering at the opposing team. This is a civilized game."

That was taken from the Imago Dei website signally the start of Imago's annual kickball tournament that was held last Saturday. This year, my Weds night home group got together and we decided to go this year as Team Mario (If you have never played "Super Mario" on the old Nintendo, you may not know who "Mario" is). Everyone (including yours truly) came dressed in overalls, with red hats and mustaches. We even made props such as mushrooms, stars, coins, and bricks. To top it off, someone downloaded the old Mario music and put it on repeated play. Sadly, I didn't have the camera this year (Wah-Wah was taking pictures on her hike), but I hope someone will send some that I could post.

I thought we all looked pretty good, and we won best custom beating out "The Scots" (they were dressed like Braveheart) and the "Spartans" (got their inspiration from "300"). This was our second year in a row of winning best custom. The prize is a pink bath robe with plastic flowers on it.

Unfortunately, we didn't when the prized McKinley Cup(which is pictured above on our pastor's head). We did make it pretty far by winning 4 out of 6 games. Why Imago chooses to play the annual tournament in the middle of July on a field with no shade is perplexing. After playing 6 games of kickball, by the afternoon, you are pretty tired and don't really care about winning. It is all pretty fun though and I look forward to playing again next year.

Oaks Park

2008-07-06T22:01:00.000-07:00

My birthday turned out to be a beautiful day in Portland. To celebrate my birthday, we took the family to Portland's only amusement park--Oaks Park, because nothing helps you remember your age better than going to an amusement park.
Anyway, Oaks Park is no Disney World or Worlds Of Fun for that matter. It is however a great deal. For $11 to $14 dollars you get a bracelet to unlimited rides. No admission price, no parking price, and you can bring whatever food you want. For under $50, we entertained a family of 4 for the afternoon.

Here's Woogy on the kiddie coaster there. It was a pretty bumpy kiddie coaster and it scared the heck out of Nibbles. Woogy, however seemed to really enjoy it and must have rode in 6 times. I was pretty impressed with some of the rides he decided to go on. Who knows, when he's older maybe he will be one of those roller coaster enthusiast who travels the country for the ultimate thrill.

Nibbles doesn't like speed or bumps, but apparently doesn't mind altitude. Here's her and Wah-Wah getting on the Ferris wheel.

Here's Woogy and Nibbles in one of those kiddie rides. I would have gone with them, but I would need the "jaws of life" to get back out.

Here's Nibbles on the Merry Go Round.

Here's Wah-Wah in the Rock-o-plane. This is like a Ferris wheel only the cage you are in spins around. Much to my surprise, the kids went on this with us. It kind of freaked them out. I should have trusted my gut and not allowed them to go.

June's Music

2008-07-02T21:49:00.001-07:00

I got a little carried away, but there was so much good music I got this month. So much good stuff to listen to, so little time.

Coldplay Viva La Vida The big news this month was the long awaited release of the new Coldplay. Despite a few critics, I absolutely loved Coldplay's last album, 2005's X&Y and was wondering how they were going to top that. On this album, Coldplay enlisted the help of famed U2 producer Brian Eno and tried reinventing themselves and their sound. The results are definitely taking their sound somewhere different, much like U2 did back in the 90's. Where as X&Y has it's woolly imagery of planets and oceans, sounded like it was recorded in a immaculate space station, Viva La Vida sounds very terrestrial in it's origins. Splashes of middle eastern strings and Afro beats are more apparent on this album. Still, the songs have that Coldplay punch and are just as warm and uplifting as their previous works.
http://www.myspace.com/coldplay

Sigur Ros Med Sud I Eyrum Vid Spilum Endalaust roughly translates to "With a Buzz In Our Ears We Play Endlessly" I always have a hard time describing a Sigur Ros album, probably because there are few words that can describe them. I guess the cover art could best describe this album as being summer with the coming to a new horizon. Like all their most recent work, this is so full of life and pushes you mind and soul and gently challenges your ears. No other band on the planet sounds like Sigur Ros. They will be here in Portland in October. One of the best live bands that I have ever seen.

http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendid=4685333

Bon Voyage Lies Jason Martin creates genius again, this time with his side band fronted by his wife, Julie. The past couple of Bon Voyage albums were pretty heavy on guitars that mixed well with Julie's ethereal child like voice. Lies instead ditches the heavy guitars and relies on a lot of synth with 60's style motown hooks. The results are the best Bon Voyage album yet. I just picked up this one a few days ago and can't stop listening to it. Even a Smith's song "Girlfriend In a Coma" was given proper justice here. Jason is as good with synth as he is with guitars.
http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendid=202524874

Joy Electric My Grandfather the Cubist The other side of the Martin family offered up this new one. Ronnie Martin usually releases an album a year, and this year's album is his finest in a long time. Ronnie loves to educate his listeners in history and what has been forgotten in recent years such as the telephone booth. Ronnie also performs songs about artist MC Escher, and Copernicus (two subjects that I have never heard covered in song before). Some of my favorite tracks here like "Whether By Horse or Horseless" recall the sound of his first album Melody.

http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendid=4360407

The Radio Dept. Pet Grief Another brilliant recommendation from itunes this month. Radio Dept is the perfect blend of post shoe gaze and with some electro glithces. This Swedish indie band can probably draw comparisons to M83's new album in my eyes. Another great album that brings to mind lazy days of summer. Breathy vocals with harder guitars and with enough sun drenched synth creates a sunny and bright atmosphere on this album.

http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendid=182955090

Airiel The Battle of Sealand A pretty impressive debut full length album from these Chicago shoegazers. Airiel follows a lot of the shoegazer formula of loud guitars and vocals that cannot be understood. There intentions here are to create aural majesty that occasionally turns to industrial noise. Beautiful album if you love shoegazing.

http://www.myspace.com/airiel

Lassie Foundation Through and Through Another one of my favorite "shoegazer" type bands released this album some time ago. Unfortunately, the first part of this album is all previously material, leaving around 7 songs on the second half that were all unreleased. Not too long ago, Through and Through appeared on itunes and I was able to buy the 7 songs I needed. The previously unreleased songs are pretty typical sounding Lassie Foundation songs that are a must for their fans (there aren't too many of us out there).

http://www.myspace.com/thelassiefoundation

Pedro the Lion Tour EP '04 It seems like forever since we last heard anything new from David Bazan. Lately, I've been a little hungry for so new tunes. I found this disc in the budget rack for a nice $3. Worth owning for David's cover of Radiohead's "Let Down."

the kids's birthdays

2008-06-11T21:41:00.001-07:00

Another kids's birthday season is over. Having two kids birthdays that are two days apart has it's advantages and disadvantages. The disadvantages being that Wah-Wah and I have to plan two parties and order two cakes. But the advantage is that at least it is over till next year.
This last weekend started with the annual Rose Festival in Portland. It's a pretty big celebration and even has a parade that rivals the Rose Parade on New Year's Day. The Rose Fest also signals the start of summer in Portland (but with temps in the 50's and 60's you wouldn't realize that it is summer). This year, 4 Navy battleships came into port. I decided to get on the Max and take Woogy down to the waterfront.

When I was a kid, I grew up in Virginia Beach VA near a naval base. I remember as a cub scout, we routinely got to take tours of ships that were in port. As a kid, I remember thinking it was pretty cool to go on board a battleship, so I wanted Woogy to have the same experience. Woogy and I got a tour of the USS Gary. Woogy was pretty excited and enjoyed climbing all the ladders. However, after an hour, Woogy got really bored.
Here's Woogy on the bridge. I guess the Navy doesn't mind having kids play with the helm.

On Sunday, we invited kids and parents over from our Tuesday night home group over for a party for the kids. Technically, it was Nibbles's party, but both kids were brought gifts. I got Woogy the new Indiana Jones Lego game for PS2. I figured he would love it since we enjoy playing the Lego Star Wars games so much. Personally, I find the puzzles on this one to be a little more challenging than the Star Wars games. We have been playing it every night so far.

We also got the kids this bouncing house that inflates in seconds. It's pretty easy to set up and the kids seem to enjoy it a lot, despite the fact that it has pushed my car out of the garage. Most of the kids that came over for the party seemed to enjoy it.

Here's the kids enjoying Nibbles birthday cake. Every year Nibbles runs out of the room crying when every one starts singing "Happy Birthday." I hope she gets over that some day.

Today, we had Woogy's party after his preschool. We invited his whole class over to a park right after school for pizza and some cake. Woogy enjoyed getting all the presents and received more gifts than he gets at Christmas. Apparently Nibbles doesn't like any one singing "Happy Birthday", because she took off crying again when we sang to Woogy.

May's Music

2008-06-05T20:32:00.000-07:00

I'm really excited about some new music coming in June, including new ones by Coldplay, Sigur Ros, and Bon Voyage. May was still pretty productive too. Here's what I picked up:

Starflyer 59 Ghosts Of the Future For months, Jason Martin has been taunting some of his fans by releasing new songs on vinyl only. A fan must subscribe and get mailed a new song on vinyl every month. This doesn't do a lot of good if you don't have a record player. Fortunately, Forest gave me a secret code that you can use to download the songs digitally. The album I downloaded has got to be SF 59' s best. It's one of those albums that are flawless. I even like the way it breaks SF 59's usual format by offering 20 tracks instead of the usual 10 tracks Jason releases every year. Even a great Smiths cover is thrown into the mix.

Death Cab For Cutie Narrow Stairs I really liked DC's last album Plans. That was the album that broke them into the mainstream,yet they were able to maintain their indie credibility. Expectations were pretty high coming into this album. I got pretty excited when I read that Ben Gibbard was reading a lot of Jack Kerouac and writing in rustic Big Sur, California. Unfortunately, the album doesn't quite reach expectations in my opinion. It's not bad, but it is no Plans. Not a lot of brilliant melodies that made Plans the great album it was.

Garbage Special Collection I've always been a Shirley Manson fan since she was in Angelfish . She is one of my favorite female artists. This is a not a regular release, and in truth, I stumbled upon it on the Internet. It is a collection of B-sides through out Garbage's career. It is actually a pretty massive collection of about 30 songs never released. Garbage does do pretty good b-sides that are worth owning if you are a fan. Most notable on here, is Garbage's James Bond theme "The World Is Not Enough."

The National The Virginia EP Riding high on the success of their critically acclaimed masterpiece Boxer, The National released a EP of b-sides, demos, and live cuts. Unfortunately, I wasn't paying close enough attention and got just the audio tracks from itunes and didn't realize that there was a film that accompanied the disc. Well, I don't watch music movies that often anyway. The songs on the EP are pretty great and makes a great companion to Boxer.

M83 Summer=Youth When I was in KC, Forest was pushing this album pretty hard, so I decided to take a listen. I was sold after listening to a few snippets of it. M83 combines elements of shoegaze and techno into some pretty impressive pop songs. Unfortunately, the album kind of fizzles in the end with a rather long ending track that is so boring it puts you in a trance.

Portishead Third It literally took me 7 listens to this album before I started to like it. I've never been a big Portishead fan despite that they are one of those "Critically Acclaimed" bands that I usually like. I found their sound too icy with trip hop effects and a "spy theme" mood. No "spy theme" mood on this album, just eclectic music. This is one of those albums like Radiohead's Kid A, that at first listen, you don't know weather it is crap or genius. Albums like Kid A and Third make the listener work and think. The pay off is worth it when you begin to see the genius work of art that it is.

Foxtail Somersault Fault I've been really into shoegazer lately and been snatching up everything I can find that fits into the shoegazer genre. This 5 track EP fits into my current tastes. Promising band, can't wait to see what else they will do.
Trembling Blue Stars The Last Holy Writer Quite and melancholy, with airy evocative guitar soundscapes, Trembling Blue Stars are not exactly exciting, but not all good albums explode in excitement. Rather downbeat lyrics, but a occasional female ethereal voice makes it's way into some of the tunes, making it a nice "chill out" album.

Woogy's first Beaver's Game

2008-06-01T21:42:00.000-07:00

Today Woogy attended his first big sporting event--his first Portland Beaver's game. The Beavers are not exactly a major league team, but they are closest to a major league team in the area (In all honesty, they played better then the KC Royals did in all the games that I saw).

Anyway, to support little league baseball, the Portland Beavers gave out discounted tickets to dozens of little league clubs in the area. Hundreds of little leaguers showed up in their uniforms at the ball park today.

I decided to take Woogy hoping he would at least be interested in watching a inning or two. I thought this would be a memorable experience for him if nothing else. So we took the Max (the train) down to PGE park in downtown Portland and waited in line for a free jersey. Afterwards, I got a very messy, but delicious chili cheese dog. I wanted to teach Woogy that the joy in going to a baseball game is the snacks.

After the game got started, Woogy began to get into the game and asked a lot of questions and began to wonder why his T-ball team never gets any outs. We took a break for a few innings by playing some carnival type games, then went back to the game. Much to my surprise, Woogy wanted to stay till the end of the game and cheered for the home team when they won. I wasn't actually expecting his interest to last that long.

After the game, all the kids got to run the bases. On the way back, Woogy said he had a great time. I guess that is all you can ask for you first baseball game.

Kansas Vacation 2008

2008-05-22T22:01:00.000-07:00

It was great to see everyone during our Kansas vacation this year. I must say that I really miss the place. I never would have thought that our old home could be such a great vacation destination that everyone here enjoyed. Here's a recap of the last week:

Thursday 5/15
- we woke up at 4am to catch a 5:30am flight. Wah-Wah usually gets up at this time, but she was actually up earlier. I guess she was excited. Anyway, after the horrible experience last year (being stranded in Denver over night), we had no problems and arrived at KCI in the early afternoon. Uncle Lovey (that's what he is called) picked us up and took us to Aunt Kim's house. That night, the kids and Wah-Wah went to visit Wah-Wah's dad, who was in town and staying at the Holiday Inn. The kids went swimming while I went to Homers to meet with A Forrest and Dust.

Friday 5/16
I rented a Toyota Prius and drove up to Iowa to see my old college friends, Dave and Doug. I enjoyed the drive in the Prius (and the gas mileage). That night, we had a couple of beers at one of our favorite places in Des Moines- the Royal Mile. It's a old style British pub that has as much charm as it's enormous beer selection.
Wah-Wah and the kids went to her older sister's Angie's house for a family reunion of sorts. Our kids really love Angie's home in Randoul. It is in the middle of nowhere, but has over a dozen horses roaming around. Woogy and Nibbles love spending time with their cousins. Woogy got to spend the night over there.

Saturday 5/17
-Dave and I went to the Des Moines Farmer's market which is every Saturday morning. I didn't actually see a lot of fresh produce, it was more like a lot of ethnic food and crafts for sale. Every time I'm in Des Moines, I can't believe how much it has grown. When I first moved their 18 years ago, it was a dump. It is actually turning into a pretty happening place. After breakfast at the Farmer's Market, I headed back out on the rode to visit my sister in Harlen IA.

(Aunt Angie, Wah-Wah, Nibbles, Aunt Kim, and cousin Jesse)

While I was driving around Iowa, Wah-Wah and Aunt Kim decided to take all the kids to World's Of Fun on Saturday. They went after 4pm and saved a couple of bucks. The kids had a blast (or so I'm told) at Camp Snoopy.

Here's all that went : Cheyanne, Woogy, Cody, Dusty, Aunt Kim, and Jessie (Nibbles isn't looking at the camera).

While everyone else was having a great time at Worlds of Fun, I was spending a quite afternoon with my sister. It was a pleasant visit and I got to see my baby nephew. My sister talked with me a lot about our mom's deteriorating health. That was kind of a downer, so on the long drive back to KC, I listened to Rosie Thomas's When We Were Small album. The album was a perfect back drop to the summer sunset driving across Missouri. I think Rosie has one of the warmest voices in music with some very introspective lyrics. I found myself being so retrospective listening to this album, that I had to hear it twice.

Sunday 5/18

On Sunday, we got up and went to Church. Overland Park really feels like a church home to me. I like were we are now, but Overland Park is were my faith really began. I missed most of Pastor's Phil's sermon since I ended up talking with someone about my job and foster care in general. Afterwards we went to Chuck E. Cheese with A Forest and his kids.

After Chuck E. Cheese, we went to A Forest's cousin's graduation party at Shawnee Mission Park. Here is a picture of A Forest shredding it up on a kind of a skate board. I have a nice video of this, but I can't seem to download videos on my blog for some reason.

Monday 5/19
On Monday, we went to Deanna Rose Petting Zoo. I use to go to this place all the time with the kids, but I've really come to miss it. We have nothing like this in Portland. You really begin to appreciate something when you no longer have it. We ended up running into our old doctor. I didn't want to bother him, but I did go up and tell him "thank you" for taking care of our family when we lived in KC. I think he appreciated it, and told me that he quit his practice a year ago. I told him I thought he was a good doctor despite acting very bored on some of my appointments. I reminded him of the time he gave me a spinal tap because he thought I had meningitis. I asked him to pose for a picture with Nibbles since he delivered her. I thought it might be neat someday to show Nibbles a picture of the man who delivered her.

After Deanna Rose, I met up with A Forest to go see the Cure at Starlight. We picked up some dinner at my favorite restaurant in the world-- Oklahoma Joes.

Sadly, I'm down to one Z-man a year (my arteries are grateful for that). The Z-man is the best sandwich I ever had. Nothing else compares. The fries are pretty good too.

After a delicious meal at Oklahoma Joe's, A Forest and I headed to Starlight to see the Cure. The Cure is one of my "pillar" bands. Meaning, I got into them when I first started listening to music back in the 80's and they have shaped my taste in music like U2, the Smiths, and REM. Starlight is a great for a summer night concert, and it was pretty crowded for a Monday night. Shows like this are great for people watching, but the Cure's audience is getting older (like me) so I wouldn't say we saw a lot of people "gothed up." The Cure played a lot hits from their massive catalogue and few new ones from their forth coming double album. All the new tunes sounded pretty good. However, it was clear that lead singer Robert Smith wasn't feeling so well and was having pretty bad voice problems. Unlike some singers (Depeche Mode 2 years ago), Robert Smith pushed on for almost three hours. By the end of the set, he could hardly sing the chorus of his songs. I've always thought he was one of the coolest singers ever.

Tuesday 5/20

On Tuesday, we spent the afternoon at Hillsdale Lake with Aunt Kim and Uncle Lovey. Lovey has a speed boat and was kind enough to take us all out on it for some tubing. Lovey and Kim even had some wet suits that fit us. I have never been dragged across a lake at 30mph. I think I would have enjoyed it a little more if Lovey would have slowed down a little.

Here's Wah-Wah in tow. Wah-Wah impressed everyone with how long she stayed on. Nibbles got a little upset when Wah-Wah fell off. She thought we were leaving Wah-Wah stranded out in the middle of the lake.

After a afternoon at the lake, we went out to the T.Rex Cafe with Dust and Golden. T.Rex seemed like a good idea if the kids started acting up. My thanks again for Dust for rescuing Woogy when he got trapped between a wall and a table.

Weds 5/21

On Weds, we spent the day at Aunt Angie's again. Nibbles picked up some new cowgirl boots and rode a rather stubborn pony.

While Woogy and Nibbles played with their cousins, I broke my own personal record for the "most amount of time on a horse" by riding for three hours. I found that there was something romantic about being on a horse. The hero always rides horse after all. Here I am on a horse named "Easy." I rode around the pasture for a while he did nothing but eat the grass.

Q vs. Paste

2008-05-09T16:28:00.000-07:00

As a music fan who can't stand the radio, I have to look for new music in magazines and trust the editors judgement. This approach usually works for discovering new talent since I tend to agree with a lot of critics and writers. My two favorite magazines out there are "Q"- a British music magazine, and "Paste"- a pretty well rounded music magazine that emphasizes indie and relevant music and culture.

Lately I have thought that it is kind of a waste of money to have two subscriptions come to my house every month, since I really don't read the magazine more than once. I've decided that in these "economic hard times" to let my subscription to "Q" run out and stick with "Paste."

It is not that "Q" doesn't interest me anymore. "Q" usually covers all my favorite British bands that no body in this country really cares about. U2 and Coldplay seem to routinely be on the cover every month. Most issues have free CDs as well (although I never seem to get anything good on them). The fact of the matter is though- "Q" is one expensive magazine. Over $130 per year! Q never seems to have any specials either (except this month I get a free REM cd that I have anyway).

"Paste" on the other hand, only sets me back $20 for a year, and gave me an extra subscription (that I gave to a friend). "Paste" has also gives out a sampler every month of undiscovered talent. Lastly, Paste also has a better web site too that updates daily with all that is going on in the world of relevant music.

So it seems that Paste is the better deal. Q has already started sending me letters pleading for me to return. I hate those letters that make you feel like a creep for backing out. But the truth is, over $10 a issue is too steep for me, when I can get my news from the web for free.

April's music

2008-05-01T22:46:00.000-07:00

Overall, I would have to say that I had a great month musically. I discovered some good shoegazers, found rare eps, and two great bands return,- sums up my month.

REM Accelerate REM returns in a big way with this great album, but it was a predictable return. REM took a lot of crap over their last couple of albums especially 2005's Around the Sun. While I found the album enjoyable, their fans and critics didn't care for it . Most everyone complained it just didn't rock like their best material. REM decided to give it one more go by trying to make a straight forward rock album. They hired on one of my favorite producers- "Jackknife" Lee (U2, Snow Patrol, Editors, Bloc Party) and came up with their strongest and most politically charged album to date. I wasn't too impressed with the first single, "Supernatural, Superserious", but the rest of the album is spectacular. So far, album of the year.

Foxglove Hunt Stop Heartbeat I first saw Foxglove last year in a coffee shop with Joy Electric. With Ronnie Martin teaming up with Rob Witham (Fine China), it's impossible to go wrong. I remember when they played their set, their sound was terrible, and you can tell they didn't rehearse that much. However, I could hear the songs that came through, and they were pretty impressive. Later, I got a chance to tell Rob that I thought he was a great songwriter. I like the album and it reminds me of Fine China's first album. You can really hear the synth 80's influence here as well, making the album sound a little like it is in the wrong decade.
http://www.myspace.com/thefoxglovehunt

Fleeting Joys Despondent Transponder A great recommendation from itunes to any fan of shoegazing. Ethereal female vocals, walls of sound- everything a shoegazer loves. I can't wait for their next release, that is if My Bloody Valentine doesn't sue them for copyright. This album sounds an awful like MBV's shoegazer masterpiece- Loveless. I couldn't find this album anywhere except for itunes. The band is sold out of it. I suppose it maybe in a small little indie store somewhere. If it is, and you appreciate a good shoegazer album- buy it.

http://www.myspace.com/fleetingjoys

James Hey Ma Like all bands that break up, James got back together again this year after a seven year break. In that time, lead singer Tim Booth did a terrible solo album (proving he needs his band). I doubt this album will ever be released in the states. James is more of a British thing. The original album cover was banned in the UK, due to the picture. The band says that it is a take on a real life story of a baby being mistakenly issued a gun licence by the NRA. But to appease some critics, a orange cap was added to the gun on the cover. Musically, it is another great album by this band (their song "Laid" is featured in every "American Pie" movie). James gets a little political on this album and brings back their trumpet, ditching their "euro-techno" sound on their last couple of albums.

http://www.myspace.com/jamesisnotaperson

My Bloody Valentine Ecstasy and Wine A pretty rare fine indeed. I can't tell you how long I've been looking for some back catalog from the greatest shoegazers of all time. This particular album is a compilation of sorts, combining two of their early eps. It is interesting to hear how MBV evolved to the band that made Loveless. Here, vocals aren't entirely blended to the guitars like on Loveless. Guitars are not distorted as much either. I would describe them sounding like the Primitives with a jangly guitar and male and female swapping songs. Another band that is regrouped after over a decade of silence. Fans have been promised new material someday.

http://www.myspace.com/mybloodyvalentine

Air Formation Daylight Storms Another great recommendation by itunes, I had to download it after my first preview. Another great shoegazer album I found this month. More atmospheric and dreamy than raw energy, this is a great album to get lost in. I can't stop listening to it. One of the best albums of it's kind. I will have to check out more of their catalog.

http://www.myspace.com/airformation

My Bloody Valentine You Made Me Realise EP This rare and out of print EP, is a real treasure if you are into collecting MBV. Only five songs, but beautiful as MBV continue to develop their sound on the way to making Loveless.

My Bloody Valentine Feed Me With Your Kiss EP Another rare and out of print EP from MBV. It would be nice if these were rereleased in a box set or something. It's beautiful like all of MBV's back catalog.

James B-Sides Ultra Like all great British bands, James does pretty good b-sides. This a collection of some of them they released after they broke up seven years ago. It's good, but I've been listening to too much shoegazing music to care about it.

My videos on my ipod part 1

2008-04-19T22:02:00.000-07:00

Since I got my video ipod last year, I don't know how I ever lived without it. It's handy if you just got a few minutes to kill or several hours on a plane. I've put a few of the kids videos on that keep them entertained on long car trips, but I've also put some of my favorite music videos. Here is some of the music videos that I have downloaded from itunes:

Depeche Mode Enjoy the Silence My favorite DM song features a pretty cool vibe video to go with it. Lead singer Dave Gahan dresses up like a king and walks to distant locations with a beach chair to sit and enjoy the silence.http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hd7y6A-5uTY

U2 Window in the Skies A song from their last singles album, the video features cut out images of the band in their early days. It's a great video, but I kind of prefer the other version (which is not available on itunes) of everyone from the Beatles to Radiohead singing the chorus of the song.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MdYj0rjHG04

U2 Original Of Species A beautiful digital video mixed with images from the band. The song is a message to a unborn child and with the digital effects capture the beauty, wonder, and innocence of new life. This video really hit home a few weeks ago when some friends of ours from church lost their baby an hour after birth.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xa8mFeWbLX8

U2 Where the Streets Have No Name This video captures what rock and roll is about--"civil disobedience" as Bono would put it, and that's just what they did back in 1987. When most music videos where about chicks and cars, U2 showed how music can still move people. This video captures an unrehearsed performance of U2 playing on a roof top to downtown LA. Of course, the police pulled the plug, but not before thousands turned out for a free concert.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GpVbLm4TN3g

U2 The Sweetest Thing U2 show a little humor in this one as Bono attempts an apology to his wife (who makes a 2 second cameo). This song was originally a b-side off the Joshua Tree (1987), but the band discovered it's potential a decade later and reworked to a bittersweet song. Bono originally wrote the song for his wife for missing her birthday. The video shows him making up for that mistake by offering her everything from a boy band, to shirtless firemen, to a marching band, to a giant heart in the sky.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1wfv3lJs5qE

Suede Metal Mickey Suede was one of my favorite bands of all time. They exploded onto the British music scene with what I would describe as "trash, gender bending, glam rock, David Bowieque"music. I found their image fascinating and musically being hopelessly romantic. This was one of their first videos about a girl working as butcher by day, and a stripper by night. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bN5zcUrWrdY

Suede Trash This is one of my favorite singles of all time. Brit pop at it's best. When I had first heard this song, I had all but given up on Suede. After all, the lead guitarist and co song writer had left, and the band replaced him with a 17 year old guitarist. The song captures life being young, poor, and in love. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hXo1f37Pexg

Sigur Ros Hoppipolla I love Sigur Ros videos. Their music is a perfect backdrop to their videos. Here, Sigur Ros celebrate age and wisdom with a group of seniors running around town, playing pranks, and fighting like children playing pirates. It will make you feel like a child again. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PDxMQaMqsig

Sigur Ros Glosoli Another celebration of age, only this time centered around a group of children in the Icelandic landscape. The finale shows the children running off a cliff, only to fly off into the distance. Original.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=okLCurB1lJw

REM Leaving New York Another one of my favorite songs of all time, about how hard it is to leave a place (or city) that you love. The video features Michael Stipe (lead singer) wondering around an airport reflecting on if he wants to leave. REM loves New York.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VK2UipIkHxc

Trip out to Eastern Oregon #2

2008-04-14T22:12:00.000-07:00

We spent this last weekend exploring parts of Eastern Oregon that we missed last year on our first visit. Wah-Wah and I were both feeling like we needed a break from the daily grind, so we headed out back east.
Eastern Oregon is very different from Portland and the coast. It's referred to as the high desert. The area gets about a quarter of the rain, that Portland and the Cascades gets. It is much more isolated and less trees. As a result, ranches pop up everywhere.

After Woogy finished his T-ball game on Saturday, we headed out of Portland through the Columbia River Gorge and stopped at a natural preserve (I can't remember the name of it, Wah-Wah can I'm sure). I was promised fields of wild flowers but had to settle with small patches of them. Still, I thought it was sweet to watch my little girl pick some.

After stopping at White River waterfalls (which we saw last year), we headed out towards John Day National Monument, which are fossil beds spread out over three areas. We stayed the night at this bed and breakfast in a small town called Fossil. Fossil is a very small town and kind of depressing. Cell phones were no use. This bed and breakfast was nearly the only place to stay in town. I guess it was alright, but Wah-Wah and I stayed at a much nicer bed and breakfast in Weston MO. The kids seemed to enjoy it and the breakfast was pretty good.

After leaving Fossil the next day, we headed out to our first John Day site called Sheep rock. This area reminded me of the Badlands in South Dakota that I visited when I was much younger. The hike we went on had some fossils on display throughout the trail. No dinosaur fossils, but all early "horse like "mammals use to inhabit the area.

After visiting Sheep rock, it was off to the Painted Hills (the second John Day fossil site). They were pretty impressive to see shades of red throughout these hills. Not a lot of other people around the area, so I really enjoyed the solace.

Here was a trail that went around a red hill. It was like walking around on Mars.

We spent the night at a regular hotel this time in a town called Prineville. After leaving there we headed out to Smith Rock State Park. We found this to be a spectacular park, but hard to find since there are not a lot of signs around. We ended up asking this grizzled old rancher for directions. He was pretty grizzled and reminded me of Curly from "City Slickers."I wanted to ask him what was the secret of life. I envisioned him saying "One thing." Anyway, this is the view from the other side of the canyon. Smith Rock is one of the premier rock climbing areas. Unfortunately, I've never had any desire to go rock climbing, so I settled with a nice hike down by the river.

Woogy's first game

2008-04-05T22:55:00.000-07:00

It seems odd that despite the steady rain, baseball season is pretty popular around Portland. A few weeks ago I decided to sign Woogy up for T-ball in a neighborhood league. He seemed more excited about playing T-ball than soccer, so I thought it was worth a try.
The kids named the team "The Cheetahs". Basically, if the kids learn the rules of baseball and have fun, that is all that matters.
I've been taking Woogy outside and teaching him how to catch and throw. He does alright and is throwing the ball in the right direction. He's actually a pretty good hitter.
Today was our first game in a long season (16 games). No really keeps score, and all the kids get up to bat. Woogy did pretty good today and scored two runs (I was counting). Even more importantly, he was able to keep focus on the game and not lose interest. We played for about an hour before it was over. That was enough for these kids. Over all, I was pretty proud of him.
I wish they had T-ball when I was growing up. I had to wait till I to wait till I was in fourth grade before I started playing. I remember I wasn't a hitter. I got up and hoped I got walked.

Here's Woogy at his first time up at bat. It was a single base hit.

Woogy at the pitcher's mount (he doesn't actually pitch). He enjoys be at the center of the action, but he really wants to player catcher because of the cool gear.

Woogy at first base. He was one of the few kids that ran when the ball was hit.

Since Wah-Wah has the flu, I took the kids to the Shriners circus tonight. This was their first circus and they both loved it.

March Music

2008-04-01T21:43:00.000-07:00

After a slow start this year, music has been picking up this month. Got to get some new releases to get from REM and Foxglove Hunt, but here's what I picked up in March:

Muse Haarp When I first heard Muse, I thought what everyone else does: another "Radiohead sounding band", but as the band has grown in popularity, it's clear they are forging their own direction in progressive rock, drawing more influence from Queen mixed with some Jeff Buckley vocal style. Haarp is their second live album coming from their tour of Black Holes and Revelations (which is a great album). Sadly, I've never seen Muse live, which I hear is an experience. Anyway, Muse rocks and their songs sound great live. All their big hits are here.

Tango Alpha Tango Rebel Sons of Cowboys A friend of mine from Imago, Aaron and his brother are the founding members of this band. Aaron is a pretty talented singer and musician that has had several bands dating way back. When he was in a band called the Carolines, he got to open for The Presidents Of the United States. The Carolines had a pretty big local following before they split. Aaron's brother Nate, wanted to stay in music, so he and Aaron got together and started writing songs. The band is rounded out by Nate's wife on bass and a college friend on drums. I got to see them perform last month before they released their ep and was pretty impressed with their song writing. I ended downloading their album off itunes.

Counting Crows Saturday Nights & Sunday Mornings I got this album primarily because of my loyalty to Counting Crows. It is their first album in over 6 years. I can't say I missed them terribly, but I did want to hear their new material. The concept of the album was originally suppose to be two eps. Saturday Nights was suppose to be the hard rocking album with Sunday Mornings a more acoustic somber ep. I guess the first half of the album is more up tempo, but not much to make it sound like two eps put together. Over all, it's alright, but not their best outing. I'm more curious on how lead singer Adam Duritz,deals with his clinical depression through song writing.

Moby Last Night Another concept album about going out to the clubs on Saturday night and the dealing with the morning after. Moby took some criticism from his last album Hotel because he lost track of his techno and club roots. Personally, I loved Hotel and admired him for trying something different. I thought Hotel was beautiful with it's adoring love songs. Last Night returns Moby to what his critics wanted--a techno album that sounds like it is from the mid 90's. Personally, I found it a pretty strong album, but noticed Moby doesn't sing at all on this album. Vocals are done with his usual "black gospel voice" lady he brings in on every album.

Minipop A New Hope A recommendation from A Forest last month that I found very impressive. I don't know why it was named after a "Star Wars" movie, but I'm sure the band has their reasons. This album is good old shoegazing the way shoegazing was meant to be--heavy swirling guitars, with a light female ethereal voice. It's like the two were meant to be together like peanut butter and jelly. No complaints here, I love it.

The Brother Kite Waiting for the Time to Be Right Another recommendation from A Forest that I was impressed with. I was playing this album at work and someone asked if it was Band Of Horses. At first I didn't draw that comparison, but then I thought about it and had to agree that The Brother Kite does sound a little like Band Of Horses but with heavier guitar. I still like it, so if you like Band of Horses, check it out.

Rosie in Portland

2008-03-26T22:21:00.000-07:00

My favorite song bird Rosie Thomas, played a short, but sweet show Weds night in Portland at the Doug Fir (one of the main concert venues around here). Rosie has a gift of a hauntingly beautiful voice that outshines about every female vocalist I've ever heard. At her best, she can make a platoon full of marines start sobbing (OK, that comparison might be a bit of a stretch, but you get the idea). Her songs are personal and touch on life, family, love, searching, and God.

It is of no surprise when you look at her, you see she is a bit quirky and entertaining when she is on stage. She started off by telling us about her new "Suri" haircut named after "Tomcat's" daughter. Then she goes off and tells us how she just got back from visiting family in Kansas and watched Kirk Cameron movie "Left Behind" while she was there. I totally agreed with her when she said that the movie was so painfully bad that it was funny. Lastly she talked about her upcoming marriage to her guitarist.

As far as a set list, she played a couple songs from each of her four albums and closed with her cover of REM's "The One I Love." She could have played all night and I would have been happy. I don't see how I could ever get tired of her voice.

When to give up

2008-03-20T22:31:00.000-07:00

I was looking through "Despair.com" the other day, and found this picture of the cat to be rather appropriate for my career ambitions.
Recently, I have been looking into working at DHS (Department of Human Services) as a Child Protective Service worker. You might ask "Why would anyone want that job?" The answer is in my field and education level, it pays the highest and the benefits are great. Sure it's high demand and often a thankless job, but it also has some mobility to move up in the world. Currently in my position, a opportunity for advancement comes around about as often as Halley's Comet.
Don't get me wrong, I don't hate my job. I like my coworkers and I'm pretty cut out to work with marginalized kids in the foster care system. But every now and then, I dream of something better.
Following my pipe dream, I applied at DHS several months ago. I've been called for three interviews at 3 different locations, and so far nothing. They have an interesting hiring process where they interview about 10 applicants for one position. Usually, when you arrive for you interview, the secretary gives you about 5 situational questions and tells you they are going to ask these questions. 5 mins later, you are called inside and answer those questions to the people conducting the interview. Then they give you a chance to ask questions.
In case you don't know, I hate interviews. There is very little science to them. Often the best people don't get the job. My evidence is based on some pretty incompetent DHS workers that I have worked with. You think to yourself "Who did you sleep with to get this job?"
The first interview was before a panel of about 7 people. I hate big interviews, but thought I managed to pull off a good one. I discussed teamwork a lot since I've heard they like that. A week later a rejection letter. Interview number 2 was a few weeks later. This time, it was a just a couple of people (which I feel comfortable with). I even got in a few laughs in. A week later, another rejection letter.
This week, I had a third interview. This time it was a panel of about 9 people. My first thought was "Shouldn't some of you be out working, this is Child Protective Services?" Then I noticed half the panel was "man hating "lesbians. Now I don't want to sound prejudice (after all I am a social worker) but I tend to find that I don't get along with women who like women. Historically, they don't understand my humor at all and look at me in disgust. Most of the questions asked at me where to discuss how I work out disagreements with coworkers. At the beginning of the interview I stated that generally I have never had major disagreements with coworkers. In truth, I try to be as cooperative as possible. This of course made very short answers to their questions. About five minutes into the interview, I had pretty much answered everything. Then it was my turn to ask questions. After two other interviews, I really don't have any more questions, so I asked the same ones again and tried to act grateful when they gave me their answers. As I was shuffling out of the interview I wanted to ask "Can I have my rejection letter now? It will save you some postage."
Anyway, I haven't gotten my rejection letter yet, but I'll bet that it is on it's way. I'm wondering if I should just give up. It gets disheartening doing interview after interview and getting the same rejection letter. Is it possible that I just wasn't meant to work for the state and enjoy those nice benefits? Since I'm on their interview list, I'm sure I will have other interviews coming, but when is enough enough?

Nibbles and school

2008-03-06T10:17:00.000-08:00

Personally, I'm feeling a little vindicated now. As I have always said; "I know my daughter."
Ever since the beginning of this year, Woogy's preschool teachers have been asking me when I'm going to sign up Nibbles for school ? I've told them on several occasions that I don't think she's ready for preschool. She will be 3 in a few months, but she doesn't talk or is potty trained.
Week after week, Woogy's teachers have said that the sooner I get her in school, the sooner she will start talking and develop some social skills. They even said they are holding a spot for her. I can see their logic, but I said that I can't even leave her in Sunday school, much less for 4 hours in school each week.
This week, Woogy's teachers then offered me to bring her in to the 3 and 4 year olds to see how she does. I thought their was no harm in that and it would just prove my point that she isn't ready for school. This morning, I took Nibbles into the classroom. Nibbles was excited for about 2 mins, but then when the other kids came up to her, she got scared and hid behind me (this is pretty typical for her). I'm sure it was overwhelming for her too. I then tried to get her a little involved in some painting. At that point, Nibbles ran out the door and to the car saying "Home!"
I drove Nibbles back to her sitter and felt a little vindicated. Sure, Woogy's preschool teachers have background in early childhood development as I do, but I know my daughter too, and she is not ready for school. We held Woogy back a year for preschool because we just didn't feel he was ready despite his teacher wanting to put him in the older class. We insisted and things at school have turned out pretty good for Woogy at school. In hindsight, I think it was the right thing to do. I've worked in child welfare now for close to a decade and I always work on the assumption that nobody knows their kids better than the parents. Hopefully, this will be the end of the Woogy's preschool teachers pushing Nibbles into school. I want to give her another year.

Febuary's Music

2008-03-02T21:51:00.000-08:00

Since I kind of had a slow start to the new year, I've spent this month trying to catch up with some of new Cd's.

The Mary Onettes This has been one of my best new finds in a long time. They were recommended to me from itunes, which sometimes has some good advice. If you love 80's alternative rock that mixes Echo and the Bunnymen's and Joy Division's foggy atmosphere, with New Order guitars, then this is the album for you. The Mary Onettes are from Sweden and have been trying to get their music out for years, but had a lot of record deals fall through. One of the most retro sounding outfits out there.

The Smiths This Charming Man EP Finally, I have every last song recorded by The Smiths. The Smiths were one of the greatest bands of all time. They had a profound impact on my life and really opened my eyes to alternative music, way before the 90's hit. They were a band worth collecting, since their b-sides were as good as their singles. Most of those b-sides found their way on to compilation albums, but the three b-sides on This Charming Man never found a full album to fit onto. Consequently, the three songs here Jeane, Wonderful Woman, and Accept Yourself have been sought after by "die hard" Smiths fans (like myself) for over two decades. I don't know if I'd say that these three songs were worth waiting two decades for, but they are better than anything Morrissey has done lately.

The National Alligator Like everyone else who reads "Paste" magazine (and takes their music collection seriously) I loved The National's latest album Boxer. So I thought I would try one of their earlier albums. Alligator took a few listens before I started to like it. There are some good tunes here. I think it hints at the creative genius to come on Boxer.
The Editors The Back Room (Bonus Disc). Another band I truly love are the Editors. I really love their debut album, The Back Room, so I was pretty surprised to find a bonus disc floating around on the Internet. These are 6 new songs that didn't make the final album. These are not B-sides, but songs that are just as good as the final album. Wherever they came from, they are pretty good and are a extra treat to have.
Kate Nash Made Of Bricks After receiving the approval of her friend Lily Allen, Kate Nash hit it pretty big in the UK and is slowly making her way over to the states cussing up a storm. Vocally, she has this "posh English" voice that swears more than sailors in a bulk of her songs. Not an album for the faint of heart. Kate sings about truly dysfunctional relationships where she's been hurt or taken advantage of. She has some "choice" names for the men that have betrayed her in her songs. Musically, it is pretty easy to take in, with it's poppy alternative sound.
Radiohead In Rainbows (Bonus Disc) Another great disc I found floating around on the Net. This is a must for us "die hard" Radiohead fans. Everyone knows In Rainbows is a great album, but the unreleased bonus disc makes it better. These 8 additional songs are in the complete In Rainbows package with all the fancy art work. This is offered through the website at a reasonable $80. I didn't feel like spending that much, so I obtained it through other means. Some of the new songs are just "fillers" but others like "4 minute Warning" and "Last Flowers" should have been on the regular album.
Glen Phillips Mr. Lemons I loved Toad the Wet Sprocket (the "Walk on the Ocean " band) but Glen's solo career has been a lot of "hit or miss". His first solo album sucked big time, but his second album Winter Pays for Summer is a masterpiece that out does a lot of Toad albums. Mr. Lemons is sort of a step backwards for Glen. Not a complete bust, but not his best or worst work. I only got it because I found it for a good price. Includes a unrecognizable cover of Huey Lewis's "I Want a New Drug" that I would rather forget.

Look Out Below

2008-02-29T20:11:00.000-08:00

This morning as I was dropping Woogy off at school, I got out of my car for a minute to talk to the teacher. Suddenly, I heard a huge SPLAT! and saw what appeared to be a massive amount of bird poop on my car. The first thing I thought was "I'm glad that wasn't my head." Its a case of karma since I was parked in a handicapped spot (just for a minute). Ironcially, I had just washed my car a few days ago.

Weekend adventures

2008-02-18T10:10:00.000-08:00

After several months of cold rainy weekends, the sun and pleasant weather returned this weekend. As always, we tried to make the best of the weather and travelled up the gorge to Bridal Vail falls and then to Mt. Hood for some more sledding.

Here's Mt. Hood near the top. A lot of skiers and snowboarders around. I truely regret never having learned to snow board or ski. It looks pretty fun.

Here's Bridal Vail Falls. This is around the same area of a lot of the other waterfalls, but it's kind of hidden around a corner. It was a pretty easy hike down to the falls.
The family by the falls

Here's a little clip of me going down a pretty steep hill. It was a little rough, but I'm alright. I'm not as young as I used to be. That's Monty chasing me down the hill.

Editors in Portland

2008-02-10T22:03:00.000-08:00

Last Wed, one of my favorite bands--The Editors were in town. This would be their second visit to Portland in less than 6 months, but I'm not complaining. I'm really loving these guys and they are quickly raising on my list of "favorite bands of all time." I also thought they had the best new album last year with "An End Has A Start."

Sure, they have their critics and get accused of ripping off Joy Division, but I think they improve on that gloomy alternative sound with glass shredding guitars that Joy Division started years ago. They also get some comparisons to Interpol, but I think with their last album, the Editors surpasses Interpol on every level.

The Editors played a pretty intensive show mostly drawing from tunes on their new album and hardly stopping or letting up for almost an hour. Tom Smith (lead singer) is a great performer and the closing song "Smokers in the Hospital Doors" achieves the heights and granduer few bands have matched. Since this band is still pretty young, I'm excited to hear what they will do next.

Bono Fatigue: A Place for Bono Vox Detox

2008-02-07T14:29:00.000-08:00

I was going to blog about the incredible Editors concert I went to last night, but I thought this would be more funny.
I found this link on Larknews.com and thought it was pretty funny. I'm not sure if I have ever suffered from this. I've been a loyal fan for over 20 years and don't feel I need a detox. Maybe I'm just blind to the symptoms.

www.BonoFatigue.com // A Place for Bono Vox Detox

From site host Andrew BillingsThis site is for U2 fans suffering from Bono Fatigue as a result of an over-consumption of U2 music, Bono interviews, Africa-related relief ideas etc. (BF can manifest in many ways. If you don't have it, you'll know it when you get it.) Since people at this site are recovering from BF, and are hoping to work through it and re-introduce U2 back to their lives, please do not post band photos, art or quotes unless absolutely necessary to your comment. Give others a chance to walk through this at their own pace. Thanks! Heal and enjoy.

Here's some of the postings:

First, thanks to Andrew for creating this safe haven! My Bono Fatigue started shortly after "Atomic Bomb" was released. I listened to the enhanced CD for 302 hours straight, even while sleeping. It was a total binge and I knew better. I also read that book of interviews with Bono, "Conversations," about six times.During that same time I got "hooked" on the Africa cause really bad. I made myself feel sick about AIDS and poverty, to the point where I couldn't think about anything else. I OD'ed pretty bad and got the biggest case of BF. I couldn't even hear Bono's voice without feeling totally self-righteous and prophetic. I thought I was way hipper than all my non-U2 loving Christian friends. I even quit going to church and listened to U2 music on Sunday mornings as my "church."I finally realized I had a problem, so I went cold turkey for 5 months, then weaned back onto their stuff. I have earned my family and friends back, and now I moderate my U2 intake. BF can be beat, people!
Audrey464always

I guess I'm in the middle of some bad BF. I dreamed last night that Bono, Bono's wife, Bob Geldof and the Edge were hiding around every corner and jumping out to frighten me and play "I'm gonna getcha" while pinching and tickling me. It was awful to have my favorite band in a nightmare! When I ran away from them I felt guilty, like I wasn't doing the "right thing."The weird thing is, I don't even know who Bob Geldof is. It must have come into my head subliminally. Is he the Live Aid guy? Or Band-Aid? Even typing the word "Aid" is bringing on symptoms. Agh!

I relapsed last night and listened to the first three songs of Achtung. By the time The Fly rolled around I was back to thinking Bono was Elijah. It's amazing how long it takes to get over distorted thoughts. I can't wait 'til my detox is done and I get back to regular listening. I miss U2, but I can't have them right now!

U2 3D

2008-02-05T20:15:00.000-08:00

Over the weekend, I finally had my opportunity to go see U2 3D. It was as I predicted--totally mind blowing. Coming from U2, I would expect anything less. They haven't let me down in over 20 years that I've been a fan. This was about 80 mins of pure 3-D joy with U2 on stage during their Vertigo Tour. By the time I bought a IMAX ticket, popcorn and a drink, I realized that I spent half as much if I went to a real U2 concert. In a way, this was about as close as you could get to seeing U2. At times I had to ask my friend Aaron "Shouldn't we be standing?" I also caught myself almost clapping. That's how real it felt.
The movie really did U2 some justice. It was clear that U2 was using this movie of spreading their agenda for tolerance and coexistance. The art work flashing on the screens and Bono's performance were consistently a plea for nonviolence and peace. With the exception of a few songs, U2 played most of their policitally charged anthems including my personal favorites "Sunday Bloody Sunday" and a heart felt verison of "Pride"(Bono actually fixed the lyrics to be historical accurate of the time MLK was shot). Anyway, the movie is nothing but uplifting and like all U2 shows, you leave with a sense of hope. I really loved the animation being played during "Yaweh" at the end of the film. U2 3-D accomplished it's mission if it set out to capture U2's message.
Unfortuately, hundreds of teenage girls got a totally different message in the next door theather that was playing "Hannah Montana in 3-D " to sold out crowds. That's OK, I didn't want them in my theather anyway.

january's music

2008-01-31T22:16:00.000-08:00

I found this to be a rather slow month for music. Didn't find a lot of inspiring music this month, so I went back and picked some albums I missed last yearArcade Fire Neon Bible I became fixated on buying this album after it topped nearly every music critics "best of..." list. I'm glad I did, it was just the kind of "big rock" sounding album I was looking for. I found it pretty refreshing since I had been listening to a lot of slower, softer music recently. Neon Bible has drawn a lot of comparison's to Bruce Springsteen. At their best, Arcade Fire rely on the same melodrama Springsteen uses to achieve their grandeur sound. It works pretty well for them.

Stars of Track and Field Centuries Before Love and War Portland has a pretty happening music scene. Portland music fans are proud of The Dandy Warhols, The Decemberist, and most of all, The Shins. Honestly, I never really liked any of these bands, but now I finally have some local heros. Portland's Star of Track and Field are quickly building a name for themselves around here for fans of more "ambient rock." They combine a lot of old rock styles (like jangly guitar) with new atomosphereic (electronic--Radioheadish) beautifully. Dreamy at times, and granduer at others. I'm doing my part now to support local music.
Ride Waves A complation of their sessions at BBC and with John Peel. Ride was one of the most successful bands to come out of the "shoegazer" movement of the early 90's. They were everything I love in a band. Their sound was a wash of guitars of swirling distortion. Dreamy, ambient, and with a real pop sensibility. I love the begining of this album when they were true shoegazers (their later material tended to be less noisy and more psychidelic towards the end of their career). Anyway, they only got a few stabs at recording the material for BBC, so what comes across is a real raw experience (shoegazers used a lot of studio equipment and editing to get their sound).
Bill Mallonee Permafrost Itunes finally released this album for digital download this month. Permafrost has been on Bill's website for a while, but I had a bad experience downloading from his site so I put off buying this one. It's a shame I did, because it is a great album. I usually go on about how unfair it is that Bill is such a unrecognized talent in the music industry, but it doesn't do any good to complain. It's other people's loss not to hear Bill. I would rank Permafrost among some of his best recordings.

styles of worship

2008-01-24T10:48:00.000-08:00

Last night we had a good discussion at home group about different styles of worship. This was a pretty good topic of discussion to help to get to know one another better. Think of it like the learning styles theory. It also reveals what are our strengths and diversity as a community.
The styles that were brought up and discussed were:
1. Nature and Beauty (Someone who appreciates the beauty of God's creation)
2. Thinker (Someone who spends time in thought and prayer)
3. Contemplate (Someone who takes time and rationalizes worship)
4. Aesthetic (someone who worships through touch, feel, sight and sound)
5. Caregiver (someone who worships through caring for others in need)
6. Activist (someone who worships through social causes)
7. Enthusiastic (someone who is just always energized to go out and win over followers)
8. Ritualistic (worship through rituals)
(There might have been a few more, but this is all I can remember)

We then needed to discuss which of these styles we were most comfortable in with the idea that we should do what ever brings us closer to God. After doing a little self analyzing, I felt like I was a little of everything except enthusiastic (most people felt the same way). This may sound bad, but I've not very good at showing my enthusiasm toward the Lord (at least to others). I attribute some of this to the fact that I was brought up in a Catholic Church were ritualism is important than enthusiasm. However since breaking away from the Catholic Church, I feel I've been pretty harsh on it. Now that I'm a little older (and hopefully wiser) I can really see the beauty in some of the rituals and how for some people can find that can be comforting.

The rest of the worship styles I feel I can fit into pretty well. I feel that I lean heavy towards the aesthetic worship style. Weather it is in the beauty of a painting from Monet or Van Gogh, or a beautiful song that hits the right chords, sight and sound can be a window into God's creation. You can hear the beauty of God in a quiet Over the Rhine song, the sound scape of Sigur Ros, the genius of Radiohead, or a spiritual charged u2 concert (which I've always said is as close to a spiritual experience as you can get).

I've found some spiritual meaning in my work with children as part activist and caregiver. Other times, post from Shakedust or Pastor Rick's sermons turn me into a thinker or contemplater. Most recently, I can really get closer to God through nature. This is largely due to the beauty of the Pacific Northwest. When our group was talking this, we took a minute to listen to the wind blow through the pine trees outside. It was quiet beautiful to listen to the pines sway in the cold wind outside. Many people compare it to a whisper. Seeing some of the waterfalls around here, you realize that God is the greatest artist of all, and he takes time and detail with his work. You can travel to the top of the Columbia Gorge and take in His majesty or go down to the ocean and see His fury.

I think the real danger is getting pigeonholed in one style. If all you are is about sensory worship, do you miss the opportunities to help those in need? If all you are about is worshipping through helping others and being an activist, do you miss the chance to worship the beauty of God's creation? Does it do good to over think God's wonder that we loss all enthusiasm towards Him. If we are overly enthusiastic is it realistic to never question God? I think ideally, we need to be strong in all areas of worship.

Sledding at Mt. Hood

2008-01-20T22:01:00.000-08:00

This weekend, we took a little afternoon trip to Mt. Hood (about an hour east of Portland). We wanted to take the kids for their first sledding experience. Believe or not, in 7 years, we never went sledding in Kansas or Iowa. The conditions at Mt. Hood are perfect for winter activities. We ended up just buying a couple of sleds when we got there and found some free places to ride down. Everything was fun at first, but Wah-Wah and Nibbles had a rough landing at one point and called it quits. Woogy and I went on and did a few more and slides. Since Nibbles didn't seem to enjoy herself, I might just take just Woogy back sometime. It's a nice escape from a rainy Portland afternoon.

Best of 2007

2008-01-15T13:07:00.000-08:00

Here's my chance to play "music critic" with my list of the best new albums of 2007 (In my humble opinion).

Radiohead In Rainbows The more I listen to it, the more I hear the genius of Radiohead . It doesn't hurt that I practically got this album for free and legal. This album is way ahead of it's time, not only in sound, but the way it was distributed without a record label. This could be the future for the music industry.

The National Boxer Paste's magazine record of the year as well as many other critics. This album is smooth sounding and different sounding from anything else out there.
Travis The Boy With No Name Fran Healy named the album after his unborn son who is now named "Grant" (so I guess the boy does have a name). This is such a great return to form for Travis after their last album. "Battleships" is one of my favorite songs that recognizes the struggle of relationships under the stress of modern life.
The Brothers Martin The Brothers Martin With Jason and Ronnie Martin combining their skills, it's impossible not to come up with anything but gold. This fantastic album combines Ronnie's pop sensibilities with Jason's indie style. Every track is single worthy. It would be nice to see the two brothers work together more often.
Stars In Our Bedroom After the War A wonderful follow up to their last album Set Yourself On Fire. It kind surpasses it in many ways with a lot more catchy tracks and vocal swapping between male and female leads.

Over the Rhine The Trumpet Child Influenced by the loss of New Orleans, Over the Rhine incorporate more jazz and brass into their palette with great results.
Blonde Redhead 23 Another critical favorite, this is the closest to "shoegazer sound" that I've heard all year.
Editors An End Has a Start I'm declaring this my favorite album of the year. Sure, Editors don't hide their Joy Division influence, but they improve on it. This album was produced by Jacknife Lee who I have concluded is a producing genius after his work with U2, Snow Patrol,and Bloc Party (He's now working with REM so I'm looking forward to see how he improves upon their sound). Anyway, Jacknife's style is to polish the sound and bring guitar's to the forefront. On An End Has A Start the guitars are polished and as sharp as shards of glass. This really brings the Editors sound to the stratosphere and elevates the listener. They were great live as well.

Bloc Party A Weekend In the City Another Jacknife Lee produced album that I developed an interest in after seeing Bloc Party live in KC. Less experimental than their debut album, but more accessible and tuned for the masses.

December update and music

2008-01-09T22:02:00.000-08:00

After a little blogger break, I'm back and on a new computer. Our home computer crashed on New Year's Day (great way to start a new year), forcing me to take a little break. After attempting to recover some info, it became clear that we needed a new computer. I still don't know what I am going to do about my lost itunes however. It make take a while to reload 6,000 songs I had on it.
Not knowing what to ask Santa for this year, I ordered the remaining Over the Rhine albums I didn't have off the band's web site. It goes without saying, that I've been listening to a lot of Over the Rhine lately.
Over the Rhine Changes Come A live album taken from their Ohio tour a few years ago, this CD captures a brilliant concert performance. Most of the songs highlight their album Ohio. Over the Rhine is a great live band. They seem comfortable and laid back yet a very intimate performance. This is a great disc to experience Over the Rhine live.
Over the Rhine Live From Nowhere Vol 2 The second disc in a yearly tradition of Over the Rhine releasing highlights from their performances from over the past year. Live from Nowhere has got some great songs and covers not available on any other album. I liked the Changes Come disc a little better. I like my live albums to come from a single or couple of performances. Live From Nowhere jumps around a lot from performance to performance. This gives the listener a little less continuity than a single performance (in my opinion).

Beck Sea Changes It might surprise some that I like Beck since I've never mentioned him before and he has been around for a while. I got his latest album The Information last year and liked it. I found it innovative with lots of musical styles that seemed to blend together pretty well. I picked up Sea Changes based on the singles "Lost Cause" and "the Golden Age". This is Beck's break up album (he supposedly made this album right after a rough break up). Most of the songs are pretty sober compared to what else he has done and don't have the mix of urban and hip hop beats. In their is no rapping at all. Beck just sings in a stripped down fashion with some pretty moving results.
Ryan Adams Easy Tiger Here is another artist I generally haven't paid much attention to. I got this one based on the single "Two" which has been getting some air play. I thought the song was absolutely beautiful. It was one of those "I need to buy that album to get that one song." Luckily the rest of the album is worth keeping. Ryan sings short-sweet "alternative country songs". He's about as "country" as I like.
Over the Rhine Eve Over the Rhine's third album and pretty hard to find. Eve captures the band still growing and changing right before they made their masterpiece "Good Dog, Bad Dog." Probably my favorite out of their early albums.
Over the Rhine The Darkest Night Of the Year I opened this X-mas present a little early this year since I lack seasonal Christmas music. I thought this would be a good disc to crank up for driving around looking at Christmas lights. I found this to be a very dark sounding Christmas CD (which is what it was intended to be), but over all, it lacks the Christmas feel and joy that much of their latest Christmas CD-Snow Angels has.
Over the Rhine Amateur Shortwave Radio One of Over the Rhine's "fan only" albums, this is a collection to celebrate Over the Rhine's birthday. The album opens with a beautiful rendition of one of Over the Rhine's first great songs "Like a Radio" and then goes into a effective version of the Stones's "Ruby Tuesday".

Over the Rhine Cutting Room Floor (not pictured) Yet another "fan only" album of songs and demos not found anywhere else. You can't complain about a band that truly is appreciative towards their fans and releases albums geared especially for them. These "fan only" albums are not to make new fans, but reward the old ones. That's a nice change every so often. Cutting Room Floor is a great example of this. The closing tune "Helpless" (a Neil Young cover) is pretty effectively delivered when Karen puts in the context of post 9-11, when it was performed.

X-mas at the Zoo

2007-12-23T22:54:00.000-08:00

Last Friday night, we took advantage of the break in the rain and went to the Portland Zoo for their annual X-mas lights festival. It was a little chilly, but that didn't bother me much (I've concluded that I have skin as thick as a polar bear), but Wah-Wah and the kids got a little cold. This is a pretty big event in Portland. All the animals in the zoo are put away, and X-mas lights are put up through out the park.

The main attraction here is the Zoo train that is decked out in lights. The train will take you for a ride around the zoo and to some other light displays you can't see unless you are on the train. It was a forty five minute wait for us to ride. Nibbles had one of her infamous "meltdowns" while we were waiting. She kept shouting "Choo-Choo" every time the train went by. She couldn't understand that we had to wait in line like everyone else. Generally, I don't like to give out candy to my kids, but in this case I made an exception. It worked for a little while.

Shortly after the train ride, Wah-Wah and the kids couldn't take the cold any longer so they went home while I stayed around and took a few pictures.

Personally, I kind of like the Grotto's displays better. They were much more about X-mas story and why we celebrate the holiday. It really put me in more of the X-mas spirit than the zoo lights. Still, they were pretty.

Hard week at work

2007-12-19T21:58:00.000-08:00

This week, I've been feeling a little down, mostly due to work. Christmas has always been hard on the kids that I work with. I remember when I worked in a residential group home, the kids would always act up around this time of year. Most of the kids had no families or any that would come visit them for the holidays. Many kids would just become bitter. Foster kids (the population I work with) have a particularly hard time this time of year since they get moved around so much and have never been part of a family in some cases. I have been pretty invested this week to try to make the holidays a little better for some kids, but it is starting to burn me out. Two cases I've been spending a lot of time with have been pretty draining.
One child I've been working with, Travis, has never had a "normal family Christmas." Basically, he has lived in residential his whole life. This year, it looked like he would spend X-mas with a foster family that has been struggling with him all year. However this week, I feel he has sabotaged it by going on a pretty intense rampage , causing him to get kicked out of his foster home and school. Some how, I think this kid wanted to leave so he wouldn't have to spend X-mas with anything close to a family. Some kids will do that as a way of protecting themselves against a bigger hurt. I know that when he is on these intensive rampages he verbally attacks me. I've concluded that he wants me (or anyone else) to hurt as bad as he does. A few nights ago, I was frantically looking for a home for him and he just broke down and cried for about an hour. This kid has had a tough life causing him to be socially awkward, and bullied a lot at school. He is the kind of kid you can see blowing away people in a mall someday.
Another kid that has been getting to me this Xmas, is a 4 year old named Ben. I've been working with for about a year. He reminds me of Woogy so much. He gets in my car and always plays with the toys that Woogy leaves behind. Over the year Ben has made a lot of progress mostly due to a skilled foster parent. I remember when I first met Ben, he would cuss like a sailor and play with his poop. Over the year, we got him involved in Head Start and just did a lot of behavior management. The state has been pushing visits with Ben and his bio family which are a bunch of neanderthals. I was clearing observing some PTSD in Ben over these visits, but with no evidence, the state pushed forward. Ben has been returning from his visits looking very tired and unusually hungry. He also has a large number of bruises on his legs which can be attributed to his emotionally disturbed brother. The other day I took Ben to a X-mas party hosted by the state and got to meet Ben's parents. With the state closing their case, Ben will be returned home this week. Mom didn't seem to really care. This was probably because she has 3 other kids making a scene. I anticipate we will see Ben again when he is placed again in the system. Foster mom and I are both pretty upset that the progress Ben has made will most likely be lost, but we hope we had some effect on him.
I know all this is the nature of the business that I'm in, but I guess around this time of year it's hard to remain optimistic about the holidays for some kids.

Christmas at the Grotto

2007-12-09T21:35:00.001-08:00

This weekend we took what is turning into our holiday tradition of going to the Grotto. I posted on the Grotto last year but nothing better gets you in the holiday mood like a trip to the Grotto. In case you don't remember, the Grotto is a Catholic shrine here in Portland that puts on a traditional Christmas festival every year. They have lights, carolers, choirs, and have no commerical signs on Christmas (No Santa or Frosty).
At the entrance, visitors walk through a forest of lights with the story of Christmas in the Bible being read over speakers. After you leave the little walk through the forest, you come to a village with puppet shows, petting zoos, hot chocolate, and carolers. This year was a little more enjoyable since Nibbles wasn't as fussy. I remember last year, Nibbles was so cranky that she had a "meltdown" that I don't think we will ever forget.
Since I was raised Catholic, the Grotto always seems familiar with all the images of Mary, stain glass windows of saints, and pictures of the Pope. My grandmother, who was a devout Catholic, would have loved it. Anyway, here are some pictures:

The shrine is actually carved out of cliff. Here's a picture of the shrine at night that over looks the little Christmas village that is set up.

Here is the life size nativity scene.
Here's Woogy with all the candles. Lighting of candles is a big deal in the Catholic church. I had to ask Woogy not to blow them out.
Here's Woogy, Nibbles, and me in their little path through the forest. I was happy that for the most part, no one was too cranky to ruin my holiday cheer.
More Christmas lights hanging in the forest.

The Grotto's Christmas village.
Here's the church at the Grotto. A traditional Catholic structure. Inside, you will find choirs singing Christmas songs. Some traditional, some not but no "Frosty the Snowman."
Woogy and Wah-Wah
Here's the Carolers with their books open, coats, scarfs, and hats on, singing Christmas songs with candles in the background. If that doesn't get you in the Christmas spirit, nothing will.

November's music

2007-12-02T22:33:00.000-08:00

Here's my picks for Nov:

Sigur Ros Hvarf/Heim Sigur Ros is one of my favorite bands of all time. Their shows are nothing short of a religious experience. They are one of the most artistic and creative bands around today. Even their videos (which I have on my ipod) are a celebration of youth, age, and love. This month, to my surprise, they released a double ep to coincide with a movie they did of their homeland of Iceland. Unfortunately, the material isn't new, but still a must for a Sigur Ros fan. Hvarf is a disc of songs that the band have had around, but never recorded until now. Hvarf is as good as any Sigur Ros album, just doesn't break new ground. The second disc Heim is mostly a semi acoustic live recording the band did of some of their material. Even in a stripped down setting, Sigur Ros shines as bright as they do in the studio.

Over the Rhine Besides I guess I'm a "Rhinelander" because the back of the disc is labelled "For Rhinelanders Only" and I rather enjoyed it. Besides is mostly unreleased material made for the fans of Over the Rhine. Some of the material is definitely good enough for any album. Over the Rhine seems to enjoy rewarding their fans with these "fan only" albums since there are a few more floating out there. Songs like "Miles" and "Lucy" show their "throw out" songs are just as good as the ones they keep. This is one of two Over the Rhine albums I got this month. I helped convinced me to get the rest of the Over the Rhine collection.

Over the Rhine Patience My other Over the Rhine album is their second album. I have to say that it took a little while for me to get into this one. After the first couple of listens, I thought it sounded kind of dated. It was made back in the early 90's, but doesn't hold up as well as some of their older material. After a few more listens, I began to appreciate it more and began to see it as a solid album.
Maps We Can Create This is another album that took me a while to get into. I read a lot on this one, and several tags it has gotten is "shoegazer"(which I would naturally love). However, it doesn't sound "Shoegazerish" in the way that I think of "shoegazer." Comparisons to My Bloody Valentine are unfounded. We Can Create is dreamy, but I didn't hear the walls of guitar distortion that I love. It sounds more electronic than anything. Of course, this is just my opinion. Once I dropped trying to compare to something, I began to enjoy much more and can see that it is a pretty good album.
Gorillaz D-Sides Another collection of unreleased tunes this month that could be passed on unless you are a big Gorillaz fan. The first disc is made up of B-sides from their last album Demon Days (which is a fantastic trippy album). Damon Albarn (creator of the band and front man to Blur) was never very good at B-sides, but can write pretty good singles. The second disc is remixes of all the singles from Demon Days. It's pretty unnecessary considering the songs are already trippy and funky without having to be remixed.

Great Northern Trading Twilight for Daylight Pretty good debut album from this southern California band (I was disappointed to hear they weren't actually from the north). Trading Twilight for Daylight has some pretty inviting textures, and a lot of good catchy indie hooks. I put this album off for too long before buying it.

Woogy and the Transformers

2007-11-28T22:18:00.000-08:00

It's funny how things seem to repeat themselves in your life time. Earlier this summer, I took Woogy to go see the movie "Transformers." I know it was rated PG-13, but I really felt like I needed to see it. Years and years ago, I loved the Transformers when I was a kid. I remember I watched it every time it came on TV. I also had a number of the action figures and collected the comic book. My friends would spend hours playing Transformers together. I really wanted to see this updated version of the Transformers and see how they have changed for a new generation of kids.
Woogy absolutely loved the movie (what is there not to love? giant robots beating each other up). "Transformers" I think even topped Woogy's previous favorite movie "Star Wars." Since the movie has came out on DVD, he wants to watch it all the time. Even driving down the street, when he sees a truck go by he says "That's Optimus Prime!" Or when a yellow sports car comes down the road, he yells "That's Bumblebee!" We even started making this a game in the car of calling out Autobot names whenever a car goes by that resembles them.
Tonight, I started to read some of my old Transformer comic books to him, and he was completed entranced. I've given him what old figures I have left, after my mom got rid of them through garage sales. Not a lot of them have held up so well over the years.
For Christmas, all he wants are Transformers. Little does he know that I've already gotten him a couple of his favorites. The other night I spent almost $50 on a Optimus Prime figure. I remember how excited on X-mas I was when I opened my Optimus Prime figure several decades ago. It was one of the best X-mas gifts I got as a kid. I remember my mom thought it was outrageous that it was $30 back then.

Travis in Portland

2007-11-20T22:49:00.000-08:00

To make up for the fact that I actually blew off a concert last week (Stars), I was sure to attend Travis in concert Sunday night at Portland's Crystal Ball room. If you aren't familiar with Travis, they get compared to Coldplay a lot, but with out the piano driving the songs. Travis are four guys from Scotland that have been around for almost a decade. You can tell that they are pretty good friends and it reflects in their performance and the way they play music together. Despite the seriousness and sophisticated themes in their music, they are all about having fun live. I can tell these guys are going to be playing together for a long time to come.
I first saw Travis in Lawerence with A Forest. Great show. They had a lot of great material to support them and as a extra treat, they even broke out into "Back In Black" for a laugh at the end of show.
This time around they had 5 albums worth of material and drew from some of their stronger songs. It's impossible to hear all the songs I want to hear at a Travis show (because their is so many) but I was pretty happy with the set list. For me, their high points in their performance were with "Side" and closing with "Battleship" and "Why Does it Always Rain On Me?"
First off, the band had one of the coolest openings ever. The lights went out, and the roadies came out and held spot lights at the back of the theater. Then the music of "Rocky" came on. Then the band walked up from the back to the stage in boxer's robes. It kind of reminded me of the opening to U2's Popmart.
Lead singer Fran Healy debuted his mustache for the first time tonight. He said he was inspired by Brandon Flowers (lead singer of the Killers who brought mustached front men into fashion again). He also joked about how different Portland is and how he hasn't seen a normal looking person all day. He called it a city of "Indie kids."
At one point in the show, Fran reached out to shake my hand, or so I thought. It turns out he was shaking the hand of a kid a little older than Woogy, who was standing on his big brother's shoulders behind me. Then at the end of the night, bass player Dougie, hands me the set list, and ask kindly for me to give it to the little boy behind me. I thought if only I had brought Woogy, I could shaken hands with a rock star and taken home the set list. I don't think he's ready yet for rock shows.

November update

2007-11-17T22:06:00.000-08:00

It's been a little while since I last blogged. My excuse is work. It's been rough these past couple of weeks. We've brought in some pretty tough kids in Trillium lately to help pay the agency's debt. These kids have serve problems and are damaged very badly. Most of them a very ill (mentally). We use to be able to turn them away or refer them to a different program, but these days money is tight so we are doing all we can to stabilize them and keep them in our program.
On Thursday, everyone went out to a pub for a few beers and conversation. Everyone needed to vent. It kind of reminded me of my college days with having a couple beers and discussing psychology and sociology all night. When you are sitting around a table with a bunch of therapists, nothing is taboo. I was having such a good time that I forgot I was suppose to go to a concert. The band-"Stars" was in town and I wanted to see them, but I was having such a good time in the pub, I missed the show.
On Friday, we started our kids at a new babysitter. As Wah-Wah mentioned, our old babysitter left and I can't say that I'll miss her that much. I'll give her the fact that she was very affordable and very close, but aside from that I sometimes found her judgement a little questionable. The kids kind of liked it there however. Our new babysitter seems nice. I sat with her for a hour to get to know her on Friday. She's lives a little far, and I have to run the kids out there a couple of times a day for several days a week (Woogy goes to school, then I drop of Nibbles, then I go to work then I pick up Woogy then I run him out to the babysitter and go back to work). When I finally left Nibbles there on Friday, she screamed for a few minutes, but the sitter said she was fine after that. There is another boy there that is Nibbles age, but poor Woogy has no one. I'm going to try to arrange some play dates for Woogy and some of his friends at school. I guess I'm lucky that I have a job that lets me come and go as I please.
Which brings up another big stress in my life. The other day, I got scheduled a interview at DHS with Child Protective Services. I can't believe how quickly it happened. I faxed my resume and then a hour later they called. My interview is next week, but I'm feeling a little guilty for wanting to "jump ship" at Trillium. I do really like my coworkers, but a state job would big a raise, not to mention a good pension plan. I don't know what will happen. After all, I'm not good at interviewing, so we'll see. Something else a little odd: Every job I've gotten since I've graduated college has always started around November-December. Maybe this will be no different this year.

Another Halloween

2007-11-05T20:48:00.000-08:00

Another Halloween has come and gone and this was our first Halloween in years were we didn't spend it at Overland Park First Assembly Hallelujah House. It's hard to break traditions and start new ones. It's not that I hate trick or treating, but the Hallelujah House was always a great alternatives for the kids. Unfortunately Imago Dei has no Hallelujah House (they don't even have a building to put one in). Instead every year they have Imago night at a Pumpkin Patch in Suavie Island.
Suavie Island a little island out in the middle of the Columbia river. I had heard so much about Suavie Island, but never actually visited it until last Monday night. The pumpkin patch had a huge corn maze that we decided to do. Wah-Wah was pretty smart in buying plastic bags to go on feet when we went in the maze. The mud was incredibility thick. I couldn't figure out were all the mud had came from since it hasn't rained in weeks.
The maze was pretty challenging and it just got harder as it got darker in the evening. There were a few clues scattered throughout the maze that if you answered correctly, it would point you in the right direction, but you had to know your Portland history. For example: the name of Portland was decided on a coin flip--what would the name have been if the coin landed on the other side? Turns out the answer is Boston, but I got it wrong and ended up getting more lost. By the time we completed the first half of the maze, Woogy had had enough and decided he didn't want to go anymore. I decided to go it alone for the second half. But just as I was leaving, I saw Nibbles following me.
As Nibbles and I set out on the second half of the maze, we soon discovered the mud was actually getting worse. I gave Nibbles a piggy back ride by this point as we proceeded to get more lost. At one point, I got completely stuck in the mud. My feet wouldn't move in the mud and I was using my hands to hold on to Nibbles. I knew I couldn't set her down in the mud since I could imagine how upset Wah-Wah would be. I stood there for a few minutes and just called for help. Eventually someone came and held Nibbles. With one push, I managed to pull my shoe off and my foot landed in the mud and began to sink. I then pulled and my other shoe and it came off. I ended up taking my socks off and carrying Nibbles through the rest of the maze barefoot. When I finally came out, a friend pointed out that I looked like Frodo walking through the mud barefoot. I think I will avoid the corn maze next year.

Here I am holding my shoes. I wasn't about to leave a $100 pair of Doc Martins out in the field.
Here's Nibbles in her Halloween custom. It kept her pretty warm.
Here's Woogy in his Mr.Incredible custom. Nice pose.

October's music

2007-11-01T21:59:00.000-07:00

Radiohead In Rainbows Radiohead made history this month with a "pay what you want" download. Apparently they are between record labels and decided to release their new music through their website only. The kick is you pay what you want to (I paid about a pound which translates roughly to $1 in US dollars). I wasn't sure if the download would work, and at first it didn't since apparently the rest of the world was downloading the same time. But about an hour later, the download came through. Best pound I ever spent. I wouldn't say the new album breaks Radiohead into a new sound or musical direction, but any Radiohead album is going to be great. From what I hear, the gamble worked, and Radiohead is coming out ahead financially on this. Radiohead is one of the few bands on earth that has enough of a following to pull this off without a record label, but it does bring up the prospect of doing away with record labels sometime in the future.

Dashboard Confessional The Shade of Poison Trees My first impression of this album is that it is more of a return to what I used to like about Dashboard Confessional--a sensitive guy on a acoustic guitar singing bitter songs about failed relationships. The past couple of Dashboard albums has had Chris Carrabba (lead singer) with a back up band playing stadium type college rock. Here, Chris and his guitar are more the focus. Chris is a great song writer (I wish he was around when I was a teenager) and a singer who can mix angst and sensitivity well into the same song. Honestly, with all the new albums out there, I haven't listened to this one enough.
PJ Harvey White Chalk Another album I haven't listen to enough because of too many other albums coming in. White Chalk is a daring move for PJ. Usually her albums are pretty heavy on distortion and not very polished. This album radiates darkness. Years ago, she put out a great album called Stories of the City and Stories of the Sea. The album was fantastic and helped to land her a opening spot for U2. I think if she continued in that direction, she be selling a lot more albums, but she is a true artist and doesn't want to repeat herself.
Over the Rhine Snow Angels Usually I don't like a lot of seasonal albums. After all, you only listen to them a couple of times a year, but this isn't the case with Snow Angels. At it's heart, this is a album about X-mas and the redemption that it brings. During it's most enjoyable moments it paints the most beautiful X-mas I never had such as riding a brand new white horse in the snow with a loved one ("White Horse"). I don't feel the X-mas theme is over done on this album making it a strictly X-mas album. Redemption is what echos throughout the album. These songs can be enjoyed year round.
Vigilantes Of Love Blister Soul Probably my favorite VOL album forgotten by most. I've decided to buy at least one VOL or Bill Mallonee album a month. The catalog is so vast and rich with great songs. Most of the songs on Blister Soul I've heard before, but it's nice to have them all here on one disc as they were intended to be heard. My favorite VOL song "Skin" is on this album. It's a great song of Vincent Van Gogh's tragic love of a woman who rejected him. Vincent ended up cutting his ear off over a broken heart. Bill Mallonee captures the whole thing so well in song.
Dave Gahan Hourglass For over twenty years, Dave was the front man for Depeche Mode, and that is all he was. Never wrote any songs, but was a great performer. Then a few years ago, he takes a crack at writing songs on his first solo album Paper Monsters and to every one's surprise, he can write a good song. He even contributes songs on the last Depeche Mode album Playing the Angel. Dave's songs pretty dark and dirty. After all he writes a lot about his demons that drove him to try to commit suicide (he actually succeed and was dead for several minutes before being revived). Most of the music is in the same vain of Depeche Mode. Not a huge departure. But Dave needs Depeche Mode to make such classics as "Enjoy the Silence" or "Precious". No such classics are on Hourglass.

Blending in Portland

2007-10-27T21:42:00.000-07:00

I've been in Portland for almost a year now so I sort of have an idea of what people are like around here. I've come up with a little guide to blending in around here.

1. Own a Columbia jacket
2. Take the bus or Max (train) where ever you go.
3. Use that money you save in gas for a $4.00 coffee
4. Ride a bicycle that doesn't have gears
5. don't shaved in days or have a beard.
6. Attended Imago Dei at least once.
7. If you are married, you drive a Suberu Outback.
8. Your Suberu has bike and kayak racks.
9. Listen to the Shins
10. Shop at Trader Joes (Grocery store that sells all organic and imported foods). Plastic bags are not a option there. Only recycled paper bags.
11. You know at least 3 lesbian couples.
12. You have hitch hiked a couple of times
13. Grow your own vegetables
14. Have a "Keep Portland Weird" bumper sticker

Fall in Oregon

2007-10-18T22:41:00.000-07:00

One of Imago Dei's emphasis is on beauty and worship. Not in people's physical appearance obviously, but in art and nature. After living here for a while, I see why beauty and nature are so valued. As Fall takes hold of the north west, the land changes colors that would inspire Claude Monet. I can see a beautiful change take place. Fortunately, the rain wasn't been much of a problem on the weekends, so we have continued our hikes exploring the area. Here are a few highlights:

This is Little Crater Lake. It's around the base of Mt.Hood. We saw this with on a hike back to Timothy Lake several weeks ago. I can't begin to explain the geology of this lake other than it was a crater that expanded and filled with underground water. It's as clear and blue as Crater Lake in southern Oregon, but a fraction of the size. You can easily see down to the bottom which is over 18ft. I love all the colors along the edge, and the perfect reflection in the water.

This is Butte Creek falls that we went to last week. A rather long drive from Portland, but worth it. It is surrounded by trees, so very little sun light ever hits the water. With all the fall colors surrounding the trees, I remember thinking this is as close to perfect naturally beauty as it gets.
Here are the lower falls of Butte Creek Falls just down stream. Unless you are really adventurous, this is as close as you could get. I don't think I really needed to get any closer anyway.

Fall festivals

2007-10-10T21:20:00.000-07:00

This weekend I've been missing KC a lot since it's time for the annual fall festivals. One of my favorite past times was going to Carolyn's Country Cousins Pumpkin Patch, or Schaake Pumpkin Patch out in Lawrence, or even the Cider Fest down in Louisberg.
Carolyn's Pumpkin patch was always my favorite. They would always take you out to the middle of a pumpkin field so you can pick your own pumpkin. I seldom actually bought a pumpkin, but the ride was fun. They also had lots of things to do for the kids such as a train ride, tricycles, and playground equipment.
Cider Fest was always worth the trip just for the cider donuts. I also enjoyed the fall crafts out on display as well as the dancing.
This year we have tried to make do with a few pumpkin patches here in Oregon. I honestly can't remember the names of the two we visited last weekend. Last weekend was a pretty cool weekend so it really felt like fall, but I still missed KC. They had plenty for the kids such as corn mazes, petting zoos, and hay slides.
We also discovered this weekend that Nibbles loves horses. She insisted on going on one of those Horse-go-rounds, but then threw a fit when it was time to get down. I remember she kept running back to the horses every time we put her down. She can be very stubborn.
Sadly, I didn't get any cider donuts this year. One of the festivals had them, but the line was at least an hour long (I'm not kidding. The line didn't move an inch in 15mins). I guess it just isn't fall without my cider donuts.

Here's Nibbles riding her second horse (her first one she rode at her cousins house). I can just see her asking me for a pony every X-mas for the next 10 years. By the way, this is obviously the before picture. It got ugly after this.
Woogy on some hay. Thank goodness he didn't throw a fit like his sister when it was time to leave.
Nobody would believe me if I told them I carved this. Well I didn't, but I wish I did. I have never actually carved a pumpkin. Drawing a face is good enough for me.

September's Music

2007-10-02T22:16:00.000-07:00

Here's my music picks for September.

Youth Group Casino Twilight Dogs Made famous by a couple of songs on "the OC" including a cover of one of my favorite 80's songs "Forever Young" by Alphaville. This is sort of a "guilty pleasure" album because of it's ties to the "OC". Not being a fan of the show, I've heard that a lot of good bands get some air time on the show. I guess whatever gets your music out there. But I love this album. One of the best I've gotten in a long time. Youth Group songs shimmer and shine. This is one of those albums that songs build to a sparkling majesty. Catchy at it's finer moments too. Athlete Beyond the Neighbourhood Somewhere beyond Coldplay but not as far out as Radiohead is Athlete in the Britpop arena. A little more experimental than their last album Tourist, Athlete use a little more electronics on this one. The upbeat songs such as "Hurricane", drive and kind of give you a push, while the slower moments are interesting and thoughtful. Beyond the Neighbourhood is Athlete's bid to come along side Britpop bands like Coldplay, Snow Patrol and Keane.
Vigilantes of Love To the Roof of the Sky You can't discuss VOL without mentioning how unfair it is that VOL (Bill Mallonee) is still relatively unknown. Bill Mallonee is so talented and such a good song writer. How is he not as important as Bob Dylan is a real mystery. VOL is so obscure that Bill Mallonee actually paid for the making of the album on his credit card and sold it out of his kitchen. Bill Mallonee lyrics have depth and maturity and a almost stubborn faith. I picked up this album on itunes (since that's the only place where it is available). A supervisor at work thought a did a great job helping out one of her clients so she gave me a gift card for itunes. I thought that was pretty cool to be paid in itunes. I could get use to it. Doesn't help feed my family, but is still a great reward.
Mum Go Go Smear the Poison Ivy It is always difficult to describe a Mum album. I guess they get compared to Bjork a lot because they are both from Iceland. But Mum are far more experimental and "out there" than Bjork at her most creative moments. I have to admit that I have a love of Icelandic music because it is so "out there" . To a casual listener, it's a "hard listen". Anyway, besides the lovely artwork (that is typically in a Mum album), it is a improvement from their album "Summer Make Good." I didn't find it as minimalistic as their last album.

family from Iowa

2007-09-28T22:29:00.000-07:00

Last Friday Wah-Wah's dad and step mom came to visit us for the week. This was a pretty big treat since they are the first and probably only family that has came out to visit us from the Midwest (with the exception of my sister who is making her second visit to Portland in a few weeks). Wah-Wah and I decided to take most of the week off and show them around Portland and the coast of Oregon. The kids were delighted to see their other grandparents. We thought of some of the best places we've been that best represented life in the Pacific Northwest. Luckily the weather was great and they just missed the start of the rainy season.

We spent a day in Tillamook and showed around the Tillamook Cheese Factory and my favorite winery-the Blue Heron. Here's Wah-Wah feeding the goats in the Winery's petting zoo with the Grandparents waiting for the perfect camera shot.

No trip to Portland is complete without visiting the Columbia Gorge's Historic Highway. Three major waterfalls are along the highway. Here everyone is at Multnomah Falls-the most spectacular of all of them.

We took the Grandparents to Newport since we know it so well. We all spent the night in my parents house on the beach in their downstairs apartment. Incidently, we saw all the expansion my parents have done to their home including an extra bedroom, storage, another bedroom, a wood shop and a little auto showroom. Anyway, my parents volunteer at the Oregon Coast Aquarium and got everyone free tickets. I always have to take eveyones picture in this mammoth shark's mouth at the end of the tour. It's tradition.

This picture is back outside the Tillamook Cheese Factory. I know it sounds boring to watch cheese be made, but it is worth it to get all the free samples. Tillamook also makes legendary ice cream which is available. Oregon Strawberry is best strawberry ice cream I've had.

Here Woogy is with Grandma at the tide pools at Yaquina head lighthouse (another place my dad volunteers to tell visitors about the local sea bird population). Our timing was good to see the tide pools because it was low tide.

Our last day in Newport, we were on beach below my parents house when I noticed this would make a great picture of Yaquina Head Lighthouse. You can see the ocean is starting to pick up before the storm season hits.

Editors vs Smashing Pumpkins

2007-09-22T01:04:00.000-07:00

The Editors

Smashing Pumpkins

Recently I had an opportunity some great live music. Within a week I got to see Over the Rhine (already posted on that), Editors, and the Smashing Pumpkins. Between all of them, I would say I enjoyed the Editors best. Here are a few comparisons I have made between the Editors , and fresh band out of England, and Smashing Pumpkins, an old alternative band past their heyday.

Editors Strong new material that sounds great live from their latest album An End Has A Start

Smashing Pumpkins Weaker new material that kind of all sounds the same. Have to rely on older hits like Tonight, Tonight and Bullet with Butterfly Wings to get the crowd off their seats

Editors Led singer Tom Smith pulls his hair back after every song.

Smashing Pumpkins Led singer Billy Corgan has no hair.

Editors Lead singer is jumping up and down and does yoga stretches while he sings.

Smashing Pumpkins Lead singer just stands there.

Editors played a set full of catchy icy tone, glass hard, guitar shard sounding songs. Short, sweet and to the point.

Smashing Pumpkins played long drawn out arena rock that got boring to listen to after 10 mins of the same song.

Editors great potential. Chance to join the rock pantheons of bands like Coldplay and U2

Smashing Pumpkins Over the hill.

Editors $15 bucks to see.

Smashing Pumpkins $60 bucks per ticket.

Editors $20 T-shirt (reasonable by concert standards)

Smashing Pumpkins $40 T-shirt (No way would I pay that for a picture of Billy Corgan on my shirt)

In short, I conclude you don't have to pay the big bucks to see a great band

Still Employed

2007-09-20T21:46:00.000-07:00

I'm breathing a little easier now, but I still feel horrible about what is going on at work. Last week I posted on my company, Trillium's financial problems and my job being in jeopardy. It's been a rough week with rumors flying all over the place on who might get laid off. It's hard to do your job when you are worried if you are going to have one next week.
On Weds, my team sat down with our boss to talk about what is happening. It turns out that nearly 100 people are getting laid off through out the agency which is all most 500 people. Do the math and that means one and five people are leaving. That's big for any company. Nobody from my program, the foster care program will be leaving thank goodness. This is because we are deemed a core program and about the only one that is bringing in money. The situation is pretty bad and it explains why one of my medical claims was denied a few weeks ago--because Trillium hadn't paid.
Programs throughout Oregon are being cut. We lost a pioneering foster grand parent program that was helping out kids who have never had a grand parent. On top of that, we lost a foster care program in Bend and a residential care facility down south. We also lost Children's outpatient services in our building. Worst of all, we lost our cleaning lady, a sweet woman named Cora who has been with Trillium for 26 years. Moral is shot to hell and emotions at work are running high.
I started thinking " so who is going to clean up after us now?" before I realized that our building is closing. My boss confirmed that we are moving to the residential campus right up the road. It is now rumored that we will have to join the union on that campus. Until now, I never realized that there was a mental health union, but apparently there is one and have actually gone on strike before. I would think this would generate some ethical problems. I might have to one day say to a foster child "Sorry kid, I'd love to help you, but I'm on strike."
I will hand it too Trillium, they did accept a lot of the responsibility for the financial crisis, but a lot of the problem is with the system. Basically, this managed health care system isn't working too well and federal funding has been cut (I wonder were it went?).

Over the Rhine in Portland

2007-09-16T21:30:00.000-07:00

Over the Rhine played in Portland on Saturday to a sold out show at the Doug Fir. Fortunately, I bought Wah-Wah and I tickets on line, so we hired a our babysitter to come over and watch the kids while we saw this amazing show. I wanted to get some pictures and maybe a few short clips, but my camera broke again earlier that afternoon on a hike (I think this is my third camera this year, hopefully it is repairable (for the record, I didn't do anything to it).

The Doug Fir is a small venue, but it draws a lot of first class acts. Every artist I've seen there digs the log cabin feel to the place has. The walls are panelled with fake logs making good acoustics. Over the Rhine referred to it as "Grizzly Adam's home."

Griffin House opened the show. Usually I get annoyed by opening acts, but Griffin House was a pleasant surprise. Griffin House is a solo artist, not a band. He came out and did some acoustic- lyrically clever and spiritual songs. I was pretty touched by his canter and honesty.

Over the Rhine took the stage about an hour later with "I Don't Wanna Waste Your Time" from their new album "The Trumpet Child." Linford Detweiler told most of the stories this evening referring back to his roots and inspirations in music. Most of the material they played came from "The Trumpet Child" with "Born" the only song from "Drunkard's Prayer." They also played a few covers like "Fever" and a Gillian Welsh song. They threw in a couple of songs from "Snow Angels" their X-mas album as a surprise. They ended the evening with "Latter Days" from "Good Dog, Bad Dog."

Despite not hearing a lot of my older favorites, the show was great. Over the Rhine is a band that enjoys their instruments and it shows when they go off into a 10 min keyboard or bass solo. Typically this also annoys me when some bands do that, but Over the Rhine did it with taste. Best part came with a 5 min drum solo that ended with the drummer knocking down the cymbals.

Work problems

2007-09-11T21:53:00.000-07:00

Today at work, we got a bomb dropped on us from our CEO. Due to financial difficulties (2 million in the hole), drastic changes will be coming down the pipe line. What that means, nobody knows (but him), but it has gotten a lot of people worried. I'm trying to take comfort in the fact that my program, foster care, is one of the few programs that is actually making money for the agency and is deemed a core program. The CEO said that most of the core programs, he wants to invest in, but it is still gets people worried when the chopping block comes out.
I feel better knowing too that I'm not in middle management either (one good thing about not being too ambitious). Our program already phased out two management positions. My experience with middle management wasn't very pleasant when cuts where made.
I love helping people and working with troubled kids. It seems to be what I'm set out for, but I can't say I've ever worked for a financially sound mental health agency. Right before I left Comprehensive Mental Health in KC, the agency was having big problems too. Not only was our mileage repaid at a criminally low rate, but our reimbursements for buying our clients things was completely cut. That meant, if we took one of our clients out for a burger, it would come out of our own pocket. When I interviewed here in Oregon at Trillium, they said that financially the work that I would be doing is secure. It took a little while, but it seems the financial problems of mental health finally caught up to Oregon and everyone is changing the way they do business to stay afloat.
I believe that a lot of the problem is that states have cut funding, and clinical people are having to learn how to do business. Basically, psychiatrist and social workers don't know the first thing about running a business. The second problem we see happening is with billing. Since everything is privatized, mental health services is sold out to local HMOs who all have different billing practices and pay at a different rate.
That's mental health in a nut shell. On my level, it's bad enough to put up with high burn rates and low raises, but now job security begins to come into question. I guess it's too late to join the army. You would always have job security there.

August's music

2007-09-02T23:15:00.000-07:00

Here on the CDs I got this month. I also downloaded my first video from Itunes. U2's Sweetest Thing is my first video to watch on my ipod. Personally, I think it's U2's best video with a cameo from Bono's wife as he tries to apologize to her (for what, is anyone's guess). It's a humorous video.
Over the Rhine Trumpet Child wow this is a great album. The album covers a lot of genres but weights heavy in jazz and Cabernet. The songs are more playful and fun and even takes some political jab with If a Song Could be President. This is a great album to relax and lounge around with. At first, I wasn't sure what to make of it, but I listened to it over and over on the band's web site and soon came to the realization that this is genius. I also love reading the message that song writer Linford Detwiler always writes in the CD. He always gives you an idea of where he and Karen (his wife and singer) get their inspirations from and what was going on in their lives. Over the Rhine will be in Portland this month so Wah-Wah and I are planning on going. Can't wait.

Eisley Combinations I heard Eisley described once as fairy tale rock. The DuPree sisters do harmonize beautifully, almost sounding the way you think a band of pixies would sound. Their new album is more ambitious than their last as the band continues to evolve sounding more darker and even a little angst ridden.

Innocence Mission Small Planes Lately I've been getting into a lot of the quieter acoustic stuff such as Innocence Mission, Rosie Thomas, and Over the Rhine. Maybe I'm just getting older. I've also been fascinated with those husband and wife bands (such as Innocence Mission and Over the Rhine). I think there is something cool about two people who love each other and become one creative force. Often the creative process in music splits people apart, but these bands remain true to them selves and the music. Small Planes is not a proper Innocence Mission album. Apparently it is made up of left over material, which is a little strange seeing how the quality of songs here surpasses some (not all) of their proper albums. I find it to be a little more introspective than other albums but it flows with the same gentle and pure sound you would expect from the Innocence Mission.
Keane Little Broken Words Ok, this is not a official album. It's a B-side album floating out on the Internet. Keane is like other great British bands and release great B-sides that are as good, if not better than their albums. This makes crazy music fans like myself, look high and low for their unreleased material. The songs from this album are taken before and during the release of their first album Hopes and Fears. There are a few fun covers such as the 70's "The Sun Ain't Gonna Shine Anymore", Louis Armstrong's "What a Wonderful World" and Elton John's "Goodbye Yellow Brick Road". If you like Keane's albums, this is like an extra slice of cake.
Stars In Our Bedroom After the War Stars label decided to release the new album months before store release to prevent illegally downloads from getting out. I think I like this one more than their previous album Set Yourself On Fire. It's that good! It's got a lot of the vocal arrangement swapping between male and female that see a lot of in Stars.

Mt. Hood Ski Bowl

2007-08-26T22:22:00.000-07:00

This weekend's adventure took us to Mt. Hood Ski Bowl. We were up here a few weeks ago, but the park was sold out to a company for the day. Today, it was all clear. The Ski Bowl is a park at the base of Mt.Hood which has such activities as go carts, alpine slid, bungee jumping, and sling shots.

Here is the view from the parking lot of Mt. Hood. It's a little over an hour drive from our house to this point. I have to say that it was actually chilly up there. I actually felt cold for the first time in 5 months. Cool brisk mountain air-I love it!
Here I am going down the alpine slide. When I was much younger, I went down an alpine slid in Colorado and I loved it. Years later, I don't know if I could of handled much more. It's a lot of bending over and pushing down on the break to go. I went down twice. The first time, I got stuck behind some lady with a kid that were taking their time going down. Being the "thrill seeker" I am, I was a little annoyed that I had to stop a couple of times to get some distance. The second time down, I was on a pretty crappy sled and the break kept sticking making me look like a slow poke.
Here I am going up the ski lift to the top of the alpine slide. I enjoyed the ride and it gave you a good view of the mountain.
Here's Wah-Wah and Woogy on the go karts. I think the last time I took Woogy on some go karts, he hurt a tooth really bad when I took a corner a little too shape. Wah-Wah I'm sure is a safer driver.

More Waterfalls

2007-08-22T21:31:00.000-07:00

Lately we've started a little tradition of spending Saturdays hiking around the area. There are more hikes in Oregon than you can do in a lifetime, but not all are very "kid friendly". Wah-Wah has tried to find some in a handy book we got when we first moved here called "100 Hikes in Northwest Oregon."

This is Mirror Lake which is towards the base of Mt. Hood. Wah-Wah already blogged about this, but it's worth blogging again. It was a rather up hill hike to this natural lake and it is very isolated from everything else.
Here are the kids playing in the lake after we had our picnic. The water was a little chilly, but refreshing. Since it's kind of rocky, I couldn't go out very far because I have tender feet. I've got to get me some water shoes. It's nice to visit a fresh mountain lake that isn't polluted and is relatively clean.

Here's a picture of the Columbia Gorge that is right outside Portland. I took this picture at a little museum on top of the mountain. The Gorge is were all the out door action is including Multnomah Falls. They have cruises up the Gorge which I wouldn't mind taking someday.
Here I am at the bottom of Latourell Falls the other weekend. I love hiking to water falls because it gives you something to look forward to. Otherwise, you are just walking in the woods. Latourell Falls is about 250 foot waterfall. Pretty small to Oregon standards. It would have been cool to stand directly under the water fall.
Right up the road from Latourell Falls is Wahkeena Falls. This picture is the top of the 242 ft triple cascade. This is definitely one of the more pretty falls in the area. There were a number of photographers and artist in the area capturing this gorgeous waterfall. It kind of reminded me of Rivendale in Lord of the Rings.

the Diet Mountain Dew Ferret

2007-08-14T21:57:00.000-07:00

A few weeks ago, I was watching TV and a Diet Mountain Dew ad came on featuring a ferret in a hockey mask chasing a couple through the woods with a chain saw. Being a former ferret owner, I found this commerical hilarious. I also found it extremely cute as well and instantly missed my "long gone" ferret-Basil. For what it is worth, Basil did use to chase me, but not with a chain saw. He usually did it as a game (he would crawl into a plastic bag then I would shake him like a bag of "shaken bake" and he would come out and chase me. Hence, we called the game "shake and bake").

The truth was I found this ad misleading to people out there who might never have owned a ferret. All three of my ferrets- Basil, Baby, and Binky- never attacked anyone. Over the years, I've handled many ferrets in the pet stores and in some homes that I've been to and never once been attacked. They might jump on your back when you don't have a shirt on and dig their claws into your skin as they try to climb up you, but they are just being curious. Why ferrets have this reputation as "mean" is beyond me. Next to my dog Monty, my ferrets have been the most harmless pets I've owned. Less can be said about a certain hamster, bird, and a couple of cats I've owned. All vicious. So don't let the Diet Mountain Dew ad fool you and go hug a ferret.

So long old friend

2007-08-09T09:42:00.000-07:00

Old ipod (July 2004-August 2008)

For the past couple weeks, I have been having difficulties with my ipod. It will freeze up and stay that way for a couple of hours. It will go back to working after a couple hours sitting in the charger but who knows when it will freeze up again. Last night I talked to a friend who knows a lot about ipods and he said it sounds like the hard drive is going. He said he knows a few shops that could fix it, but it would be costly. I got so depressed. My ipod and I have been through so much together. It goes everywhere with me. It provides so much entertainment and asks for so little in return. It has always been dependable until now. When you loss faith in your ipod--what can you do? My ipod is a part of me.

I have had my ipod for about 3 years now and it has more than paid for itself. But ipods have changed so much in recent years. They have more memory and can now play movies and videos. Not to mention they have gotten slimmer with bigger screens. In an attempt to alieve my suffering I went out and got a new ipod--the 80GB. So far, I'm feeling a little bit of buyers remorse, since, technically, my old ipod still works and the new ipod wasn't exactly cheap. But I am impressed with the new one. I was on the itunes store and saw all the great things I can download like videos from U2 and Coldplay. I can even download some classic Star Trek episodes for a $1.99. I can download shows for the kids and movies for about half the price of buying them. Best of all, there is a cable you can get to plug that plugs into the TV so you can watch your movie on a bigger screen. I'm not saying I'll take advantage of all these new features, but it's nice to have the option.

New ipod (August 2007)

July's music

2007-08-02T10:10:00.000-07:00

July was a pretty good month for music. Lots of goodies came out this month and a lot of announcements of good shows in the Portland area:

Smashing Pumpkins Zietgeist After seven years the Pumpkins return, well only half of the original line up. I hear Billy Corgan a real jerk to work with (but a lot of good artist are). I hear from every Pumpkin fan that they haven't done anything good since Mellon Collie (1995) and I've gotten tired of defending their later material. I really liked their last two albums Adore and Machina because they are experimental. Unfortunately, Corgan made an album that should satisfy older Pumpkin fans. The garage band sound is pretty evident on Zeitgeist. Still, it's not a bad album with some good tracks. Unfortunately, Corgan listened to his critics too much. I've got tickets for their upcoming show here in Portland.

Editors An End Has A Start Early reviews were not kind with this album. Many called it a Coldplay rip off, but I kind of dig it. Yes the sound is bigger and more polished but it just makes the band sound more grand in scale. The opening song "Smokers Outside the Hospital Room" sets a good tone and does achieve the heights of Coldplay's X & Y. Another band visiting Portland soon that I wouldn't mind checking out.

Innocence Mission We Walked In Song
Pretty much the same Innocence Mission album they have always made. Good tasteful folk music. I have to admit, not a lot of tracks really stood out here and the album put me to sleep. I liked their last album Befriended better.

The National Boxer The only album recommended by A Forrest in a while was pretty good. It reminded me a lot of the brit pop band Pulp when I first listened to it. Both bands draw on influence of Leonard Cohen. Yet another band playing in Portland soon.

Interpol Our Love to Admire I was a little cautious of this one at first, but it is a pretty great album. Interpol really tries to grow into their own sound on this record. They are trying to get away from that retro-new wave sound which they helped bring back. It's a pretty mature sounding. Yes, they are visiting Portland too.

the Three Capes

2007-07-29T23:35:00.001-07:00

Wah-Wah decided to she wanted to get out of the house this weekend for a little vacation, so we headed to the Three Capes on the Oregon Coast. These are cape Kiwanda, Mears, and Look Out. Basically it's called the Three Capes because they are all pretty close together. They make a good weekend trip because they are only about an hour and half from Portland. Here's some pictures from our weekend:

Here's Monty on the top of a giant sand dune at Cape Kiwanda. It was a steep climb (about 600ft)all in sand and Monty and I were the only ones to do it. I didn't think I was going to make it. I was more impressed that Monty made it. Tough climb for a little dog.

This is Tillamook Cheese Factory. My sister actually was hospitalized after eating some cheese curds there a few years ago. I still think it's a pretty neat place were you can get some free cheese. They also make ice cream there which you can get in about every flavor.

This is the Blue Heron Winery right next to the cheese factory. Inside is a quaint little store and restaurant. They also have some wine tasting for a couple of bucks. We ate lunch here and picked up a bottle of some type of wine that taste like grapes. One day I'll learn more about wine and give a better description.

Here is the Octopus Tree at Cape Mears. It is right on a cliff and pretty unique the way a bunch of trees starting growing together into one. I'm glad I didn't drive out of my way to get to it.

I can't get enough waterfalls and Oregon seems to have plenty of them. This is Munson Falls outside Tillamook. It's gorgeous but there is no way to get much closer to it. Supposely there is a trial up to the top, but there is so much vegetation and over growth,nobody could find it.

Here's Monty and I on the giant sand dune at Cape Kiwanda. We could both use some water. It only took us about a minute to go back down 600ft.

Here's Monty playing fetch at Cape Look Out. It was a beautiful beach and Monty is getting used to going into ocean. I found the water invigorating.

More waterfalls. These falls are unmarked and unnamed. They are right off the road on the way through the Coastal Range.
Here's a better view of Cape Look Out.

After enjoying a couple of hours on the beach, Wah-Wah was ready for a hike around Cape Look Out.

Another Don Miller book

2007-07-24T22:03:00.000-07:00

I so seldom complete a book. It's not for lack of trying, I'm just slow. While the rest of the world was reading Harry Potter, I finally finished "Searching For God Knows What" by Don Miller. When I started attending Imago Dei (which Don made so famous) I decided to read all of his works which are sold at Imago. I enjoyed "Blue Like Jazz" and "Through Painted Deserts", but I wasn't as impressed with "Searching For God Knows What" .

It's not say that I didn't get a lot out it and didn't enjoy it, but I found Miller makes a lot of assumptions about the Bible and it's writers that I thought were a bit of a leap. That would be only criticism of the book.

Don spends the last couple of chapters writing about Romeo and Juliet and drawing the parallel between Christ and the Church (with the church being Romeo and Juliet is Christ). It is a interesting theory that Don says Shakespeare might of did this on purpose, but not being a scholar on the subject, I find it a bit of a stretch.

I did get a lot of the book however. Miller does have other good arguments which I totally agree with. One is the reoccurring "Lifeboat" theory. Basically Miller says that we as a society operate as people who try to appear worthy to be saved on a sinking ship with only a few small lifeboats available. He says we find some people are more worthy of saving because they are attractive, have money, etc. Consumer culture feeds right into it. Christ operated in reverse from the life boat theory and found worth in anybody he would come across. He would hang out with those deemed as "less desirable."

Another point I strongly agreed with was Miller 's argument that Christ's love cannot be understood through bullet points. I feel that Miller is right that love is an emotion that is felt, not numbered. Please be aware, that this is only a little of what Miller is saying through out the book. These are just the points that stuck with me.

I think I might take a break from Don Miller books for a while and find out what's the deal with Harry Potter. I feel like the only person on earth who isn't excited about The Deathly Hollows.

Top of the falls

2007-07-23T21:46:00.000-07:00

Since I've first started coming to Oregon, I've always been impressed with Multnomah Falls located about 20 miles outside of Portland in the Columbia Gorge. It's the second largest waterfall in the nation going up a total 620ft. In all of our "premoving" trips out here we always make a point of visiting, but we have never made it to the top, until last Sunday when I decided it was time for a challenge and decided to go for the hike to the top.

Unfortunately Wah-Wah and the kids didn't go. Woogy would have complained too much. He complains a lot on our hikes when he gets tired. We've done a lot of hiking since moving out here, but the climb to the top was probably the hardest hike I ever did. The trial is only about a mile, but it is steep, really steep. It's a whole lot of switchbacks heading up the side of the mountain. My only climbing companion was Monty who was getting pretty tired as we neared the top. I thought at one point I'd have to carry him. There were a lot of people who were resting along the trial asking anyone going down "how much farther?"

When I finally reached the top after about an hour, I felt pretty good like I accomplished something. The view was gorgeous (of course, I forgot my camera). You could go out on a ledge that hung over the falls and you could see the people below in a cloud of mist. I took my shoes off and put my swore feet in the cool water and it felt refreshing.

I made my way down which didn't take too long but really began to hurt my knees and feet. There is a lodge at the base of the falls which was serving ice cream which really hit the spot after that hike.

Kickball at Imago

2007-07-14T23:57:00.000-07:00

Today was the annual Imago Dei kickball tournament. All the home communities came out to have a little fun and competition. Most of the teams try to go with a theme to make things more interesting. I played on the "Woodstock Superfriends"(Woodstock is the area the home community is in). Basically, it was a last minute idea to have everyone come out in capes and just look silly. Not being the most custom creative person, I tied a pink baby bed sheet around my neck (A little tribute to the Flaming Lips). Being a little outnumbered, we recruited Wah-Wah and a few other people on our team.
We lost our first game but fortunately it was double elimination and we came back and won our second game. By the time we played our third game, the heat was starting to get to everybody(especially since we all had capes on). Imago provided snow cones which were pretty satisfying. We went on to win our third game which gave us hope we could win the tournament. However, by the fourth game, we were spent and lost. We did go on to win the coveted Imago Dei robe for best customs.
Here's some pictures of the day's events

Here is our team photo before we played. Everyone was impressed with Monty's fetching abilities and considered making him a player.

We had a few extra masks that Nibbles wanted to wear to get in the spirit of things.

I think this is me before my first kick. Sadly, I slipped right after I kicked and ate dirt. Got a banged up elbow too, but like any devoted kickball player, I played on.

That's Wah-Wah on first base. She was pretty good and got on base a couple of times. She played outfield with Nibbles by her a couple of times. Unfortunately she had to leave early since the kids were getting pretty hot.

This is our last team picture after our games. We were all pretty tired and made it a lot further than anyone expected. Good times.

badly burned

2007-07-07T17:24:00.000-07:00

The fourth of July is one of my least favorite holidays. This is mostly due to the fact that it is one of the hottest days of the year, but also because of people setting off fireworks outside my house all night. This fourth of July, I decided to take the family swimming, however, Portland doesn't have a lot of public pools. Locals say that people mostly go to the rivers around the area to swim.
We decided to go to the Rooster Rock state park up the Columbia Gorge. It was a really hot day even for Portland standards, and the mountain water felt pretty good. However I wasn't wearing any sun tan lotion. Since it is cloudy here 200 days a year, I thought I'd probably would be OK for a little while. I think I found myself enjoying the water so much that I lost track of time and ended up with a really bad sun burn. My whole back is about as red as a lobster. I didn't realize I was burning so bad until it was too late and we were home.
Days later, I still hurt. It's been pretty hard picking up the kids or finding a comfortable position to sleep. Yesterday was my birthday and I got a lot of "pat-on-the-backs" which have hurt like no other. I guess the sun shines as bright in Oregon as it does in Kansas.

June's music

2007-07-01T22:06:00.000-07:00

As always, I like to reflect on the music that I picked up this last month. A couple of these albums I picked up in KC, so when I go back and hear them I remember my fond memories of visiting my old hometown.

Blonde Redhead 23 After I read A Forest's review of this album, I decided to check it out. I was pretty impressed. It had a lot of the "wall of sound" and "ethereal vocals" that I dig in music. I haven't heard anything else from this band's catalog, but this album is beautiful. Not very polished, but real "indie" sounding.

The Winter Sounds Porcelain Empire
I first heard this group on the radio in Portland and thought they would be a little more popular by now. I found their album in my favorite record store in KC -Need More Discs. The owner of the store recognized me and asked how I liked Portland (I was one of his most loyal customers). I was planning on driving up to Iowa and wanted some new music for the drive. I found the album pretty heavy sounding in the vain of The Killers. It's a mix of deft, rhythmic indie rock. Hopefully their fan base will grow to more than me.

Vega 4 You and Others Probably my favorite new pick, Vega 4 reminds me of Snow Patrol. This is probably because they have the same producer--Jacknife Lee- who also produced the last U2 masterpiece. "Life Is Beautiful" is about as appealing as Snow Patrol's "Chasing Cars." I also picked up this disc at Need More Discs. I was pretty stoked after picking up two great discs in one visit. When I came back to Portland, I found out they were playing in the area soon but unfortunately cancelled.

Bloc Party A Weekend In the City
A Forest and I went to go see this band in KC on one of the last nights I was in town. Neither of us really knew the band's material but I think we both had a hankering to see some live music. By the time they played their latest single "I Still Remember" they were beginning to win me over. Another great album produced by Jacknife Lee who has a knack for polishing up a band's sound and bringing guitars to the forefront.

On a Friday Union Street Demos
Before becoming the second most critically acclaimed band on earth (U2 being the first), Radiohead were known as On a Friday. Their demos have been floating around the web for a while, and I was able download them (along with a few extremely rare Radiohead tracks). This was before they did "Creep" but you can tell this band was destined for greatness. Most of these tracks are better than what you find on Radiohead's debut Pablo Honey, but along the same college rock sound. I can't believe that they would just throw these songs away, but apparently it just wasn't meant to be.

fried fish head

2007-06-27T21:51:00.000-07:00

The other day, I went to visit a foster mom that I am working with from Nigeria. Being the open minded person I am, I generally think it is OK to have parents from other countries work as foster parents since it develops cultural sensitivity in the foster children they help care for. However, I was rather taken back when I found this foster mom frying fish heads. I asked her what she was intending to do with that fish head. She replied "to eat it of course". I asked if she was serious and she said she was. I told her that most people toss the head and eat other parts of the fish in this country. She said in her country, they eat the entire fish, including the head.

I immediately began to remember the old "fish heads" song. The one that goes:

Fish heads, fish heads

roly poly fish heads

fish heads, fish heads

eat them up...yum!

Sure enough, when my appointment was over, the foster mom was crunching on fried fish heads--eyes and everything. At this point, I wasn't feeling too good and quickly made another appointment for a time not so close to dinner time and told her to enjoy the rest of her fish head.

(By the way, you can find the "Fish head" song on U-Tube!)

Imago's web site

2007-06-20T22:23:00.000-07:00

Tonight at home group, a friend pointed out that he saw this image on Imago Dei's web site. I heard the picture was on a recent bulletin, but apparently it made it's way to the web site. At first I thought that this was a warning picture for child care workers(since Nibbles has a reputation of being impossible to watch). I guess that wasn't the case. I must say I don't remember when this picture was even taken. Nibbles is usually this way around Wah-Wah. If daddy was holder her, it would be a different scene.

Pictures from KC

2007-06-15T00:07:00.000-07:00

Here's some pictures of our KC trip.

The Z man sandwich at Oklahoma Joe's. Pure heart clogging heaven!

Here we are outside Oklahoma Joe's. Definitely the highlight of the trip.

Here's Nibbles at Zonker's enjoying her birthday cake.

Woogy and his cousins on the Python at Zonkers.

Nibbles is on her first horse back ride with her cousin.

The old coffee group.

A Forrest and Goose at Zonker's.

Woogy and his favorite cousin.
Don't ask how, but I managed get in there. I needed the jaws of life to get out however.
Woogy blowing out the candles while Nibbles was getting upset at all the singing.

Woogy after eating his cake.

Bloc Party at the Uptown. My only KC concert this year.

Back from Kansas

2007-06-14T22:23:00.000-07:00

Despite a rough start with our vacation to Kansas City, I'd say that I really enjoyed myself. It's funny how a place you used to live can become a vacation destination.
First, our flight to Kansas was rough. It started in Portland when our flight to Denver was delayed an hour due to technical problems. Apparently, the auto pilot was broken and I began to wonder "Why do we need an auto pilot? We have two pilots don't we? Can't we depend on them?" By the time we got in the air, the pilot announced that Denver was backed up and we would have to stay in the air an extra hour (missing our connecting flight). Apparently Denver had only one working runway and high winds of up to 80mph. That was certainly the case when we landed. It felt like we only had one wheel on the ground as we rolled down the runway.
By the time we got off the plane in Denver, our connecting flight into KC was long gone. The airline informed us that there would be no other flights out of Denver until the morning. To help make everyone feel a little better, we got 40% off hotel rooms in the area. Feeling pretty frustrated, I had the airline fly us out on the next flight to KC. This was a 6:50am flight. It was fast approaching midnight, so after talking with Wah-Wah, we decided it would be easiest if we just spent the night in the airport. The airline was gracious enough to give us pillows (no bigger than your hand) and some blankets. Thank the Lord that the kids fell asleep fast, however I had one of the worst sleep nights of my life.
By the time morning came, we made it on our plane and landed in KC around 9am. Of course as luck would have it, the airline lost our luggage after promising me it was going out on the same flight we were. They told me that it would be in on the 10am flight, then the 11:40am flight, finally the 12:50 flight was sure to have it. Luckily, Wah-Wah's sister took us out to "The Smoke House" for some BBQ while we awaited our luggage.
By Thursday night, I had showered and changed clothes and was putting my horrible trip behind me. We were staying with Wah-Wah's sister's house in Stanley. Thursday was highlighted by coffee night at Homer's with Dash, Shake Dust, and A Forrest. Even Taz showed up. It was bittersweet to have everyone back who I had had coffee with for the past 4 years (actually I can't remember when it started). Sadly, the group is sort of on hiatus since Dash and Taz moving soon and Shake Dust has had Thursday classes. I have to say that I've missed Thursday coffee the most since moving to Oregon.
On Friday, we rented a car and I drove my family out to Wah-Wah's older sister's farm house out in the country. Woogy loves it there with his cousins. There are horses, cows, chickens, rabbits, ducks, fish, and pigs out there. I left my family there on the farm and drove 3 hours up to Des Moines to meet with an old friend from college, DS. DS now lives in Cedar Falls, so Des Moines was a nice half way point. We stayed with another friend, Mr. H, who still lives in Des Moines. We ended up going for a night out on the town and meeting a couple of other old college friends. Every time I go to Des Moines, I can't believe how much the city has changed. It's actually a livable city (didn't used to be when I lived there).
On Saturday, after saying "good bye" to DS and Mr.H, I drove an hour west to visit my sister and her new son in Harlen, Iowa. My sister had a baby a few months ago and this would be my first encounter with my new nephew. He looks nothing like our side of the family, but still cute. I think my sister is realizing how much work it is having a baby. Since there isn't a lot to do in Harlen, we went for a nice walk in the local park. After a few hours, I headed back to KC.
On Sunday, we went to our old church for the first time since leaving for Oregon. Woogy was so excited to be back at his old church and immediately started playing with A Forest's son, Goose. I crashed A Forest's new Sunday school class-Workmanship. I really liked the idea of Workmanship, being an art group that meets weekly and draws inspiration from the Bible. I wished that it had been there when I was still in KC.
After church, we headed out to Zonker's for the kids birthday party. Shake Dust and Golden came and brought NJ (who unfortunately is too young to enjoy a place like Zonkers). A Forest brought his two boys-Goose and Duck and all of Woogy's and Nibble's cousins came. I hope everyone had a good time. After Dust and A Forest left, the cousins and Woogy played for another couple of hours. The cousins don't get off the farm that much, so this was a real treat for them.
On Monday, I wanted to take the family to Science City, but unfortunately it was closed so we hung out at Crown Center for the afternoon. Woogy had a good time playing in the fountains until another kid ran right into him. Monday evening, A Forest and I went to a Bloc Party concert at the Uptown. Neither of us was that familiar with Bloc Party's music but we enjoyed it anyway.
Our last day, on Tues, we went to Deanna Rose Petting Zoo. I love that place. It's a great place to kill some time with the kids and it is free. However, Nibbles was starting to get sick, so she wasn't enjoying it as much as before. For lunch, we went to my favorite restaurant on Earth- Oklahoma Joe's. I had my favorite sandwich, the Z-man, with fries. Yes, I know it is a real artery clogger, but it tests like heaven. I would fly back to Kansas just for that sandwich. After lunch we went back to Zonker's to use the free coupons for the kids, but Nibbles was still feeling bad. Wah-Wah's sister took us to the airport, only to find that flights were delayed again. I was really nervous that we would have to spend another night in the Denver airport, but everything was backed up, so we made our connecting flight back to Portland and landed about 1am. Over all I had a great time going back to KC and was glad I could meet up with everyone again.

May's music

2007-05-29T21:53:00.000-07:00

May was a pretty good month for some fine quality music. I can't think of anything good coming up next month, but here is what I picked up for this month:

Rosie Thomas Only With Laughter Can You Win. With this great album, my Rosie Thomas collection is complete. Rosie continues to be one of my main interest in music. Her albums are simply beautiful. Here on Rosie's second album, she sings about love, family, and God. Rosie uses more piano than on some of her other albums producing supremely tasteful folk songs. Rosie is like an island of peace in a furious sea.

Bjork Volta It's been a couple of years since Bjork's last album. Her last album was Medulla which was a experiment in vocalization , but Volta is an experiment in beats and world music. Bjork is one of the most creative and innovative artist around (as you could tell by the cover). I really dig the first half of the album. The songs are classic Bjork with experiments in sound and rhythm. The best is the opening track, the eco friendly Earth Intruders. Unfortunately half way through the album, it all falls flat. The last four tracks start blending together so much were you just don't care anymore. Bjork tries taking a stand on Declare Your Independence but it doesn't suit her.

Travis The Boy With No Name Properly the best new album this year. After their last album 13 memories got a mixed response, Travis return to what they do best, making pop friendly guitar jangles. Travis returns to being that band you listen to and think "I bet they're pretty nice guys". Their songs are catchy and timeless. Battleships is my favorite on the album. Singer Fran Healy uses battleships as a metaphor to describe himself and his significant other in the drudge of daily life. It kind of makes you reflect how hard it is keeping in a relationship with all the damage we take through out any given day.

A-Ha Analogue You might remember these guys from the 80's as the "Take On Me" one hit wonders. Back in 2000, they released a comeback album Minor Earth, Major Sky and have been on a roll ever since. A-ha is popular all over Europe but will likely never see success again in the states. Bands like Coldplay, Keane, and even Joy Electric have cited A-ha as a major influence in piano and keyboard pop. A-ha has modernize their sound but keep their catchy sythn pop style. Check out the title track.

reading Don

2007-05-22T22:29:00.000-07:00

Since moving to Portland, I have developed a new appreciation for Don Miller. This could be due to the fact that he's a icon at Imago Dei, but also because he mentions a lot about Portland and Oregon in general in his books. Ever so often, I'll be driving down Burnside and see the "Stump Town Coffee" and think, oh yeah, that was in his book.

In Through Painted Deserts (which I just got done reading), Don writes about his first trip into Oregon which he made via Volkswagen bus with a friend he had recently met.

Unlike Blue Like Jazz ,which was a collection of essays, Don writes this as cross country spiritual journey. The main characters are Don, his friend Paul, and God who makes periodic appearances in the book.

As I read, I kind of felt like Don was in the beginning, that God is out there somewhere. He didn't see God in the concrete metropolis of Houston. Don becomes so disillusioned that he takes up an offer to drive to the northwest with the intention of not coming back anytime soon. I kind of envied Don for taking off in a van one day and driving till you run out of money. Through I have had thoughts like that when I was younger, I never had the courage to act on it.

Don and his friend Paul drive to the Grand Canyon and hike down it. They find they are pretty unprepared for the hike, yet Don found God alive in the sunrise in the canyon. Having seen the canyon myself (a long time ago) you have to appreciate God's creation and how long he took to make it.

After the Grand Canyon, Don drives up to California (where misadventures ensue) and finally into Oregon. Eventually Don ends up working in a country club outside Sisters , Oregon (another place I have recently visited). Don ends up sleeping outside in a tent with his friends most of the summer. He writes about how that was one of the best times in his life. He wrote how God provided everything in the forest and remembered the starry skies being breath taking every night (I really envied this because I've got a thing for starry skies). He begins to see God as a artist with his work in the sky above him each night. I began to wonder isn't it funny how we spend all our energy getting possessions, only to have to leave them behind to find ourselves and appreciate all God has created? With that said, I can't live an hour without my ipod.

Coming Home

2007-05-14T22:28:00.000-07:00

After six months in this delightful green state (with beautiful weather), we are coming back to the mid west in June to enjoy the good old Kansas City summer (at least a week of it anyway). Wah-Wah has been wanting to get back to see her sisters again and decided it would be a good time to fly while Nibbles was still underage. Airline prices appear to be going up now to over $300 a ticket. They might go back down, but they might not, so I decided why not?
Our plans for what we are doing over June 6th through June 12th aren't set in stone yet. A good friend in Cedar Falls wants to meet up in Des Moines, so that might be a possibility. Wah-Wah is wanting to have a birthday party for Woogy and Nibbles with all the cousins from Randoul at Chuck E Cheese or Power Play. I know I wouldn't mind stopping by Homer's for Thursday night coffee (if that is still going on).
Lately I've also been missing KC food. The other day I went out to lunch at "Burgerville"(it's a local burger chain that serves only Oregon organic hamburgers). It's good but it is no "Backyard Burger." In fact, the six months I've been here I can't say I've found anything that match's "Oklahoma Joe's" or even "Planet Sub". BBQ isn't very big out here. Most people will tell you it isn't healthy and to have some humus instead. We do have our share of all the regular restaurants like McD's, Wendy's, etc., but they are outnumbered by organic healthy restaurants. I haven't found any dives in a gas station that will serve you a "Z-man" with more fries than you can eat. I haven't even found a pizza that could match "Papa Keno's" Sicilian pizza.
Most of the restaurants around here are ethnic. I do like the variety and trying new things, but I have only found one good restaurant that I would go back to. Yesterday, we took Wah-Wah out to a Cuban restaurant which I loved. I got some sort of turkey and strawberry sandwich with fried bananas. It was delicious but it was no "Dagwood's Dream" (at Planet Sub).
As much as I find myself settling in, I miss the KC food. Hopefully I can pick up a taste in a few weeks.

April's music

2007-05-08T22:44:00.000-07:00

April wasn't a great month for new music. My hopes now are for May with new releases from Bjork and Travis. Worked picked up pace a lot, so I didn't have a lot of music shopping time, but I did find a couple of goodies.

Rosie Thomas These Friends Of Mine--I fell in love with Rosie's music this month and it started with this album. Rosie is a singer/songwriter from Seattle who's music really hits the heart. She explores such themes as love, friendship, God and family. Listen to any of her tunes and you cannot deny that she can sing. Her earlier work is a pretty easy listen despite that she is on a indie label. That's why I really dig this album, it's less accessible and a little more daring. This album has a pretty relaxed feel with less production. It was recorded in various living rooms, but that doesn't demise the quality. Rosie is joined by Dension Witmer, Dave Bazan (Pedro the Lion) and Sufjan Stevens so the their is plenty of talent to draw from. Listen to "Kite Song" and you'll find that it is hard to keep your eyes dry.

Mew Frengers--I wrote about this group last month when I saw them live. This is Mew's first album and I'd have to say that it is just as good as their latest And the Glass Handed Kites. The lead singer's voice reminds me of the guy from Sigur Ros only it's in English. "Snow Brigade" remains my favorite Mew song. It's catchy anthem that sadly never got any air play.

Weekend in the high desert

2007-04-29T23:00:00.000-07:00

This weekend I decided we needed a little get away before I become "on call" at work for the upcoming week. The weather was suppose to be awesome so we decided to head out to the "high desert" east of the cascades. I didn't know Oregon had deserts, but apparently it does. It's not a desert with cactuses and sand, but it was drier than Portland. We ended up driving out to Bend Oregon. This was our first stop at White River Falls. I really love waterfalls and insisted on seeing this. It was pretty far out into the middle of nowhere.

This was about as close as you could get to the falls without swimming. I ran into these guys that said they had hiked a couple miles into the canyon and camped. I thought that was pretty "Wild at Heart."

Here is Nibbles at the bottom of White River falls. Monty has turned into a nice travel campion ever since I drove with him out to Oregon. He likes the hikes, and I know if a savage grizzly bear ever attacks Monty will be right there defending me while I flee in terror.

This is Cove Palisades State Park were we stopped for a picnic. Lots of people swimming, fishing, and boating. Unfortuately we didn't want to take the time for a dip believing that the hotel pool was going to be awesome. We were sorely mistaken.

This is the Peter Skene Ogden Bridge. At the view point, you get a little veritgo looking down into the canyon. There is a big sign posted that dogs are not allowed at the view point. Apparently a lot of dogs have been lost to the canyon. Monty wouldn't even look into the canyon.

This is Detroit Lake up in the Cascades. I thought it was beautiful. Someone at work told me that I would love the drive from Bend to Portland, and they were right.

Here's the fam on a dock on Detroit Lake. Wish we had a boat.

After driving through the Cascades, Wah-Wah really wanted to stop at Silver Falls (which was out of the way). We had seen the southern falls but not the northern ones. Since I really dig waterfalls, I thought it was worth the extra miles.

This is the northern most falls of Silver Falls. It was a pretty easy hike back to it. Monty actually ventured into the water a little.

Broom Ball

2007-04-16T20:25:00.000-07:00

This weekend I got to have my first experience playing Broom Ball with my Imago Dei home community. Ironically, I'm told that Broom Ball is a game that came from the Midwest but I never heard of it in the 15 years that I lived in the there. Broom Ball is played on ice, but you don't wear ice skates. This is a pretty good thing since I can't skate worth beans. Everything else is sort of like hockey accept you use a ball instead of a puck and broom sticks instead of hockey sticks. As the game went on, more balls were added which keep everyone pretty busy.

We played at the Lloyd Center which is a mall with an indoor ice rink. Our opponents were the Mt.Tabor home group (which used to be part of the group but split off). All together I'd say there were over 30 people out on the ice. I didn't find the ice too difficult to walk on and I only took a few spills. With that many people and 5 balls rolling over the place, I don't think anyone kept score. I made at least one shot, but no one noticed.

Over all, I had a good time but came to realize how out of shape I am. About an hour into it, I was pretty tired and sore. I thought all those weekends of working out at the gym and bike riding would help, but apparently I'm still pretty out of shape (or I'm just getting too old).

Mew in Portland

2007-04-06T11:54:00.000-07:00

Surreal, avandte garde, art rock, prog rock, psychedelic, space rock, and dream pop where names I thought of to describe the sound of Mew who played Portland last Weds night. Mew is the most unique sounding band I heard since Sigur Ros. Their live show was what I expected--dream like images (such as cats playing fiddles, foxes on guitars, and flicking angels). Weird things. Lead singer Jonas Bjerres (from Denmark) says that his music and imagines comes from his frequent nightmares. Listen to the "Zookeeper's boy" on the band's myspace page and you'll wonder how he comes up with such a bizarre yet poppy songs. Also check out "Snow Brigade" and you'll be hooked on the catchy and haunting beautiful chorus.

Most of the concert leaned heavy on the band's debut album "Frengers" but they did play some on their gems from their newest album "And the glass kites." I've been wanting to post that album on my blog, but I find the album cover rather disturbing (it has the band member's heads cracking open with another head inside it). Frankly, the album cover kept me away from discovering this band a while ago, but it just goes to show you, you can't judge an album by it's cover.

Anyway, Portland continues to amaze me with all the shows that come to town. Already I've seen Keane, Violet Burning, Joy Electric, Snow Patrol, and Mew in the 5 months I've been here. We've got Laura Veirs and Placebo coming soon and David Bazon (Pedro the Lion) in May.