Curious Notions and Things of Random Nature

Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog

2008-07-15T16:49:00.001-07:00

If you like Neil Patrick Harris, goofy musicals, or super- (or not-so-super)villains, you've got to check out Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog! It's an internet-only musical in three acts and it's free to watch online until July 20th, so if you want to catch it, you better be quick!

Oh my aching feet!

2008-07-15T11:39:00.000-07:00

Went to the podiatrist yesterday and he confirmed that I have plantar fasciitis. Got my feet all taped up funny and he gave me a splint to wear at night - comfy!

Hmm, perhaps I should have gotten a pedicure beforehand!

My new virtual kitty cat

2008-07-12T20:25:00.001-07:00

It took me all week, but I finally got my mage a kitty cat to ride! I think she looks great on it and it's soooo much faster than running! Yay!

Unity - Not just another campaign slogan

2008-07-11T22:38:00.001-07:00

RJ Eskow: Have We Missed the Key to Obama's Leadership Style?

An interesting take on what makes Obama's leadership style unique, and why he's not really "moving to the right" at all.

His political architecture isn't built on the old foundation of Right vs. Left - or on Right vs. Wrong, for that matter. It isn't even binary. When it comes to policy he inclines toward the progressive position, but he's not thinking in terms of "winning" or "losing." His goal is group unity around the best possible realistic outcome. That means assess the situation, get what you can, then move to bring the parties together around a new consensus.

Dancing with the world

2008-07-09T18:26:00.001-07:00

I have no idea why it feels so good to watch this, it just does. Enjoy!

The real world of warcraft

2008-07-08T18:41:00.001-07:00

Most of you know that I play World of Warcraft. It's a fun diversion that I picked up when Bobbo was working nights and I had lots of free time to kill. One of the things I like most about the game is the social aspect - meeting other players, working together to accomplish goals, helping others when I can. Last night was one of those times that really reinforced why I enjoy the game.

(Hang on, it's gonna get geeky for a bit here, but stick with me!) For the past few days I've been working on improving my level 40 mage's reputation among the Night Elves so I can qualify to purchase one of their big cat mounts. The easiest way to do this is to complete a ton of lower level quests in the Night Elf starting areas. It's pretty easy, just time consuming. Often I'll run into a lower level elf working in the same area as me and I'll offer to team up with them and help them out, since I can blast through things much faster than they could by themselves.

This is exactly what happened yesterday when I teamed up with a level 14 druid. We worked through a number of quests and I also answered some questions for him, as he seemed to be fairly new to the game. As we chatted, he told me he was 18 years old and he seemed like a sweet kid. As we continued to work together he thanked me numerous times, expressing his gratitude for all my help. I told him it was my pleasure, and that all I asked in return was that he passed the same kindness on to others.

As we were finishing up, I remarked on the lateness of the hour and that I had to be going. He replied that it was morning for him, as he was serving in Iraq. Eighteen years old. In Iraq. As I let that sink in, I realized how paltry my kindness had been in comparison. Here I am feeling all good about myself for helping him kill virtual beasties, while he's over there in a "world of warcraft" of the truest sense, putting himself in harm's way for us. It was my turn to express my sincerest gratitude and as we said goodbye for the evening I thanked him for his service and hoped that he would stay safe until the next time we met.

So to Tyler, somewhere in Iraq, again I say thank you and be safe. I hope to see you in Azeroth for a long time to come.

OCTA and Me

2008-07-02T20:04:00.001-07:00

As some of you may remember, Bobbo was hit by an OCTA bus while riding his bicycle two years ago tomorrow. With the settlement from that accident, the two of us were able to spend three fantastic weeks traveling through Europe. During the trip we visited six countries and relied almost exclusively on public transportation to get around, which is pretty easy considering how great the rail, bus and subway systems are over there. So when we returned to California after living car-free for almost a month to find gas prices had jumped up to $4.70/gallon in our absence, it was a bit of a shock to the system.

So today I tried something that I hadn't done in the eight years we've lived in California - I took the bus! Yep, I left the car in the driveway this morning and walked to the bus stop to see what commuting on the OCTA was like. And frankly, it was as easy as pie! Using the online OCTA trip planner I found a bus route that runs straight between our apartment and my office in Irvine, with only a ten minute walk on either end. It's a 45 minute ride, which is a little longer than it usually takes in the car, but I get to spend it listening to my iPod and reading a book instead of fuming at the guy that just cut me off on the highway, so it all balances out. Plus it saves me about $1.20 a day in gas, is better for the environment, AND I get a total of about 40 minutes of exercise walking to and from the stops.

So I guess after all this I've made my peace with OCTA. Now if we could only get Bobbo on one of those busses!

Still recovering!

2008-06-21T15:42:00.000-07:00

We've been back from Europe for about two weeks now, and I swear, we're still recovering! I just posted the photos from Germany, Austria and Italy on Flickr, you can see go see them here. More will be coming! In the meantime, I noticed that my last post ended in Paris. Let me see if I can sum up that last week for you here...

(Five minutes later) Ok, I can't seem to find my travel journal at the moment, so I'll have to get back to you on the details of the last week. Here, I'll give you some quick random impressions though:

Paris - Famous monuments, Napoleon everywhere, art museums, Bobbo falls in love with Monet, train strike, amazing food
Brugges - Pretty town, delicious chocolates, hanging out with a nice guy from NY
London - Feet hurt, Petra, Natalie and Martin visit, Rami and the Foo Fighters, Churchill's bunker

Ok, that should hold you over until I find that journal. In the meantime, go browse through some pictures!

Updates from Europe!

2008-06-01T01:55:00.000-07:00

Thanks to everyone for your birthday wishes! Bobbo and I are having an amazing time in Europe! I apologize for not keeping up with the blog, internet access has been harder to come by than expected. I have been taking tons of pictures though, so I'll be sharing them all when we get home, don't you worry about that!

I'll give you a very quick update since my last post was from Germany. After we left there we headed south to the castles of Hohenschwangau and Neuschwanstein. These are nestled right at the foot of the Alps and it looks just like a scene out of Heidi or the Sound of Music.

Then we headed to Vienna, Austria where we meet Roman, a musician Bobbo had met over the internet. He and his girlfriend Nicole spent three days showing us all the sites of Vienna, as well as taking us to the home of his parents in the countryside, a tiny village in the Wachau valley where we hiked up to the ruins of a 12th century castle where King Richard the Lion-hearted was once held for ransom! I think that day was one of my favorites so far, just an amazing experience that you can't get out of any tour book!

After Vienna, we boarded an overnight train to Venice, Italy. By an unexpected turn of luck, we had a sleeping cabin for six all to ourselves. Thank goodness too, it was almost too small just for the two of us! Venice was absolutely lovely, we walked all through the city and had dinner at sunset right on the canals. A very pretty city, though a little too touristy I think.

The next day we were off again, this time to a tiny little Italian town called Pesina, on the shore of Lake Garda, the largest lake in Italy. After a somewhat stressful bus ride through Verona, we finally arrived at the home of Donato and Marina, a wonderful couple who are friends of our friend Rami. They welcomed us into their home, an incredible 14th century castle where over the years they have hosted performances by an impressive roster of musicians, including our friends Rami and Phil Cody, along with many others. (Bobbo almost fell over when Donato mentioned that Townes Van Zandt had stayed in our room!) That evening we were invited to join Donato and Marina, along with their daughter and her boyfriend, for dinner at the home of his friend Armando and his wife and two daughters. Armando's home was gorgeous, with a view of Lake Garda that took my breath away. And the food was amazing, wave after wave of fantastic courses, prepared by Armando's wife Chiara, but most of all, the company was wonderful. After dinner, they produced a guitar, and we gladly played and sang in repayment for such a lovely evening. This, as you may be able to tell, was my other favorite day of the trip so far. Though I would have loved to stay longer, we had to leave for Paris the next day, with promises to return for longer on our next trip.

And now I'd better get going, the morning is getting late and we're off for more sightseeing in Paris. The Musee D'Orsay and a return to the Louvre I think is on the schedule for today. I'll post more soon!

Greetings from Germany!

2008-05-20T22:52:00.000-07:00

We arrived in Frankfurt bright and early Monday morning and were greeted by Bobbo's uncle Marty and cousin Natalie at the airport. So nice to see familiar faces when arriving in a new place! We've spent the last two days with Marty, his wife Petra, Natalie, and her brother Martin, and it's been wonderful. I wish we'd done this years ago!

Yesterday we toured the old city of Bamburg and today we're headed to Wurzburg for some sightseeing. We'll be picking up the rental car today for our road trip tomorrow as well as getting Bobbo's guitar from the post office - which means we'll be having a little hootenanny tonight! (Hopefully we'll be able to stay awake for it, we've been falling asleep around 10 pm the last two nights due to jet lag, which is why I'm up at 6:30 in the morning now!)

Europe, here we come!

2008-05-18T07:54:00.000-07:00

We're off to tour the continent in just a few short hours! We're headed to Southern Germany, Vienna, Venice, Verona, (all the V's!) Paris, Belgium and London. Whew, just typing it all makes me exhausted! Stay tuned for pictures and updates!

The beauty of the brain

2008-05-14T18:28:00.000-07:00

A fascinating and moving account of what one scientist discovered about her brain and herself as she underwent a massive stroke. Simply amazing.

The new album is out!

2008-04-30T16:43:00.000-07:00

Hi all! Just wanted to let you know that yesterday we put the last finishing touches on our new album, Where the Road Bends!It went to print today and we’ll have it in our hands by Saturday 5/10 for the cd release party. Woo hoo!!!

If you’d like to purchase one, you can pre-order them on our website for $10 between now and 5/10 - after that, we’ll be selling them for $15, so it pays to order early!

Treadmill Desk

2008-04-26T16:59:00.001-07:00

Treadmill Desk
Originally uploaded by {platinum}

Well, here it is! So far I've walked about five miles between yesterday and today, all while checking email, catching up on th news, even playing World of Warcraft. In fact, I'm walking right now! I'm thrilled with how the desk came out, it was easier to put together than I expected. You can check out more pictures here. Enjoy!

Walking and working

2008-04-24T17:11:00.000-07:00

Just bought a treadmill yesterday and got it set up in my office. My goal is to create a treadmill desk like this so I can walk and work at the same time. I threw some cardboard over it this afternoon to make a desk for my laptop and have been walking for over an hour now. It's surprisingly easy! I plan to get a piece of wood or acrylic to use as the desktop and to mount my monitor to the wall instead of using the laptop, but for the moment, even this simple set up is pretty effective. Plus now I don't have to bother buying a new office chair!

Best Live Acoustic Band of Orange County!

2008-03-31T20:38:00.000-07:00

We won, we won!! Woo hoo! Saturday night was the 2008 Orange County Music Awards, sort of like our local verson of the Grammys, and the Fallen Stars took home the award for "Best Live Acoustic Band." It was our third or fourth year competing (I can't remember which!) and our first win! Here's a picture of Bobbo, Gregg and me with our good friend Corvette Sandy, one of the founders of the OCMAs. She was so happy for us it was tough to tell who was more excited about us winning - us or her!

It was such a rush to hear them call our name. They played our song "Raining in Hollywood" as we made that long walk throught the crowd to take the stage and it was great seeing so many familiar faces smiling and cheering for us on the way! Bobbo and Gregg both said a few words and I for once was speechless! :) After we left the stage the other founder, Martin Brown, told the crowd that we were a great example of the spirit of the OCMAs because when we started a few years ago we weren't all that impressive, but we worked hard and improved every year and have become a really great band that everyone should go and see! Oh, and now we're eligible to perform at next year's award show too!

Anyway, it was a terrific night and I just wanted to say thank you to everyone that came out to the many semifinals and finals to support us and to the judges who put so much hard work into putting the OCMAs together every year. Thank you, thank you, thank you!

We're going to Europe!

2008-03-25T19:23:00.000-07:00

We finally bought the tickets yesterday! I was so nervous I made Bobbo sit next to me and hold my hand. :) We're going for three whole weeks and will be visiting Germany, Italy, France and England, wrapping up with a Foo Fighters concert at Wembley Stadium! So excited!!

We've got the passports and the plane tickets, so next on the list is booking places to stay. Germany is pretty much all set, since we're staying with family, but if you have any suggestions or recommendations for the other countries, please let me know!

Photoshop Disasters

2008-03-23T17:45:00.000-07:00

Photoshop Disasters

Up side - Laughing at the horrors wrought by bad photoshopping.
Down side - Questioning the reality of every photograph you see!

Not just another campaign speech

2008-03-18T17:51:00.000-07:00

By this point, you probably know that I'm supporting Barack Obama for president. Regardless of who you are supporting, I encourage everyone to watch the speech that he gave today on the issue of race. It's a response to the concerns raised about his former pastor, but it's also a candid and thought-provoking conversation about the role of race in today's society and politics, and it's worth listening to no matter what your political leanings. Don't listen to just the sound bites you hear on tv or the snippets that are quoted online. Set aside some time and really listen to the whole thing. (Look, I even posted it right here for you!) Or, if you can't find the time to watch, please read the transcript. It's well worth it.

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

2008-03-17T17:52:00.000-07:00

Here's a Muppet interpretation of an old Irish classic for you - not exactly the three tenors!

OCMA Finals for "Best Live Band!"

2008-03-16T14:20:00.000-07:00

We competed in the finals for the Orange County Music Awards last night for "Best Live Band" and it was awesome! The room was full and the energy was great going on. Bobbo called a last minute audible, swapping our opening song from "This Town" to "We Are Only Young" and we were off and running. It was a strong powerhouse set, lots of big dynamic rock. One of the highlights was the introduction of our newest song, "One, Two, Three (Thousand Miles Back to You)." We just wrote it last week and it came together great last night, very fun and upbeat.

Another highlight for me was "Ellie" and I want to share with you why. It started out the tightest we'd ever played it, it just felt really dead on. Then somehow in the solo, things got a little lost in all the swirly guitars and drifted into multiple tempos, but then the most amazing thing happened. We all simultaneously felt the shift, looked to John for the next beat, and snapped right back onto the tempo in perfect time, finishing the song as strongly as it began. It was the most seamless, amazing musical recovery I'd ever been a part of. In that moment I felt like we went from being five musicians playing in a band to one single perfectly attuned musical entity.

Maybe I shouldn't be telling you about a mistake we made while competing for "Best Live Band." But to me, being a great live band it isn't just how well we play, but how well we play together. And in that moment, we played together better than ever.

Hockey Monkey!

2008-03-12T20:51:00.000-07:00

OMG, there's a video for this song! The Zambonis are the best hockey rock band ever!

Having a good time, yeah!

Elegant Interstates

2008-03-11T22:05:00.000-07:00

I had no idea that the national interstate highway system was so elegantly put together! Look at the logical numbering systems! The patterns of odds and evens, high numbers and low! It's a transportation work of art!

Who needs alarm clocks?

2008-03-09T12:16:00.000-07:00

This is our morning, times two!

Fallen Stars Game!

2008-03-06T21:53:00.000-08:00

Check it out, I just discovered a Fallen Stars video game that you can play online! It's a fun little time killer, and addictive too. Just don't let your boss see you!