Methosan's Bane

Performances

2008-05-06T23:16:00.004-06:00

So... fellow blogger, La Tanguera, posted this video on her blog:

and it got me thinking... I usually say I don't like performance because you rarely see something you haven't seen before and it just bogs the the night down; energy et all. Watching this - Fabulous - milonga performance, it just dawned on me why I don't like performances: YOU CAN NOT DANCE LIKE THIS IN A MILONGA! Certainly you shouldn't and/or shouldn't be able to.. although there are plenty of hot-shot-jerks who try, and cause havoc - especially on the ankles of innocent followers. Keep this stuff on Broadway.. why dance like this at a milonga-performance when no one can try the same steps once the floor fills up again.

One of the best performances I've ever seen was performed by Christopher and Caroline of San Francisco.. they danced within one 24" x 24" dance parquet square the entire song to demonstrate that one does not need space to dance well.

Kudos to all who can dance like the kid in that video, but it don't do naught for me.

Tango-sick

2008-05-03T11:03:00.002-06:00

3-more weeks until Memorial Day festival in Denver and Ms.Spain's arrival. I've been working like a dog last several weeks and miss dancing tango. I've been invited to go to Ann Arbor for no charge (travel fee's still apply, of course), but I just can't afford the travel or lost time at work.
I can do work whilst traveling but sleeping in late and spending 3-6+ hours at a milonga per night takes its toll on my productivity.

Ms.France.. my longtime friend and quasi-training partner often calls me to whine that I don't show up to dance.. she lives 80 miles north in the next town. If I want to dance, period, I'd have to drive up north to her town, where the community milongas are. Sucks to live in a tango vacuum.

Ms.Vegas' friend from Michigan is considering moving to my town/state.. if she does.. that might be a boost to my dancing frequency. It's been limited to dancing during my travels to or with Ms.Spain ever since Ms.Vegas moved to, well, Las Vegas, last year. I feel I'm seriously back-tracking in my dancing abilities not dancing as often as I used to.

Blah..

DC Tango Marathon, done with

2008-03-17T15:12:00.002-06:00

Heads remained surely and solidly lodged up peoples asses.
Attendance on Sunday was about half of Saturday, so there was quite a bit of space to move, but one still had to keep a lookout for the donkey's that possibly shot out towards you from the dark breeches of the floor.

DJ Yulia did a great job at the afternoon milonga but her one and only alternative set was not a very danceable one.. otherwise she did splendidly.

DJ Fredi should crawl under a rock and rot. He played a lot of alternative.. mostly attached to vals and milonga sets thus extending the length of those sets to 5-7. Majority of the alternative was crap. I'm sure he thought his cortina, too, was a cute and smart one as it was about tango, but it was hard as heck trying to figure out what was alternative and what was his cortina, so you ended up standing there for 15 seconds looking dumbfounded whilst trying to figure out whether to embrace or to say "thank you". Later on in the morning, circa 3 am, he started playing his sets in a completely unpredictable manner at one point playing a tango tanda that was 8 song long. You begin with an format; you end with an format. His sucky selections made me leave early.

In the hindsight: Not a festival worth paying $20 per milonga and $45 per class. Certain people will keep making the festival a destination, though. A festival for people who want to do what-the-ever-the-fuck-they-want-when-they-want-to-do-it, though; not a social dance festival.

Ta.

Sunday ; last day.

2008-03-16T10:59:00.007-06:00

Today is the last day of the DC Tango Marathon. Here's my POV and scoop of experiences.

There's a ton of extra women and lack of dancing is causing even good follows to start thinking that they must suck and that they're not good dancers because they're not getting asked for hours - and this time most of the extra women are not women with "extra" or women "without". They're good looking good dancers.. so go figure.

As suspected, the click/clique crowd is alive and well and flourishing. Fortunately they do not have a central hangout place like the do in Portland, but it is clear they only dance with each others and not with others. Since I don't register on the clique radar I found myself sitting, also, for a an or so in the middle of the milonga - although I have to say I could have been dancing but wasn't feeling like dancing.

The venue. Main ball at the Trinity College in a questionable area of NE D.C. Music is piped through two large sized speakers at an volume that surely damage your hearing if sitting too close to them. The floor mysteriously seems to go from slick to sticky to slick from milonga to milonga and day to day.

Music. Thorstein; so-so music.. didn't obey energy of the floor but also his milonga was deserted. Robin; splendid, as always, love this man. Laura; does not know at all how to boost or control energy.. kept playing weak stuff right when you need to build it up.. Shorey; very nice job, but too much of the same stuff, although she was the first to play Fresedo with Ricardo Ruiz - viva!! Upcoming: Yulia and Fredi.

Floorcraft. Abominable. It'd be easier to go find the abominable snowman than to find a working line of dance at this festival. People in the "middle" or "inner lane" absolutely had no respect for the outermost lane and kept pushing in or dancing into the tiniest holes possible. Small and few gaps in the tables cause people to plop up on the dancefloor right in front of you if you were not paying attention like a hawk. The """A-dancers"""... those with any national infamy were absolutely the worst and the donkeys asses. They kept dancing in a slow moving circle assuming an aura of space because constant steps and moves back toward line of dance. Width-wise they were taking two lanes. If they weren't, they were zig-zagging and taking any little space possible.. even those spaces that one would assume caused someone else to run into them, of course thus making the person whose space was stolen look like the criminal. Floorcraft is worse than in Portland during the height of the festivals - at least so I think.. I might think quite the opposite next time in Portland... fleeting thoughts, maybe.

Maybe people will pull their heads from their asses today and matters improve.. we will see.

Ta

DC Tango Marathon Day 1, Thursday 13th

2008-03-14T00:13:00.005-06:00

Been a while again...

Tonight was the (un-)official opening night of the annual DC Tango Marathon. It was at the Eastern Market in SE DC, not far from the Capitol. There was a lot of strange energy in the air this night and I was not the only one to notice it. I think it had something to do with people not quite knowing their places yet, and so there wasn't an established "clique" crowd yet. I'm sure that by the end of the first alternative milonga tomorrow, clear and definite classes will have borne out of the masses; you'll have your A and B class citizens.

The floor at the Eastern Market was it's typical late fall/winter/early spring quality; it was covered in red dust that made the floor very slippery. But by 12:30am the dust had been absorbed into peoples shoes and it even began to shine in places and got to be super sticky - kind of like in the humidity of the summertime.
Another downfall was the lack of bathrooms. In fact, I believe it to be illegal to put on a public event for which you are charging a covercharge, and then not provide lavatories for all.

I wasn't feeling very energetic nor inspired and ended up sitting quite a few sets down. The clear lack of cabeceo also throws me on a loop. We'll see how this weekend progresses, etc.

Ciao

This and that

2008-02-12T01:45:00.000-07:00

My diet last fall was a blazing disaster. It was clear that I couldn't control my intake well enough to lose weight the way you gain it quickest...
So I've broken down and bought an E900 Horizon elliptical trainer.
I also bought a new tv - first in 6 years- a 42-inch LCD Phillips that I've hung on the wall. The plan is to watch movies/tv/netflix while exercising.

I tried connecting my old laptop to the tv, but kept getting the blue screen of death. I had bought a new (old style) video card for the laptop docking station that had an DVI port and not just an VGA port. I was able to only find a DVI-to-HDMI adapter cable; not VGA-to-HDMI. There was S-video connection possibilities too, but I really didn't catch on to that, and the fact I would have had such a cable, until too late. I then tried my new laptop that comes with an DVI port, but after I log onto windows it seazed showing stuff on the tv.

The I hauled my desktop over and it's working like charm. Already managed to watch a movie through it too from netflix-online: "A Simple Curve".
I didn't get the sounds to work adequately, though, so I hauled over my DJ equipment and plugged in the 300 Watt amp and 2 foot tall speakers. No remote but at least it sounds good.

I then decided to move the old laptop back and make that the new HUB for printers and peripherals - in the midst of installing drivers for them and stuff, I tried re-installing the docking station drivers, as the VGA port in the back of the docking station that I had plugged in the old LCD monitor didn't seem to work....
WHABAMM.. fucked Windows irrecoverably.. I'm now reinstalling Win XP from scratch after having formatted the hard drive. In a way, that gives me a fresh start on a very software-plagued computer, but I feel I may have permanentally lost pictures, files, drawings that I may not have had backed up last year when I was moving them to my new laptop... oh well...

At one point I also plugged in my old Pentium II desktop that's been collecting dust for the last 6 years, hoping to find that it might be strong enough to double as a server/hub, but to no avail. I need to take it to the dump along with an even older 386DX/16 I've got in the basement... I guess I'm a tech-packrat.

Let's hope that I don't have to redo everything I'm doing now when I go try to re-install the docking station drivers after XP finishes.. it shouldn't, though. Maybe this fresh install will let my network to work as intended - it never has. The old laptop was always able to access the other two computers, but to the other two it was as good as not there. Probably had somethign to do with the fact that the ethernet connected to the docking station and not to the laptop directly. Essentially I always had two LAN ports of which one didn't "work", as per Win.

Ok.. it's starting the XP up now.. ta ta!

Airport, Deja Vu

2008-01-18T12:34:00.000-07:00

Okey, then. Here I am again, at the Springs airport waiting to fly out. The was a last minute urgent development with a job that I did in Delaware in October of 2006. Some very expensive highly custom low-voltage lighting burnt out and has to be replaced at the cost of me and that of the manufacturers. Honestly majority of the cost is and should be absorbed by me vs. the lighting manufacturer, as I had apparently failed to relay to him how high the ambient temperatures were going to be where the lights where going to be installed. The 5W bulbs laid flat over the electrical wire and had an aluminum "heat sink" shield plate between the socket and the bulbs to protect the wire from the heat of the bulbs. What that shield ended up doing, though, was to concentrate the ambient temperature from the room to the spot where the socket was soldered to the electrical wire and managed to burn themselves off the wire. The new lighting has the sockets standing upright without heat sinks, so I should be safe now. The problem is, the system is now one inch taller than before and is no longer hidden behind the custom wood valance I had created to hide it. I will have to take all the valances off (8- 8foot runs) and create a 5/8" wide groove by one inch deep so make the lighting sit in the material so it doesn't stick past the valance. I got the airline tickets using up 25,000 frequent flier miles out of my 54,000 mile balance. I am now 25,000 short to gualify for an ticket to Finland or Buenos Aires next summer. Taxes to the ticket came to $60, +$50 for over-weight luggage, +1-2 nights in Delaware, $500 for the Xenon light bulbs (old ones were incandescent), rental car, and replacement lumber of $100-200 and the shipping of it $250. In essence, this warranty trip is going to cost exactly whatever profit I managed to make on the project year and a half ago. Oh well.. oh well oh well. Live and learn. Any low-voltage lighting I use from henceforth, though, is sure to work fine and not to fail, as we know what to look out for.

The one bonus to this trip is that I get to go hang out with Ms.Spain for the long MLK weekend before hitting the road to DE. We had somewhat considered meeting-in-the-middle in Houston next weekeend during the Tango Festival there, but honestly, the DJ list for the festival didn't look very exciting. There is a festival in Ann Arbor this weekend with pretty good DJ's, but it was too close to Ms.Spain's trip to see me over New Year's, and now this extra trip came about. Next time I'll travel will be for the DC Tango Marathon in March.

With all the hastle I had at the ticketing desk with my big, overweight, bags, messing with name tags on the new bag I had to buy for this trip, etc, she selected me to go through additional security measures - probably as an payback for the time and effort I made her go through to check me in. Although I do have to say they did a poor job with the additional check, which was mainly to check for bomb residue. Because my second bag also got to be a little over #50 lbs, I transferred a Home Depot bag full of various junk and tool to my carry-on that has the low-voltage lighting, bulbs, and breakers. The bag also included a brand new 1" wide chisel that they didn't notice during the x-ray. Not that I will or would no anything funky with it, but that's beside the point. Last June they found a utility knife inside one of my shoes in my carry-on. I had last minute transferred some items from checked to carry-on to keep the second checked bag under #50 lbs.

I also had the written (LEAB) test for the CSPD this morning. I went through it in record speed because I was tight on time, spending only 45 minutes out of my allowed 2:30. I felt and thought that I did very well though.. I had no problematic questions.. but regardless I only got an 6 out of 10. 5 is a passing grade, but anything below 8 is wasting time to continue in the process..
My section is boarding.. got to go..

Ta.

New Year

2008-01-09T12:25:00.000-07:00

Been a while..

Been suffering from something the last 2 weeks not sure what.. it's been afflicting my lower back.. it hurts to sit and after I rise up I might not be able to stand upright. It isn't subluxations since I've gone to see my Chiropractor quite a few times in the last 2 wks. He suspects a virus that's attacking the muscle(s) which seems pretty doubtful to have a virus that is so localized, but I'm heading few hours north in a bit to see a man whose a Chiro but also a Kinesiologist with an Rife-machine. If he finds a virus he can zap it out.

Ms.Spain visited for 1-week ov2er New Year's, but we managed to only dance once due to my busy schedule and hurting back.

My lower back's actually been hurting longer than 2-wks... it used to get really bad dancing already a few months back... I thought it was from bending too far forward when dancing with sligtly shorter follows.. maybe it was just the early phases of whatever is going on now..

We'll see what he finds out.

Tango Dance styles of old

2007-12-12T18:35:00.000-07:00

Here's Rudolph Valentino in 1921 'dipping' his stuff in "Horsemen of the Apocalypse".

And here is Carlos Gardel in 1935 from "Tango Bar" moving smoothly to the rhythm. Unfortunately, this was all the tango dancing in this 1-hour long movie. Tango Bar was also Carlos' final leading role. He perished in the plane crash later that same year. Carlito is the second dancing couple.. not the first.

"Tango Bar Drama, 1hr 27min Carlos Gardel, Rosita Moreno, Enrique de Rosas. Killed in a plane crash in June of 1935, Argentine musical star Carlos Gardel was well on his way to becoming a legend when his final starring feature, Tango Bar, was released in the U.S. Though well past middle age, Gardel convincingly plays an amorous young cabaret vocalist named Ricardo, who falls in love with gorgeous dancer Laura (Rosita Moreno). To rescue the heroine from a gang of crooks, Ricardo puts his own life on the line, nearly losing same in the process. The villain, played by Enrique de Rosas, is a government official, reflecting the "outlaw" status of the tango in much of South America. Though filmed in Spanish and set in Argentina, Tango Bar was lensed in its entirety in Paramount's East Coast studios at Astoria, Long Island. Songs: Arrabal amargo, Por una cabeza, Lejana tierra mía y Los ojos de mi moza. Bonus Track : Gardel Color "Por una cabeza", "Golondrinas", "Cuesta abajo"

Last flight of the year?

2007-12-09T14:30:00.000-07:00

Here I sit, at the airport again, on my way home after - a total of - 2 weeks with Ms.Spain. Quite possibly the last trip I'm undertaking this year as I've no other trips planned and/or paid for at the moment.

I'm 99.90% certain that I won't be going to Portland this Valentine's for Valentango, so I don't have any clue when my next trip will be. I have a trip coming up for 2-3 weeks to Houston, but that won't occur until the later part of next year. I might go to Seattle again once there is adequate cashflow to support it. I liked Seattle.. maybe I should wait until the weather there gets a bit better, though.

I (bought and) downloaded an unabridged audio book copy of Anne Rice's Vampire Lestat. 20 CD's worth of book.. 23-25 hours.. lol. It's hard to type this and to concentrate on the audio book at the same time so I just had to pause the book.
I like working (design work) to audio books and earlier in the year went through all of David Sedaris' work and 6 years worth of This American Life from NPR. I can't, however, type or write while listening to an audio book. For that, only music works, as long as the music isn't intellectually demanding; i.e. require listening to the lyrics.

We went to a milonga last night and it was an ok one. Unfortunately, the music for over half the night sucked. Lots of nice dancers, but because of the music I only danced with 4: Ms.Spain, Ms.Belgium (who was recuperating from a serious allergic reaction), Ms.Ruskie#1, and Ms.Ruskie#2.

This will be my first time flying on Frontier. I was able to find a very decently priced 1-way ticket to DEN.. it's even a true non-stop flight. Even if it's the same plane that takes you from A to C through B, but you have to de-plane at B, it isn't a non-stop flight in my book. Too bad there isn't a non-stop flight from here to my hometown... would make it so much easier to visit Ms.Spain and to get her to come visit me. She's talked about coming around New Year's after spending Yule with her parents.

Anyway... it had been awhile since the last post so I thought to drop a line..

Ta

Dumb thing to say

2007-12-02T17:40:00.000-07:00

Alright.. So I flew back home on Tuesday and returned to Ms.Spain on Friday.
Last night we had a nice milonga that we went to, and I said something not-so-wise. Last few months I've been suffering from severe lower back pain; The muscles get all tense and locked up when I dance. Well.. for some reason I told Ms.Spain that my back didn't hurt with somebody else but did with her... which of course wasn't true.. my back hurt equally bad with everyone. So, naturally, I managed to hurt her feelings.

The DJ was an out-of-town variety and she did not do very well. The first set she played, for example, were all the same orchestra, but different eras and different singers. Then later in the evening a vals set mysteriously turned into a tango tanda after only 1 vals.. and the next non-tango set that she played a little later was again a vals tanda. Quite strange.

We just had dinner and I'm feeling woozy: had a glass and a half of red wine, which I haven't had in ages. For breakfast/brunch/lunch we went to a local diner that served all-you-can-drink Mimosas for $7, and I had three, I think. So I've been slightly intoxicated most of the day, lol.

My expensive laptop is working a little strange so I bought a bluetooth mouse and a keyboard today.. pretty nifty.

No tango today. Have to wait until tomorrow night for some. 'Till then...

Sunday morning soreness

2007-11-25T10:06:00.000-07:00

Ms.Spain's mattress seems to be the cause for both our sore backs.. more so on me than her.

Last night I DJ'd my second time in this town and the first milonga here that I would classify as very conservative. Now mind you, a couple did come ask for Pugliese, but that was a fluke.
I let Ms.Spain help me choose some of the sets I played so that I could utilize her Spanish skills: I wanted to make sure I didn't have sets where 3 songs sing about a broken heart and the 4th is about losing money at the horse track. With the exception of one Di Sarli set, and a few sets that I should have played much earlier in the evening because they were so fast and energetic, I think it went alright. I was swimming in my suit, though. I had forgotten to bring a tie with me, and then the black shirt I had chosen to bring was clearly faded against the black suit so I swapped shirts last minute.The new shirt didn't work with my perspiration-fighting Potomac Field Gear-undershirt so I used a regular undershirt and was soaked.
My new suit is also one size larger than my regular size. I, mistakenly, listened to the suit salesman.. or rather trusted him... I clearly can not see what I look like behind and asked him if there were problems and he said no. Last night there were alot of mirrors, and it became clear to me that the jacket was and looks to be 1 size too big. Shoulder line doesn't stay straight and crisp, and with my arm up the jacket doesn't taper one bit *sigh*

I've got work to do and I don't feel like doing it. People, before I came here, kept telling me: Have a nice vacation, and I kept saying that it wasn't since I was bringing work with me, but I sure feel like it's a vacation.. sleeping in late.. not getting naught done.. lol.
Ms.Spain will go to work tomorrow so I'll be forced to be productive being by myself.

Ta

After the first milonga

2007-11-24T08:14:00.000-07:00

Okay! We finally made it out to dance last night. I arrived late Thursday night and we just
retired pretty early. On Friday we went to see "Love in the time of Cholera", which is based on a very successful book. The movie isn't nearly as good, but it isn't a horrible movie. What pisses me off to no end, though, is how they just employ actors with horrible (or authentic) Spanish accents instead of just speaking in Spanish, since they ARE in Columbia. Kind of like war movies where Germans and Russians speak English in an accent, lol.

The milonga was a disaster floor-wise. It was more slippery than an ice rink, if you had anything leather on the sole of your shoes. Rubber would have been best and would have/did slide just as well as leather on a normal floor. It was so slippery that every muscle in your body had to tense to keep from falling, so you quickly felt like you'd been beaten with a 2x4.
We left after only 4 sets and didn't dance with anyone else either.

Tonight I'm DJ'ng at another event so I hope all goes well. Will update after.

Ta!

Travel Day on the Turkey Day

2007-11-22T10:14:00.000-07:00

Wow.. DIA has moved into the 21st century and has started providing free WiFi; WiFi that is ad-laden, that is. Top of the screen has advertisements and crap - Not free-free like it is at the COS airport and Helsinki-Vantaa in Finland. I also wouldn't be surprised, if the free zone only extended to this end of the C-terminal, where the SouthWest Airlines gates are. Since they moved to Denver a year ago, they've added tables that provide free power; even in the form of USB ports for juicing your gear. No other airline or other spot in the airport has such good access to electrical plugs.

I'm spending pretty much the entire day, 11 hrs on planes and in airports plus 2.5hrs of driving, getting out east to be with Ms.Spain for at least a few days. Original plan was for 12 continuous days, but problems with the current contract may force me to fly back next week and then return to Ms.Spain, and ultimately return almost a week later than now planned. If the building owners or their representative wants me to return to finish the job before the end of the month, they're going to pay for 3 flights to accomplish that.

I'm going to DJ once during my stay and the pay is actually pretty good. Twice what I got for last weekends gig in-town, and 35% more than the typical milonga in Denver. In fact, it is exactly 1-half of my airline ticket price, before tax. I need to create more tandas before Sat, though. The event is super conservative. It will, in fact, be the first time I've ever DJ'd whilst wearing a suit. I foresee heavy d'Agostino and Fresedo presence at the milonga - my two current favorites. It is interesting how ones music taste changes over the years. I used to much dislike both of them - I was more of a de Angelis/Pugliese-kind-of-guy. I feel that the next orquesta I might "re"-discover is Di Sarli.

Anyways.. they've got a football game blaring in the area I'm sitting in, and it's quite distracting. I don't follow football, though. I stopped caring for it when I stopped playing it myself.

Ta!

Another week gone by

2007-11-18T10:29:00.001-07:00

Been a bit since my last post; been pretty busy.
I'm working on a project that is due for completion day after Thanksgiving, and I was essentially given 10 days, including 2 Saturdays and 2 Sundays, to get a job done that I told them as early as 2006, takes me 14-working days -not including weekends- to complete. *sigh*

I DJ'd on Friday and last night.
On Friday the attendance was pretty good since Julio Balmaceda and Corina de la Rosa were scheduled to perform at midnight. Well.. they were late.. and I estimate a good 30% of the people had left by the time they got there and performed at around 1 am. Of course it could not go without another incident: I play off of my laptop but the facility has 2 CD decks available. I had not tested the CD-player other than putting a CD in it with the sound down to see if it played, and it does spin the record. Well.. when it came to crank the volume.. of course nothing comes out *sigh* Had to swap the players while Julio was tapping his foot and whistling in the middle of the dance floor.

Last night we had our annual milonga here in-town, for which they collect money all year round, rent the space, and this year I even got paid a bit. Including me, there were 30 people. Lame. I was so wiped from the previous night and having had to get up early on Sat to go to work, still, that I had a hard time staying awake. My back was killing me too when I danced and my heels have been bruised for a week now from the physical labor. I only danced 3 sets and they were all with my cat sitter; sort of payment for her services.

Went to Lowes today.. I was blogging about my experiences during my last Lowes visit in June on my old blog. The place SUCKS. Ok so I go there for the ONE thing they've got that Home Depot doesn't : Cedar/Cedarwood colored caulk/silicone. I ended up buying all sorts of things, of course, as I usually do.. blades, drill bits, and the sorts. 160 dollars worth. And again, as last time, I get NO HELP what-so-ever. You can't even see associates lounging about as they do at H.D. I would have bought a 260 dollar cordless nail gun, but since I received no assistance and there were none to be readily taken on sale, I took off. They had ONE cashier-assisted register open, and that was at the help desk. Four self-help lines were in-use and I had to succumb to use one of them. I hate them. I pay good money for my tools and crap and expect someone to ring me in and to bag the shit for me. I don't want to do it myself. And then, of course, the machine has to think that you didn't ring something up or didn't put it in the bagging area or some other crap like that, and it's bitching at you non-stop. Sucks to have to rely on idiots and/or crappy organizations/companies.

Relief is just around the corner, though. I'm scheduled to complete my work by Wednesday on this project, and on Thursday I'm cramming my ass on an airplane for an all-day travel excursion back to the East Coast to be with Ms.Spain for 12 days. Finally good dancing and TLC.

Ta.

Night at the movies, a few recommendations

2007-11-01T00:08:00.001-06:00

I tend not to like to stay home on Samhain (Halloween), as I don't endorse and encourage eating sweets - least not excessively, as the habit is, during this season, in this country. I, myself, would be considerably more healthy and in-shape if my parents had curbed my habits when I was young.. problem was.. my habit came from my mom, who still has one.
Food is wrecking what otherwise is a good baseline of genes.

Anyway... So I went to a double feature.. first "Bella", and then "Dan in real life".

I felt so compelled to write about these two movies, and I felt in the truck on the way home, that I would have had something so eloquent to say about them, but now I'm drawing a complete blank.

Bella is a small budget, if not in actuality then in illusion, and independent. I won't give away more than what you can learn about it visiting the above link and will leave it with this:
The movie touched a nerve so deep,that it made this, otherwise hard-shelled-mean-bastard, weep on at least three different occasions.

Dan in real life, has a lot and a lot of Hollywood in it, but because of the director, it comes across very independent-y. You'll be mostly laughing but there are a couple of moments that will tug at those strings again. One thing I noticed, though, that I hate.. is that they used a scene in the trailor for the movie that was actually not in the movie. It'll probably show up in the bonus features section of the DVD under deleted scenes. That was done at another movie I saw recently, and it was a big moment-scene, but forget what movie it was now.

I highly recommend both movies.

Fall Season

2007-10-30T13:32:00.000-06:00

Been awhile.. nothing much has happened. Fall has come.. it's cold(-ish) in the morning and then it warms up by mid-day - usually to a point where the vest or coat you needed in the morning now suffocates you.

I'm DJ'ng three times in November, and it worries me just a little bit (three times in my state - also when I go meet Ms.Spain for Thanksgiving I've been scheduled to play): I originally didn't want to play too often from the fears that it waters down the music.. you hear the same stuff too often it gets old. For that reason I never request to DJ but rather do it only when I get asked to. I'm playing the 2nd, 16th, and 17th. Usually my list is heavy on artists that the other local DJ's don't play much: Donato, Rodriguez, d'Arienzo/Echague.

I finally started listening to more of the music I have so I just got done creating 10-12 new tandas just from d'Agostino, Fresedo, and Laurenz. It's hard to pay good attention to the music when trying to concentrate on work at the same time and there's just no time to just sit around for hours listening to music. Having just been to Portland's festival kept some tandas fresh in my mind to re-create them at my end. Also helped that Ms.Spain is a native Spanish speaker and she was able to memorize and recognize a song just from having danced to it with me: we found it right away once we got back to the hotel.

I now have 5 hours and 50 minutes worth of pre-made tandas of tango only. 2-3 hrs of milongas and 2-3 hours of valses. I have enough un-listened/edited music, still, to create maybe another 1-2 hours of tandas for each style.

Ta.

Portland Part 1

2007-10-21T16:05:00.000-06:00

Ok.. lot's of bithing about things Pacific, as usual.
It's Sunday right now and Ms.Spain and I just got done eating breakfast and are waiting in the lobby for her room to get cleaned. We've got one more milonga to go: We're skipping the 4 to 7 "maestros" milonga and the all-nighters at Alex's: Ramu is DJ - no thanks. Besides, Ms.Spain has a 7:30am flight to catch and the milonga doesn't end until around 8 am, anyway, and she needs to pack and we need more quality time together.

Miles has been posting, as far as I know, in his typical manner so I will keep my whining to what bothers me.

Clique-crowd. The Portland scene is by far the worst - maybe because it is the youngest? Seattle certainly has a good deal of the same going, but it seems so much more and visible in Portland. They only dance with each others and look down upon anyone else not in their midst. They also avoid talking to, making eye contact, and otherwise relating to us mere mortals out of the risk of possibly having to feel obligated to dance with someone not at their (IMAGINED) level. Location: Always as near or behind the DJ as possible.. typically a stage of sorts. PPAA, Norse Hall, Oaks Park.

DJ's. Why are they letting Ramu play twice? Why was the best alternative tango DJ in the country not utilized at all? Vijay is playing twice too, but at least as a traditional DJ he knocks Ramu's socks out.
DJ Dan B. was absolutely wonderful at the Oaks Park all-nighter, but both Ms.Spain and I were suffering from lack of sleep and had to retire at 4 am.

Floor. There has at best only been one line of dance. A lot of people seem to dance kind of on two lanes where you can't pass them on either side as to the left of them begins the whirlwind of the center chaos. I, myself, typically dance always so close to the outside that I touch furniture etc. They also haven't been doing a very good at setting up tables so that the chairs stay off the dance floor and you have walk ways around the dance floor: ONLY Oaks Park was like that, but the floor was stickier than a June Bugs arse.

Other complaints include the typical ones: people not asking for permission to enter the dance floor and cut someone off; more than 1 couple squeeze in-between someone getting on the floor; chatting on the floor past the 1st measure (intro) of music; not clearing the floor promptly during the cortina; taking backward steps (biggest offenders this year have been 'well-known' teachers and dancers who dance alternative on a very crowded floor), etc, etc, etc.

I might go more into detail later but I didn't make any posts after each night so I can't remember in too good detail.

Ta.

PDX here we come

2007-10-17T12:45:00.000-06:00

Here I am sitting yet at another airport enroute to another city. This time the trip is to Portland, OR; my second this year. The primary reason is the largest tango festival in the country, the Portland Tangofestival. The second reason is to take a written test with the Portland Police Department.

This is the first year I'll have an room mate in PDX (my 7th-9th time visiting PDX) so I'm anxious to see how that goes: I have to make two trips down to Tigard to meet with my suppliers and then the one-two trips to the Police Department, and I'm also giving my roomie rides....
This is also the first time I'm staying as far east as the airport. Ever since one of the hotels downtown closed and got turned into college dormes it's been hard to find sub $50/night rooms in the city or right on the east side of the river. In February I actually stayed down in Tigard but that wasn't an option this year with an room mate. Getting the room for $40 a night vs. $90 is still worth the 10-15 minute ride from the milongas.

Ms.Spain will also come to the festival, Yay!, but only from Saturday through early Monday morning, weep!, but it's still better than naught. I'm going back to the East Coast to be with her a longer time at Thanksgiving so these two days are just to tie us over until then, lol.

Well.. enough of this for now.. need to do some work.
Ta!

Morning after

2007-10-13T15:21:00.001-06:00

Ok.. so I got to DJ last night the whole night with no interruptions from the band.
This of course means I can play a lot more better music but also really have a chance to play with the energy and speed, etc.
No one came to complain about anything last night except for myself. The first set was by R.Firpo and it sucked. I hadn't played it in ages and thought it would be good to start with.. blah. Throughout the course of the night I played 3 tandas of Canaro milongas, 2 of which were new tandas just assembled the morning of.. they were horrible! The second set was actually so bad I had to run back and cut out the last 2 songs and replace with 1 OTV milonga to close the set to move on.
A lot of people came to comment on how good the music was - even the proprietor came to tell me a lot of people had told her they enjoyed my music...
then Whiskey Tango Foxtrot.. I wake up this morning to find this e-mail in my inbox:
"The problem, ******, is that you play the same dreck over and over. Get some new music and we'll show up".

No idea who it is. How do they know what I play if they aren't there? And I've only DJ'd at that event 4 or 5 times ever in the last 5 years. And as far as my music goes.. I play good stuff.. if they don't know how to dance to d'Arienzo, I'm not going to play Di Sarli all night long. And I have 47 gigs of music - I think that's plenty. Pisses me off.

Thursday night blues

2007-10-11T21:20:00.000-06:00

I've a bad headache.. it's likely from my neck.. I watched "We were soldiers" last night and whenever I watch movies in bed (which is the only place where I can) it cranes my neck.. I guess last night was too much being 3rd or 4th consecutive night watching some movie late. I also took to using an older cervical pillow I haven't used in aged.. could be that too.

I had a CVSA today with a Police Department as part of the application process. CVSA stands for Computerized Voice Stress Analysis, ie lie detector test. It was a bit stressing and I did fail a few questions but once I explained them and re-answered them I passed. So for now I'm still in the running but I'm still only at Step 2 out of 12.

Ok.. things have changed with the next weeks Portland Tangofestival.
Ms.Spain found the time in her busy schedule to fly across the country and to come for 2.5 days. This means I will, after all, be attending the Saturday night "Elegant" milonga I in a previous post cursed and thanked not having to attend. But this year it will actually be really nice 'cos I'll be going with a "date".

I stopped by K&G men's superstore today and bought two new suits. My old black suits have all been through the drycleaning a few too many times. One suit has the inner lining held together by 20 safety pins, another has shoulder and armpit seams tearing open, and one suit is discolored and dishaped from accidentally having gotten washed. Rest of my suits are either a horrendous style that I've (maybe) never worn or they're now too small considering how fat I've gotten. I'll probably take 3-4 suits to the Salvation Army end of the year to receive a bit of a tax credit.

I purchased the ticket already too to go back to the East Coast to Ms.Spain's for Thanksgiving for a week and a half. Although neither of us wants or needs to "celebrate" the mass murder of Native Americans, it's the perfect time to visit.
In fact, I don't arrive until after 10 pm on that Thursday having to spend the evening on a 4 hour layover in Atlanta.

I've been working and learning a new architectural design program the last week. It's been quite frustrating and I've cursed more than a few times. But the nice thing about this one is that it's 3D, and some of my current clients have cubes for eyes and can not visualize anything on paper in 2D *sigh*.

I'm DJ'ng tomorrow night and turns out that the band isn't playing after all! Last time I had checked the schedule it had said the band is playing but now the schedule says no band. Yay! They always play 2 one-hour sets of the same crappy stuff.
I'll have to spend a great deal of tomorrow creating the playlist because now I suddenly went from having to play 3 hours to 5 hours of music.

Ta!

Reflections

2007-09-30T17:43:00.001-06:00

sheesh.. I just wrote the post but hit side mouse button which acts as a back button on browser.. and for some reason the auto-save draft is no where to be found.

So.. I DJ'd last Friday. In my usual way I send an e-mail out asking for requests and opening myself for feedback if someone doesn't like what I play. Getting 20 people to come to me saying how much they like what I play does little for me. I don't decide when I play; I play when requested.

So one fella wrote asking me to play stuff not often heard, and not to play in tandas. He wanted to hear music played all mixed up like a mix-cd or a live band. Sheesh.

Another fella came to me during the night to say that he didn't like my d'Arienzo/Echague set that had Pensalo Bien as the anchor. I split Pensalo Bien, La Bruja, and No Mientas into separate tandas, because having all three in the same set is like an never-ending orgasm; too much stimulation. Well of all the music I was able to play that night, because the band came, unexpectedly, to play 2 sets of 12 songs (hour long sets), that particular set was, IMHO, the best I played all night. Double sheesh.

Some people...

I'm playing again on the 12th and the following Wednesday I embark to Portland for the 6th year running. This year, though, I will finally not attend the Saturday "elegant", $20 milonga, with shitty live music, shittier line of dance, and no air-flow or air-conditioning. It will also be the first time I've gone to PDX that I've managed to get a room mate to save on expenses.

I miss good dancing.

Ta.

Escape from Michigan

2007-09-25T16:38:00.000-06:00

Ok.. back home. The tiny A2 anniversary festival behind us.
Attendance was low.. 150-200-ish. I haven't heard any official numbers, though.

We stayed outside AA in Whitmore Lake, 20 minutes north. All the hotels in the area, even in Whitmore Lake, were sold out Fri-Sat because of the Penn State-Michigan football game.

Weather was pretty nice.. mid 70's to low 80's during the peaks and 60's at night. Not a single cloud on the sky any of the days we were there.

Ok.. dancing.. a lot less people came for this than I had expected. A handful of good dancers, only. There was a pretty distinct outer lane at all the milongas but there were about a half a dozen leaders that zig-zagged and when they saw a gap rushed for it, or danced half on the outer lane and half on the inner lane effectively blocking both as they slowly moved along doing their pirouettes and boleos and ganchos. Bastards.

Cabeceo was practically non-existent, again. There were 3-4 followers I had really wanted to dance with, all of which I knew looked at me when I was dancing, and I knew they saw me looking at them when they were dancing whilst I sat, but at no time did they look toward me when we were both seated - even if practically next to each other (particularly at the small all-night-venue). And I, of course, do not verbally ask a stranger to dance, no matter how badly I want to dance with them. I asked some ladies in NYC this past Spring but only after they were recommended and named by Robin Thomas. If cabeceo doesn't work we won't be dancing.. unless of course she comes to ask me. That happened to me once, that a follow I had wanted to dance with did come ask me verbally... not sure if she knew what cabeceo was, but the two tandas we danced didn't end up being all that great.

So with the exception of 3 follows I danced exclusively with follows I knew personally from previous festivals, etc. From Philly, DC, AA. Sort of sucks, except dancing with Ms.Spain never sucks.
Ms.Spain and I left early from each of the milongas, which is something I almost never do, and we didn't even end up going to the practica the last night. But we were both tired, sore, and had to get up at 3:45 AM the next morning, so not attending the practica was quite justified.

I'm DJ'ng this Friday and after that on the 13th of October, a week before the Tangofest in PDX. I probably won't be dancing at all between those two times.

Ta.

Nostalgia: The Hymn of Finland / Finlandia Hymn by Jean Sibelius

2007-09-16T20:57:00.000-06:00

Finlandia Hymn
O, Finland, behold, thy day is dawning,
The threat of the night has been banished already,
And the lark of morning sings in the brightness,
as though the very firmament would sing.
The powers of the night are already being vanquished by the whiteness of morning,
Thy day is dawning, O land of birth.
O, rise, Finland, rise up high
Thy head, wreathed with great memories.
O, rise, Finland, thou showedst to the world
That thou drovest away the slavery,
And that thou didst not bend under oppression,
Thy day is dawning, land of birth.

Alternate verse by Josh Mitteldorf, for difficult times:

When nations rage, and fears erupt coercive,
The drumbeats sound, invoking pious cause.
My neighbors rise, their stalwart hearts they offer,
The gavels drop, suspending rights and laws.
While others wield their swords with blind devotion;
For peace I'll stand, my true and steadfast cause.

Another alternate verse by Georgia Harkness:

May truth and freedom come to every nation;
May peace abound where strife has raged so long;
That each may seek to love and build together,
A world united, righting every wrong;
A world united in its love for freedom,
Proclaiming peace together in one song.

Michigan here we come

2007-09-15T11:39:00.000-06:00

Ok.. Ann Arbor Anniversary Tango Club festival is in the books.
I'm staying in a small unincorporated town 20 minutes north of AA alongside a small lake with Ms.Spain, who's joining me at this Festival; kind of a meet-in-the-middle-deal :) If the water temperature and weather permit it we'll go swimming or Skidoo'ing during the day. Personally I haven't been on the water for years.. maybe over a decade.

A2 festival is from Friday the 21st through (unofficially) Monday night's practica. Very small and short compared to Denver or Portland but it's better than nothing, but certainly going to be great because of Ms.Spain. It's just going to be too short of a visit.

Ta.

October freed up

2007-09-12T14:06:00.000-06:00

Well.. just got the call. I did not get the job in Tacoma, WA that I was already awarded. I lost it because the builder insisted on using someone local that was licensed in the state of Washington; something that I've never lost a job over before. It pisses me off a little because I went through a lot of time and work to do all the designs and specs that were needed and now someone else comes in and reaps the benefits. I'll have to change how I work details and designs pre-contract.

This also means that I will not go back to the PAT testing with Seattle PD on the 6th. That's fine because I may need to be in NYC that week/end anyway. I will just have to wait 6-months and then retake the written test as well. Least I know how to study for it this time and I'll have more time to get physically back in shape for the Cooper test.

I was thinking about Ann Arbor's anniversary festival 3rd week of this month but we'll see. I'm DJ'ng on the 28th and have a written test and interviews on the 18th. Busy season.

Luckily one of my clients put their home-design-project on-hold so right now I'm only having to juggle 5 plans versus 6. Of course it was the one that wasn't in a hurry to begin with that got put on-hold.. figures.

Ta.

Wish I could have a Mac

2007-09-11T20:38:00.001-06:00

I'm forced to use a Windows PC because I use AutoCAD which isn't supported on Mac. I would have switched over 8 years ago otherwise. So lame. >.<

Outdoor milonga went poof

2007-09-09T21:00:00.001-06:00

So.. we had our second annual outdoor milonga today. I was DJ'ng and it was meant to go from 4 to 8... However.. practically no one showed up. Only 2 people came down from Denver, for a short time, and 1 person from Boulder. So lame. Also.. for some reason the pavilion lights did not come on or maybe they don't come on until 8 pm.. so it was too dark to keep going so we packed it in at 7. I'm sick and tired that the Denver people don't support our small community.

Tango in my town is as good as dead.

I am not a Coloradoan.. I certainly don't want to be considered a "local" anywhere in this state but especially not in Denver (like during the festivals). I didn't dance with as many strangers this labor day as I usually do since Ms.Spain and Ms.Italy and Ms.Ruskie and Ms.Grand all came and I was obligated and pleased and honored to dance with them a lot. Usually when I dance with a lot of new people and they ask where I'm from and I respond.. they inevitably go "Oh.. so you're a local". No, no I'm not. I'm actually wanting to bail out of Colorado; sooner the better. It's too hot and far too conservative here... and what free minded people are here abouts they're all into the Hippie/Rasta culture and I'm not into that at all.

I went to the shooting range yesterday just to go through the motions on the AR-15 and a Remington pump shotgun. Got a nasty paper cut in-between the fingers of my left hand from picking up the targets... sucky. I pay a monthly fee of $25 for the range membership but I'm not utilizing it. Last time I went was months ago. Membership allows me to go as many times as I want and don't even have to buy anything from them, although I always buy my targets from them. You have to buy the bullets from them if you rent guns from them, though. Supposedly they do that so they can keep track of how many rounds are being put through the rental guns, but there's no real way for them to keep track. For example I bought 200 rounds of 9 mm ammo, and put about 75-100 of that through the AR-15 and rest through a Springfield XD DOA pistol. I don't even know the exact count myself.

Been looking at ticket prices for flights to Las Vegas and Ann Arbor and DC, again. LV and AA both have a small/short festival on the same 3rd weekend in September.. and I'd like to go to DC to dance with Ms.Spain, of course. Not finding anything cheap however.. fall prices are much higher than spring/summer prices were.. I wonder why.

Ta.

September, Sunny September 6th

2007-09-06T11:59:00.000-06:00

Well... I didn't post at all during the festival but Ms.Spain did a marvelous job once she got back home and Miles, in his typical manner, blogged and bitched about it and things on his blog.

It was wonderful to get Ms.Spain to visit Colorado - too bad we didn't have time to drive down to my house but had to rather shuffle back and forth between the two hotels. The festival takes place at the Stapleton Doubletree hotel in NE Denver, near the DIA.

As before, there were again many more women than men. It makes me sad for I see it in the eyes and expressions of many women their sadness and frustration for not getting to dance; least not as often as they'd like to. I tried to get to as many out-of-towners as I possibly could, but the night is only so long. I kept my tandas at 1 or 2 max with the exception of Ms.Spain, so that I had more time to get to more women. After Wednesday's early-arrival milonga I only danced a few sets with Coloradoans.. I even posted a message to the E-mail list bitching how much locals were dancing with each other, but alas it was not posted.. It probably got lost in some filter as I'm not a member with posting priviledges. When, once in a blue moon, I need to post I send it to a member who will then post it on my behalf. Oh well... oh well oh well.

I bought a pair of Nike indoor soccer shoes yesterday and will take them to the cobbler today for him to grind an angle to the heel and to paste dance suede to the sole. Another pair that I customized will arrive in 4-6 weeks. First pair is black/shiny black with gold detailing. The customized is Black on Black with Dark gray swoosh and White "TANGO" lettering in the heel.
First pair, the off-the-rack-last-year's-model cost $40. The customized $115.00 with tax and shipping. Cobbler will be $40-60 depending on how much glue he has to use and how much time it'll take to grind the heel.

Lot's of computer work to be done so I'm off like a prom dress..
Ta!

Not in Kansas anymore, Toto

2007-08-28T18:24:00.000-06:00

I finished my job in Wichita, KS over the weekend and got back home last night. Quite boring 8 hour drive and I'm bound to repeat it in a few months for another job there.

It was hot as heck and the humidity took my breath away.. luckily they had the air conditioning running inside the house I worked in or I would have died.

As soon as I hit the city limits of Wichita my Nokia 9500 Communicator went dead... turns out that Wichita uses a frequency not much used and my tri-band "unlocked" GSM phone couldn't detect the towers... figures.. had to buy yet another "back-up", locked, phone so I wouldn't be without service for 4 days.

Of course I just discovered too, that an update for the communicator line is finally hitting the shelves of E-bay and European phone retailers.. it's the E90. Vast improvements have finally been made to the phone and I'm dying to get one now.. a hit of $1400 in full retail price but with only 30% success with E-bay over the last few years I will not entertain buying another phone from there, even if the prices claim to be measly $850-ish. Will have to figure out how to get my hands on one, soon.

Denver Milonguero Festival is 2 days away and Ms.Spain arrives Thursday night! Hooray.

Ta.

Failure

2007-08-19T19:07:00.000-06:00

*sigh*

So... here I am.. in Seattle, WA. I flew here to test for the city police department. I was very anxious about the whole process as I had failed (due to lack of sleep night before) my last written exam with the Denver Police Department. I had also left the studying pretty much until the last 1-2 wks as that was when I knew what date the testing was going to be on.
I also knew that the physical agility testing was going to be different from what I'm used to with other departments and at my current physical condition knew it was going to be a challenge.

Since I was not made to sign a confidentiality agreement about the testing process with SPD, I can tell that their test is also entirely different from the other departments I've tested with before. They make you study some material for 2 hours before the actual test and then you are tested on that material during the 1.5 hr written portion, plus some other stuff. About 50-60% of all the questions were directly drawn from the study guide you studied so it's a test on memory retention and recalling specific sentences, policies, reports, and maps.
I became very worried once I learned this because the practice tests and book I have and have taken don't really go too deep into this, as it is something they really can't help you with in that kind of a book. They do recommend other resources that help one improve short-term memory.

Well I got a sneak peak at my score when they were trying to pronounce my name, which they NEVER get right, and saw that I had scored 88.88 out of a 100 maximum. Passing score was 80. Otherwise they just tell you to get in-line. If your name isn't called to stand in-line you did not pass the written and would not be invited to continue on to the PAT portion (physical agility test) half an hour later. Only those that were Lateral (already a police officer somewhere) or from Out-of-State did they score the test for immediately. The rest get their results in the mail in the next 1-2 wks and have their PAT in September.

Unlike the obstacles courses I've gotten used to with other departments, the State of Washington's Law Enforcement Academy has set forth the following criteria/testing:
1) 300 yard sprint, timed with a maximum time
2) Push-ups, not timed, minimum being 21.
3) Sit-ups in 1 minute, minimum being 30.
4) 1.5 mile run under specific time.

I've never been one to place too much emphasis on push-ups or bench press and have not worked out at all in years - Dancing Tango has been my only hobby and exercise. I was actually the most afraid of this testing process than anything else but I did manage 25 which was a personal best for me.

With the sprint I blew all that I had and got my time under the limit to get maximum points - that was good but it really drained me.

Sit-ups.... umm.. another thing I really haven't done much.. I did do some for a few days before my week in DC but during the trip I did absolutely nothing. Minimum was 30 in 1-minute.. and I died at 29.5. Failure. One is given an opportunity to retake this portion after the distance run.

1.5 mile run - I died. My legs were like lead and my liver started hurting as it released cool blood; I hadn't warmed up adequately in an attempt to reserve my (what I knew to be) limited energy. I completed almost 7 laps in the maximum allotted time and needed to complete 8. As I failed 2 events, I was out, and there was no point and definitely no energy left to re-attempt the sit-ups.

So.. I'm out.. for now. I'm allowed to re-take just the PAT portion in 2 months if I so choose, but if I don't do it then, I would need to wait at least 6-months and do the entire process all over including written. This could be beneficial, however, as it would give me more time to get in-shape, lose some weight, re-build some of the muscle mass I've lost in the last 12-years, study and improve my memory. Now that I know what kind of test they administer I could hopefully improve.
I need to get something along the lines of 95% to be highly competitive and closer to the top of the list. Veterans get an automatic 10% added to their score so if they score high plus the bonus they're unbeatable.

I can't really slack off now from depression, though, as the Portland written test is coming up on October 20th, right during the TangoFest there... however passing applicant must travel back to PDX at another time for the PAT test. Portland being one of the few large cities that do not accommodate out-of-staters like other departments I've tested for: Anchorage, AK; Colorado Springs, CO; Denver, CO.

I recently learned of a website that allows you to take a test with the company/agency, and they send your results to any agencies you pick from the list - it is intended for smaller towns that do not have the resources to test/train applicants themselves. Some small towns for example only hire Lateral applicants as they can not provide any testing. This website hosts nearly all of the small towns in Idaho, AK, OR, and WA. You can apply to hundreds of places by taking 1 test. A real time AND money saver.

Well.. I'm going to call Delta and see if I couldn't get on a flight 1 day sooner now that I do not have the oral boards and psychological in the next few days - I fear the cost will out-weigh the 1-day saving though.
I want to stay through Monday into Tuesday so that I can attend the China Harbour milonga on Monday night. It is the (one of the) best in the city and most people I know in this area will be there and not at Sunnie's tonight, where I'm going to also go.
Getting home a day early would allow me to better prepare for my Kansas trip, though, that I embark on no later than noon on Thursday (driving - 8hrs). Right now my flight returns home Wednesday night, late.

Oh well. oh well oh well. I'm not used to failing. It's a bitter pill to swallow.

Ta.

At the airport, again

2007-08-17T17:57:00.000-06:00

So.. I flew in yesterday from Washington DC where I'd been for 8 days dancing and hanging out with Ms.Spain. Had many good dances despite the oppressive heat and humidity... was even kind of cool when you're both drenched and still you keep at it.. it's a bit uncomfortable and embarrassing to dance with someone when you're the only one soaking wet or vi ca verse.
Ms.Spain was a gracious hostess and then some and I can't wait to see her again in Denver in two weeks. Too bad I had agreed to share a room with someone else before she made up her mind about going to Denver.. I guess I coerced her in the right way during my visit to DC :P
She's become a dear, trusted friend in a very short time, and I'm blessed to be in her graces.
Muchos abrazos y besos!

I screwed up with my schedule a bit... I had thought I had all of today and majority of tomorrow to lounge around, catch up on errands, etc, before having to fly to Seattle for half a week... By chance I went to look for my arrival time to Seattle to co-ordinate my lodging and to my horror I saw the word "Friday" printed atop the "Departure" times... I had 4 hours to scramble to finish some last minute things and to re-pack to come to the airport. Luckily this flight is out of my own airport that's 15-minutes away versus the large one that's 2.5 hrs away. I had also not really unpacked as there had been no reason to do so; I had done 2 loads of laundry in DC and majority of the clothes I had packed were still good to go.. I just had to add a pair of workout pants, sneakers, and a suit.

I got to the airport a bit early again and just finished dinner at Quiznos's. To my great delight WidowPC had preinstalled all the hardware programs and device drivers on the hard drive, that I hadn't noticed before, and I was able to get my WLAN card to work in no time. I had relied on my Sprint PCS card for connection during the previous week and the speed was a measly 600 kbs (pretty fast for Sprint since I was in a major city). So now I'm enjoying the rare delight of free wireless internet. This airport, like I've mentioned in my other blog, is the only airport I've ever been to that has free WiFi and not merely a hot spot.

I also managed to get some dude's pocket knife impounded.. he was trying to sneak it through on his keychain until I pointed to an TSA-employee the knife. Most of the time when you stick yer keys in that little bucket it doesn't go through the X-ray... kind of like that one movie where an assassin had hidden two bullets inside a lucky rabbit's foot-keychain. Rest of the pistol had been a break-down ceramic one that is hard to detect. I forget the name of the movie now but somehow I feel it was John Malkovich who was the assassin/shooter. I walked into the terminal along side this guy and I almost said to him that he'd better return to his truck with that knife.. I just wasn't 100% certain it was a knife until I got much closer to him in the security line. When I flew to DC in June I had, last minute, shuffled some gear from one bag to the other to make sure I was under #50 to avoid 2x over-weight charges... and I had a utility knife with a nice holder and spare blades stuffed into one of my dress shoes that I had transferred to my carry-on from checked luggage.... they threw it away, of course.

I wish that they'd check the size of carry-on pieces like they used to and still do at London Heathrow... a guy just walked past me with a suit luggage and that thing was frigging huge.

Well.. enough for now..

Ta.

Last Day

2007-08-15T11:05:00.000-06:00

It's Wednesday.. I'm catching an 6 am flight out of DCA back home for a bit. On Saturday I fly out to Seattle; it'll be my first visit to the city and I'm looking forward to it. Will be able to catch 2 milongas too, one of them China Harbor.

I've been here in DC a week come midnight. I've caught 4 milongas with Ms.Spain thus far, DJ'ng myself one of them, and tonight being the 5th and last milonga for this trip. I had such a good time with Ms.Spain in June that it was worth traveling back just for dancing.. and to see if anything else might work out as well. I'm still trying to coax her to commit to the Denver Milonguero Festival on Labor Day. After that.. in September.. who knows.. next festival after that is the TangoFest in Portland in October.

Finally saw the much praised movie "Cinema Paradiso" last night. Very beautiful film.. with an even stronger soundtrack; been listening to it this morning.

Haven't been paying too much attention to what I've eaten during my visit.. but that's what holidays are for, aren't they? I most certainly have put back on the 5 pounds I lost during the 2 weeks before the trip but oh well. Back on the horse when I get home.

Ta.

Tango Trip #? - Who keeps count?

2007-08-09T08:36:00.000-06:00

I flew out to the East Coast last night. I guess it's pointless to be too vague as any cross reference to myspace page of mine would reveal I was in DC last time, so here I am, in Washington DC.

I had such a good time dancing with Ms.Spain here in June that I decided to return for a week. We had talked about maybe meeting in the middle.. like in Houston; somewhere where we both could have taken a single direct commuter flight, but with her just having been out of the country for 10-days and being backlogged at work, we decided it best for me to take a connecting flight and to come all the way to DC. Lodging would be free for both of us as well, as I'm crashing on her futon.

Tonight would be the first milonga, at the Eastern Market. I dread it as the weather is oppressingly hot and humid and that place has no Air Conditioning.. kind of like Ms.Spain's loft, lol. She does.. but the machines either leak freon; are severely undersized; or the filters are clogged. Right now it's 82F and I had to lose my jeans.

I'm quite happy though not working but rather burning the cd's Ms.Spain obtained for me at my request. From artists I care for I only lack a few d'Arienzo and 2 Pugliese now.

Ta.

Saturday Morning

2007-08-04T10:52:00.000-06:00

It's been a while.
Still doing the diet although I've been bad a few times. Last week went to the movies a lot and had nachos a total of some 3 or 4 times. Had 2 slices of pizza from Wild Oats too.

On Wednesday and Thursday I was working really close to some restaurants and since I had not packed a lunch I couldn't resist. I had Indian food on Wed and Chinese on Thu. First restaurant food.

Last night on the way to DJ a milonga I stopped at a Taco Bell and had some tacos - first fast food in two weeks.

So yea I dj'd last night. Little over 5 hours. I've a question, though. I've always been super self-conscious about smelling.. be it sweat.. my breath.. or my clothing (one of my cats peed on one of my shirts once and I didn't notice it until I started sweating and the odor started coming out). Several of the very few women I did dance with had very bad breath. Nice ladies I've known a long time.. but I just can't get around to telling them that their breath makes me nauseous... how could I? How could I let some of these ladies know of this problem in a politically correct way that doesn't offend them and before it gets so bad I don't want to dance with them anymore.

Out of the 26 full sets and half a dozen alternatives I played I only danced 8 sets myself. It's lame how slim my pickings are in my home state. I've danced many times more out-of-state this year than in-state. Many times more. Portland, Alaska, New York, Atlanta, W.D.C...
One good news was, though, that one follow that used to date someone, that effectively placed her outside the radar of acceptable follows, now no longer dates this person, and is again available to be asked, and she isn't half bad.

Gawd.. trying to tolerate my mom on an IM.. she doesn't get it through her head that caps is yelling.. it raises my bloodpressure to read all caps all the time.

Ta.

Diet morning of day 5

2007-07-24T10:57:00.000-06:00

Time is flying by although I was bored as hell all day yesterday. I didn't want to work so I was left with very little to do, especially since Ms.Spain was stuck at work all night and we couldn't video conference.

I started this morning with the soy vegan chorizo (1 link is about 7-8 inches long and 1-1.5 inches in diameter), about 4 egg's worth of egg whites scrambled, and a handful of soy cheddar "cheese", with a dash of hot sauce. MMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM it was sooooooooooooo good. I had to fight hard not to inhale it but at the same time I am feeling that maybe I wasn't quite ready for "processed" food. I should have maybe waited another day or so. Oh well.

We'll see how I'll feel today and how long feeling full from this will last.

Ta.

Day 3 of diet.

2007-07-22T14:35:00.000-06:00

Here we are.. day 3. Starting to feel a little bit better.. not so woozy anymore but darn hungry. it was very difficult to walk the isles at Whole Foods with all the yummy things that are available and on display. I got me a small cup of hot organic split pea soup and oh it was sooooo goood. Since it was a small portion (at least historically for me), I ate it very slowly and indulged in all the subtleties of the flavors. Split pea soap was the best that they had for me right now (least carbs in any form).

I avoided, as much as possibly, to buy anything with even pure cane sugar in it, or even dextrose (maltodextrin - a corn or potato derived long-chain carbohydrate).

Just for shits and giggles here's what I bought today:

"Pure" 's Blond Macaroons - organic coconut "cookies" with no sugar or carbs added for next week
"Pure" 's Grawnola - sort of granola chunks, also for later next week.
1 packet of Miso soup with seaweed - the only brand I found with no dextrose added.
2 cans of split pea soap with organic german mustard
Cans of dolphin-friendly wild caught albacore tuna and red Alaskan sammon and tongol tuna
Some Italian dressing for the spinach I got yesterday from Sam's
A bag of bing cherries
small box of grape tomatoes
4 kiwi
4 red apples
bunch of bananas - mainly to mix with the whole milk Bulgarian acidophilus and maybe with shakes.
Red small grapes - I'm having some right now.. little bombs of flavor; so powerful
A cantaloupe melon
small box of blueberries to mix with the shake
2 small jars of egg whites to go with the soy chorizo and soy/rice cheeses I got for breakfast starting maybe Tuesday or Wednesday of next week.
3 bottles of Kombucha; a Chinese cultured tea
1 bottle of Pomegranate juice.

That's it. My goal is and has been to avoid all carbs not derived from the veggies or fruit I eat or have eaten. The shakes provide with more than adequate amount of long-chained carbs for energy. It is merely a matter of breaking the habit and addiction for processed white sugar and other forms of short-chained carbs. I am constantly hungry but I am eating and eating a lot. It is just my body trying to trick me into feeding it what it's used to. It has to find an alternative source for energy and stop storing fat.

On Friday night my blood pressure shot up through the roof as my body was realizing the shock of lacking sugar. My face was as red as a Yule ornament and there was this uncomfortable pressure behind my eyes and in my sinal cavities. Pretty common occurrence, actually, and not something to worry too much about.

I did a 5-hour glucose test at a hospital a year and a half ago, when I was having bad bouts of low blood sugar induced by my poor diet. This, of course, is one of the early indicators and signs of diabetes and a flash of light to change your diet. I did fine for a while but dropped it like a bad habit. Well anyway you go to the hospital in the morning having not eaten or drunk since the previous night. You drink a glucose mix and they take your blood and a urine test every 30 minutes; normally only for 3 hours but I wanted to do 6 from a book I had read about low-glucose, and they settled on a 5-hour one. Well by around the 4th hour, having already gone through shakes, shivers, cold sweat, and tremors and what ever else, my blood pressure started to shoot up.. I actually had to stay an extra hour after we stopped taking blood and urine because it wouldn't go down. It finally started dropping around the 6th hour to the point where they released me. I wasn't very worried since I knew what it was all about, as was my physician when I saw him the following day, but ER docs wanna pump drugs into you to bring the pressure down. I was wise to decline them and to just wait for the pressure to go down.

Ta.

Time to turn over a new leaf - Day 1.

2007-07-20T12:42:00.000-06:00

I have finally reached the point where I can no longer look at myself in the mirror. It is time to pounce it action and to reclaim my body. I made a decision last night during my two hour commute home that I was going to start eating less and healthier. This also means starting to take supplements to get the ball rolling.

I've put on quite a bit of weight in the last 2 years having gone through two breakups in that time and having eaten partly out of depression. Also, my activity levels have consistently decreased over the last 12 years and my metabolism has slowed.

I used to play Football and work out/lift weights 4-5 times a week on top of that. I was even in the Junior National Team for my country 3 times; I played Inside Linebacker and sometimes Iron-Manned offensive line as a guard.. I'm even responsible for breaking someone's thigh bone by doing a crab block on him with the Center :P It was quite unintentional, though, and the victim was actually a semi-friend with us and a future team mate.

I've gone from that, to just working out, but when I moved to the US, I began framing and that was very hard work. So eventually working out kind of petered-out, as well. Since then I've also moved to easier work/jobs that burns considerably less calories.

I've gone from rock-climbing 4 times a week to not having done it in years. I did Kendo for 8-months twice a week but busy schedule also terminated that love. It was really harsh on my feet as climbing was harsh on my hands and arms. I'm built too much like a linebacker to really ever be really good at either.

Before and during the beginning phases of Tango I was doing Ballroom dancing 3-5 times a week. That dropped eventually in favor of Tango.. the form of dancing that burns the least calories of the dances, lol.

So today.. and the last few years.. dancing Argentine Tango has really been my only exercise.
Now.. dancing is and can be good exercise but not alone and by itself. But busy schedule, tight budget, etc, all conspire against trying to start another program or activity. 4-5 years ago I bought a few year membership to Bally's and I went like 6 times in 2 years. I won't waste money like that again knowing that on a very short notice I might spend half the month out-of-state and on the road.

So I've decided to start a diet that initially will be built on the back of Myoplex shakes. I used the protein shakes when I was still working out and out of the many different brads I always liked these the best. I also intend to only buy groceries I never buy or that go bad if I do.. vedgetables and fruit. I have the interest and the motivation to burn off what I've put on as quickly as possible. Later down the road I intend to reinstitute more physical activities to assist in this goal. For right now, though, I need to accomplish the weight loss by way of my diet. Get back on the schedule of eating small and often.. 5-7 times a day versus what I've been doing last few months.. eating only once or twice a day and then gorging myself with crap.

And what has really bugged me the most about my diet and weight gain is that I know how good I look and feel when I am in shape.. and I also know exactly what to eat but I always revert back to the American TV-culture-diet. When I was playing football I even went through weeks of measuring everything to the gram to figure out what my intake was and to figure out how many calories I was burning each day. Back then it was 2,600 calories to maintain muscle and to slowly burn fat. These days I might pound in 5,000 calories in a day, easy.

I'm 6'-2" and currently weight 240 lbs. Now, all my life I've been outside the "normal" weight for someone my height and that is mostly due to muscle and bone density. I could never weight 180 or under and never have. I did weigh 190-195 when I was thin(ner) and much younger and I was a lean machine.

I believe that today with the muscle mass, or rather lack of it, my ideal weight would be between 200 and 210 lbs. I don't care, per se, how much I weigh as long as that weight is in muscle, but that isn't and is not going to be the case anytime in the near future. Muscle outweighs fat cells by a ratio of 9 to 5.

I thought about starting heavy and just doing shakes but I won't and shouldn't do more than 2 myoplex shakes per day or I'll be overloading on protein and that is bad too. I just need to make every other mean a banana/apple, etc. The first few days and the first week will be the hardest.. I remember when I did a 3-day fast and worked myself into it for a week by limiting my input and went completely organic and veggies and fruit only, and found out that after a certain amount of time things get easier. The 3rd day of the fast is also the best feeling one.. I didn't want to do a longer fast as I needed lots of calories and energy those days to support my work style and schedule. I, of course, ruined the benefits of the fast by breaking it with a huge meal of eggs, sausage, and pancakes >.< Oh well.

Feeling a little woozy right now and it's probably from starting heavy with the metabolism boost that has caffeine in it this morning. Caffeine from like soda never does anything for me and has never for example kept me up at night, but taken in an empty stomach can and has in the past put me in a weird flux. I tried some caffeine pills once to try and stay awake after a milonga in Denver for the hour and a half drive home but those made me seriously sick - I was hungry and dehydrated after the milonga. I'm actually online right now just to settle in on the feeling and let the shake I had an hour and a half early settle in and do it's job before heading down to the basement for work. I'm up in the mountains doing some trim carpentry in a house I trimmed out a year and a half-2 years ago. A little sidejob project. Certainly the thin air contributes to my feeling as well. First day is always a little off at an elevation of 10,000 feet above Sea Level.

Now.. the trick is to keep this diet going for the next few months is going to be a bear of a challenge. I hope to get the support I need to keep at it - or better yet.. quick results to keep me motivated. We'll see how much 'middle-age' has changed my metabolism.

Ta.

It's Friday but not an Aloha one

2007-07-20T07:38:00.000-06:00

Been up in the mountains last two day.. Heading back up there in a few hours after a chiropractic adjustment and another of those Active Release Technique rub-downs.

My AC unit smells like someone is smoking right outside.. wonder if I'm burning the bearings, lol.

It's been hot here.. mid to high 90's.. even peaked past 100 just south of here.. and I'm trying to keep this wee dark house at 72.. it's usually 85 in here if it's 95 outside..especially right by 3 running computers; they put out some heat.

Pleasure trip. I'm making a pleasure trip purely for tango back to the East Coast next month. Found $99 tickets each way and with tax that's still under $240.00. This is only the second time ever I've made a trip purely for tango that wasn't for a tango festival, per se.

Trying to see if I can also get to DJ during this trip to assure high music level :)

My left arm and hand are constantly tingling. Been doing so ever since that first ART appointment I had on Monday. Quite annoying, it is, I can assure you. But he did pop the shoulder and that did increase the range of motion a little bit. He said that if by 4 or 5 appointments there isn't a noticeable difference then that technique won't work. At that point it better have worked since I will have paid enough to fly twice to dance with Ms.Spain and back (at the current web-only buy early enough in advance tix prices I found).

Denver milonguero festival is also only 5-6 weeks away.. can't be having a sore-ass shoulder again then.

I'll be driving to Wichita Kansas either just before my E.Coast trip or right after. Got a job there. The same builder wanted to do two homes on the same trip but they don't seem to get the homeowner to make any decisions.. or understand I have a 6-8 week lead-time.

Oh well. Got to take off.. Chiro in 40 mins.

Ta.

Yucky Breakfast

2007-07-17T10:50:00.000-06:00

I just had a bowl of "Bear Natural's Granola". The bag was unopened but was swollen with air inside. I didn't check the date on it but I did check to see if the soy milk I used was still good, which it appeared to be. But the granola tasted like I was eating tree bark and I actually sort have eaten tree bark having worked with wood as long as I have. It must have gotten heated up and gone bad somehow. My kitchen can get so hot in the summer that for example if I left some butter on the countertop, which stays hard and solid in the winter in the same spot, melts to a point where it's running all over and I've got a lake of butter on the table >.<

Sucks not to have choices for food at home but the solution isn't going shopping either. Last time I did.. of those groceries... an entire 12-pack of eggs and a big bag of grapes have gone bad.. probably the cheese too. Great portion of what I bring home that's fresh goes bad either because I go out of town or because I eat out or because I simply don't feel like cooking.

Blah.

Go Now

2007-07-17T09:25:00.000-06:00

I mentioned this 1995 movie to Ms.Spain the other night, so naturally I had to watch it again myself last night. It is a very touching movie about a man who develops symptoms of (and the disease itself) Multiple-Sclerosis, right after having fallen in love and moved in together with a new girlfriend. I remember when I myself acquired the movie it took some searching and finess and it was only available on VHS. For more information here is a link to it: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0113184/
The user's review of the movie is not quite accurate as it is the guy who kicks the woman out but being that she is in-love, stands outside the apartment in a torrent cold down pour until he breaks down and let's her back in (into his heart).
I would fancy getting it on DVD because most DVD releases come with captions, and the brittish/scottish dialect is quite thick in places and it's hard to get all the subleties in the conversation.

The same lead actress is in another one of my most favorite movies, Still Crazy. That one is about a 70's "excess" rock band that gets back together in the 90's for a reunion gig, and all the trials and tribulations that go with that endeavour. A very funny movie with a soundtrack song that is absolutely fabulous, called "The Flame Still Burns". The soundtrack is extremely hard to find as it has been out of print for nearly a decade and I've yet to manage to obtain it myself. I did however, luckily, find the MP3 for the aforementioned song from a Japanese website.

And on that note.. I'll just "bobble" away :)

Friday - tired

2007-07-13T15:14:00.000-06:00

For some reason I did not take the pain meds before going to bed... I couldn't sleep well all night but rather tossed and turned all night to try to get comfortable... every movement was felt in the shoulder - it's been aching all day long now, even after taking Norco and Aleve. Fking sucks.

Closer to morning

2007-07-13T01:37:00.000-06:00

I decided to watch the movie "Closer" again, since I wasn't feeling so tired at midnight.
That movie is such a mind fuck even just to watch.

I had to get up, though, because I didn't feel like I could fall sleep in the basement tonight.
I was hot and uncomfortable; going to sleep in the upstairs bedroom that has an A/C unit in it.
It's not THAT hot... but I didn't for some reason feel like taking my shirt off.

I also had hoped to have had something more insightful to comment about the movie, but all of that seems to have drained out of me on the way upstairs.

My trapezoid and rhomboid muscles seem to have released their deathgrip and the pain has clearly moved inside my shoulder. My theory is, that I did something, or something happened to it during the Denver Tango festival or right after, and long work days on the East Coast worsened things, and my muscles cramped up to protect the injured shoulder. Long dance festivals have always caused some discomfort.. either my pinkie falling asleep or aching in the shoulder by the 3rd day... Always thought it was from forward-head-posture and pressure in and from the neck... it makes a lot of sense, though, if it is my shoulder itself that's gone bad.
I remember not being able to do lat pulldowns behind my neck or succesfully do deltoid pushups because of popping shoulder(s).

I'm seeing a specialist on Monday about some very painful re-alignment massage to retrain the muscles.. but if it indeed is my shoulder, that won't do a bit of good.

Popping joints... been having fun with that bit for as long as I can remember...
fingers, wrists, knees, ankles, groin, shoulders... Just sitting here writing I can feel the tingling and pressure down my arm and I'm quite certain it's not from my neck, since I was adjusted two days ago and I was not bad at all, and don't feel too off right now.
This sucks. No easy solution if it is the shoulder.

>.<

>.<

2007-07-12T18:44:00.000-06:00

Ok I have to post. This is too fucking stupid not to report.

So... the house that I turned down last month due to not having time to draw it.. then meeting the homeowner and him stating he still wants me to draw the house.. fine.. so we meet again and I come up with a 1st draft in no time, but it has a portion to it that doesn't flow, and it's about 400 sq-ft too large.

Well I e-mail it to the builder (the homeowner never e-mailed me so I couldn't send it to them directly as well) on what.. Tuesday, for review, and he just called to ask how I was coming along with the plan... well I FUCKING E-MAILED IT TO HIM! He never e-mailed it forward to the homeowner so now I'm meeting them all again tomorrow morning and no one has reviewed the plan ahead of time... >.< AArrgh

He is an idiot! And then he is one of these people that never seems to get into his head, that I have two phone numbers.. I accept calls into one number and dial out of another.. he ALWAYS call me at the wrong number.. ALWAYS. Also.. the local building department... REGIONAL.. for 2 years he's been calling it "region". He just somehow can't get his mouth around that "-AL" part.

He is one of these guys that used to work for one the big missionary organizations and after supervising/building his own home, that I designed, he decided to become a homebuilder with the scant knowledge he has/had.. and well.. it shows, in everything. In quality, lack of organization, etc.

Pisses me off, this shit does.

.

I don't feel like writing

2007-07-12T18:11:00.000-06:00

Wednesday Boredom

2007-07-11T18:05:00.000-06:00

Here we are middle of the week. Ever since Ms.Vegas moved to, well, Vegas, there hasn't been a reason for me to go to our weekly "milonga" on Wednesdays. I worked for 5 hours today shimming and nailing some wood windows so that they had an even 1/2" reveal on the inside. That way after the walls have been drywalled and the trim carpenter comes around to case the windows, he doesn't have to score or beat down the drywall around the windows that's past the casement jamb. At that point the stucco on the outside effectively glues the window in place so he can't move it that late in the game.

Played with some video "conferencing" with Ms.Spain last night... she needs to get a webcam so I can see her while she sees me >.< Of course the second I logged onto Skype my mom attacked me asking about this and about that.... I normally keep myself logged off or as away for that very reason.

I'm bored. I don't feel like starting the remodel design right now and I've already done a few hours of gaming.. No good movies left in the theatre to go see. Oh.. well I do have to work on the next years Parade house plans.. got the initial redlines back from the Engineer.

Miss dancing - good dancing.. like with follows such as Ms.Spain and Ms.Belgium and Ms.Vegas. Long time to go before Labour Day festival in Denver >.<

Blah.

Sunday

2007-07-08T10:47:00.000-06:00

I ended up not going to Boulder last night. I was feeling very tired and unmotivated, so around 5-6 I laid down on the couch and feel asleep until 9(I should have left around 7 if I had gone). No big loss I reckon.

I've got a meeting at 5 today regarding the other Tuscan-style home. It's been almost comical trying to get this meeting to happen. If I haven't been out-of-town, which I have been 4-5 times this Spring/Summer; they've been.

Ta.

Few Pictures

2007-07-08T10:40:00.000-06:00

We All Need Space

2007-07-07T23:06:00.001-06:00

Carlos Gardel

2007-07-07T21:44:00.001-06:00

This tango god met his end on my name-day of June 24th. According to the National Archives of my homeland, only about 25,000 people share this name with me. Quite the coincidence, don't you think?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carlos_Gardel

I liked this video

2007-07-07T18:10:00.000-06:00

Saturday Morning Groggynes

2007-07-07T14:20:00.001-06:00

So... I got them drugs.. some Norco for pain and Cyclobenzaprin for spasm. I've taken quite a few of the Norco's but only 2 Cyclo thus far. I took the first one at lunch on Thursday.. and I don't know if it was that or if the weeks just caught up to me, but I barely made the drive home, I was so sleepy. When I did make it home I hit the bed right away at 7:30 pm and slept until 6 am. Woke up only once shortly at 3 am. The next morning I felt like I was drunk for several hours.

Last night as I got back from the Milonga I took one at 3am and I slept until 1 pm. I started moving around just now and feeling that groggyness again.

So yea... went to the milonga last night. DJ Nick was playing... a lot of good stuff but also some weird tanda compilations and way too many alternatives. He did a 4 song set of alternatives and that completely sapped my energy.. I wasn't able to recoup after that. Dances? Not a single good one.. but I wasn't feeling all that great either.. was very tired.

I'm supposed to be working in Breckenridge next week but I so would not want to... another case of me not being able to say no. And another example of not saying no.. on the way to the Milonga last night I stopped at a house where they want to design a remodel.. it's already a nightmare and I haven't even drawn a single line. She keeps wanting impossible things and doesn't seem to hear or understand why she can't have some of the things she wants. "Can't we just do <><><><>"?. "Well no... because <><><><>". "Why not"?. *sigh*
Felt bad for the husband too.. she kept putting words in his mouth and putting him in a bad spot. Wisely he kept his mouth shut the entire time, lol.

I think I need a real good massage to try and release my trapezoid/rhomboid. The muscles are hard and swollen like a coconut. Even with the Norco I don't at all feel like sitting here in front of the computer.. at least not to work. When I work I have to scootch forward and squint at the screen to make sure I start the line from the right spot, etc. When I'm writing I can sit back and just watch the screen from a distance. Keeps the shoulders more relaxed.

I hope Ms.Spain is getting some good dances. She's in the Mid-West enjoying a Tango Festival. I miss dancing with her.

Ms.Belgium had a water pipe burst above her living room ceiling and ruin most of her condo; bummer. I guess she didn't have specific renters insurance either.

I haven't heard from Ms.Vegas since the Denver Tango Festival. She left me a voicemail the day she made the trip saying she had just heard a song that reminded her of me, but I never caught the title of the song.

I might drive up to Boulder tonight for a Milonga there. It is the early-arrival milonga for the Gustavo & Giselle workshops to be held there next week. Some people are coming clear from the east-coast for the classes, although I don't see the point. Hoping for one or two good follows to show up, though. Maybe that one really tall girl that lives in Boulder will be there. She almost never drives down to Denver and she's getting to be really good. Maybe she moved though as she got done with college.

Waiting for my breakfast to arrive. I debated whether to clean the pan and to scramble some eggs (that would just have gotten stuck to the pan I ruined) or to order a meatball sandwich and two personal sized pizzas from Extreme Pizza, and E.P. won.

I'd like to go see a movie today but I don't think that'll happen. If I go to Boulder tonight I have to get a move on right after breakfast. I'm to pick up a friend from Denver on the way if I decide to go.

I'd also like to go to the Renaissance Festival; Haven't gone in 5 or 6 years, but I don't want to go alone. Got no one to go with me, though.

Ta for now.

.

English Patient

2007-07-04T18:53:00.001-06:00

I've had the soundtrack for the movie for a long time. I listen to it maybe once a month or so.. It's very powerful. "Swoon, I'll catch you" put me in a trance.

Keeping the topic at music.. I just thought about this again today whilst listening to all of Jewel's records while working... I really do not like artists that do not write their own music or at the very least a great portion of it.... or let's say that I can't respect them like I do those who do write their own music, because I'm sure there are artists that I like that do not write their own music.

.

Dreams of an Insomniac

2007-07-04T18:36:00.000-06:00

What is it like getting a full nights rest?
I have forgotten. Hard as I try I can't remember when I was consistently getting 7-1/2 hours of sleep each night - it's been several years for sure.

To an extent this can be credited to my lifestyle.. Tango dancing is a nocturnal pleasure. But I often also legimately work until the wee hours trying to get designs/specs/quotes done on-time.
Last 2 weeks I haven't been able to sleep due to the pain in my neck/shoulder. 2 weeks before that it was my trip to the East Coast and with the Tango dancing I was getting 3 hours per night (6 hrs few nights but in 2 shifts of 3 hrs). So like I mentioned before, one of my clients is an MD, and he finally called in 2 Rx's for me this morning. I put in a full day at work today and afterward drove down to the Safeway where I had him call them in at. I arrived at 18:15 and because it is "holiday" they had closed at 6 pm vs. the normal hour of 8 pm. The guy was standing there behind the cage playing "Eye of the tiger" from a cassette player into a telephone.... >.< Another night of no sleep incoming because of 15-minutes. Gay.

I'm sure Ms.Spain will blame me for keeping her up until 4:15 am (2:15 my time) talking on the IM and hence not getting more than 4 hrs of sleep, but even within that 4 hr timeslot I woke up once because I had to shift off of my bad shoulder - any longer would have only gotten me a sorer and stiffer shoulder this morning than what I got.

I'm glad it's raining outside.. I hope it keeps up.. it'll keep most of the people inside that run around blasting fireworks (they're illegal inside the City-limits anyway).

.

"How often do you find the right person?"

2007-07-03T21:43:00.000-06:00

"ONCE"

I went to see this movie at the Kimball's Twin Peaks tonight. I loved it. It's brilliant.. gritty.. in-your face kind of film.
Instead of trying to eloquently explain what the movie is about, I'll rather send you to the website where you can see a video clip and hear snippets of the songs: http://www.amazon.com/Once-Original-Soundtrack/dp/B000PFU7OO

All the original songs were in fact written and or performed by either of the lead characters or by both as duet. I couldn't find the soundtrack to it on Gomusic.ru yet, but I did buy and download one of THE FRAMES' CD's. The lead character in the movie is the front man of the band.

It's a movie I will certainly buy when I see it out on DVD... not only because I loved it... but also to watch it again with subtitles (captionings) on... the guys' thick Dublin accent and the Girl's Czheck accent caused me to miss a great deal of the dialogue.

The theater wasn't exactly crowded.. 30-40 people.. but I've never been to a movie.. or at least not for years.. that 90% of the audience did not move or get up UNTIL ALL of the credits had scrolled by and screen finally went black. Given, the Kimball's crowd is always more mature and respectful.. but the previous movies I've seen there this year.. people file out right after "Fin" and don't stay to watch the credits. The music must have stuck a chord with more people than just me :)

-.-

Girls versus Women

2007-07-03T17:17:00.000-06:00

I copied this from a friend's MySpace bulletin:

Women vs. Girls

Girls want to control the man in their life.
Women know that if he's truly hers, he doesn't need controlling.

Girls yell at you for not calling them.
Women are too busy to realize you hadn't.

Girls are afraid to be alone.
Women revel in it-using it as a time for personal growth.

Girls ignore the good guys.
Women ignore the bad guys.

Girls make you come home.
Women make you want to come home.

Girls leave their schedule wide-open and wait for a guy to call and make plans.
Women make their own plans and nicely tell the guy to get in where he fits.

Girls worry about not being pretty and/or good enough for their man.
Women know that they are pretty and/or good enough for any man.

Girls try to monopolize all their man's time (i.e., don't want him hanging with his friends).
Women realize that a lil' bit of space makes the 'together time' even more special-and goes out with her own friends

Girls think a guy crying is weak.
Women offer their shoulder and a tissue.

Girls want to be spoiled and 'tell' their man so.
Women 'show' him and make him comfortable enough to reciprocate without fear of losing his 'manhood'.

Girls get hurt by one man and make all men pay for it.
Women know that was just one man.

Girls fall in love and chase aimlessly after the object of their affection, ignoring all 'signs'.
Women know that sometimes the one's you love, don't always love you back-and move on, without bitterness.

Girls will read this and get an attitude.
Women will read this and pass it on to other Grown women and their male friends.

---

Monday Bloody Monday

2007-07-02T19:28:00.000-06:00

So I had a meeting this morning with one of my clients at 8 am at Panera bread. He forgot to check his e-mail for the time so he was an hour late. Good thing is, he LOVES my design for his house. I have to admit.. I'm quite proud of it myself, I have to say.
It's 3,650 square feet on the main level and 1,200-1,400 upstairs. Basement will be around 3,400-3,500 total, but will probably not get finished for some time. This house is supposed to be part of next years Parade of Homes, too.

I might be in luck with getting some drugs for my shoulder/neck from him.. he's an MD.
I don't like drugs and avoid them like the plague.. I even had tendon re-attachment surgery under only local anesthesia.. but this shoulder/neck pain is preventing me from working productively and from sleeping. It's got to go. I might ask his for something "light".. .such as valium or something.. He was trying to prescribe all manner of drugs for me but that made me uneasy.

Well things didn't get any better from the meeting. They had, indeed, finished the tile at the Natural Dream Home but the ventilation and insulation were still a problem. So I tore some insulation out of a corner and did the ceiling myself. I also bought some duct materials and finished the exhaust vent for the sauna myself. You know the saying, right? "If you want it to be done right you do it yourself".

The materials showed up finally around 2 pm and I got them indoors and unloaded. Very little damage but damage nonetheless. I'll be working on this sauna for the next 2-4 days to finish it on time and just to move on.

Oh, the strangest thing happened too this morning at Panera. A client whom I had basically turned down due to not having enough time to work on his house plans was there.. and he actually isn't in such a big hurry as the builder had claimed (which is why I hung up my gloves on the project), and still wants me to design his house. How about that. Second hand information is always half of a handful of shit.

I may need to re-activate my pre-pay cellphone or get another cell phone from another company than At&t. I never have any reception on jobsites and others do. I do know that part of it is due to the weak internal antenna on the Nokia 9500 that I use, but the other, very legit reason, is that AT&T's towers are in shit condition. When AT&T turned to Cingular they stopped maintaining their towers and they fell in disrepair.. reception has reduced to half of what it used to be.. maybe they'll start fixing them now that they're AT&T again. Verizon and Sprint keep getting reception where I do not. I think I'll end this post here and call 611.

Ta.

Playing with HTML in blogspot

2007-07-01T13:52:00.000-06:00

So yea... since I don't know HTML.. I've been playing with it on Blogspot. Editing isn't as easy as it is with Myspace, but I'm getting there. I've managed to enlarge the title box so it encompasses the title picture and I've widened the text box so that there are more characters per line. I just managed to change the font too to a one that isn't otherwise "supported". It's called Papyrus. How does it look? Inviting comments (from what.. all of 1-2 people that read this? lol).

M

aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaargh!

2007-06-30T11:56:00.000-06:00

I knew it. I just knew it last night I had something happening this morning, but I had nothing in my PDA about it. Well.. I had my CSPD written test date this morning at 9 am.. right when I woke up. AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARGH!

What do I like?

2007-06-30T10:58:00.001-06:00

I like cats
I like kittens
I like Ford pick-up trucks (although lately my faith has been shaken)
I like guns
I like Tango
I like thunderstorms in the distance at sunset
I like the full moon
I like ice cream (mint, liquorice, orange, pistachio, toffee, and so on - never chocolate)
I like liquorice
I like salmiac (Finnish candy that's "hot". Liquorice with salt and ammonium chloride added)
I like Black Sambucca double shots chilled
I like saunas
I like when I hear being complemented but they don't know I can hear or know it's me..
(for example if I built/designed something and they complement it but didn't know I did it)
(at other times being complemented makes me uncomfortable and uneasy - I feel it's fake)
I like clean water
I like Finland
I like culture
I like history
I like mountains
I like accents (must be quite easily understandable, though. Brooklyn accent can go eat shit)
(more specifically: English, Irish, Scottish, Argentine, and some French accents appeal to me)
I like "super-cars" but will never own one (Lamborghini and the like)
I like English Laundry shirts
I like music
I like patent leather shoes
I like Original SWAT cop boots
I like Nokia cellphones (because they're Finnish? 90% the reason)
I like jalapenos but will not munch on them straight-up (in bread, paste, pizza, on nachos, etc)
I like the feeling of being in-love (not at the moment - not even in a relationship)
I like designing/drafting homes when I'm feeling inspired
(It's a breeze then - other times it's pulling teeth)
I like moderate weather - 66'F is the best temperature
(Cold enough for a 3-piece suit and and warm enough for a t-shirt and shorts)
I like clean white snow
I like lush green grass (if ants or other crawlies I won't lay down)
I like Birch trees
I like tongue and groove paneling
I like sophisticated Root Beer
I like Chilean and Australian red wines (not Merlot, though)
I like long hair
I like certain parts of the Goth culture
I like movies
I like good computer games (WoW, Soldner, ArmA)
I like good books
I like air conditioning (since I do not live in previously mentioned 'Moderate Climate')
I like Burberry:Touch
I like Herban Cowboy:Dusk
I like Tuscan, Craftsman, Arts&Crafts style homes
I like Giovanni hair products
--

The day after

2007-06-30T10:10:00.001-06:00

I will have to make a specific post about stuff I like/enjoy/love to counteract my complaining.

DJ Ruddy played horrible music. Music too modern.. sets where all songs weren't similar in the least.. Concert songs (where the vocalist drowns out the music and beat). The whole night he played 2 T 1 M 2 T 1 V - the standard pattern.. then toward the end he threw in a set of 1 M 2 T 1 M! Well I went to tell him that he missed the Vals set and he said that he doesn't follow any format (what the fuck was he doing earlier?) but plays according to what he reads the floor to be doing/wanting. He then played, supposedly intentionally, a Vals set right after the Milonga set.

Ms.Kenya noticed right away that I had changed my cologne and was disappointed :) She seems to really like Burberry: Touch. Two other follows noticed the change too and seemed to like the new Herban Cowboy: Dusk better than Burberry. We danced quite nicely last night and spoke of Tango Crushes.

I forgot my dance-sneakers behind but luckily had a pair of the super thin very uncomfortable ballroom shoes in my truck, which still are better than street shoes. But they allow my ankles to roll excessively to the outside (I supinate) and after few hours the bent pinkie-toe bone was hurting like hell (it's not a case of bunions or hammer toe or anything like that - a bone has shifted and is now in an angle in order to help stabilize me - It's quite sore and my podiatrist says that one day the bone might need to be cut, pulled straight, and screwed back together).
When I get a new pair of sneakers I have the cobler grind an angle in the heel that helps keep my ankles from rolling to the outside.

I barely made it back home last night.. I was nodding off several times and got pretty close to hitting a concrete wall that directs traffic on the I-25 near C/S downtown from one side of the highway to the other, while they pour the driveway and finish the bridge over it - that'da hurt a bit.

I woke up with a very stiff and sore left shoulder/neck. My chiro gave me a long sheet of scoliosis exercises that he wants me to do daily or 2x/day that I haven't had a chance to do any yet. I crashed immediately upon getting home last night and this morne I'm sore and that always detracts my attention from doing anything constructive. I'll do them tonight.

Ms.Spain and I traded a few text messages as I was driving to Denver last night.. she makes me smile.

I was looking at the DJ list for the month of July at the Merc... I'll go next Friday but then skip rest of the month. Looking pretty sad. I should maybe ask to be put on the schedule myself, but I prefer to be asked versus asking to do it - and I have a feeling I will not be asked anytime soon. I feel that the proprietor may have heard me bitching a month or two back and took it personally.. I was, of course, only bitching about the music the DJ was playing or the music that Extasis was playing, which never changes, or both. I also did make a pretty loud comment about El Pulpo just as he was about to begin his performances when he was in-town and at least 6 people heard me, that I know of. Ever since I saw him the first time in Portland in 2002 I've thought him a complete asshole.

Ta.

Karmik shitstorm

2007-06-29T19:08:00.001-06:00

I must have done something bad and karma is being a bitch back at me.

So after the Chiro appointment this morning I headed up north to the Dream Home project.. the one they called me on Tuesday to say that they were "laying the tile right now! It'll be done today and you can start Friday. We have to be done by July 9th!". I get there, and wouldn't you fucking know it. Only the floor tile is done.. nothing on the walls or the curb ... they also haven't cut a bolt that sticks out of the ground off yet, that prevents them from finishing the floor. They also have not correctly tied in the exhaust vent nor is the insulation done. *sigh* *double sigh*

But it gets better... on the WAY there.. my truck starts losing power and starts sputtering and the "check engine" light comes on. Fabulous. The other shoe has dropped, as the expression goes. So I leave the jobsite and risk the 30 minute drive back to the shop; I make it.
Whilst there.. I notice the odd lack of phonecalls.. particularly the one from the "STUPER"-intendant who had said he was going to call me right back, when I called him to bitch about nothing having gotten done. I had dropped my phone. I had crawled under my truck looking for an oil leak or water in the fuel pod to drain it.. nothing. Earlier in the morning I had looked for my cellphone pouch when putting on the belt, and couldn't find it, so I put the phone in my loose sidepocket in the cargo pants. When I had rolled on my back the phone had slipped out.
This phone cost me 350 euros in Finland. It is the Nokia 9500 that isn't even brought to the US. Die Hard: Live Free or Die has a Nokia 9300i in it with which they do things you can not do with the phone. And just how the fuck does the nerd happen to have a Nokia data port cable in his backpack that he whips out? The port is unique and no other phone has one like it. Not even other Nokia phones have ports that fit the Communicator - I've tried being the owner of 5-7 Nokia phones in various states of repair and disrepair. I also had phone numbers in that phone that I had not yet backed up onto my computer, so needless to say I was going to do whatever it took to retrive that phone.

So while they were checking and repairing my truck (speaking of the earlier I just plugged in the phone to the laptop to back it up), I had to rent a car from Enterprise and then drive as fast as the little friggin Chevy Suzuki rip-off went back up North 30 minutes; 90 MPH was as fast as that little thing went, unless you had the luck of a downhill. Well I pull up to the little portion of sand and dirt by the Freeway off-ramp where I had stopped an hour and a half earlier, and there the fucker was.. right behind a car parked there next to the Asphalt-laying machines. It was intact and had not been run over, albeit it was hot from the Sun. Score.

I then raced back as fast to try and return the car within 1-hour. Score.

What had gone wrong with the truck was a set of wires had corroded off and caused 4 of the cylinders to mis-fire. Of course, as expected, the fucking Ford dealership didn't replace the other 4 control wires under another cap, that would have taken a whole other 15-minutes, but rather decided to post on the paperwork that they recommended the other 4 be repaired as well. Having stayed longer for them to repair it when I had already returned would have cost me an extra 2-hours, so I scurried off. I just have to get them repaired before I drive to Kansas.

The reason I said "the other shoe dropped", was because my truck has spent about 6-8 weeks at either of the Ford dealership lots this year. Twice for bodywork for 2 separate accidents, and 2 times for mechanical repair. I had all the glow plugs and glow plug relay module replaced and the 120,000 mile check-up. Oh.. and the waterpump had also failed... so I remember asking the guy what I can expect to fail next eventhough it just passed all inspections and checks.. well here is today.. corroded wires.

By the way neither of the accidents were my fault - the first occured on January 1st when someone high on pot decided to make an un-announced un-turn-signaled U-turn right in front of me on a 1-way street. He claimed in all seriousness that the street was 2-way until the cops showed up. Of course you can't field check being under the influence of Pot, so they had to let him go. The dude behind me barely missed me.

The second accident occured downtown on a Wednesday night in April when I was DJ'ng and dancing. I got a call from a cop asking if my truck was mine, etc. Some asshole, drunk and uninsured, had plowed into it while it was parked off-street downtown. He had claimed to have just come out of the adjacent parking lot, gunned it, and lost control, but one does not move a 3/4-ton truck 7-feet; plow it's back-end in; and push it over the curb with an old 1/2 ton truck, if he hadn't been going at least 40-50 MPH downtown.

Luckily I had my trips to Alaska and New York in April and Georgia in May that I didn't need my truck. I won't even go into detail about what happened when I got it back and how it wasn't finished.

Well.. I have decided to go to the Mercury Cafe tonight. Ms.Polish has agreed to meet me there. She's a sweet lady; tall and what not; but for some reason we don't quite connect 100% I'm burning to dance though, since the last time I did was last Sunday. If only Ms.Spain was here....... ;{
So I have to make like a tree and leave.

Ta!

Failed

2007-06-28T09:46:00.000-06:00

I'm a fucking failure. I drove up to Denver this morning at 5 am for a written test. I had gotten up at 4 am and thus only got 4 hrs of sleep, because I went to see the goddamned Die Hard last night.

Since I signed a confidentiality form I can't quite explain what kind of test it was, but I failed the very first part. Drove over an hour there.. paid $10 for all day parking.. spent 20 mins on the test and was back on the road home. It's the first time I've failed at a test and since I failed the first portion, which was a written test, I couldn't move on to the basic skills and aptitude portions that I usually do pretty well at.

I failed over what has been my bane with any language since I started going to school as a child: Grammar and punctuation. Minimum score was 70% out of 31 questions in the first portion. I scored a 67.74, which means I got 21 out of 31 correct. One more correct would have pushed me into the green. Fucking sucks.

And wouldn't you know it.. when you get there.. they ask if you've prepared and taken the practice test that apparently is only available IN-PERSON... I double checked the website and there is absolutely nothing there. I may not have understood grammar and exact punctuation any better after taking such a test, but at least I may have had a chance at recognizing portions that would have seemed out of place, based on the practice test.

But it certainly isn't any secret to anyone reading my rantings, that I have a problem with run-on-sentences, punctuation, and grammar. One of my ex-girlfriends, who was/is an English teacher/Creative Writing Chair, once long ago complemented me that I write as I speak, which according to her isn't common, but I don't get bonus points for being original/unique/strange.

I've done very well at writing police reports, but maybe they weren't so much after proper grammar and punctuation as the content of the report, as the report writing portion was strictly timed and I had to write so furiously my hand cramped up. But I got full 6/6 for that report whereas the average for my testing class was 4/6.

I'm being overwashed by a myriad of emotions.. sadness.. frustration.. relief.. embarrasment.
I was reminded, on the way home in morning traffic, what I don't like about Denver, but I felt very red-faced being the first one to walk out of the testing room. Sadness comes from the fact that my dream job keeps eluding me yet again. I'm willing to tolerate and to stay in Colorado for the Job, but otherwise I'd like to get the hell out of here, but now I'm feeling so discouraged and pissed that I'm not at all sure I want to fly to Portland, OR for 1-day for their testing in 3-weeks.

>.<

I miss tango

2007-06-27T18:18:00.000-06:00

I'm having pangs of withdrawal pain from tango. I last danced on Sunday and here it is already Wednesday. If Ms.Vegas still lived in town, I'd go to the Red Martini lounge to DJ and to dance with her but she's gone.
I got so used to going out almost nightly in DC just as I had done in NYC, although I did mostly get spoiled by Ms.Spain in DC.

She's a great dancer with a warm personality.. but as she herself said.. quite "volatile". I got to witness her wrath toward another leader and, while it amused me, I certainly would never want to be at the receiving end of those piercing eyes. Despite what she says of her heritage I do believe she's got a lot of Basque in her.

I'm considering going to the theatre to see Die Hard. I saw Paris, J'et Aime last night and it kind of sucked. The preview for it was 10-times better than the movie itself. But I'm feeling a little weak and tired. My upper back is also quite inflamed from continuous rubbing but I don't at all feel like working, either. I've got to start making some progress on the Parade of Homes-house.

What's quite comical is the situation with the other Italian-style (Tuscan) home I'm designing. If I'm not out-of-town (Alaska then NYC then Georgia then Washington DC), then the home-owners are.. Alledgedly we'll be both in-town the same time next week so we can start making progress on that house, as well.

I think Ms.Spain is planning on attending Tango Jovia in Chicago next weekend.. Oh how I would want to go but alas I can not, I think. Well.. I certainly can't legimately afford it... but there are credit cards...... no.. I couldn't. Besides I'm quite sure she's had her fill of me until we meet in Denver for the Labor Day Milonguero Festival. She's still trying to haggle her schedule to make it happen but I must hold steady and keep faith that she'll be there.

Man I feel so stupid. Here I am.. nearly world-famous sauna builder and I forgot heat relaxes muscles... I just turned my sauna on and will be hopping in there once it heats up adequately.

Ta-ta

Settling in

2007-06-27T15:34:00.000-06:00

I've paid my bills that stacked up during my trip. Sprint sent already a disconnect notice for my laptop broadband card because due to the trip I had gone past the due date by a week, or so. Greedy bastards.

Went grocery shopping at Sam's and Whole Foods and spent $440 and $220. Given, I did buy a 4-pack of wireless phones and a large surge protector, but that was a lot of money either way.
Bought some organic cologne and shaving products called Herban Cowboy: dusk.
I need to start shaving manually again as my newest electric shaver has started hurting my neck and leaving red marks. Maybe it just needs a new set of blades.... don't know.
I'll see how I handle the change from the subtle Burberry: Touch to this more powerful Herban Cowboy. Or more importantly.. how my followers respond to it. I remember back-when, before I changed to Burberry, whatever I was using then, caused an allergic reaction with one follower. No one has ever complained about Burberry.. few compliments only.

Patch is drooling on my shoulder wanting to drop down to my lap.. but he always lays on top of my arms preventing typing so I have to shoo him off.

My cat-sitter showed up unexpectedly and startled me. I had the side door open with the screen door shut, and I saw an arm open it from where I sit at the office desk. I almost reached for my pistol but figured I'd wait a second - then I saw a glimpse of blond hair and recognized her. She's a Norwegian psychotherapist in her 50's, and hadn't read my initial e-mail carefully enough to have noticed that I had returned already. Although, I suppose, I could have called her to let her know I had returned and how much I appreciated her help. This was the first time she watched over my kitties as Ms.Vegas, whom previously held the position, recently moved to Las Vegas.

Naturally, she, as Ms.Vegas, never saw either of my cats whilst visiting to refill the food and water and to scoop the litter box, but this time Patch was casually laying on a set of blueprints on my coffee table where he can observe me, so she got to see him for a second before he scurried off. 2 seconds after she left he was back in my lap wanting attention.

We took a set of x-rays at the chiropractor's today and are going to review them on Friday.
It seems more and more that my neck pains are purely soft tissue; albeit deep down there. They stimulate the back and the neck in a way that feels like subluxations. I barely need adjustments and they do not even lessen the pain. I've been kneading myself with this J-shaped stick with a knob at the end of it that allows me to assert a lot of pressure on the rhomboid muscle on my back. I've also been plastering my back with Ben-Gay and Tigerbalm liberally and frequently. I also bought two different kinds of natural pain relieving creams from Whole Foods today, but haven't had a proper moment to test them yet.

I have written testing for the Denver Police Department tomorrow morning at 0730. This means I have to get up between 0400-0430. Shouldn't be a problem as I woke up at 0530 this morning because my neck was hurting so bad and had locked both my shoulders up and my hands were numb and tingling.

I had really wanted to get a nice CORDED office phone, but they don't make nice ones with only one line. They're all 2-4+ lines or if they're 1-line they're lame-ass. So I crumbled and bought a new set of wireless phones. My previous 2-set of Panasonic 2.4 Ghz phones were starting to die and had poor voice quality. This new set came with 4 handsets which is nice, as it allows me to have one in the office, one in the kitchen, and one by both beds. Had they been corded I would have had to have done a lot of painful wiring and I wasn't up for that.

Enough for now.

First Blog on this site

2007-06-26T16:51:00.000-06:00

Here we go. I should have set this up long ago when I felt like ranting away but instead I started a Myspace page. It isn't that that endevour hasn't been fruitfull in new networks and contacts but it really isn't blog-oriented.

Not so sure where to post from henceforth, though. Maybe a bit of both or cross-link?
http://www.myspace.com/methosan is address to my page.

I suppose another benefit of having a site here, as well, is so that I may add comments to other peoples Blogs.

Keeping it short for now as I'm testing how this works.