week (year) in review and the look ahead.

so yeah.

i had a killer Christmas of monumental proportions. my wife and i got to go back to North Dakota for the holidays and instead of being -45 with the windchill it has been hovering around the 32-35 degree level. great weather for this area this time of year!

my old nuclear family was at the airport to pick us up, but also there to greet us was a bunch of friends with a sign "Welcome home Rood and Reeth." Very nice. good pictures and drawings.

for Christmas my parents, brother, wife and i all hung out at home. we went to my parent's Catholic church for service and then went back home. one thing that i like about the lutheran church better is that the services have a lot more songs. i was expecting more carol's, but oh well. God is good.

after that we had a nice dinner and opened presents. i am grateful for receiving some nice new apparel, a couple movies including, the Island, Hook, Blade, the Dark Crystal, Without a Paddle, season 1 of Scrubs, and season 4 of 24. i also received the book Master and Commander by Patrick O'Brian, and the soundtrack to Narnia.

after the party and when the family went to bed i ordered the LOTR Fellowship (complete recordings), and the score to the Firefly series. i haven't had the opportunity yet to listen to more than snippets, but i plan on delving into them when i go to Fargo for my "day on the set, behind the scenes" of 1 In 9. my initial reaction to the snippets is complete satisfaction!

also, during this little trip back to the northern plains is seeing all of the friends, of which there are a few. also, i will have seen two hockey games played by my alma mater.

this weekend we are going to the lake to celebrate the new year. so i am excited with the prospect of some cross country skiing and spending long, unnecessary time in the hot tub. also i should be able to get a good listen to the Fellowship recordings.

then next week i will be working in the office until thursday when i go down to fargo to get some photos and video from behind the scenes. then i will be able to give you guys some insight into the forgotten world of Mike S.

on the 9th i will be returning home to the land of port to resume semi*-normal existence.

so to everyone have a happy new year, and use caution if you are driving on amateurs night.


*my wife and i are beginning** a better diet of fresh fruit and vegetables, and also going for walks at least twice a week and trying to hike on the weekends.

**this is not a new years resolution. if it were, it would be jinxed from the get-go.

clooney and penguins

my wife and i went to Syriana yesterday and i walked out of the theatre with confused appreciation. for me the storyline was difficult to follow, maybe because the seperate lives didn't come together until near the end. however, the difficulty for me to follow the storylines helped me solidify my interpretation of the story itself, which, i think, is that there are so many different undercurrents in how people and countries function surrounding one significant aspect of their economy. great movie. i absolutely loved how it was put together even though my thick skull had to really concentrate.

my mother and father in law gave me March of the Penguins for Christmas and i really loved it! i never would have guessed how many facets there are in the penguins life and birth. so now one of my main forms of transportation is belly sliding.

also for Christmas from my sister-in-law, i recieved the Scores for Spiderman and Corpse Bride. i haven't listened to Spiderman yet because i am obsessed with Corpse Bride. his scoring is so good for that movie, carrying the theme throughout and reallly brigning it to life for me within the orchestra. i really like Danny Elfman and his concepts for films. i want to hear his work Serenada Schizophrana.

i have been watching a lot of commentaries including LOTR. they have four commentaries per film including director/writers, design crew, production/post-production, and cast. i have completed all but the design crew. Howard Shore is one of the commentators on prod./post-prod, and he speaks a little about the inspirations and instruments he used. overall the cast is probably the most fun because of Billy Boyd, Dominic Monaghan, and Andy Serkis.

in 5 days i am flying back to North Dakota and am very excited to see my family and visit the set of 1 In 9 with my case of 20 oz. sodas...fun shall be had by all!

so if i don't post again for awhile, Merry Christmas and Happy new year to all of my friends (including fellow bloggers) and family. hopefully if everything works out i can post on what its like to be a fly on the wall during one of many days of an independent film!

Peace to you all!!!

WTF? (warning...contains vulgar language that pretty much is unavoidable!)

so after knocking over the garbage can with all those coffee grounds i go outside and notice another advent package from my mom in law (lots of goodies!) underneath that is a nice little note from the condo association that we are a part of.

the note reads basically that there are people in the association who's outside decks are suffering from dryrot. so in order to get a "good deal" from a contractor, they have to do all the decks at the same time. oh yeah, and each member in the association has to pony up 1000 dollars...1000 DOLLARS (above and beyond the already significant monthly payment) by February 1st.

what the shit is that?

don't they have any sort of little nest egg for events that aren't in the normal course of things? and what else comes with my new deck...a built in bbq, or some hot asian lady who gives tissue deep massages? i mean really...my deck doesn't have dryrot. and if it did, i wouldn't go out there...i think i've gone it once (when i was looking at it before i bought the place.)

i won't murder anyone though because if the law changes i wouldn't want to end up like any character in 1 In 9!

and all of this comes on top of my nerves about auditioning to be a freshman in a music program. comfort food is my only friend.

just when i thought i was making a dent in my school tuition with savings.

sorry about the rant, but it feels good. now i will go and watch the reuniting of all the members of Americas next top model.

much love my homies!!!!

fun for the whole family

alright friends. you probably know about this already and, like me, have s wasted a couple hours just looking at things. well if you haven't already downloaded google earth you are missing out.
it is the funnest free thing i've used in a while.

better than mapquest and a lot more aesthetically pleasing google earth is my new favorite map engine.

Grand Forks, ND...new home for physically attractive people

so, America's Next Top Model finalist is from my old hometown, Grand Forks, ND.

how do i feel about this? i really don't care.

blog wars episode IV: a new teaser

woo hoo. it is cool to see stuff on the internets. especially things i have a vested interest in.

if you will notice in the right hand column of my page there are two links to see a quicktime video of Michael's teaser for his upcoming film 1 In 9. or you can watch it by clicking here.

if you don't usually read Michael's blog but would like to read his director's notes on the trailer, click here.

so a few notes of my own from the prospective of the scorer.

-i scored the trailer using Logic Pro 7 as my sequencer. i used east west quantum leap's Symphonic Orchestra Gold edition for the stringed instrument samples.

before i saw the video Michael gave me a written sample of how he thought he was going to make the teaser. so from that i wrote a concept teaser using almost everything that is in the teaser now up to the gunshot.

when Michael got me the (almost) finished video of the trailer i sat down and wrote an entirely different theme in the violin section. however with Michael having already heard the first theme, he asked that i scrap the new for the old.

one of the most difficult things i did for the trailer was the snare. the reason being is that i have never had training in percussion...although i was 4th bass drum in UND's Drum Corps and Marching Band (we even played for the president.) but i made roughly 6 versions of different rhythms and Michael chose my 5th version. also, the snares are recorded in stereo with the first snare coming in on the right.

after the buildup to the gunshot, the low cello comes back in and takes us out to the end. early on, Mike asked me for something quick toward the end to help people forget that they've been watching the teaser for over a minute now so that is where i cam up with the glockenspiel doing the slow run who's melody was inspired by the now scrapped concept. i was concerned that because the timbre is so close to that of John Williams' (hedwig's theme) celest that it would be seen as "oh, that's harry potter." but Mike liked it so it stayed (i like it too.)

the ominous sounding pad throughout is something i created in one of Logic's plug-ins called sculpture. i think that it provides enough debasing menace to set the tone for the idea behind Mike's movie and coincidentally the teaser.

so please, after listening and watching the trailer any and all comments, concerns, thoughts, malignments are welcome.

a victim of my own designs

i posed the question to herr vogler,

"if you could only have three major works by anyone...what would they be. i know this is hard, so you can take your top ten."

so in all fairness i suppose i should list my top picks for works by any composer. most, if not all of these pieces have a very personal aesthetic quality. also, most of these would probably be good listens for anyone without the level of appreciation with which my little blog clique (Herr Vogler, Mikey, Michael, Timmay) has.
so in no particular order:


1. Verdi's Requiem. i heard this piece performed by the FMSO (...they are no Oregon Symphony Orchestra) almost at the same time in my life that i would abandon music. plus you can't beat the Tuba Mirum, or the Dies Irae.

2. Verdi's Nabucco Overture.

3. Chopin's Prelude No. 15 in D flat Major "Raindrops."

4. John Williams' Star Wars (i would consider Episodes I-VI one complete work.)

5. Howard Shore's Lord of the Rings this could ultimately be credited as the work that made me regret leaving music enough to in fact return to music.

6. Lizst's La Campanella

7. Beethoven's Ninth Symphony

8. Beethoven's Piano Sonata #14 in c sharp minor "Moonlight" the third movement is quite amazing.

9. Rene Clausen's arrangement of the 1999 Concordia Christmas concert. this my not be among great works by any means, but it was personally moving and quite satisfying to be involved with!

10. Gilbert & Sullivan's Pirate's of Penzance. you didn't see that one coming did you.


i am sure in the coming years this list will fluctuate and change as i am exposed and grow fond of more and different literature!

and as i am sure all of my blog friends will attest. ten is far too few to list the vast amounts of music that we will personally love. i know that there was no room to list any of the pieces for choir that are so dear to me.

its a bit belated...

CONGRATULATIONS to my buddy Justin Wendt and Kalynn...

A little baby girl Sonora Pamela born on Thanksgiving Day!

woohooo!

there is a first for everything.

yesterday marks the first time i went to see the Oregon Symphony.

It was a pops concert titled "Fabulous film music." they played two themes from Max Steiner. (Gone with the wind, and King Kong.) i had never before heard King Kong, and it was very cool. when you could hear the footsteps of Kong moving toward you. Kong's theme is kick ass!

they played two medleys arranged by the conductor, Jeff Tyzik, the first was the best of Bond. and the second was themes from the Magnificent 7, How the west was won, Silverado, and the Journey to Fort Sedgewick from Dances with Wolves. what's funny is that i had never before listened to the Magnificent 7 and i already knew the theme.

Of course, what would a film music concert be without works by John Williams (of which comprised most of this concert.) They played the themes from Schindler's list, Hedwig's theme (on the celest), Harry's wonderous world, the Raiders of the lost arc, the final cue from ET. also, the theme from Star Wars and the Imperial march. the most moving piece for me was Princess Leia's theme. i've heard this piece 50 times and i don't know why, but the solo violin in the last few seconds of the piece really kicked my ass. i love it!

thanksgiving was good, after i got rid of the flu. also scored Michael's trailer. i am waiting to hear back from him about what he and his producer think.

i have also begun work on a theme for a main character in the script, and also a fugue. i like counterpoint.

why am i so tired?

maybe its because i was up until 1:30 last night scoring the teaser/trailer for Michael's movie "1 In 9".
what a great time. i know i don't have very much classical training, but it is so gratifying to make up music and keep thinking of things to add or change or what direction it is going to go in, or what an instrument can represent.

as far as the trailer goes, i can't divulge much based on my not wanting to be a spoiler, but needless to say i was quite impressed with the video quality!

while scoring the trailer i got to, for the first time, use one of the many features of Logic Pro, which is having the video play simultaneously and having the SMPTE code in sync with the musical time code. obviously this feature offers countless opportunities, but needless to say, i was very less nervous scoring in time and not worrying about counting the seconds to sync manually.

i can't wait to do lots more of this in the future!

busy

alright friends. i have links on my page now so that you can go to the vids i have done. there is a new one now.
hopefully within a week the list will include a scored trailer to "A Michael Stromenger Film: 1 In 9".

when i am not working i am messing around with my software and the internet (thank God for the internet.)

so anyway, let me know what you think about the vids!

later hommies.

internet is...

it lets me do lots of things that are really fun and (illegal). like using music without permission. if you want to see what i mean, check out my video that i made with my mac. it is a really shitty quality (because of all the compression) but fun to watch. actually it could potentially be really boring. it is 4 minutes long and may take a little bit to load up (based on your connection speed.)

it is of a ski trip that a couple of my friends and i took last year. it makes me wish i was better at snowboarding.

and if you like that, then check out this other longer video that has nudity and some pretty graphic shit...literally. although the quality might actually save you some disgust. this one takes a really long time to load up because it is 22 or 28 minutes...i don't remember. but it is totally worth it...or not.

anyway. i will get back to work now!

Harry Potter 4

my favorite!
what a great movie.
i'll take deatheaters for 800 Alex.

ohhh, a daily double.




my wife says you...yeah, you, should read the books....apparently they are even better.

a new couple photo

Now that i have a beard...

i have internet at home!!! it was like verizons birthday present to me.

i waited all day yesterday so that the UPS person would leave the package that was my modem, instead of not leaving it.

while i was waiting i watched Edward Scissorhands with Danny Elfman's commentary. it was great because it only played the score and his comments.

so now that i have internet at home look out for a website (coming soon.)

i just downloaded the John Powell's score to Paycheck. i like it. he seems to use a lot more strings than in other scores. he definately has his own flavor!

i want a flavor.

peace out peeps.

the big day

i am shooting this congrats to my bro in Fla.

he is a world of warcraft junkie and is getting married (in the game) this saturday. hopefully my internet will be up and running by then so that i can go to the ceremony. i am sure it will be amazing!!! hehe.

the funny thing is, is that the woman who's character my brother's character is marrying actually lives 140 miles north of me.

what do you mean christmas is only 1 month and 10 days away?

so my wife and i are going back to North Dakota for xmas. unfortunately for her she only gets to be there for two days. because she hasn't yet been at her job for six months she doesn't get any vacation. i will be there for a little longer...around three weeks.

i have nothing else to post about...my life is getting dull.

verizon is my doppleganger

if i were in the key of a harmonic minor and i began on the dominant, what mode would i be using?

verizon...more like...

wow.
so the phone is supposed to be hooked up today...i'll believe that when i see it.
just to be safe i called them up to make sure they have my order for dsl and to check on the status of the phone.
so after having been rerouted several times and calling two more numbers i have established that they do not have an order for my dsl and that if i want it i will have to place another order. my hate and disgust for verizon is growing exponentially. i have no doubt that some other customer for them is being treated with hasty compliance and speedy delivery,,,and oh yeah...no screwups. it would only be fair...the ying to my yang. but the way i and my order have been dealt with, i fear that verizon has NO competency. now marks 120 minutes i have had the phone to my ear.

my wife, friends, and i went to Seattle this weekend and saw the Music museum with the Jimmy Hendrix display. it was relly cool to see things like that in person. it also makes you realize how small in physical size certain people are. Britney Spears and Christina Aguilerra are about the size of my 18 year old cousin. they are dwarfs. of course i am from the North, where husky humans are the norm.

so now 10 Days until internet.

who here likes...

who else loves the "Firefly" series by Joss Wheadon?

i know i do. the characters are so deep and the shows direction is one that is very intelligent. i finished watching the 14 episodes and those with commentary and i must say that i am very dissapointed that there are only 14 episodes. i haven't yet seen the movie, but i hope it is able to answer some questions left open by the very early cancellation of the show.

if anyone wants to go snowboarding, come and visit me. Mt. Hood is supposed to get 2 feet today, and Mt. Bachelor should get about the same.

i've never ridden a volcano before, but the only thing stopping me is time.

4 Days (until phone)

i'm still not an f'in customer

so 1 more week until phone and 2 until internet.
i hate verizon.

i'm not even a F#@*!^G customer

and i totally hate verizon. as i type i am on hold.
one month ago i ordered service for phone and internet. i recieved an email verifying that i submitted an order, but nothin else. so a couple weeks ago i called to see what my order status was, but i got shuffled around and then was finally told that the phone would be set up on Nov. 1.
So that was yesterday, and guess what...no phone. so now, i call in and give them my info, and the operator tells me that my info was never transferred to the dept. that handles new customers. i have a feeling that when she takes me off hold she is going to tell me she can get a service rep. over to my house in a couple of weeks. c'est la vie.

on monday i brought the trailer i used to move halfway from my old home where my company had a crew working. they can take it the rest of the way. for my drive with the trailer i got 8 mpg. which is very not nice to the wallet. however, on the way back home, i got 19 mpg at 75 mph. i like. i will be totally jazzed when i get my next car that gets 40+ mpg. when that is...who knows.

i wish i could say more, but the hold music makes my brain melt.

infinity...(at this point, the time i will have to spend in purgatory (hold.))

please don't commit me, my wife

after reading my post from yesterday, my wife said it could be a study in free association. well she didn't say exactly that, but i like to take things to beyond extreme.
so here's what i have to say to that...

Laura, my short friend, doesn't like birds. Birds fly. Ian flies in huge aircraft. he also snowboards. my friend Justin snowboards. he also wakeboards. i miss wakeboarding.
Ryan Stiles.
cats are fun. i wish i had one without the work. i ate a banana. it's a fruit. so is apple. i have an apple computer. you should buy apple stock. i told my dad to buy stock two days before it went up ten dollars per share.
You guys were right...Batman Begins is amazing.
i am not a communist. however i used to like the idea...until i was set straight.
apparently i am lacking something spiritual because i "have a hole i am trying to fill."
Holes was a good movie.

i am sorry, i have to stop.
i apologize if my writing style is hard to follow, but like Drew Barrymore's character from '50 first dates' i have no long-term memory and i have to get it all out before i forget...besides its not like i'm writing a book...i'm writing a log.
speaking of logs, i gotta run.

12 Days

not having cable is not boring never

i tried for four, but i can't compete with "Oklahoma" (the musical) where Ado Annie says, "...and there ain't never gonna be no one like him neither." I remember being in Oklahoma like it was only 6 years ago. this is where Mike Stromenger and i met, thus beginning our on again off again friendship... just kidding. not about the friendship, but about the Mike. his name is actually Michael.

so anyway, yeah...he and i (even though we haven't spent millions of hours together) have actually shared some memorable (to me) times along with some others at various times. for instance, when we were on a choir trip our friends Brian M., Kevin B(-H?), himself and i decided to break from the group on some of our off time. we went to a theatre to see Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon...and this is where we all first saw a trailer for the Movie coming soon...Lord of the rings. yeah...i was pretty awestruck because i have always been kindof a fan of fantasy...i mean, hey...i played AD&D paper and pencil. i still would...anyway.
what's funny though is i don't really remember how we got together on this movie thing. i actually am pretty happy that he is doing it, and also, of course, in the future i will never have to look back and wonder what if.

sorry, i don't mean to go off topic. but actually i do, otherwise i wouldn't...ha. so anyway, Michael shot me over a literary explanation of how he plans on having his trailer. so based on that i sat down at my computer with software i'd never used before and pounded out a 40 sec. concept for the trailer. now i await anxiously for the feedback. obviously i want some positive to be validated, but i actually want more negative and places i could improve. i like what i made, and i don't even think i used any parallel 5th's. but Michael actually has his degree in music already, so obviously he will know more than i. in fact, out of the whole little clique of bloggers that i read (herr, mikey, michael, timmay, jaques, and a random smattering of others) i have the least amount of musical training. which is okay. once i decided to go back to school, i resolved that i would completely reverse the way i think about learning and studying music.
my first two years of university was spent in one or another music program. unfortunately for myself my freshman year, i did fremshman things (and my sophomore and junior years too.) so i hardly got anything for music out of my courses and professors. i changed schools for my sophomore year and changed majors from Mus. Ed. to a B.A. in Music. again, unfortunately for me i spent more time doing things other than studying, and ultimately quit the music learning tract because of a certain professors ideals, teaching methods, and because he made the learning more work than i wanted to put into it.

so here i am now. in Beaverton Oregon living for year before i can go to school. i need to gain residence in order to save over 53,000 dollars over four years. one thing i just remembered though which i am not looking forward to is auditioning to gain admittance. i never really liked that (but who does), however if i can find a vocal coach and clear the cobwebs from these pipes, maybe they'll let me in...and one can hope for consideration of scholarship.

have a nice day my superfriends.

13 days

evil is the root of my money

my wife and i got moved in over this last weekend. it was pretty sweet! it took four people to move the upright, but including that it only took us an hour and a half to unload the trailer into our home.

we bought a pretty nice desk and it is now all set up and i got my computer set up on it. one thing that is chapping my ass though is that Verizon is so damn slow in getting us hooked up. it is still two weeks from now until our phone is set up and another business week until the internet will be flowing. so i have to leave the house to work (ha, ha how lazy have i become?)

although to fill my "i am not wathcing tv because we only have five channels" time i have installed the music software i bought onto my puter. Logic Pro 7, Reason, and EWQL Symphonic Orchestra. the samples in ewqlso are so good sounding, i almost can't believe my ears. but damn, what a learning curve.

everything is going to be good though, because about the time my internet gets up and running (hopefully dammit) Michael will be finished or close to finished with the trailer so i can begin my work. oh such fine work. i sometimes can't believe that i quit a great job with stability and security and a future full of opportunities so that i could go back to school. however i don't know if i could have lived a totally happy life always wondering, 'what if i had gone into music?'

anyway, thanks for listening, i have to go back to work now. (i hate having to share my internet time.)

20 days (until i get internet in my home)

Money is the root of my evils

hello my fellow pilgrims.
yesterday i made a downpayment on my wife's new home. it pained me a little to see the money leave our account, but i know it's for a good cause.
Now also, i am beginning to wonder how long it will be before my wife gets another job.
she got her first job as a social worker almost three weeks ago and although she likes the helping people part, the job is too difficult because of the way it is set up. she has to meet with clients for at least 5 and a half hours a day. if the one or any of the clients cancel she needs to fill that time with billable hours. what i don't understand is why her job doesn't charge cancellation or "no-show" fees...maybe because it's non-profit.
anyway, what is the deal with the phone cmopany out here. Verizon (an apparently major carrier) is damn slow. i ordered phone and internet over two weeks ago, and they said it won't be connected until early November...what up with that?

peace.

3 Days

faster than the ten minute mile

alright. a new week, so much to do.
signed papers today to purchase a home.
couldn't sleep very well wondering how i am going to move my upright piano.
getting very excited to get into my place and set up my Apple with Logic Pro 7.
ecstatic about beginning to score "One in Nine."
surprised to read about a new kind of internet.

5 Days!

halo...goodbye

i don't know what that means.

so it looks as if Microsoft will be devloping Halo the movie. directed by none other than Peter Jackson.

HALO

hell is freezing over...

...with rink ice. opening day of the NHL regular season. i love hockey. also, the mcdonald's monopoly game has started recently. i am obsessed with monopoly.

9 Days.

i live for the weekend

just spent a weekend with my parents. good times. we went shopping and my dad finally made the leap to apple. i know, i know, it is as a big a surprise to me as it was for you. i thought he would be a micro#@*% user until death, but he did it.

i don't know what exactly made him change (maybe it was Apple's iSight) but he did it. he has got me on a vicarious high. so i got an iSight as well and hopefully i will be able to install OS X Tiger on my powermac.

also, i've made the decision to sell my Canon GL-2 in order to pay for a keyboard that i need to work seamlessly with some of my music software. i am getting very restless to get into my new place. i know i've said that before, but within the next couple months i will be scoring a trailer and begin concepts for my friend's movie "One in Nine."

the weather here should start catering to my hermitish lifestyle. apparently it begins raining around here in late November. i like the rain, but i like siting in front of my computer doing music things even more.

now that Ruthie (my wife) has her new job i have lots of 'me' time...(as if i needed that, right Ruth?) but anyway.

My friend Ian is now a Pilot for Piedmont airlines, under American Airlines (i believe.) it is weird to think that only a few years ago he was searching for his calling as a lift operator at a resort in Colorado. even better though is that now that he is Captain E, he can fly everywhere, so that means this winter he and i can surf on some snowy peaked volcanoes. maybe justin can come and Jesse. Justin's a question mark though because his baby should arrive about the same time as the rain in Portland. congrats to Cletus the Fetus.

i am not sure what else to say, but i better get to work, then read the manuals for Logic Pro 7. i have two weeks of evenings to learn it before my computer gets up and running.

much love my homies!!!

11 Days.

7 is the loneliest number

my wife began her job now. she works 20 miles away, across the Columbia river and in Vancouver, WA. she is a child therapist (social worker) and putting her MSW to good use, hopefully making sure these children don't grow up to stab one another.
so now i'm lonely, except for the 6 cats that my aunt and uncle have. none of them are declawed and one of them likes to sharpen his claws on my legs.
so i sit here with the laptop on top of my lap (there are no desks) and work via the internet with my company's bidding software; headphones on listening to the film music on this computer.
also, when i'm not working i am getting things lined up for our next place, because we need a washer/dryer, microwave, couch, two desks, a dvd/cd storage shelf x 2, phone services (i think i will use vonage), internet services, no cable because it costs 47 dollars a month for basic extended, but we will get some bunny ears.
also prepping myself for my parents, who will be visiting this thursday. good times.
Peanut m & m's are very good.

18 days

dan the man

just saw the "Corpse Bride."

wonderful.

Danny Elfman strikes again. i love his music (and the harpsichord.) is it weird that i left the theatre humming the theme from Beetlejuice?

i guess that's all i have to say.

here's a scary one

i saw on a cnn ticker that the government wants to keep funding art, but if they're paying for it, they want a say.

that sounds like freedom to me. damn you Eminem, you are stirring up too much controversy. that's it, the next piece i write will be anti-something, and dammit, i won't be censored, probably because i haven't yet recieved my government commision check.

stupid hurricanes.

21 days.

so be adrenaline

biking is huge around here, but i am too scared to do it. the bike lanes share road space with actual traffic, and since i've lived here there have been quite a few bike deaths. by that i mean people on bikes getting run over or hit by people in cars.

i went to fax something from the UPS store, and on my way in there was a car/bike collision on the strip malls' street. everyone was okay, but the biker went around to the driver to bitch him out and the driver jumped out of his car and started punching the biker. almost right away some guys working at Radio Shack ran out and broke up the "one-way" fight. also almost immediately the cops were called.

what i don't understand is the hostility from the driver of the car. the dude is driving a one and a half ton piece of metal vs. maybe 250 lbs of man and bike. in a setting that is so (for lack of a better word) "granola", and people hiking, walking, kayaking, biking, why are there so many accidents?

unscripted fighting makes my blood pressure rise, so i think i will sit back and watch "Sin City". and get tickets to the local semi-pro hockey team.

24 Days

too many shows, not enough emotion

i am a very picky bastard (i am not actually a bastard, i know and love my papa.)

there are so many season premiers and shows coming out on tv, i don't know what to do with. at this moment my wife (the h.o.h. (head of household via "big brother 6)) and i are watching "surface." 15 minutes in, so no judging yet. watched "threshold" and found it a little lacking in feeling. i know its just begun, but it didn't capture my attention enought for me to continue. i am looking forward to seeing "criminal minds" on wednesday. also "my name is earl" tomorrow.
one of my favorites so far is "prison break" because according to the h.o.h., "you like tattoos." its true, i do like tattoos. i want more, but i am trying to save up for the
LOTR Soundtrack that comes out Nov. 22. times are tight. so tight i couldn't take my wife and i to the actual LOTR symphony as performed by the Oregon Symphony yesterday. i am a poor excuse for a superfan.
this last weekend our friends and us went to Oktoberfest and has some killer bratwurst and potatoes. good times.

my wife made me cut my mop today. she wanted me to tell everyone.

welcome to my friend, Mikey B.

i can't think of what else to say right now except that i like places to live that are your own.

25 Days

my wife is the "h.o.h"

as my wife watches big brother 6 i sit and daydream about my next residence.

i am such a selfish bastard...wanting to wake up in a place that is my own without smoke making me choke.

i am super stoked on our place because the master bedroom is vaulted and it is open to the living room downstairs. so in essence i could base jump to watch tv. my wife said that we could install a rope ladder. i know that in her heart she was joking, but she will wish she never said it when i do in fact install a rope ladder. about the base jumping, of course i am kidding, i don't think my chute would have time to produce enough drag for me to not break my neck. however, when i get all of the couch cushions set up; bombs away.

another benefit of having our own place is that our food situation would be set up. i think since moving out here i have gained more than one pound and less than fifteen. i think that i've had pizza at least 3 times a week, not that there's anything wrong with that. i just prefer eating healthier, and feeling better, and to be honest with you, having some solid bm's.

i am craving apple. my apple computer that is. it is boxed up in the trailer awaiting to see the light of day and the dark of my "escape hatch." what is it about apple that makes it way easier to use...and more fun. no viruses? i don't know, i'm not a doctor. what i do know is that being a mac user feels elitist somehow. come my friends, join me.

28 Days

my brother-in-law

he is in the National Guard and has recently been put on alert. his 6 years is up in March, but it doesn't matter if he's been activated. Should i worry though? Next year is the midterm elections and i believe that our government is going to start our pullout of Iraq.
also, you know what makes me sick to my stomache? people thinking that blowing themselves up to kill civilians (or anyone for that matter) is martyrdom.

also, you know what else makes me sick? Rick Santorum blaming the results of Hurricane Katrina on the National Weather Service, saying that their predicting and their warnings were not sufficient, even though the warning they issued pretty much said that life would be very very difficult for weeks after the storm for anyone who stayed.
so yeah...let's not play the blame game.

31 days (until i move into my new place)

attempts at "Gollum"

(with freind Erick H.)

reunited: my ears fall off

the wife and i are now usually within 3 miles of eachother which means we have both arrived now.
and good news, the place that we made an offer on will be ours on the 14th of Oct. (if all paperwork, etc... goes smoothly.) as to that i couldn't be happier, the place is awesome. open invitations all around, (not excluding herr vogler and mikey the pikey (even though we've never met.))


Wahkeenah Falls

the root of all evil: tempting fate 3

hello my friends. i miss you all, except for you Stephen...you can stay where you are. (Joke #1) Everything here is going very well. My wife and i have ventured downtown and gone hiking, so now that we've done everything one can do in Oregon we will move somewhere else. (Joke #2)
Actually since she's got here our house hunt has gone into major overdrive. i am not sure why but maybe it's because my (no offense to my family who we live wife, but i think it's my family) family, and my uncle that smokes. So we found a place that was cool and in a good location for 150K. We offered them 140K with the windows replaced and their realtor was insulted, no counter offer, just insulted. so we found another place the next day in a descent location and we made a full price offer of 120K. we are waiting to hear from them.
My wife has already had a job interview and everything else is going well.
one weird thing though; for those of you who went to Red River HS with me and remember Al Gundersen, i saw him on the telly this morning on "Good Morning Oregon." he was barbequeing ribs. how do i feel about it? fine. i could tell it was him from his slight lisp, and of course from his appearance.
have a great day everyone! today is supposed to be the last day the temp hits 80 in portland for the remainder of the year.

new rules and nicknames

why do i feel like i'm living under a rock? maybe its because i don't have my own place...maybe its because i live under a rock, i don't know, i'm not a doctor. what i do know is that the NHL changed some of the rules that will make for some footballesque scores...well, maybe not that crazy, but a little better than the "scoring juggernaut" games of 2 to 1. things like larger offensive zones, two line passes, goalie restrictions, tag up offsides, no line changes on the offending icers, and shootouts, it might just be enough to keep the NHL number 1 in my sports hierarchy in a close second to div. 1 college hockey (catch that?) you can check out the new rules at NHL.com courtesy of EA games. Very cool.
speaking of college hockey i wonder what will happen with the nickname rule. now that they've succumbed to Florida, will North Dakota come up with enough political clout to overturn the NCAA rule and bend them over a table while grabbing their ankles?
damn Katrina, raising gas prices. not that i drive much...but when i find some property that doesn't add 5K dollars every week i will be driving around.
Lightning in the PNW...

4 Days.

Hiking is fun!

Horsetail Falls

public or private transit

in looking for a place out here in the land of port i find one criteria steering me: relative proximity to public transit. i can look hard for places and find lots of descent places and i always check them to see how long the trip will be to downtown. i don't know if i'm okay with being on public transit for 77 minutes one way. that's over two hours a day.
i found a place that is priced at 140,000. it has 1100 sq.ft. and is very close to the light rail line. only 45 min one way to DT. however the realtor i am using says that the last townhouse in that complex sold 6 monhts ago for 120,000. i know 20,000 is a lot, but i wonder if that is where the market is. my friend Erick bought his house 15 months ago for 148,000 and already it has appraised for 185,000. my aunt and uncle bought their townhouse 10 months ago and it has increased in value 14,000.
i will wait for my wife to look at these places first hand before i put an offer on the table. but i definately do not want to miss a good deal!
the weather has been excruciatingly warm at 85+ degrees a day. it is supposed to cool down to the mid 70's this weekend which is nice. uh...i guess i don't have anymore to say right now.
i miss me wife.

8 Days.

life (the making of)

Congratulations to my friends Chad and Susan! they just completed making a baby. He is 27 or 28 (i'm not quite sure) but this is their first.
Wow. a new life. i can't wait to have a slave...i mean baby of my own, but right now i am too selfish, so i will keep practicing. My rediscovered friend Erick and his wife Trish also have a ten-month-old. people my age and their babies is foreign to me. what's even crazier to me is my friend Jayme who is my age and has a 6 year old.
i found another place and am going to look at it around 7 Pacific, but the realtor said that if i don't make an offer (if i like it) then it will be sold in the next couple of days. Crazy market.
Welcome to my newest (known) voyeur...Mrs. Perry!

9 Days

bread for the birds

hello my friends.
well...life in the big city. i have been here for a week and already i want my own place. i don't know if i'm using that as an excuse not to do stuff, but i might be. of course my wife won't arrive for another 10 days, so i am remaining for the most part, a hermit.
i have visited downtown and walked from the light rail to campus (to make sure i wouldn't have to drive into downtown every day.) it turns out campus is only about a half mile from the station, so yay for that.
i have been going crazy every day looking for a place. i want my own place so that i can unpack the trailer and just start living normally.
i found one place that was near a thoroughfare and close to the max line. i called the realtor thats helping me and she called me back later that day telling me that they had already sold the place that day. not to fear though, because it is a rowhouse...so there are like thirty of them in a row. the builder had three places left, however they raised their price $5000. about $5000 out of my budget. so anyway housing around here is damn crazy. not that its not crazy elsewhere, but i am just not used to it yet. i think it will take quite a bit of sluething to find a "dreamplace" whatever that may be.
the weather out here has been abnormally warm for this time of year. its been near ninety every day...too hot. i am not complaining though, because according to my uncle, i shouldn't have to shovel day one during the winter.
more later, and pics to come when we find a place to live.

10 Days (until the wife arrives.)

do not fret (fretless)

i arrived in a piece to the Land 'o' Port. more to follow later including stats and pictures of the trip. but for now...don't worry, i live on.

much love my peeps (the marshmellow) and to you my constant friends and fellows!

1 week MIA

i know i've built up all of you into thinking that i would be leaving for the PNW tomorrow, but i must inform you all that i have added 7 days.

Reason: ear infection combined with flu like symptoms. i can't hear a damn thing out of my right ear. the doctor says that my ear canal is swollen shut. blood leaking out...migraines...it sucks. this is the first time anything like this has ever happened to me.

i decided that i didn't want to be driving over mountains where pressure changes might affect my head and its ability to do headlike things.

so the new countdown begins:
7 Days.

mountain men like beards?

i am getting really pumped now. it still hasn't come to fruition in my mind that i am actually leaving the land i have spent 24 years on and forging my own "Oregon trail." (who else loved that game besides me?)

funny story: the day our contract with the realtor expired we recieved an offer on our house, but remember, we already found someone to fill our need...so i got to deny that buyer. (thanks for taking so damn long!)

i think in loading the trailer, we may have buried the dvd box in the front...that means that i will be stuck without LOTR until we find our own place. i think i can handle that, but then again, i always did want to be a postman. (the good kind, not the Kevin Costner kind...even though i do like that movie because of its scope, i just don't care much for the actor.) so anyway...i am kind of sad that there will be no LOTR for me. i really had my hopes set on watching it with all of the different commentaries. i am not sure but i think that there are 2 or 3 commentaries...which would equal roughly 36 hours of movie time. oh well, i guess i will just have to wait for the rainy season.

one thing that i just started contemplating is that i could maybe start school in the winter quarter. that's after i put my feelers out there to see how thoroughly they check for residency status. i hope that i can start in Jan...less time waiting.

to make the trip out i am modifying my work truck with air springs (to haul a heavier load) and an electronic trailer braking system (to haul heavier loads down mountains.) (i wouldn't have to modify if the truck weren't so weak and chevy had built it on a truck chassis instead of on a blazer chassis.) so it will either help me with the trailer and i will make it to Portland by a week from now...or it won't help and i will die at the bottom of a ravine in the rocky mountains. i am kinda shootin' for the former.

4 Days.

the trailer is too heavy

we got pretty much everything loaded...so my wife is happy (most important thing.) what's funny though is that when we began loading the trailer we tetris'd everything in...so we actually have quite a bit of room toward the back of the trailer. this makes the front of the trailer very heavy and puts my truck in a perpetual state of wheelie. whats very cool though, is my parents are giving us their upright piano. not only is it cool because its a, you know...piano, but also, hopefully it will be enough ballast to counterweight the trailer. now that the packing is done we will have to fill our time with hanging with friends. and my mom, because its her birthday on Monday.

5 Days.

trading happiness for craziness

today begins our journey of materialized dreams...to phrase that in terms that i would use, we are packing like mofos and something is finally happening. tonight we are having a pizza/packing party to load our tiny ass trailer. i am afraid that we are going to have to leave behind quite a few things. this notion makes my wife crazy, and thus, in turn, makes me crazy. i would rather leave some stuff behind and not rent a u-haul. this would save us quite a bit of money to put toward furniture to replace that which we will have to leave.

after we are all packed we will be staying at my parents place for a week. i will be without my mac. my wife will be without her personal space.

it wasn't until two days ago that i started to realize that we are moving far away from everything we know. for my whole life i have lived within 80 miles of my parents...so this is going to be a big change for me. it will be nice though, because it will be like Ruth and I are pioneering our own lives now, free of strings and other stuff that...you know.

i like adventures. this will be a major one me thinks. i wonder what my wife will be willing to part with?

7 Days.

the rebound pope

i know its a little late, but last night Luke and i had a goo four hour conversation on everything from AA to religion to politics to religion to styles of management to politics. we are going to continue our conversations on the way to my familys cabin this evening...(in an alabaman drawl)cause i can't get enough of that there reason and intelligent thought.

when my wife joined us in our discussions we talked a little about the pope and how he is a hardcore MF. she said that he is a rebound pope because probobly no one, even someone who would be a good pope, could follow Pope John Paul as he was so revered...and i suppose still is. she related her thought with a little story when a professor or teacher is somewhere for any great amount of time and makes a good name for themselves, it is almost always hard to follow that teacher. so what do you do? you put in a rebound teacher that the kids can all direct their hate towards, and when that person is removed then you can put in someone who can begin to build on nothing. (i have a direct correlation for anyone who attended the UND music dept after Dr. Rodde left. Mcmane (splinter) took the brunt of hate. after she left i wasn't in the dept but i heard that even the next guy didn't make it either...but that may have been based on how poor of a teacher he was...mike?)

anyhow, pope benedict XVI is a rebound pope. thats why he is so old, so that he can die and catholics won't have to live under his crazy ass ultra conservative dictates for any significant amount of time. however...this is where God brings back people living 300+ years. so take that catholics and organized religion.

10 days with a packing party on monday at 6:00 PM (free pizza and soda)

to move or not to move

well, getting closer to the day i move. losing more sleep every night worrying about what won't fit into the trailer...hopefully everything that i want (my Mac G5, my guitar, my bed, my tv, lord of the rings (cast, crew, special features...in DVD format) and my books.) if not i will probably drive with so much rage that...naw, those things will fit...so hopefully i can fit in everything my wife wants!!! this will make my existance and our relationship just a little more lubricated. in the next few days i will be recieving some much craved software a 15 GB program of orchestral samples, and Reason 3. so hopefully that will fit in the trailer as well, so that when i arrive in Portland, OR i will have something to do besides finding a place to live, and working.

Recently Herr Vogler, Mike, and i (is this one too much?) have been having discussions on music and life (our lives with music.) i have just recieved a couple questions from Herr Vogler in response to similar questions i asked him.

"1) who's your favorite film composer and 2) what have you written so far?"

My favorite film composer right this second is Howard Shore thanks in no small part to his LOTR composition (which inspired me to go back to music...more on that to follow.) i also love John Williams, John Powell, Thomas Newman. and for bonus, i absolutely detest Randy Newman (i think i spelled his name wrong...i don't want to wast time fact checking on him.)

and so far i have written a 30 page piece for string quartet. i have written nothing for film as of yet. i also have written quite a few pop tunes.

when i quit the music program in 2001...i QUIT music. i have always been very selfish with my time...so when i was going to school for music as a freshman and sophomore you might imagine how much time i spent actually studying the material. i was a very poor student then. because of my composition professor i became quite jaded and despondent. i threw myself into my next major (Urban planning and human geography...which i still love.) i didn't even leave time for myself to make music my hobby. after a few years i began to realize the mistake i made by not staying in music. i was also way to chicken shit to commit myself to going back (for fear of disappointing my father to whom i had committed to in taking over the family business...railroad contracting.)

there were certain things that i couldn't do because it would cause my insides to begin the battle. i couldn't go to musicals or see choirs perform, and there were even movies that i wouldn't watch because i would become depressed and regretful of the decision that i had made. i couldn't watch LOTR because i knew that the music was inspirational to me. (listen and watch the scene in fellowship where Gandalf falls from the bridge of Khazad Dum, you may identify with me...it's beautiful!)

i really owe more than i know to my wife (not only for all of the "normal" things) because if not for her and her insatiable lust for not living in North Dakota i probably never would have thought to leave my job and pursue other means of living. thusly have i decided to go back to school. also, it was a friend of mine (Luke) who brought to the light the fact that you can write music anywhere...so if there was a place you wanted to live you could...and still write music.

so anyway, the reason my composition portfolio is not bursting at the seams may be attributed to my hard (or thick) headedness. i wouldn't touch anything music or music related. now however when i reattend school for music 100% of my time will be spent with music whether for study, or for filling my free time. if i can find a contact to make achievements of composing for film i will, if not i wouldalso like being a professor of music. (so if Media Ventures II makes it, Herr Vogler, i would definately be willing to be your bitch (2nd to my wife's bitch.))

much love my peeps!

11 Days.

nerves

yeah...so as the date when i move draws nigher (i know its not a word, but its fun to say) i get a little more nervous about everything fitting in the pickup and trailer. so if anyone wants to buy a drum set...

i am seriously getting really stoked to move though. i should concentrate on my work, but i can't help romanticizing my near future. a couple days of driving, get set up in my aunts house, do some work, look for a place to buy and live, buy a place, get set up...go hiking...make music...work...make music.

i have been finding really good deals on software to create my own home composition studio. a nice orchestral sample package...because i like the sounds.

i can't think of anything else to say really...except that i like the fact that i am retaining my railroad job from a remote location (wage, vehicle, benefits.) hopefully i will be able to find a dopeshow property that we can afford.

13 days.

the day the music...died

it was a snowy day, hevily overcast and not a ray of sunshine (hope) in sight. the year was 2001 and my music composition professor was very upset with myself and three of my classmates (the class was 4 people large.) we were obviously getting the assignment wrong, when he said write a piece for piano at least 30 minutes long, of course he meant a piece using only three notes (the 1, 3, and 7.) we got it wrong big time. the rest of the class that day was spent arguing the value of tonal vs. tone rows.

needless to say i took it really well and changed majors (for many reasons, but the professors beliefs not helping.) ever since leaving the music dept. and world i have regretted it. thus, i have decided to go back to school for music with the complete understanding that a professors teachings and a whole era of music are to be soaked in and not ignored or fought against.

i posted a response to herr vogler's Jerry Goldsmith post which reads, "why won't academic types lighten up on atonal? what am i missing about it that makes me NOT appreciate it? to me its more mathematics than music. also, i know i have a LOT to learn (including Schoenberg)...but help me connect the dots."

to which he responded with,"To me the biggest problem is that too many people emphasize the compositional means rather than the end. in the end the music is the only thing that matters. I very much consider myself an academic and there is much to be learned from the music of Schoenberg, Berg and Webern. But it has to appreciated first or else you'll never be able to learn from it. Also, as a composer, it's something that you absolutely should learn how to do regardless of whether you ever use it. To this end the greatest asset of any film composer is their ability to be flexible and speak as many musical languages as possible. Atonal music isn't about mathematics. Or at least it shouldn't be."

Very eloquent. in my time away from music school i have come to realize through other professors and music students that even though there may be something i do not like, understanding how and knowing what it means will only help me and my abilities to improve.

if you love something as much as i do, don't change because there is something there you don't like. grin and bear it.

primal rage (the feeling, not the game)

why do i get crazy when i'm driving and someone cuts me off or worse...drives slower than the speed limit. i know i should be more relaxed and not in such a hurry. i also know that it is illegal to run people off the road or anything else associated with that...but dammit, i want to so bad.

i get irked when semi truck drivers don't look in their mirrors and just pull out to pass when you are in fact passing them. you know those anti road rage bill boards up all over..."smile", or "be greatful", well when my uncle and i were driving by one of those signs a while ago and he wasn't in a good mood "fuck you" is all i heard before succumbing to a bout of laughter. i wonder if those billboards are working for the public. i don't think they are working in L.A. county. my friend Ian reports that they have had a pretty good string of highway shootings to which i say, "fuck that". i think i can calm down enough to not get shot. "smile"...probobly not, "be greatful", every day of my life!

17 days.

update: tempting fate

so far everything is still good. i think this time to keep it good i am not going to divulge the information about the pet cemetery. the person who buying my house is a friend of my dads. he has begun moving stuff into the garage already (which is good...a little solidification.)

i have also received approval from my aunt, who lives in Portland, to live in one of her three bedrooms. this will give me an opportunity to save my money for a down-payment on a property out there.

one thing though, my wife and i won't be moving out there at the same time. i will be leaving on the morning of the 9th of August, at which time she will be driving to "spamtown" Austin, MN to hang out with her parents and visiting sister until Sep. 1st. it would have been fun to share this experience with her, but now we won't have to stop every 200 miles for a bathroom break. i don't plan on stopping for any bathroom breaks. if i can't wait until i get gas, a bottle will have to do.

Sports Night is a great show (thanks Luke.)

my friend Ian is participating in an interview to work as a pilot for a Las Vegas airline today. i asked him if he was going to stop off at the mustang ranch and he said that he wasn't because there was a prosti in the lobby of the casino/hotel he was at. after his interview he will be flying to Maryland to train at another airline (piedmont). to think, my friend Ian is going to be a pilot for a "major" airline...they grow up so fast. what happened to you Ian? you used to be not so responsible and spirited. what caused the change from juvenile delinquent to student body president and beyond?

Mike...i am ready for a second draft!

tempting fate, the return of:

lets see if i can do this again.

we sold our house.

okay, now to wait for the call that says the deal fell through. i found a friend through my dad to buy it...and i am getting out of my realty contract so that i can save a chunk of change.
the current plan is to move to portland and live in my aunts townhouse with her and my uncle, or live in my other uncles apt. above his garage. basically to look for a place and get to know the area a little better than if we had just taken a two day trip out there.
i don't know what i will do for work though. my plan is to live there for a year to gain residency then go to portland state to learn things that i only half know now, and to play the piano well (and not only by ear.) in that year i will either get a job there doing lord knows what for probobly not much more than minimum wage, or, i'll maintain a job with the railroad company i work for now to help them expand an office to the PNW. (the latter is my preference (because i would get to keep using their vehicle, and a steady (lesser than now)income.)) too many parenthasis.

more than anything i can think in a close tie to hiking and living in the PNW i am more excited to park my butt on our couch in the PNW to watch the complete LOTR. a blissful 12-13 hours of...well...bliss. a truly bedsore creating event!

an all time low

my grandparents have two german shepherds. a two year old (skyye), and a seven year old (danny boy.) both dogs are Iowa search and rescue dogs, danny being certified, while skyye has a couple years of training left. danny is the biggest dog in the club, and most likely the biggest german shepard in Iowa. they get called out at least once every two weeks to help assist in tracking criminals, missing people, or victims.

the sheriff in their counties only has to threaten a criminal that is hiding to "get danny". danny has quite a reputation in the papers and does at least one parade a month. my grandpa says that danny doesn't like water and won't go near it given the choice. but every once in a while they will be called out to locate a drowning victim.

when they were in a boat recently looking for a drowning victim making their courses over the lake, danny, at one point nearly jumped out of the boat. when they searched that area in the water, they did find the person that had drowned two days earlier. danny also has an uncanny sense of humanity. as an example after they were done searching for this person and were back on shore danny approached a man standing on the beach and sat down next to him putting his head under the man's hand. coincidentally the man happened to be the father of the boy that had drowned. this isn't the first time that danny has "offered his condolences."

danny and my grandpa are quite a pair!

most recently they went searching for a missing girl from a farmstead. they started by the door and danny followed her scent to the road and stopped. they made him keep searching around the farm and surrounding fields with never a hit like the first one. a few days later my grandpa was with us celebrating the 4th of july. when he was explaining the story to us he looked up and said, "you know, i think she was abducted." when he returned home from the fourth the police found the little girl's body in a mess of blood ditch far away from her home.

why do little people entice people to do what they do? what punishment could equal what theses sick people do to these kids? it seems like recently there have been a multitude of similar cases to this one. what is going on in our society that this is a problem? i understand that the country is smaller because of the media, but it just seems like this is getting crazy.

whenever our family is together and the dogs are there, my grandpa has us hide and the dogs will search for us. he says that it improves the morale and attitude of the dogs to find live people.

now that you know this you will be surprised to learn that one of P.E.T.A.'s goals is that no animal is a pet. they want all animals to be wild even going so far as to hurt other people to release or protect animals. i understand that animals shouldn't be used to test things on, but in a way it is to preserve the humans...damn dirty humans. but do animals have feelings? YES...that is why i prefaced this with my grandpa's dogs. don't test or maliciously hurt animals.

to sum up...i don't like people that hurt others, especially little children. nor do i like people that hurt other people for animals. i do like dogs though...moreso, i love the ones that help us.

the body man

everyone is talking, and posting, and blogging about karl rove...so what's one more.
i heard rush limbaugh talking about the judicial nominations and about how Bush is going to make a decision based upon how he wants his legacy to play out.
i think i know a legacy that his administration has already established. adding another peg to that board is the rove debacle. no i think this is pretty much a disaster. wait...catastrophe.

we are so lucky to have our government, and our way of life. what we are not fortunate to have is people being able to put other people in danger. Knowingly or not, rove knew about her. whether or not he knowingly exposed her, he knew. that's where we messed up. when someone like rove is able to be so close to such a high post as the President, and have so much say as an advisor...that's where we messed up. unfortunately the person that appoints those people are no better. so are we any better? thank God for 4 year, and 2 term limits!!!

Here's one way to begin changing the legacy that already exists...fire rove. keep your own words. don't hide behind a situation you created to wait until the manipulated outcome arrives. show your people you CAN do the right thing.

Where does the country go from here? Barack Obama in 2008.

finally

after what seems like almost an eternity, the NHL has reached a deal. apparantly they will ratify the deal next week to go forward with a six year player's contract, salary caps and all. with a scaled back draft next month, training to begin in september, and games to begin in october, life can finally return to normal.

Shit...i don't have cable anymore.

Apparantly a few week's ago Jeremy Roenick made some "anti-fan" comments that were taken out of context. Fans were blaming the players for being too spoiled and selfish to actually make any deal the NHL offered be good enough. Although i agree that getting paid a lot of money can sometimes make me wonder if greed isn't a large part of the game...but hey, if people are willing to pay for the tickets to go to the games then who is to blame? i would agree that college hockey is all heart (they aren't getting paid aside from the scholarships), but unfortunately there isn't a hockey game on at almost any given night of the week.

i will tell you one thing, American fans barely compare to Canadian fans as far as the sport of hockey goes. i was privelleged enough to attend the 2005 world juniors and there were times when i felt embarassed. American fans seemed very lackadaisical. it was easy to lead cheers but hard to sustain them when no one would join your chorus. Thank goodness for our egos USA didn't make it to the championship game where Canada had. we would have been cheered right out of the arena.

anyways, at least we can rest easy again and stay up until nearly midnight to watch those great espn double headers. except for me who can only read the results. it's okay though...i will be busy scoring for mike's weekly public access show in Seattle (time to come up with a weekly show mike!).

trying not to bend over too much

in an effort to keep paying our mortgage and to prevent our wallets from being raped by the cable company, my wife and i no longer have cable television. Good riddance...except for you seinfeld, csi, west wing, history channel, family guy, and the final days of le tour de france.
i don't mind not having cable because we have enough movies and books to last us quite a while...plus, we have the added saving of around 30 dollars a month. i am also trying to sell one of our tv's (in exchange for some music software...maybe reason 3.0 or something else that will tide me over.)
i wonder if i could get rid of cable internet. i don't think i could because anti-dialup is a pillar of my platform...oh yeah, and my wife needs it to look for jobs and stuff. i am also not a strong advocate for single income homes. but whatever it will happen someday (around the same time i re-enter the "student lifestyle."
has anyone read Bruce Campbell's new book "Make Love the Bruce Campbell way"? i want to read it, but it isn't worth 25 dollars to me. you know what is though...food.

i wonder what life would be like with two incomes...according to my wife, it would only mean more saving.
thankfully my employer provides me with a vehicle and fuel...and healthcare, and a good salary, and...why am i going back to school?
oh yeah...so i can be happy.
is it possible to be happy poor? i don't know. i hope so. i wanna grow up to be a poor doctor (prof. of music comp) unless film friends let me parasite my way to a good living (preferable to me.)

conceding defeat

i will now take this opportunity to tally the votes made in response to my post "freebeard" in which the fate of my beard hung in the balance.
What is interesting to me is that only two people actually said no, but they didn't vote that way.


Votes:

Yea---3
Nay---0
People who had my wife's back and thusly voted Nay---8

Thank you for taking the time out of your busy schedules.
so now according to the dictates set forth by P. Diddy, you are now all immortal for having voted. Congratulations.

shooting the moon and other non-living things

i am at my families cabin now. i don't like dial-up internet (sorry mike).
i can make do, but only because i am a good "maker-doer." i am getting really frustrated on the inside that my house isn't selling, but at least...nothing. there is no bright side to this. oh yeah, more time living in close proximity to my family.
i am excited to sell it though because when i do, i will have some "throw around money" that i will use to buy some music software. I am kind of limited right now in my writing and held back by only being able to use garage band and its provided samples. how am i to write for a solo violin when the only provided sound is all string chairs?
i picked up an "Electronic Musician" magazine that said affordable set-ups. upon purchasing mike and i noticed that the "affordable" set-ups begin at around five thousand dollars...dammit. so maybe i will just get Logic Pro 7 and some other stuff after i do more research.
will these things ever pay for themselves? does it matter? i think not. it doesn't matter as long as i am having fun living off my wife! eh.
i wonder if my new town will have sperm clinics. this way i can get money for good feelings to support my dirty music habits. i feel no reservations about that as long as the kids come looking for me. that might be weird inspiration.
Geese suck. they like rocks though. so, i think i will give them some (from a distance.)

props for my town

Al Franken knows about my town...

"WHAT ENVIRONMENTAL LAWS HURTING THE ECONOMY? With the President pledging to never enact a Kyoto-type environmental law because it would hypothetically wreck the economy, one need not look further than Portland, Oregon to find a real-life example where reducing greenhouse emissions bettered business." -- taken from www.ofrankenfactor.com.

Also, good planning and good use of resources will lead to a good environment.
Come to Portland, OR and breathe easy. Much love my peeps.

i.d. thievery

is not cool. i got an email from "paypal" stating that a new authorized email was added to my account. without thinking, i clicked on the link provided in that same email to correct the situation. to veryify that i was the correct user they had questions about my credit card. wow, to think how irrational i was...that was crazy. i went back to the email and clicked the link again to see what email address came up...and it didn't even say paypal in it. if i had taken two seconds and calmed down my brain...
i have cancelled the card in question and also changed my password to two accounts i have.
i just pray that i was quick enough on the draw, and that "my ship will no be scuttled."

please friends...DON'T GET SCAMMED!!!

so Ruth, when you try to use our visa debit card...it won't work. sorry.

the first step towards...

Can i believe that God created evolution and intelligent design? is that allowed? why can't both exist. why do we care? is studying either theory going to preserve us in any way?why can't these things coexist?

i don't know.

what i do know is that one day we won't be here (unless the gene scientists are allowed to do their jobs well).

it's like the age-old question, destiny or free-will? i think that if destiny exists then there would be no hell (based on God existing). the reason for this being that God would not want us to go to hell, so why would he destin anyone to go there? i do not believe these two choices could coexist.

also, since you have the choice, why would you choose not to believe in God? does believeing in God hurt you or hold you back in any way? i suppose it could hold you back if you were living you life trying to not do the right thing (except of course for those people who think the right thing is to "kill" others...thus the paradox.) does your brain hurt? sorry.

i am waiting for the other shoe to drop...my dad or my friend bruce (staunch conservatives (money will do that)) to read my blog and fire me, or punch me. oh well, life continues at our own risk.

itchy trigger finger

thank you, Anne, for the correction. you are right...Al Franken is "contemplating" a run against Norm Coleman for a seat on the U.S. Senate in 2008.
shows you how excited i am that he will be considering this. i also heard him make reference to himself running in the 2008 elections on "The Al Franken Show" on Air America.

coca-cola zero (worth it)

what a great weekend. relaxing. it didn't even feel to me really as if things in my life were actually happening. my mind wasn't going crazy...so the committee (in my head) must have gone on vacation as well. the water was nice, and i had a great time wasting our planet's natural resources with our boat.
watched Die Hard (the first one) and noticed the never ending theme of Ode To Joy. it was hard to watch because it was on TNT; thus it was edited. also this weekend i watched part of Saving Private Ryan on TNT and it was not edited. i couldn't believe my ears when they said fuck. it makes me wonder if they are going to get a fine from the FCC. don't get me wrong, i would prefer that the movies not be edited, but it is just kind of shocking to hear it when i grew up with a different idea in my head.
i read a report about the FBI cracking down and making more arrests of copywrite "pirates" and i wondered if they had been doing so well on the terrorism end of the spectrum that they had time to go after the real threat...pirates.
i myself being a pirate and also not liking Osama Bin Laden would prefer them to go in the other direction.
Al Franken is great and i wish he were running for governor of Washington instead of Minnesota in 2008 so i could vote for him. for all of you living in Minnesota in 2008 with good memories...vote for Al Franken.

freebeard

Apparently contrary to popular belief, chicks do not dig beards...well, at least the only chick that matters to me, my wife, doesn't.
so i have decided to conduct an informal poll. use the comments section to vote whether or not to keep the beard. after a weeks time i will tally the votes.

Writing now in hindsight with this day almost behind us, i regret writing my former submission entitled "tempting fate"...for it seems that i have in essence tempted fate. We have recieved no offer on our home...and also it seems that Cold Stone Creamery ice cream is actually bad for you. approximately 1100 calories in my fav...coffee lovers only. oh well life goes on, and every day we live brings us closer to the next ice age so why not have a little meat on our bones (my sympathy to you Anne (fackin Bakken boobs 'n bones) for you have no meat.

don't forget to "VOTE OR DIE".

tempting fate

i didn't want to write this yesterday because i didn't want to tempt fate, but my realtor said we should be getting an offer on our house today. i don't think it will be for what we want so we will have to negotiate. apparantly the offer is from our neighbor across the street (weird) who fell in love with our house. one of our realtor's partners knew that they were looking for a house so went over there and knocked on their door. i kinda think they just wanted to see inside...to see if the pet cemetery actually has any effect.
if you still haven't seen my house since yesterday i think you can check it out here. Unfortunately the link doesn't go directly to the house so if you are feeling like an adventure...the MLS# is 05-302.

i have included (for ease of use) links to my friends' blogs on the right side of this screen. Amelia and Mike. congrats on the blog mike...it will be like your "Rebel Without a Crew".

my house is a frickin sweet place...so why won't anyone buy it?

uhhh...its been on the market for a good four months now.
no offers, not many lookers even. i need to be living in wash by sep 1st...so the selling deadline for me is the first of august.
its funny because my realtor says that everyone that goes through says the house is beautiful. apparently people don't think so...otherwise, you know, my wallet would be harder to sit on.
i guess in hidsight i shouldn't have moved into a state with such high personal income tax...or maybe i just shouldn't have built my house on a pet cemetery.
if you have never seen my house...you may not see it. i am thinking of burning it down and collecting the insurance. then again, i don't like fire and i wouldn't want to burn my computer.
do i switch realtors or what. if you want to buy my house talk to Patsy at coldwell banker.

time to blog (starring Samuel L Jackson)

okay here's the thing...i drive and talk on my cell phone all the time. i don't understand how they won't allow that, but instead allow a "hands-free" headset. i don't think the problem is your hands...i think its your brain. when i am on my cell phone in my car my brain isn't driving, it's talking.
enough of that.
i just got two of my wisdom teeth pulled 5 days ago and i am starting to feel better. when they put me under i could feel them move my head and pull my teeth. an interesting feeling while under. my favorite part of having my teeth pulled is that i got out of work for two days. my least favorite part of having my teeth pulled is now i have TWO (more) HOLES IN MY HEAD.

my friends

here is a shout out to those who will most likely be reading this shi-ite in the future.

Ian---someday you and i will fly somewhere that we couldn't walk to within a day.

Michael S.---you and i are going to do lots of post-production work on your films.

Erick---i am moving to live closer to you where we will revive Tougher Than Fred Savage, our band.

Laura---my operation buddy...shorter than me but with more spunk.

Mikey B.---my minneapolis buddy who will soon have controlling interest of my favorite chain...best buy.

Cody---my brother who is now a floridian. if you need shark protection...he's your man!

Paul---lives in colorado and wants to work for the FBI. thats cool, but...don't get killed.

Justin W---moving to florida too...helps me with problems...going to have a kid named cletus.

Tommy C---living and dreaming in LA. i hope he makes it so that i won't have to work so hard when i try.

Sarah P---sorry dude, but we aren't moving to iowa anymore. ruth still thinks you're hot though.

Sarah H---Teacher. i see her once a year and we always talk about the good old days. i love those good old days!

Fackin Bakken Boobs 'n Bones---how's it going in the south. you're ladies miss you!

Steph ---i wish that we were still going to live in the same town...but i guess i will have to survive without Rossie.

Amy Jo---graduated from art school. making shirts and drawing and stuff. waiting for her husband to graduate a doctor so she can go into creative retirement.

Jake---banking hardcore. back in school for his masters. one day he will audit me and say, "no."

Lincoln---knows that he wants to be a nurse...but still lives with his dad and doesn't go to school.

Amelia---my inspiration to type words into this machine...looking down so that we may constantly strive. i miss your hairy legs.

Jesse---moving to Indiana so he can fly to where i will live to go snowboarding and make wonderful movies.

Kevin---my MAC friend. inspires me to spend more than i have to get things i don't need, but want really bad.

Lips and Tips---i will definately miss whatever it is that we have...i can't wait till you move to the PNW too!

LuuuuuKE---helped me to see the light coming from the left!!! WEST WING forever friend!

Skip - where are you?

Eric E ---what are you doing in california? are you going to rejoin TTFS and produce our album?

Cargile---dude...married and a kid. nice. i think a texan...so don't mess with him. Remember the towels?

Katie H-B---married my mac friend. her hair is really cool right now.

Giz---your huge hair and personality are missed. did i hear wedding bells?

Kelli---moving to New York...wow...i want you to make it as a designer so that when i am nominated for a grammy, or an academy award, or you know, just for lounging, you can design me an outfit.

meegs---banker extrodinaire. i havn't seen you for ever...plus today.

A.J.---should i call thee captain? boat cruise dancer. i always knew you'd be a hot dancer.

Darcy---my old roomie. we kissed on stage.

Jenni D---my asian friend and future scientist...saving civilization one test tube at a time.

Abby---i havn't seen her since graduation '99. still breaking webbies heart i presume. doing well i'm sure.

Orbs---the world is changing.

Sister---i tricked my bro-in-law into thinking we would move down to AZ. sorry...i am a jerk.

Dot---you son of a peach. or daughter...what are you up to?

Ande Poehls---i watched you burn your happy place with methane gas.

i know there's more...but i have to commit to my BM!

my hearts path

so anyway...to make four words into a story...
when my wife graduated from UND with a master's of social work and couldn't find a job here in the great cities of north dakota, i decided to take it as an opportunity to ruin my dads plans for me.
my dad had visions of me going into the family company to take it over and buy him out...well, truth be told i did too until i remembered how much i loved school.
i have decided to go back to school for music composition and film scoring.
first i applied and auditioned at U of M Twin Cities...after they said not this year then i went on down to ISU where an old prof. of mine does his thing Dr. James Rodde. i auditioned there and was accepted. being accepted makes my ego go yay.
after my wife, Ruth, and i decided that we were going to move to ankeny, ia...i decided i would rather live in the Pacific North West.
so now ruth and i are going to move there when our house sells (more on that later).
the four words being i'm going into music...or railroad's not for me...or sharks can bite hard.