So we had our first real snow fall the day before and lasting through Thanksgiving. Luckily I did most of the outside work the week prior. Even then, it stayed really cold (sub 20 F) for a few days enough to really ice up the pavement. Anyways, this was probably the most crowded jumpy hectic Thanksgiving on file. Big dinner wednesday. Bigger dinner Thursday (the food literally evaporated). And a relative hosted friday. By that saturday I was totally spent. But to make matters worse I had been battling a very minor cold for the past week, but it got really bad over the holiday. I'm coming out of it now. Well slowly I guess.

The sun hasn't shined much for the past few days either and there have been a lot of heavy rains. At the end of November? Well, its better than snow some might argue. And then I'm hearing that the hurricane season may not be over yet and there may still be bizarre weather pattern ahead? I know that the plains were hammered with a terrible blizzard and there is trouble for the Canadian Prime Minister. ... Okay, that was a bit irrelevant, but the common theme is the same: more gloom and doom for the world!

So how to combat it? Well, I can selfishly spend my money and splurge. I'm in the market for a new laptop, but I haven't convinced myself that I really want it. I had no idea that that little hard to use eraser-shaped-pointer-thumb-stick increases the laptop's cost by about $300 to $500! Imagine that. Okay enough rambling, sinus problems bugging me again...

Posted in: Life,

I don't think anyone cares but I thought I'd list my personal account of which vehicles tend to be speed demons over the past year or so.

• Ford Focus - the smaller hatchback is probably the most common speeding vehicle I've ever seen.
• Chrysler Jeep Liberty - That 4.3L packs quite a punch, and this automobile has only recently been added to my list.
• Chevrolet Silverado Truck - This one's iffy. It comes close to the Dodge Durango or Dodge Ram.
• Honda Civic and Volkswagen Jetta both get honorable mentions.
• All Pontiac cars get the noteworthy competitor consolation prize.

So for the speeders, I wish they would at least drive safely. And for the jerks who cut people off and other contemptible act, they get the good old car horn. I'd much rather prefer an array of fog horns - that'll wake them up. But I wonder if there is any point giving the horn, these people either don't care or don't even realize they're committing an offense. So why do it? Simple, to make myself feel better.

Posted in: Random,

It's quite disturbing how lately many people put up decorations for Halloween. The event is not a holiday and it is only a 2-3 hour event on one day! There's no season involved. In reality people are pretty foolish to fall victim to the massive commercialization of things like Halloween.

So one day after yesterday, I'm coming home and flip the radio stations to listen for the traffic report on the highway. What greeted me? Some Christmas music! And it's not even near Thanksgiving yet. In the Catholic church, the 4 week season before Christmas is known as Advent - and that's merely the preparation for the 3 week Christmas holiday season following December 25th.

Anyways, I don't think that religious technicalities affect how masters of marketing exploit seasonal buying habits. I don't plan to fall victim to it. However, I know America as a whole will.

Posted in: Life,

We chose not to give out candy this year. I wish people understood the rules that no lights means no candy. Which means, don't keep knocking on the frickin door! Anyways, I didn't feel particularily festive this year and I wasn't in the mood to hop back and forth between the door and some cheap candy that I wouldn't enjoy eating myself. Oh well.

For the most part my views from last year still hold. To parents: Don't force your 3 year old to beg for candy. To teens: Grow up already. Get a job and buy your own candy. And if you do plan to trick-or-treat, then please put on a costume and hide the fact that you're almost 20. To the kids: Be careful and follow the rules. And be polite already.

Posted in: Life,

I had a blast at the U2 concert. Granted I was totally exhausted, but in retrospect I really don't regret much.

Back in January I was a little disappointed they picked a monday, but I decided that I would make accommodations regardless of work or other committments. So I took some time off, went home, got ready and left for the Palace with my brother, by about 4. Sadly most of southeastern Michigan is under assault by construction and we arrived there by about 5:30. The west entrance was the only entrance for GA (general admission) floor tickets. So we waited in the shorter of the 2 lines formed there. At 6 we filled in, only to find we were accidentally in the u2.com fan club line. A little smooth sailing and we hopped into the right line (selfishly cutting in front of a few hundred) oh well. We got our floor wristbands and went out the to the floor.

The floor was set up with a big ellipse with one end at the stage and the other holding back the GA floor. If your ticket scanned some code, you got to take 1 person into the ellipse with you. No luck here. So since it's GA and first come first "stand", we just stood clumped up to the outer edge of the ellipse for about 1 hour till 7:30 when the cover band started. The seats weren't even 1/3 filled yet.

The coverband "Institute" really sucked. Made up of ex-Bush singer Gavin Rossdale (aka. Mister Gwen Stefani), they really didn't connect much with the crowd. They were a little harsh and the only time the crowd seemed happy was when they sang some Bush songs, which I never liked in the first place. That's when I realized how truly loud the floor was. Credit to my younger brother for suggesting ear plugs. So even though it didn't drown out the boring music, it helped. They wrapped up by about 8:25 or so and the stage was set up for the main act. Keep in mind now that we've been standing for almost 3 hours.

The band finally surfaced at 9 and it was packed to the limit. I finally saw Bono appear out of nowhere on the ellipse platform. They opened to an incredibly lively "City of Blinding Lights" from their latest album ("How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb" - long, I know). There was an amazing back drop of stringed lights that ran multiple images across them which made me feel like I was in the video for that song. After hopping through "Vertigo" they introduced themselves and started rolling with their act.

Let me say Bono and the boys are rock solid entertainers. They don't just sing they really put on a show. The music was rocking perfect, but the presence is what truly made the difference. Let me be the first to say that their latest album was nothing compared to 2000's "All That You Can't Leave Behind" or "Achtung Baby" or "The Joshua Tree". But they mixed a lot of new songs into the act and went through a good number of old songs including "Pride" and "Sunday Bloody Sunday". It was great just singing along (almost screaming) and not really caring. But the most energizing parts were when they played their late 80's and 90's music. Definite crowd pleasers.

And what would a U2 concert be without Bono's plea for support for debt relief and aide to 3rd world countries and the common brotherhood of man? He pulled out a bandanna with coexist - a phrase with symbolism to Islam, Judaism and Christianity. Very smooth how it all came to gether. So succintly he merged it with the ONE campaign. Asking people to pull out their cell phones in the darkness and make for a dazzling light display. And to end the show they played "One" (quite possibly the best U2 song ever). And I was ready to go home. It was 10:30 and my body was drained, but no the lights would not come on.

They came back up for an encore with "Walk On" dedicated to Aung San Suu Kyi under house arrest in Burma. And with it (on screen) she read off a Universal Declaration of Human Rights - very apolitical and moving. And with that I thought it was over. Then they came up for some more "Joshua Tree" music which somehow reanimated me into jumping and singing again. And after Bono picked some girl out of the crowd (about 10 feet away) and sang "With or Without You" to her, I thought it was over. But those cursed lights never came back on. Then, for one final encore (or maybe I missed one in between), they ended with "Psalm 40". And the people sang into the darkness.

Walking on out of the arena was terrible. My shoes were sticky with spilled beer and those steps were like climbing the highest mountains. After buying our ONE campaign wristbands and being upset that t-shirts were $35 a peice, we finally sat down in the car at 11:30. After about 6 straight hours on our feet, driving home was tough, but we pulled in at about 1am and slept by 2. Wish I took tuesday off instead of just the morning. Oh well.

Looking back, maybe I'll get seats next time. But I guess I wouldn't trade monday night for the world. It was great. It was moving and the experience was exactly what I couldn't live without. Been waiting for over 10 years, and for the guy with the poster: "I've waited 20 years for this day" -- yeah, I know what that felt like. It was a beautiful day.

Posted in: Music,