gonkulair

Jen arrived this afternoon and as Murphy’s Law predicted, as much as possible that could go wrong did. I had to redo something that took some time as she was arriving. I also had an incident on a project that rendered my powerbook useless and killed the project. And last but not least, people were a bit needier than usual. That does it for complaints, now for the good parts. Jen, my wonderful and understanding girlfriend, who ices the cake with her beauty AND brains arrived. We got her an all access laminate which allows her to roam on her own throught most areas at the venues, she can get into shows without a ticket, and she can get a free meal at any of our catering rooms. It’s a sweet deal I like to hook up for all of my, well one ladies. Jen’s going to be spending time with me at both San Jose shows, and then we’re breaking off from the pack for a couple of days and hanging out here in San Francisco. We’re thinking of moving here, so we thought maybe we should visit together, seems like a good start. Oh, and we miss each other a lot, so time together and away from the “grind” will be great for us.

I knew Jen was a hot little thing, but let me tell you, some of the crap I heard from other’s on the crew just reaffirmed my belief. It’s kind of nice having a smart piece of eye candy that lives on planet earth and still turns heads.

So I went to be last night on a bus heading up the 101 from Los Angeles to San Jose. It was a great time and I got to have some beers, chat with my fellow roadies, and watch a DVD. That’s the way to travel. When mother bus had finally lulled me to the point of exhaustion, I climbed into my bunk. (Front-Top-Passenger Side) I awoke at around 11am and the bus was empty. We were sitting in the parking lot of a hotel in San Jose, or rather I was sitting in the parking lot. All the other hotel keys were gone spare mine, so everyone had gone in search of a more comfortable bed, or a shower. I decided to have a shower and go find something to do, as I was well rested. I generally sleep very well in moving vehicles of any kind, this has only caused problems once, and that was on a riding lawn mower at a puppy farm. I kid, I kid. I decided to rent a car in a split second when two of my buddies asked if I wanted to go with them to pick up their car at the airport. I figured wheels would greatly enhance my spectrum of possible fun. $35/day and some paperwork later, I took possesion of a Blue Ford Focus with the rear wiper stuck on. I remembered seeing a post on the Geek Squad Forums that mentioned the location of the Geek Squad Stand Alone office that my friend Erich runs in San Jose. I looked it up and headed there to say hi to Erich. It’s a great looking store and the guys that work there are funny, what can I say they’re sort of coworkers. Erich asked what I was doing and I couldn’t think of anything good, so a haircut and trip to San Francisco it was. Erich and his great girlfriend Gina (hope that’s right) took me to Tomasso’s pizzeria which was excellent. We then went to a couple bars and had some beers. Erich forced me to watch some awesome British comedy and I passed out. Arose around 7:30 and headed back to San Jose, the ride was kind of rainy but let me tell you. Hwy 280 from San Jose to San Francisco is gorgeous. There are at least three “vista points” to take pictures from, I know this, because I scored a perfect at missing all three of them on the way back with Jen.

If your device comes with a retaining cord, clip or protective cover, by all means use it. I have to think the reason these things come free is because the manufacturer has spotted a possible liability or weak point and has addressed it in this manner. Case in point, shirt man’s blackberry. We went to dinner and he was using it and spouting prose on how great it was and how much easier and faster his job was because of it. I asked him where the protective cover was, and he stated, as with everything else, he lost it the first day he had it. Well, about 45 minutes later after having put it in his front pocket, he pulled it out to find a cracked display. I couldn’t help but laugh, and exclaim “you’re fooked now!” in a murdered scottish accent. I had a few beers so it was quite funny. He then told the story about how just that day he had wandered into a Cingular store to buy a new cover, but they were out of them. That just made it even funnier, I had to apologize, I now felt bad. I told him I’m going to start velcroing new things to him so he doesn’t lose them, which of course sparked a reply about how I just wanted an excuse to get my hands on him…sheesh. Well, enough for rule 3, but remember. Always use protection, especially when it’s free and keeps you from breaking something, or catching something.

Listening to: U 2 - Live at the Staples Center in LA - Pride (In the name of love) accompanied by 15K+ singing fans and an awesome light show. (ooh, it’s the oh ohhhoh oh! part) Good Night all.

I’ve got a new buddy on the road, his name is Tommy and he’s the merchandise guy for the tour. He is from Scotland and he is one funny guy. I deck out his road case, and he heckles me, that’s the relationship we share. He stole the phone from me while talking to Jen and told her that if I went sour, she could sleep by him because he’s gay, but he can’t be held responsible if he changes back in the night. Apparently for him it’s an on/off type of thing. So Tommy calls me the “Great Geek” in a thick scottish accent. His proudest achievment seems to be his helium blimps that float above the stands outside the venue. He’s a really great guy, and I’m sure he’ll be tons of fun on the road. He’s ballsy and has way with the ladies, so it will be fun to see him succeed, and of course equally fun to watch him crash and burn…. if he does. I’ll probably end up post more stories on the Chronicles of Shirt Man, he’s a great subject, and lots of fun. Oh and he’s my subject for rule # 3, up next.

So the Chief Inspector of the Geek Squad, Robert Stephens, my fearless leader, has always said ” Rock Stars are/were the world’s first telecommuters”. I gotta say, he was right, and they keep going further. Now I know iSight camera’s for Mac OS are not new, but you’d thing they come free with every mac, because everyone with a Mac here has one, for each mac they have. It’s a point of concern for me of course, because of the bandwidth usage and the fact that I’m the person everyone calls when the internet is slow. Yes, I do have one, well actually two. The second will be included with my PB 12″ when it gets handed over to Jen. I’m hoping this will allow me to see her cute little face when I’m talking to her, so she can properly express herself. (She sticks out her tongue sometimes to mock me, it’s super cute). The next thing everybody seems to have is the Blackberry communicator device, or “Crackberry” as some people refer to it. They are great, I’ve only used one a little bit, but I’m definitely pushing for one, and may purchase my own eventually if I don’t get one. It’s kind of funny though, I’ve seen some near misses and even minor accidents caused by these things, it kind of worries me that there may be some people out there that are trying to use these things in their cars. Yikes!

Sunday Bloody Sunday. For some reason the staples center went nuts when this song came on. I’ll admit, this is a great song and I like it a lot too, but with the radio and the way some people listen to music, you’d think it would be vertigo or some other current song. Oh well, good to hear an oldie but goodie getting the proper respect. LA shows are cool because they tend to have other celebrities at the show and that always makes it more interesting. Unfortunately I didn’t get to see anybody cool though, other than the band that is. On another note, we get our tour buses tonight, which rocks, now I have a place to go nap on long days. The tour buses rock, or so I hear. They have 12 bunks and a front and back lounge with DVD, Stereo, TV, work tables etc… I can’t wait. Oh, they are also stocked with all sorts of goodies. That should make the long rides easier, and I got my new Sprint Data Cable to abuse my tour phone for wireless internet. Yes! Today was uneventful, except that I was in constant pursuit of a teleprompter software package and a Sony flat panel to use as the display. I finally got that and then we didn’t even use it, tomorrow we’ll probably place it and get her locked down. Sometimes I wish I had a teleprompter for my job. I wouldn’t sound like such a bumbling idiot all the time…

There is a place in LA called Fogo De Chao, it’s a Brazilan steak house and it’s the best. First you get a salad and some drinks. Then you get a plate and some sides like mashed potatoes, fried plantains, polenta popovers etc. Finally, there is this little puck on your table by your plate it’s green on one side and red on the other. When you first sit down it’s red and when you turn it over, a flurry of “gauchos” come to your table, each with a different meat. All of it is cooked on a vertical spit by a wood fired flame. It’s the best. The meats are things like bacon wrapped filet mignon, leg of lamb, beef pequeno and pork sausage. It’s the best. You can eat as much as you like and it’s a pretty classy place. The gauchos come to your table almost instantaneously when you flip the puck. Then when you’re done they offer dessert, chocolate molten is what I had, it was delicious. There is a also a papaya cream dessert that is supposed to aid in the digestion of red meat, but I wasn’t having any of that. All this was had for a flat fee plus drinks, it was excellent. I’ll try and post the puck later, I kept one.

Listening to: my eyelids creaking closed, I’m fat, tired and have to get up at 4:00 am for loading into the Staples Center tomorrow. Guten Abend Volks.

Today is the first day off since I embarked on this journey. For the first time since February 25th I didn’t need to set my alarm and I awoke to a call from my sweetie Jen. Just 6 days until I get to see her in San Jose and I can’t wait. She’s great and I won’t get all mushy, but she’s one of the greatest women I’ve ever known. It was the perfect wake up call. As for today, I’m off to enjoy some sun and run a couple of errands. I’ve got a few wireless access points set up throughout the hotel and hopefully my crew can live with that for the next two days. Load out last night was a breeze and the ride to West Hollywood from Anaheim was great. There’s just something about working hard, having some pizza and enjoying some beers while somebody else drives. I slept like I was dead (I sort of was) and I feel great. Hopefully I can get caught up on some things, but for now, I’m considering this me time. I hope all are well and I’ll try and keep a more steady stream of posts coming at you, but for now, I’m outta here.

Listening to: Daft Punk - Human After All (Courtesy of Pepsi and iTunes Music Store)

Our next entry from “Josh’s Rulez of the Road”. This one is quite obvious, but often overlooked. Don’t ever think you’re computer is thirsty. It may be hot, and it may have a fan on, it may even sound like it’s panting while slowing down for normal activities. Even in this situation, it is not thirsty. I also do not recommend using your computer near somebody who’s hobby happens to be balancing open Snapple bottles on their knees while riding in a tour bus down gravel roads in the mountains. While it is fun to watch them, and you may want to get work done, this is not a good idea. The rule, in it’s simplest form is this: Don’t spill stuff on your computer, in fact, don’t even allow it near without taking the proper precautions. The first recommendation, if you must enjoy a beverage near your computer is this. Tape it down and use a straw, this can be improved further by taping the straw into the bottle also. The second tip is this, use your computer in a 3 mil or better garbage bag, however, this may make typing and reading the screen a bit harder, but should the wandering tsunami come for a visit, your computer should be safe. You can take this one step further by affixing a life jacket, however this is only recommended where the life vest is a fashionable color and not one of those gross orange things. Computers do so love to be safe, but not at the cost of being stylish. OK, so most of the stuff in here is BS, and it’s still technically April Fools, so I’m alright. Here’s the bottom line, be careful with your drinks. If you do spill, immediately shutdown the machine and pull the battery and all power. If it’s just a keyboard, unplug it immediately. Keyboards are cheap, data and computers are not.

Score so far:

Toshiba Tecra M200 : 0
Snapple Lemonade: 1

Luckily, Toshiba is great and they sent out a tech with a new machine to swap the drive and keep us up. So the score is once again even.

Toshiba Support (Tecra M200) : 1
Snapple Lemonade: 1

Time for a BBQ, it’s one of our big rig drivers Birthday and we’re grilling with a Big Green Egg in the dock. Mmmmmmmm…burgers…Mmmmmmmm…beer…Mmmmmmm…sleep. 1pm Call time tomorrow.

Peace, and wish The Pope well on his next journey.

In the biz, another type of runner exists. This one is not a person, but rather an act. A runner is when a show ends and the band jumps into their fancy cars and high tails it out like the rest of us to beat traffic. Personally, I think it’s to beat the lines at the local bar or White Castle, but I’ve yet to see these guys at the white castle. I thought of another kind of runner, and that’s related to underwear, I will write another post about that with pics. j/k

Listening to: The Current 89.3 FM in Minneapolis. (I miss home already)
http://mpr-aac.streamguys.com:80/ - open URL with Winamp -or- other player.