Drywall is up!

Framing complete.

Insulation installed.

Couldn't even wait for the dust to settle to take this picture! Drywall is complete. Inspection is tomorrow and then the taping and mudding begins. Our flooring guy may even get started before Labor Day if the weather stays agreeable and the mud dries quickly.

Computer Insurance

I had a small problem in that there was a power surge and my hard drive seized. I lost everything. Pretty much 4 years worth of photos and thousands of songs that I only had in a digital format. I have now purchased a new, larger harddrive and a DVD burner so I can store everything on a couple of discs as well as a battery backup to avoid this problem again in the future. Just a bit of advice for y'all...back up your data. It too can happen to you.

It's going to take me awhile to get back up to speed and upload a bunch of cd's again. The one silver lining is that this happened before the baby came. I will now be better prepared and not lose all of my son's baby pictures due to some randomn surge in power on my street.

Baby Name Game

Baby: My sister-in-law's due date was 3 days ago. She's not happy about that. It's hot and she's not sleeping and is taking care of a 2 year old during the day. Honestly though I hope Jen is late. I'm really anxious to see my son for the first time, but I could use every extra minute I can get to finish the house and prepare for the new addition to our family.

We do not have a name yet. I will not be able to choose a name. Our baby will go nameless. At least that's how I feel in this moment. My wife is pushing to name him after me. Michael was the most popular name for boys for over 30 years. It has declined while names like Jack and Max have increased, but naming your child after yourself seems self indulgent. Will he feel he has to live up to something? There are plenty of good names out there right? I just can't think of them.

Lots of people name their kids after people they admire. I've searched hard and come to the realization that I don't admire people. I don't admire things in general. I tend to admire specific things. I admire a painting, but not the artist because the artist did a bunch of crap in their later years. I admire a song or an album, but not the singer/songwriter because he was also an alcoholic that beat his wife. I admire a film but the director was a one hit wonderchild that hasn't put anything worthwhile out in 8 years. I just don't admire people. I see the flaws. I don't judge or hold their flaws against them. I just don't respect them enough to name my child after them.

One caveat is that I admire my Dad but he hates his own name and doesn't want us to burdon our child with his moniker.

Excuses, excuses

It's been tough to blog lately. My harddrive fried due to a power surge. Occasionally Jen brings her laptop home from work so that I can log on and keep in touch. I think the heat has just as much to do with not publishing too. It's been in the upper 90's for 2 weeks and is supposed to hit 102 today. I'm really working hard to get my rehab project ready to move into, but I feel like I'm moving underwater. It's so hot that I work at about half the speed I would like to be working. It's supposed to cool off this week. They are calling for the high on tuesday to be 84 degrees.

My HVAC guys finsished the rough in on Thursday and the plumbers start their rough in on Monday. I've been working all weekend to buy fixtures and tile so that the plumbers have everything they need to do the job. Hopefully I can get the electricians in either while the plumbers are there or shortly thereafter. Then the drywall goes up. All 3 mechanical contractors come back and finish up. The floors get sanded and refinished. The trim goes up. The painting happens and then we move in. Simple. Only problem is that there are a million jobs and decisions that need to be done and made in that time all by me. Yikes. In that time I also need to finish some of the things I've never completed on our house so that we can put it on the market. Hopefully Jen doesn't go into labor early and we can have a completed home for our baby to come home to. From past experience I can say that it will all work out. What I don't know is exactly how it will work out. I'm keeping my mental fingers crossed while I work away each day. Wish me luck.

July Mix Exchange

Volume 3 In the ongoing saga of my Gigposters cd mix exchange: July was a hard one for me. I wasn't feeling inspired at all and the guy that I was making the mix for likes the opposite kind of music I do. He likes really edgy industrial electronic music. I like very organic indie rock and roll.

Once I decided to just give him a mix of what I like and hope that he finds something in their for himself I was able to throw the mix and artwork together in one day. I made 2 discs. One that is more upbeat and one that is a little calmer and more peaceful. Disc one was called Keep it Up! and disc 2 was called Keep it Down!

For the artwork I used and old super 8 film tin that I found in a second hand store. I scanned the reel and used that as the art on the front of the actual discs. I left the sticker that was on the front of the tin. It was something about Christmas 1962 at Edna Jones' house. That seemed worth keeping. I also cut the liner notes out of one piece of paper and cut it to fit inside the tin.

















Keep it Up!
1. Kings of Leon - Four Kicks
2. the White Stripes - Red Death at 6:14
3. Mule - We Know You're Drunk
4. Low - Monkey
5. the Hives - Main Offender
6. the Stooges - No Fun
7. the Sights - Just Got Robbed
8. Spoon - My Mathematical Mind
9. Yo La Tengo - Speeding Motorcycle
10. Andrew Bird's Bowl of Fire - Satisfied
11. the Black Keys - Heavy Soul
12. Love as Laughter - Every Midnight Song
13. Broken Social Scene - cause=time
14. the Kinks - Milk Cow Blues
15. My Morning Jacket - Dancefloors
16. the Afghan Whigs - Hated
17. Von Bondies - Lack of Communication
18. Elliott Smith - Shooting Star
19. Big Chief - My Name is Pimp
20. Rugburns - Me and Eddie Vedder

Keep it Down!
1. Tilly and the Wall - Bessa
2. Lou Barlow - High School
3. Bright Eyes - Land Locked Blues
4. Cat Power - I Don't Blame You
5. Ryan Adams - Halloween
6. Jay Farrar & Kelly Willis - Rex's Blues
7. Superchunk - Detroit Has a Skyline (acoustic)
8. Ben Kweller - Lizzy
9. Brendoan Benson & the Wellfed Boys - Alternative to Love
10. Lightnin' Hopkins - Feel So Bad
11. Willie Nelson - Too Sick to Pray
12. Evan Dando - Why do you do this to yourself?
13. Nina Simone - Nobody's Fault but Mine
14. Kasey Chambers - Lost and Foundd
15. Josh Rouse - My Love Has Gone
16. Weezer - Butterfly
17. Clem Snide - Don't Let the Sun Go Down on your Grievience
18. Kelly Joe Phelps - That's Alright
19. Jon Langford - Everyone Speaks Elton John (from This American Life)

5 Stitches

Rehab: I received my worst injury pertaining to rehabbing yesterday. I was cutting through a brittle cast iron pipe in the basement with my sawzall when it snapped off and one end bounced off the ground and the other jagged end landed on my arm. It didn't hurt very much and I thought about how lucky I was that it didn't land on my face or head. Then I saw the blood. After I rinsed off the dirt and saw the size of the gash I realized that it was more than a bandaid could fix. I figured I shouldn't drive myself to the hospital so I called Jen and she gave up a dinner with the gals from work to take me to the ER. I ended up getting 5 stitches. The most painful part of the entire thing was the 6 hours in the emergency room.

July 4, 2005

So Jen and I decided to make a pretty much last minute trip to Michigan to see my family for the long July 4th holiday. Lately we've only been going up for Christmas and we've wanted to make more frequent trips. With the baby coming Jen has been hoarding vacation time to supplement maternity leave and the long weekend gave us an opportunity to dash up there without using up accrued vacation time. Her one request was that we go to Ann Arbor so she can get a hot dog and waffle fries at Red Hot Lovers (her fave lunch spot when she lived there). Everytime we go up for Christmas it's closed for the holiday.














Unfortunately it was also closed for the Independence Day weekend. Maybe next year? At least we got to have a lovely dinner with Ken and Nicole so it wasn't a total bust.

On Sunday my parents had a BBQ and one of my cousins
brought her 3 and 5 year old girls, 6 week old son and husband. The girls went berry picking in their bare feet and turned them purple. It was a great image of being a child in the summer.

The girls came over with a makeup kit and were offering makeovers for a very reasonable fee. The "boy" makeovers consisted of grape hand lotion. I asked the 3 year old, Riley, what she planned to do with the money she earned. She said she wanted to buy a diary. I asked her if she could write? She is only 3. She said she can write her name and "I heart you". I thought that was the sweetest thing I heard the whole trip.

On our way home sunday we ran into a little car trouble. I heard a flapping sound under the hood 400 miles into our trip and 150 miles from home. Almost immediately the car felt humid. I was 1 mile out from a rest area just south of Terre Haute, IN. We pulled into the rest area, I popped the hood and saw that the main belt was splintering off into shards and one of the shards cut through the air conditioning hose. The belt had shredded like this once before. My 2002 Liberty has 60,000 miles! This shouldn't happen twice in 2 years with a vehicle just 3 years old. The last time this happened we were in town and had it towed to the dealer where it was repaired under warranty.

I have little knowledge about auto repair and was underprepared for this emergency. I went in the rest area where they have a staff person positioned to answer tourist questions. I found out that a small town was 2 miles down the road and since it was after 5pm on a holiday we'd probably have to get a hotel room and wait for a repair shop to open in the morning.

I came back out to the car and just stared at the engine. I was dumbfounded. Having experienced this before I knew it wouldn't make the couple of miles to the next town. A man came up to me and asked if I was having trouble. I wasn't in a great mood but explained to him what was going on. He told me he could fix it if I could get a new belt. It was a holiday! Where was I going to get a new belt? He said the auto parts store was open the previous evening (Sunday) until 9pm in Ohio and he thought it'd be open on the 4th too.

I went back inside and called the nearest Autozone. They were in fact open until 8pm and had the belt for $7.99. The man offered to drive us the 9 miles back to Terre Haute to get the part and he'd install it for us. This was a strangely generous offer. I spoke to Jen (noticably pregnant which may have helped in getting attention or attracting a serial killer) and we decided to go with him. If we were going to get murdered in Indiana at least it was going to happen to us together.

In his vehicle we found out the man's name was Tom and that he was the head mechanic at a Dodge dealer in Ohio near Dayton. He had 3 weeks off and was wrapping up a visit with his daughter and heading to Vandalia to spend time with his son's family. We had an uneventful trip to the store. Jen and I later confirmed that we both were breathing sighs of relief every time he made a turn that brought us closer to the store as opposed to some dark dead end.

On the return trip we stopped at a gas station to fill up Tom's truck and got back to the car without incident. It took him all of about 10 minutes to change the belt with the wrench I purchased and we were on our way, sans A.C., but at least we didn't have to stay in a crummy motel for the night. Tom was our hero. If we were driving some other kind of vehicle he wouldn't have offered since he only works on Chrysler vehicles. Our tale turned from tragic to a simple 1 hour delay. Thank you Tom! I'm unsure of whether this was a reward, instant karma like, or if I need to now pay it forward. I am very grateful regardless.

it's the heat

I have not been blogging much. It's too hot. 98 degrees today with no end in sight. I'm working hard on my rehab project. Framing is nearly complete. Windows are being wrapped up today and tomorrow. HVAC rough in begins next week. Then plumbing and electrical rough ins to follow. I still need to install the cement board in the kitchen and bathrooms and repoint the basement walls. We have set aside time next weekend to shop for tile, cabinets, light fixtures and other decorative elements. So much to do. So little energy to do it.

The timing of the completion of the project, the baby coming, putting our house up for sale, moving next door, etc. is like a perfect storm. It's looming in the distance and it could be a disaster of epic proportions. Nothing to do about it now but put my nose to the grindstone and hope for the best. Wish me luck.

What I'm doing this summer

Wearing: Got some Chuck Taylor Converse navy low tops for the summer. Haven't had any since I was a kid. First time I wore them I rubbed all the skin off of my heals. Got to remember to break them in. Also wearing cargo shorts. I need them to hold my perscription sunglasses, phone, notepad, ipod mini, camera, etc. I'm migrating away from printed tees to solid color better cut and quality tees. I also picked up a pair of super lightweight khakis that are great for summer nights.
Planning: To go to Canada for my cousin's wedding in August and see my brother and new niece/nephew due in July.
Listening to: the new White Stripes on my ipod mini.
Reading: Mixtape edited by Thurston Moore and A Long Way Down by Nick Hornby
Watching: The Detroit Pistons beat the San Antonio Spurs in the NBA Finals, Six Feet Under, and a slew of embarrassing reality shows.
Bored of: People ranting
Happy with: My new Sony Cybershot 7.2 megapixel camera
Snacking: Charleston mini chews and Junior Carmels (from the makers of Junior mints, they're like soft Milk Duds)
Drinking: Newcastle, Sierra Mist, Minute Maid light Mango Passion
Loving: How cute my wife is in her maternity clothes.
Anticipating: My son being born in October.

Moxie

Television: We've got Moxi! Moxi is our local cable company version of a Digital Video Recorder (DVR). DVR's are routinely referred to as Tivo since that is the first recognizable brand name. I like this one because I didn't have to get an additional phone line installed.

Moxi is changing my life. First of all it has streamlined my entertainment area. Moxi is the same size as my previous digital cable box, but it also replaces my VCR. Thereby eliminating one of the electronic black boxes surrounding my tv. It is pretty easy to use and is changing my tv watching habits.

Last night Jen and I decided that it would be a wonderful evening to sit outside at a restaurant and eat dinner. But wait, the Pistons are playing the Spurs in game 3 of the NBA finals. Moxi to the rescue. I programmed the DVR to record the game with about 2 buttons pushed. We went to dinner at Syberg's. We had a relaxing dinner sitting outside. I had a chicken quesadilla and Jen had a giant chef's salad and we split a basket of fries. Yum. We got home about an hour into the game. I was able to go back to the beginning of the game and start watching while Moxi was still recording. After fast forwarding through the commercials I caught up to real time by the 3rd quarter and was able to watch Detroit stomp San Antonio along with the rest of the world.

In the past we would have to program 1 or 2 of our vcrs to catch all of our shows and if you got home 10 minutes into a show you would have to decide whether you wanted to dive in and miss out on the first 10 min or wait 50 more minutes until the show was completed and start watching from the beginning. Now we actually try to start shows late or we'll randomly pause in the middle to grab some dessert. When we get back to the show we can blow through the commercials and enjoy the show even more.

This invention is great because it allows me to watch more tv (hard to believe) in less time, and when I want to watch it. Eventually they won't even broadcast programs. They'll just download programs to your home device and you'll get a message when new programs are available. Can't wait.

It's a happy time!

We had a little health scare. Jen has some travelling to do for work. She flew to NY last Wednesday and then was going to spend some time with an old friend who now lives in Brooklyn and come back on Sunday. Thursday she was working out in the hotel gym and noticed a sore spot on her thigh. She felt a bump that she knew wasn't there before. She had no recollection of getting hit or stung by anything. Being pregnant and flying are 2 things that can cause blood clots so she called her doctor to see what she should do. After a brief interview it was decided that it was unlikely to be a blood clot, but that she should have it checked out. She cancelled the rest of her weekend plans and flew home on Friday.

After 4 hours in the emergency room we got in to get a vascular ultrasound. It ruled out a clot but did not determine exactly what it was. At no time was the baby in any danger, but it does make your mind wander. We've only got another few weeks before the baby is considered viable outside the womb. At that point she could give birth, but health problems both short and long term would be likely. It doesn't look like that will happen. Jen is going strong and looking good. She's convinced she's bigger than average and I have to say I agree. Her belly is really popping out. Strangers on the street now smile at us and ask her when she's due and all. It's a happy time!

June: CD Mix Exchange

I sent off my June cd mix for the gigposters exchange. I tried to be more creative with this one. Many of the mixes that I saw last month were hand drawn or screen printed. I felt bad about my weak attempt at being creative so I tried to step it up a notch. I created a sort of boxed set feel by creating a package with the cds inside.

I made this case myself by cutting it out of an old rollerblades box. I then folded it and doodled all over it so that at least one part of it is hand done. I then put a velcro attachment onto the inside to hold it shut. I included 2 mixes for my next victim. The first is mostly contemporary stuff and the second is mostly vintage.

When I Go Deaf: June Mix Exchange
Ben Kweller - Wasted & Ready
Kings of Leon - Red Morning Light
the Black Keys - Heavy Soul
Love as Laughter - Dirty Lives
Spoon - My Mathematical Mind
Cat Power - He War
Low - When I Go Deaf
the Sights - Waiting on a Friend
the White Stripes - Red Death at 6:14
TV on the Radio - Staring at the Sun
Josh Rouse - Slaveship
The Streets - Don't Mug Yourself
Hayseed Dixie - Cat Scratch Fever
Secret Machines - Sad & Lonely
Danger Mouse (feat the Beatles & JayZ) - Encore
DJ Shadow - Untitled Heavy Beat, pt 1&2
Guster - Barrel of a Gun
Kev Russell's Junker - (Somebody Bring Me a Flower) I'm a Robot
Brendan Benson - Good to Me
Andrew Bird's Bowl of Fire - Satisfied
Clem Snide - Messiah Complex Blues
Buffalo Tom - Birdbrain
Evan Dando - Fade to Black

I made a bonus mix of songs. This one is primarily a getting dumped/hitting hard times theme.
I Gotta Get Drunk: June Mix Exchange (bonus)
Ike & Tina Turner - A Fool in Love
Ernest Tubb - Thanks a Lot
Son House - Death Letter
Nina Simone - I Want a Little Sugar in My Bowl
Charlie Rich - Don't Put No Headstone on My Grave
Jimmy Reed - I Ain't Got You
Sly & the Family Stone - If You Want Me to Stay
Willie Nelson - I Gotta Get Drunk
Otis Redding - Pain in My Heart
Loretta Lynn - Don't Come Home a Drinkin' (With Lovin' on You Mind)
Pee Wee Crayton - When it Rains it Pours
Betty Everett - You're No Good
Lightnin' Hopkins - Jake Head Boogie
Solomon Burke - Got to Get You Off My Mind
Aretha Franklin - (Sweet Sweet Baby) Since You've Been Gone
John Lee Hooker - Boom Boom
John Prine/Dolores Keane - It's a Cheating Situation
Sam Cooke - Please Don't Drive Me Away
Etta James - I'd Rather Go Blind
Ray Charles - Busted
James Cotton - Worried Life Blues
Clarence Carter - Snatching it Back
Junior Wells - Give Me One Reason
Webb Pierce - More & More
Howlin' Wolf - Smokestack Lightning
Louis Armstrong/Velma Middleton - Trouble in Mind

baby digs and poster gigs

Baby: We've purchased our crib set. These are basically sheets for the baby's room, but are very specialized. They will allow us to start putting together a plan for the decor of the baby's room.

Probably the biggest priority for Jen right now seems to be picking a name. Now that we know it's a boy we are able to quickly narrow down the list to a few names. This is one of the most difficult things that I'll ever have to do. The repercussions will last for generations. I do realize that whatever name we come up with will simply be how we know the baby. Names seem to fit the person after awhile. Once you call your baby Cornelius a million times you can't imagine calling the baby anything else. I would like to come up with a name that isn't too common or too strange as to give my child unneeded baggage once he walks into a classroom or a workplace.

For some reason I don't want to pick a name too early. Maybe I want to have the name be the surprise since the sex is not. I'm not sure. I don't want to be rushed. This much I know.

Gig Posters: I'm going to coordinate a poster show for St. Louis. A friend is going to be a part time gallery curator for a place that opens this weekend. We have spoken about doing a poster show in September. I'm really excited to give artists a place to show and sell their work and bring a little sense of what I consider cool to my city.

There is a large poster show, Flatstock 7, in Seattle in September so that will draw a lot of the really big designers, but it should also allow us to piggy back on the press it will receive. I think we'll be doing a show that is smaller and more or less regional to begin with. Once we work this one out and get some experience we should be able to do something larger and more impressive down the road. It'll be good to get our feet wet with something like this.

I'm excited to work with some talented people and to plan the opening night celebration. I'm going to try and get some of the artists to speak about their craft, serve some food and drinks and of course burn a wicked cool mix to entertain the masses. I'll post updates. Assume you are invited.

It's a BOY

Baby: We caved. We started talking about it last night and decided in the waiting room that we were going to find out the sex of the baby at today's ultrasound. It's a good thing we did. It's going to take Jen the remaining 4.5 months to come to terms with the fact that she is having a son. She can't even imagine what that will be like or what kind of relationship she'll have with him. She feels like she'll be outnumbered by guys now. She's right in that it will be 2 guys to one girl but the 2 guys will completely adore her.

This is both good and bad news for me. I'm thrilled to be having a son. I am worried that much of the blame will fall on me if I am unsuccessful in raising a son. It seems that it will be my job to make sure that he fits in well with other boys. That he doesn't become either a bully or a pushover. That he knows enough about men's interests to fit in but not to the exclusion of other interests that women can't relate to him. The pressure is now on me more so than if we found out we were having a girl. I could have just spoiled daddy's little girl and gotten away with it.

There are plenty of benefits to knowing that we were previously in denial about. Decorating the nursery is one thing. Also we only need to come up with one name. That alone is going to be very difficult. We don't have to buy all of those gender neutral things. I didn't know that most baby stores were filled with light green things. Filled.

Today was a very special day. Each day that passes makes it feel more real. Each goal, deadline or benchmark that we achieve adds a little more confidence. At some point my son will call me Dad and I won't even look around to see who he's talking to.

Rehab: Tuckpointers showed up this morning. 2 weeks early! Not a bad thing, but it was a surprise. Steve is coming tomorrow morning to start the framing. The window guys are moving along nicely. Things have been slow but they are picking up momentum and probably won't slow down much until the end.

trashed

The other day Jen and I were stopped at a light on Grand and saw a guy roll down his window and throw a whole bag of fast food garbage out the window, roll up the window and drive off. This is not the first time I have witnessed this kind of behavior. It makes me wish they allowed caning in the city of St. Louis. I have an anti-death penalty stance, but would love to see more extreme punishment on these kinds of crimes. What kind of filthy pig behaves in this manner? Nothing says "ghetto" quicker than trash blowing down the street. I didn't see the license plate on the car, but from my recent run-ins with the police, I would not expect them to behave appropriately to my complaint. This is going to have to be the last of my rants. I've got to get out and enjoy something before I (or a vein in my temple) burst.

I grew up in the suburbs and for the first time since moving to St. Louis I'm wondering if that is where I belong. In the suburbs people hurry across the street, they do not creep and glare at you as they cross the street. People throw trash in containers, and if they don't someone WILL say something since they don't live in fear of retaliation. I love parts of the city. There are some benefits, but do they outweigh the drawbacks? Will the things that are out of my control change for the better quick enough? Will I be allowed to raise my child in an urban environment free from fear? Will I turn my home into a fortress/prison to save myself from the nightmare that is rush hour traffic? I will be thinking hard about these things in the next year or two. City don't let me down. You've come a long way, Baby!

There's a baby comin'

Baby: Jen is definitely pregnant. She has grown out of all regular clothes and can only wear maternity now. For awhile she could get away with wearing larger sizes but that doesn't work any longer. Her body continues to change but I think from here on out it'll mostly be just her belly growing.

She couldn't ever imagine what it would be like to have a baby moving inside her. It seemed so alien. What she's learned, however, is that the 9 month process is long and slow enough that you get used to things before the big changes. By the time the baby is large enough to come out giving birth will seem like the most normal thing.

The length of time works in my favor as well. I'm hoping that by the time the baby arrives I'll feel like (and behave like?) a father. I think already doing things like researching strollers and pumpkin seats helps to take the mystery out of the whole parental thing.

This Thursday we have the ultrasound where they can tell us the sex of the baby. We are still sticking to the plan of not finding out what we are having. That may change. We are weak. Would be nice to know. We'll see.

Music: Spending a lot of time with Spoon's Gimme Fiction right now. I can't believe this band is from Austin, Texas. They are the least Texas sounding band I've ever heard. Music from Texas is usually unable to get away from a roots sound. This band could be from anywhere (UK, Sweden, Iceland). Very nice contemporary sound made with guys playing real instruments.

We were Robbed!

I don't mean figuratively. Tonight our house was illegally entered, ransacked and valuable items stolen. I can't sleep now because I'm still upset by it. It is such a violation! This is not helping my current sense of rage.

Here's the story. Jen and I went to Arcelia's for dinner because we've been craving Mexican food. Just before we left the house I took the trash out to the dumpster in the alley. I think I forgot to lock the door behind me when I came in and we left for dinner immediately afterwards (7pm). We were thrilled that there wasn't a wait. We got a table right away and ordered our meals. Afterwards we came home (8:30pm). Right when we walked in the door I noticed some lights on and I joked to Jen that she forgot to turn them off. She said she didn't leave any lights on. I noticed the couch cushions were messed up and I orderd Jen out of the house while I looked around. One peak upstairs and I saw the disaster. Every drawer was pulled out and dumped on beds and the floor. I went outside to tell her to call the cops. I remembered that my neighbor behind the alley had been working on his car all day so I went back there to see if he had seen anything and his wife said that she saw 4 or 5 young black males walking out of our house about an hour and a half earlier (very close to the time we had left). She's a schoolteacher and described them as being between 7th and 10th grade and wearing the usual long white T-shirt and blue jeans that every single kid in the neighborhood wears.

We didn't want to touch anything in the house until the cops got there. I did go down in the basement to see if anyone was hiding down there and saw the basement door, which is always locked, was wide open. The cop arrived, took a report and called for the crime lab to show up and take fingerprints. The crime lab guy was no CSI guy. All he did was tell me how he couldn't get fingerprints off anything. Everything had either too many fingerprints or wasn't a surface that he could get fingerprints from. No help there.

We started cleaning up and taking note of what we had lost. The first thing I noticed is that a bowl full of change had been emptied. About $20 worth of change. Then Jen started naming all of the things that kids would want to steal. I ran to the office and saw that my MP3 player, our digital camera and our video camera had all been swiped. We also found a can of soda in the bedroom and realized they stole beer and a 12 pack of Pepsi from the fridge. The worst, though, was the video camera. The case contained our entire library of irreplaceable family videos. I know it could have been worse, but it could have not happened at all.

I try to be polite as flocks of school aged kids walk down the middle of my street cursing and yelling at each other and everyone else. I tell myself that they are rude, but they haven't been taught any better. Lack of manners doesn't make them criminals? From now on I'll be suspicious of every kid that walks by my house. The cops said that they are most likely neighborhood kids. Which ones? I want to know. I want to smack the shit out of them and then, when I know I have their attention, give them a piece of my mind. This is a fantasy. I'll never know who broke into my house. Just like I'll never know who stole both of my cars 2 years ago, vandalized my motorcycle last Summer, broke the rear window in my Liberty last Fall. I just have to pack those feelings away until the rage subsides and come to terms with the fact that life isn't fair. Things get stolen from good people and these miserable little punks have terrible home lives and will most likely remain bums or go to jail. Life isn't fair. Count your blessings.

The Jefferson National Expansion Memorial

The Jefferson National Expansion Memorial

The World famous, Eero Saarinen designed, St. Louis Arch. It is kind of a cliche to many. It represents the "flyover" States. If you are making a movie or commercial and you want to represent a cross country trip you have an obligation to show an image of the Arch out the window of a moving car as it crosses the Mississippi.

To residents (or at least transplants like me) it means a lot more. The Arch represents a different era to me. 1965 was a time when people still valued creativity. When building a 630 foot sculpture wouldn't have been considered a waste of time and taxpayer dollars. The Arch is a grounding object. I see the Arch on a daily basis and it gives me a sense of direction. I always know which way is East because of the Arch. In that way it is a helpful friend.

Up close the Arch is magnificent. All that stainless steel seems both modern and timeless. I love the fact that you can walk right up and give it a slap. And I do recommend slapping it. It's so massive that it doesn't give one millimeter. There is no hollow ping to the Arch. It's solid and will stand for centuries. As a structure it's massive size and beauty are inspiring.

I wish every city in the world had such a structure with which to identify. I hope you can come to St. Louis and visit our monument. We'd be happy to host you. You can go up to the top of the Arch in little podlike trams and look out to the West and the future of America in a way that Lewis and Clark couldn't have dreamed of. Did I mention it was inspiring?

Rage

We are full of rage. At least we all seem to be right now. I'm included in this one. Lately I have been on the verge of beating my neighbor. Last Friday he was out yelling and making noise at 3:30am. I walked out onto my front porch and pointed out the time to him. He yelled some expletives and said something about me waking him up at 7am. I can asure everyone that I am rarely up and never making a peep at 7am. His friends then drove down the street honking their horn the whole way. It was 3:30 am! I wouldn't have gotten out of bed at midnight even if he woke me up, but 3:30am is ridiculous. I didn't sleep the rest of the night I was so upset. I stared at the ceiling all night plotting ways to get away with murdering him. The next day I went over with the idea of talking to him but the thought of beating him was also present. He wasn't there, but his roommate was and said they'd come over and talk to me about it. Over a week later and I haven't heard from him. The next night he woke up my wife and my visiting Mom at 3:15am when he drove home so drunk he had to be carried into his house. One of the frustrating things is that as a homeowner I care about my neighborhood, but since he is just a renter he doesn't care and their is very little I can do without pissing him off and starting some kind of neighborhood war. If I call the cops for a noise violation I'll wake up and find my car has been keyed.

Also while my parents were in town we walked up to a local restaurant for dinner. After dinner we walked to the grocery store to pick up some ice cream. While at the store Jen and I were waiting in the self checkout line and my Mom and Dad (in their mid 60's and as harmless as people can be) decided they would get out of crowded line and walk to the front of the store to wait for us to complete our purchase. A young man in front of us started saying some rude expletives to MY MOM. She may or may not have bumped him with her purse or maybe he thought she was taking cuts in line. Whatever happened it wasn't blatant and wasn't clear to me until my Mom walked up to him and apologized for whatever she did that upset him. Then my Dad spoke to him and asked him if he had a problem. My 67 year old Dad was challenging this kid that wasn't more than 25. It was complete insanity and I didn't even realize what had happened until we were out of the store. My helpless Mom was not challenging this kid at all yet he felt the need to swear at her for who knows what reason.

What can you do with these people? You can only suck up the rage you feel towards them for so long before you get all COPS on them and they are dragging you off to city jail without your shirt and shoes.

Then today Jen was pulling up in front of our house and was about to parallel park. She pulled just ahead of the parking space and put her turn signal on to identify to the car behind her that she was pulling in. The car then sped around her yelling "Bitch" at her. Jen said the car had children in it too. What was this guy so mad about? She had done nothing wrong. It was maybe a 10 second delay in his day while she backed in? Why did he have to bring his rage into our lives and the lives of the children in his car?

Is there something bigger going on here? Is the whole country on edge about the state of the world? Is time so precious to us now that we can't wait 10 seconds? Are we so inconsiderate that we treat neighbors like a random driver on the road that we don't expect to see again? Have we just lost our manners?

That kid in the grocery store should have excused himself for being in the way even if my Mom had bumped into him. My neighbor should have apologized if he had lost track of the time and learned that it was 3:30am and not 3:30pm when he was yelling out in the street. That guy in the car should have given Jen a friendly wave as he safely drove by after it was all clear.

How do we dispell our daily collection of rage without hurting others? This is getting seriously unpleasant.

CD Mix Exchange

I'm involved in my first ever cd mix exchange. In case you are unfamiliar it works like this...each month you make a mix of songs that either you like or you think the other person would like. You then mail it off to a person on the list. Someone else on the list is doing the same thing and mailing it off to you. You do this until everyone on the list has sent a mix to everyone else on the list. The only other rule for this particular exchange is that no two covers can be the same.

I enjoy making mixes and introducing music to my friends that I think they would like if they were just given the opportunity to listen. This particular mix exchange is through Gigposters. There are 21 people involved in locations all over the world. There is great diversity in the taste of these people so I am looking forward to what may be sent my way. Many of those involved are gig poster designers or other artists. Much effort is going into the covers and cases for the mixes. I myself am not an artist so I usually use existing artwork or photos that I have taken.

I completed and sent my first mix today. It was sent to a young guy in the UK who is a punk rock fan. He mentioned that he is also getting into some country and likes Hank III. That knowledge developed into a theme and I put together a mix of a lot of cowpunk, old time country songs and other riled up musical pieces along with some movie quotes to make a complete package. The artwork for the package came from a children's book called The Robots are Coming by Andy Rash.

My Android Cowboy cd mix exchange cover.

the complete track listing:
The Black Keys - Thickfreakness
The Gourds - Gin & Juice
Mule - Ass
the Afghan Whigs - Retarded
Son Volt - Last Time Around
Old 97's - Wish the Worst
Bare Jr. - You Blew Me Off
Devil in a Woodpile - I Keep on Drinkin'
Uncle Tupelo - Graveyard Shift
The Rugburns - Me & Eddie Vedder
Big Chief - My Name is Pimp (Mack's Theme)
Superchunk - The Question is How Fast
The Sights - I'm Gonna Live the Life I Sing About
Buffalo Tom - Birdbrain
Doug Sahm - Give Back the Key to My Heart
Clem Snide - Messiah Complex Blues
Low - When I Go Deaf
Sloan - Underwhelmed
Hayseed Dixie - Fat Bottomed Girls
Robbie Fulks - She Took a lot of Pills and Died
the Waco Brothers - Lake of Vinegar