gonkulair

To me! I’m 28 and living the life. I went to a Colorado Rockies game and they won for me. It was great, Coors field is really nice and the hot dogs were great. I went with my friend Matt (who’s leaving at the end of April ) and other crew members. Afterward we walked down the street with the intentions of going to REI but ended up stopping at an Irish Pub and drinking until the start of the Denver Nuggets game. It was a good time, and a mellow but worthy birthday. I treated myself to a Chipotle Burrito for dinner and then watched a movie and worked for a while.

I want to know more about what you readers out there want to hear. As any good publisher knows (I’m not saying I’m one) the readers make the publication. If you lose touch with your readers, you lose them. Then you’re just talking to your self. Post a comment or drop me a line with your idea(s). I’ll work to accomodate as time and subject matter allows.

email: josh@kapellen.net (no spammy, no spammy, no spammy - from that game show, with the whammys… nevermind)

I’ve been quite busy, uhhhmummummm, I mean Jen was here and I was quite busy spending time with her. I love all keeping you all in the loop, but I needed some me time. The other reason is that tragedy has struck. Melfina, my 12″ G4 Power Book got soaked while moonlighting as a teleprompter under the stage. Since my other machine is a monster, I don’t much carry it back to the hotel with me, which in turn means I don’t make any posts before bed. I’ll work to remedy this by getting a new power book this week.

the bus comes to a halt, and I figure we’re either at a rest stop, or the destination. I’ve slept a good portion of the night and I figure I’ll get up. When I look out the window, here’s what I see.

Welcome to Colorado! Another hour later we arrive into Denver and I haul all my gear (9 bags/boxes/cases) to my room. We lose the buses today until we’re in Chicago which is about 2 weeks. That means I have to carry a lot more stuff, or figure out how to stash it in my road case and get it on the truck. We load in to the arena Wednesday morning, so I’ve got a couple of days to rest and try and catch up with my life. Wish me luck!

I’m not sure, but I know where my Aunt Leslie and Uncle Craigs cow went… Into my stomach and it was great. My Aunt lives here in Phoenix. (Waddell Actually) On arrival, I rented a car and headed to my hotel, I then got on the greatest map site to date, http://maps.google.com and found my way to her ranch, The Dirty D. I was given a brief tour and then treated to a wonderful grilled steak meal with delicious potatoes and salad. It was the best food I’ve had since February. You hear that Dad… start getting the ideas turning. Home cooked meals are a premium. After dinner and some conversation I was off again, for a 45 minute ride with the windows down and the stereo up. So easy to forget about some of my favorite things out here. What was I listening to? Hmmmm… Green Day - American Idiot. I’m becoming very friendly with this album, it’s a turn away from the usual for me. I stepped right back though and I’m currently listening to RJD2 - Since We Last Spoke. This album has some great stuff, Clean Living and Making Days Longer are favorites.

Incidentally, the tiptronic automatic transmission in Subaru Outbacks are quite refined and I’m pretty impressed with the control available from an automatic. Pull it over once and the automatic stays in “Sport” mode. Pull back for a downshift, push forward for up. It seems you have to go out and come back in for it to be an automatic again though….should be one more button.

I want to move to San Francisco. Luckily, Jen wants to too. I don’t think I’d do it on my own, and I’d love to keep her, so it works out really well. We got up this morning, had breakfast and headed to the Napa Valley. On our way we stopped by the Golden Gate Bridge and had a photo taken(below). I also took some pictures from the winery which are below also. Jen is the one in the “Tron Coat” (hehe - that’s for you Monkey) The day was wonderful and the wine was great, I couldn’t have too much though, since I was driving. We learned that the year can actually make a huge difference on the quality of the wine. So it does help to know how the harvest was in the year of vintage in the area the wine comes from. It was actually very informative and well worth the $30 for the tour/tasting. We went to the Beringer Brother’s Estate Vineyards in St. Helena. It’s the longest continuously operating winery. Apparently during prohibition they had a sacramental wine permit that allowed them to continue making communion wine. We also learned that to protect the grapes from frost, they actually spray them with water to create a jacket of ice. Seems counterintuitive to me, but after some gears and smoking I figured out that’s probably right. Jen helped me with that one. Thanks honey. After we got back, we went to Dinner with Erich and Gina and had some drinks until they had to go to bed, because they are weak. Or it was Tuesday and they had to work, I don’t remember which. OK, Jen tells me it was the second. (With a touch of the first)

Here are the Pics: (Click to enlarge, and I mean it, really large, not just adequately large)

Jen and I at the Golden Gate Bridge

Jen at the entrance to the caves at Beringer Brothers Estate Winery

Jen Getting some wine straight from the barrel, using a “Wine Thief”

The main portion of the “home vineyard” which is where it all started.

A Closer look at how the vines are attached and controlled. You may notice the Grafting on the trunk, to a more hardy native american root.

A still closer look at the baby grape clusters on the vines

And this is what Jen will do when you give her crap about the sweet couple picture.

She gave me my birthday present early. She had it sitting on the bed, in my spot (Left Side). I didn’t want to open it, but I know how she loves to be early with gift openings, and I wanted to be able to thank her with a hug and kiss. Well that being said, here’s what she got me:

Pretty Sweet, the exact one I wanted. Thanks Jen, as you know, you’re the best.

This one I came up with on my own. If you’re going to lend your computer to someone, follow the A.B.C. method.

A) Ask if it will be covered if tragedy strikes.
B) Backup your personal data and programs. If you can afford the space to make a disk image, do that, if not get anything you don’t want to lose.
C) Check again to make sure it will be covered if something goes wrong.

This is all because of “The Incident”. Here’s the details. We were setting up a prompting system and my computer was the only one that had the proper adapter to allow an external display to be hooked up. We downloaded and installed the prompting software, all of the content was created and installed, then the prompter was installed and hooked up via a long VGA cable. We tested it during sound check and the man with glasses said it was good, make some color changes and maybe dim the display, but for the most part it was good. Set list is put in, talky talk parts are in order. Went to dinner with Jen, came back and Florey the friendly carpenter/camerawoman who’s running the prompter comes up to me and tells me my mac is dead. I go and take a look and the ac adapter light and sleep light are flashing really weird patterns. I try to restart, nothing. I pick it up to pull the battery and out comes about a 1/2 cup of water. I then hastily pop the power and battery out. Tip it to the side, another 1/2 cup of water. Bet you can’t imagine what four letter words I said then…. Darn, Damn, Agua. Followed by some other ones. It sucks, but let me tell you, I was relatively calm, as I had done a backup that morning in the form of a home directory copy to one external HD and an image of the drive to another. That computer was going to be taken with Jen when she left, as I’ve ordered a new one and I’m just waiting for it to be delivered. But now, courtesy of that cup of water and the touring company, Jen and I will have matching 1.5GHz 12″ Superdrive Powerbooks. Awwww, isn’t that sweet. Rule 4 is the best for me so far,

Listening to: Paul Oakenfold - Creamfields