Where My Bed Is

Last night I found myself talking about other places I've lived, which isn't uncommon. Someone was talking about a job he applied for and how he had to write down all the places he'd lived over the past seven years. That got my mind working on this little exercise I find myself performing occasionally. How many residences have I had in my life? I used the following criteria:

a) must have lived there a month or longer
b) must have paid rent or was a dependent

No need for specific addresses, the street name is enough to keep everything straight. The identical entries are not typos but a different residence on that street.

1. 5th st, Pearl Harbor, HI
2. ???, Eau Claire, WI
3. Fontaine Circle, Madison, WI
4. Brandon Rd, Madison, WI
5. W Dayton St, Madison, WI
6. Old University Ave, Madison, WI
7. Old University Ave, Madison, WI
8. W Mifflin St, Madison, WI
9. Semoran Hwy, Winter Park, FL
10. St Ives Rd, North Charleston, SC
11. Suisse Chalet, Groton, CT
12. BOQ, Pearl Harbor, HI
13. Kahoaloha Ln, Honolulu, HI
14. Colerain Rd, St Marys, GA
15. Moeckel Ln, St Marys, GA
16. Lancaster St, Jacksonville, FL
17. Sherman Ter, Madison, WI
18. Brooks St, Madison, WI
19. Sherman Ter, Madison, WI
20. Hwy 7, St Louis Park, MN
21. James Ave, Minneapolis, MN
22. Enfield Rd, Austin, TX
23. Treadwell St, Austin, TX

So I guess that's an average of a little under a year and a half per residence. Can you beat it?

Household Challenges

This afternoon I find myself reminiscing about some household projects that were annoying yet enjoyable on some level, I guess for the challenge of it. Like last summer, when to combat the ant problem in my bathroom I relentlessly would follow the ant trail to and from the traps and seal the choke points with caulk (rather than just let the traps do the job). After weeks of patience, I was eventually successful. Or, when I lived in Hawaii, how I had a wall unit AC that would drip into a bucket on the lanai. I'd rather have left in on all day, but I'd have to shut it off when I went to work or the bucket would overflow and bother the neighbor below. My attempts at directing the water off the lanai were unsuccessful. Funny, it doesn't sound so hard now. I'd have just needed a short length of hose, right? I guess I never made it out to the Home Depot for that one.

As I let my mind wander, I'm remembering how I used to take my full sized keyboard on board the submarine when we deployed. It's heavy and big, so it was a pain in the ass to move around. I am glad I had it along though. Before finally finding a good storage spot between the periscope wells, I stored it in my bed, which didn't have much room to begin with. Storing stuff on my bed is a habit I still have, unfortunately. If you've seen my bed, you know what I'm talking about—but at least there's more room now.

Who's That Girl?

Today turned out to be a stressful day. But since I don't want to think about that right now, here is a note on something completely different. I'm sitting here listening to Yahoo's LAUNCHcast Radio (remind me to blog about THAT later), and "Silver Street" by Ben Folds just came on. I know this is the live version I'm listening to, but not because of the normal identifying cues (audience noise, live recording quality, etc), but because it's in tune with my keyboard. The "demo" version (the only other version I know of, as this was never released on a studio album) is about 50 cents sharp.

I digress. The reason I bring this up at all is that this song is on the "Ben Folds Live" CD. Several years ago--maybe 1997, maybe 1998--I turned my sister on to this band. So, one could claim it's all because of me that my sister is on the cover of the Ben Folds Live CD. That's her face between the two bright middle fingers at the bottom right and the two darker (and farther away) middle fingers at bottom center. At least we all think so.

Syttende Mai!

Syttende Mai! Syttende Mai! Apparently my good friend, so proud of his Norwegian hertiage, doesn't think it significant enough to blog on this 17th of May, the anniversary of Norway's independence. Being of similar ancestry, I will instead! Yay! The kids can have all the sausages they want! Everyone raise a Aass Bock to celebrate our independence from our oppressive Swedish rulers!

PAin in the neck

The power of my new PA system is overwhelming! Believe it or not, last night I pulled a muscle in my neck singing into it.

Big Noise

Yesterday before I bought it I thought about writing an entry justifying the purchase. I had a fairly long list, and it all made sense. I didn't end up writing that entry, and don't really feel I need to now--because I used my purchase last night and have no regrets!

But just for fun, here is a short list of justifications:

1. What I had was not capable of what I needed it to do--amplifying keyboard & vocals at a level that will be hearable when playing with drums.
2. I haven't bought anything music related (priced over $100) for 7 years.
3. I have a great track record of getting a lot of use out of what I buy, especially music wise. I'm using the same keyboard from 97, amp from late 80's I think (a little 50W amp, how did I survive with that!), and the keyboard stand from 87 (in all fairness, I think my dad bought that).

Ok, that's long enough, I'm lazy. I now own a Yamaha EMX66M 6 channel 300W+300W power mixer (PA) and 2 Yamaha BR-15 400W/800W peak speakers.

More Bridget Pics

Well, still nothing exciting in my life. So here are a few more pictures of my niece! I don't think my sister will mind I've posted a couple more for all to enjoy.

More Bridget Pics 

More Bridget Pics 

Not much

Now that most of you have given up checking, it's time for me to let everyone know I'm still here. There's not much going on at the moment, and it's a bit depressing. I did golf on Friday, I guess that's something. I finished off with a par and two bogies too, which may not sound great but it is for me. My secret: don't swing hard. I'll have to go again soon.

Sealab Sunk

It's time to say goodbye to one of my favorite shows, Sealab 2021. I learned of its cancellation straight from the Adult Swim bump itself.

The loss is partially offset by the return of another great show, Family Guy.

Birthdays

This past weekend was full of birthday activities for me, for three--no, make that four--people or fictional characters.

First off was Austin's 42nd annual Eeyore's Birthday Party Saturday afternoon. This event is held at a nearby park and features people of all types in costumes of all types. There is also a lot of beer there, and this year I volunteered to help out one of the distributors. The proceeds all go to charity, and it's a lot of fun. Unfortunately for me, I didn't get there early enough to walk around much. I volunteered for the last shift and got there just in time for it to start (I blame the three cigarettes I had the night before). Despite being tied to the beer stand, I still had a good time.

During Eeyore's I found out some very big news, and the way I found out I never would have guessed. Someone sent me this picture to my phone:


Bridget 
That someone was my sister Ann, and that picture is of Ms. Bridget Marie Dillon--my first niece, born that day. Eeyore's birthday party turned into my niece's birthday party too!

Sunday I skipped my usual running around and went to San Antonio to celebrate my friend Tim's birthday. He and his wife used to live in Austin but moved down to San Antonio some time ago, and it was nice to see them again.

Oh, I did say four, didn't I? Well, it turns out Ms. Dillon shares a birthday with her dad. Happy Birthday to you too, Zach!