Street Dogs played warped tour this year.
If you know Keith and I, then I have said plenty already. Street Dogs are definitely in my top two bands of all times list and on wednesday we went to warped tour to see them. They played an early set and were worth all of the $96 that Ticketmaster scalped me for (for 2 $31.50 tickets) just to see them. Of course the show was awesome. We were right in front and I managed to snap a few pictures of the show. It was kind of cool that Mike McColgan took a few moments to mention what a great thing Warped Tour was to bring so many great bands to one place at one time. He mentioned some of the bands' names in particular as bands who were doing great work and still carrying a message in the music they make. One of the band he mentioned was Against me! whom we were also there to see.
We had some things autographed which was really a great experience. I will say that there is definitely something very exciting about meeting the creators of what you listen to, especially the music that just feels like home. Not everyone takes the time to look you in the eye or really shake your hand, but they do. They really thank you for being there. I will say that after you finally get to put traits to the people that make the music that truly means something to you, it can be a bit overwhelming when they make eye contact while talking to you and show their appreciation.
We managed to catch some of the Gym Class Heroes set while waiting for the Street Dogs. It was really great to see them, I'm totally interested in what they do, and they definitely have some great songs. It was soo hot out that we definitely had to take some breaks inside to keep from passing out.
We also Got to see Against Me! which was a great show. Seeing them live, you can't help but notice how in to the music they are, which makes tier music even better.
We stuck around through the next couple of hours just to see the Street Dogs acoustic set which was amazing. It was in a small vendor tent, and they invited us all into their space so that we could be closer and out of the sun. By close I mean within arms length. There are just far too many thought and feelings about the experience to share. It could not possibly have been a more perfect end to a perfect day.
15 August, 2008
08 July, 2008
01 July, 2008
New Frogs
A rather sad string of events has led to both of my vivariums being unoccupied. My Green Tree Frogs, Jay, and Silent Bob vacated first. even though he appeared the more healthy one, Silent Bob stretched out one day and never returned to his leafy pose. Jay carried on for a few weeks but one day while the cage door was open, went for a walk and took his life by crawling into a dry towel. No doubt he was lonely for his life-long friend. Jay and Silent Bob's neighbors, WOW Buddy and Hidey Hole, my two Yellowback Poison Dart Frogs passed later. I noticed that Hidey -named for his tendency to hide in the driftwood holes of his home. had not peeked out for about a week even for a meal and found his body buried in the waterfall rocks under the basin. Taking special care to keep an eye on WOW Buddy's health I noticed that he was fine for about a week and then one day he didn't come out. Unlike Hidey, WOW Buddy was always out and about, and never missed a meal. I found him stretched out in the rocks under the basin, nearly gone. I finally figured out that the waterfall in their home just wasn't enough for them, they needed a dish to soak in. I put him in water and he instantly perked up. He looked even better when I checked on him later. But when Keith came home he was dead.
Having two empty vivariums was just too sad. So I have started looking for new tenants, beginning with the arboreal habitat. I settled on two White's Dumpy tree frogs. I have avoided them in the past because the only ones I had seen were plump and flabby -think Jabba the Hut. Recently however, I have seen some full grown Dumpies that were at a healthy weight and found that they can be really beautiful frogs if not not over fed.
These are my two new frogs, who have yet to be named. They are not yet old enough to tell if they are male or female so whatever their names will be have to be good either way. If you have any fun ideas send them my way!
An action shot of the larger one who is seafoam green color...
He is posing for this one...
Back in his new home, on a leaf...
This one is a bit smaller. and he is olive green...
In The Rearview
The past week has been a bit overwhelming. In fact, if I had to guess its theme, I would pick "disaster". The following is dedicated to getting it off my chest (so to speak) and redirecting my focus toward the good things.
It all started on Wednesday. I had a bad ten hours at work, and came home to find that my friend Mickey was in the emergency room with pain and swelling (soon to be diagnosed as Lyme's disease), and having taken it easy the night before the whole house was torn apart. Of course I can't possibly just clean things up, I have to be upset that there are things to do in the first place. Meanwhile, Keith has gone through the trouble to make a dinner to enjoy while we watch our favorite shows and relax, which the intentions of are entirely ruined by mood. We managed to recover the evening, but it would have been great if I cold just have relaxed about everything in the first place. I'm kind of nocturnal so I didn't really get any sleep until three or four.
On Thursday I was still stressing over work and one of my friends was needing some company. I went over after work and ended up staying until 2:30. I was definitely out later than I should have been and when I got home I discover it was shortly after a tree had fallen, blocking the entrance to the park we live in. I turned around and parked outside so that I could at least hike in. By the time I made all I wanted to do was sleep but I didn't manage to until around four again.
Friday was not so bad. I did have a raging headache, but sometimes that just happens. Keith and Brett were playing WOW when I got home, and overall it was really nice to just enjoy being home and relaxing. I only had to do laundry and since I had been working so much overtime I really didn't feel like doing much else. I still didn't manage any sleep until two, which was bad cause I had to be up at six.
On Saturday, my phone froze after I hit my first snooze. Seriously? I was in a sleepy, confused state of disbelief when I woke up thirteen minutes before work. I managed to cut to the necessities of my AM routine and got to work about twenty minutes late. Later in the evening my teammates and I had planned on spending some time at Friday's our team is being split up and we all wanted to hang out together away from work. On the way there Stefanie called to tell me that Mickey was in the emergency room again, with different swelling and pain and that it sounded like an allergic reaction to the antibiotics for the the Lyme's disease. I left immediately to go to Madera, to help with what I could. I didn't get home till after one in the morning. I did sleep immediately, having to be up early for wok again. I was pretty sure at this point that all I had to do was get through the work day and I'd bee home free. I'm off on Mondays and all this craziness had to be over. I had plans to pick out new frogs and go to Coldstone with my friends.
I'm not sure why, but I decided to go home on my lunch. When I got there, I heard water falling, like a shower. I recognised this sound immediately. This is the sound made by the water supply line to the water heater. This has broken a few times before but we were pretty confident we had fixed it. When this happens, our closet gets sprayed with water and everything pretty much sucks. I had been gone since 8:15 and had no way of knowing how long it had been going. It was long enough to flood the bathroom, and make its way to the office under the walls. No Ice cream for me.
On the brighter side of everything: I have Keith, who deals with me when I'm crazy and helps me with everything. The kind of friends who understand when I have to miss plans, who want my company when they need support, and who are there for me even when it's two in Colorado because I need to vent about my crazy, crazy week. I have a family who will drop what they are doing to help me-even if it didn't go as planned. and I got to pick out two new frogs. I am leaving the events of this week behind, and taking with me only the lessons learned. Here's to the coming week!
-Fin-
It all started on Wednesday. I had a bad ten hours at work, and came home to find that my friend Mickey was in the emergency room with pain and swelling (soon to be diagnosed as Lyme's disease), and having taken it easy the night before the whole house was torn apart. Of course I can't possibly just clean things up, I have to be upset that there are things to do in the first place. Meanwhile, Keith has gone through the trouble to make a dinner to enjoy while we watch our favorite shows and relax, which the intentions of are entirely ruined by mood. We managed to recover the evening, but it would have been great if I cold just have relaxed about everything in the first place. I'm kind of nocturnal so I didn't really get any sleep until three or four.
On Thursday I was still stressing over work and one of my friends was needing some company. I went over after work and ended up staying until 2:30. I was definitely out later than I should have been and when I got home I discover it was shortly after a tree had fallen, blocking the entrance to the park we live in. I turned around and parked outside so that I could at least hike in. By the time I made all I wanted to do was sleep but I didn't manage to until around four again.
Friday was not so bad. I did have a raging headache, but sometimes that just happens. Keith and Brett were playing WOW when I got home, and overall it was really nice to just enjoy being home and relaxing. I only had to do laundry and since I had been working so much overtime I really didn't feel like doing much else. I still didn't manage any sleep until two, which was bad cause I had to be up at six.
On Saturday, my phone froze after I hit my first snooze. Seriously? I was in a sleepy, confused state of disbelief when I woke up thirteen minutes before work. I managed to cut to the necessities of my AM routine and got to work about twenty minutes late. Later in the evening my teammates and I had planned on spending some time at Friday's our team is being split up and we all wanted to hang out together away from work. On the way there Stefanie called to tell me that Mickey was in the emergency room again, with different swelling and pain and that it sounded like an allergic reaction to the antibiotics for the the Lyme's disease. I left immediately to go to Madera, to help with what I could. I didn't get home till after one in the morning. I did sleep immediately, having to be up early for wok again. I was pretty sure at this point that all I had to do was get through the work day and I'd bee home free. I'm off on Mondays and all this craziness had to be over. I had plans to pick out new frogs and go to Coldstone with my friends.
I'm not sure why, but I decided to go home on my lunch. When I got there, I heard water falling, like a shower. I recognised this sound immediately. This is the sound made by the water supply line to the water heater. This has broken a few times before but we were pretty confident we had fixed it. When this happens, our closet gets sprayed with water and everything pretty much sucks. I had been gone since 8:15 and had no way of knowing how long it had been going. It was long enough to flood the bathroom, and make its way to the office under the walls. No Ice cream for me.
On the brighter side of everything: I have Keith, who deals with me when I'm crazy and helps me with everything. The kind of friends who understand when I have to miss plans, who want my company when they need support, and who are there for me even when it's two in Colorado because I need to vent about my crazy, crazy week. I have a family who will drop what they are doing to help me-even if it didn't go as planned. and I got to pick out two new frogs. I am leaving the events of this week behind, and taking with me only the lessons learned. Here's to the coming week!
-Fin-
20 May, 2008
Five AM
I must say- if I do have and internal clock, it is most certainly set to five AM.
At Five AM I am most awake
but worn from the length of the day
All ready to go when the world's locked up shop.
Brimming with thoughts that will pass as I sleep.
Ready to take on a day that I will rather postpone in the light.
Eight hours short.
Good night.
At Five AM I am most awake
but worn from the length of the day
All ready to go when the world's locked up shop.
Brimming with thoughts that will pass as I sleep.
Ready to take on a day that I will rather postpone in the light.
Eight hours short.
Good night.
13 April, 2008
Yard: Acomplished!
SO, for a long time now, we have been meaning to do something about our back fence. There is a tree that grew straight through it all kind of huge rose bushes that have been around long enough to intertwine with the fence and then continue growing out, leaving brush behind. Also I have been threatening for a year to get outside and separate the daffodils so they could bloom. Well, a harebrained idea I had to plant some flowers turned into yard makeover day. well . two days to be exact.
We ended up removing all the small bushes and trees from the fence (and marking the biggest tree for a upcoming meeting with its executioner), removing said plant parts, raking leaves I've been avoiding since last year, clearing the grass out from the park trail behind our fence, separating four small patches of daffodils into (I'm guesstimating) somewhere around 100 bubs, re-planting them, and finally planting the things that originally led us into this fiasco. Also I saw a gynormous wolf spider for the first time which was a little scary, but not as bad as the fronky lizards who live in the shed -to their credit they stayed out of sight during this project. It seems they learned their lesson that time we were emptying out the shed.
Now it is all done, and we're super excited that we won't have to this stuff anywhere in the near future again. I wish I had been thinking to get the before pics, it didn't occur to me to blog about it until we were well into it. And I tried to take a picture of the big scary wolf spider, but he took a hike while I was getting the camera. I did however take some "after" pics today so everyone can see.
We ended up removing all the small bushes and trees from the fence (and marking the biggest tree for a upcoming meeting with its executioner), removing said plant parts, raking leaves I've been avoiding since last year, clearing the grass out from the park trail behind our fence, separating four small patches of daffodils into (I'm guesstimating) somewhere around 100 bubs, re-planting them, and finally planting the things that originally led us into this fiasco. Also I saw a gynormous wolf spider for the first time which was a little scary, but not as bad as the fronky lizards who live in the shed -to their credit they stayed out of sight during this project. It seems they learned their lesson that time we were emptying out the shed.
Now it is all done, and we're super excited that we won't have to this stuff anywhere in the near future again. I wish I had been thinking to get the before pics, it didn't occur to me to blog about it until we were well into it. And I tried to take a picture of the big scary wolf spider, but he took a hike while I was getting the camera. I did however take some "after" pics today so everyone can see.
23 March, 2008
Thistle Louise Cecilia Johnson
Today my neice Thistle was born. Just a hair under eight pounds and twenty inches long. She has a ton of hair and eventhough she's not supposed to be able to yet, she smiles. She Is beatiful and perfect.
Stefanie is doing fine and both she and Mic are happy baby is finally here. She knows her big brother and is making quick work of stealing his heart. Whenever she looks at him it's like she talking to him.
I'm so excited that she is finally here, and now I can learn everything about her as she grows!
22 March, 2008
St. Patrick's Day: A Short History and Until Next Year
St. Patrick’s Day- In my oppinion one of the very most important holidays of the year. Yes I feel grateful on thanksgiving and I get the spirit of Christmas and Easter (despite their misplacements on the calnedar). But in the long run I think that these holidays are more about reflection and appreciation than celebrating. This is in no way intended to undermine the history that brings us to celebrate St. Pat’s (witholding prodestant commetary here), and is certainly not meant to take advantage of the fact that "everybody’s Irish on St. Patrick’s day" but I am a little Irish, and my honey’s VERY Irish and well, we’re proud. All in all St. Patrick’s Day is the one day of the year where I truley feel like celebrating. Just feeling great.
The first photograph of Keith and I together was taken on St. Patrick’s Day 2005. Flash back to the day before: McCann and I needed something green to wear, and of course we did everything together so finding ourselves some green duds would be no exception. Well we did and we found a couple of beers afterword and I found myself back from where I had been gone for years. Flash forward again:
Veronica Pepper took this first photo of us and and suddenly everyone that cared about us knew. So, in some ways, St. Pat’s is an aniversary of sorts. (Thank You to Veronica, photpgrapher extraordinaire, this pic is one of my favorite things in the whole world!)
Since then, each year, we look forward to celbrating St Patrick’s Day. Great friends, great food, great beer. We especially look forward to celbrating with the Peppers. This time around we had a whole year of great plans, but life kicked in. John and Veronica and I all had to work on 3/17 and 3/18. More importantly they work early and I work late, so no amount of toughing out was gonna make our plan possible.
Keith had planned on cooking his traditional Irish spread for he and I anyway. Corned Beef and Cabbage, Colecanon, Guinness Lamb Stew and Soda Bread. Long story short, some of our friends were able to join our late meal, and we were grateful for it.
Next year, things will go as planned. Old traditions and new one’s will be combined. The gang will ALL be there. And we will all celebrate.
The first photograph of Keith and I together was taken on St. Patrick’s Day 2005. Flash back to the day before: McCann and I needed something green to wear, and of course we did everything together so finding ourselves some green duds would be no exception. Well we did and we found a couple of beers afterword and I found myself back from where I had been gone for years. Flash forward again:
Veronica Pepper took this first photo of us and and suddenly everyone that cared about us knew. So, in some ways, St. Pat’s is an aniversary of sorts. (Thank You to Veronica, photpgrapher extraordinaire, this pic is one of my favorite things in the whole world!)
Since then, each year, we look forward to celbrating St Patrick’s Day. Great friends, great food, great beer. We especially look forward to celbrating with the Peppers. This time around we had a whole year of great plans, but life kicked in. John and Veronica and I all had to work on 3/17 and 3/18. More importantly they work early and I work late, so no amount of toughing out was gonna make our plan possible.
Keith had planned on cooking his traditional Irish spread for he and I anyway. Corned Beef and Cabbage, Colecanon, Guinness Lamb Stew and Soda Bread. Long story short, some of our friends were able to join our late meal, and we were grateful for it.
Next year, things will go as planned. Old traditions and new one’s will be combined. The gang will ALL be there. And we will all celebrate.
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