A Rainy Day

It's raining outside. It's not pouring but it's that kind of wet that gets into your bones if you have to be out in it. Fortunately I do not and so I am (or "was") lying on my bed, curled up with my daughter Erin and watching Weird Al's UHF. My darling wife is at work and I'm curled up with my daughter and a plethora of stuffed toys watching a silly movie. I think this is what life's all about.

Oh yeah, and I recieved a response to my fan mail from Lederhosen Lucil. It's a dumb little thing but it's dumb little things like that that get me all giddy. Life is good today.

The Hypnotoad

I love Futurama. I have a wallpaper on my laptop of Bender and his famous catchphrase "You bite my shiny metal ass" that I have to keep changing out when I use it (the laptop that is) for business purposes. I found this gif of the Hypnotoad and had to use it. I didn't want to completely rip off the nice girl who posted it on her blog (Jen from "Very Big Design", the leader in bringing an Ikea to my back yard) so if you want to see how she used the hypnotoad, click on her website.



Don't stare for too long. You'll be compelled to do strange things. It made me post in my blog.

Pennsylvania and Foerign Language Experiments

Over the last few days I had to go to Lehigh Valley Pennsylvania for a business trip. On the way there, after I got on the plane, I thought it would be interesting and maybe somewhat amusing if I spoke only in German and pretended not to know any English. I started this after I got on the plane. It wasn't really an issue until the stewardess came up to me and asked me if I wanted something to drink. I asked her, "Sprechen sie Deutsch?". I had to repeat myself a time or two because she was having a hard time hearing me due to our proximity to the aircraft engines. The ladies in the seats next to mine heard me and told her that I was asking her if she spoke (you're going to love this...) Dutch. I almost turned to them and said, "Nein, nicht Nederlander, Deutsch" but I figured that was taking this a bit too far. She tried to communicate with me and I waited until she got to the word "Coke" before I smiled and said, "Ja, coke bitte". I got my coke and the rest of the flight was more or less uneventful. While no one tried to communicate with me, I got several semi-nervous smiles from people who seemed to want to say hello but were afraid to approach me. It was an interesting experiment. What did it teach me? It seems to me that mainstream Americans are fairly ignorant in terms of dealing with foreign peoples but they aren't unfriendly and their heart seems to be in the right place.

After getting off the plane and getting to my hotel I decided that some food was in order so I walked over to the nearest Wendys and got a bite. Bethlehem is like any other place in Pennsylvania. I can't really describe it except to say that if you take anyone who's spent any significant time in Pennsylvania and plop them down in any other place in Pennsylvania without telling them where they are, even if they've been out of the state for a while, they will know they're in Pennsylvania. Maybe it's the whole steel mill/coal mining thing but I doubt it. I've been to Pittsburgh a few times and I lived in the greater Philadelphia area for four years. While there are very certain differences, it all feels like Pennsylvania. It was nice. Comfortable. Kind of like home. I look forward to going back.

American Music

American music sucks. There you go, I said it. I should probably clarify though and say that mainstream American music sucks. I have not listened to an American radio station in years on any regular sort of basis. There's just so much Nickleback and Linkin Park that I can take before I start olympic projectile distance vomiting. There are a number of things that bother me about American radio. First is the DJ. Fake sounding idiots who put on this contrived "extreme" act or, worse yet, laugh at every thing that comes out of their own mouths. Annoying doesn't even begin to cover this. Right now, the local Cincinnati radio station WEBN's (I'm not linking to their site, they don't deserve it) whole marketing campaign is to put huge letters "FU" up on billboards with the much smaller text "frog university" under it because covert swearing is "cool" and "extreme". The commercials are bad but this is just plain lazy. And then, getting back on topic, there's the music. You know what happens when you make a photocopy of a photocopy, right? Then you continue that process and get an unintelligible mess. That's what American music has become. Start with Pearl Jam and continue until today. It used to be, back in the 80s and, to a lesser degree, the 90s that popular rock music could be differentiated into different categories such as alternative, classic, etc. Now it's all labeled "alternative" and it all sucks. You can easily tell the ones that do not suck because they get next to no airplay and often make their music available for free via download off of their website. The problem is twofold in my humble opinion. First, the entire American music scene is no longer being run by musicians and people with a feel for art, it's being run by the RIAA who are basically managerial types and pencil pushers who are more interested in filing lawsuits against people than improving the quality of music in this country. The other is simple laziness in that musicians display a complete failure to experiment and try new things. Some of the biggest bands in their genre have started out attempting something that no one else has tried. REM, Pink Floyd, the Cure - all of these bands have started their own genre by experimenting with music and treating it as an art rather than a means to sex and money.

Lately (as in, the last few years) I've been importing my music from overseas. If you want to try something different, Radio Goethe is a station here in the USA that is run by a German friend of mine named Arndt Peltner. It's all German, Austrian and Swiss bands and the diversity of music that he plays is such that you will almost certainly find something you like. So, that's my plug, give it a listen.

I Love My Culture

As is obvious to anyone who knows me, I'm of significant German ancestry (See FAQ). Today my family and I attended the Kolping Schüetzenfest. Kolping is a German society here in the Cincinnati area and the tradition goes that at the Schüetzenfest, the male members who wish to participate use .22 cal rifles and they shoot at a wooden eagle up on a tall post. When enough of the eagle is shot away, it drops down the pole and the man who is the final shot wins and is crowned the king of the Kolping society for that year. It's a pretty big production and we've attended this before. It's a great time, even if you're not a member (I'm not... yet) and it's a great opportunity to delve into German culture. There's music everywhere, plenty of good German beer and food and tyrolean hats everywhere you look. It's one of the few places where you can hear people having conversations in German and get the feel for traditional Germany. Personally, I'm always more comfortable with beer in hand and surrounded by my ancestral culture. While it was godawful hot, we managed to have a great time. Erin rode everything, some things twice, we took in the sights sounds and smells and a lot of water (I took in a litre of beer) and just generally had a good time. Now it's getting late, we're all dog tired and (speaking of things German, or in this case, Canadian) I'm giving some new weirdness called "Lederhosen Lucil" (read the bio) a listen. It's actually kind of cool in a really odd sort of way. I'll give the Cannukians this, they're an original bunch up there. It drives me crazy, all of this original music and interesting sounds and American music is so full of this regurgitated crap. Maybe I'll write more on that tomorrow.

A few Days Off

I've taken a few days off, mostly due to writers block. Isn't that always the way? I put the start of this project on hold for a period of time because of the problem of coming up with a decent name for it, all the while having all of these great things I wanted to write about, and now that I'm off the ground I'm stuck. All of the great writing ideas went right out the window. Urgh!

Well, anyway, we decided to get out of the house yesterday. It was rainy and wet and generally not very good "out" weather but we decided that a drive would be nice. During our wandering, we remembered that we had once talked to someone about getting some horseback riding lessons for Erin. Luckily, doing everything by memory, we were able to find the Galerie farm and the people we'd talked to and take an hour to talk with the owner, play with the dogs, pet the horses and just generally let Erin go nuts around the animals. When we all got home Erin went for Heather's old riding helmet and has been just psyched about learning to ride ever since. It was nice to be out on the farm for a bit. I'd forgotten how much I missed having dogs around and spending time in the barn with the horses. Someday I think I'd like that for my family. It's a lot of hard work but I'm ok with that. It's just, all in all, a much healthier environment I think.

The World Cup Ends

Sadly, the 2006 World Cup is over. I've watched this tournament, as many games as I could, for a month now and I've really gotten used to having the world's best to watch on a nearly daily basis. A month ago my favorite team, Germany, beat Costa Rica 4:2 and it was the start of some of the greatest moments I've seen in sports. I knew the ending was going to be sad. Germany was eliminated by Italy in the round of four (but did win the runner up match to get third place) and the tournament, something so good for the sport and for Germany was coming to an end. I went into the final game not sure who to root for but all that changed in overtime.



What the hell was Zidane thinking?? I was actually pulling for France somewhat because I wanted to see the old guy go out on top but this is how he chose to end his career. There's some speculation that whatever Materazzi said must have been bad to make Zidane do something like this but I can't see that anything simply verbalized would make someone do something so incredibly stupid, not just to himself and his career but to his team. While we'll never know, this act may have cost France the world cup. The whole thing is a damn shame and a sad way to end such a great career. As it was, karma was served and Italy won the match on PKs. I enjoyed watching them celebrate after the match.

Match of the tournament (IMHO) goes to Germany v. Argentina. Hardcore from start to finish.

Dave FAQ

I post this here as an introduction for people who will read this blog but who have not previously had the pleasure of knowing me personally. At some point it will include a picture but first I have to come up with one that I don't absolutely hate. In the meantime, here's my FAQ:

Dave, tell me a little about yourself

Sure thing. I'm a thirty something father, husband and all around middle class suburban American male. I currently live in the greater Cincinnati Ohio area but I've lived nearly all over the country at one time or another. I have a nice house with a two car garage, a new Volkwagen Jetta and a good portion of the toys I always wanted when I was younger.

What do you mean by "Toys"? What are your hobbies?

Glad you asked and, more specifically, I'm glad you asked like that because one leads into the other (it's shocking the coincidences that you see like that when you write your own interview). I have been a military history nut since I was a kid. As a result, I have a small collection of military style firearms and I'm a World War 2 reenactor. I reenact the role of a foot infantryman in the German wehrmacht and I have a full kit of uniforms and gear to fit that impression.

Are you a Nazi?

No. In fact, most German infantrymen weren't. Only about ten percent of the German World War 2 population were. My impression is that of a German factory worker from Bielefeld. I'm not a nazi in my personal, non-reenacting life either.

So that's all there is? Tell me more.

Ok, I speak some German but I'm not fluent. I enjoy world football (as opposed to the American sort where they spend five seconds running into eachother and then another 40 seconds standing around) and I watch a lot of Bundesliga and English Premier league. I drink Guinness and Jägermeister but I don't drink often. I like a lot of German bands and currently I'm listening to Eisbrecher and Stendal Blast. I smoke but usually only when I drink.

What do you do for a living?

I'm an audio visual designer and engineer. I create audio visual systems and my career has had me involved in everything from conference rooms to professional sports stadiums. I started my career working for the Orioles and the Ravens in Baltimore.

What are your views on politics?

I used to think I was conservative and used to be a member of the republican party. I even once came close to running for office on the republican ticket. Since Bush has been in office though that has all changed. I'm now an independent and I'm questioning how conservative I am. In the last few years I have become equally disgusted by both parties and usually vote third party.

How about your family?

I've been married for six years as of this writing. I have a wonderful relationship with my wife and love her very much. I have a five year old daughter and she is the greatest thing to ever grace planet earth. My family is the best thing that's ever happened to me and I love and protect them fiercely.

Well, it's late and that's all I have for now. If you have further questiosn that this has not answered for you, feel free to contact me.

Introductions

Hi, I'm Dave. Welcome to my blog. I've wanted to start one of these for a while. The reason I haven't until now is because, while the actual writing is easy for me, finding a name for this has been ridiculously hard. I wanted something that was kind of funny and whimsical that would not be just completely stupid. My inspiration finally came from this photograph I found a while back on the internet.

(If I knew who the creator of this was I'd credit him/her but I don't so I wont. If you are the creator, let me know and I'll fix it.)

So, for better or for worse, I'm here and ready to let you, the reader in to my mind a little. I have a friend who has suggested this to me a few times and has a blog of his own called Eric In Arizona. He tells me that he writes for no one's benefit but his own. I'm a little different in that I want others to read my blog. I can't guarantee you'll "benefit" per se but, if you feel so inclined, leave me a comment or drop me an e-mail and let me know what you think. Perhaps we can learn from eachother.