Christmas

Tuesday, December 25 2007
24:23

Christmas. A pretty laid back day today. Slept in until after noon. Grabbed some coffee just before Tully's closed – it was snowing as I walked back to my place. Not below freezing though. Listened to some music for a bit, then headed down to Dad's to visit and have leftovers for dinner. Played some pool on their new table, then played a game of Upwords after – I led the entire game only to lose by four points at the end! Tried to show him and Sue some of Portal, but their video drivers were uncooperative and many textures (walls, floor) were solid black.

Yesterday – the last of the gifts arrived just before I headed out the door. Before that, a trip to the bank to deposit the TTA door money from the past few shows. It was a somewhat crazy Xmas eve at Dad's with 10 adults and two toddlers around. Played some air hockey. Dinner was yummy, if the pork was a bit dry. Then gift-opening madness for an hour or so, dessert, and some more visiting before heading back here.

Probably taking the day off tomorrow, to clean up around the house etc. Then MB arrives back in town later in the evening! woo.

music: David Byrne and Brian Eno - My Life in the Bush of Ghosts (this is great! and it sounds wonderful, too); Underworld - Oblivion with Bells

Friday

Friday, December 20 2007
23:14

A long day. Up early, then took MB to the airport to see her off on her holiday travel adventures. Then slogging through 405 traffic to work. After a few hours there, found out I got to head all the way back down there again – a disk was borked and needed replacing in a rack in Tukwila. So, hit the road with another coworker (so at least we got to use the carpool lane, not much advantage though). That was quick, but the full round-trip time was around two hours. The good news was that by the time we got back, the end-of-year / holiday happy hour party was underway. That was fun, plenty of booze and some hot snacks, and lots of Rock Band. Stuck around mostly playing the latter until a bit after 9, then came home. Tired and headachy. Missed a call from MB – safe and sound in Philly – and now too late to call back. Going to bed now. We'll see when I wake up tomorrow.

music: New Order - Movement; Opeth - Ghost of Perdition; Arcadia - So Red the Rose

New Entry

Wednesday, December 19 2007
24:21

Been neglecting the diary. Well. . .the last show of the TTA season / CHAC run was Monday. It went very well, we had a huge crowd, 83 people in total! Tonight we had a wrap-up meeting and will begin looking at the next season now, whatever form that will take.

Bought a stereo last weekend. DA had a pair of B&W 804s that had been traded in, so they were in very good shape but at a substantial discount. So I spent a couple hours listening to them on Saturday and Sunday, and decided to go for it. Also got a set of Rotel electronics while I was there. They didn't have the 1080 amp in stock so I've currently got the 1050 model as a loaner. Also, one grille for the speakers was missing so that is on order and should be in soon. The salesman – Allen – was very nice and helpful, and willing to stay more than an hour after closing to get the sale all wrapped up on Sunday. Anyway, it sound great and I have some listening and adjusting to do but I think that turned out very well. I was tempted by the Maggie 3.6Rs but frankly my expectations must have been too high because they sounded good but not amazing, and they are really gigantic. Also, the B&Ws have absolutely excellent off-axis performance and so that means the ambient sound in my place is great even though they face "sideways" to most of the room.

Much more to write about I'm sure. . .but that's enough for now.

Old Entry

Sunday, December 9 2007
23:31

Decorated gingerbread houses at my Dad's today – Carrie and family couldn't make it so it was just MB and me v. Dad and Sue. Ours had a weathervane, and a fish pond w/ Swedish fish and a bridge. Dinner was a yummy bean/potato casserole w/ Roquefort and watercress and pear and walnut salad. Mmm. So, MB met the folks. Good impressions all around I think!

Listened to some speakers this weekend. Dalis at Speakerlab, B&W at Definitive, and Vandersteens at the place down the street. Hmm. The B&Ws sounded the best so far (the CM7s) but I have many more to listen to (including more B&Ws) and of course there were many other variables involved.

We had dinner at an Indian place just off I5 on the Bothell hwy last night. It was pretty good. Then we went up to Target and MB bought lots of apartment stuff, and I got a rack for my shower. It was a pretty good day overall. Today was good too, though I got a headache after dinner.

Tuesday

Tuesday, December 4 2007
25:11

Getting very sleepy the past 15 minutes or so. Bedtime soon.

It rained quite a lot yesterday. Flooding around the area. There was an inch of water under my car yesterday morning. Luckily when I came home it was gone, I was trying not to picture the whole garage being underwater. The show was very good. Some luminaries in the audience, including a certain French musician and one music reviewer who was also there as part of a grant request process. Once again had a good time after the show, had some mahi mahi tacos which were tasty, and a margarita.

MB's stuff all arrived today. There was some weird confusion with the actual arrival time, but it worked out OK. also some boxes got beat up but the contents survived I guess. Oh, well the car still isn't here and it's got a trunk full of boxes too. So she's got plenty of work to do in the next few days, between that and work.

Bought some chocolates from the place in the lobby at work today for the first time. They are OK, the truffles are really not very flavorful though. Often, the smell of chocolate and truffle fillings wafts throughout the first two floors.

music: Angels of Light - We Are Him; Radiohead - Hail to the Thief

Weekend

Sunday, December 2 2007
24:31

Saturday: First Primary for calisthenics. First time w/ MB in the circle with guitar here. Then the sitting, and the usual coffee / snack run. Practice was good, I don't remember the details much though. Came home after that quickly to pick up some financial stuff to give to CF for the grant proposal. Got distracted by a game of Mastermind online. . .we lost (though later I think). Then the open circle – 90 minutes, mostly circulating. I was fading by the end, after 5.5 hours of guitar playing that day. It was good though. One snafu w/ some pictures taken during the circle, an eager publicist seeing the need for some educational circle-work pictures, but not asking any of the participants beforehand. Oh well. Home after that for a snack and stuff.

It was snowing by this time, Ballard looked beautiful under the big flakes falling. Stuck somewhat, but it was above freezing so not much. Mostly slush. Headed up to Greenwood to see Lost Pedro at 7:30. Sat w/ MB, CF, DGS, and MG. Had a very good time. Lots of conversation. Great food as always, and more than I could eat too. The belly dancer Z. was her usual kind of scary self, and also awash in baby-powder smell that really interfered with my dining / wine enjoyment. Oh well. MB and D got up and danced during the "everybody get up and dance!" segment, that was nice. Oh, and Z put a hat on my head, apparently it looked cute.

Over to Howard and Diana's after that for ice cream and more wine. Curt came up to join the fun. That was also a really nice time, though it was pretty darn cold in there. We watched some of the "shreds" parody vids on YouTube and the Santana one had me in tears once again. Got home from there around 1:30?

Slept in this morning which was nice. A quick breakfast then headed to the Seattle Center House to see Diana do some butoh. Wow. That was amazing. The live band was very good, the music was good, and the three butoh dancers did their thing which was great. Potatoes, ketchup / blood, salt, French fries, running, slow-mo running, fighting, greed, gluttony, etc. There was a very wide range of reaction from the people present. Kids for the most part pretty much didn't care. Some adults were shocked and some were loving it.

It was rainy and dark all day. We walked to the Science center, but none of the IMAX movies sounded very interesting. So, back up to Ballard to do some shopping. Got some board games and a puzzle. . .oh, first a stop at Staples for ink cartridges and a shredder. Then to a furniture store so I could get some barstools. Mission accomplished, and MB also got an awesome bookshelf / mirror wall thing. The former will arrive in a week, the latter in about a month.

Dinner at the Hi-Life. That's just a good place. Our first choice was Madame K's but they were closed – we are not having good luck with them. Anyway, we got the Mendoza salad, the seared ahi (which was surprisingly bland – may have been that I had strong food before it), veggie gratin, and pommes frites. Oh, then an incredibly wonderfull "Churros for two" dessert, with what they called churros but they didn't resemble what I've seen at so-so Mexi places, they were more like begniets, and two demitasse cups w/ "hot chocolate" that was halfway between hot chocolate and chocolate pudding. Yum!

Stopped by MB's place on the way back to scope out where to put the bookshelf/mirror thingies. Then home.

music: The Cure - Three Imaginary Boys