Many of you are aware that my father recently passed away, but for those of you who have yet to hear, he passed away last week on the 10th of Dec. I still haven't fully processed all of my feelings as of yet, but writing about it certainly helps. A death of a family member is never easy, and I think the most logical way of expressing how I feel is to just try and understand why? I may never know, but at least we were all there by his side, able to say our last goodbyes. For that reason alone, I'm at peace.
Yesterday, we spread my dad's ashes at sea near Santa Barbara at a place where he loved to surf. It was a beautiful, clear, warm day, that was in the low 70s, and came with a slight breeze. All of the kids and Uncle Nick held hands, marched into the cold waters and laid him to rest. The waves were relatively calm until we finished spreading the ashes, and it was at that precise moment, two big waves crashed to the shore. It was as if he was communicating to us that he was there; I know I surely felt him. It will be forever seared into my mind -- the serene skies, the shimmering sea, the warmth felt against my skin from the sun, and the family members that were there -- these we your wishes Dad, and we honored them fully.
Below is copy of what I read at my dad's funeral. I wanted to post this for all of you who wanted to be there, but could not make it:
First and foremost, I just want to thank all of you who came today in memory of my father. Considering the circumstances, it still seems a little surreal that we are all here today, but I know my father would have been extremely grateful for all that have made it, so I thank you. For those of you who do not know me, my name is Jesse and I’m Robert’s oldest son. He was many things to many people — a husband, a friend, a co-worker, an uncle, a brother, but to me, he was just dad.
Dad is what I called him, but he had a name for me growing up too, and that name was Dude. I can remember the first time that this name gained special significance for me, and that was when I was 8 years old, when he made me a skateboard for my birthday. It just wasn’t any old board that he put together, no, it was a board that had my name on – the dude. I have a lot of fond memories like this one growing up, with times in Santa Barbara, Lompoc, and lately in Santa Maria. Out of those memories, some of the best times were spent playing sports. My dad loved the game of baseball, and he instilled in me a love for the game that will stick with me forever.
One of my favorite baseball memories growing up was back when I played little league baseball. I was 10 years old at the time, in the majors playing for the Dodgers at the Village Hills LL in Lompoc. For this particular game, my dad happened to fill in for a coach who couldn’t make it. We were going up against the top pitcher in the league, who happened to be a big, bad, intimidating 12 year-old who could throw gas. My dad was the third base coach, and the first time that I was up he was there talking me through each and every pitch I faced, even though every bone in my body was quivering with fear. Needless to say, he was there saying, “you can do it dude, just be patient.” Seems like good advice, right? Well, the next pitch I ended up making contact and the ball dribbled down the first base line to the first baseman for an easy out. What would seem like an easy out for most, happened to be a huge boost of confidence because I just made contact against the best pitcher in the league! He pulled me aside between innings and told me that I could “get this guy next time, so be ready.” I really didn’t know what that meant at the moment, but I took the advice in stride. The next at bat is one of my fondest memories, ever. I made my way to the plate, dug my cleats into the dirt and positioned my bat on my shoulders. The pitcher made his deathly stare at the plate, started his windup and let go of the ball from his fingertips. As the ball approached home plate, the singing buzz of velocity started to ring louder with each passing millisecond. I began to swing my bat, and then made contact; I opened my eyes and tried to find where the ball was. I soon found it as I was making my way to first base and saw it making an upward trajectory towards the outfield. The ball kept lifting, and lifting, like it was climbing a set of stairs. Finally the ball landed, beyond the fences that contained every other hitter that faced this pitcher that year. I had just hit a home run, my first home run, and oh the joy! As I was rounding the bases I could see my dad jumping, doing cartwheels on the sideline screaming and yelling louder than I was. What a moment.
Well, to keep a long story short, for anyone that knew my dad, you knew he couldn’t of contained his excitement to just a lucky few. My dad had to tell anyone and everyone that was in ear shot, from the snack bar lady, the next-door neighbor, the mailman, his co-workers, our pastor – you name it, the whole town had to know – typical dad. It was that moment I felt how proud he was of his son. I always knew my dad loved me, and it was always on display, but this time it was different. It was that pinnacle moment, where we both shared that special place in time where it stopped, stood still, and then seemingly leaped forward as he followed me down from third base all the way to home plate.
There were many more stories I could have shared with all of you today, but this was the one that stood head and shoulders above the rest. It will be one that I will pass on to my son and hopefully he passes on to future generations. My dad was a special, gentle man – one that was laid back, loved life, didn’t worry what people thought about him, and was always there for our family. I’m grateful for everything that you did for us dad, you made me the man who I am today. I love you so much, and I know I’ll see you at home plate again, with arms wide open, soon.
This was filmed over a month ago, so I apologize in advance. Ian can walk from point a to point b without falling now and can quickly disappear if you're not keeping score(which never happens while I'm on duty, of course;). Oh, and happy 16 month little guy!
Ian Walks from El Duderino on Vimeo.
We took this video last week when it was in the 90's. This was the buggy's first time in his trunks and he had a blast!
The bugs and the sprinkler from El Duderino on Vimeo.
Looking for a new job? Tired of the amount of time it takes to find what you're looking for? Well, then, look no further because I have a solution for you! Ok, now that I have your attention and got the whole smarmy infomercial salesman pitch out of the way, I'll explain where I'm going with this.
I've been looking for a new job recently and found that there are a lot of helpful sites out there to aid my search. While I primarily have been looking at such sites as Craigslist, Monster, and Indeed (which is a great site, BTW), the task at hand can be labor intensive and cumbersome. A great way to streamline this effort is to compile RSS (Real Simple Syndication) feeds from your job searches. Couple that with a RSS reader to house them and you'll be on your way as a more efficient job searcher!
For example, go to Craiglist and type in "Office Administrator" in the "search craiglist" box and pull the drop-down menu to the "jobs" section. 
Next, hit enter or click on the > symbol and then scroll down to the bottom right hand corner of the results page where you will see a "RSS" link. 
Click on this and then choose the reader that will house your feeds (I use Google Reader, so for this post I'll use this as the example). Select "Add to Google Reader" and you're done! 
For Indeed (or any site that supports RSS), it's essentially the same thing. Enter in the key word like the one above in the "what" box and then click the "Find Jobs" button. 
On the next page where the job listings appear, scroll to the right hand column and click on the "RSS Job Feed" link.
I have used RSS feeds for a while now, but for some reason didn't think to use this feature for my job searches. Now, in Google Reader I have a separate folder designated for all of these and have eliminated the need to go these sites separately, which in turn has sufficiently cut the amount of time down and made things a whole lot easier on myself because it's all in a centralized location. I realize that most of you already know these hints, but it's always good to throw this out there so that everyone is in the know.
Yesterday, we (the fam) decided to go to a baseball game here in town. I've been wanting to go for a few months now, but for whatever reason, we just haven't got around to it. I've been to a number of big league games, but this was the first time going to a minor league game, and for Ian, it was his very first time at a baseball game period!
Once we arrived at the park, we decided to get the cheap GA tickets, which usually means nose bleed at a big league park, but here it was the equivalent of the back row of field level seats at Dodger stadium! A bonus for us was the fact that you could sit anywhere in the GA section (which includes the outfield seats and family deck right by the left field foul pole). There wasn't that many people there because it was a day game being played during a weekday, so what that meant for us was first row seats in GA, almost right behind home plate -- awesome! If you haven't been to a game at PGE park*, then you should know that there isn't a bad seat in the house.
A couple of things to note about minor league games:
- There are activities, games, or what-have-you between each inning on the field. This translates really well if you have little ones. Any distraction to keep 'em interested for as long as possible goes a long way. Even if you don't bring the family, it's still entertaining.
- Tickets are relatively cheaper (depending on where you sit, of course).
- On average, the speed pitchers throw are a little slower than the major leagues. The starting pitcher was throwing consistently around 85mph, the middle reliever was getting upwards to 93mph, and the second middle reliever for the opposing team threw a measly 75 mph. Geez, I can almost throw that fast! *ahem*
- Dudes can still hit it a mile! A guy for the opposing team hit a moon blast in the second inning to right field. It must have been at least a 450-500 footer.
All in all, it was a great game to be at, we witnessed a couple of homers, AND the home team won. I'm already pumped about the prospects of going to another game -- who's in?!?
* The Beavers (Baseball) and Timbers (Soccer) currently share the place.
Is it me, or is anyone else annoyed by the health care debates that are being played out on the cable networks lately (I don't really have cable, it's just everywhere you go on the internets these days)? It's not so much the debates or town hall meetings that are taking place (which is actually a good thing), it's the airtime that is given to the fringe crazies that are supposedly mad at something, but never really articulate what they are made about. Is it fear of Socialism, Communism, State controlled health care, ants in your pants? What? Well, luckily we have Jon Stewart to bring balance to the force and show us a lighter side to the whole debate.
| The Daily Show With Jon Stewart | Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c | |||
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| The Daily Show With Jon Stewart | Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c | |||
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The second clip is OT, but I had to share because it's one of my favorites of the year!
Hey, you made it!!! Happy Birthday luvbug! What a year, what a birthday, and what a little man you are becoming:). Since we didn't have a birthday party for you here in the states like normal people do, we decided to celebrate in style, in Germany! Ok, so we were there for a wedding which also happened to be on your birthday, but that's neither here nor there. We were at the wedding for almost 12 hours, yet we're the first people to leave. What a bunch of sissy's us American's are, sheesh. Even the 90 year old grandma's outlasted us!!! We sang happy birthday to you at the second reception and everyone at our table including surrounding ones joined in. Mind you, we sang it in English and yet that didn't seem to deter anyone as most of the people there spoke the language perfectly.
As the day came to a close, I began to reflect on the years events and reminded me of how fast time goes by. Though this is a bit cliche, I honestly do remember the minute you were born like it was yesterday. The joy I felt at that moment has only increased with every passing day and I can only image how that love will grow with each new phase in your life.
Speaking of new phases, you finally decided to crawl like a normal baby. By normal baby, I mean crawling on your hands and knees. Up until this moment, you've been army crawling with your belly dragging on the floor. We were about a week into our trip when all of a sudden you decided that the former was the better avenue and went with it. You still use the army crawl when you need to get somewhere quick, but that is becoming few and far between. You can hold yourself up on furniture and move side-to-side with relative ease, so it would appear that walking is in the cards pretty soon. You have four teeth that are almost fully grown in and two on the top that are just about to break though. Going from no teeth to almost six in just over two months is quite a jump, but I'll take you eating table food any day. The transition to table food before our trip was a life saver and really made things easier on that front. You have added a couple of words to your arsenal, but to our disappointment, do not like to say "uh-oh" as much. Since that was your first spoken word, it will always be endearing to us, but you have moved on and so can we. You have a deep belly laugh that is infectious, and it doesn't take much to get you or myself going. Matter of fact, sometimes you just laugh for no apparent reason. Case in point, we were driving last night to get some tasty Thai food and just started laughing in your car seat on the way over. I should add that your car seat is still rear facing, so you were basically staring at the seat in front of you and thought that it was hilarious. We all know how funny car seats are, don't we?
Let's see, new tricks...you give hugs now, can sign 'more' and 'all done' during feeding time, and can clap or wave on command. You love to open and close doors, can play Peek-a-Boo for hours, will blow kisses if we ask you to, and will bob side-to-side when we sing to you. You love it when music is played and will dance up a storm when a tune comes on. It doesn't matter if the song is any good, all you care about is that you get your jig on and all is well in your world.
Well, before we wrap things up here, think about this for a moment -- in just a years time you have been to four different countries (Canada, Italy, Switzerland, and Germany), yet I didn't get on a plane until I was 18 and hadn't been overseas until our trip with you. Not a bad feat there little fella and I'm sure will be a good story for you as you get older. All in all, it has been the greatest year of my life and you buggy, have been everything that I could have hoped for. You are a gentle spirit son, one that is full of life and incredibly fun to be around, but above all else, you are my best friend. Here's to another great year!
Other tidbits: Favorite foods are hot dogs, string cheese, gold fish crackers, and pears, but will pretty much eat what ever you put in front of him. Let's just say that he is an adventurous eater.
One last interesting tidbit, I swear: If you look at the picture closely, you'll see that our camera is on the table. Well, we had the video taken care of and thought that the grandparents were going to be taking pictures from their camera. Turns out that they took video too, so that meant there were no pictures to show for on his 1st birthday. Brilliant! I take full responsibility for that mishap, but luckily I was able to grab a still in iMovie from the video that we took thanks to this helpful hint on the internets. Phew, for a minute there, I lost myself...!
I haven't finished the recap of our trip yet, but while you wait for that I have posted pictures here. Sorry, I just uploaded almost every picture I took and didn't really have the time to edit/delete the ones that shouldn't be there. Enjoy!
This has been an epic trip so far with many highlights, but I will keep it short for now and will give full analysis once we make it back home. We arrived in Germany two days ago after stopping in Lucern, Switzerland. We have an event today in Ludswigburg for the bride and groom, and tomorrow the wedding will take place in a historic castle. The wedding will host people from six to seven different countries, and we have already met the Russians last night, so we're looking forward to meeting the rest of the contigent. In addition to the wedding tomorrow, it will be Ian's first bday and today our only goal is to hunt down a bday hat and candle and we'll be good. Only two more days in Germany and we'll be back in town on Monday. Looking forward to that, but in the meantime, we're enjoying every minute we have here. Until then...
We got in yesterday morning with out any problems on our flights. Minus a two hour meltdown on the last leg of our flight to Rome, Ian has been stellar. We have carted him all around for the past two days with nary a peep. What a guy. Since I have never been here before and have heard some negative things about Rome, I was little anxious to see for myself how things would pan out. So far, so good. We have had a five separate people help us out, whether it was getting Ian down the stairs with our luggage in tow, or help finding our B&B (yes, we got lost even with directions), I have to say that the locals have been exceptional. Today, we got a late start and headed to the Colloseum. It is a skeleton of its former self, but still impresive to the least. To top it off, I think I took around 50 pictures of the place, so there might be a good shot in there. After that, we then ventured over to the Roman Forum and I proceded to take another 100 pictures there. I am clearly losing my mind, but in a good way. Ancient Rome will do that to you, I tell ya. The weather has been scorching hot, around 95 degrees, so that has been the only negative so far. Tomorrow we are heading out to see the Vatican City, Sistine Chappel, and maybe the Spanish steps and Trevi Fountain. It still feels a bit surreal that we are here, but I am so glad that we are! Ciao.
We have a busy schedule ahead of us the next couple of weeks and I won't be spending much time on the computer, so there's no better time than now to keep ya'll in the loop. Starting this weekend, my cousin/wife/kids and some close friends of ours are going to be spending the better part of the week hanging out, camping, and enjoying all of what the beautiful northwest has to offer. We are getting really excited to see everyone and I'm sure it's going to be an incredible time. We are then heading out overseas to Europe after everyone leaves here in Portland.
We are flying into Rome for the first part of the trip and staying in the historic part of the city. We are going to see sites like the Colosseum, the Vatican City, etc. Next, we will head up to Florence and check out some art museums, which is what you do when one goes there, right? During our stay in Florence we might do a day trip to Venice, which is up in the air right now, but I would say we are 80% committed at the moment. From Florence, we will then head up through Switzerland and may stay a night in Zurich. For our final destination we are heading to Stuttgart, Germany. We will be there for a couple of days for a wedding, which was the reason for the whole trip to begin with. This will be my first time overseas and am beyond excited. Of course, being of Italian decent, and to finally see the country I've always wanted to visit should hopefully be the highlight for me. I can't wait to experience the food, people, sites, and sounds of the homeland. Depending on how accessible the internet cafes are there, I might from time to time update my travels, so check back when you can.
Here we are, one month until you hit a year, and what a year it has been! When the milestone is reached, I assume I'll go back to writing more random stuff and throwing in the occasional cutesy luvbug moments in place of the monthly updates. This month has seen the most dramatic changes to date and it's exciting to see the transformation of this small child that is slowly turning into a little man.
He has a total of two teeth now (both bottom ones) and his top front two are about to poke through any day now. We have almost fully switched over to table food and ditched the old favorite rice cereal. This is a blessing and a curse. The blessing being that he can now just eat whatever we are eating. The curse is that you have to be a little more creative in what you're giving him -- I can't just give him hot dogs every meal (like I did with the good 'ol rice cereal), but on second thought, that might not be a bad idea! I mean, the way he scarfs these things down you'd think that we were holding out on him this whole time. Look Ian, you had to have rice cereal because you didn't have any teeth and now that you have teeth...ok, ok, you get what I'm putting down?
Let's see...what else is new? Oh yeah, he can now say a couple choice words, 'uh-oh' being his first and most favorite thing to say, to 'hi' or 'hiyaaa', and 'baahhh' (which he says when he is pointing to the nearest ball). He also says some unintelligible words like 'maaaaammmmmm' 'daaaa' 'daa', or 'datoo'...'datoo', which we think might be mama and dada, but that's debatable at the moment.
In addition to his new language skills, he is also starting to pick himself up and stand in place where ever the nearest furniture piece may be. The latter is what has struck me the most and it's really starting to hit me that my little guy is not so little any more. It's not necessarily a bad thing, but it's definitely a turning point where one chapter is about to close and another is going to begin.
The iTunes store has been the one-stop shop to get your legal download on for almost 9 years now. While the RIAA was busy handing out lawsuits, Apple decided a different approach. Instead of fighting a technology that was not going away anytime soon, they decided to embrace it. This very fact is what sets Apple apart from other companies – they are forward thinking, while others are just following their lead (MS, I’m looking in your direction). Out of this era, the now ubiquitous iPod was born and along with it came the iTunes store.
While iTunes has evolved over the years, think genius and smart playlists, the iTunes store mostly has stayed the same. Sure, as of April this year, they finally have changed the pricing structure of some songs, .69 cents for lesser know songs, and $1.29 for the more popular songs, but most are still priced at .99 cents. While I’ve heard that there are some songs out there at .69 cents, I sure haven’t seen any, and I frequent the store often. While I applaud their move to a more varied price structure, I’ve wondered privately why they haven’t been more aggressive in lowering their costs. I guess they haven’t needed to because they are the eight hundred pound gorilla and still hold a considerable market share. The main problem about being in this position is that you don’t always have a good pulse on what your competition is doing and risk either becoming complacent and/or just out of touch with the current market environment. I'm not accusing Apple of being either at the moment, but they might be banking too heavily on brand loyalty with out thinking about the customers bottom line. Remember, money talks, and this tough economic climate, all bets are off when it comes to this line of thinking.
A couple of sites have been catching my eye lately, one of them being the Amazon MP3 store. Lately, they have been putting up daily deals for new (and old) releases that range anywhere from 1-4 dollars. Every now and then there are some great finds, but it was not until last month that I would have to say that the Amazon store has found its sweet spot. They advertised 50 albums for $5 in May that featured such artists as Kanye West, Metric, Death Cab For Cutie, and Marvin Gaye. This month they have the same type of deal with picks coming from their editors. In case you're wondering, I do check this site daily:). There’s another site that I am really starting to like, called Amie Street. This site, I think, has the potential to be the next big thing. As of right now, when a new album is released, you can download it for free (or at a very minimal cost). Based on the album/songs popularity, it goes up in price with a cap at .98 cents a song. Their main focus right now is Indy based, but that might change over time.
Given the buzz that is flying around the interwebs over these two sites, I would definitely be worried if I was Apple, because people such as myself are finally starting to go elsewhere. Although the iTunes store is still king, I would say that the two sites above offer a glimpse into the future that should keep things interesting, namely site loyalty and much needed price wars. Let the games begin!
My little man, you are growing up way to fast for this proud parent, and with each passing month, every little new thing that you do fills my heart with so much joy. As fathers day approaches, which will be my first, I realize how lucky I am to have you as a son. From the never-ending smiles, to the cheerful laughter, to the handle bar waves, it sure doesn’t take much to tear up these days. Perhaps, it’s my old age that has me so welled up inside, or maybe this is just part of the experience of being a parent. If the latter, then I’m sure all of the proud mama and papas out there can relate. It’s crazy to think that in two months he is going to be one already, but I suppose that this is part of the process as well, that time flies and to enjoy every spanking moment, for if you blink, you might miss it. This is my short and sweet Father’s day rendition to you my little man, daddy loves you tons!
Ok, enough with the sappy stuff and on to new developments. Speaking of handle bar waves, yes folks, he waves now! It’s the cutest thing ever and I can boast on this here blog and say that I taught him that. James coined the term, because, well, heck, he looks like he is trying to rev up a motorbike when he waves back at ya☺. He’s got one tooth poking through his gums finally, and I got to say, it’s about damn time! We are also slowly graduating him to table food and are introducing avocados (daddy’s favorite), blueberries, beans, and other mashing up types of food. We have learned quickly though that beans upset his stomach, so we’re going to wait a few months until we re-introduce that to him. Oh, yeah, we have a food chart thingy that we just found again that said to hold off on pinto/black beans until 18 months…oops! Well, that just about wraps it up here. I’ll leave you all with a picture I took yesterday that displays his classic “stink face.” Until next month…
The scoot edition...brought to you by none other than the luvbug himself!
It's only been a mere three months since I was last in SB and it's amazing to see the transformation that is taking place on State St. Gone are some familiar staples such as Morning Glory, Rocks, Mel's, The Italian/Greek Deli, and Carrows. I did notice one surprise though when I trekked down to the beach and saw the return of Hot Spots in their native habitat?!? Perhaps some of the locals can set me straight, but wasn't that whole block supposed to go bye bye per some new housing development? Anyways, here are some pictures I took the other day while out walking with the little one:
Welcome back!
The beloved Italian/Greek Deli is now a Verizon store. Suck!
Zelo's...looks like another club/restaurant is taking shape.
No more Mel's -- WTF??? "I'm sorry, but I'm afraid you've had too much to drink tonight" is a phrase that was never echoed inside those walls.
Good ol' Rocks. I saw John Mayer/Matt Nathanson play there way before you ladies starting giving them the googly eyes. I still pat myself on the back for that one.
Jamba Juice is now a on trend Pinkberry.
Anthropology...meet Forever 21. *Update* Looks like Anthropology has moved up State St near the Old Navy.
The original Carrows aka the after party.
The once great Morning Glory is now apparently a Del Sol...sigh.
To save the best for last...drum roll please...the new Apple store! Pier One, thanks for exiting and allowing a much superior store to enter*.
*Set to open in May I hear.
We are enjoying the sunshine, getting much needed vitamin D, and have hit up some of our favorite eats in the past two days. Oh, and did I mention its been in the 70's so far? Heck yes!
I have to be honest, the nice weather is making me feel a little homesick even though I love Portland. To bring myself back to reality, all I needed was a copy of the local Independent (Mercury and WW for you PDX'ers) and flip to the back -- okay homes are still outrageous. By outrageous, I mean still hovering around 1 million. Now, to be fair, I think the median price has come down to a more manageable 800k. Phew, for a second there I thought we were moving back!
There aren't really any new developments on the luvbug front to post here that are news worthy other than that he has yet to crawl or grow any teeth. What gives?!? He's still a little small for his age, but who's really keeping count here;). I guess he makes all of this up in spades with loads of cuteness, so it all balances out in the end. 
Grandpa and the luvbug @ Hendry's
Santa Cruz Island in the background
Ahh the palmtrees!
I came across this video today and thought it was hilarious. Re: Will we ever see Donny, err, Steve Buscemi at a Big Lebowski festival?!? Stop dancing around the issue, already!
There was an awesome site that came about on the interwebs last year that was ultimately shut down by the RIAA called Muxtape. As much as I was heartbroken about the news, the blow seemed to be cushioned by copy cat sites that were starting to spring up left and right after its demise. Now, some of the functionality of said sites were nowhere close to the muxtape, so I've held up hope for another worthy opponent.
Lady and Gents -- enter Mixtape.me. It has all the advantages of the former, with one big exception, it doesn't house any of the mp3's on its site. Rather, it compiles songs already available on the web which can be easily put into a playlist. One big difference here is that you cannot upload your own songs. Instead, there is a mp3 URL link where you can add songs that doesn't appear from the default search engine*. Note: this is still in Beta, so keep that in mind when using the site.
I have a link above that you can tag if you join, otherwise, check out my playlist that I created here: My Perfect Playlist. Enjoy!
* It appears that functionality is not working right now.
"Let's all play in the key of C to get the levels right." Those were the words uttered by front man Anton Newcombe when they first took the stage last night at the Crystal Ballroom here in Portland. Having been to a few shows myself, it was a bit odd to have a band "check the levels" upon taking the stage (that's what the roadies are for, right?!?), but this isn't any ordinary band. Anton is a notorious control freak that has boasted more than 40 to 50 band members in it's existence. For any of you that are unfamiliar with his antics, I highly recommend picking up the documentary "DIG!"
After playing a few bars, they proceeded to rip through their extensive catalog of psychedelic, shoegazing, garage rock. The second song of the set was Vacuum Boots, one of my all time favorites, and with that they had me hooked for the rest of their 2 1/2 hour set. After a dozen more songs, Matt Hollywood broke into Oh Lord and almost brought the house down.
This was almost a DIG! reunion of sorts, with the familiar cast of Hollywood, and the hilarious Joel Gion on tambourine. When they played Not If You Were the Last Dandy On Earth, Zia from The Dandy Warhols (Portland natives) came out on stage to join the party. "Bah, bah, bah...take my money!" The return of Hollywood was great, because he played such an important part in their early recordings, and I think lasts night show would have wrung hallow otherwise.
The show ended with the encore of That Girl Suicide, which is truly one of the best songs ever. If you need a song to download from iTunes, look that one up. It was a perfect ending coming from a band that has somehow eluded me for more than six years. Sans the in-between song diatribes from Anton, it was one of the better concerts I've seen lately. It definitely ranks up there with some my tops -- Radiohead, U2, Wilco, Sigur Ros, and the Smashing Pumpkins to name a few. Not bad company guys, not bad at all.
New lovebug developments:
- sits up on his own
- chats it up like his name is Kathy
- loves him some apple sauce w/rice cereal
- is starting to get the hang of the jumperoo
- smiles like crazy
I give him another month to month and half before he starts crawling, but right now he seems pretty content with his new tricks. Every day I wake up and realize how lucky I am to spend the day taking care of him and I try and take it all in as much as I can, but at the same time, it's still hard to believe that it has been seven months already -- wow!
Luvbug is growing up oh so fast and it has been hard keeping up lately (more on that later). Here are some of his recent developments, in no particular order:
- Flips from tummy to back, back to tummy, and even shows off the good 'ol barrel roll when he feels like it*:)
- Is eating rice cereal with various mixed in veggies
- Almost...and I mean almost sitting up
- Smiles like crazy and babbles like he is trying to have a conversation with you
- Grabs at objects and can hold on to them with varying success
- Now sleeps in his own room (as of last night).
That about sums it up for now. He has been teething for the past few months, but unfortunately has no pearly whites yet. I will keep you updated and will break the news when it happens**.
* As I write this, he is barrel rolling across the living room!
** For the love, can I get a friggin' tooth around here?!?
The second night we spent in our new house, we woke up to a winter wonderland. Good thing we finished all of moving before the (un)welcomed snow arrived. *Phew*
This is our lovely new casa. It's big, spacious, accommodating, and in a great neighborhood. After two days and three and half loads, we are finally finished moving and our now on to more important things, organizing the house. The move itself was basically hell, to put it lightly. It rained non-stop for the entirety and we had way more stuff than we anticipated. Looking back now, I think I just would have paid the extra money to have someone else do the heavy lifting. Carly says this every time we move, but really, believe us this time when we say that we are never moving again!
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