School already?

Before I start, I'd like to issue this warning: May not be suitable for people that are used to reading about me and my stupid obsession with movies, music, or my normal random complaints. Side effects may include, caring, opinion giving or just plain thinking about your own situation. Post responses or check with a significant other if any of these symptoms occur.

OK, so it's not really school, but since my wife went back to work last December, my daughter has been spending most days with my in-laws. They run a florist business out of their home, so they offered to watch Allie for us. It's been great having them watch her.

1. It gives them time alone with her to watch her grow
2. She is with family that we love and trust
3. It saved us a whole lot of money

But now, my in-laws are getting very busy with lots of weddings (which is great) and will continue to be for a while. It's just too much for anyone to work AND take care of a 10 month old at the same time. Believe me, on the occasion that I do get to work from home, I only get infront of the computer while she's sleeping. Needless to say, not much work gets done. So beginning one week from tomorrow, she will be going to day care two days per week. It's going to be hard. Allie has become very attached to my wife Jenn lately, and even cries a little when she gets dropped off at my in-laws.

I'm going to be doing the drop off and my wife will be doing the pick up from daycare. Our friend's mother works at the place that we're using, so that makes us feel better, but Allie is to old to be in the room where she works. It's a real nice, clean, secure place. I know it's good for her to interact with other kids more often than she does (occasional visits with her cousins and our friend's daughter), but knowing that she will be away from us and people that we've known our whole life is a little weird. I guess it will take some getting used to.

Hopefully, within the next year or so, Jenn and I will figure out a way for us to afford our house and have one of us stay home with Allie. But until one of us gets a major raise and we pay off our cars, we'll be doing the "North to pick up, South to drop off" (Mr. Mom reference) every Thusrday and Friday. I know that almost everyone that has kids deals with this, but this is my first time, so CUT ME SOME SLACK!

Announcer - "And now back to the movie of the week, "High Fidelity" starring John Cusack.

We're all a little looney

After reading this post over at The Musings of David Amulet, it reminded me of how screwed up our society has become about "protecting" out kids from the dangers that they may encounter. Don't people realize that the more you hide things from people, especially kids, that they just want it more. Here's an example of a cartoon that ran about the dangers of drinking beer, but was pulled after being aired only once. Parts of it cracked me up. I think everyone needs to relax a little and not get so upset about everything.

Stop blaming the music!!

Let me start by saying that I am definitely not a fan of rap music, so feel free to correct me if I'm wrong. OK, now on with the post.

On the way in to work this morning, I heard something about how rap music is causing young kids to be more sexually active and causing a rise in teen pregnancy. *insert hysterical laughter* OK, wait............*regains composure*, you're telling me that rap music is making kids horny? HELLO!! Kids (especially boys) are ALWAYS HORNY and always want sex!!! The music has nothing to do with it. When I was a kid, (ok now I sound like a complaining old man shaking his finger at the world) rock music was the big thing. There were songs like "Girls, Girls, Girls", "Cherry Pie", "Slow and Easy", "Let's Put the X in Sex", and "Pour Some Sugar on Me" and always very beautiful women in the videos writhing around on the hoods of cars, or having water poured all over them. I already knew what was hot, that I liked women, and wanted to have sex with all of them. I didn't need music to tell me that I should be horny. Music has been blamed for kids sexual activity since Elvis shook his pelvic bone around. Come on people.

My parents taught me what was right, wrong, disrespectful, etc, so I knew I had to control my urges (at least a little). The music I listened to had nothing to do with how I felt. What was Jimmy Swaggart's excuse for screwing Jessica Hahn?? I guess it's a good thing I don't go to church and listen to those hymns huh?

The river runs red with the Red Sox blood!!

So, the biggest rivalry in sports adds another chapter to it's story. On Friday, the Yankees traveled up to Boston for a 5 game series, with a slim 1 1/2 game lead in the AL East. The first two games were a day/night double header. The Yanks took game one 12-4 and game two 14-11. I was happy that New York scored so many runs in both games. I thought, "OK, even if the Yanks lose the next three games, they will still have a 1/2 game lead in the East." Well............now that all is said and done, as everyone knows, the Yanks SWEPT the BoSox, winning all five games. David Ortiz even said after game 4 in an ESPN interview, "It's just not fair. These guys aren't messing around. They should have let us win today just to make it interesting." I litterally laughed out loud when I heard this. Big Poppy wasn't feeling so big then!

So now the Red Sox are 6 1/2 game behind the Yanks in the East, and are in 3rd place in the wild card 4 games behind the White Sox. It looks like they may not make the playoffs at all!

Who's crying now? -------------->

The pond would be better for you

If you think you know where this post is going, you're probably right. Click here to read my wife's post about our shitty situation over the weekend.

Rock Concerts

I have been to a lot of rock concerts in my life. Most of them were when I was between the ages of 15 and 22, but there are two that stick out in my head.

• Whitesnake (1988) - I went to the Orange County Fair Grounds in NY (where I saw a lot of concerts) with a bunch of friends. Whitesnake was touring to support their self titled album. The Fair Grounds had their concerts set up on a dirt race track with the band in the infield and the general admission on the track itself. It was a pretty good place to see a show. Anyway, the concert is not what I specifically remember about that night. I know I ate something that didn't agree with me and I felt sick for the whole second half of the show. As we were walking thru the parking lot after the concert, I kept telling my friends that I felt like shit, but they kept saying I was being a pussy. Next thing I knew I was puking my guts out. The funny part was that I was leaning up against the front window to a pizza place projective vomitting in front of everyone eating. I remember looking up and seeing people eating.............stop...............look at me.............then all keep eating at the same time. It was just like when Rick Moranis in Ghostbusters is attacked by the "Vinz Clortho" beast in front of Tavern on the Green in Central Park. It craked us up later, because I didn't care that they were eating and they didn't care that I was throwing up!

• Ozzy Osbourne (1991) - I saw Ozzy on the "No More Tours" tour in support of the No More Tears album at the Mid-Hudson Civic Center in Poughkeepsie, NY. I remember how packed it was. Everyone was getting rowdy and pushing towards the stage. There was one row of people between me and the "pit" where security protected the stage. I think Ozzy had just finished playing "Mr. Crowley" and he looks out at the crowd........sees us all pushing and shoving trying to get at the stage, and proceeds to yell out (in his drunken British accent), "If you bastards want to get up on stage, you've got me bloody, fuckin' permission!!!" Well that's all we had to hear. You could see the look of panic on the security guards faces as they braced for thousands of people rushing the stage. A fight broke out about 10 feel from me between some fans and a security guard, so the guys in front of us ran over to help leaving a HUGE hole in front of us. A few of us started heaving people over the pit and onto the stage. After a few people I thought to myself, "What the fuck are you doing?!?! GET UP THERE!!" I jump up on stage and get to less than 5 feet from Ozzy. I put my hand in the air and start yelling. The next thing I knew, I felt hands on my shoulders and BAM! I was flying thru the air back into the crowd. I weighed about 150 pounds back then, so I was no match for the "Brut Squad" they had working there. I landed on some people and then we all fell on the floor. As dumb as it is, I can remember that like it happened last week.

Do you have any concert stories?

Why couldn't they just get along?

In the late 70's The Police showed up on the music scene with Roxanne. Everytime I hear this song, it reminds me of 48 Hours with Eddie Murphy. He sits in a jail cell with headphones on screaming this song at the top of his lungs. Anyway, they had a few hits including "Message in a Bottle", "Don't Stand So Close to Me" & "Every Little Thing She Does is Magic". Then in 1983, Synchronicity was released and I was locked in as a fan of the Police at a tender young age of 11. I saw the videos for "Every Breath You Take", "King of Pain", and "Wrapped Around your Finger" often on MTV. The song that really sucked me in was "Synchronicity II". It was much heavier and raw than the other songs on the album. The video opened with Sting hanging from a pipe screaming with a background that could have been in Mad Max. It was a dark and erie song. I bought the album and listened to it from beginning to end over and over again. Each song I listened to was so different from the previous track withs songs like "O My God" followed by "Mother" (which I wish I could find as a ring tone for when my mom calls. I'm cheesy like that).

On side two (when there was a side two), were the three hits of "Every Breath", "King of Pain" and "Wrapped". The song that I always loved was the last one on the album, "Murder By Numbers". The music was so simple with just a drum beat and symbols opening the song with the base and guitar joining in half way thru the first verse. It was a mysterious song about how a murderer might think and how a president is also a murderer, but never gets his hands dirty or gets convicted and put in jail for the crime. It ends with Sting playing random base guitar notes..............then all three guys quietly give a sarcastic clap, as if to say, "It's over guys., We're done here. It's been hell working with you". This album is one of the main reasons why I got into rock music and I wish they didn't stop making music.

Gimme some sugar Baby

I'm flipping thru the channels on TV last night and I came across this movie on Universal HD. All I'm going to say is "Klaatu, Verata, Niktu!". Anyone know what it is? My wife can't answer and I have a feeling Metal Mark will also know.

Last Action Hero - 1993

Back in 1993 before he became Governor of Cali-forn-i-a, Arnold Schwarzenegger starred in a spoof on action movies called Last Action Hero. While the movie was slightly entertaining with quick references to other movies like Terminator, Basic Instinct and a subtle reference to Lethal Weapon, the real star of this movie is the soundtrack.

It features original songs by Megadeth, Queensryche, AC/DC, Def Leppard, Alice in Chains, Anthrax, and Tesla, as well as a live version of Aerosmith's "Dream On". Most of the songs can't be found on any other album. For someone that is into hard rock like me, it's worth picking up.

Scaramouch?

I remember when I was about 4 years old, my uncle bought me Queen - A Night at the Opera. As a kid, I thought that when they said, "Scaramouch, Scaramouch" in Bohemian Rhapsody it was the funniest thing.

One day when I was in pre-school, the teacher told us all to bring in our favorite song. Most kids walk in with "C is for Cookie" and Alvin and the Chipmunks which everyone was singing along with..............and then it was my turn. I was so excited to play it. My Mom even wrote, "Scaramouch" next to the song on the album cover so I knew which one to play. All I know is that was the first uncomfortable situation that I can remember in my life. It was six minutes of total silence. I remember bopping up and down to the music and looking around the room at all the kids blank stares. I'm surprised I didn't get sent home with a note to my parents.

Then in 1992 when Wayne's World came out, Bohemian Rhapsody was featured in the movie. I thought it was so funny that they were banging their heads to the real heavy part at the end since my friends and I used to do that too. Suddenly, everyone was doing it. The song was so different for the mid-70's and now it was part of this pop-culture phenomenon of the early 90's. I hated that.

FOAD!!

I'd like to take a page from Fuzzbox over at Blugstuff and send out a huge FOAD (Fuck Off And Die) to the NJ Power and Light company. I came home yesterday at 6pm after picking up my daughter to find out that I have no power at my house. Outside temp 97 degrees and 100% humidity. Interior house temp - 82 degrees and rising. My neighbors said that it was out since 4pm. My wife showed up just after I did and we then decided to go to our friends house a few towns away to escape the heat.

I requested an automated call from them to my cell phone when power was restored. At 10:15pm, I get the call; I then proceed to confirm it by calling my house and waiting for the answering machine to pick up. COOL!! We have power. We then take my sleeping daughter, drive home, drive down a dark street, pull in the driveway, hit the remote garage opener.......NOTHING!! FUCK!! NO POWER AGAIN! Why call me if the power problem OBVIOUSLY hasn't been fixed!!! It came on at 12:15am this morning. I was told it was a faulty main fuse and wire. HELLO!!!! The power went out 2 weeks ago and we were told the same thing then!

So I'd like to send out a huge FOAD to whoever worked on it the last time and obviously didn't fix the fucking problem!