karousme

I don't talk about the news much, but this recent Seattle news story is catching my eye. Here we have the P-I's and Times' coverage on the story about a homicide in Carnation.

Here is the P-I's take.

Here is the Times' take. 

The P-I is coming up with a lot of detail by digging deep, exploring more than what the law enforcement is saying. Interestingly, the P-I first named the alleged boyfriend first, and in the Times they mentioned the alleged daughter first. Not only that, but she was also part of the headline. However, in the body of the story, the Times seems to be holding things back until the dust settles, mainly relying on what the county sheriff department is saying about things.

We'll see how this shakes out. All coverage aside, it sounds like a sad story.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nCI2bEaMXRI

Newsflash: drinking water all day makes you feel really good.  And pee a lot.

Unfortunately the only times I do this are when I'm sick.  Which is right now.  And all of last week.

Actually, I'm on the mend, and should be back to normal in a couple days.  This particular bug I had was a stubborn one, starting out with some general run-down feelings, which led to intense coughing fits, which led to sinus plugs, which were relieved by nasal cleansing kits per Adam's recommendation (they are incredible, I do it every day now), and now I'm coughing more, but that's finally gone away and now I'm intermittently hacking up some stuff. 

The SLF's birthday is today so we are going out for dinner and then drinks with some friends. I got her one of those bright flashing annoying halogen bicycle lights, and a 60-minute massage. She gets backrubs from me everyday. She deserves the touch of a pro. And I deserve a day off.

This weekend we head to Victoria BC for a little mini-vacation. I want to start taking more jaunts to local towns for weekends away.

The band is in the studio this week to record an original holiday song that we hope to sell for a still undecided charity, hopefully one that doesn't mind that our holiday song isn't that bright and cheery. Usually we only head into the studio after knowing 95% of how the song will be fleshed out. In this case we've played it less than 10 times, and it's already way different now that we've had to think about how it will be recorded. I mean, really how many times can you pull the same trick in a song?  We had to trim it down.

My dad was at Game Four in Denver. His brother's company has a box suite there. When my uncle offered the tickets to his brothers and an invitation to come to Denver to watch the World Series, he actually thought about it before saying yes. The guy works too much, and I'm glad he took some time off to hang out with family and have a good time. And he lucked out, getting to see the championship game. The icing on the cake is that he got to see the Packers last night too. His favorite team and he's never seen them play. And they beat the Broncos, who used to be my favorite team until Elway left.

http://www.tripadvisor.com/ShowUserReviews-g52842-d730099-j2-r10081628-Schrute_Farms-Honesdale_Pennsylvania.html

Shrute Farms.  Really on TripAdvisor (which is 0wn3d by Expedia).

Dr. Dog is the best band in America.

I tried hard to bring a large crew to the DD show, but it was only me and Jake.  Laura and Dave were there too of course.  They are smart.  Everyone else missed out.

Tonight we're playing a private party thing at the Triple Door.  Wed. is Vanderslice. Saturday we are playing High Dive.  Sunday is Josh Ritter.  I'm going to and playing more shows this week than the last couple months combined. 

Had Radiohead put out their record the old-fashioned way, I would have likely not purchased it.  Since I was able to download it and name my own price, it was an easy decision to make.  I spent two quid and should have given more.  While I'm not a die-hard Radiohead fan, I do appreciate them in a large way. I haven't gotten into their more recent stuff, but <i>In Rainbows</i> is different, and a real treat to listen to.

I'm way behind on the updating.  Here's a quick update.

***Two weeks go I was in Montana with the band.  We played to good-sized crowds in both Missoula and Whitefish. I'm not sure which is bigger.  Missoula had a WAY bigger room, but we packed the brewery in Whitefish.  We made some good money at the door and by selling CDs. We spent two days in Whitefish recording at this amazing studio outside of town. I can't really describe how nice this house is. The photos I will post on Flickr in the near future may do a sub-par job, but at least it's something.

I love traveling with the band. Everyone has the mentality of "going with the flow" which to me is the only way to travel. You can't control things on the road, the road controls you in a large sense, and letting it take you where you need to go is crucial for a successful trip. With that said, you need to get to the club on time for load-in each night, but how you get there is up to you.

On our way to Whitefish we stopped at a bar on Flathead Lake so Chad could watch the Husky game. They lost, but we certainly won after a few drinks when we jumped in Flathead Lake for a swim. The cold water and invigorating breast stroke I did was the perfect remedy to the previous night's adventures in Missoula.

***I had a couple weeks to work and move Ellen into my apartment in Seattle after that.  Jake took over Ellen's old place, and we are still in the middle of unpacking.  So much stuff left to be done.

***I just got back from another trip to the Midwest. This time to the Fargo/Moorhead area for a friend's wedding. It ranks up there as one of the more fun weekends with my friends in the past few years. Unlike the last wedding, nobody brought home any bums from the bar at 4 am with promises of free beer.

We played a game of wiffleball in a park by the Red River, and all sorts of crazy things happened. Three times I struck out a friend that played college ball. So did the groom-to-be's 12-year-old nephew. That same nephew also hit a home run off the same friend, who actually was a pitcher in college. The groom-to-be also had a game of a lifetime, and we nominated him player of the game. He was on my team, and my team won.

The day after the wedding, Ellen and I went to Wadena, MN, where my uncle, aunt, cousins, and grandparents live. My grandparents moved there earlier this year to be closer to their youngest son and his family, my uncle and my dad's brother. It's a nice little town and we enjoyed our visit. They took us up to the Mississippi headwaters on a sunny fall day. The trees were all changing color. We stopped at a pumpkin farm and bought some fruit.

At Lake Itasca, the source of the Mississippi, you can walk across the beginning of one of America's greatest rivers by hopping on a few large rocks. It is probably no wider than 20 feet in width. I could write at length about the symbolism and humble persistence of rivers, but I'll save that for another day.

I'm back at work now.

My grandparents sent me home with 10 lbs of sausage.

This is a property I'm editing for work.  This page looks like it was created by a high school advanced computer class circa 1995.  First, let's take a look at the name of this operation:  "Homes4uu Rentals."  Let that sink in.

Now let's read the text. To make emphasis on certain words and phrases, they use quotation marks. A lot. This particularly doesn't work when you say things like:

--All homes include your very own "private" screened-in pool.
--Homes are "pre-inspected" prior to your arrival.
--Please be assured that all transactions on this page are protected via our "secure" website.

Check it out: http://www.homes4uu.com/

I'm in central North Dakota enjoying all of its wholesomeness.

Left Seattle on a red eye at 1 am, en route to Bismarck via Minneapolis. I've taken this Seattle-Mpls flight a couple times before and it's always a nut puncher. Convincing someone to give you a ride to the airport at 11 pm is never easy. So me and my bro decided to keep my car at Park N Jet, a small, inexpensive lot on the opposite side of the airport where everything else is. Two nice Indian men took my car and gave us a ride to the airport. Paid $40 for 4 days.

Here's why the red eye sucks, as if I need to explain it:
-all airport bars were closed. The plan was to get a little sauced and take some NyQuil and go to sleep. No bar, no sauce. NyQuil alone can't do the trick
-my bro is aching with wisdom tooth ailments. felt bad for the guy having to fly. i gave him the aisle seat and i sat in the middle. sucky. at least he had vicoden.
-the lonely loud guy behind us. dude, do you realize the people next to you probably just want to sleep? ironically defying all logic, he completely shut up after 4 jack and cokes.
-3 hour layover in mpls after we land.
-i'm doing it again at the end of the month when i go to fargo because i already booked the flight.

After landing we found our gate to Bismarck and me and Ev set up beds for ourselves and crashed. My carry-on became my pillow, and draped my legs over my guitar case so I'd know if someone tried to swipe it. It was 6 am and we were alone. I woke up two hours later, surrounded by other people en route to Bismarck, all of them of middle-aged, white, red-cheeked and wholesome-looking, wearing their favorite collegiate sweatshirts, reading the paper, drinking coffee, keeping to themselves.

The weather was lovely in ND when we landed.

This is what I do these days.  I write these things up: http://www.expedia.com/pub/agent.dll/qscr=dspv/htid=12735
This is an actual entry I did.

I don't usually purchase merch anymore at shows.  It's due to some sort of combination of having enough show posters and not having cash.  Well, I did have cash last night, and as Wilco started their first encore, I stopped at the merch table after my Honey Bucket stop and purchased a Sky Blue Sky Tour 2007 poster.  Wilco is one of those bands where I think 30 years from now we'll still be listening to them in one form or another.  My poster might be worth some serious cash in that case.

I used it to decorate my small windowless office.  Due to a shortage of office space at Expedia, I was put on the side of the building with all the designers, instead of content people.  This is cool, because I'm down with designers, but I'm not so sure about the really serious discussions they have about the font color in the emails they send out to people.

I'm realizing my brother's time here in Seattle is coming to a close, and we've started having weekly dinners together.  He picked last week's place, and I picked sushi this week.  Brother went to town on the sushi.  Turns out he really likes eel.  It's funny; these two culturally illiterate fellas from eastern Montana are now on the West Coast eating sushi together. 

After dinner I went to Sonic Boom to see I wanted to buy anything.  I walked out with the new New Pornographers and new Josh Ritter.  I listened to the NP on my way to Madrona this evening, where I was meeting Phil and Hannah for a songwriting session in a big house overlooking Lake Washington, Bellevue, et al.  She is temporarily staying at this woman's house, and it's large, with essentially a second living room outside on a large deck.  It was a fruitful night, nearly finishing two songs we started on Sunday.  Two songs that we are trying to work around a story, and into some sort of musical.

The NP wasn't that great; at least not the half I heard. It sounds a lot like the last one.

The new Josh Ritter, however, is sitting well with me. He's taking the folk thing in a more pop-oriented direction, and I like it.

My weekend, anachronistically speaking:

MONDAY:
The big mystery here at work today is who brought the fried chicken in the lunchroom. It was here at 8 am, a big box with probably 20+ pieces. People can't figure out if someone brought it this morning or if it's been there all weekend. Since my office is near the kitchen you can imagine some of the lighthearted office humor I'm overhearing regarding this fried fowl.

I did see one person heating up a piece of it. 

I also forgot my badge.  Badges are a lame but necessary part of corporate life, it seems.  On my first day here, upon receiving my badge from security services, I also saw what happened when you forgot your badge.  Security services would give you a ton of shit for forgetting your badge. 

So, I'm essentially lurking today.  Sneaking into secured areas behind unassuming coworkers.  I have to do this every time I take a bathroom break.  Sucks, but better this than getting ribbed by some smart ass security guys.

======================
SUNDAY:
Had breakfast at Wild Mountain in Crown Hill.  It's across the street from a pharmacy called "Bob Johnson's Pharmacy."  Love the name.  Went to Costco.  I could write pages about the Costco experience.  Just not now.

Went to Ballard Seafood festival.  Ate some chicken on a stick, ironically.  Realized I just spent a mint at Costco and went home and made a proper dinner.

=======================================
SATURDAY:
At sushi with SLF on Roosevelt.  Then went to a German pub down the street.  I didn't plan it this way, but it was sort of an Axis-powers-themed evening.  If only we had some gelatto or something for dessert...

I honestly can't remember what I did during the day on Saturday, other than bike up and get a NINE DOLLAR LOAF of gluten-free bread.  The lady at the GF bakery is usually rude and asks me every time if it's my first time there.  Today she was nice and gave me some French bread rolls she's testing out.  They were amazing.  Maybe she's warming up to me.


===========================
ON FRIDAY:
When Friday Mile played a 20-show run at The Moore for a children's theatre, we got to know the lighting director there.  His name is Robert and he busts his ass for that theatre and is a wonderful guy.  After our last show, we were saying our goodbyes and he said anytime we wanted to see a show at The Moore, we should just let him know. 

Hannah took him up on it for a Feist show.  Last night I did the same for Ryan Adams & The Cardinals.

The line wrapped around the block, but with a phone call we got ourselves in and up in the balcony. 

Ryan Adams and the Cards put on an intimate performance that easily topped his solo performance last fall, which was beautiful when he actually finished a song, but altogether marred by the bottle of wine on stage and perhaps other unforeseen substances.  Some say Adams has stopped drinking now, I'll believe it when I see it.

Show time was 8 pm, but in true form, Adams didn't start until 8:45 pm.  As The Moore slowly filled up, blue lights criss-crossed the stage and blanketed the band's gear, which sat on three large Oriental rugs, placed side by side.  Nearly a dozen paper lanterns of different sizes hung from the rafters.

The crowd was eager to see him, and frequently started rounds of applause to see if they could coax Adams from backstage to start the show.  When the time finally came, the five-piece band took their places, and Adams tucked himself between the piano and drums, making himself part of the band instead of a true frontman.

Adams only played acoustic guitar, which took away from a few of the songs, notably "Cold Roses" but the band played an amazing coda on "Magnolia Mountain," extending the instrumental section to five-plus minutes.  All musical endeavors from this band were executed perfectly.  The Moore provided the perfect acoustics for the show.  Despite being a slightly very old, crusty theatre, the place sounds amazing.  It's 100 years old this year!

I'm marrying her.

I got my first paycheck from my work with Expedia today.  It was for one week of work, and it was 20% more than I made at BPT in a whole month (avg of 8 work days).  It felt nice to pay all my bills in one sitting in five minutes online.  I was always Mr. On-Top-Of-Bills, but for the past half year I've been letting bills sit around on my dresser until the last possible minute, or until a windfall of money came my way.  I'm glad to not be sweating bullets anymore.

But the best thing is that I like the new job, the new people, the new work.  The commute could be better, but it is by no means unbearable.  I just crank the NPR and take in the sights as I cross Lake Washington twice a day.  The positive is that I get to eat lunch with Adam more often.  We did this yesterday.  Mexican food at Mi Casa Su Casa in Issaquah.  Great tacos, awesome salsa.

I've found that I rarely want to hear music in the morning.  I want to hear voices.  In fact, I have a hard time turning NPR off, as if I might miss something important, or some thoughtful insight if I don't listen every second I can. 

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I also got the final payment for doing this web site.

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A new coffee place opened up on the corner of Eighth and Market.  This is good because most coffee runs involved me going to Bambino (which meant slight backtracking for most destinations) or going out of the way to some other place.  It's right at the intersection I go through to go pretty much anywhere.

That makes it pretty much perfect, right?  The thing is, I really dislike their logo, and it makes me not want to go there. 

James Mercer, from The Shins, just visited my hometown, Sidney, Montana.  Here's the brilliantly written article in the the local paper.

His grandmother lives across the street from where I grew up, and she still lives there today.  Every Christmas she would make us one of those popcorn cakes with gummy drops in them.  She's a nice lady, and her husband was a long-time mayor of the the town.

Couple of quick things.  So far no funny business on Friday the 13th.  Woke up to pouring rain at 4 am.  I was all WTF??!?  Tomorrow the Friday Mile plays live on the KEXP.  And then later at the High Dive.

And now for a couple traveler reviews I found at work today from Expedia's web site:

Traveler's tip on saving a few bucks
"Good value - well worth the price. I would defiantly stay there again."  

This person must be a rebel that hates good hotels but stays in them anyway just to piss off The Man.

the was good
i enjoyed my start at the hote

Come on, dude.  You spent 5 seconds writing a sentence fragment of a review.  You couldn't take 3 more seconds to proof it and realize it sounds completely retarded?