In honor of the 40th Anniversary of the Moon Landing here is a little playlist I'm listening to:

Walking on the Moon - The Police
Beach House on the Moon - Jimmy Buffett
Moondance - Van Morrison
New Moon on Monday - Duran Duran
Yellow Moon - Grateful Dead
The Killing Moon - Echo and the Bunnyman
Pink Moon - Nick Drake
Sister of the Moon - Fleetwood Mac
Dark Side of the Moon - Pink Floyd
Destination Moon - They Might Be Giants
Whiskey Town - Paper Moon
Dancing in the Moonlight - King Harvest
Nickel Creek - Jealous of the Moon
Luna - Smashing Pumpkins
Moon Shadow - Cat Stevens
Virginia Moon - Foo Fighters
Harvest Moon - Neil Young
Moon Over Bourbon Street - Sting
Man on the Moon - R.E.M.
Everlasting Moon - Jimmy Buffett

This is basically a revamp of my 35th Anniversary Playlist ;)

Current Mood: geeky
Current Music: Whiskeytown - Paper Moon

So my firm gave us the day off today even though the 4th of July is tomorrow. I figured I'd at least TRY to fire a little post off and since I've had a lot of photos building up since the last time, why not a photopost?

This past weekend I reached a whole new level in regards to my cullinary skills. This is without a doubt the best mexican dish I've made to date. I present to you Lime Grouper Enchilladas with Firecracker Rice and Corn. And let's not forget an ice cold Bud Light Lime to go with it (which incidently is the ONLY reason I lifted my boycott of Bud products since their sale to Inbev).



I also made some Mango Ginger Granitas to top it off. These look complicated but they're pretty easy, they're made with just mango nectar, lime juice, sugar, fresh grated ginger root, water and a few sprigs of mint.



*****

In May I bid a fond farewell to my Toyota Tundra. Let me preface this by saying I absolutely loved that freakin truck. If money and mileage were not a factor I would have held onto it forever. But alas, it was not meant to be. I was getting absolutely killed on gas mileage. It got something like 15 city 18 highway, and I have a 50 mile a day commute to work. That's just to work which doesn't account for any additional driving. I was filling the tank almost twice a week and when gas was over 4 bucks a gallon it was sometimes costing 100 bucks to do so. You do the math on that one kiddies...

Small cars were out of the question for two reasons. One, I've been driving large vehicles all my life and I feel extremely unsafe in small cars. And two, I needed something large enough to transport the pooch. I considered the Highlander hybrid, but any money saved in gas was immediately negated by the increase in price for a hybrid. In the end I chose to go with the new 09 Rav4. It took some getting used to and I still really miss my truck, but it's starting to grow on me.



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Current Mood: productive
Current Music: Bon Iver - Blood Bank

Weekend updates seem to have fallen by the wayside mostly because of a combination of the fact that I post in my facebook when I'm doing something interesting and the fact that most of the time I'm NOT doing anything interesting.

The Riegler's have finally made the move from South Tampa to our neighborhood in the New Tampa/Wesley Chapel area. They're in a rental just down the road from me while they wait for their new place to be built which will be even closer. While I am very jazzed that I no longer have to drive 30 minutes away to visit them, I'm really just happy that two more of my closest friends are now 5 minutes away from me.

Friday I worked from home so I was able to just head out on Friday once I was done and over to check out their new pad. I dig their rental. It's got a lot of space and is very open which is the kind of design I really like. Hung out over there for a little while.

My new Zune came on Friday as well. Got a great deal on it off of Buy.com. 4GB Zune in a bonus pack with high-end headphones and the full car kit. After I got back from Jeff and Keri's house I was up until about 3AM organizing my mp3 library and loading music onto the player.

Saturday I slept in for a while then got up and headed out to run some errands most importantly was hitting Toyota to order a new cargo mat for the vehicle. Came home in the afternoon, walked the pooch and then headed back over to Jeff and Keri's for their "unpacking party"

Ate pizza while we helped them unpack and set stuff up. I gave Jeff a hand with identifying and organizing all his media cables and then we spent the rest of the night hanging art on the walls. Came home around 10 and then watched Underworld: Rise of the Lycans. Kick-ass movie.

While we were at Jeff and Keri's, Jeff had asked Rob to come over on Sunday morning and bring his 10 ft ladder to help him install a pull-up bar. I had said to Rob "Hey after you're done at Jeff's would you mind swinging over my place with your ladder? I need to clean my gutters out."

Well Sunday morning while I was cleaning, Jeff and Rob both showed up. When I asked why both of them were there, Rob replied "Well we can either spend 30 minutes cleaning out your gutters for you or 4 hours in an emergency room with you after you fall off the ladder." They were obviously referring to the Ceiling Fan Incident of 2006 so I really couldn't argue.

Considering they removed 8 years worth of crap that had been built up in my gutters as they had obviously never been cleaned before I owned the house, I bought them lunch at the Wolf's Den. Came back to the house and finished cleaning. Spent most of the rest of the day reading. Cooked up a little mesquite shrimp for dinner and then got to bed at a decent hour.

Next weekend should be pretty packed. Going to be building some cornices with Jeff for my windows on Saturday. And my cousin Amy is going to be in town for work so I'm going to get to hang out with her which should be fun.

Boogieman out...

Current Mood: geeky
Current Music: Jason Mraz - I'm Yours

Lo and Behold! A Media Update!!!!

I tried to post this earlier in the week but LJ cut off 80% of the text I had written and I didn't realize it. Took me a while to type it all up again. Thanks, LJ. No wonder I never freaking post anymore.

Yes I have been a bad poster. Not that I'm trying to make excuses, but one of the leading contributors to why I'm not posting a lot anymore is Facebook. I have a finite amount of time and most of the time that had previously been spent on posting is now being spent on Facebook. Bitch me out, or rejoice in the fact that I'm actually making a post (and a media update to boot!)

So here's what I've been reading, watching, listening to and playing:

A Game of Thrones by George R.R. Martin - I'm curious to know if he actually has two middle names that begin with "R" or if it's some kind of strange tribute to Tolkien. How many people can there be with two "R.R." middle initials, let alone two high fantasy authors. But I digress.

I started in on Martin when I read that his Song of Ice and Fire books were on tap for a new HBO Miniseries. It was stated that it would be a relatively simple fantasy to produce as there is little in the ways of "fantastic" things happening. You would think that would be a detriment, but it actually works out.

It is very much a political tale. Kings and lords and knights and assassinations and regicide and uspurpings. It is somewhat sexually graphic and very, very violent. At one point early in the beginning of the novel, someone pushes an 8 year old boy out a castle tower window because he overheard part of a conspiracy plot if that gives you any idea of the ruthlessness of some of the characters.

For the majority of this book I was thinking that this was less of a High Fantasy and more of a Medieval Political Thriller with a dash of zombies thrown in for good measure. Magic is only hinted at but not actually seen. There are no orcs, elves, dwarves, trolls or any other kinds of fantasy staple races, no exotic locales, and no fantasy-esqe monsters. It isn't until the the very end of the book that something happens which establishes this firmly as a fantasy novel.

The other really interesting thing about Martin's writing is his format. Each chapter is told from the perspective of one of a handful of main characters. Quite often we can hear their thoughts as they interact with other characters and react to events going on around them. It's a fairly unique way of telling the story and makes for some thought-provoking reading.

The book definately has some gravitas. It's not quite as thick reading as say Robert Jordan, but it's up there. I'd recommend that if you're into that kind of thing.

Wizard and Glass by Stephen King - Wizard and Glass is the fourth installment of King's Dark Tower series and it is by far my favorite thus far.

Wizard and Glass is largely a flashback as Roland Deschain the Last Gunslinger, relates to his new Ka-tet the tale of his first Ka-tet's adventures in the Barony of Mejis. Until now all we have gotten is little bits and pieces of what Roland's world used to be like before it "moved on." Personally I've been very interested in Roland's past since the first book.

Since this takes place before the Fall of Gilead and the slaughter of the the other Gunslingers at the Battle of Jericho Hill we get a really as sense of what life was like in Mid-World for Roland and for everyone else. The events of this book go a long way towards explaining why Roland is as dark and somber as he is.
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Tags: media updates
Current Mood: groggy
Current Music: Rilo Kiley - Dreamworld

Amen, Mr. Stein. Amen...


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Current Mood: cheerful
Current Music: The Arcade Fire - Cold Wind

I am absolutely freaking out! This was my favorite book when I was a little kid and I can probably give Maurice Sendak credit for the early development of my imagination and the fact that I am a writer today.



The Wild Things look exactly the same as they do in the book! I could not be more excited for this!!!

Current Mood: ecstatic
Current Music: M. Ward - Let's Dance (David Bowie Cover)

Yes I'm aware that I haven't posted in almost a month. Deal with it. I have...

So Crazy Rob and Eileen are leaving Florida and moving to Philadelphia on Wednesday, victims of the crappy economy and unreasonable layoffs. To be quite honest, I'm having somewhat of a hard time dealing with it.

I had them over for dinner tonight; our last "family dinner" so to speak. As we supped on a hearty meal of chicken and pasta, we discussed a myriad of topics ranging from religion, to the stark difference between the novel and the film of "Into the Wild," to the cultural significance of Chicago during the 1970's.

I can count on one hand the amount of people in my life who I've been able to wax philosophical about topics that contain some gravitas. Derrek moved to Poland to teach. Jimmy went back to Bermuda to be close to his family. Ricky has become a shut-in. Laura drove a wedge between me and the Lawn Wranglers and life moved us on before I could apologize and repair the damage. Trevor and John both stayed in the Northeast and I only get to see them on the rarest of occasions.

It's kind of sad and I hate the fact that they were forced into this move by circumstances beyond their control. Mostly I'm just really going to miss my friends... my family...

It really just sucks...

Current Mood: sad
Current Music: Landon Pigg - Falling in Love at a Coffee Shop

H. W. Longfellow wrote "In this world a man must be either anvil or hammer." Either you choose to shape the world around you, or you stand by and watch as the world gets shaped on the flat of your back.

Sometimes I think the world goes out of its way to try and convince me that I'm an anvil. But I am most definately a hammer...

Current Mood: pensive

- I've been sick with a nasty, nasty sinus infection that actually caused me to miss Gasparilla this weekend. In all honesty I was considering not going anyway, as I really didn't enjoy it as much last year as I have in years passed. However I didn't like having the decision made for me. I slept for almost the entire day on Saturday. Like deep coma sleep.

- Considering I'm absolutely facinated to the point of obsession with the concept of the Multiverse and Modal Realities, I am completely psyched about the direction that they are taking Fringe. I'm very excited to see where they're going to go with it.

I also caught the Observer for the first time in last night's episode. I did a little googling and I can't believe I've missed these until now. I remember Broyles talking about him but I didn't realize he'd been in the background in so many episodes.



- So I'm not going to get started on marijuana and why I feel it should be decriminalized. And no, I don't smoke it; let's just get that out of the way right there. I will say that I don't understand the reasoning behind Kellogs' actions. To me it just seems stupid for any food company who obviously benefits from the munchies to pull their sponsorship.

- Racheal Ray really annoys the crap out of me. I cannot explain this. If you were to ask me why I wouldn't be able to provide any solid reasoning as to why. She just does. Go figure...

Current Mood: sick
Current Music: David Byrne and Brian Eno - Strange Overtones

I'm worked from home today and it's an absolutely perfect day to do so. It's cold and rainy dark out. When it's like this, the best feeling in the world is to wake up, look out the window at the cruminess and say "I don't have to drive into work today so I get to sleep in" then roll over and go back to bed.

I was somewhat disappointed at the Super Bowl commercials last night. There were a few funny ones but ultimately I found myself laughing out loud only occasionally. Now the movie commercials I was pretty stoked about. Transformers and GIJoe, no matter how stupid either movie may turn out to be, are staples of my childhood so I can't help but get excited.

The lack of laughter did give us more time to converse during the game and we got onto the subject of foods that kick ass to begin with, but also have a "best part." It piqued my curiosity so much I decided to make a top five favorite "Best Part" food list:

1) The best part of an Italian Ice is the frozen syrup at the bottom (has to be Luigi's).

2) The best part of a pizza is the cheese.

3) The best part of a roasted artichoke is the heart.

4) The best part of a margarita is the salted rim.

5) The best part of a box of Frosted Flakes is when you get the last bowl with all the sugar at the bottom of the box.

These are the things I think about when I have too much time on my hands and not enough to do.

Current Mood: blah
Current Music: The Parlor Mob - Tide of Tears