Albums Listening to: Nickelback “The Long Road”, Pixies “Wave Of Mutilation – Best Of Pixies”

Top Article: Michael Moore USA Today from RNC – Sept 01, 2004 – Don’t Send More Kids To Die

Current Rant: The Republican National Convention is ending tonight and the best thing about it all week was the protesters out in NYC. This is the best site to see pics from the throngs – moport.org …. Very excited to see this and very much wish I were there to let my voice be heard and my message to be seen.

Personal Comments: Just wish summer would last longer here in Utah. And if you haven’t registered to vote yet, please do. I can’t say enough of how important this is. Find your local state’s registrar and sign up. In fact… let me make it even easier. Go to this site and select your state. It will guide you where you need to go.And another site…. Declare Yourself – to find where you need to go to register.

Concert Review: Nickelback and Puddle of Mudd
USANA Amphitheater
West Valley CIty, UT
August 31, 2004

I love amphitheaters as they can seat a lot of people, normally have a big lawn area to fit even more people into and are built with acoustics in mind. For my first visit to USANA, Nickelback and Puddle of Mudd would test the waters for me, allowing comparisons to other like-venues that I’ve previously enjoyed.
 
Being a virgin to seeing Nickelback live, I didn’t have a preset idea of what to expect. But knowing a good amount of their catalog helped as each song they performed was familiar to my ears. Songs like “Someday”, “How You Remind Me”, “Figured You Out” and “Leader Of Men” all showed the talent Chad Kroeger and band had. Mixed with pyrotechnics, moving lights and variable-height platforms, the 90 minute performance was very good. With few exceptions like throwing half-full beer glasses to the audience and pre-recorded voice tracks preceding a few of the songs (“Hero” – minus duet partner Josey Scott, “Never Again”), the show provided each and every fan a delight and a good value, considering most of the tickets were under $35 (we paid $20 each and had very good seats).
 
As for Puddle of Mudd, they took their mid-bill position of the night as both laid back and ass-kicking. Their set was much shorter than expected, omitting songs like “Bring Me Down” and “Never Change” from 2001’s Come Clean album. But their hit songs like “Away From Me”, “Control”, “Blurry” and “She Hates Me” had the crowd singing along – sometimes remembering only the chorus. Having seen them last year in Las Vegas, I was expecting a great performance. I got that, but wished for a longer set. Wes Scantlin continues to shine on vocals and stage persona that is neither overboard or under performed.
 
Show openers 12 Stones were good and seemed to provide a good set of hard rocking songs to the few that filled the arena, inviting those arriving late with a 35 minute set to warm them up for Puddle of Mudd and Nickelback. Not being familiar with their work, it was a cross between Papa Roach and Limp Bizkit, which seemed to appeal to a good amount of the audience.

Albums Listening to: .Jay-Z “Black Album”, Prince “The Hits – Disc 2”

Top Article: David Kay On Inspections and Absence of Prohibited Weapons

Current Rant: Fahrenheit 911 comes out this weekend. Can’t wait to see it. It’s very anticipated as I tend to agree with Mr. Moore and his position. Read the article above. I tend to trust a former UN inspector on the details of what went on in Iraq and the lack of finding any WMDs.

Personal Comments: I never thought I would end up with 4 cell phones, but it’s happening. My daughter-in-law is leaving Verizon and coming onto our Sprint PCS plan. Fortunately, adding the phone will only add $23 a month to my bill, plus help burn up some of those 2000 mins that I get each month (December was the closet I got to 2000 mins, at a whopping 1350 daytime mins used). I keep telling my daughter to use her mins, because in 2 years when she’s 15, I’ll be telling her to stay off the phone.

Albums Listening to: .Velvet Revolver “Contraband”, Jane’s Addiction “Strays”

Top Article: Velvet Revolver Hits No.1 on Billboard Top 200 Chart

Current Rant: Bush’s approval rating has gone up, all due to former Pres. Reagan’s proceedings last week. Even given the fact that Ron Reagan Jr. blasted Bush. Sure wish approval ratings would do the same for Kerry, given all of the shit that people blast him with.

Personal Comments: Never miss a payment with a high interest credit card (my Firestone card, which I use on occassion to fix my 2001 Nissan Sentra GXE). Turns out that I forgot to make a payment (pissed the living fuck out of me tonight when I got home from work). Not only did I get right on the phone and make both payments for June and July, but now I’m $29 more in the hole (late fee) and that much more pissed off. Thank god for mudslides, kids. They calm you down like you wouldn’t believe… especially if you’ve not had anything to eat in several hours. Such is life.

Albums Listening to: .Velvet Revolver “Contraband”, Beatles “Revolver” and “Rubber Soul”

Top Article: Clinton-haters vs. Bush-bashers? No contest by RICHARD ROEPER

Current Rant: See the above article link. But basically people that are against being critical of our Oaf in Office (Bush) but thought nothing of it to slam Clinton while he was in office (and onging still). Read the above article. It’s exactly how I feel.

Personal Comments: Life is busy, as always and as evident from the lack of blog posts. I spend a lot of time lately on both the New York Times Readers’s Forum (mostly the Gay Rights and Religion in America forums – my handle there is megafone) and Third Eye Film (handle there is chillywilly), so if you venture over to either, you’ll find my current postings – political and entertainment.

This short sighted, bigot-laced organization is not at all interested in freewill or personal choice. They want to control what you do and see AND take away anything that remotly is associated with what they call “bad”. Take this latest outrage on Carl’s Jr. ads with Hugh Hefner. The Hef is simply taking about his diverse taste (watch the ad here. These fucking prudes at the ADA see it as Carl’s Jr. teaching people to have sex, and break up their families… all because Hef and the women in the commerical – which are all dressed professionally – are taking about men not wanting the same things night after night. This isn’t a nude fest, with burgers smeared across naked bodies (save that for another web site and DVD – available at your favorite Adult DVD store). It’s just fucking insane!! so given my passion about this kind of bullshit right-wing agenda, I sent the PR person at Carl’s Jr. a letter saying I support their ads and think they were tastefully done.

You can read the ADA responses here. Also, note at the end of the page their call for you to send in money… and lots of it ($10,000 – nothing short of a shitload). Nothing short of a business (just like all organized religions) – can you tell I’m pissed about this???

There’s one of my rants for this week. Hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving…. and if you went to Carl’s Jr, write me and let me know if it has caused you to leave your wife and kids and become a perverse wayward indivdual – all due to seeing Hef on the tv with a burger. Hell, write me back anyway…

So let’s see now… i’ll play catch up as best as I can. Reba and I are back together and living together – very happy, struggling money wise – but very happy. The holiday season has started and we are looking forward to our trip to Calif and Las Vegas. Day job with data2logistics is going well. I’m happy to be part of the working soceity and making a dent into my monthly bills… which, BTW, are a bit less than they used to be. My daughter is 12 now, loves having her own cell phone (which costs me a whopping $3 a month if she doens’t d’load more than $5 in games each month). We hang out and have fun. Reba and I are on the South Beach Diet… I am more for healthy eating reasons… she is to get more fit and trim. Life in general is good…. Yes, dammit!! i’ve gotten lazy about my blog… but each time I hear from someone who visited my less updated web site, i thought about the updates I needed to put out. You know, if I put more frequent news out here, I wouldn’t have to have this big long-ass condensed dialog every six months and two days…. take care all – be safe this season… and wish me luck on my $$ issues with my ex. I could use the raise here soon.

So let’s see now….. it’s been just over 3 months since I posted anything on my blog. Par for the course, but at the same time, I really have been busy putting my life back together. First thing – my relationship with Reba. We are officially back together again. I pursued her and showed her (and continue to show her) how much I want us to be together. We just got back from camping this last weekend where we had a great time. We talk alot about our future together… I always surprise her with notes, cool things I do for her…. and want to be with her for the rest of my life. Needless to say, I’m pretty happy about how things are going. As far as job related stuff, I have given my notice at the telemarketing place selling Dish Network…. because I got a day job. Working at a company called data2logistics and am working with a good friend (and previous boss – who also gave me the lead). So I’m happy, but money issues are still there… just not as big or worrysome anymore. But I’ve got a good outlook for the near future and as things get better for Reba and I – planning our life together – everything will be resolved and get easier to deal with. Oh, and I re-quit smoking. The last try only lasted for 3 days. This time, it’s been 12 days so far and I felt more ready this time. I’m happy as is everyone around me. So that’s all for now…. I’ll update when I get the urge. Thanks for listening.