Friday, January 28, 2005

Paddy's MI-5

1) Name one thing about you that you really like:
I'm harmless enough.

2) What about something that your significant other or friend constantly says they like about you?
Susan appreciates that I work a lot.

3) If you could add a personality trait overnight, what would it be?
I'd like to be really good at just one thing.

4) Are you a confident person, or someone that looks to others for reassurance?
I'm quite confident, and also very realistic. See my post below. I'm not fishing--that's why the comments are turned off. I'm honest enough with myself to realize my shortcomings. And there are many. But I'm confident enough to tell you what they are.

5) Imagine yourself being the person you want to be, how would you describe yourself?
Wicked smart, funny, fun to be around, interesting, and talented.

Reading: Esther
Listening to: Whiskey Lullabye

According to the prophecy of: Billy Rhythm [Link]

Thursday, January 27, 2005

Attack of the Bi-Polar Bears

I have nothing good to say today. It's one of those days for me. It started at a little after 8 this morning, when I realized I can do a lot of things, and yet don't do any of them well. I'm all about the mediocrity. Need a mediocre employee? Web designer? Drummer? Writer? I'm your man! Need something done well? I can give you a referral.

Maybe tomorrow things will be better. After all, you'll get to see my MI-5 answeres. Hope they're not about depression...


According to the prophecy of: Billy Rhythm [Link]

Tuesday, January 25, 2005

Weekend Wrap Up

What did I do all weekend? Well, Thursday night I spent some time with Ev Spear III. Ev is third generation Everett to own EL Spear, a local hardware store. Susan thought it would be a good idea for Julia to sleep on a loft bed. What's a loft bed? It's kinda like bunk bed with no lower bunk. Julia can play underneath, put her dollhouse there, and stuff like that. I found plans online, and went to Ev (a fellow Kiwanian). The plans came with a cut list, and I asked if he would put a quote together for me. I explained that I had very few tools, so would he quote me some nice lumber that wouldn't need to be planed. Instead, he invited me to his woodshop so we could build it together. That was super nice of him. I went over last night to work some more, and Thursday night we should finish the build. After that, I'll need an afternoon to paint it, and then it'll be done.

Sunday we had the big snow. Well, not so much snow, but a lot of wind, and that caused some major drifting. Church was canceled, so I was home all day. I nothing to do but relax. Well, I made breakfast and cleaned the kitchen, and then did some shoveling, but nothing major needed to be done. By 5:30pm, I was about ready to fly! Too much free time near drove me crazy!

I've also got some websites I'm working on. One is for the office, and one is a paid gig for the local adult ed. I'll post some results a little later.



According to the prophecy of: Billy Rhythm [Link]

Friday, January 21, 2005

MI-5

This week's MI-5 brought to you by my beloved wife Susan.

1. What's your earliest childhood memory?
Going to the circus with (I think) Aunt Ginny behind Dave's restaurant? Is that right? It's very foggy.

2. What food did you dislike as a child, but now like?
Onions. Mom, when she made meatloaf, would make 1/2 with onions for her and Dad, and 1/2 without for us kids. Now, I'm and onion freak. I love 'em, raw, cooked, soup, glazed, whatever, I'm in!

3. What activity do you like most to do with your children/grandchildren?
I like to talk religion with Julia. (Did I ever mention the time she and I watched a doccumentary on Martin Luther together?) I like to feed Matt his bottle, and play "squishy cheeks" with Nat.

4. What's the funniest thing your child/grandchild ever did?
The boys make some funny faces now and again. I remember when Julia just started to pray, she would thank God for all kinds of neat things. I remember she thanked Him for roller coasters one night, even though she'd never been on one!

5. You're are going to have twins--one boy and one girl. What names do you pick?
Girl would be Elizabeth, boy would be Cornelius. (Or maybe Zechariah--goes well with Elizabeth.) Boy names are hard for Susan and I. It took me forever to settle on Matthew.

Temp: Cold
Last Song Heard: "Lights," Journey

According to the prophecy of: Billy Rhythm [Link]

Thursday, January 20, 2005

New Kid Photos

I know you've all been clamoring for new photos of the kids. So here you go. I hope you like 'em.

The boys eat carrots. This was from lunch today.

Next, we have a series we used for Christmas presents. Susan and Lisa (my sister) made photo frames with all the kids in them. So we have Julia in her denim skirt, and Nat in his denim coveralls, and Matt with some crazy smirk, and really cute looking toes! I think it was cousin Jen who gave the boys some sweaters. See, we dress them kinda alike, but not exactly. Stuff like the sweaters is right up the alley.

Last, Matthew slaps a kiss on next door neighbor Taylor.



According to the prophecy of: Billy Rhythm [Link]

Wednesday, January 19, 2005

Postin' About the Cold

How're all you folks doin'? Good? Glad to hear it. What's up? Well, for those of you not from Maine, it's been a little chilly up here. We had -.3 yesterday morning, and it was quite blustery, so it felt even colder. Today we had -5 as the low, but with less wind, it felt a whole lot warmer.

Susan's cousin Becky is a missionary in the Czech Republic. Susan forwarded to me one of her emailed updates, and I was surprised how well it was written. I remember Becky being somewhat goofy/gangly, so seeing her present herself so professionally was a pleasant shock. In the email, she linked to her blog. Man, she takes beautiful photographs! I'll try and get a link up.

What else is up? Well, I think I have a new website client, so that's good. There's a nice little snare drum I've got my eye on. I hope to win her and bring her back to her former WWII glory. We'll see how she goes.


Reading: Ezra

According to the prophecy of: Billy Rhythm [Link]

Saturday, January 15, 2005

Spam & Apples--Yum!

Man, I've gotten some really strange spam the last week. I had one come in from a Kristin York. I went to school with Kristin all 12 years, plus kindergarten. But it wasn't really from her. Then today I got one from Renee Sydner. Renee was a year or two ahead of me in school. She played clarinet, and if I recall, dated my cousin Jason for a while. The house I live in was at one point owned by her family. But it wasn't her. It was spam. Actually, upon further inspection, I saw the sender was Renee Snyder, not Sydner.

For the past few years, I've used a Mac as my main computing machine at work. Apple's OS-X is the best looking, most user friendly, viable, regular person OS I've ever used. The only problem has been the hardware. A Mac was $1000, give or take a couple hundred. After three years, you threw it away. Meaningful hardware upgrades to Macs are really nonexistent. If you buy a PC, you can buy a new motherboard, processor, and memory for a few hundred bucks, and have a state of the art machine again. Not so with Macs. So I bought a PC for home use, not wanting to drop a grand every three years or so.

But now Apple has introduced the Mac Mini. All the basics for $500. Just plug in your own monitor, mouse, and keyboard, and you're ready to roll. For someone who already has a computer, and wants to go Mac, it's the perfect situation. I am seriously thinking about getting one. I just need to put the snare buying on hold for a month or three, and I can come up with the scratch. The mini is small enough to fit right on my desk. I can hook it up to the monitor I already have, or perhaps buy a switch that will allow me to control two computers through one montior/mouse/keyboard. I can use my preferred OS, and use it to preview websites I build on the Mac platform with Mac browsers. I'm really diggin' it!

Reading: Modern Drummer
Listening to: The Wallflowers

According to the prophecy of: Billy Rhythm [Link]

Friday, January 14, 2005

MI-5

Bill's Rainy Day MI-5

1. Most everyone likes sunny days, right? Besides sunny, what's your favorite kind of day, weather wise?
I'm into rain. Fog is cool too. Cold? Not really. Windy? No thanks. I also like driving in snow when the flakes are really big. I like to pretend I'm in hyperspace.

2. Do you have a favorite rainy day activity?
I like to drink some tea and listen to depressing music.

3. Sometimes the rain makes one feel a little blue. Do you have a favorite record you like listening to when you feel down?
Carole King's Tapestry is a fav, as is Sarah McLachlan's Fumbling Towards Exstacy and Counting Crows August and Everything After.

4. How about a movie?
"The Joy Luck Club" is a little somber, and a little impowering too. "The Browing Version" is the same way. "Leaving Las Vegas" is pretty depressing, and without any high point at the end..

5. Have you got a rainy day memory you'd like to share?
I remember camping in Boy Scouts for a long weekend, and it rained almost the whole time. There was another time the church's boys' club went camping on the pastors wood lot, and it rained so hard we abandoned the tents and all slept at his house!


According to the prophecy of: Billy Rhythm [Link]

Thursday, January 13, 2005

Teeth, Dreams

Another day, another post, another weird dream. Two in fact. Due to the graphic/horrific/embarrassing nature of the dreams, I won't recount them here. But I will say they included a graveyard; a cemetery sextant who looked like a really tall Humble Farmer, but who acted like a vampire; a couple (not including me) making love in a cemetery; my wife going insane; a lesbian; a big gothic house. Make up your own story here.

It was my birthday. It was more than five years ago--I know I was working at Wal-Mart at the time. My friend and fellow pharmacy tech Mary Flood brought me some homemade fired chicken in celebration. I broke a tooth. That was my first crown, say $750-ish. A couple of years go by, and it gets infected. So they do a root canal. Say another $750. (Now I have a $1500 gold crown with a sliver filling in the middle of it!) A year goes by. It gets infected again! How can a hollow tooth get infected? They surmise it's from trapped infection that was under the tooth at the time of the root canal. So today, I had some kind of gum surgery. They cut open my gums under the infected tooth, removed some nasty material, and sewed it back up. So I can't chew on one side for a week, nor can I brush that spot. All to the tune of another $225. So this almost 2K tooth should be fixed, right? They're not sure. They think this did the trick, but if it didn't, then I may a) need another root canal (perhaps the tooth has four roots, not three), or b) the tooth has a crack that can't be seen, and can't be fixed. If I drop two thou on a tooth that's just gonna be extracted anyway, I'm going to be a little angry.


According to the prophecy of: Billy Rhythm [Link]

Wednesday, January 12, 2005

Giant post spanning dreams, work, guns, but no drums

Wow! What's up with my posting schedule? Nothing fresh here for a couple of days. Used to be Billy Rhythm posted every day--every other day at least! Now, it's not unusual (to be loved by anyone) to find a post twice weekly. What's the deal?

Well, this week (and part of last week) it's been riparocks.com. I didn't design the site. I'm just helping with the upkeep. Anyway, the owner has had me make a bunch of changes. And then night before last I installed the message board, and that's an evening's worth of work right there--not counting the drum lessons I gave that night too.

I've even forgotten to throw out the props to Jimmy T and Paddy. JP, the bossman, has given the ok to put a small air rifle range in the attic of the MIS data center. So we've been all drooling over $500 target air rifles and pistols and whatever. Well one day Jim had this Baikal air pistol on his screen.

"What do you think of that?" he asked.

I said something to the effect of "Well, air pistols don't really do it for me."

That's were my foot went in. It seems Paddy and Jim had already ordered me one as a surprise gift! So when it came in, Paddy brought it over to me and said "What do you think of this." I told him how cool it was (which it is), how it seemed to have nice sights, and so on. He said "Could you see yourself owning one of these for like $50?" And I said "Hey, it seems like a real good deal for $50." He went back to his office, put it in the box, and gave it to me. They went on to tell me the whole story. I explained that, if I had money to spend on an air weapon, I'd spend it on a rifle. Rifle shooting is really my thing, with shotgun shooting next, and pistol third. But if someone decides to buy me a nice pistol, heck ya I'll shoot it! I've put a few rounds through it, and though it shot high. Paddy asked to take it for a night, and he found the same thing. (Glad to know my aim isn't that far off.) So he doing a little smithing to it to get 'er in line.

OK, this next little bit has some rated R sections. Use your mouse to highlight sections if you want the whole story.

I had this dream last night. I dreamt I was going to play drums and sing at the half-time show of Superbowl. The song? Something by Sade. Why some fat drummer from Maine was going to sing soul by some sexy North African is beyond me. But anyway, for the life of me I couldn't remember what song I was supposed to be singing. My cousin Janice (Yattaw) Cox gave me a hint: she gave me the first two words of the song. It was a man's name. (When I woke from the dream, I could remember the name. It's gone now, but it had a German spelling, with a couple of extra a's and u's than you would expect from the pronunciation.) So I went to Google, and typed in the name. It turns out the name was also the name of some Confederate hero from the Civil War! So instead of getting lyrics, I was getting biographical info on a Civil War soldier. I knew I was going to be up the creek.

The National Anthem finished. I knew I still had some time to figure out a) what song I was supposed to sing, and b) what the words were. Brian Gamage enters, as he was the guest singer for the Anthem. We chatted, and decided we'd hit the mens room. Rockland High used to have this weird sink in the boys room. It was a half circle, with the flat edge mounted flush to the wall. It had this bar mounted close to the floor, and when you needed water, you stepped on the bar. There was like this fountain head in the sink, and water flowed out of that in multiple small streams. Anyway, the urinal is this place was like that, sort of. It was this free standing trough in the middle of the room, and it curved and winded like a small river or something. To use, you just walked up and did your thing. No privacy wall or anything like that. So anyway, I approach this thing and drop trow, only to find I have a raging erection. Brian looks down, and says "Wow."

Then I woke up.

Listening to: The Wallflowers
Watching: Mail Call on the History Chanel

According to the prophecy of: Billy Rhythm [Link]

Friday, January 7, 2005

MI-5

1) What is your favorite holiday and why:
Halloween. It just goes along with my macarbre thing.

2) What is your least favorite holiday and why:
I never really saw much point in Earth Day. Or Arbor Day. Flag Day doesn't do much by me either.

3) Is there a holiday that you think should be observed more fervently, reverently, etc?
See my Christmas Eve post.

4) Do you have an idea for a holiday that doesn't exist yet?
How about Fortune Cookie Week? A Celebration of the Life of Martin Luther (the Protestant reformer)?

5) Our newest national holiday, Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, is coming right up. Do you celebrate it at all, and if so how? If not, how do you think it should be observed, if at all?
I get the day off from work, as it's one of our floating holidays. I think Julia and I will do something that day, though not nesecarilly in observance of MLK. Great dude, sure. But holiday? Why not for Malcom X too? Ben Franklin doesn't have a day. Neither does Moses. Or JFK. Or FDR, who was elected president four times! No days for them. I know it's not politically correct, but a day for MLK seems a little overboard, and perhaps mostly given out of a feeling of restitution.



According to the prophecy of: Billy Rhythm [Link]

Pick My Snare

I've got a gig tomorrow night at the House of David. What snare should I play?


According to the prophecy of: Billy Rhythm [Link]

Stolen from Paddy





Your Dominant Intelligence is Musical Intelligence



Every part of your life has a beat, and you're often tapping your fingers or toes.
You enjoy sounds of all types, but you also find sound can distract you at the wrong time.
You are probably a gifted musician of some sort - even if you haven't realized it.
Also a music lover, you tend to appreciate artists of all kinds.

You would make a great musician, disc jockey, singer, or composer.




Feeling: Blah
Listening to: What A Beautiful Mess I'm In, Diamond Rio

According to the prophecy of: Billy Rhythm [Link]

Thursday, January 6, 2005

The Snow's Comin' Down

What a nice night. It's snowing, so it quiet on the normally busy main streets of this bustling metropolis. We had a yummy supper of grilled steak, sauteed crimini mushrooms, and cheese rice, and Susan made a fresh batch of hot chocolate in the Cocoamotion. I don't really have to be online tonight, but I thought I might do a little web work. Just a little, though, as I have the night off (no drum lessons, no meetings) and want to spend it relaxing.


According to the prophecy of: Billy Rhythm [Link]

Tuesday, January 4, 2005

Jimmy T Props

I forgot to thank Jim for the nice gun case he bought me for Christmas. Then, he got an extra copy of a John Coltrane DVD. Rather than return it, he gave it to me! What a cool guy. I think I'll take him to lunch tomorrow.


Listening to: Ray Parker Jr. The Other Woman

According to the prophecy of: Billy Rhythm [Link]

That crazy kid!

You know what bugs me? I'll tell you. Let's say you get up at 6:30 every morning to get ready for work. And then one of your twin boys wakes you up for a bottle at 5:45! By the time he's done eating, it's a little after six. So why go to bed only to get up in 1/2 hour? Man, that last little bit of sleep is the best part! I'd way rather have him get up at 3 or 4am, and then let me go back to bed, rather than this just-before-I-have-to-get-up crap!


Listening to: The Eels

According to the prophecy of: Billy Rhythm [Link]

Sunday, January 2, 2005

Julia's Room Done

So I finished up Julia's new room this afternoon. The old wallpaper came off. New paintable wallpaper went up. On top of that was a color called Birthday Candle. Trim was a very light pink called Pixie Dust. It's so light, it's hard to tell it's not white--until you see white next to it. I installed a new wall sconce, and put white outlets and covers in. And, she got all new flowered porcelain drawer pulls on her built-in bureau. She seemed to like it. She's gone shopping with Susan now to get some Barbie wall border. All I have to do now is get her loft bed built, and it'll be totally done.


According to the prophecy of: Billy Rhythm [Link]

Jim's MI-5, a couple of days late

Do you have any New Years traditions?
Dinner at Mom and Dad's house. Usually prime rib is consumed. This year, it was prime rib and ham, as well as some yummy vegetables my sister made.

What is the best thing that has happened in your life this past year?
The boys.

What is the worst thing that happened in your life this past year?
Dad's health, and seeing what his treatment's done to him. He's doing well, but he'll admit he's just not the same.

Did you make any significant life accomplishments this year?
I bought a major buttload of snare drums! Four, I think.

What are your resolutions for the New Year?
I don't make them.

Watching: Hildy make a mess on Trading Spaces
Listening to: Dave Frishberg

According to the prophecy of: Billy Rhythm [Link]

  
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