c l a r i t y

Marathon Success

2010-12-22T21:36:00.003-05:00

Well I did it...I ran my marathon. It wasn't nearly as bad as I thought it would be either. My best case scenario was under 4 hours, but I figured I would be very satisfied if I came in under 4:15:00. I hit the halfway point right at 2 hours, then picked up my pace a little and felt great until about mile 23. From there to 25 felt like eternity, and my legs were feeling it, but my pace really didn't suffer too much. The last mile went by quick and my official chip time ended up being 3:56:01. I came in 20th out of 48 in my age group, and 294th out of all 800 something full marathoners.

As you can see, my Garmin was very close to the chip time, but it does read a little longer than 26.2. I was prepared for this though because I had read previously that Garmin GPS watches will read a little long at the end of races because no one runs perfect tangents.

I've run a few times since returning home. The first 2 days were kind of like torture, but I've been feeling a little more normal on the past 2 runs. I'm not completely sure where I'll go from here, but I do know that I want to keep running on a regular basis and eating fairly healthy. I'm thinking about the Furman Green Valley 10 mile as my next race (in February). And maybe if I can keep my miles up I will think about doing the Spinx Marathon this year since it is right in my backyard.

Other than that I'm out for Christmas break, and it's been very relaxing. At times I feel nervous because I feel like I should be doing something. It doesn't take long for the feeling to pass. Next up I'll be taking my NCLEX-PN exam. I just got my authorization to test in my inbox today, so now I just need to find a testing center and a date to take it! Who knows, maybe next time I post I will be a bona fide nurse...we can only hope

I mean, if the Biggest Losers can do it...

2010-12-08T16:08:00.008-05:00

This Saturday I will be running my first marathon. I feel a mix of emotions, including nervousness, but I mostly feel excitement. I have some time goals in mind, but I am mainly just excited to accomplish something that would have seemed so impossible for me not too long ago. Alot can change with a little hard work and some time.

My first blog post of this blog, which I named "Clarity" (thanks Joe for the inspiration), started off like this...

No one likes change...

...except me. While I often find it uncomfortable, I think it stretches me in ways that routine can't. For the past few months my life has been in constant change. I've learned that I'm not good at everything I thought I was, that I am good at some things I hadn't noticed before, and that I'm a much different person than I used to be.

I was reading through that post, which I wrote over 2 years ago now, and thinking about where I've been in my life since then. I'm not completely sure I do like change after all, or maybe it's just that I have had so much change in the past few years that my body and mind just need some continuity for a season. I remember in my Psych nursing class earlier this year we took this survey where you gave point values for certain stressful events you had been through in the past year and added them up at the end. My total value was by far the highest in the class and way over the score listed for the highest risk of stress related disorders. It's funny, I don't really feel the weight of the stress all the time, although sometimes when I stop long enough to think about everything I have to get accomplished in the next few days or weeks it makes me feel a little sick. I think living day to day and not thinking about tomorrow has almost become a defense mechanism for me. I've told my wife Kristi on a few occasions that I feel like sometimes the level of busyness and stress I've had over the past year has somehow changed the chemistry in my brain to where I have these out of body behavioral experiences. Sometimes they are good, and I make better decisions then I used to, and then sometimes they are very bad and I act far too angry or selfish.

I don't say all this to make anyone feel sorry for me. Being at Medicaid and medically fragile clinics recently has reinforced to me that there are many who live in horrific circumstances daily that I have never had to deal with. I also know stress levels can't be used as an excuse for how I treat others, or for how I sometimes wrongly prioritize.

The reason I named this blog "Clarity" was partly because I love that CD by Jimmy Eat World, but mostly because I thought that journaling thoughts and events might help me to gain some sort of outside vision into my life, and I think it has definitely done that. While I haven't posted as much as I would like to more recently, at the least it has given me brief moments where I had to stop long enough to put congruent thoughts down on paper. Looking back, posts which bring back memories or moments of enlightening for me include...

- poems I have written

- Christmas posts where I talk about my grandfather

- posts where I reflect on becoming a dad

- posts with songs I wrote and stories about seeing Clemson dominate USC (please Dabo, get back to that for me)

- posts about Lucy and Oliver, that also contain early pictures of our house

- a farewell to Tommy Bowden

There are many others, but I'll stop there. Reading through the posts I was surprised at some of the things that didn't make it into the blog (no big pregnancy announcement post), and I was surprised at some of the things that did (Oriental House makes an appearance way too often). There is even a blog post which mentions a sociology class that I have no recollection of taking (I hope I did well).

One topic that often comes up in my blog is that of running. When I came back to Greenville I had become pretty unhealthy and so I decided to get back to running regularly. I remember the first day I went out and ran. I don't think I had ever felt that out of shape in my life...it was completely miserable. With time I improved and things went pretty well until nursing clinicals started in the summer of last year, when I completely stopped due to time constraints. However, after a semester of gaining weight and feeling tired all the time I decided I needed to run at least 2 days a week. So in early December of 2009 I started running again for the second time.

By the time Spring came around this year I had run 3 times a week almost every week and was up to 6-8 miles a run. I was really enjoying it and every now and then on a run I would start to think about marathons. My dad has run a few, and it has always seemed like one of those challenging things that would be fun to accomplish in my lifetime. I don't know what possessed me, but I remember mentioning to Kristi one day that if I could keep increasing my mileage I might want to register for the Kiawah marathon when registration opened in August. The miles were hard to get in, especially as the heat set in, but by August I was still going strong and I had been doing long runs of over 14 miles by that point, so I went ahead and registered.

Marathon training has had its moments of both pure bliss and complete agony. One added benefit that I did not foresee is that running has helped me get through this past year by being a stress release for me. I remember times of sheer frustration where I would go run and have hours where I could talk to God about what was going on and think through communicating with those I needed to instead of merely reacting. I remember many long runs when things were getting tough where I would relax and think about the things God has faithfully brought Kristi and I through this past year or two. Sometimes when my legs hurt and I didn't feel like running I would picture myself finishing the marathon, and along with that I would imagine what it will feel like when I finish nursing school. In a way it felt like the training was just another part of the process of working towards our family's future for me. Perhaps running has brought me more clarity than this blog in some aspects.

When I quit Applebee's I said that it felt like an end of another chapter in my life. With each turn of the page I feel a little sad to leave friends and situations behind, but I've learned that something new is always around the corner. I feel that way partly because I worked there for a year and a half, and partly because I feel like the next few months are going to uproot any normalcy I have found with school and work as I finish the LPN portion of the program (and take my NCLEX-PN), continue with my new job at Travinia, come down the home stretch in my nursing classes, and have a daughter who begins to walk, talk, and interact. Since the beginning of clinicals I have looked toward this point of the program as the point where I would finally feel like I could see the end of these busy, stressed filled few years we have had as a family, and I feel like I am hitting that transition period now.

With all the school, work, and family related responsibilities I keep remembering that I will be running a marathon this weekend. They say the last 6.2 miles are mostly mental, and somewhere around mile 22 when things start to fall apart I plan on thinking about everything I've been through and learned the past two years, as well as what is coming up very soon in the future. I plan on thinking about all the tests I've miraculously passed this year in school and how my RN certification is almost within reach. I plan on thinking about my beautiful daughter and wife, and how much we have grown up together over the past few months. And when I finish I'll know that while that finish line marks the end of one chapter, it's represents the beginning of another...

A new job and a new lunch item

2010-11-10T01:18:00.003-05:00

Today it finally happened...I finally accepted a job at a restaurant other than Applebee's. During my year and a half at the Bee's I have gotten fed up enough to look for a new job several times, but never with any success. Recently I had resigned myself to finishing out the final few months before I have my first nursing job at Applebee's, but a few days ago a friend who works at Travinia asked if I wanted a job. I went and talked with a manager today, and it seems like a really great place for me to work with my schedule and experience, and so I start on the 22nd. Funny how you find jobs when you aren't looking for them...I'm sure there's some lesson there. I went and turned in my two weeks notice at Applebee's tonight with quite a bit of sadness in my heart. As awful a job as it is, it did help pay my bills, and I have grown to love many of the people I work with there. At least there is always facebook.

In other news I recently started baking bread. I like to think of my self as a healthy person with a rational brain, meaning I still believe in scientific research and don't believe farmers and the food industry are out to kill us with crazy chemicals (i.e. - Aspartame is fine). Everything in moderation is kind of my theme. However, that being said, I did read a book one time called In Defense of Food, and while I didn't buy into everything in the book, I did resonate with the idea that food is probably best the way God designed it, in it's most natural form. I don't think anyone would argue that American's don't eat too many processed foods...but take the idea even farther. The more simple you can keep it, the better. So, I remembered my mom making homemade bread at times as a child, and I decided I would begin to make bread for my family. The bread I am making merely has yeast, whole wheat flour, honey, butter, and water. I knead it by hand and it doesn't take long, most of the time is just waiting for it to rise several times. This week was my second attempt at making it, and it turned out even better than the first week.

I am definitely learning as I go, as it seems there is an art form to bread making.

Lastly, Callie is getting married next week and I get to sing in the wedding, which I am happy about. I greatly miss singing and playing my guitar, so it should be fun. I bought a new suit and tie for the occasion; what do you think?

Coffee and Cigarettes...

2010-10-08T12:49:00.003-04:00

...two things I don't partake of (well...coffee on special occasions). But still, they both always smell good to me. Coffee whenever I smell it at 6 AM as I'm still trying to wake myself up, and cigarettes whenever I'm freezing cold and exhausted. If it weren't for the caffeine addiction and lung cancer maybe I would have given in by now. At any rate, Jimmy Eat World has a new CD out, and the song "Coffee and Cigarettes" is my favorite so far. They would probably rate as #2 on my all time favorite bands list, right behind Switchfoot and probably right ahead of Anberlin.

My daughter had a cold with croup this week, which was kind of pitiful. At first I thought she couldn't breathe when she woke up barking like a seal, but thankfully things have turned out just fine and she is doing much better.

In other news my training for the Kiawah Marathon is in full swing, and my legs are tired. This leads me to mention probably my best purchase of this year...my Camelbak Fairfax.

I don't know how I would have gotten those summer long runs done without it. I don't mind it on my back at all, and it even allows me to carry things like keys and my phone with me.

I added one more running day into my week for these last 12 weeks leading up to the marathon and I've stuck by my plan so far. I ran 16 today to complete a week of 34 miles, and next week I will have my first long run of 20 miles. I feel a little apprehensive about it, but my long runs have been going really well the past few weeks so I think it should be fine.

I don't want to talk about Clemson Football or my fantasy football team, so that pretty much sums up this brief update. I've been thinking about moving this blog over to wordpress and doing a little more with the design, but if that happens it probably won't be until Christmas break...hopefully I'll get a few blog posts in before then!

"If dreams are like movies, then memories are films about ghosts"

2010-08-26T00:10:00.003-04:00

Lately since I don't have time to sit down and write songs I've been writing poetry in my head. You may remember the poem I wrote for my daughter, Adelaide. I've been working on a new one...and it's pretty much done, but I don't like the last two lines yet. I'm not sure if I'll put it to music or not.

I've been driving in my hometown,
past the memories with windows down.
I let the wind rush in and hear the sounds
of friends I've made and dreams I've never found.

I am not quite the man I thought I'd be.
I've never climbed a mountain or sailed the sea.
But I've kissed a dying woman's cheek;
I've held my daughter's hand and watched her sleep.
Maybe that man was someone else, and this is me.

So when I drive back home I hug my wife,
thank God for each breath that brings me life,
and ask that I could walk this narrow line,
with love that flows like beams of heaven's light.

If I ever figure out what I really want to do with the last two lines I'll repost. By the way, you may be asking yourself why I'm driving with windows down in the weather we've been having...mainly because I don't have AC in my car. It sounds wonderfully poetic though, doesn't it?

Roll your windows down, the summer's nearly gone...

2010-08-16T14:59:00.006-04:00

Ah...The Alternate Routes...great music I've been listening to all summer. Come to think of it, summer is gone, not nearly gone. I'm starting back to school this week so that means blog posts will probably be scarce again for a while. Too bad I can't blog for a living. I will have to post some guitar updates though. I hit some serious roadblocks with the headstock so I am still working on it, but I can happily say I am almost finished with the neck.

I registered for my first marathon two weeks ago, which is a little frightening. My long runs are up to 18 miles. I've had one really good 18 mile run and one 18 miler where I thought I might not make it. I'm not sure what the difference was, but I would sure like to avoid the latter from now on.

I also took a fun family vacation to Hilton Head Island. We've been going there for years so it's always slightly nostalgic to go back. This year there was the added benefit of this restaurant called "David's Roastfish and Cornbread," which ranks right up there with Oriental House for me. It was hot, but Addy got some good beach time and even ate sand for the first time. She also enjoyed her first Greg Russell concert and a trolley ride from Harbor Town.

Kristi took a full time nanny job starting today, which makes me a little sad because we won't be seeing much of each other...but at the same time it's such an obvious way that God is providing for us while I finish school and it still allows Kristi to be a stay at home mom with Addy, which we have prioritized.

Now I'd just like the cooler weather to hurry up and settle in. Here's some pictures from our HHI trip for the road...

Who knew the decal would be the hardest part of making a guitar?

2010-07-22T10:30:00.007-04:00

This week has been quite relaxing. I found myself getting a little bored for the first time in what feels like 2 years. I've had a chance to catch up on things I used to do in my former life, like wash my car and take Lucy and Addy for walks downtown and in Lake Conestee Nature Park. It's been wonderful.

On Tuesday night Kristi made probably one of the most delicious meals I've ever eaten. I don't know what it's called, but it involves onions, mushrooms, chicken, and cheese. For the sides we had green beans and rice. It was fantastic, and I'm thinking about making it the "guest" meal, which is the meal we make when visitors come over. Up until this point we usually make this pan seared Italian chicken. Maybe we can rotate.
Today I finally got my waterslide decal onto the headstock of my guitar neck. It has been quite a frustrating process. The first problem was that I didn't have anything to fix the ink (make it not smudge). I thought I could just use a coat of lacquer, but it really didn't work very well, and when I stuck the decal into water ink went everywhere. So I bought some decal bonder on ebay, waited a few days for it to get here, and then sprayed my decals. After they had dried I attempted to stick one on the headstock. Unfortunately application of the 3 I had made were all unsuccessful. Those things are very hard to get on straight without the edges curling. So I made 6 more, and after the first 2 were failures, the 3rd was a winner. I kind of wish it was a tad higher, but it looks good so I'm not going to push my luck.
One thing I have really enjoyed this year in general is seeing how far our yard has come. When we first moved to our house in '08 there was little to no landscaping. Here is an old blog post with some pictures shortly after we moved in. We spent many hours doing back breaking work killing grass, creating mulch beds, and planting somewhere in the realm of 50ish bushes and 4 trees when all was said and done. And when I say we, really it was mostly me, especially the digging. We bought the tiniest bushes available (they are the cheapest) so it has been fun to watch everything get bigger. This year I've been tackling the grass, which was just as big a problem. I've sprayed weeds, pulled weeds by hand, and began following a fertilizing schedule that someone from Southside gave me. Things have gone better than I imagined, and the yard is looking great, grass included. I was admiring my work and thought, "hey, I should take some more yard pictures for my blog." So here for your admiration is the Stoeber's 2010 version of our yard.

Next week I am going to Hilton Head which is pretty exciting. I don't get vacations too often, so time at the beach is always appreciated, although I do admit I'm hoping the temp stays at least in the lower 90's. I'm thinking my chances are slim.

mmmmmm Brussel Sprouts...

2010-07-20T10:11:00.007-04:00

I enjoy making fancy dinners...most people are aware of this. Lately I have been more adventurous with my dinners. There was the swordfish, which turned out wonderfully...

This past Sunday I decided to try a grilled Salmon recipe, and for the vegetable I thought I would give Brussel Sprouts a chance. Now I have only ever tried them one time before, and it was a long time ago. My mom made them when I was young, and the story is remembered by all family members because my dad tried to pretend he liked them and ate a ton, and then felt sick later that night. We never had them again after that.

So against my better judgement I decided I'd go for it. I found a recipe on allrecipes.com which had hundreds of positive reviews, surely they couldn't be that bad, right? After washing and trimming they looked quite promising.

Things started to go downhill after they had been in the oven for a little bit. The smell just wasn't one you think of when you think of a delicious dinner. Nonetheless they looked pretty when they were done cooking.
Unfortunately that's where anything positive ends. Kristi and I both tried to pretend like they weren't that bad, but I think after the fifth one I felt like I might gag if I swallowed anymore. Kristi ate a few more than me, but felt about the same. It really put a damper on the whole dinner. That and the fact that the salmon didn't turn out quite as delicious as I thought it would. Oh well, they can't all be winners I guess.

YouTube pro...

2010-07-18T21:04:00.001-04:00

...The Stoebers now have a YouTube page (and I am pretty excited). My parents got us a cool Canon HD video camera for Christmas and I figured I needed to put it to good use. Here are the first 3 videos I posted!

Stoberto Customs

2010-07-10T10:50:00.003-04:00

I have been working on building a telecaster for 2 and 1/2 years now. It's going to be sweet when it's done, and it's not that I don't care to finish, it's that I usually lack funds to buy the parts I need. I am not actually cutting the wood (although I would love to learn how to do that someday), but I am doing everything else from the finishing to the wiring. I am finished with the body (flame maple top and alder), and almost finished with the neck (flame maple/ebony fretboard w/ star inlays)...the two biggest obstacles by far. The body has a nitro lacquer finish while on the neck I actually used a gunstock oil finish (except for the headstock which will be lacquer).

The wiring I am pretty comfortable with, so as soon as I figure out something I can sell in my house I can finish up...I am ecstatic. I'm probably mainly excited about buying some pickups from a guy named Bill Lawrence. I was prepared to shell out around $200 for some Fralins or Bulldogs (quality hand wound pickups), but I discovered that Bill, who has been designing pickups for companies like Fender for years sells his own pickups with his wife Becky on their own website for...wait for it...$72 plus shipping. I mean are you kidding me? Once again...ecstatic.

The most daunting task I need to do is level the frets of my neck which involves using a heavy flat surface and sanding frets until they are all the same height, and then recrowning them afterwards. I think this part has the most potential for damage, and the neck was pretty expensive so I am a little nervous. I got a scrap piece of 2"x16" granite for the sanding (as I read this works well for a heavy flat surface), and I think I'm going to practice on my Kramer first.

That was my first electric guitar, and as I have a hard time parting with guitars I simply have upgraded it over the years with Gotoh tuners, and white pickguard, and even Fender American pickups and all new electronics. It's not bad at all, although it still has a plywood body.

I've been working on a logo for my guitar neck headstock. Some people just put a Fender logo on their builds, but I want to name it after me! "Stoberto Customs" is what I've decided on, borrowing a high school nick name that has stuck with me over the years. This is what I've got so far...but it is still a work in progress.

So hopefully (as the serial number indicates) I will be done before the end of 2010...anyone up for some donations?

New Songs...

2010-07-05T13:09:00.003-04:00

...I wrote some new songs during Daddy Daycare (the five weeks I took off from school to care for Addy during the day). After her second morning feeding, and before we made lunch, I would play my guitar and sing for her. At first I mostly sang Jon Foreman and Switchfoot songs, but then after a while we started to write some songs together (when I say we, I would write and she would just smile). They turned out pretty well...here they are...

Song 1 - written for Kristi and I's 3rd anniversary - click here

Song 2 - a poem I wrote for Addy put to music with other words added - click here

Song 3 - a song I wrote during the Joseph series at Southside - click here

more Applebee's fun...

2010-06-28T10:06:00.002-04:00

I've been thinking lately about making a top 5 list named "You might eat at Applebee's if...". The list would go something like this:

You might eat at Applebee's if...

1. You require extra alfredo sauce with your pasta.
2. Your four year old child enjoys opening sugar packets and pouring them on the floor and/or table.
3. You order your steak "well done, but tender."
4. Your party of twenty arrives two people at a time at ten minute intervals, then adds 4 or 5 more people when you are all finally done eating.
5. You consider 3-4 dollars a good tip regardless of check size.

Sleeping At Last

2010-06-15T23:41:00.004-04:00

I have been enjoying a newer CD from Sleeping at Last, and on this CD is a song called "Naive." Not only is it beautiful, but I feel like it expresses so well things that I have felt here and there the past few years with all the changes Kristi and I have gone through together as well as things I have seen happen around me. Buy the CD "Storyboards", it's great!

Naive

Religion is a breeding ground,
where the devil's work is deeply found
with teeth as sharp as cathedral spires
slowly sinking in.

God knows that I've been naive,
but I think it makes Him proud of me.
Now it's so hard to separate
my disappointments from His name.

Because shadows stretch behind the truth
where stained glass offers broken clues,
and fear ties knots and pulls them tight
and it leaves us paralyzed.

But in the end such tired words will rest.
The truth will reroute the narrow things they've said,
and the marionette strings will lower and untie,
and out of the ashes love will be realized.

God knows that we've been naive,
and a bit nearsighted to say the least.
It's broken glass at children's feet,
that gets swept away unexpectedly.

It stung like a violent wind that our memories depend on a faulty camera in our minds...

2010-04-15T00:43:00.004-04:00

If I could take a moment
and put it in a jar,
I'd hold it tight with knuckles white,
so closely to my heart.

If I could catch a memory
and hide it in the sea,
I'd place it beneath the waves so deep,
where only I could be.

If I could take a picture
of time as it passed by,
I'd hang those photos from the clouds,
so they'd stretch across the sky.

If I could take a lifetime
and spend it in this day,
I'd cherish every single second
before it slipped away.

So I'm a dad...

2010-02-02T22:41:00.006-05:00

...it's been a long time I know. Things have been a little crazy around the Stoeber household. I haven't flunked out of nursing school yet, and my two jobs are going strong. I started running again in December as I was packing on some pounds again, and I'm trying to run at least 2 times a week even during school.

The most important thing that's happened though is the birth of Kristi's and my new daughter, Adelaide Grace Stoeber. I needed her to come on a weekend for me to stay in school and not repeat 5 weeks, and God was very kind to allow that to happen. Kristi woke me up at 4:45 on Saturday, Jan 23rd to let me know she was in labor. After some grumpy dialogue I cannot recall (I had only had like 11 hours of sleep the past 3 nights due to school and work), we headed for the hospital. Labor went very smoothly, and our daughter was born at 8:13 pm weighing 7 lbs 7 oz. The transition home been great too. It actually has been a little easier than I thought it would be, although Kristi thinks it's been a little harder...which goes to show that it's better for the person not feeding the baby every 3 hours. I've been a little tired, but fatherhood has been great. Watching the whole birthing process was pretty amazing, and looking at my daughter for the first time was also amazing. People ask me alot if I had some type of epiphany when holding/seeing her for the first time, but as great as it was, I think it was pretty much like I expected...my personality is just weird like that.

Our daughter's first name doesn't have a whole lot of significance. It is a city in Australia, and it is a song by Anberlin. Don't worry though, because our daughter's middle name was chosen because it was the name of my grandmother who passed away several months ago. I had the privelege of being in the room with my family and my grandmother as she took her last breath. For me, both birth and death seem like the most sacred of events in the human life, and I appreciate being able to experience both firsthand within a couple of months of each other. My grandmother was a great Christians lady, and as my wife said to Addy tonight, "if she were still here on earth she would be praying for you every day."

In case you were worried, the pets are adapting well. Lucy is mostly upset about all the visitors, and Oliver gets a little grumpy that he can't be in the bedroom when Addy is asleep in her infant napper. Other than that Oliver is just curious, and Lucy is a little scared of her...she'll get used to her though, especially when she starts dropping food off of the high chair.

In closing, I'll give you my 3 biggest earthly fears as a new dad...ready?

1. Being a lame dad - I feel like fatherhood automatically lamifies me a little, so I'll have to work extra hard to be non-lame, although I think I'm fighting a losing battle
2. Parenting in a way that screws up my kid forever - I'm in a Psych nursing class right now, and apparently I have no hope of avoiding this one
3. The next poopy diaper - some of them are worse than others

Until next time...

Adventures with the big GC

2009-11-03T21:38:00.005-05:00

So many times in this past month I've thought, "that would be great to blog about." But alas, I am so exhausted by the time I get in bed that I never end up blogging about my experiences and thoughts. Sad I know, but I hope to have some more new stuff up soon.

One event I decided would be blog-worthy is an experience I had with Guitar Center, so I'll start with that. Lately I haven't had the best of luck with purchases. For instance I bought a snare from an ebay seller last year that had a nick in the bearing edge, so I had to send it back to Mapex to have it re-cut (under warranty of course). It turned out to be a great snare; but still, what a pain! Then I also bought a sweet new tweed Blues Junior with Christmas money, and since I wasn't comfortable with the first one I took it back to exchange it for another the same day. You may remember this ordeal from a previous post. There were a few other mishaps with orders from various vendors, but I'll leave it at that and progress to my current story.

I don't have many cymbals, but I do have high quality cymbals. I have this plan for my life where I try to be extremely patient and only purchase musical things that are quality that I will want to keep or can easily get my money back from. Because of this I have very nice cymbals, but only one crash. I like to consistently peruse Guitar Center's national used equipment lists because sometimes stores will list a cymbal for way too cheap. I don't know why, maybe they get it for too cheap from someone and just want to unload it. I found one of these 2 weeks ago at a guitar center in Maryland. The item was an 18" medium Zildjian Avedis crash. I've been looking for a heavier crash to complement my glassy 16" hhx evolution, and since I have been quite the low spender for quite some time now I decided to purchase it, especially since it was listed for a ridiculous price of 50.00.

So, a week went by...no cymbal. I called to check and was told it had in fact gone out, and should be there in a day or two...day 10, no cymbal. I call back and am transferred to the warehouse where a very friendly guy searches, puts me on hold, searches some more, tells me he'll call back, then calls back and says he doesn't think it ever shipped but he won't be able to find it until Monday. No problem, I'm in no hurry and he says he'll next day air it to me.

I don't get a call on Monday, so I call around 3 and work my way to the guy I talked to. Turns out they have no clue where the cymbal is. Someone remembers packing it up but they think they might have shipped it to someone else that ordered some other cymbals, they are really not sure. So I get my money refunded and am back to 1 crash for a while. I kinda felt like complaining some, but seriously, what could I gain? The cymbal simply doesn't exist anymore, and it's not like they'll sell me another nice cymbal for that ridiculously low price. Sometimes I wonder if it was just a cover-up because they realized it was too cheap.

So anyways, when the cymbal arrived I was going to start this sweet series where I went through all my random musical equipment with pictures and fun stories from past memories, but now that will all have to wait. I know you're sad, but at least it gives you something to look forward to. Who knows, maybe it will randomly show up at my house...we can only hope.

If you get bored with the audio posts, you can skim most of this one...

2009-09-22T23:06:00.012-04:00

Busy, busy, busy...that's what I've been lately. It's funny almost, you think you've hit the height of too much to do, only to have the next phase of life be more stressful. Right now my time consists of class, clinicals, tutoring, Southside, and Applebee's. This week I have off from school because I am in between classes, so I am hoping to get some yard work done during the day. Unfortunately I had a stomach virus Sunday night and so I am a little behind because I didn't get much done Monday. Figures...

By the way, did you know that Kristi and I are going to have a baby girl in January or February? We were going to wait until I was done with school, but things didn't turn out that way. We are both excited, and I think I am also a little nervous. Her name is Adelaide Grace Stoeber, Adelaide because we think it is pretty, and Grace because that was my grandmother's name who passed away earlier this year. We will probably call her Addy or Addy Grace. You may remember that I will not be done with nursing school until 2011, so feel free to send your financial support to our house. You can make your checks out to me.

One fun thing I had a chance to do more recently was a recording project for some friends in Columbia. They were part of the group from Columbia Crossroads Downtown that has become Riverside Community Church. They had a very closely knit community group from which several members were moving away, and they thought it would be fun to record some songs they enjoy singing together as a way to remember each other and their time together in Columbia. So, one weekend they all made the trip up here and we spent a good part of Saturday recording, followed by a going away party for one of the families at my parents' house.

The CD turned out really well, and while I can't post most of the songs as they aren't originals, one song that I really enjoyed was a short chorus written by Corrie, one of the girls. It is Psalm 34 set to a pretty melody, and you can hear her sing it here.

Speaking of music, I've done some exciting new things with sound at Southside. For one, we finally got some new mics and DI's, which have been fantastic. For microphones I am now using a Beta58 on Matt and a Beta57 on James. Both mics have been wonderful, especially the Beta57. Something about the mic just suits James's voice wonderfully compared to what I had to work with before. We also got an Audio Technica ATM410 which has been great. I didn't end up using it on Matt or James, but it sounded good with both of them, and I have used it on other vocalists and even a trumpet. I think it's going to be a very useful mic to have. I also asked for an Audix OM3. This was against my better judgement as I often do not like something about Audix mics. Recently though I have loved using an Audix D6 on kick drums, and also these little Audix micro condensers we have on flutes and other instruments, so I figured I'd give it a try after reading some reviews. It was no good, I did not like it on any vocals I tried it on. I'm sure it has a use somewhere, but I don't want a mic that is that difficult to work with, so Joe sent it back for me.

Other than the vocal mics, I am now using a BSS AR133 on acoustics, a Countryman Type 85 DI on bass, and some small AKG C430 mics as drum overheads. Out of that group, I think the Countryman has been the biggest improvement, but the others have been great too.

I also changed my approach a little back at the console. I tend to push everything pretty hard at Southside. I only run at about 85 dBA slow, which isn't loud, but it seems like that is close to the top for the system. I feel like I am always fighting harshness, and I started to wonder if perhaps part of it was a small amount of harmonic distortion somewhere in there...not enough to hear distinctly, but just to give it some rough edges. So, I decided I would try to not push the gains as hard, but instead run the clusters and the subs louder. I think the extra headroom in the channels has really opened things up a bit, and I even got a comment or two from people who don't typically notice things like that, so I think I am on the right track. I probably should have done this from the beginning, but I'm kind of learning as I go.

The only other thing I've started to do is to run the kick through an outboard compressor. Technically I have compressors in the board, but I just felt like the software compressor wasn't always giving me what I wanted, especially on things like drums. So, while the only compressor I had available was a behringer (yuck), I decided to try it out, and it has been way better. The kick hits harder and has better tone. I may try it on a few more things from here, like the snare and the bass guitar, and then maybe I can acquire a higher quality compressor eventually.

I guess that's it for now, it's getting late and I should probably go to sleep so I can get up and do some yard work tomorrow. As I go, I'll leave you with this...my fantasy football team is 2-0...Go Stoberto's Stallions!

Pet Peeves as a Waiter

2009-08-31T23:46:00.005-04:00

As the 3 of you who read this blog know, I recently took a job being a waiter at Applebee's. It is alot of work for not a whole lot of money, but I enjoy it for the most part. However, I do deal with some difficult people, so I thought for fun I would write a few pet peeves I have noticed devloping.

1. Please don't tell me you're ready to order and then take literally 5 minutes to order because you don't know what you want...especially when I have 4-5 other tables.

2. Please don't order your steak "well done but tender." First, you are ordering it well done...second, this is Applebee's we are talking about.

3. Please don't complain when I have to charge you for extra chicken, or whatever else extra you want. When the suppliers stop charging Applebee's for these things, then they might stop charging you....maybe.

4. When I greet you and I am telling you my name, please don't interrupt me mid-sentence with your drink order. Or I guess if you have to interrupt at least make eye contact while you do it.

5. If you have a large party, please don't complain when the table of 2 across from you gets their food first. It takes a little while for the kitchen to coordinate getting all 10 meals out at the same time.

For the most part I get friendly people at my tables, but there are a few every week that do some crazy things. These are just a few things that happen on a regular basis that tend to annoy me. Maybe I'll have some more to add after a few more months...

In other news...

2009-08-14T23:36:00.002-04:00

Lately I have been thinking about my spiritual views/opinions. Going through Mark at Southside, I've seen Jesus interact on several occasions with the Pharisees. I think for some time I've felt self-justified in being sure that I am not a Pharisee. I of course am much more loving and maybe less conservatively minded than those I would think of as Pharisees. That sounds bad even as I type it. Anyways, lately I have convicted that just because I think of myself as less legalistic, I still in many ways see myself as having God and my relationship with him all figured out, and often see myself as better than others who hold more or less rigid views. I guess as I get older I just learn that there is more and more I really don't understand, and I really am a prideful person. It's funny because adults tell you this kind of stuff all the time growing up, but you only start to see what they are seeing as you live through various life experiences. So in the end, I guess I just have to ask God to guide me and make me less of a Pharisee.

On a different subject, I just finished recording a better version of a song I arranged in Columbia. I say arranged because I took an old hymn, switched some words around, and gave it a new tune a chorus...it's the cool thing to do these days. You can find it here.

I built a fence and now I'm tired...

2009-07-30T23:51:00.005-04:00

...the two aren't really related. I would like to get back to blogging, but alas, my life gets more and more crazy. I was reading through posts the other day and realized there is a bunch of stuff I said I was going to post that I never did.

First of all, I did build a fence. The process was not as hard as I thought, but was more time consuming than I thought. In the end though, it is so nice to be able to let Lucy roam around outside for as long as she wants. Oliver is actually also a big fan of the fence as he spends time each day chasing bugs in the backyard. Here's some pictures of the process:

In general our yard is really coming along. We've got some great bushes and flowers, and they are all doing well. We had a bunch of sunflowers come up from the birdseed, which we were happy about. The bees and stinkbugs (don't ask me why) have really enjoyed them:

I have started nursing school and also a job at Applebee's. I am unable to work much during the day, so I am down to 8 hours a week at Southside just running sound really. I don't miss the constant organizing so much, but I do miss the people and the money. On the other hand I have really enjoyed being a waiter, and I love the people I work with at Applebee's. The tips have been not as good as I thought though, and all the work and school makes me very tired. Kristi and I don't get to spend as much time together, and I don't have time to do much around the house, which is also discouraging.

I've really missed playing music lately, to the point of frustration. It stinks having no real outlet for the main thing I enjoy. Playing drums for youth at Southside is fun, but I haven't been able to do that since I started working at Applebee's. I have had a chance to do a few interested sound related projects. One was running sound for a Refresh featuring Rodrigo Rodriguez. It mainly stressed me out, but I think I did a pretty solid job. The other was recording a special musical night for Resonate, Southside's college thing. I used the Mackie HDR and a firepod, but I haven't had a chance to see how the tracks turned out yet. Hopefully good since they were kind of depending on me...

I think that's all the news I've got for now. It will be a busy weekend with lots of work and studying for my final in my first nursing class. By the way, does anyone want to buy a 1995 Buick LeSabre?

It's a boring night when everyone else is asleep by 9...

2009-06-15T22:10:00.003-04:00

So the past few days I've found myself driving through some pretty rural areas of South Carolina, and this has reminded me how much I like to drive. I am easily impressed by the beauty of nature, and you might be surprised to see how beautiful the great state of SC is once you get out of the suburbs.

In other news, I've written some new songs as of late, but only one has made it to Soundclick so far. I did this weird thing where I recorded drums with 2 OH's and then went back and played only the snare drum with the recording (remember I only have 2 inputs). I would like to say that I'm such a machine it worked perfectly, but actually I had to align almost all of the hits perfectly so it would sound better. Either way it came out sounding pretty decent. I am especially proud of some of the guitar sounds I got. Here it is.

You know, one of the best sounding recordings up there is that ludwig snare test, which is funny because I didn't plan any of that, I just played some random stuff on drums and then added some guitars with minimal mixing. It always seems to be like that, I think it has something to do with being able to free myself up mentally when I'm not trying to nail something systematic.

Tonight Kristi, Oliver, and Lucy all went to sleep before 9, so I have been laying here perusing musical things on the internet. I was watching Andrew Osenga play "When Will I Run" on YouTube, and that reminded me of this old bootleg of Vertical Horizon I have covering "Fast Car" and then going into their song, "Wash Away." Does anyone else have this bootleg? It is incredible, and it got pretty popular on the internets back in the day. It was back when VH was still more of an acoustic rock jam type thing...so good. Not that I don't like their stuff that got popular, I do. Oh, and here's the vid of Andrew Osenga, also amazing...

I think that's all I've got for today. Tomorrow is Kristi's and my 2 year anniversary, so it should be a good day...but man, I am getting so old.

Back to blogging...

2009-06-12T00:56:00.004-04:00

I think it's about that time. I've got some good ones coming, I promise...new songs, new pictures, new life experiences...get excited. For now I'll start slow and leave you with 2 thoughts...

1. Compressors

Who was the person that thought of these, and how did anyone ever run sound without them? I think the greatest benefit of having a digital mixer for FOH at Southside is the fact that I have a compressor on every single channel. I was reminded of how amazing these things are when I ran sound for a rehearsal for kids worship upstairs this week. I got things sounding OK, but I was pushing the system hard to get a volume I needed, sometimes clipping the main bus, and often clipping some of the individual channels. After rehearsal Joe reminded me that he had some compressors I could use...they are Behringer, and I do admit I tend to have a negative attitude about said company, but I took one unit up to the room today am already excited about the difference it is going to make. A little compression/limiting on the kick, snare, bass, and master bus and we are going to be in business.

2. Music

I just love it. I watched this movie recently called "Last Chance Harvey" and while the cast was the only thing I really enjoyed, one aspect I really identified with was how Harvey had such a love for music, and in his own way was extremely musically talented, but somehow didn't seem to fit into a mold of a performing/professional musician. I had the opportunity to play lead guitar and sing for the first time in a really long time the other night, and it just felt like a release....almost like running can be for those of you who enjoy exercising. Still I feel like it is becoming more and more clear to me that I am of better use in supporting musician or tech roles that as an up front leader/organizer. There's something about the personality mold that just doesn't fit me. I could be wrong, but this is what I've been feeling lately, and this is after all my blog. Anyways, tonight I sat here with my eyes closed listening to some of my favorite songs lyrically and musically and was just reminded of the appreciation I have for the art and how thankful I am that God created it.

Thanks for listening, I've been building a fence and writing songs, so stay tuned!

Picture Euphoria

2009-03-28T23:25:00.013-04:00

This is going to be a great post, maybe the greatest ever...do you know why? Pictures.

First of all, all of the work we did on our yard in the fall is starting to look pretty good. One aspect of the yard I am quite impressed with is the mailbox and specifically the pansies around the mailbox. As I was pulling weeds last week I decided I should probably take some pictures to document how great they look:

The birds have been going crazy with the bird feeder too. I've had Cardinals, Doves, House Finches, a Tufted Titmouse, Goldfinches, and several mystery birds. Here's a picture I took the other morning. It didn't turn out that great, but you can see the finches, doves, and a cardinal:

Another exciting happening of late is that the other night Kristi and I had a seafood extravaganza. I have been shopping specials at various grocery stores to save some money, and last week Whole Foods had some specials on seafood. I bought some Talapia fillets and some Littlenecker clams, which I was quite excited about cooking. Kristi made a delicious Spinach and Strawberry salad while I baked the fish and steamed the clams. Those items, along with a baked potato, made for a wonderful dinner:

Sorry the fish is all in pieces. I got it out of the pan with a fork, and it was falling apart as I tried to get it on the plate.

I know at this point you are probably overwhelmed with all the great pics, but I've got even more. As you know I bought some snare drums over the past year so that I would have some quality variety. Since I've got the Mapex and the Ludwig now, I decided that I wanted to refinish my old Yamaha snare. My idea was that I would like to use it as a side snare, tuned very high, but I would like it to look nicer. Here's a picture of the drum originally:

So, I removed the yellow wrap and sanded the drum down. I thought about staining it as is, but the basswood didn't look like it would stain well, so I decided to put a veneer on. I found a woodworker on Ebay who sells his leftover scraps from his projects, and I bought some rare Etimoe veneer. I decided staining it before applying would be easiest, so I used a very light stain and then sanded it back so that the grain would show better. It ended up being brittle and pretty tricky to work with, but with some research and the help of my dad, I was able to attach it fairly successfully to the drum with contact cement. There were a few flaws in the installation, but you would have to look carefully to notice. My dad and I spent an entire evening applying contact cement and then adhering the veneer to the drum:

Over the past two weeks I have spent time finishing the drum. I sealed it with 2 coats of shellac, and then finished it with many coats of Wipe-On PolyU (maybe 20ish). After that I wet sanded it with 000 steel wool, buffed it with polishing compound, and then put some car wax on it. It turned out looking even better than I thought, and I am really proud of the result:

Obviously I need to order a grommet for the vent. All this talk about the drums reminds me, I have some exciting additions to the drum set I know you have been waiting to see. For my birthday I asked for money and was able to purchase a really nice used ride; a Zildjian K Custom Medium 20" Ride:Purchasing the ride meant that I could sell all of my old Sabian B8's and hope to get enough money to purchase a nice used crash. They didn't sell for much, but I did get enough to buy this used Sabian HHX 16" Evolution Crash:I got a great deal on both cymbals, and I am really happy with how they sound. I would really like to have an 18" crash also, but I will have to be patient and wait for another holiday. Here's some pictures of my drums as they are set up now:

I have the Mapex snare up in the pics, but here's a picture of all 3 snares:Last, I did some quick recordings of the set. The first one is with the Mapex snare, the second is with my newly refinished snare. It's tuned very high, I know...refer to my earlier paragraph about the snare.

New Cymbal Test

Refinished Snare Test

Well, I think that's all the updates for now. I am working on making a collage of some music from last Sunday. I thought it was the best Sunday sound wise since I've been at Southside, so I thought it would be fun to post some of it on here. Stay tuned!

It's not that I don't like vegetables...it's that I'd rather eat pretty much anything else...

2009-03-19T23:33:00.005-04:00

This has been a great week. I feel like I have been very productive in alot of areas of my life lately, and this week has seemed especially productive. I have also enjoyed seeing what birds come to the bird feeder everyday, and I think Oliver is really enjoying that also. Lucy doesn't seem to care.

I had something weird happen on Monday morning. I was taking a shower and when I bent over to wash my legs I hit my head really hard on the handle of the shower door. Much to my dismay I took a pretty good chunk out of my head right in a spot where I am already balding. Hopefully my hair comes back there, but I am doubtful as it never came back in the spots where I hit my head on the diving board as a kid.

You may be aware that I have been working hard at consistently running every since the beginning of the new year. I have really enjoyed the exercise, and it in turn has motivated me to try and eat a little healthier. I don't consider myself a particularly unhealthy eater, but there are things I should improve on like eating more vegetables. So, I have been buying fresh vegetables and experimenting with cooking them. I wouldn't say I enjoy eating anything I've made vegetable wise, but some of them aren't too bad. For instance I have been grilling Zucchini and Yellow Squash with garlic, olive oil, salt, and pepper, and it doesn't taste all that bad. On Monday I made a dinner that I thought was one of the better looking ones I have made:

I didn't like the spinach too much. Kristi and I are going to try it in a salad next week, we're thinking that will be better.

Another exciting thing I did this week was getting started budgeting through Microsoft Money again. I used to do this to keep better track of our spending, but my hard drive crashed right before we moved to Greenville and I lost the software since I didn't have it on CD. Last week I decided that I really needed to get more organized in the finance area, so I decided to purchase Quicken this time and see if I liked it. It was OK, I didn't like the layout as much, but the big kicker was the categories. If I put something in a subcategory...like "Eating Out" as a subcategory of a bigger category like "Entertainment," then it would no longer show up as an expense of "Entertainment." So if we spent $100 eating out this month, I wouldn't know it by looking at the "Entertainment" category, I'd have to show every subcategory, and in our budget I would have to break down what we wanted to spend on each subcategory. How dumb is that? It's like having a subcategory that isn't really a subcategory. Since I don't want to have to break down what we spend each month in that much detail, I shipped Quicken back and bought Microsoft Money again, which has been great.

I think those are the highlights from the week so far. This weekend is going to be really busy, but should be a good one. I hope the weather stays this wonderful! A little warmer and I'll be sweating it out in my car (no AC). Better wear a nose plug when you're around me this summer...

I think I'll change the name of my blog to "Andrew's Amazing Animal Almanac"....alliteration anyone?

2009-03-15T22:46:00.011-04:00

I guess I'll stop making excuses for not posting often...I just haven't felt like it too much lately. Maybe it's because "Resurfaced" is no more. I'm surprised the blogosphere hasn't come to a complete halt as a result. Anyways, I figured I'd stop in for a weekly entry.

Kristi and I got some bird feeders and supplies around my birthday, sort of as part of my birthday present. I have been waiting ever since then for a bird to show up, and I have been sorely disappointed. My parents bought us a birdbath this week though, and so I faithfully kept it filled with clean water waiting for a breakthrough. This weekend marked the beginning of what I hope will soon be a bird paradise in our backyard. Strangely enough I was playing the drums on Saturday morning when I saw the first Chickadee land on our feeder:

This liitle guy and his Chickadee friend have been faithful since then, flying up at regular intervals all morning, grabbing seed, and then flying back to the woods. I learned on Wikipedia that these may actually be "Carolina Chickadees." Either way, their interest in our feeders quickly attracted other birds, and today I saw Mourning Doves and what I thought were Wrens, but I think they may be "House Finches":
As well as Goldfinches (I think?), which I was most excited about:
We even had two Goldfinches on our thistle feeder at one point:
I'm not positive those are Goldfinches, as they look different than the pictures I can find...but they do look similar to "Lesser Goldfinches," so maybe they are. What a crappy name...I'm glad no one calls me "Lesser Andrew." Well, not to my face anyways. I am still waiting for the Woodpeckers and the Cardinals, which I see in the woods all the time.

Today the mixing at church went well despite some rough spots at rehearsal. Mixing with ensemble mics is always a challenge, and this week it just wasn't working on Wednesday. We thought about giving wireless mics to some of the singers, but with some re-positioning and restructuring of panning, everything worked out well. James arranged a countryish version of "Swing Low, Sweet Chariot" for the prelude today which was cool. Here's the video Joe posted on YouTube...

Sweet camera directing, eh?

That's it for tonight. I need to post an update on my drums, and also a fun project my dad and I worked on, but I will wait for another time...mainly because I have to get pictures off of my mom's camera. In closing, my brackets won't be doing too well this year as I'll have Clemson going all the way....but if they do, oh baby....

Oh and here's another picture for your enjoyment:

I would be surprised if anyone really reads through all of this post....

2009-03-08T23:26:00.003-04:00

This weekend was a good one, although I'd characterize it with the word "tired." I did run Saturday morning and I felt awful. I don't know what the deal is, but I just am not getting to that point where it doesn't hurt to run. I do have a good day every now and then though. Dad says I'm probably just that out of shape, and Matt (my community group leader) says I'm just getting older. I suppose either could be true.

Kristi and I ran some errands later in the day, during which we stopped at Circuit City. I just wanted to see if they had any cheap DVD players on sale for cheaper. It was like a war zone in the store. Turns out it was the last day they were open, and there was pretty much nothing left except a few random items and a bunch of their cabling that they had in bins for sale. The only items other than cheap accessories and cabling were a laptop for $200 and a printer for $25 dollars. They both didn't have a box and were just sitting there with a bag of accessories beside them...didn't seem like good investments to me, not that I needed either item anyways.

Saturday night we invited my parents over to partake in a dinner from the new grill they bought me. It was one of the better meals I've made lately, although it wasn't very complicated. I can tell that this grill is going to open up a whole new world of cooking possibilities for me, which is exciting. I think I want to make some fish sometime soon, and also some grilled chicken. Tomorrow I'm going to grill some pork chops, which I have marinating in the fridge as I type. I think they are going to be delicious, although I am a little disappointed that I don't have any onion to cook with them. Oh well. We took the dogs downtown and ate dessert at Marble Slab afterwards. I love coffee ice cream with raspberries and oreos. It may sound weird, but it is right up my alley. Plus, I think if you told someone you drank a mocha coffee drink with raspberry, that would sound good, so I don't think my dessert choice is that weird.

Lucy is kind of weird. If you haven't gathered that from my blog you haven't read enough. One of the weird things about her is that she gets extremely whiny and grumpy when it's past her bedtime, like a little kid. This was true on Saturday night. She started whining in the car on the way home, and then when we got inside she just stood at the bed and cried for like, 20 minutes. Finally I picked her up and put her in bed and she flopped down and went to sleep immediately. I'm having serious deja vú, have I written this before?

Anyways, I slept awful Saturday night because I was worried my phone would malfunction with the time change. It is my alarm, and I wouldn't want to be late to church for work on Sunday because I think that would be fairly stressful for Matt and Joe. Not to mention Lucy woke up to barf at 3. She does this every now and then, and no change to her feeding schedule has helped....weird. Dr. Ringger, got any suggestions? The good thing is she has done it enough to where she has learned to go to the linoleum, which is way easier to clean up. This post is just getting weirder by the paragraph.

Church went well, although I was EQing vocals all through the first service. I am reworking the board EQ, because it was a little crazy. Basically I am just trying to flatten it out, because some mids had seriously cut due to previous feedback problems. The issue is you can't really get those mids back very well; even drastic EQ just ends up doing screwy things to the sound. So that process has created some new issues with mixing, and I wasn't able to get the vocals where I wanted them Wednesday. I had Matt sing some for me on Thursday, but without the band it isn't easy to figure out what you want. Thankfully by the end of the first service I had a good handle on things.

I also spent time taking SPL readings at various points during the music today. I am just interested to know what I run at as I haven't really been given a reference to aim for. From the sound booth I am running about 93 average on dBC slow, and about 85 average on dBA slow. This is at the booth so I would expect it to be 3 dB louder on the floor, and it hotspots maybe 5 dB louder. dBC is much more affected by bass, so I'm thinking people sitting right at the sub probably would read over 100 dBC, but if you switched to dBA would probably drop like 12-15 dB's. dBA is typically used for modern music, because it's not flat. It's almost like it reads with a band pass, and in so doing compensates for the fact that humans don't hear low and high frequencies as well. From the meter, the levels I'm running are fairly conservative. I've read that 95 dBA is as loud as you can get at most churches before people start complaining (well more than a few), although I don't know how true that is, and what constitutes this group of churches? I would guess at places like Newspring and North Point they are running closer to 100 dBA or something. On some forums I've read about churches running at painfully loud levels, which just isn't wise in my mind.

The OSHA has established levels that people can't be exposed to over a period of time in the workplace so that their hearing isn't damaged. The lowest of this is 85 dBA, and they state that you would have to be exposed to it for over 8 hours for permanent damage. This means if you work somewhere that has an average ambient SPL of at least 85 dBA and you work an 8 hour shift, you will experience hearing loss, and your employer has to legally provide you with protection. So if you think about our service today, the average person is in there for maybe 1.25 hours, and the average SPL between the music and teaching/talking is going to be way below 85 dBA, so you can be assured that you are not losing any hearing by coming to Southside. If we ever have a service where the band plays their louder songs for 9 hours straight, you should probably wear a little bit of hearing protection. Also, interestingly enough I read an article by a sound engineer today that said most people like listening to their stereos at 85 dBA, and he thinks that's a good reference for churches. When I think about concerts that I have thought sounded amazing, I would guess that they were running a very balanced mix at something like 95 dBA. I would guess the dBC would be way higher because concerts that sound great have some loud, tight, pumping bass that really hits you right in the chest. On another note, I don't know that I will go back to the Handlebar very often because every concert I have been to there has had screeching highs that have left my ears feeling deaf for a few hours, which means my ears were seriously trying to protect themselves. I guess I could just wear earplugs next time, but we all know how lame that is.

Disclaimer: alot of the things I said were just guesstimates, so take them with a grain of salt...I don't even know how accurate our SPL meter is.

Wow, I did not originally mean to get off on that long of a tangent. We ate lunch at the Boyds' and then went to community group...the end.

No but seriously, I think that's all I have to say after that. Lunch with the Boyds was good and I made the usual cheesecake I make for community group, which got good reviews as always. I think I will be making that thing for every function for the rest of my life...it's just so impressive.

Tomorrow will be rough if I decided to run, because my legs were so sore today. I'll see what I feel like tomorrow, but I think I'm going to cut back to 4.5 miles for a while. I'm kind of disappointed because I wanted to get up to 6 quickly, but I just can't stand how crappy I feel every time. I'll keep blaming it on the hills...

I bet if I ever did homework, Lucy would eat it...

2009-03-06T23:37:00.008-05:00

Lucy chewed up my computer power cord a long time ago, right after we moved to Greenville. I, being the amazing person that I am, was able to solder it back together and had been using it with fine results since then. Unfortunately it came apart for good a couple days ago, which meant that I was without my laptop until my new power cord got here, which meant I couldn't blog from bed. This coupled with the fact that I can't load my pictures onto my desktop due to no card reader and no USB cable meant that I had to break from blogging for a few days.

But I'm back. The only thing I really wanted to mention about the past few days is that I had a chance to use my new very cool grill:

Things went really well, and the steak I made was great. It cooked really fast though, and was medium well I would say. This is due to the fact that they were so skinny, I mean they were only on each side for like 3 minutes. I used to use a George Foreman in Columbia, so I always used skinny cuts. I think I would like to try some thicker steaks next time on the grill. Here's some pictures of me in action:

Today was a pretty productive day. I got to work around 9 and was surprised to see Joe right after I arrived. He usually gets there a little later, so it was nice to have some company early on. I spent the morning working on the sound board some. I have been using the channels a little differently, so I decided to re-name them for now. I figure once we get a good rotation of sound guys we can talk about how to best set it up, but for now I'm tired of having things labeled wrong. I also called Yamaha to see if I could get some kind of plug-in card with a de-esser in it. The vocalists could really use one, especially Matt. The Yamaha rep told me to buy the Waves Y96K card. All of those effects look amazing, and I have used some of them like the L1 and the L2 in the studio before. Problem is, it costs $1000.00, and I don't know that that would be the best use of money. On one hand it would be incredible to have those capabilities on every channel, but on the other hand we have an alright compressor/limiter on every channel, and I could get some hardware de-essers for a few hundred. But, I mean paying a few hundred more for that much more capability might be a good investment too. I talk like I even make these decisions too, when really it's not up to me. I spent some of my morning making a list for Joe of what items I thought would really benefit the sound area of the tech ministry though, which is why I'm thinking about these things.

I also loaded some Igniter Media video backgrounds onto Easy Worship for Joe and ate a wonderful Healthy Choice Chicken Marsala meal for lunch. I have been eating their cafe steamers for meals lately because they are cheap, and they really are very good. Joe thinks they smell like feet, but whatever dude.

After work I headed to the Mauldin Library for some tutoring with Jake. He was a little more distracted than usual today, but things are going well overall. He seems to be understanding the material and is able to answer questions on his own more and more. When we were done I came home and took Lucy for a quick walk before Kristi and I left for dinner. We were meeting some friends downtown, so we dropped Lucy off with dad on the way. Mom had gone dress shopping in Atlanta for the day, so we thought he needed some company....actually we just thought Lucy would prefer to play with Molly since she had been by herself all day. We ate at TacoSushi and then went to Spill the Beans afterwards. Downtown was very busy tonight, more so than usual...maybe because of the very pleasant weather. After that we picked Lucy up and then came home.

Tomorrow I think I'm going to run. I haven't in a week because of the rain, snow, and one day of just being lazy. Hopefully I will feel great tomorrow since I have had a nice rest...I think I'll bump up to 6.5 miles. After that I don't think there's any specific plans, so it should be a great day! Maybe I'll do some recording...we'll see...

That's right...only 3 paragraphs...

2009-03-03T22:56:00.003-05:00

This morning was another fairly lazy one. It is still just so cold and I don't think I want to suffer through running until it gets a little warmer. I woke up at 8, but everyone else was still sleeping (well except Oliver, but I don't think he sleeps), so I just did some online reading until 9. I got ready and took Lucy for a pretty long walk after that. I always wonder if her paws feel cold. She doesn't seem to mind walking through half frozen puddles and piles of snow, so I guess she doesn't notice it.

We got back and I played drums for a little bit, and then Kristi and I left to eat lunch at Oriental House. She has had the past 2 days off from school due to the snow and power outages. Lunch was delicious as usual, and afterwards I made a quick stop at Lowes to get some contact cement for a project I will post more about later. After Lowes I was off to work, where I spent the whole day redoing the stage and organizing. I get fed up with all the old, half broken stuff in the closet today and decided to do a massive clean up. There were so many pieces to microphone stands laying around, so I figured out which pieces were actual functional, assembled as many stands as I could from those pieces, and threw all the broken stuff in the dumpster. I also moved some things that we never use up to the lighting loft. I wanted to put the stuff in the other loft, but apparently that one is no longer a tech storage area...oh well.

That was really all I did today. I just realized that I forgot to do my lab for physiology, so I will have to do that tomorrow morning before I leave to tutor Jake. I also have to take an online Sociology test before Thursday night...wow I have really slacked off this week. Oh well, I'm not concerned...and speaking of Greenville Tech, I really want to get my acceptance letter for clinicals soon! That is, if I got accepted...

Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow...in March...

2009-03-03T00:30:00.007-05:00

I feel a little guilty about not posting great pictures. We ended up going to "Slumdog Millionaire" with Chad and Jamie on Saturday night. It was very spontaneous, and I didn't feel like blogging when we got home since it was late. By the way, it really is a great movie.

Yesterday was a very fun day. I thought the music sounded great, and I didn't even put that much effort into it. Things seemed to kind of mix themselves, which made my job easy. When Charlie got up to speak in the third service, something was wrong with his mic. It was sort of coming through, but not really, and I had to jack up the gain and the fader to get it loud enough. Even then it still sounded weird, and so I looked at a camera screen beside me and saw that the mic was laying on his shoulder...he hadn't put it on his ear! After that Joe and I debated whether he would ever notice, whether he would notice and just leave it, or whether he would notice and put it on. He talked for a few minutes, but eventually hit it when making a gesture and realized what was going on. All in all, it was a pretty funny situation.

That evening we were supposed to move some furniture for Kristi's grandma, but it started snowing. I was extremely skeptical that anything would stick, but it came down hard for so long that we got about 6" on our patio table! Kristi, Lucy, Oliver and I had a great time with the snow. You can check my Facebook page for more pics, but here's a few from yesterday:

Today I slept in the longest I had in a long time. The cable/internet was out, and I couldn't run because of all the snow, so I really had no motivation for getting up. Eventually I decided to get up and go make a snowman, which I always enjoy doing. The snow stuck really well and I decided to make a huge one. The base was big, and I made a slightly smaller middle part, but I realized that it was way too heavy for me to pick up and put on top of the base. I quickly had to restructure my plans. Instead I decided to make a snow Kristi and a snow Andrew, which turned out wonderfully. I thought about making a snow Oliver and a snow Lucy, but that would have been too hard:

We lounged around for the rest of the day and finished off by going to La Fogata for dinner and then visiting my parents to try out their hot tub. They got it for Christmas, but this was the first night we were able to try it out. It was fun, but it made me a little hot after the first ten minutes or so. I'd take one if you want to give me one though...just sayin'...and while you're at it, build me a deck.

In other news, I got a grill for my birthday, which is very exciting. My dad and I assembled it on Saturday, and I plan on posting some great pictures when I cook my first meal on it on Thursday. I've also got some great new additions to my drum set, but I will wait until everything is here to update you on that. Pretty exciting stuff. Hope you had a wonderful snow day, and now that Joe's blog is ending, you have no excuse not to read mine...

They have squirrel proof feeders, but really I don't mind feeding the squirrels too.

2009-02-28T00:20:00.003-05:00

Fridays are turning out to be long days. Thankfully my mom said she would watch Lucy today, so I got up early to take Lucy over. She is always so excited to see Molly. I stopped at the bank on the way to work. I've been seeing alot of Wells Fargo info inside Wachovia lately, which has made me wonder if they will change the name eventually.

Work today consisted of alot of cleaning up. There was a bunch of lighting paraphernalia I had to put away and some things I had to clean up on the stage. I also finished writing the light cues. Lighting is just not as exciting as sound to me, but I think I'm going to try to start working on it throughout the week instead of just on Fridays.

On my lunch break I bought some drum accessories with some of my birthday money from musiciansfriend.com. I needed a new cymbal stand and I also bought some other small items like cymbal felts, sleeves, and some moon gels. I actually wasn't planning on getting the moon gels, but when I was originally ready to check out the top of the page said, "You only need to spend $0.83 more to get free shipping." It was a pain trying to figure out what 2-3$ item I could buy that would be useful, but settled on the moon gels, since my old ones are losing stickiness. I was thinking though...why couldn't they just charge me $0.83 for shipping? That makes a ton of sense to me...maybe I should write them and give them the idea.

After lunch I finished up more odd jobs and then left for tutoring. I have been enjoying meeting with Jake the past few times. He is a pretty bright kid and I think talking through the biology stuff has helped him understand it a good bit better. I am also amazed at how much biology info I still have floating around in my head...I guess all those ridiculous classes are doing me some good after all.

I stopped at the Tractor Supply store in Mauldin on my way home to get some bird seed. Kristi and I bought our first bird feeder yesterday at Lowes, and I am so excited about it. My mom told me I should just put black oil sunflower seeds in it and then also get a little finch feeder to put thistle in. So, I bought the thistle and sunflower seeds at the Tractor Supply place and then stopped at Lowes to get the finch feeder on my way home. Every time I run and take Lucy for walks I see tons of birds in the woods on our streets and I think, "these birds should be in our back yard eating out of a bird feeder." That and I think Oliver will really enjoy watching them from the back door. He already likes looking out the window, I can only imagine how much fun the birds will be for him. I am going to hang the bird feeders tomorrow and will be sure to post pictures.

I got home and then Kristi and I left right away to meet with a couple form Northhills. We are going through a series by Mark Driscoll on the Song of Solomon with them, and it has been a good time for Kristi and I. Driscoll is the pastor of Mars Hill in Seattle.

Kristi and I stopped by my parents' house to get Lucy on the way home, and then got straight into bed from there. I am feeling pretty tired right now, but I hope I feel better tomorrow morning. I was planning on trying to bump up to 6.5 miles, but we'll see how that goes. I'm going to have some good pictures to post tomorrow too, so be sure to tune back in!

"Life is not what I thought it was, 24 hours ago"...

2009-02-27T00:09:00.004-05:00

Well, I'm back. It's been quite a break, I know. You would think that there would be mass chaos when I stop writing about my life...but I guess not.

I usually stop blogging when I'm busy or feeling a little down, both of which have been true lately. Adding tutoring to my schedule, while it is only two days a week, has made me feel that much more like I am always doing something. That translates into feeling tired when I'm at home, which translates into going to bed early and not blogging. I haven't even been watching "The Daily Show" lately. Sometimes I make it through the first 5 minutes before my eyes start refusing to stay open.

I've felt a little down lately too. The period of my life I'm currently in just feels weird. I'm constantly confronted by the fact that I'm not really doing what I imagined myself doing, although at the same time I'm not exactly sure what I thought I would be doing. God is also showing me more and more that I am not at all the person He wants me to be. This seems like an obvious fact, but I think that in my mind I always have this hunch that deep down I'm not too bad of a guy. I think the new frustrations and responsibilities in my life have brought out the ugliest in me, and I don't like seeing it and dealing with it.

I realize this is a little abnormal for my blog, but since I know only a handful read it I'd go ahead and write down some of my thoughts. It's apparently pretty unanimous that I am better at expressing myself through written word anyways, plus I think writing things down in an organized manner helps me work through what I'm thinking and feeling. I remain encouraged by the fact that I know God is faithful and not only has me right where He wants me, but that He has promised to continue growing me to be more like Him.

So today was my birthday, in case you didn't know. I currently am listening to "Twenty Four," as I feel it is a very appropriate way to end my day today. I asked my parents for the Jesus Culture CD/DVD which I was very excited to receive. I watched most of the DVD after I got in bed tonight, and I can already tell it is going to be one of the most incredible CD's ever. How are these songs not all over the place? Anyways, there is this one song called "You Won't Relent" that really had an impact on me. I am still deciding how I feel about some of the words, but the song really affected me so I thought I'd leave you with the words to the bridge/chorus...here you go:

"I don't want to talk about You, like You're not in the room
I want to look right at You, I want to sing right to You

You won't relent until You have it all

My heart is Yours"

You'd think after 20 pages of stock photos there'd be a good one...

2009-02-10T22:42:00.004-05:00

So I've been waking up earlier and earlier, which I think is good. I got up at 8:30 again today, although like usual I spent some time watching Sportscenter. Since it was an off day for running I got ready right away and took Lucy for a walk. The weather was amazing again today, but it reminded me how much it is going to really stink not having AC in my car this summer. I'll have to keep deodorant in my car or something. Just don't get too close to me on particularly hot days.

After the walk I spent some time working on some stuff for my sister's wedding. I am supposed to design a palm tree deal for a koozie as a gift for the guests, but all the stock photos of palm trees I found I didn't like...which was tons. I talked to Joe about it later, and he said if I draw one we can scan it, trace it in photoshop, and then convert it to a vector image in illustrator. I am pretty excited about that. I also made a monogram type deal of her and her fiance's initials. I think they are doing a big cupcake tree instead of cake, and the monogram will go on the cupcakes. That didn't take long, although I have to check and see if they like it.

I played drums for a little while after that. I have switched to just playing one crash for now and utilizing my ride more as a crash when I have to. I think using less stuff forces me to be more creative and incorporate hi-hat stuff more.

I made lunch next...have I mentioned I'm tired of eggwiches? After that it was time to leave for work, so I got the pets settled and took off. Work today was pretty tiring. I ended up getting some 2" black PVC pipe and running video cables through one and power cables through another in the control room. We've had issues with ground loops and interference and Joe thought this might help, which it did end up helping some I think. I had to drill some holes along the pipes as entry points and then run tons of cables and re-wire everything. I'm not sure why it wore me out, I think just all the thinking and crouching down on the desk in there. It looks pretty good, and I think Joe is going to put some pictures up on his blog, so go over there and check it out.

That took me most of the day, so after that I just ate dinner and then helped Dan with stage setup when he showed up. We didn't change much around this week so it only took a little bit, and most of that was cleaning up the closet. I love not having to move all those huge platforms, they are so incredibly heavy. Sometimes on weeks where I have to move most of them on or off the stage by myself my arms and back are sore the next day...sad I know.

I got home a little earlier than usual and was able to watch part of American Idol, which I always enjoy. Kristi had went to visit her grandmother so she didn't get home to a little later. Tuesday night just ends up being a big TV night because American Idol, Fringe, The Office reruns, and The Daily Show are all on back to back. Fringe really is such a good show. I was a little upset that I couldn't find the Clemson game anywhere on TV, but I'm following the score online and it looks like we're going to win, which should make us 20-3 I think. Amazing.

Tomorrow is my last relatively non-busy Wednesday for a while. Mrs. Ringger asked me if I was interested in tutoring someone in Biology a few weeks ago, and the details finally came together. I start on Friday and will be tutoring every Wednesday from 11-12:30 and Friday from 3-4:30. I feel bad for Lucy, I may have to take her over to play with Molly sometimes again. I guess that means I'll have to get up earlier to run also...bummer. Of course I could always move my run to Thursdays....hmmm....

Never before has Miyabi's had competition for the birthday dinner...but this year the decision will be tough!

2009-02-09T23:14:00.007-05:00

What beautiful weather today! I woke up a little after 8, and after watching Sportscenter and facebooking went for a run. It keeps getting easier, but legs still feel really tired and tight alot of the time. My lungs are good, and I think it has to be all the huge hills. I know I repeat this alot, but it is just bugging me. Usually this far into running my legs would feel pretty good...but maybe it really has just been that long.

I took Lucy for a walk right after I got back and then took a shower and got ready. After that I debated whether I should eat hot dogs or an eggwich for lunch, but the eggwich ended up winning out. Does anyone have other good ideas for things I can make quickly at home? I am getting tired of them since I eat at home most days now. Other things I am tired of include pizza and frozen pot pies.

After lunch I spent some time working on the mastering of the song I recorded. I really don't know anything about mastering as it isn't something we covered in school too much, and pros are pretty nebulous about it on forums, so what I do is just trial and error. Today I used a multi-band compressor into an EQ into a limiter. I use a spectrum analyzer too which helps me see if I have any out of control frequencies. Here's a screenshot of my mastering setup, in which you can see all the different components I was talking about at work:

Another interesting note about this mix is that other than the multi-band in the mastering setup, I didn't use any compression on anything in the mix...only limiting. I read this interesting thread on http://www.gearslutz.com/ by a producer (sketchy name, but some of the biggest names hang out and post there) where he talked about seeing compression as changing the envelope and limiting as not changing the sound and just evening the waveform out. While that idea has some holes, because limiting is definitely changing the feel and sound, it also really makes sense, and ever since then I have used alot more limiting and alot less compression. You can listen to the newer version of the song here. It's alot better, so you really should.

Anyways, I had some extra time before class when I was done with that so I played drums for a while with Hillsong stuff. It has been awhile since I played along with some of the songs, and the fact that they were so much easier makes me think I must be getting better.

Around 1:40 I left for class. I had a really hard time paying attention today, and so I ended up drawing most of the time. I always wonder if my teachers think I am taking very detailed notes or if they can tell I'm doodling. I think I would go crazy if I couldn't doodle during class...that's probably why I never sit in the front.

After class I decided to run a few errands, and called Kristi to check in. She reminded me that she had a school function and wouldn't be home for dinner, which left me wondering what I should eat. I thought about just picking up Zaxby's, but since I had to stop at Petsmart at Greenridge anyways, I decided to call Joe and see if he wanted to eat at Oriental House. Sure enough he and Tim didn't have any plans, so we met around 5:30. I love Oriental House...pretty much everyone I have introduced it too loves it also, so if you haven't been you are missing out.

After that I came home, played with the pets, talked with Kristi, and then it was time for bed. I did eat my last piece of cheesecake tonight, which was a little sad. I think I am making in another in a few weeks for community group though, so hopefully there will be some extra.

That's it for today. Tomorrow should be pretty uneventful. Let's hope the weather is as nice as it was today!

I wonder if there is limit on how long you can sit there and get free refills on fries?

2009-02-08T22:50:00.004-05:00

Sorry I haven't posted in a few days...it was just one of those busy weeks. To make up for it, I'm going to make this post extra awesome...do you know how? That's right, I'm going to post a link to a little song I recorded over the weekend. Here it is. It's a pretty raw mix, with no automation or anything, but I think it sounds good.

I'm pretty proud of it, especially the bass lines and the overall sound for what I work with. One thing I did which was cool was sample my toms and add them later. Since I only have 2 inputs, I used an SM57 on the snare and an LDC out in front of the kick to get the kick plus some cymbals. This meant that while I used the toms sparingly, when I did you couldn't hear them at all. So, after I was done I sampled a tom hit on each with the 57 and then pasted them in new tracks where the toms should have been. It turned out sounding pretty OK, actually better than I thought.

Unfortunately I am not a great lyricist, so I don't have any words yet. The other day I was playing that cool little riff on my newly tuned piano, and decided rather than laboring over words that probably wouldn't turn out that well, I would just record it instrumental and try to be extra creative with the parts. Anyone want to write some lyrics and melody for me?

So that is what I spent much of my free time doing this weekend. Saturday was very relaxing as I was able to run and then work on that most of the afternoon. I saw Trenton Stokes walking down the road in Heritage Park while I was running, which was fun but very random. Apparently one of his kids had baseball tryouts or something. I just know that as this guy and his son kept getting closer I kept thinking, "that looks alot like Stokes."

Today proved to be an interesting one. This morning's service was probably the most diverse service I have ever been in. Starting out for the prelude the band did a medley of classic love songs. My favorite was definitely Matt's Aaron Neville imitation, which was hilarious. Then, Joe had produced a video with the pastors sharing some things they liked about their wives for video announcements. Some of the things were serious, some of them were funny. Instead of the usual band stuff after announcements, today Matt played did the doxology and "Holy is the Lord" with just him and the piano. I really enjoyed it, and it was also interesting to hear how he changed chords up from service to service since he didn't have to stick to a chart. I know my favorite thing about leading acoustic is being able to do whatever I want on the guitar.

After the songs we had a guest artist play 2 songs. His name was Rodrigo Rodriguez, and he is an extremely accomplished classical guitarist. Apparently his world travels brought him through Greenville, SC and he and his wife liked it so much that they decided to live here. He likes to play in churches as a way to worship with his musical gift, and somehow ended up coming to do a few songs at Southside. Normally things don't make me nervous when it comes to sound, but I did feel a little anxious about working with him knowing that he has probably worked with many people who have much more refined skills than I do. I thought it ended up sounding great though, and he was an amazing guitarist.

So then Brian taught, and after that the band came up along with 11 singers, and closed out with 2 worship songs and then a gospel feel special for the closer. Just a really diverse Sunday. Something about hit love songs, to stripped down acoustic piano, to classical guitar, to a couple regular band songs, to a gospel special seems crazy. I loved it though. The diversity in the music at Southside is one of my favorite things about the music, and today was definitely that at its finest.

We ate at Red Robin after church, came home for a little bit, and then went to community group. We've been on a break for a little bit, so it was good to see everyone again. Some of the conversation was very interesting also. Jay talked about his friend who keeps asking him, "Why can't I heal someone. Jesus says that with faith the size of a mustard seed you can move mountains, so why can't I heal someone who is sick? Do I really not have that much faith?" It was a really hard question for any of us to answer, and is a question I think I might ask a few wiser people about.

I had some cheesecake when we got home, we watched some TV, and then got into bed. I did finish working on a lab for class so that I wouldn't have to do it tomorrow morning. That leaves me open to run, eat a nice brunch, and then get some other things accomplished. I wonder if I'll see someone I know in Heritage Park again?

Let's just hope nothing gets stuck...

2009-02-04T23:22:00.002-05:00

So Lucy likes to eat pretty much anything. Last night this meant a cloth toy and the stuffing inside. Lucy also has a sensitive stomach, and these two things were a bad combination, which made for an interesting morning. It's OK though, because I had to get up early to study anyways.

I took my online sociology test last night and it was easier than I even imagined. Looks like all I'll need to do is write down the page numbers of everything on the review sheet the day before the test, skim the chapters, and then take the test. This is my kind of class for sure.

Today I got up a little after 7 and started studying for Physiology. I usually make notecards for my bio classes, but since this teacher reviews constantly, I figured I would just read the chapters again and make a list of important terms and facts. I tried to finish the first chapter last night, but I was too tired, so I had 2 1/2 chapters to do today.

I took Lucy over to my parents' house at 9:30. Sam Smith was coming to tune the piano, and I assumed it would be hard to tune a piano with a dog crying and/or growling constantly. I told mom to keep an eye on her since she had been pretty sick and came back to the house just in time for Sam to arrive. It took him about an hour and a half to tune it, and I just studied the whole time. I think the piano was so flat that he couldn't raise it all the way up to A=440 for fear of breaking strings, but at least it is in tune with itself now. It was pretty awful before.

After he left I made a quick lunch, studied some more, and then left for class. I left a little early because Oliver kept wanting to play. I guess he gets bored when Lucy isn't around to mess with. I studied in my car for a little bit when I got to Tech and then went in.

Note to myself - when you are taking a test and have to stick around for lecture, and you happen to be a very fast test taker, bring something to do after your done. Unfortunately I didn't do that today, and after I finished my test I had to sit in my chair doing nothing for at least 45 minutes. Oh the things I could have accomplished during that time. I thought that I had over prepared for the test, but found out later I got a 93, which seems about right. I think this next section is going to be more difficult though.

After class I stopped by Best Buy to see if they had the new "A Day To Remember" CD. They didn't, but that was OK because I had made arrangements to meet Joe at Oriental House right next door, so the trip wasn't wasted. See when I make plans to eat with someone, I don't cancel and then go somewhere else without inviting them...Joe...

Dinner was delicious as always, and afterwards we went back to the church for rehearsal. They had vocal callbacks tonight, which meant no team meeting, which meant lots of sitting around before rehearsal. I have been practicing drawing a good cartoon dog during class (it's just what I do during class), and so I drew my latest version on the board in the office. Joe took a picture later and I am hoping he posts it on his blog, because it is a pretty good drawing.

Rehearsal went really well tonight. Things sounded very good with very little work. They even have 10 singers with individual mics, but it really didn't take much to have them sounding great. I think I do so much mixing with orchestra and other random instruments that any week not involving tons of condensers on stage seems easy.

I left work around 9 so that I could catch the second half of the Duke vs. Clemson game. I figured we match up better against them than we do Wake or UNC, so I figured we had a shot, but I don't think anyone was prepared for the outcome. We demolished them...it wasn't even a game...it looked like we were playing a high school team. I think they only scored 21 points in the first half. It feels pretty awesome to beat the #3 team in the country by more than 20 points. I only wish we would have been this good when I was there.

That was my day. I skipped running because I had so much to do, but I think I'll go ahead and make up for it tomorrow. It's going to need to either be warmer or less windy though...I don't think I could handle running in weather like today's...

I'm still waiting for Zaxby's to have "Free Wings n' Things" day...

2009-02-02T22:32:00.003-05:00

I am finding out that I am typically very tired on Monday mornings. It surprises me because I don't work all day on Sunday like I used to, but I guess just waking up very early with a full day gets to me.

This morning I woke up at about 9, and laid in bed for a few minutes deciding how to start my day. I was going to study Sociology in bed for a little bit, but my mom called and asked if I wanted to go to lunch, so I decided I had better get moving to be able to leave on time. I got up and ran a new route through Heritage Park that I measured out on Saturday in my car. It's a little over 4 miles, and less repetitive than my old route. It was OK, but it is a rough start because the first mile is mostly a big uphill. I hate starting with long uphills, but there really isn't any way for me to go downhill first. It just makes my legs feel tight for what seems like the remainder of the run. I've never stretched before running, but maybe if I started doing that it would help. Either way I figure whenever I run an event that doesn't have such serious hills it should be a breeze. I think I am running the Reedy River Run with my dad in March, but that sounds like it could be pretty hilly.

Anyways, I got back, took a shower, and then took Lucy on a walk. It was a beautiful day today, hot enough to wear a t-shirt, but cool enough to still get goosebumps every now and then. Lucy has really been enjoying this one part of the neighborhood where there are a bunch of deer hoof prints. I think she could stand there and sniff all day if I let her. There are also signs of rabbits, but I'll let you imagine what those might be.

When I got back with Lucy I went ahead and prepared 2 steaks again. With the grilling failure last week, I wanted to try again immediately, so I decided to grill tonight. By the time I was done with that it was almost time to leave, so I gathered my things and headed out the door. Mom and I ate at Mauldin Deli. It was fairly good, but I felt like I could have made the sandwich myself at the house...it was a little plain. My soup was great though!

It was fun to talk to mom, and I stopped by my parents' house afterwards on my way to school. Physiology is hard to sit through for 3 hours and today our professor mostly reviewed. I guess it will help me on my test, but I'm the type of person who just wants the teacher to lecture and then let me leave. She also kept us a few minutes late which frustrates me. I guess I've always felt like if a teacher requires that I be there on time every class, then it only makes sense that I should be let out on time as well. I didn't have anywhere to go, so it didn't matter, but I remember that type of thing being frustrating at Clemson when I had a really tight schedule.

I came straight home after class and started on dinner. Last time I made baked potatoes, so this time I made these roasted potatoes that I put garlic, basil, pepper, parsley, salt, and olive oil on. They are delicious. It was raining outside, but I decided I would grill anyways. I used more lighter fluid this time, and then held the umbrella over the little grill while the charcoal burned. When the flame died down I went ahead and put the lid on with the vent open. I figured this might help with the heat thing. I let the charcoal burn longer this time, about 30 minutes, which seemed to help. Some of the charcoal on the outside of the pile though didn't seem to burn well. I don't know if it's the cold weather or just how it works, but I think I might try buying one of those little charcoal chimneys. Anyways, the grill was hot enough this time and the steaks were awesome. I wreak of charcoal from holding the umbrella, but I guess it's not too bad of a smell. I'm sure Lucy enjoys it at least.

After dinner Kristi and I watched AFV and I studied for Sociology some. I am still skeptical about how hard this online test is going to be, and with all the other stuff I can place importance on in my life I wouldn't really mind getting a B in this class. The only reason I'm taking it is because USCU would require it if I continued on to get my BSN after I finish my ADN at Tech, and I don't even know if I'm going to do that. Sounds like a recipe for no motivation to me.

Kristi and I got into bed after a little bit, and I am thinking about going to sleep earlier tonight. I am excited about tomorrow because Denny's is serving free Grand Slams to everyone until 2 pm! How awesome is that? I got some confirmation from Joe that he is going around lunchtime, so I am definitely in. If not I might have had to go by myself or something. I mean, I just can't pass up free eggs, right?

"I have many Calvin and Hobbes comics memorized" probably should have been on the list...

2009-01-31T23:39:00.006-05:00

Just as I thought, today was quite a busy day, yet also productive. I wasn't successful at waking up before 9. I thought about getting out of bed at 8:30, but the rest of the family was all sleeping so peacefully beside me that I just couldn't do it. I ended up getting out of bed at 9:45 instead.

I was just going to take a shower to get started, but I discovered that there wasn't really any hot water. Kristi had taken a bath instead of a shower, but I guess that tub takes a good bit of hot water to fill up. Since there was no way I was going to take a cold shower, and no way I was going to start my day without one, I decided to run first. I felt really good running today...in fact I felt so good that I decided to run through Heritage Park after my first loop. We live right by the rear entrance. I wasn't sure how far I ran, but I measured later on in my car and it came to right under 4 miles. I think I may make that my normal run from now on, and then when I am up to it start doing longer runs on the weekends.

I took Lucy on a walk right away when I got back and then took a nice hot shower...hot being the important word. After that I left for Wal-Mart to do the grocery shopping. Kristi had a hair appointment this morning, so I told her I didn't mind doing it by myself. The trip took a long time, partly because I had to spend a good deal of my time reading birthday cards, and partly because Wal-Mart is so freakin busy on Saturday afternoons. I did get some free food samples though, which was a nice treat.

After unloading the groceries I made an omelet for lunch and then played drums for a few minutes. I have been playing around with the tuning on my new snare, and am not sure what suits it best yet. You can hear a clip of it here, and here are some pictures I took:

Pretty sweet, huh? A really woody, thick sound...very different from my Ludwig and Yamaha.

After that I studied Sociology for a while. This test is online, and open book, so I am not sure how detailed I need to be in my review. The teacher has also been bad about explaining what the tests are like, so I really have no idea what to expect. Surely with the book in front of me I can do great though with minimal studying...right? Lucy slept with her head on my leg while I studied and Oliver slept at my feet...it was so nice.

At 4 I went ahead and started making a cheesecake for the super bowl party tomorrow. We are going to the Southside worship team party, which I am fairly excited about. When talking to Dawn about what we should bring, she mentioned dessert as an option, and I couldn't pass up making the cheesecake...it is just too impressive. Once it was done we left it in the oven to cool while we went to Moe's for dinner. I haven't been to Moe's in over a month, and I enjoyed it. The ingredients always seem so fresh, and they never feel heavy in my stomach.

We stopped by the house after Moe's to put the cheesecake in the fridge and then left to meet my parents at the theater. We went to see "Paul Blart: Mall Cop" tonight, quite a different movie than "Taken." It was even dumber than I expected, but it was pretty funny, and especially had some great one-liners. I think they should have made Paul's love interest look closer to his age...that was my only complaint.

After the movie it was just home and into bed. Before writing this post I finished up my "25 Interesting Things" note for Facebook. I had an extremely hard time thinking of 25 random things that people would find interesting about me, but I think it turned out OK. It definitely isn't nearly as interesting as Robbie Wisnewski's, but we all know he is a little insane...right Robbie? I personally thought my last point was pretty interesting to know, but you'll have to friend me on Facebook in order to read it. I just verbed a word...eat your heart out Bill Watterson. As Calvin would say, "Verbing weirds language."

Tomorrow is Sunday, and we all know what that means. Hopefully I can get the orchestra sounding good, because I didn't even touch their mics on Wednesday. I knew they were going to be moved around though, so there was really no point. Joe if you're reading this, start getting excited about the cheesecake...

My excellent soldering streak comes to an end...

2009-01-31T00:15:00.002-05:00

What a good Friday. My morning consisted of getting up and going to work. I wonder if Lucy gets confused on Friday because her walk gets moved to later in the day. She seems to take it in stride at least.

Work was pretty relaxed today. Other than doing the light plots and cleaning up the stage, there wasn't much I absolutely had to get done. I spent part of the day working on this old Shure SM91 microphone I found in the closet. All the info I find on it lists it as a kick mic, but I'm pretty sure it's similar to a boundary microphone. I am interesting in velcro-ing 2 boundary mics on the piano lid and closing it, to see how the technique sounds. Assuming that it sounds pretty natural, it would provide much better isolation from other instruments, as well as cut down on feedback issues even more. I decided to test it out with just the SM91, but unfortunately the mic didn't work. I tried taking it apart and re-wiring it, but I think I might have messed up the capsule with the soldering iron. The solder point were extremely tiny. When I was done, it sort of worked, but had all kinds of noise that was just as loud as the signal. Oh well, I'm sure I can find boundary mics somewhere else that I can borrow.

I left work on time today and came home to take Lucy for a walk. We did the short route instead of the long route, partly because there were kids on skateboards down the long way, and partly because I was cold. I made sure to play with Lucy extra when we got back to make up for it though.

After that I played around with the tuning on my sparkly snare for a little while and then recorded some clips with it. I plan on posting them, but I ran out of time today, so I'll do that tomorrow. I'm not sure I chose the right heads. It is an extremely open drum with ring that is a little out of control, so I bought an Evans EC2 Reverse Dot. It's OK, but I'm not loving it. I think I may want to try a Remo Powerstroke III Coated next on it...but I can live with the Evans for now. I was also wondering what diecast rims would sound like instead of triple flanged. It still sounds great as it is, I think you will agree when you hear it.

Kristi got home a little while later, and after sitting around (well me sitting around and her ironing) for a little bit we left for dinner with Diego and Melissa. We did end up going to Oriental House, which was delicious as always. I wonder if I will ever get tired of the place...probably not. There had been some debate over which movie to see after dinner. Diego and I were up for "Slumdog Millionaire," but the girls weren't that into it. No one was excited about "Defiance" and "Benjamin Button" was a little long. Diego and Melissa had already seen "Gran Torino" and "Valkyrie." After some discussion we settled on "Taken," which everyone seemed satisfied with. We had some time to kill, so we went shopping across the street at Greenridge for a little bit and then drove to the theater. It was good that we got there early, because the movie was a packed one.

I didn't enjoy the movie, and I wouldn't really recommend it. It had it's interesting parts, but overall I would say it just made me feel sick. I couldn't keep up with the body count, and I honestly couldn't have cared less about the lead guy's relationship with his daughter after all the crap that went on in the storyline. That's the short explanation, I don't feel like going into detail, plus I don't want to spoil it for somebody that wants to see it. We saw a friend from NHCC on the way out from the previous showing that loved it, and Diego seemed to like it OK, so maybe I am just weird. I don't think Kristi liked it too much either though.

After the movie it was pretty late, so we came home and I pretty much got straight into bed. Tomorrow I have much to accomplish, such as grocery shopping and studying for some tests, so I want to get up hopefully before 9. Tomorrow night we are going to see "Mall Cop" with my parents. With the expectations I have for movies like that, I'm pretty sure it would be impossible to be disappointed....

I would put a picture of the "Chris Sligh Band" up, but I didn't have a digital camera back then...

2009-01-29T23:55:00.008-05:00

I think Wednesdays wear me out. This morning I woke up very tired, and so I didn't get out of bed until 9:15. My friend Jon says my life is ridiculous, and I guess he's right. First things first, so I took a shower and then took Lucy on a walk. I've been working on my technique of getting her to walk without pulling on her, and things have been improving. She tends to get distracted by anything on the ground other than dirt, grass, or concrete. I've actually read some Jack Russell forums for fun, and I'm pretty sure that there is ultimately nothing I can do about this.

When I got back I gave Lucy a quick bath (she got a little muddy), and then tidied up around the house a little. I also started tonight's dinner. I was planning on grilling on my miniature Weber grill, and so I went ahead and marinated the steaks. I think what I do is more like a rub I guess...there is some liquid involved though, it's just that I made it up and so I don't know which it is...you decide:

Anyways, after that I made lunch and then got to putting heads on my blue sparkly snare...that's right, I paid it off and was finally able to get it out of the closet and start using it. I took a few pictures, but I want to record a quick clip of it, so I will wait for that to post any of them.

By the time I was done with that I had to go to work, so I put Lucy in the sunroom and took off. Actually, right before I did that I burned songs from "The Summer Set" onto a CD to listen to in the car. Kristi's got the Ipod, and I keep forgetting to charge the Zune, which meant I needed a CD. I have been getting into The Summer Set more and more. Sometimes I feel guilty because they are so "teeny-bopper" (as my wife would say), but I've always known I'm a sucker for anything pop, and their songs are just so catchy and downright good. I enjoy the individual parts a great deal too, which I guess is mostly production.

On that musical note, I am a little stressed because there are quite a few CD's I would like to purchase this month, but that would mean severely cutting back on lunches out. The first one I want to buy is obviously the "Jesus Culture" one. Also important is the new "Fiction Family" CD. We've already established on this blog that Jon Foreman is pretty much my hero, and along those lines I typically love anything musical he does, and the thought of a Nickel Creek/Switchfoot duo makes me extremely excited. The other CD I am excited about comes out next week and is from "A Day to Remember." Warning: if you do not enjoy intense music, it is best that you skip that link. Kristi for instance is not a fan of anything in their genre. I on the other hand don't typically get into screaming, but some bands are just so good that I can appreciate what they do. Another similar band which I love that comes to mind is Blindside, although they have evolved into a slightly more tame type of sound. Underoath is another great band in that genre that is also Christian, but they are so intense sometimes that it is a little scary. You know who loves bands like that? Daniel Peek:

Also on a musical note, I found out this morning from my friend Tim Wadsworth...
...that Chris Sligh wrote Rascal Flatts new single, "Here Comes Goodbye." How cool is that? I always did think Chris's greatest talent was his songwriting ability. In case you are unaware of the connection, Daniel, Tim, Joseph, and I used to play with Chris in the "Chris Sligh Band," and then I also played in "Half Past Forever for a little while. It's fun for me to be able to say that I played in his band for several years...come to think of it, it's probably my influence that got him where he is...right.

So where was I? Oh yeah, work. I spent most of the day cleaning up and rearranging today...not really my favorite things to do, but someone's got to do them. Orchestra weeks aren't my favorite from a logistical standpoint because it is so much work to set up the stage and so much harder to mix. I know from a musical and congregational standpoint it is awesome though, so I try to keep everything in perspective. I left work right before 5, which was nice. Thursday seems to be the day I can consistently leave on time with my new schedule.

When I got home I got started on dinner. I put the potatoes in the oven and cleaned up the grill. I have grilled many times before, but always on a gas grill, so I called a few people for advice and read some instruction on Google. When it was time I put the charcoal in the grill and lit the pieces. I waited about 20 minutes like everything said, and the briquettes looked ashed over, so I went ahead and spread them out and put the lid on, letting it heat up for a few minutes before starting the grilling. Unfortunately something went wrong. When I started grilling the steaks, they just weren't cooking. I left them on for like 8 minutes, and it wasn't really going anywhere. I don't know if I let the charcoal burn too long, not long enough, didn't have the vents set right, or what. I was pretty frustrated, especially since my cooking has taken a serious downturn as of late. I ended up finishing the steaks on the trusty George Foreman. Everything tasted wonderful, but I am pretty frustrated that I didn't do the grilling thing correctly. I will have to try again next week.

After dinner Kristi and I cleaned. Kristi was doing some laundry and noticed the washer leaking onto the floor. This obviously did not seem good, so I looked up on Google (man, what would I do without it?) what to do, and learned how to take the cover off and watch for leaks...so that's what I did:

We never did see a big leak, and think that it might even be that the machine gets too full with too big of a load and spills over some. I'm not really sure, but we'll keep an eye on it.

After all of that we watched some TV, and then I did some homework. I haven't really studied for Sociology yet, and my first test is next week, so I'd better get on that. Story of my life with online classes.

Tomorrow should be a good day. I work in the morning, but then should have an enjoyable free evening afterwards. I think we might go see a movie or something. Mostly I'm excited about going out to eat for dinner...maybe we can go to Oriental House!

You know, I almost didn't write this post, but I'm glad I did...it turned out pretty well...

Good thing I left my soldering iron at the church...

2009-01-27T22:36:00.003-05:00

Frustration, frustration, frustration...today was a frustrating day. I woke up a little before nine, got ready, and then got my things together for a meeting with my advisor. It was a struggle getting this set up, but today was the day, so I left the house a little before 10, deposited a check on the way, and then was early for my 10:30 appointment. My advisor was ready a few minutes later, and we talked through my application for clinicals. She didn't really tell me anything I didn't already know, but I think it was probably good to talk through it anyways. I think I was under the impression that we could complete it and turn it in, but I guess I will just complete it before I have to go to class tomorrow.

After that I came home so I could eat lunch and take Lucy on her walk before I had to go to work. The walk was not very enjoyable. Lucy has become really talented at slipping out of her collar if she wants to. She has loose beagle skin and a small Jack Russell head, which is a bad combination. Today she just wouldn't settle down. She found a small pond of water in the woods and kept slipping out to go run around in it. Finally I gave up and gave her the old "I'm just going to walk home trick" When I got about half way up the street she got nervous and came running after me.

Lunch was fine, and I headed straight to work after eating. I finished soldering an XLR cable when I got there, and then Joe gave me to stage setup plan and I got to work. There was alot to do, so I knew I would have to get a good bit of it done before Dan and Tim got there if I wanted to leave before 8, the time I'm supposed to go home. Things were going fine until I knocked over Matt's Aviom. I typically unplug them all and then pull the cables, except somehow I didn't see his and I pulled it over since it was still plugged in. Buttons popped out, which isn't usually a problem, except this time two of them broke the button part on the plastic piece that attaches to the circuit board. I spent a little while trying to fix them, but it wasn't going to work. At this point I figured my only shot was to remove buttons from the older broken Aviom and solder them on to the circuit board of the one I was working on. It made me a little nervous as I haven't ever worked with circuit boards, but after an hour or so of working I got everything together and it worked great. I guess I could have taken pictures of the process, but I wasn't really in the mood.

By the time I had all of that done I had significantly cut into my stage setup time, which meant I didn't have much done when Tim and Dan got there. We worked pretty efficiently, but I still only ended up getting out of there at 9. At least I made it home before Kristi got in bed, and I got to see most of Fringe too.

Tomorrow is another day, and should be a good one. I am going to turn in my nursing application, and I should find out 2-3 months from now if I am accepted. It is a point system though, and I should have plenty of points. I am a little apprehensive about clinicals, but I know I can do it, it's just a matter of whether I will enjoy it.

On a brighter note, I found a drummer on YouTube that is incredible:

I mean, are you serious? Not only is he great, he has so much style. You definitely should at least watch the last minute or two. His "Tripping Billies" cover is great too...and really so are all of his other ones. I also really enjoy this cover of a PlanetShakers song:

In other news, I've decided to quit trying to play drums. Just kidding...

Does Diet Coke have milk in it or something?

2009-01-25T23:15:00.003-05:00

This has been a fun weekend. Yesterday Kristi and I took Lucy downtown to walk around and also go to the dog park. There were at least 30 dogs there, it was a little out of control. Kristi and I got to sit on one of the swings at one point and random dogs kept coming over and sitting between us for a little bit. I guess we just look like a friendly couple. Lucy just watched and didn't participate in the ruckus like usual, but she seemed less nervous than usual.

Saturday night Kristi and I went to Nate's birthday party, and it was a very fun party. His parents' house is awesome, complete with a massage chair, indoor shuffleboard, pool, a tanning bed, and just about anything else you can think of. We ended up stying fairly late and I didn't want to blog as I had to get up at 6:15.

Today was also a great day. The services went very well today, and I was really happy with the sound again. I also thoroughly enjoyed both the Coldplay opener and the Brooklyn Tabernacle song, "Jesus I Love You." Not only that, but I got the nicest note from some young girls in the church saying that they appreciate what I do and that they are praying for me. I think all the tech guys got one, but I like to pretend it was just me.

After church we ate at Midtown Deli, and while I have been underwhelmed at said restaurant previously, I found an item I supremely enjoyed today. Not only that, but their Diet Pepsi was the perfect mixture of carbonated water and syrup, which is a huge plus for me. You know where else has a perfect mixture with their beverages? Chik-fil-A. After lunch I stopped by Kristi's grandmother's nursing home with her and then headed to NHCC to play for the youth tonight.

I haven't played for the youth at NHCC in a little while, and it was fun tonight. My friend Ben from Southside actually ended up coming to play bass. Ryan needed a bass player, so I figured I would use my new Southside connections to help him out. I used a click track for 3 of the songs, which turned out really well. Not only did it make it so easy to be steady, I think it saved my ears some having my in-ear Shures in. For some reason playing with a click has always come fairly natural to me. We did a few great songs, but my favorite was definitely the "Jesus Culture" one I posted a few days ago. I turned my camera on and set it on the floor behind me so that you could see everything from my perspective...although it turns out all you can really see is my feet...but it's still kind of fun I think:

After church Kristi and I went to Zaxby's with my parents and talked for a while, coming home a little after 10. Lucy was extremely hyper, so I ran around some with her in the backyard before getting into bed. Since then I've just been waiting for my video to upload and trying to keep Oliver out of my Diet Coke. Seriously, why does blogger take half an hour for an 80 MB .mpg file to upload?

Tomorrow shouldn't be too busy, although I dread running again. I'm pretty sure I gained back anything I had lost the past two weeks this weekend. That's OK though, at least I'm getting in better shape, which is really what's important. Oops, gotta go, Oliver's head is in my Diet Coke cup again...

Really I think Oriental House may be #1...just sayin'

2009-01-24T00:36:00.009-05:00

I have been very productive at work this week...almost too productive. Don't get used to it Joe. I got there a little after 9 today and got right to work. I only had two Clearcom boxes left to wire, and Joe had already run the wire and mounted the last box, so it didn't really take that long to finish. After I was done we tested it and everything worked great. May I add that it also looks great. It felt good to get that finished, although it took me a good chunk of time to clean everything up afterwards.

After putting the finishing touches on everything I went ahead and ate my lunch, which I had brought from home. I used the toaster oven to heat up my pizza today at the prompting of Sue, and it was much better than in the microwave. I will have to do that from now on.

Joe and I worked on light plots after lunch, and then I changed out the blue gels, put the skirts up on stage, wrote some light cues, and finally made Joe some short XLR cables to extend the Clearcom cables in the control room. When all of that was done, it was 3:30 and time for me to come home.

I tried to take Lucy on a walk when I got home, but it ended up being short lived because there was some kid riding around in his wagon, which meant Lucy was frozen with fear. I try to be Cesar Milan and make her comfortable around things like that, but I just can't do it. I succeeded in getting her to move towards it for a little while...but once she got to where she could smell where he had been on the ground she wouldn't go any further. So we ended up running back to the house in an attempt to get some energy out.

Once we were back I started to do some household cleaning. The past few times I have used the vacuum I haven't thought it has been sucking very well. Today it was really lousy, so I decided to open it up and see what was going on. Sure enough, the plastic tubing on the bottom was completely clogged. It was like it had gotten damp and all the dust had been crusting together for a while. I really should have taken a picture, but I didn't think to. Once I got it cleaned out it was like using a completely different vacuum.

After some cleaning, I took Lucy into the backyard to release more energy, and we ended up walking through the woods for a little while. We back up to the rear access of Heritage Park, so we just have woods behind our house. The Simpsonville City planner told our agent that they will just put a few walking trails back there, so if that remains true we should maintain a really nice wooded area behind us. That was a big reason we bought the house. Lucy loves the outdoors, and I think she enjoyed exploring immensely.

When we got back in I decided to take some pictures of my sock. Sometime after getting to work, I noticed my right toe feeling a little funny and took my shoe off to reveal this:

Lucy loves socks. In fact, I think she wanted to make sure she was given credit for her handiwork, and so she posed for a picture with the sock:
As you can see Oliver was also quite impressed with the damage:
Oliver also has been doing this weird thing where he hangs his leg over the edge of the bed...almost like he is hanging his arm out the window while driving. I think it's kind of funny, so I took some pictures of it tonight:
Kristi got home a little later and I cleaned the bathroom before we left for...you guessed it...Oriental House. It was crazy tonight! I think more and more people are discovering the amazingness that is Oriental House. Chad told me that apparently it is rated as one of the top 100 Oriental restaurants in the US. It was so crowded that there were several parties waiting for tables. Even the back room was full. Kristi and I ordered and then finally got a table right before our food arrived. Good thing, 'cause that would have been awkward eating standing up.

When we were done eating we saw Chad and Jaime eating, as well as one of Kristi's students named Kennedy. She was easy to spot because she was wearing her "Stoeber Stingrays" shirt. Kennedy has a great voice, and when Kristi mentioned it she said she wouldn't mind singing for me. It was kind of different having her sing in the middle of such a crowded restaurant, but she got some applause when finished. We talked the Chad and Jaime too for a little while and then left for the mall.

I need some new clothes, but unfortunately it typically takes me a while to find things that I like. I did find a sweet hoody type deal at PacSun for 8$ tonight. You just can't be 70% off. I tried on some other things at other stores too, but nothing ended up working out.

We stayed at the mall for a little while until Ryan and Rebecca Ferguson called us to let us know they were home. They are some friends from NHCC that Kristi and I are going to start hanging out with for some mentoring. Tonight was alot of fun, and I am looking forward to spending time with them. We talked for a while and ended up getting home around midnight, which meant we went straight to bed.

On another note, I don't know if you noticed, but Joe helped me purchase a domain name today. That's right, you are now on the fancy new website....www.andrewstoeber.com. Now it is pretty impossible to forget the web address for my blog, so you really are without excuse. You should definitely be reading every day, maybe even more than once a day. Tell your friends, you know you want to...

Maybe they should hire someone to transcribe their phone messages into emails...

2009-01-22T22:57:00.004-05:00

I couldn't really fall asleep last night, and Lucy apparently decided that she wanted to use my face as a pillow, so that didn't help any. I kept moving her, but she was pretty determined. Due to my lack of sleep I slept until a little after 9 and then got up to start my day. I ran even though I didn't feel like it, then got ready and took Lucy on her walk. I let her off of her leash thinking that the ground everywhere would be fairly dry, but I was very wrong, so I had to give her a quick bath when we got back. She just loves the mud.

I spent some time tidying up when we got back and then ate lunch. I didn't feel like cooking any eggs, so I had a frozen pot pie instead. Those are never something I am excited about eating, but I guess it keeps me from eating too much. It was almost time for me to leave after all of that, but I had to make some phone calls first. I called guitarcenter.com because I placed an order a week ago and hadn't received a shipping confirmation. I had some things I needed, such as drum heads, and I have been avoiding the Greenville Guitar Center after my experience there, so I ordered online instead. Anyways, apparently their accounting department is a little "backed up" but they are going to upgrade my shipping to 2nd day air. I swear I have had the weirdest shopping experiences lately.

I also had to call my advisor again to try to set up an appointment. I had left her 3 messages the past 3-4 days with no response, and I need to meet with her to go over my clinicals application. She didn't pick up again today, so I called the advising office and the lady said, "Well did you email her? We don't really return phone calls because we get so many, that's why we put their emails on the advising page." I was a little confused...here I thought it was their job to return my phone calls...but I went ahead and emailed her and finally got a response. Have I mentioned Greenville Tech is very different than Clemson?

I had gotten in the car and starting driving to Lowes during the last phone call I made. I had to purchase some boxes and hardware for my project at work today. I am rewiring the Clearcom system because of issues you can read about at Joe's blog. In a nutshell, I am wiring a direct line from the main box to the outside platform, where I am wiring 4 boxes in parallel. Everything is going OK so far, although I did have to redo the first box because of a misfire with the staple gun I am using to pin the wiring down. Here's some pictures of my progress today; tomorrow I've just got 2 more boxes to do:

That was all I did at work today, but I've really enjoyed it for the most part. Anything involving wiring and soldering is typically fun for me...except for the squeezing under the platform part. I took my own soldering iron which was a good call because the fine tip was way easier for what I had to do. By the way, I use the sponge to make sure the tip of my iron stays clean.

I left work around 5 and came home to cook. I had gotten out some pork chops to thaw earlier in the day, although I saw that the date was October of 08 on the package. I know things keep in the freezer, but that seemed kind of old to me. I wasn't really in the cooking mood, so I tried to make up a recipe, and it was kind of a disaster. The recipe didn't turn out tasting very good, and the pork chops tasted kind of weirdly old. Sooo....Little Caesar's ended up providing our meal tonight. I kind of feel like I have lost my touch with cooking lately, but I think I need to just go back to the things I know are delicious.

After that Kristi and I watched TV and played with the pets, then got into bed. It looks like Lucy is going to leave my face alone tonight, which is nice.

Just to throw a political theme in the mix for today, I wanted to mention that I am cautiously excited that Obama is already closing Guantanamo. I know the arguments about how we aren't safe if these people are brought to the US and go through the court system, but I don't buy any of that stuff. I don't think that anyone will deny that some sketchy stuff has gone on there, and I don't think that having a legal process for these types of prisoners within the US makes the public any less safe...and really I don't know if it matters. On "The Daily Show" tonight I thought Jon Stewart said it well when he stated, "No matter what we do, there is no guarantee that we are safe. That’s the price of a free society." The way I phrase it is, "I don't think my personal sense of safety should ever supersede basic human rights." I actually think that anytime you are suppressing rights and invading privacy in the name of safety and/or because of fear, you are in extreme danger of straying away from a free, democratic society.

So that is probably the most opinionated I have ever been on my blog, and I think I'll stop there. Disagree? Go ahead and leave a comment...

Tomorrow I am going to finish up my Clearcom wiring, probably help Joe with light plots, practice for Sunday, and then I think Kristi and I are hanging out with some old friends from NHCC. Maybe I can get some schoolwork done too...but probably not...

It's probably a good thing I missed the Clemson game.

2009-01-21T23:34:00.006-05:00

Today was busy as planned. I woke up at 8:15 and decided not to run. Not only did I have a few things to get done before lunch, it was like 20 degrees outside which is pretty rough on the lungs. I figure I'll make it up tomorrow morning.

Since I didn't run I checked my email/facebook quickly and then got ready. Lucy of course needed her daily walk after that, so that was the next thing I accomplished. When I came back I tried to run through the songs I was supposed to play for the audition, but I didn't really know them that well so I figured I'd wait until I got to work so I could see the chord charts. Instead I spent a little bit running through the songs for Sunday on the drums. One of them has a weird feel to it and I am not entirely sure how I want to play it yet. I can't tell exactly what the drummer is doing on the CD, so maybe I will try to watch some performances on YouTube. Seriously, what did I do before YouTube and Google? I can't remember.

The following item of importance was some school work. I had a short quiz in Physiology I had to study for, and I also needed to do my weekly discussion post for my online Sociology class. We were supposed to post about a religion/sect that we think is countercultural, meaning some of it's practices oppose society's common values. Most of the posts I read had to do with Muslims or Mormons, so just to ruffle a few feathers I posted something about fundamentalist Christianity being countercultural. In my post I just stated that American society values individual freedom more and more, and used extreme examples of fundamentalism that contradict that idea...such as the lifestyle of that church who protests at soldiers' funerals...I don't remember the leader's name. The only response I have gotten agreed with me, so I guess no one really cared. I thought that living in the South there might be some who would take issue with what I said, but I guess not. Oh well, at least my post was more open to discussion than the others.

By the time I was done with my schoolwork it was time to go to lunch. I met Robbie at Taco Casa, but they only take cash so we went across the street to Subway. I don't understand these places that don't take cards. For every cent they are saving without the percentage charge, they are losing much more because most people do not carry cash anymore. At least that's how I feel. I will probably never go back to Charlie's or Taco Casa simply because if I actually have cash in my wallet, there is something else I need it for. Just make me pay 20 cents more for my food, I don't care...

After lunch it was time for class. Sitting through 3 hours of Physiology is really rough, and today I struggled. I didn't take many notes, and to be honest I wasn't paying attention half the time. Good to know I'm only in the third week of the semester. Our professor (she is actually a Dr.) reviews every class though, so I think I should be OK. Today we talked about phases of cell division. She suggested we remember it with the acronym, "I Pee More After Tea," which I didn't think was as good as my, "I Poop More After TacoBell." Funny that they were so similar though, because I really did come up with that before she said hers. That was about the only interesting thing that happened in class.

I was going to get something for $2 at McDonald's on my way to work, but since I am way behind on my allowance for this month, I decided to call Joe and see if he wanted to eat at Zaxby's. I hadn't been there in a while, and apparently neither had he, so we both enjoyed it. I overheard a really funny conversation while I was ordering that went something like this:

Kid: "Hey Amber, can I have a resume?"
Manager: "You mean an application?"
Kid: "Yeah, whatever, that's what I meant"
Manager: "...Nick, you work here...you don't have to apply, you've got the job"

It made me chuckle, but apparently Nick just needed it for a project at school. I also learned today that Zaxby's employees are not supposed to slide your tray to you when you pick up your food. Instead, they are supposed to pick it up and hand it to you. I am so gonna get the next person who slides the tray to me fired.

After dinner we went back to the church and I ran through the songs a few times before rehearsal. No one gave me words for the one I was supposed to sing, but I looked them up and learned them well enough to get through the song OK. I went upstairs for the worship team meeting after that, and then ran sound for rehearsal. The team is doing this song from Brooklyn Tabernacle that I really enjoy. I am amazed at how they can do so many styles fairly believably. It's not like we've got gospel singers and musicians up there, but the product sounds great and doesn't come across as forced.

Rehearsal ended and it was time for the musicians to audition. A lady needed to take my place because she needed to go home to her kids, but that was fine because I preferred to go last anyways. Some of the other musicians were talented, especially this new bass player. He was from Nashville though, and I guess if you are from Nashville you'd better be good at something musical. My audition went fine I thought. I was extremely nervous, because I haven't sang since I left Columbia. You know how you get nervous and act weird and forget things? That was me tonight. But anyways, I thought I did OK. The songs were easy to play, so my guitar playing was good, but my singing I didn't think was great. It's not like I'm able to be on a rotation anyways though since my job is with the tech team. It was really just so Matt had a reference of what I am capable of in case he ever is in need of something I can do on a specific occasion. Here's a picture of me "auditioning" taken by Joe:
Joe, I left that in high resolution just for you.

By the time all of that was over, it was late and I hurried home. Whenever I'm gone for a long period of time Lucy goes crazy when I get home. Tonight for instance she just buried her head in my stomach and cried for a few minutes. It's so nice to feel so missed, although I wonder if her attachment is unhealthy or something. I talked to Kristi a little about our days, but it was pretty late and she has to get up early, so I tried to be quiet for the most part.

Tomorrow will be another full day. I need to solder all those Clearcom boxes, which means I need to get some outlet boxes to install them. I am really hoping that I do this correctly and it doesn't end up not working at all. If I mess it up I guess the tech team can just learn some sign language...

The best part of filling out the worship team form was putting the pastor as my first reference...

2009-01-20T22:56:00.004-05:00

I woke up at 8:45 this morning, which I felt pretty good about. I had gotten kind of lazy those two final weeks of December, and needed to start getting up before 9 again. I spent some time checking email, and then got ready and took Lucy on a walk. I was a little disappointed in the lack of snow on the ground, but we've still got a few months of winter to go.

After Lucy's walk I spent some time making drum loops in Cubase. I use an old, cheap version of Cubase SE, and I use all free VST Effects/Instruments. It really is amazing what you can get for free these days on the internets. So anyways, I use a free drum sampler and free drum samples to make loops to use as click tracks whenever I record. I was talking to Ryan online last night and we decided it would be especially exciting if I used a click track for some of the songs on Sunday night. I figure I can just play them off of my laptop, and I still should be able to hear the monitor fine. My Shure in-ears don't block out all outside noise with the foam tip, they just knock it down a few dB's. I've only made a loop for 2 of the songs so far, but I'm thinking about doing it for 2 more. When I practiced with the loops after I made them I actually thought it was easier. It's like it takes the struggle to be steady aspect away, and you can just focus on what you are playing.

I stopped playing the drums in time to watch some of the inauguration, which I wanted to be sure to do. I had good timing, as I turned it on as Biden was being sworn in. Did everyone see/hear the simple gifts arrangement that was played? Because it was incredible. In case you missed it, take the time to listen:

I love reed instruments when played beautifully, especially the clarinet and saxophone. And of course everyone loves the cello. I also enjoyed Obama's speech, and I feel very optimistic about his presidency. Only time will tell if he will make wise decisions...he certainly has a difficult task ahead of him.

When I was done watching the inauguration and news wrap up, it was about time for the piano tuning dude to get to my house. He was supposed to arrive at 1, but I got a call from him around 1:10 saying he was running late. He followed that up by saying "I should be there in an hour, is that OK?" I proceeded to explain that I had to go to work, so we should reschedule. He asked if I could leave when he got there and let him lock up when he left...but the problem with that is that Lucy probably would have had a heart attack, and the noise she would have made would have made tuning a piano impossible. So I think he is going to call me sometime soon about rescheduling.

I got to work about 45 minutes late and got to work. I spent most of the day today working on re-wiring the ClearCom system. There are some noise issues with one of the runs, which for some reason goes all the way to the stage and then comes all the way back to the booth...weird. So, we are going to wire a direct line to the booth instead. I love to solder, but this project is going to be extra tricky because it isn't your typical 3-pin XLR deal. I hope I don't screw up!

I ate dinner in my office tonight and then helped Dan and Tim finish up stage setup afterwards. I think running sound is going to be fun this week, there is a mini-choir and I get to mic Chad's amp again. We finished up everything before 9, and I headed home in time to see the last of American Idol.

After American Idol I watched an episode of Fringe. It is one of the few TV series that I have really enjoyed. I used to love X-Files (pre Mulder's exit), and Fringe really reminds me of that show. Other TV series I have gotten hooked on are House (with his old staff) and of course Seinfeld re-runs. I can't really think of anything besides those. I talked to Kristi some when she got home from getting coffee with her cousin, and then we both got into bed.

Tomorrow will be a full, fun day. I have some things I need to get accomplished tomorrow morning, and then I am eating lunch with my friend Robbie. After that I have class, and then I will go to work. I am going to "audition" with the band tomorrow night. Matt has on 1 or 2 occasions considered having me sing something, but I always say he should probably at least listen to me before he does that. Since they are having auditions this week, I figured it would be a good time for him to just hear what I sound like. I've never sang without an instrument in front of me though, and I kind of don't want to, so I hope they don't ask me to do that. I forgot to bring the chords home for the song they want me to play, but I can probably run through it a little when I get to work. Let's hope I remember how to sing...it's been a while!

I will now recall each of the last 10 days in order...just kidding.

2009-01-19T22:31:00.003-05:00

Well I'm back. I know some of you were concerned that I would never blog again, but you can breathe a sigh of relief. Maybe it was post-school starting back blues, or maybe realizing I won't be done until at least May of 2011, but I just was kinda down last week and didn't feel like blogging. After a nice, relaxing weekend with my wife I'm back into the swing of things though, and am ready to be a great blogger again.

I don't even really know where to start. I don't want to try to summarize what's been going on, so I'll just touch on a few highlights. First of all, running sound for the men's retreat went pretty well. I recorded the sessions off of the board for fun, and then also took a short video to post. I mixed the two together before uploading...however Premiere Elements didn't have fine enough controls for me to align everything exactly, so it is a little off...still kind of fun though:

Speaking of music, I have been loving this song from Bethel in California:

I think that video is from one of their "Jesus Culture" conferences...is the song not incredible? Makes me wish I was still in charge somewhere just so we could do that song. My friend Ryan plays drums for Marathon's Greenville campus, and he showed it to me. I have pretty much been listening to it non-stop since then. I am playing drums for him at NHCC youth this week, and I think we are doing the song, so I am especially excited about that. I am going to buy the Jesus Culture CD/DVD, because I like some of the other songs too, but I want to wait for next month's allowance.

Along the same lines, I have been enjoying my new EP from Public Radio. There are a band that opened for our band when I was playing for Hannah Miller in Columbia, and they were so good. I was excited to have some of their stuff on a CD, but my favorite one isn't on there. Oh well. Taylor Swift is another artist I have been loving. People tell me that I'm kind of dorky because of that, but her songs are great!

I also have been learning about linear beats/fills on drums. It is a completely different way of thinking about drums for me, and it has really opened up my thought process. I'll admit it's difficult for me to think so precisely with beat subdivisions and hand/foot patterns, but the stuff you can do is so cool. I think it is used a good bit in gospel/r&b. These two videos helped me the most in learning how to do some of the stuff, but you can see tons of amazing linear grooves on YouTube:

I started running the subs a few dB's louder at Southside. James was saying he wished the kick hit him in the chest more. I already run the kick pretty much as hot as I can, so I figured maybe just running the subs hotter would fill everything out. We run pretty quiet (92ish dB C-weighted slow....ok, that is really quiet), so I think that is partly why the kick doesn't knock you out, but I figured it was worth a try. I have been very pleased with the results, maybe more so with the bass guitar. I made sure I wasn't overloading the amp at rehearsal, and everything has been great. Sometimes something in the stage floor rattles with certain notes on the bass guitar, but it isn't very noticeable.

So those are all my musical updates. Other than that my furnace wasn't working correctly. Our gas bill was ridiculous last month, and I noticed that our furnace was having a really hard time keeping up when the temperature dropped this past week. More accurately, it wasn't keeping up at all. Our realtor put a home warranty paid by the seller in the contract, and since we were dealing with a relocation company, I don't even think they read the contract when they accepted it. Sooo...I called the warranty place and someone came and checked out the furnace for free. Turns out there was some important screw missing and it couldn't pull the air it needed to. I need to remember to call our realtor and thank him for putting that warranty in there.

I think those are all the things worth mentioning from the past week. Kristi and I have just been hanging out and eating at Oriental House mostly. Oh, and I'm still running. Today was the first day I was able to push the whole time without my lungs hurting. Two weeks of misery isn't too bad for getting back into the swing of things.

I guess that's all I really want to write for now. I'm pretty excited about the inauguration tomorrow. It's a big day for America on alot of levels. Also, tomorrow a guy is coming to tune the piano, although I wonder if he will cancel if it snows. I know Kristi is hoping for snow...I'm going to go outside after 12 to see if it has started. If it has I'll have to get the pets up to experience it!

I waited a long time for this video to upload, so you'd better watch it with a smile on your face.

2009-01-07T22:49:00.010-05:00

Oliver and Lucy crack me up. I know I talk about them alot on here, but I can't help it, they are just too entertaining. This morning Oliver would lick Lucy's ears while she slept and then suddenly grab Lucy's head in a bear hug and bite her ears. Lucy would cry and struggle to get free, finally succeed, and then Oliver would wait until Lucy went back to sleep and then repeat the process. I told Oliver he was going to regret it later when Lucy chewed on his head, but he didn't really seem to be concerned.

So I woke up a little before 9, but wasn't sure if I felt good enough to run, so I watched Sportscenter until about ten. I got up and decided to take Lucy for a walk first thing, and on the walk decided I felt good enough to run. My strategy with running is to make sure I go slow enough to not feel like my lungs are about to give out. During wrestling season in high school it was all about pushing myself until I couldn't possibly go faster, but now I figure I don't need to be intense. Plus without Coach intimidating me it's hard to push myself that much anyways. Today was pretty rough. I hadn't run in a long time, and I didn't feel too great. It's days like today that I miss running with Graham, he was a great running buddy. I made it all three miles though, and it will get easier every time.

After running I showered and ate lunch. I forgot about how not hungry I am after running. It seems like it would be the opposite, but it's not. Swim practice on the other hand always made me very hungry. I practiced Sunday's songs on the drums after that only to find out later that Ryan isn't going to be using me after all. Thanks alot Ryan.

I left for work a little early today because I wanted to tune the youth group's drum set before I started my normal stuff. The biggest flaw I noticed in their sound last night was the drums. The snare sounded kind of like a fart because it was tuned so low. Perhaps this should be a page in my calendar. I can see it now..."SNART: A snare tuned so low it sounds like a fart."

Anyways, the kit had it's good and bad. The snare is an older Slingerland brass snare, which after I tuned it sounded fantastic:

Their cymbals were also decent as well. I don't know much about the hi-hat brand, but the A Custom 18" crash is one that is on my list to buy eventually.
The rest of the kit was Ben's PDP kit, which wasn't terrible, but had heads that were very old and beat up. The only thing harder than tuning toms on a cheaper kit is tuning toms with terrible heads on a cheaper kit. They didn't have any moon gels or O-rings, which are kind of a necessity in this situation, so instead I taped some folded paper to the heads. You can faintly hear the paper flap, but it is exponentially better than no muffling, plus it kind of fits with the whole SNART idea:
After I was done the kit sounded pretty decent. Later on in the evening I had Joe take a quick video of me playing it for fun. Later I thought I should have taken a video before also so you could hear the amazing difference tuning makes, but I didn't think of it. I was going to cut the video down to just me playing for a few seconds, but the whole thing is kind of funny what with my preemptive thumbs up and Joe saying, "You can edit this out later, right?"

After I tuned the drums Joe told me that the youth group used to have toms and a kick also that Dave bought back in the day. I found them in the closet, and they were some decent maple Taye's. I asked Nate why they weren't using them and he said, "they didn't sound good." Weird.

All this drum talk reminds me, I've been listening to this new band I found called "The Summer Set." They are extremely pop, but I really like them. I found them watching this kid play his Zildjian Sweet Ride on YouTube. Seems like a pretty solid drummer.

So anyways, after the drum thing and working some Joe and I left for dinner, stopping to browse at GameStop on the way. I like video games, but for one reason or another have never really gotten into them that much. If there was one game I would play non-stop, it would definitely be rock band, but I can think of alot of musical equipment I would want for how much it would cost me to get a gaming system and the game.

We ate dinner at Moe's because I had a $5 off coupon, and it was delicious as always. I wish Moe's would give you free queso though, that would be nice.

After dinner we came back and went to the pre-rehearsal meeting. It was really interesting tonight. We spent some time encouraging one another by speaking things we enjoyed about the team, and then Brian talked a little about disconnecting our worship of God from how good or bad our life is. There is alot of crazy stuff going on the the world, like Iraq, fighting in the Gaza strip, our economy, etc. If you don't keep up with the news, you should. Anyways, I wonder how our quality of life in America will change in the future and how that will affect the church. Also, am I satisfied in God alone despite any circumstances that might come my way? Serious stuff to think about.

Rehearsal was fine. I got it sounding pretty good, but the chairs were up which means there was no point in fine tuning because it will sound so different on Sunday. I did the parallel compression thing with the bass, and I kind of like it. It's a very subtle difference, but it helps the riffs on the higher strings punch through more. Joe and I took a break for him to film me in the aforementioned video, but other than that I just kind of hung out until rehearsal was over. Since Matt wasn't there I wanted to make sure everything was off before I left.

I got home late and Kristi was already in bed. Lucy must have cried for 2-3 minutes when I came inside, I don't know why. I guess she just misses me that much. Kristi woke up and we talked a little bit about our day, and then I got in bed. It's kind of a bummer not really seeing Kristi on Tuesdays and Wednesdays.

Tomorrow I might eat lunch with a friend and then maybe go into work since I won't be able to work Friday due to the men's retreat. I hope I get to play some basketball or football or something on the men's retreat. We'll see....I've never been on one with Southside before.

The only thing better than Oriental House? Oriental House two nights in a row...

2009-01-06T22:25:00.003-05:00

So, I've been kind of sick the past few days. I felt really crummy on Sunday, and was really thankful that I wasn't running sound. Things didn't get better as the day went on, but I went to sleep by 11 with plans to start running the next morning. When my alarm went off Monday morning, there was no way I was going running, much less getting out of bed. I don't know what I had, but it was miserable. My head hurt, my body ached, I was all stuffy, and I had a fever. I dozed in and out until about 10, when I woke up very sweaty and felt a little better. I got up and got ready, and with the help of Advil was able to get alot accomplished all day.

Today was much better. I'm still a little stuffy, but I feel great otherwise. I slept until 9:30 to let my body rest some, and then got ready and took Lucy on a walk. She seems to enjoy walks in the rain more so than non-raining walks. She gets very excited about splashing through big puddles and sticking her face in fast flowing drainage water. I didn't let her off the leash today because I didn't want to give her a bath. Maybe next time Lucy.

After we got back I ate some lunch and then played drums for a little bit. I am playing at NHCC for their youth this Sunday, so I am trying to get the songs down before hand. Ryan usually picks one or two that are pretty difficult, so it is alot of fun learning them. I am excited about using my new snare and hi-hats...now I just need somewhere to use my new amp too.

I left for work at the usual time and did stage setup for a while once I got there. Around 3:15 I went upstairs to help with the youth group sound stuff. I have been helping Nate learn how to improve things up there, which I love doing. I had told him that I would come up today and help a little before and during soundcheck. I was able to do a few helpful things, the first of which is change the speaker EQ's. I made them a more natural crossover with no notches or boosts. A common mistake people make is to use the speaker EQ to change the room sound. This isn't really ideal unless you have a way of measuring which frequencies are exaggerated in the room. A better thing to do is leave them flat, set up all your mics, turn them all on and then turn them up, notching out frequencies creating feedback issues while you do so. There weren't really any feedback issues, so we didn't end up notching anything. Another mistake people often make is to keep notching week after week until they have a crazy looking EQ. So if you have this issue, it's better to start over every few weeks....ideally every week really.

Anyways, I also set up their sub so it was fed off of Aux 1. Since they had 3 Aux's they weren't using, I figured this would be much better than having the sub fed off of a main. This way not everything goes to the sub, which is nice because there aren't many things that needs to, and it just makes it really muddy otherwise. For instance, once we set it up like that all we put into the sub was the kick, bass, a little floor tom, and I think a tiny bit of keys. We also hooked up their monitor through an unused EQ so that if they have feedback issues with a vocal mic they can EQ the monitor first and hopefully not affect the room EQ. All in all I thought the system sounded really nice when we were done. They could change a few source things like drum tuning to better the sound, and they would also really benefit from some compression/limiting, but it sounded pretty decent.

After that I went back downstairs and worked on the stage some more. I am excited about this Sunday for some reason. I think it's that I like the stage setup, and I am excited about micing Chad's new/old amp. It's a Fender Princeton something...maybe a Reverb? I can't remember, but it sounds nice, and I think it will sound really good miced. I am also thinking about doubling the bass signal and doing the parallel compression thing this week. It's gonna be a good time.

Joe, Tim, and I all left for dinner around 6. Joe asked if we could go to Oriental House, and even though I was there last night, I can't ever pass it up. It is just so delicious I can't stand it. One thing I like as much of the food is how friendly the people are. Where else do you order at the front, yet still have people getting refills for you non-stop? I've starting tipping because it's pretty much like having your own waiter/waitress.

After dinner we came back to church and finished setting up, and then I went upstairs to listen to the band before leaving. Things sounded pretty good, sometimes I kind of miss being involved with youth. There is just an energy there that you don't get with adults.

I came home and talked with Kristi for a while and then got into bed. I have been watching Clemson play Alabama since Kristi went to sleep. Our basketball team is still looking great, so I am feeling pretty good about going to the big dance again this year.

Tomorrow I think I am going to start running as long as I feel healthy when I wake up. I haven't really found a good route yet, but I'm only running 3 miles. When I get up to 6 I'll have to find a more exciting one. The first few days are always the worst, but hopefully I won't feel too bad!

Just a nice, relaxing Saturday...

2009-01-03T22:45:00.005-05:00

Today was a pretty non-eventful day. I woke up at about 8:45 and decided to get up. Kristi was still asleep though, and since she has to get up for teaching on Monday again I didn't want to wake her before she was ready, so instead I worked on the laptop and watched SportsCenter in bed. At about 10 she was ready to start the day so I went ahead and got ready.

I spent much of the day today playing around with my new musical equipment. I have spent so much time listening to samples of snares and other equipment on YouTube and audio forums, that I really wanted to do a comparison of my 3 snares that I have now. Kind of giving back in a way. So, that's what I did. I recorded some narration so that it would be helpful and put it on some of the audio forums for people to listen to. You can here the recording here. I guess it kind of makes me a nerd spending all that time on that, but hey, I enjoy it. I would like to put it on YouTube too eventually. Even though it doesn't have any video, I figure I can just put it with a picture of the snare drums or something and people would probably find it useful.

I also recorded a quick song with my guitar amp to test it out. This wasn't really for anything other than my own enjoyment, but it was very enjoyable. I used the Ludwig snare on the drums, and then recorded two guitar parts followed by a bass part. The guitar in the right channel (assuming your stereo image is set up correctly) is my Nashville Telecaster, while the thicker one in the left channel is my Thinline Telecaster. I didn't use any effects or anything, just straight through the amp with different settings for the two. For micing, I just put my SM57 6 inches or so in front of the speaker. I didn't use any EQ or anything on the guitars, but there is some on the drums and bass. The test song is just some random quick chord progressions, and you can listen to it here. Also, for those interested, here is a picture of my amp in my amp closet...which is a closet where I keep my amps:

I also wanted to mention another one of my Christmas presents which I have been enjoying. I am notorious for discussing everything going on with my body with my family, so in honor of that my dad gave me a daily calendar entitled "What's Your Poo Telling You?:"Not only did I think this was hilarious, I think it's going to be very interesting as well. Perhaps I will feature some of my favorite days on this blog...if only you could be so lucky.

Other than recording today, I took Lucy for her walk and spent some time watching Lifetime with Kristi. Later on we left for dinner at her family's house because her sister was bringing home her friend Zach for us all to meet. I'm not sure if they are officially dating, but you get the idea. Dinner was fun, and the conversation was interesting. Zach enjoys hunting and gave everyone some venison he had in his car because he was bringing it back to Clemson with him. Kristi and I passed since we haven't been cooking much, but I am secretly hoping to taste some of someone else's.

And I guess that was pretty much it for the day. By the time we got home I was ready to get into bed because Sunday is an early day for me. Come to think of it, I am not sure what I am doing tomorrow morning, because I'm not running sound. Maybe I'll get to be shader or something...should be relaxing!

The reason I didn't post yesterday was because I didn't want to talk about the Clemson game...

2009-01-02T23:50:00.013-05:00

I woke up feeling a little sick this morning. I'm not sure if it was because of watching the Clemson game yesterday, or the unhealthy amount of wings I ate yesterday. I'm pretty sure it was the Clemson game. At least having a group of friends over for a Gator Bowl party was fun, even it the outcome of the game wasn't great. It is just football after all.

I was meeting Joe at his apartment at 9 to ride up to the camp the men's retreat will be at with him. He told me last night to bring my camera because he had an idea, which had me wondering. Did he want me to take pictures of his fabulous hair? Was I going to show him a thing or two about ISO and aperture? The suspense was killing me.

I thought I remembered how to get to Joe's apartment, so I didn't bother asking for directions...silly me. For some reason I was thinking it was near Wendy's on Woodruff road, but turns out it's on Roper Mountain Extension. Once we got that squared away, I got headed in the right direction. I remember where his apartment was specifically once I got to his complex...weird.

The ride up to Bonclarken was an enjoyable one. Joe talked through some camera settings with me (the earlier comment was a joke), and took some pictures of his own:

By the way, if you want more pictures, and a different account of our trip, you can check out Joe's blog, which is called "Resurfaced." I think us both taking pictures was his real idea, and I of course I had to oblige since he is my muse after all.

Once we got there we walked around the chapel and checked out the video and audio equipment that would be available to us. The mixer was in a wooden cabinet with a sign that said not to open, so of course we opened it. How else would we know what to bring? It also had a sign saying not to adjust levels, so we had to talk about that with an employee. Apparently they don't want anyone adjusting levels...but since it would be impossible to run sound that way we talked about it a little and I think it's going to be OK. I'm thinking we can probably take a picture of the board and then make sure each knob is exactly where it was when we started. Anyways, after all that we left, making sure to take a picture at the sign on the way out:

We stopped at Ruby Tuesday's on the way back for lunch, which was delicious. The past two times I have been there I have gotten the "Thai Phoon Shrimp," which are kind of like buffalo shrimp, except a little tangier. They are wonderful. Our waitress was extra talkative and cheerful. I thought she was just bored and friendly, but I think Joe suspected she was looking for a big tip. When you're so bling-bling like Joe and I, it's pretty understandable that people would be looking for some free cash. And Joe wasn't even wearing his cowboy hat...

After lunch Joe dropped me off at my car and we both went back to the church to work for a while. I set some things up on stage, moved a bunch of lights, set up a camera, etc. Just the usual. I ended up leaving a little after 3, which I think is a little later than usual, but it's OK because I've worked less than usual the past two weeks with the holidays and all.

When I got home I played with Lucy, played drums for a bit, and then got started on cooking dinner. We invited my parents over for dinner tonight, and I was in charge of the main dishes. Kristi and I picked out this lime chicken dish which looked delicious. Anything involving honey, lime, olive oil, thyme, and garlic must be good. I wear a sweet apron to cook, so I thought I'd take a picture of it for the blog. Kristi wasn't home, so I used a mirror to my advantage:

Unfortunately things didn't go that well with the food. I put tin foil under the chicken, which turned out to be a mistake. I kept wondering why the mixture wasn't getting brown and sticky like it was supposed to, and when we took it out we discovered that most of it had leaked through a hole in the foil and was beneath the chicken. It turned out to be pretty bland, but it wasn't a disaster or anything. The roasted potatoes and corn on the cob were great at least. Since my chicken wasn't exciting, I took some pictures of a candle instead, practicing my new photography knowledge:

I played my new amp for my parents, showed them my snare, and then we all played Yahtzee. Somehow Kristi ended killing us all. We also ate some peach cobbler that Kristi made, and oh man was it great. I really like hot desserts with vanilla ice cream, and this was one of the best I have had. I look forward to heating up some tomorrow, although nothing is as good as right out of the oven.

We enjoyed watching the pets play together tonight. My parents' dachshund/beagle mix, Molly, is really interested in Oliver, but doesn't know what to think of him. It's funny to watch her follow him around. They were all playing together by the end of the night, although Lucy was extremely grumpy today. I think she is just very tired from the past two days, as she has been snoring away loudly for the past 3 hours. My parents left a little before 10, and Kristi and I decided to get into bed. She wanted to watch "27 Dresses," which she got for $5 today at Target, so I had to set up our stereo system in our bedroom. I hadn't set it up in the new entertainment center yet, and we don't have a DVD player in our bedroom, so we thought it would be fun to do that. The only thing is that our CD/DVD player is powered by the sub, so you have to connect pretty much everything...it didn't take too long though. I kind of drifted in and out of the movie while I read about pro audio stuff online. It seemed OK, but I couldn't get into that much. That's not to say I don't like chic-flics. For instance, one similar style chic-flic I do enjoy is "Return to Me." If you haven't seen that, it's a great story.

After that Kristi went straight to sleep, and I have just been watching Leno. Tomorrow is going to be a wonderful day because there is not much planned. I am hoping to do some recording, especially of my new amp. Once I get some recordings of it, I'll post them and some pictures of it on here for all my loyal readers to hear and see. I've been wanting to record a comparison of my snares also, so we'll see if I have time for that. For now, I'll leave you with this picture I took of the pets sleeping the other night:

Is it already Spring or something?

2008-12-30T23:41:00.003-05:00

I awoke this morning to Lucy's head on my shoulder and Oliver licking Lucy's ears to death. You can't help but love the little guy, he's just so friendly and personality filled. Lucy used to get upset when he tried to sleep near her, but lately she's been letting him get close. The other night he slept with his head on Lucy's side.

I got out of bed and got ready because I had a few things to do before I left the house for the day. First I took Lucy on her walk. She has had to deal with kids on rollerblades or skateboards during her walk for the past two days, but has done remarkably well for her. Maybe she is mellowing out some...we can only hope.

I wanted to finish painting the walls when we got back. Unfortunately Lucy licked all the spackle off of the one spot last night, so I had to respackle that this morning. I sanded the other two spots down, painted them, and then waited for the other to dry. It didn't dry enough before I had to leave, so I put a bag over the roller and paint and left.

I made my way to Oriental House via 385 like usual. After you turn left, you pass the exit from the southbound lanes. It is always a very busy exit, and every now and then someone makes the mistake of getting stuck in the middle and blocking a whole green light for those on Woodruff Rd. Today there was a guy blocking just the right lane, which I was in. There were fingers and obscenities flying everywhere, and I had a good laugh watching all of it happen. It's hard for me to get too frustrated by things like that, because I am pretty absent minded and make mistakes like that fairly often.

I knew I was meeting Nate for lunch to talk about youth group sound stuff, but was pleasantly surprised when I saw that Joe, James, and Tommy had also come along. Nate wanted some advice on how to get a cleaner mix where everything was distinct, so we mainly talked about the frequency spectrum and what space everything occupies, how to utilize EQ to create space, and how to utilize the stereo field (since they run in stereo). I also gave him some advice on how to mic things, and some effects that they should invest in. When we were done we went back to the church and I showed him some routing things on the board, as well as some of the other controls. Their board is the same as the one we had in Columbia, so I was very familiar with it. As a side note, I think the greatest thing about digital boards is having 4 EQ points, and being able to control the q and frequency for all of them. Actually, it may be a toss up with having a compressor on every single channel.

After I helped Nate, I went downstairs and started on my work, most of which consisted of cleaning up things and rearranging the stage. Joe had already done alot of it, which was nice. He had dinner plans, so he left around 6 I think, and I did a few more things like changing gels and collecting trash before I came home. It was nice to get home a little early, because I was able to watch Clemson play USCjr. in basketball. Beating them in other sports is never as fun as football...but I still enjoy it. Our team is looking better than I thought they would this year...all I'm hoping for is another trip to the big dance.

I sanded and painted the other spot during the game. Oliver decided to be annoying and paw at the roller while I painted. He's fascinating by anything that moves back and forth. By the time I was done he had paint all over his paws. I waited until the game was over and then went around the house painting any spots that needed touching up. The paint shade was pretty much exact, so I figured while I had it out I might as well make the most of it. After that I played guitar and drums for a while until Kristi came home from visiting a friend.

Once Kristi got home we talked about our days, looked for more spots to paint, and then got into bed. I enjoy having Kristi off from school because she stays up later with me. Normally she has to get up so early that she goes to bed pretty early also. Some days that means that I don't even really see her, because she's in bed by the time I get home from work. Too bad she starts back next week.

Tomorrow is New Years Eve, in case you weren't aware. I am going to work in the morning so that we can leave for party in Columbia later on in the day. Also I have to get my ducks in a row as far as food for the party on Thursday. I'm excited to see what Dabo can do!

Apparently this is the week that everyone decides to move furniture...

2008-12-30T01:12:00.007-05:00

Today was quite a busy day. I slept until about 9:30, which is later than I would have liked, but next week I am going to start running, so I guess I should enjoy it while I can. Kristi had given me a few things I needed to do around the house today, but first I finished some design stuff. Here's one of the series slides I made...I think it looks pretty decent.

Next on my list was cleaning my music room. We are having a Gator Bowl party on Thursday, so Kristi wanted it a little neater than usual. Typically I have musical equipment strewn about. I got sidetracked playing the drums for a while, my new-old snare is just too much fun. As you might remember, I spent some time the other day cleaning it up and then put new heads and a new strainer on it. They were out of Remo Ambassador Hazy snare sides, so I had to get an Evans Hazy 300. I typically use Remo because I have had better luck tuning them for whatever reason. The Evans is fine though, and I haven't really noticed much difference. The snare is pretty dry, and has a different tone to it since it is aluminum. I really enjoy playing it, and it will be fun to figure out which styles it fits well in. Here are some before and after (mostly after) pictures of the cleaning process:
After I played drums for a while it was time for lunch, so I made an egg sandwich for me, and a grilled cheese for Kristi. We needed to go to Wal-Mart today, and she had a doctors appointment later on, so we decided to go right after lunch.

We left for Wal-Mart, but stopped at the Duron paint store on the way. We have some spots on our wall that need touching up, and I found the card which lists what all was used in our house (it was built only in 2006). Our interior walls are Duron Antique White, so we picked a can up. I'm hoping the shade is pretty close, but who knows after 2 years. Also, good paint is more expensive than I thought.

On our way to Wal-Mart from the paint store, some kid was standing in front of Perkins holding a sign saying that he stole from Wal-Mart. He looked really embarrassed, and his mom was standing nearby. I wasn't sure what I thought of the discipline method, and I was wondering whether it was his parents' doing or if a judge gave him options. Either way, definitely a unique thing to see while running errands. Wal-Mart took a long time because there was much that we needed to buy, and so we had to rush home so Kristi could leave for her appointment.

Once I unloaded I commenced spackling some holes in the wall and cleaning my music room. I have never actually spackled before, but I got some advice from my dad and Chad, and I think I did a pretty good job. My music room also looks pretty sweet all organized...I wonder how many days it will take before I screw it up again. I also cleaned the bathrooms and took everything out of our old entertainment center.

Chad and Jaime came over right after Kristi got home to help me get the huge centerpiece inside...well mostly Chad I guess, Jaime was here for moral support though. After we got it in place we all left for Kristi's parents' house. They needed some help moving some furniture in their upstairs game room, so we ate dinner there and then helped them. I had to eat my dinner after everyone else though because we forgot to blow a candle out and I had to run home to do so. The house burning scares me not because of our stuff, but because our pets wouldn't be able to get out, and that would be really hard to deal with. Kristi's aunt made Fettuccine Alfredo, and it was awesome, even if I did have to eat it by myself.

We also had a chance to do a side-by-side comparison of my blues jr. and Charlie's. His is a blue tolex version, which just has a different speaker and different covering (mine is tweed). I thought they sounded very similar, maybe with mine sounding just a little warmer. Either one makes for a great little tube amp. After that we moved furniture and disassembled their ping-pong table. They wanted to get it out of the game room, so we brought it to our house! I am extremely excited as ping-pong is one of my favorite pastimes. My dad and I used to play on a regular basis, and he usually beat me. At one time we were both pretty awesome, but now I am a little rusty.

After we moved everything, Chad and I loaded the ping-pong table pieces into the van and everyone followed us home to help unload. After that Kristi and I spent a few hours staining the nicks in the entertainment center and then oiling it. I used lemon oil which I use for my guitar necks, and after all the work the thing looks like a new piece of furniture. We are both very excited about how nice it looks and how cheap it was. We need to get some decorations for the shelves, but it looks amazing already:
So that was our day. I feel pretty tired after all the activity, but I don't have to be up early to up early tomorrow, so that is good! I also am eating lunch at my favorite place with Nate to give him some sound advice, so that is even better. Maybe I'll order something different than house fried rice...and if you fell for that, then you have alot to learn...

I was kind of hoping with all the connections they would just decide to give us the thing for free...

2008-12-28T23:20:00.006-05:00

This morning was an early morning because of running sound, which I think was good because I slept in way too much last week. I got to church a little before 7:15, moved a few things around on stage and then rehearsal started. Things went pretty well today...the only frustration was that the bass guitar stopped working in the third service. There's nothing like playing air guitar behind the mixer and then having the bottom drop out on you. The solo I was doing was crazy too, you should've seen it. I wasn't really getting any signal at all, which made the music sound empty without a foundation. The drums also sounded way out in front without anything to ride on. I don't think many people noticed though, and after talking to Jesse afterwards I think his battery just died for his active pickups. Not a big deal overall.

After church we went to the Corleys for lunch. There was a large group there, and it was a good time. Kristi and I left around 3 and came home.

I regularly keep track of listings on http://www.craigslist.org/. Kristi and I have rooms in need of furniture, but unfortunately we haven't won the lottery yet so funds remain few. Maybe we should actually start buying tickets. 95% of the stuff on craigslist is terrible, but every now and then something really nice pops up for a good value. For instance, our vacuum is pretty solid and I think I paid $10 for it. Anyways, last night I saw a very nice Cherry entertainment center for a low price in Spartanburg. Kristi and I have wanted a very large entertainment center because we have a huge wall that our TV is on that needs something wide and tall. Most things that look nice that are that large are completely out of our price range, but this particular one was very large, very nice, and very cheap. It consists of a large center pieces and two shelve pieces on either end.

I had the woman measure the largest piece and determined that it would not fit in my dad's Explorer. Instead we measured the back of the Boyd's van, and sure enough it was big enough. They removed the seats for us and we borrowed it to go look at the piece, which was in Spartanburg.

The couple was very nice, and we found out that we had a few connections. They knew of Kristi's dad and the husband even listens to him through Southside's podcast. Several of Southside's people have worked for the guy, including Dave Rushing, Justin Degarmo, and John Johnson just to name a few. They also have taken all three of their kids to my dad as their pediatrician. When I asked my dad about them later, he easily remembered who they were. It only took us a few minutes to determine we wanted the piece of furniture, as it was nicer in person than in the picture. The center piece was extremely heavy, but we got it in the van only to find out that we couldn't fit the other two pieces in at the same time. Kristi and I ended up having to drive home and unload, and then go back for the two shelves. Getting the big piece out of the van by ourselves was rough, but we got laying down in the garage where it will stay until Chad comes over to help move it tomorrow. He's been working out, so I expect he'll just throw it on his shoulder and I'll tell him where to put it. Don't let me down Chad.

Going back and forth wasn't too bad as it only too a little more than 30 minutes. After getting back the second time we took the van back to the Boyds and then went to my parents' house. My dad needed help moving their leather chair back into the house. The Christmas tree replaces it during the holiday season, but today they took the decorations down. It's always nice to visit my parents and Lucy loves playing with Molly, so we stayed and talked for a little bit. I also showed them my new amp since they hadn't heard much about it.

We came home a little around 10, and have been watching a TLC special about Dede, who has a virus which causes some weird warts so bad that his hands and feet look like tree roots. It is one of the most fascinating things I have ever seen on TV, and he is in a group of people with unbelievable diseases/disorders which does a freak show to make money. It seems like they could do a TV special on any one of the people in the group. It is kind of sad, but truly fascinating.

Tomorrow I think Kristi and I are going to work on some stuff in the house and run some errands. I have some great pictures to post, but I think I will wait until tomorrow night when we have our new piece of furniture set up. Stay tuned!

Two movies I've enjoyed within a week...that must be some kind of record!

2008-12-27T00:01:00.003-05:00

Christmas was a fun day. It was a little sad since it was my first Christmas morning not spent with my family, but I spending it with the Boyds was fun. They open their presents all at the same time, which differs greatly from my family's method of taking turns. It does go faster, that's for sure, but I felt like I didn't get to see what other people got.

After presents and breakfast we spent some time with Kristi's grandmother and then left to spend time with my family. My sister was only able to be in Greenville for a little bit due to work, so it was nice that we got to see her. We also saw a few family friends that stopped by. Christmas lunch or dinner or whichever it was was delicious, and I especially enjoyed the seasoning my mom used on the asparagus.

That evening we went to see Marley & Me as a big group, including my family, the Boyds, and some others. As could be expected I really enjoyed the movie. I went in expecting an enjoyable cheesy movie about a pet, but it was better than I expected. For one thing, it was much more about Marley's family than I thought it would be, and there were also quite a few witty parts which made me laugh. I thought that what Owen Wilson tells Marley at the end of the movie supported the statement I made the other day about why people enjoy their pets so much. I also enjoyed the interaction between Owen Wilson and Jennifer Aniston as husband and wife. Kristi and I got home from the movie pretty late, and after putting all our new things away went straight to sleep.

Today was a good day, although a little frustrating at times. We didn't really need any Christmas paraphernalia, so neither Kristi or I got up early to go shopping. Last year I got up early, but I have to admit it was a little weird being one of the only males in Target at 7 AM. The pets spent most of the morning playing and tearing up the Christmas tree, so after sleeping in Kristi started removing ornaments while I got ready and left for Guitar Center. I was excited to buy the Fender amp, which I decided to go with, and I also needed some drum heads and a strainer for my Ludwig snare. After all of my 8 gift cards and an American Express gift card, I only had to pay $4, which was pretty sweet.

After Guitar Center I met Kristi and mom at Oriental House for lunch. My fried rice was delicious as usual, and it's always fun to eat lunch with my mom. She had been shopping all morning, so she was almost done. From lunch I stopped at Lowes to get some metal cleaner to clean my Ludwig snare, and then headed to the mall to keep Kristi company while she ran some errands. Traffic was so crazy that Kristi was done by the time I got there, so I ended up just coming home.

When I got home I was excited about trying my new amp. I plugged it in and let it warm up, and then began to play it. It seemed like every time I played the B string, I would get a high pitched rattle or feedback tone. This worried me because I have read several places online that state that Blues Jr.'s sometimes have the bias too high on some of their tubes which cause them to go microphonic. I actually talked to the guy that fixes Fender amps in Greenville last week to ask him about that. He said that if it seemed like there was a problem you could lightly tap on each tube. If one made a loud high pitched sound when tapped on, it was microphonic, which could be a bias issue. So, I tapped on the tubes, and sure enough one of them was very loud, much more so than the others. I read a little more about the subject online, and then went back the amp, and there was definitely something wrong with it. I called Guitar Center and they said to bring it back it. I had to take Lucy to the vet at 4:10, but I hurried and left so I could be back in time.

I don't really want to get into the story in excruciating detail, but the experience at Guitar Center was not good. The assistant manager that helped me was not very kind, and didn't think there was a problem with the amp. I don't do well with conflict, and I was just kind of standing there while he told me why there was nothing wrong with it. At first I showed him what I was talking about, but he didn't really seem to be interested. Not really wanting to get into some discussion where I was trying to prove I was right, I just told him that I had bought it this morning, and I wasn't even trying to get my money back, I just wanted to exchange it. It's not like I had had it a few months and wanted my money back or something. After calling some other people over, who heard what I was talking about, he begrudgingly exchanged the amp and I was on my way. I drove home feeling kind of sick to stomach and remembering why I prefer to do my shopping online. You can always get what you want, and usually if there is a problem the customer service people are just friendly.

I got home and tested the new amp quickly, which sounded great and did not have the same issue. I then left to take Lucy to the vet. I needed to get her heartworm medicine, but they said that according to what my old vet gave me I had missed a month, so I needed to have her tested for heartworms first. I didn't think I missed a month, but it wasn't a big deal. Lucy is actually really good at the vet because she is scared to death, so she just sits between my legs and shakes. She doesn't even growl at the vet assistants when they pick her up...she just shakes. Everything was fine with her, so I bought the medicine and we came back home.

Tonight we ate with Chad and Jamie, and then went over to their place so I could try out his Line 6 M13 and he could try my new amp. His new M13 is pretty sweet. It is a bunch of boxes rolled into one unit where you can program different settings in different banks, but then everything can be turned on and off like pedals. It's like a multi-effects processor except it sounds good and its way cooler. You can read more about it here.

Hanging out with Chad and Jamie was fun, but all good things must come to an end, so we came home around 10. I spent some time finishing up cleaning my Ludwig snare and then we got into bed. Leno was a rerun tonight, and it had that performance I posted again, so that was kind of exciting. Tomorrow Kristi and I don't have much to do, except I think we are going to her cousin's house tomorrow night for dinner. Sorry that this post is so factual...I'm just not feeling too inspired tonight. Until next time...

I'm not sure which part is better...the lights or the popcorn?

2008-12-24T23:53:00.004-05:00

I woke up this morning with Lucy's head on top of mine. I stayed like that for a few minutes, but it wasn't very comfortable, so I made her move. Kristi woke up a little while later and decided to start the day, so I did the same. I got a call from a 864 number I didn't know, and since it was before 9 I figured it was important, so I picked up. It was a Sam's Club employee letting me know Kristi's replacement tire was in. Kristi and I were already planning on running some errands, so we got ready and then embarked on our adventure.

We dropped her car off at Sam's, and then headed to the mall as I like to do on Christmas Eve. It was really disappointing this year. It wasn't crowded at all, and no one seemed to be in a hurry or stressed out. So much for the hustle and bustle. Kristi bought some Starbucks and we made our way back to Sam's to pick up her car. On an exciting note, I payed 1.36 for gas at Sam's today...which meant my whole fill-up cost me 15.50. Amazing.

After that Kristi went home and I ran a few other errands. Then I came home, ate lunch, and left for work. I got out my Santa hat before leaving as I wanted to bring Christmas cheer to the Christmas Eve service. Lucy had apparently chewed on it, so it smelled bad, but I loaded it up with Febreze. Ah the smell of dog saliva masked by Febreze.

I spent time setting a few things up at work and getting some prelude music ready. I like to choose prelude music, so I was glad that Matt let me do that, although I did have him approve what I chose. The service went well, I thought the sound was great, and the congregation seemed to enjoy it wholeheartedly. It sure was a packed house! You can see some pics at Joe's blog.

Kristi and I hurried home from the service to go look at Christmas lights with my parents. Our family tradition was to eat at McDonald's and then go look at lights with the dogs in the back of the car. My sister wasn't in town tonight, and we couldn't do the McDonald's thing, but at least the lights were still carried on. By the way, the McDonald's tradition started one year when my dad was working and the rest of us ate at a drive-thru.

Looking at lights is always fun, especially going by the incredible house in Mauldin. The piano player wasn't there tonight, which made me sad, but they still had the popcorn machine, The Grinch Who Stole Christmas on a big screen, and all of the amazing lights. There are so many lights and inflatables that the people use several other yards around them. The arrangement was different this year because one of the neighbors was new, so the guy said he thought he'd let him observe for a year before asking for his yard. They have donation buckets along the trail around the house because their power bill is so incredibly high. I can't do this place justice at all, but I did take a few pictures:

We drove through a few neighborhoods and then came home. I don't think Lucy enjoyed looking at lights because she doesn't seem to feel good in the car and just sleeps the whole time. The other dogs (Molly and Carter) enjoy looking out the windows the entire time. Maybe Lucy will enjoy it more next year.

Tomorrow is Christmas! We will be spending some time with relatives, exchanging gifts, and reflecting on the fact that God came to earth. It doesn't get much better than that!

When in doubt, stick with what you know.

2008-12-23T23:39:00.004-05:00

Another day of sleeping in, but I didn't have any trouble this morning. I had a headache last night, and I had it again this morning, but thankfully Advil works really well for my headaches (typically). Kristi and I cleaned the condo and then drove to North Forest Beach to eat lunch and walk out to the beach while we were there. The condo is at the beach too, but we figured we'd just do it everything all at once.

I always like to go to Coligny Plaza in North Forest Beach whenever I am in Hilton Head. My parents used to own an old house close by with many other families. The families bought the house incredibly cheap in the 80's when Hilton Head was not as touristy, and my parents bought a share while I was in high school or middle school...I forget which. Anyways, the property was second/third rowish, and became so valuable that most of the people wanted to sell a few years ago. My parents would have rather kept the house, but there were enough other families that said they would reinvest into another house farther back, so they weren't too upset. It was one of the few small old houses left, and the company that bought it completely tore it down and built one of the largest houses I have ever seen. Once the house sold I guess the other families decided they needed the money, and the other house thing just never panned out. That's why my parents bought the condo a little while later.

The weather was pretty nice today, and there was a good number of people walking on the beach. We just stood there for a little while, and then went to lunch. We ended up going to Wild Wings. After our experiences yesterday, we wanted to stick with something safe. I had Ranchilada wings, which are some of my favorite, right up there with the Honey Mustard at Guiseppi's. I consider myself somewhat of a wing connoisseur, as they are one of my favorite foods and I have eaten them at many restaurants.

After lunch we left for home, stopping to get Kristi some shoes that she decided she wanted on the way. Traffic was pretty bad on the way home, which is never very fun. I like to set my cruise control, put my feet up, and take a nap when I'm driving long trips. Kristi just screams when we are about to hit something and I wake up and adjust accordingly. There was no sleeping today though.

While on the way home we arranged for some socializing in the evening. MiMi's Japanese Steakhouse just opened a Simpsonville franchise, so we decided to eat there with my parents and the Blackwells, and then go back to my parents' house for presents afterwards. Also, our good friends the Hurleys were on their way to Tennessee tonight, so we arranged for them to stop by on their way. I listened to the Copeland CD a good bit on the drive, as I am becoming addicted to it...especially track #1. I love the smooth vocals, the interesting melodies, and the production. It's almost like they decided to produce the drums in a way that makes them sound like drum loops. The snare has this really woody/thuddy sound with tons of the actual snare wires in there. You should give the album a listen, it's called "You Are My Sunshine."

MiMi's was kind of different. Instead of a big restaurant, it was a small storefront with a small bar, two hibachi grill setups, and two regular tables. I guess they just aren't planning on getting much business in Simpsonville, but it seemed to work well because there were never people waiting but tables were usually full while we were there. They didn't have mustard sauce at this one, which was a big disappointment to me. I made a few jokes about it with the chef thinking that maybe they will get some because of the attention. They have it at the Woodruff Rd. one, I don't understand. We also couldn't use our free entree coupon because it is only good at the other one...that was lame.

When we got back to my parents' house the Hurleys had just arrived. Lucy didn't know whether to be excited to see us, or be nervous about the Hurleys when we came in. In case you weren't aware, she struggles with warming up to people she doesn't know, especially children. It was great to see the Hurleys, even though they couldn't stay for long. After they left we exchanged gifts with the Blackwells. They were our neighbors at our old house, and became very close family friends, not to mention I mowed their lawn for many years. A very interesting fact about them is that Phil is a golfer...but he is blind. Not only is he a golfer, but he has won the national USBPGA championship several times, and he is now the president of the association. He also is a great musician, and has played in several bands. They gave us a cool clock/thermometer that will show us the outside temperature. This is good because I routinely check the weather in the mornings for Kristi...now she can just look at the clock! Although, I guess it won't tell you the highs and lows for the day.

We left around 9:30 and came home to unpack. Oliver was extremely excited to see all of us, especially Lucy. Unfortunately Lucy was mostly just tired so she wasn't really in the playing mood. After getting things situated we got into bed, and I remembered to look up a performance I saw on Leno not too long ago. I am only slightly familiar with Sara Bareilles, but I saw this and thought it was one of the most amazing live TV performances I've ever seen. It's so flawless it's almost like they're lip-syncing. Enjoy:

Sara Bareilles & Ingrid Michaelson "Winter Song" Live on Jay Leno 12/9/08 from mmmc on Vimeo.

I also learned about a technique I was not aware of on some of my favorite forums called "parallel compression." This involves doubling a track (or input live) and severely compressing/limiting just one of them and then mixing them together. This makes so much sense, I don't know why I didn't think of it before. I am definitely going to play around with it at home, and I also think it would be really cool to try with the bass guitar at Southside. I have the bass input absolutely slammed with limiting; it would be fun to have another channel of the same signal not quite so processed. I guess I sort of do this with the kick already, although it involves two different microphones.

Tomorrow I think Kristi and I are going to go to the mall just to see the holiday rush. I love seeing the crazy people buying last minute gifts on Christmas Eve. After that it's off to work to get ready for the Christmas Eve service. Following the Christmas Even service Kristi, Lucy, and I will participate in the great Stoeber tradition of driving around to look at Christmas lights. There is this one house in Mauldin that has the most amazing lights you've ever seen. Mom and Dad said this year that they not only have a popcorn machine, they have a piano player as well. I am pretty excited!

Somehow food always seems to be an important part of my post.

2008-12-22T22:56:00.003-05:00

I had a hard time sleeping in this morning. I am probably just used to Kristi leaving early and the pets waking me up, but we had agreed that sleeping in was a priority on this trip, so I stuck it out until 10. Hard life, I know.

Kristi and I took our time getting ready and then left to do some shopping. I enjoy shopping for the first little bit, and then I get progressively more tired and grumpy after that. We ate lunch at this Mexican restaurant called Jalepenos that we remembered being extra tasty and cheap last time we were here, but it was a big disappointment today. Kristi said her food wasn't very good, and they gave me a beef quesadilla instead of chicken. I didn't feel like telling them and then having to hurry through my meal by the time they cooked me a new one, so I just ate the one they gave me even though I didn't really enjoy it. After lunch there was lots more shopping.

One very exciting thing did happen during the shopping trip. While driving I saw a little music store and remember that one of the Blackheart dealers I had seen on their website was in Hilton Head, SC. I stopped in to see if they had any Blackheart amps, and sure enough they had the Little Giant (3/5 watt) halfstack. I dropped Kristi off at the next store and came back to play with it for a little while. It sounded really nice. It was much cleaner then I expected, and started to break up with single coils once you got past about 80% on the volume. I still am pretty sure I'll stick with the Fender...but I don't know, I did really like the sound.

Once we were through shopping we stopped back at the condo for me to change and grab the camera, and then we drove to Harbour Town on Sea Pines Plantation (sorry I spelled it wrong yesterday). I enjoy going to Harbour Town and seeing the yachts whenever I am in Hilton Head. We don't often eat dinner there, so I wanted to do that tonight. The place was extremely deserted since it is the off season, and many of the shops were closed, but there were plenty of yachts to look at. I wanted to eat at a fancy restaurant underneath the lighthouse, but it was closed, so we went to the Crazy Crab. It wasn't really very good. We got a bucket of assorted seafood to share, and neither of us loved it. I think Kristi and I just both have a hard time getting into seafood...and I am hoping that oyster doesn't come back to haunt me. I am a big texture person when it comes to food, and that oyster was about the worst texture I have ever had...except for maybe Jack Fruit, which I had in Bangladesh. But lets be honest, no food will probably come close to some of the things I ate in Bangladesh.

Later Kristi and I laughed about how today was probably one of our worst "food" days since we've been married, and it was on vacation. Oh well, it was still enjoyable, despite the food choices, and I was able to take a few good pictures in Harbour Town:

After dinner we drove around and looked at some Christmas lights, and then headed back to the condo. We thought about doing the movie thing, but there weren't any I was excited about in the theater, and Kristi didn't want to rent one so we decided to pass. Thankfully there is always HGTV to watch, which always delivers quality programming.

We may leave tommorrow night instead of Wednesday morning. We both were thinking that might be better than feeling rushed on Christmas Eve day, and it isn't like we have much to do around here. I think tommorrow we will take a walk on the beach, find somewhere good for lunch, and then possibly head home. My only stipulation is that we eat a nice dinner on the way.

I'm really trying to cut down on how many times I say "really" in my blog...really.

2008-12-21T22:43:00.012-05:00

Ah Sunday. The only day I have to get up and stay up before 7 on a regular basis. This morning I was pretty awake, which was nice. Lucy is always a little confused on Sunday as to why I am waking her up to go out instead of vice versa...sometimes I even get a courtesy growl when she's extra tired. She's such a nice dog.

Church today went really well all around. First of all, I enjoyed the videos, and I especially enjoyed the annoucements video..enough about video stuff, now onto sound. On Wednesday I was a little discouraged with the sound, and I wasn't sure that I would be able to do much about it. I just counted in my head, and we had at least 28 live microphones on stage, many of which were condensers, so it was extremely hard to control feedback and also not have it sound washed out. Friday I spent a good bit of my time changing mic placements, and then I rang out the choir mics to a point where I could turn the faders all the way up without any sustained feedback. I also decided to run the center cluster 1 dB quieter than I usually do, and the stereo and sub feeds 2 dB quieter, as well as remove the monitor fills behind the choir (sorry if you couldn't hear much back row). Everything seemed to help, because I ended up getting a pretty decent sound. The only thing I couldn't figure out during the warm up rehearsal was a weird feedback loop I would get that was connected to any sibilance from Matt. I tried gating every mic I could and EQing his mic, but nothing helped that much. Right before they left the stage as he was giving last minute instructions I finally figured out that it was because of James's vocal mic, which was all the way across the stage, and not near any monitors or other mics even. I just turned his gain down a tad and notched out some 4-6k, and that solved the problem perfectly. I wouldn't say the sound was the best, but it definitely was decent, and the choir sounded great.

I have also enjoyed the messages that past few weeks, which have centered around Christ breaking into our world and then inviting us to join Him in what He is doing. The messages have been very challenging to me, which has caused me to do some thinking. I have never made New Year's resolutions before, but I think that this year I am going to write down some things that I would like to be true of me for the rest of my life and put them somewhere where I can constantly remind myself. Also, I'm going to start running the second week in January...but that is completely unrelated.

One of my closest friends, Daniel Peek, came by in the second service and invited me to his birthday lunch with his family and fiance. He lives in Charleston, so it was great to see him...especially since it was his birthday. I talked to Kristi and we decided to go. The lunch was at Miyabi's, which was even more incentive. It was great to eat lunch with him, I am really excited for him and Ellen to get married this summer...they are going to be a great couple.

After lunch Kristi and I quickly stopped by the house to load up our bags and get Oliver situated, and then we took Lucy to my parents' house to stay while we are in Hilton Head. They are keeping my sister's dog Carter for a few days too, so Lucy is in dog heaven. Not only does she love Molly and Carter, but my parents are some of the select few humans that she loves, so I don't even think she misses us that much while we're gone. She doesn't get to sleep in their bed though, so I guess there are some drawbacks.

We talked to my parents for a little bit and then started our drive to Hilton Head. I thoroughly enjoy driving on trips...something about unadulterated time listening to music and talking to my wife is just completely enjoyable. We also listened to a Piper sermon on the way. It was alright, but a little dry, and I was getting a little sleepy so I was glad when it was over and I could turn up the jams.

We got into Hilton Head around 8 and went to Giuseppi's, one of our favorite pizza places to eat. Tonight we just got some honey mustard wings and fries, and it was delicious as usual. We shopped at TJ Maxx after that and then came back to my parent's condo to relax for the rest of the night. I am excited about having nothing to do but hang out, read, and eat the next two days.

Tomorrow should be...pretty much like I just said. I think we are going to the outlets in the morning and then maybe going to Sea Pines in the afternoon to go to South Beach Marina and then end up in Harbor Town for dinner. If you've never been to Hilton Head, it is a great vaction destination. It doesn't seem super commercialized, but there are still things to do, and the beach is beautiful. When we did our "favorite place on earth" icebreaker in the worship team meeting, the other place I thought of saying other than Clemson was Hilton Head...but if you remember, I caved into the pressure of not sounding weird and said Hawaii. Too bad it's too cold to get in the ocean this time of year...or is it?

If you saw one of your neighbors washing cars in the rain, with no shoes, in a t-shirt, in the month of December...would you be concerned?

2008-12-21T00:08:00.007-05:00

Today was a pretty busy day! I woke up a little before 9:30. They pets were up playing and Kristi had started cleaning the house, so I figured I should stop being lazy in bed...well kind of. The first thing I did was finish up the design stuff while lying in bed, so I guess that's pretty lazy. I was done with that around 10:30 and so I got up and took a shower. I had a few people left to buy gifts for, so I said goodbye to Kristi after I got dressed and took off to finish the shopping.

I expected the roads to be ridiculously busy today, being so close to Christmas and all, but really it wasn't bad at all. First I went downtown to get a giftcard, and then I drove to Greenridge to stop at a few stores. One of the places I stopped was Best Buy, because I needed to buy a flash drive for my dad. He let me borrow his a few weeks ago, but Oliver knocked it off of my nightstand one day and Lucy chewed on it for a little while. They work together like that sometimes...especially with Christmas ornaments. It's kind of weird, the drive is recognized by the computer, but there is nothing on the drive. And I don't mean there's no files, I mean there's no bytes. I think there's a possibility that I could get it formatted again, but they are cheap and I doubt my dad wants his back with teeth marks in it. After Greenridge, I stopped at Target to return an item for Kristi, and then made it home by 1:30.

Once I got home I ate lunch, took Lucy for a walk, and then helped wrap a few presents. At that point it was about 3. I had planned to wash cars today, but I knew we were going to a movie with the Boyds at 7, and that we would have to eat before hand, so I decided I would just clean the insides and see if there was time left to do a quick wash. I finished all the vacuuming and Armor All-ing the insides at about 4:30, and since we weren't meeting for dinner until 6, I decided to wash the outsides too. Kristi switched the time to 5:30 in the meantime...thanks alot Kristi...but I was able to rush through it and do a half decent job. It was raining outside, but the cars were so dirty, and I hate to have my schedule messed up by rain anyways. It also wasn't that cold, so I was barefoot with a t-shirt on. I tried not to make eye contact with neighbors as they drove past because I didn't want to see the looks of laughter and disbelief on their faces.

I finished washing the cars at 5:07, ran inside, took a shower, got dressed, and we were out the door by 5:18...pretty impressive. Kristi suggested we eat at Oriental House, which of course was very exciting for me. Interestingly enough, when Chad walked in he told a waitress how many we had, so they sat us and did the whole waiting on the table thing. Every other time I've been there I've just ordered at the front, so it was kind of nice. They seem to be service oriented like that, because one time when I was there they ran out of Diet Coke in the fountain drink machine, so one of the ladies brought around bottles of it to anyone that needed some. My fried rice was top notch like usual, and they remembered to leave off the pees this time (I spelled that wrong accidentally, but then decided it communicates my thoughts on the vegetable pretty well).

We went to see the new movie "7 Pounds" tonight with Will Smith. He has become one of my favorite actors after seeing him do such a good job in such a diverse set of movies. Since this movie is relatively new, I will avoid spoiling it and just say that it was one of the best movies I remember seeing in a theater. I am not really a movie person, so I tend to be pretty picky, but I really loved it. By the way, did you know they let you take drinks into the movie theater now? Weird...

We left the theater, stopped at Barnes and Nobles to get some books, and then came home. Once we got home we packed for our vacation, and then got into bed. I spent some time downloading some more of my honeymoon pictures off of my Webshots tonight. My hard drive crashed a little while ago and the only things I didn't have backed up that were really important were my honeymoon pictures...but I don't really want to talk about it. At least I have most of them on my Webshots...it just takes a long time to download them one by one. I also am updating my Ipod for the trip, which is exciting. It has been sitting in my center console with a dead battery for over 2 months. I don't know why, I think it's because I've bought so many new CD's lately that I haven't missed it.

Speaking of new CD's, I bought the new Copeland album today at Best Buy. Imagine my excitement when I saw that the producer was none other than Aaron Sprinkle. I really like the album, although I don't understand why most of my friends like this one but not the last one. They are extremely similar in my opinion. My favorite song so far is #6.

Tomorrow is going to be a good day. I'm running sound and then we will be leaving for Hilton Head. As I grow older I understand more and more why adults get so excited about vacations.

Billy Ray Cyrus appreciates this post...

2008-12-18T23:25:00.006-05:00

I didn't really feel that great this morning or really all day. I felt kind of achy...but not so much breaky, at least not my heart anyways. But, I had an appointment to get my car's oil changed at 9, so I got up around 8:15 and got Lucy situated before heading out the door. Meineke has been running a 16.99 oil change special forever, so that is where I've been going. They also brush the corrosion off of my battery for free, which is nice. The other places always want to charge me to do that. I guess it isn't as bad now anyways since I have a garage...probably my favorite thing about owning a house really.

After getting that done I came home for a little bit, took Lucy for a short walk, and then left to run some errands and eat lunch with my friend Jay. He called me while I was on my way to tell me his boss was being a little weird and he would have to bail on me. That kind of left me not knowing what to do. I called my mom but she couldn't eat, so then I thought about trying some new local place by myself, but I didn't really feel like looking for a place. I ended up eating at McDonald's since I've never been there before. It's this fast food restaurant, I don't know if you've heard of it? I really regretted eating there. It was one of those meals where I finished and thought..."I probably should have just skipped lunch." After that I did some Christmas shopping and then came home. I only have two people left, and I know what I'm getting them, so I am pretty much done.

When I came home I worked on the design stuff for a while. I tried some new ideas and then emailed them out, which took me a little while. Once I was done with that I remembered I needed ingredients for the birthday cheesecake, so I took a quick trip to BiLo to get that stuff. Philadelphia cream cheese was on sale for cheaper than the BiLo brand, so this one should be even better than usual. When I got back it was like Lucy didn't remember going on a walk in the morning, and she was driving me nuts, so I gave in and took her for a longer walk. That seemed to appease her because then she slept when we got back.

I tried to do a little recording then, but it took a while to set up and Kristi got home in the meantime, so I stopped what I was doing and we left for dinner. She agreed to go to Oriental House, which was really exciting because I hadn't been able to go there Wednesday like I was supposed to. The girl that took our order was new though, and there were peas in my rice, and it also wasn't spicy...that was a little disappointing. I didn't complain because it was still good, and I don't like to be the picky type. My friend Jesse used to work at Starbucks and always said he hated how the people who came in every morning could tell if the coffee wasn't the right temperature and would complain about it. I always told him that I completely understood. If I got coffee every day, I would imagine it would be very important to my day, and I would probably want it to be just right if I was going to spend my money on it. He lived in China for a while though and is kind of into the whole collectivist culture thing, so he doesn't like it. I still pretty much never complain about my food, but I'm just saying I understand.

After eating we went to the NHC nursing home off of Pelham Road. Kristi's grandmother is in the rehabilitation wing for a few weeks until her fractures heal and she is able to get up and down again. It was good to see her, she looks tired but seems like she is doing well considering. I told her I'd bring her a piece of cheesecake next time we come.

Going there brought back some memories for me. My Poppop Stoeber had a stroke my senior year of high school and was there for a few weeks afterwards. Typing that, I can't believe it was that long ago. It is a really nice nursing home, but it was hard seeing him there, especially because he never really recovered. He remained paralyzed and unable to speak and was moved from there to another not as nice nursing home for a little while before he passed away. I just remember it being really hard to visit him because he would often sit there and cry and he couldn't talk to us. Every time I hear that song "What Sarah Said" by Deathcab for Cutie I think of my grandfather. Probably the greatest line in the song is the first one, which is:

"And it came to me then, that every plan

is a tiny prayer to father time"

Anyways, it's about being in an emergency room, and there is kind of a climax line which is, "Love is watching someone die." Hearing that makes me think of families I have seen watch loved ones go through illnesses, and specifically makes me think of my grandfather.

Anyways, after visiting Kristi's grandmother we came home and I got started baking another cheesecake. Once again it went pretty well, so I am excited to have my family try some, especially since the Thanksgiving cheesecake disaster.

We also took a family picture so we can send it to my aunt with her present. Here it is:

Also, here's a picture I took of our Christmas tree the other night. It didn't look very good so I did some weird stuff to it in photoshop so it would look more intentionally bad:

And last, Kristi took some cool pictures of the pets the other night. This one isn't exactly focused, but either way it's one of my favorites:

Tomorrow will be quite a busy day. I work until 3ish, then I will come home to get Oliver and take him to the vet, and then we are going to Bonefish for Jenny's birthday. I ordered one of her presents on newegg a while ago, but they are having some issues with DHL, so it hasn't gotten here yet. I guess we'll just have to wrap a picture of that present if it doesn't get here tomorrow.

Salsarita's is really just a poor imitation of Moe's...

2008-12-18T00:03:00.008-05:00

This morning was kind of a weird one. I woke up around 7 when Kristi was getting ready to leave so I could get her cheesecake on a portable plastic thing for her and then I took Lucy out. The cheesecake did turn out well, so that was good. My sister wants one for her birthday celebration on Friday night, so I guess I'll be making another tomorrow.

Anyways, I came back in and felt pretty awake, so I checked email/facebook and watched sportscenter for a little while. Eventually i drifted off to sleep, and then woke up again around 10 and got ready for the day. My lunch with Nate was cancelled since he is still sick, so I considered calling some other people to meet up for lunch but eventually decided to stick around the house. I enjoy eating lunch with people and talking, but unfortunately I have started that tradition with so many that it's hard to keep up with everyone now. Hopefully no one is offended.

I wasn't going to take Lucy for her walk, but she kept pulling on my jeans, so we went on a short one. When we got back she was really worn out, I guess because of her sickness, so she slept the rest of the morning. I made some early lunch and then started working on the design stuff again. I have not really been feeling all that creative the past two days, and I don't know if I love the two things I have designed. Part of the problem is I don't really know how to do my own illustrations so I am limited to what stock images I can find around the web. It would be cool to learn all that stuff, but I don't really plan on using it extensively in the future, and it doesn't really get me all that excited.

I finished working on that stuff around 1:30 and decided to leave for work a little early. There was still a ton to clean up from Jingle Jazz, so I figured I could use the extra time. Joe wasn't feeling well, so I was there pretty much by myself all day. I told Matt and James to let me know when they went to dinner so I could have someone to go with.

I keep the big lights off in the sanctuary to save money and just work with the fluorescent stage lights on, so it's generally pretty dark. When James came in to tell me it was time to go, he said all he could see was a silhouette. I told him that I'm kind of like Quasimoto in there, just running around all hunched over with no friends, doing my job in the dark. I thought that was a pretty funny comparison.

We ate at Salsarita's and Matt asked me a bunch of questions about my last job in Columbia. I felt like I was talking the whole time because of all the questions, which makes me feel really uncomfortable after a while. I used to do this thing in high school and college where I would try to go whole days without telling any stories about myself. Usually I did this when I felt like I had started to be too self-focused. It is extremely hard, but it really helps you take an interest into other people and learn how to ask questions...you should try it sometime. I haven't done it lately...maybe I should.

When we got back I helped Joe (who showed up to help with rehearsal) do some stuff with choir rehearsal and then I went down to get ready for the big rehearsal. Things were kind of a mess sound wise tonight. With orchestra and choir, there is just tons of mics on stage and I really struggled to get anything to sound decent. Everything just sounds washed out and harsh. Not to mention it was really hard to get the choir up loud enough without feedback. I have the Audix micro condenser in the middle right now, but it is giving me some problems, so I think I'm going to switch it out for one of the SM81's. I used those last time, and they worked pretty well. I couldn't get the orchestra up as much as I usually do with out creating bleed and feedback issues, so I think they'll just have to be more in the background this week.

One of the ladies playing flute brought some Hershey's chocolate for the tech guys wrapped in Christmas wrapping paper with a little thank you note on it. I don't know why, but that just seemed like one of the nicest things I've ever seen, especially since I don't even know her. Somehow she knew that I was going into nursing too. I think I'm going to find her address on Friday and send her a little thank you note. Thank you notes are underrated, and yet I am still often too much of a slacker to send one. I bought one for someone months ago and it has just sat in my car since then...sad really.

After rehearsal I came home and talked to Kristi a while, and then I got into bed. I love having Lucy and Oliver sleep in the bed, even though it's supposedly not the best thing to do. It's just kind of nice having your wife and your pets asleep beside you while you go to sleep. I think people without pets are really missing out. Sure sometimes they mess up things (like the time Lucy chewed up my favorite Sennheiser headphones), but it's definitely worth every bit of it. The other day I was thinking about why people like their pets so much, and I decided that it's probably because it's the closest we get to feeling unconditional love on this side of eternity. I know I'm anthropomorphizing because pets act on instinct and don't really have emotions and all that, but still you understand what I mean. I know too that we feel God's unconditional love on this side of eternity, but I guess I'm talking more about physical breathing beings. I feel like I'm throwing way too many qualifications out there, but that's generally what I do.

On another note, I started reading this book called Thriving as an Artist in the Church by Rory Noland, who also wrote The Heart of an Artist, which I hear is good. I saw the book on Matt's bookshelf and asked him to borrow it, because the title really interested me. I think I was interested because lately I've been feeling like sometimes the church seems to suppress creativity and artistry either because of fear of new things, fear of "too much production," having things not work well, or whatever else. I was talking about it with Trenton Stokes at lunch the other day. As a pastor, he was talking about a worship leader not being so artistic that he/she loses touch with the congregation. I certainly agree with him in principle, but the thought also scares me because I feel like it can also be abused to a point where worship leaders and other artists lose a great deal of artistic control and creativity. I definitely think the church should lead in ingenuity and overall awesomeness when it comes to the arts, especially because we are directly using it as a form of worship. While I would say that art can't be "Christian" because it isn't a human with a soul, and there is nothing inherently more worshipful about a song with "Christian" lyrics than a painting that someone painted as an act of worship, art that comes from the church is unarguably recognized as "Christian" because of it's context.

The book has been really good so far, and I am not even that far into it. Alot of the sections bring a good bit of clarity to the way I function and think. I don't think it was until I became Performing Arts major that I began to realize what an artistic mindset I have, and this has helped me realize many things about myself that I didn't before. One thing that has stuck out to me in the book is the point he makes about constantly challenging yourself artistically so you don't lose passion and become bored. I definitely have struggled with this after moving back from Columbia. He makes the point that you need to be ready in case God presents an opportunity to use your gifts.

Lately I have been a little discouraged in this area. I am not really sure if God will ever give me another opportunity to use my musical gifts in the church on as much of a day to day basis as I did in Columbia. In one sense, I have such a passion for music, and for developing others as part of a worship ministry team...but in another sense I believe that if God never calls me back to that, I have to be OK with that. No one would argue that if I were to be in a terrible accident and lose a limb I would have to be satisfied with what God chose for me, so in the same way I don't think that just because I have the passion for certain things that I do that God will automatically call me to do that for the rest of my life. There may be other things that he wants to use me in. I am rambling a little, but this is just a picture of the things that go through my head. Disagree with any of it? Leave a comment if you do...

I think I'll end there for today. When I started my blog I mainly wanted to keep a record of what I do from day to day, but I have found that it is a great place for me to ramble about my thoughts. I don't think many people would care to sit and listen to me talk about all the sound/music/God thoughts that go on inside my head, so in a way it helps me get them out without having to put someone through that. If you made it all the way through, I commend you once again.

So anyways, tomorrow should be a pretty good day. I'm taking my car to get it's oil changed, then I'll finish up some Christmas shopping, and then I'm going to eat with my friend Jay, which I am really excited about. I ordered my sister's birthday present last week and it hasn't come in the mail yet...hope it gets here by Friday!

Making a cheesecake that you might not even get to eat can be pretty disheartening...

2008-12-17T00:50:00.003-05:00

I woke up a little before 9 this morning, but since Lucy and Oliver were still sleeping I decided to stay in bed and work on some design stuff. I still do sermon series slides and other random stuff for my old church sometimes. I think working in bed is great...if I had a business run out of my home I would probably just get a bunch of those lap desks and put a filing cabinet and a refrigerator beside the bed. Either that or I could teach Lucy to go get me Diet Cokes out of the kitchen. I finished up what I was doing a little after 10 and got ready for the day.

Lucy didn't bother me much to go on a walk today, and it was pretty evident she wasn't feeling great with all the hacking and moping around, so I figured we'd skip the daily walk for a little while. I ate lunch around 11 and then headed to work not too long after that.

Work wasn't really too fun today, although I knew it wouldn't be which I think just made it worse. I spent the whole day cleaning up the closets from Jingle Jazz and then tearing down and setting up the stage. Tearing down from Jingle Jazz is enough work by itself, but then this week there is choir and orchestra, which is a huge setup. I got a break from setting up at 6 when Joe was ready to go eat. We went to Arby's tonight. Last time I went there I didn't feel that great afterwards, and tonight I felt even worse. The food just seems extra greasy, and my stomach feels sick all night. I think I'll be avoiding Arby's from now on, or at least try something other than the chicken/bacon/swiss if I do go back.

Dan showed up right as we got back to the church and all three of us worked on setting up. Joe didn't feel well, so he left a little early. He was coughing and clearing his throat all day too, but I told him I didn't mind because Lucy had been doing the same thing all morning. He asked me to stop comparing him to my dog.

It took Dan and I a good while to get things set up, so I didn't leave until after 9. We didn't even clean up the mess left on stage, but I have so much lighting stuff to clean up anyways from Jingle Jazz I figured it really doesn't matter. I don't know how I feel about running sound this week. Choir and orchestra makes for a lot going on, not to mention two acoustics, electric, bass, piano, keys, and obviously drums. I think there will be alot of choosing what's important and what's not. If anyone's mic has feedback problems, I think that will automatically disqualify them from the important category...well except for the choir...although that would be mildly amusing if you had a special choir week and you couldn't even hear the choir.

When I got home I remembered that I needed to make a chessecake for Kristi's school function. Let's not forget that my last one was a disaster, but this time I had Kristi get the cream cheese out a few hours earlier. My mom also told me it would help if I beat the cream cheese first before adding the other stuff, so that's what I did. I am happy to report that it seems like it turned out great. It is cooling in the oven right now, but last time I checked it didn't even have any cracks in it. The consistency seemed correct this time when I poured the filling on top of the crust, so I think it should be great. I will have to tell Kristi to save me a piece....mmmmm cheesecake.

In other news, I'm thinking about buying a domain name. I figure I will continue this whole blog thing for a long time, and it would make it easier for people to find it. I am trying to figure out though if I can get some web space and make it so that instead of merely pointing to my blog I can have two sections...one that is my blog, and one that is mp3's of stuff that I write. Good thing that I have a .net developer for a boss...I know you're excited Joe, don't try to hide it.

Well...short post, but that was it for today. Tomorrow I don't know what's going on yet. I was supposed to meet with some youth guys for a while to talk about how to improve their sound, but I think the main guy, Nate, is sick with the Flu. I figure I'll text him tomorrow morning and then go from there. We were supposed to eat at Oriental House, and I love talking about sound, so I'm kind of bummed. Anyone up for some good sound tips over oriental food?

Sometimes I don't make phonecalls in the car just because it interrupts the music...

2008-12-15T22:57:00.004-05:00

I was determined not to sleep in too late today, so I got up at about 9 o'clock. I guess some would consider that sleeping in, but 9 is kind of my breaking point. If I sleep later I feel lazy, but I enjoy not getting up earlier. Of course, I want to start running again when January hits, so my schedule will hopefully be changing.

Today I had some errands to run. First though I wanted to call a store in Spartanburg which didn't open until 11 to see if they had a Blackheart amp in stock. So I took my shower, took Lucy for a walk, and checked my email/facebook. I called them as soon as it hit 11, but they don't have any in stock. For fun I called a few other dealers around SC, but no one I called had any. Oh well, I guess if I want to try one I just have to drive to Charlotte.

I ate some lunch at home and then left for my errands. Lucy seemed a little weird before I left, kind of moping around, but I figured she just didn't want to be left home alone or something. The first place I went was Guitar Center, just to play the Tweed Blues Jr. again. It was a good day for it because there wasn't a myriad of shredders blasting out. I think the trip convinced me that the amp is the right choice...there is just nothing I don't like about it. Petsmart is right next door, so after playing a few guitars I went and bought Oliver some more kitten food. Purina was on sale, which is what we got last time, so that was nice. I think I saved $3 or something with my PetPerks card.

I next drove to Greenville Tech. I wanted to turn in a financial aid form they sent me, and also sell my books back. I could have mailed it in, but they didn't send anything with it instructing me where to mail it too. Seems like an egregious oversight to me. Since half of my tuition being covered depends on this form, I figured better to hand deliver it to the office. When I went to the bookstore after the financial aid office, the lady informed me that book buybacks ended on Friday. I don't really understand how that is possible, and it definitely didn't work like that at Clemson. I had seen some other text book stores down the road, so I went to those and sold the books back. I'm not really sure if they pay as much, but the other store in Clemson was always similar to the main bookstore. I only got $58 total, which just reminded me how lousy book buyback is. I remember this one class in Clemson I payed over $200 I think for the book, and then they changed editions and no one would even buy it back.

My last errand of the day was going to FedEx to ship out Kristi's broken Chi and some gifts for relatives. I have really grown to like FedEx ever since living in Columbia, so I typically ship things through them, although it stinks that there isn't a shipping center close to my house any more.

After FedEx I came home. Lucy seemed a little out of it still, and hadn't eaten her food from the morning still. After I let her out she got back into her bed. I went and played the drums for a while, and when I came out discovered Lucy had been throwing up. For the rest of the day she wouldn't eat or drink and just slept all day. It was really kind of pitiful, especially because Oliver just slept on top of her crate since she wouldn't come out. Lucy barely came out of her crate for Kristi when she came home, and then went right back to sleep...which if you know Lucy you know her not going crazy about Kristi or me getting home is bizarre.

Tonight we went to the Boyds' house for Charlie's birthday dinner. Since Lucy hadn't eaten all day I made her an egg to see if she would before we left. The only other time I gave her an egg was when she was spayed. She wouldn't eat for a day and half afterwards, so I made her an egg just to get her appetite going. Tonight she wouldn't even touch the egg. Oliver had a piece though and seemed to enjoy it. On that note, I never would have guessed that we would have trouble with Oliver constantly eating Lucy's food and not vice versa.

Anyways, I wasn't sure if we still would do the dinner thing because Kristi's grandmother fell yesterday and fractured her pelvis. She is doing ok considering, but is still in the hospital and Karen has been really busy with all of that. I think everyone is a little down about it, which is understandable. She has been living with the Boyds ever since her husband died last year, which I think makes it even harder on them. Callie cooked some food so that we could still have the dinner, and so we drove over around 6:30. When we got there Kristi realized she forgot the gift, so I got to drive back and get it. Not a big deal, I enjoyed listening to the new songs from David Ramirez while I drove.

Dinner was good, and we stayed for a little while afterwards before coming home. Lucy was still acting sick when we got home, but eventually perked up enough to eat some food, which is good. She only got up for a little bit and then went back to sleep when we got in bed. I think Oliver is concerned because he spent 5 minutes cleaning her face and her ears for her.

I spent some time reading some of Blue Like Jazz again tonight. I have read it before, but for some reason that book has sections which I can really identify with and challenge me in alot of ways. If you haven't read it you definitely should.

Work tomorrow probably won't be all that exciting. The two storage areas are a complete mess, so I think I will spend most of my day trying to organize those. Tomorrow night I am going to attempt a cheesecake again. Kristi needs a dessert for a something at school, and I want to try to make a cheesecake and not screw up so badly. We'll see if it works!

Last time I checked, flowers smell alot better than body odor...

2008-12-15T00:04:00.005-05:00

Joe gave me the day off again today, so I slept in with Kristi until the third service. It was nice to sleep in, but I'll admit I was a little bummed I didn't get to run sound this morning. I was excited about using the Shure LDC on the kick in a service...but really it's no big deal, 'cause I'll just do it this week if I have the channels. I've also been thinking it would be fun to record a service with the ADAT and mix it myself. I don't really ever get to studio mix large scale stuff, so I would enjoy it. Well, I'm not really sure how many tracks and effects my 80$ computer will be able to handle, but it will be a good time until I run out of resources.Maybe I can bounce some tracks with effects if I get them just right...know what I'm saying?

It was nice to sit with Kristi again in church today. I don't usually get to just sing, so that was nice too. I said hi to some tech guys afterwards and then we went to lunch at Moe's. I actually hadn't been to Moe's in a little while, and I'm thinking I may be going there less in the future because I will probably go to Oriental House anytime someone will go with me. After lunch Kristi and I did some quick grocery shopping and then came home.

I got some deodorant at Wal-Mart, which is important because I ran out earlier this week. Today I wore some of Kristi's Dove deodorant, and while it worked wonderfully, it did feel funny smelling like flowers all day.

Once we got home I spent some time playing the drums and guitar, and then I took Lucy on a long walk. Something spooked her on the walk today, so the second half was a pain because she kept pulling on the leash. I have spent alot of time teaching Lucy to walk decently on a leash, which I find pretty impressive considering her high energy level and difficult personality.

When I got home I played guitar some more and then helped Kristi wrap some Christmas presents. We are going to go to Hilton Head for a few days before Christmas, so we need to have all that junk taken care of before we leave. I am excited about having a vacation. Hilton Head is fun in the winter because it's just old people and all there is to do is watch movies and eat at restaurants. I'm not a huge movie person, but throw some good food into the mix and I'm in. Plus it doesn't hurt that we stay in my parents' condo for free.

A little later in the evening my parents called to see if we wanted to eat, so around 7:30 we headed to the Simpsonville Zaxby's. My wings were hot and not drowned today, so apparently they've been reading my blog posts. Mom said her food was way too salty though, so hop on it Zaxby's employees.

After dinner we came home and I finished wrapping a few presents while I watched football. I also took some pictures of the Christmas tree, but I'll post those maybe tomorrow.

I spent the rest of the evening reading about different audio/music stuff. One of the small studio guys on one of my favorite forums who I hadn't heard anything from in a while posted some demo songs he recorded for a guy named David Ramirez. The songs are awesome, way better than his myspace stuff. I don't really know if I'm supposed to post them around the internet though, so I'll just leave you with the myspace.

I also tried to find more info about Blackheart amps. My only hope for getting to play one is a place in Spartanburg, or driving to the SamAsh in Charlotte. Apparently Guitar Center sells them, but not in the stores, only online. Explain how that works to me, 'cause I don't get it. Tomorrow I'm going to call the Spartanburg place to see if they have some so that I can hopefully go try them out. I'm hoping they sound bad, because it will make my decision easier. I definitely am still leaning towards the Blues Junior Tweed. It's a Fender, which I am a fan of, it's got a nice Celestion speaker, it's got all the controls I want, and it looks sweet. The thing that really pulls me with the Blackhearts is the lower wattage idea. They have less tubes though, I don't know if that affects anything. I also get the sense from reading around the web that they are cool practice amps but it doesn't seem like there's alot of good guitarists singing their praises. On the other hand I am easily able to find very positive reviews of the Fender by good guitarists. Alot to think about, but the other reality is there is no way I would buy one without being able to play it.

I have been a little discouraged about my musical ability in general lately, and am thinking about taking some lessons for a little while to see how it goes. I feel like I'm fairly solid at everything I play, but not great at anything, and I would really like to be great at one of them. I'm not really sure if that is drums or guitar though...hard decision.

Tomorrow should be fun. I don't really have any required things I have to do, so I think I'm going to run a bunch of errands. I may go sell books, go try out some amps, and other various things. One of the few pluses of being in school is definitely the holiday breaks. Lets be honest though, I would much rather just not be in school. Pick your major wisely the first time, kids.

I guess it doesn't matter that they put the tire on backwards since it has a hole in it anyways...just sayin'

2008-12-14T01:02:00.003-05:00

My sleep schedule is apparently a little out of whack. I didn't feel tired until 2:30 last night, which is late for me, and then I didn't wake up until 11 this morning (well except for 7 when Lucy woke me up to go out). I definitely need to get back to the usual, or I will start to feel lazy.

My first goal for today was to get Kristi's tire situation worked out. As you may remember, she went off the road and hit a huge pothole, completely destroying her rim. I found one on ebay for $35 dollars and thought that the tire on her old rim seemed alright. Today I took her car to Wal-Mart to get the tire put on the new rim. The lady there informed me that they are not allowed to switch used tires because of company policy...so I decided to drive down Main Street looking for a small tire shop. I figured I knew of one in Mauldin if I couldn't find one before then. Lo and behold, there are many tire shops on Main Street in Simpsonville; however, most of them close at 12 on Saturdays. No joke, I probably stopped at 3 or 4 before finding one that was open. They weren't busy and got right to working on the car, but sadly informed me that there was a hole in the sidewall. So much for that. I went home feeling a little discouraged that I had pretty much wasted my morning. I helped Kristi clean some, and then we left for a really late lunch so that I could go straight to work afterwards.

On the way I stopped at Sam's, where I got Kristi's tires. I wasn't sure that the road hazard warranty that comes with the tire was still going to work because Kristi actually had a bubble in the sidewall of the tire from the same spot on her car a month or two ago, so I had already used the road hazrd warranty once. The lady told me it was no big deal, and they ordered a new tire for me. Kristi and I had a talk about not hitting potholes, but at least BF Goodrich has good road hazard warranties.

After Sam's we went to Oriental House, my new favorite restaurant. I think Kristi liked her food OK, and my house fried rice was as delicious as last time. They are very nice there also, another plus to add to the list. We got done eating around 3:30 and I headed to work to get things ready for the last night of Jingle Jazz.

Tonight was a really good night. I'd say that while it probably wasn't the best night for the musicians, it was my favorite night overall. The sound was really good, the videos and live video were good, and the crowd was really responsive. The mess ups musically weren't that big of deal, so all in all it was a really fun night. The guest saxophone player came up and asked what EQ I used to make his saxophone sound so good, which is kind of funny because I really didn't EQ it at all. I did a normal hi-pass filter and then cut a little at 4.5 kHz, but in that room I cut almost everything at 4.5 kHz. Just goes to show if the source sounds good, you really don't have to do much. Just pick a good mic for the situation and put it in the right place. Props to Joe for the clip idea.

After the show I cleaned up as much as I knew how and then came home. Kristi was at a friends house, but got home a little later and we talked for a little bit before going to bed. I feel like I haven't been home in a week or two, so I am looking forward to having an easy week next week. After that it is time for Christmas...unbelievable...I guess time really does fly when you get older...

I bet there is a note somewhere on our Charter cable account that says, "dog barks non-stop."

2008-12-13T01:22:00.006-05:00

Dude...two nights in a row! Don't get spoiled now, it won't last forever.

Today was another good day. I woke up around 8 and took Lucy over to my parents' house. I needed to get a check for the guy coming to repair the piano that they gave me, and since Lucy hates strangers I figured it would be nice to get her out of the house. I don't think workers enjoy being growled at the entire time they are at our house.

So my parents gave me this piano, it's from the 1920's, and it's a player piano...you know, the kind with the paper rolls and the bellows that you pump. It was actually my great grandfather's piano. Mom says that a man came to my great grandfather's farm trying to sell a piano because he needed money to feed his family. My great grandfather apparently was a very kind person, and so he scrounged up what he could, which was $100, and bought the piano. Alot of family members have learned to play on the piano, including my sister and I, so there is alot of special history to it. Since it is so old, there were a few dead keys, and the ivory was missing on a few. Mom finally found a guy that was willing to work on the piano. It is kind of an art form to repair player pianos, and most people she talked to weren't willing to do it. Some of them were willing to fix the dead keys, but said that would not guarantee they would be able to get the player mechanism back in correctly. The guy that mom found has been fixing pianos and organs since the 1950's, and really knows his stuff. He was disappointed that we weren't getting the player mechanism fixed right now, but it is quite a bit of money. Apparently there were 3 brands of player pianos that are worth something now, and Milton is one of them, which is what ours is. I took some pictures of the sounding board and keys when he had everything disassembled today:

He put all new hammers on, fixed the action, and reinstalled everything. I am pretty excited, except it is extremely out of tune, so I need to call someone and get them out here to tune it.

After he was done I went and ate lunch with my mom, picked up Lucy, and after dropping her off headed to work. I didn't have a ton to do at work, but I had a few things to set up. The sax player couldn't come tonight, so we had an electric guitar soloist instead. He was very good, and the amp he played through really interested me. I was not aware of this line before, but it sounded really good, and I really like the features. It's a special line done by Crate, who I am not a fan of as a company, but it sounded really good. I am definitely going to look into them before I buy my Fender Tweed Blues Jr. He had the 3/5 watt version, but I might be more interested to play/hear the 7/15 watt version. You can see it's features here. I highly doubt that I will end up liking it over the Fender Blues Jr., as I am normally a fan of proven, highly used brands...but it is the first other small affordable amp that has interested me.

Originally I was going to just throw an SM57 on the amp like usual, but then I had a better idea. I like to read geeky sound forums, one of which is homerecording.com. One of the guys on the site has a small studio, and started making his own condensers. You can check out his work and mic options at his studio website.They are so cheap that I had Kristi buy two of them for me for Christmas the other year, but I haven't used them all that much. I decided to use one on the guitar, and it really sounded great. It's a pretty cool little mic. Here's a picture I took of the amp all miced up and ready to go:

I also took a picture of the Shure LDC that I placed in front of the kick drum. Apparently my auto focus wasn't focused correctly for this picture...sorry:
And just for fun I took a picture of the trusty SM57 on the snare. I put a Beta 57A on for Jingle Jazz originally, but didn't like it in rehearsal.
Tonight's show turned out to be a frustrating one. The piano and guitar mic kept wanting to feed back, which I knew would be an issue. I obviously didn't get to test every situation in all the songs with the guitar like I did with the saxophone. There were also a few other mistakes that I really had no control over that were very frustrating to me. Reflecting over the whole night, I think it was good overall, but it's hard for me not to be frustrated in the moment.

After the show Matt took band and tech people to TGIF, and it was really good. I enjoyed talking to the band members, and also really enjoyed the food. I got home around 1 and after taking Lucy out got into bed.

Tomorrow should be another good day. I am taking Kristi's car in to somewhere to get the tire put back on. She decided to hit a huge pothole the other day and destroy her wheel, but thankfully it's just a cheap steel rim (the kind you put a hubcap on), and I got another on ebay for $35 shipped. Not too shabby I say. After that I'll probably just hang out and then go into work around 3 or 4. Too bad there's not any college football on!

If I were on a island for the rest of my life, I don't know what I'd rather have for food....fried rice or french fries?

2008-12-11T23:38:00.005-05:00

So I'm finally back. I know you've been wondering where my posts have been. I have been so crazy busy that I haven't really had time to even sleep that much, so posting was obviously not something I felt like doing. Joe is faithful in posting every day, no matter how much sleep he gets, but I guess I am just not that dedicated. That's one reason why his blog is better. I won't bore you by trying to remember everything that's happened in the past two weeks. Just imagine lots of studying, working, and general busyness. It all came to a head on Tuesday night when I only went to sleep around 4 and had to be up a little after 6 to leave for an exam. Right after my two exams I went straight to work and set things up for Jingle Jazz, which started at 7:30. I'm pretty sure the stress of no sleep, exams, and the nervousness of it being opening night will make all the other nights seem easy.

Today was great. I slept in until 10, which felt wonderful. Lucy was tired too from spending a few days at my parents' house playing with Molly and Carter, so she slept in too. It was really helpful that my mom was willing to watch Lucy some this week, I don't know what I would have done without that since there were a few days I was literally gone all day. I don't know what Oliver did all that time...probably destroyed the Christmas tree. We got one last week, and Oliver just can't keep himself off of it. Funny story...last year since our apartments were literally next door to Home Depot, we bought a tree there and I just held it through my sun roof to get it home. Since Home Depot isn't too far from our house, I decided to do the same thing this year. It was a big mistake...even though I wore a warm sock on my hand to keep it warm, it is probably a mile or two to Home Depot, and my hand was numb by the time we got back. Not only that, but there were alot of sharp turns that made it hard to keep the tree from rolling off. I think next year we'll have to do something different.

But anyways, after waking up I got ready and took Lucy for a really long walk. I then left to run some errands and go to work. Kristi's Chi flat iron broke, and she was pretty distraught this morning. So, being the good husband I am I decided to go get her a new one at Ulta. I drove to the Shops at Greenridge, went in Ulta, and found the Chi. It was $140! I just couldn't make myself get it, and there were so many other options I didn't know what else to get. Kristi is going to go herself and look at some of the other options, just in case there is another good one that is cheaper.

After shopping I called Joe to see if he needed lunch. He has been spending so much time editing and rendering videos that he hasn't been able to go get food much. I am amazed at some of the stuff he does, and the videos for Jingle Jazz are awesome. Sometimes I feel like people don't really appreciate all that goes into sound, they just think "Oh, that sounds good." They don't see or understand all the different compression, mic choices, mic placements, reverb settings, panning, and EQing that goes into it. But even so, I don't think it is anything compared to the lack of appreciation for the video stuff. I think people enjoy the videos, but don't appreciate all the planning, lighting, filming, keying with the green screen, editing, after effects stuff, etc. etc. that goes into it. Of course, the same thing could be said for the lights, which Tyler and Nathaniel did an awesome job with. I like to think there are at least a couple people in the audience that sort of know what goes into it and appreciate all the work.

Man I keep getting sidetracked...where was I. So Joe did need lunch and I decided to try this place I had seen at Greenridge called "Oriental House." They just remodeled, and I was impressed by how nice and clean it was when I went in. I was expecting your usual run down Chinese fast food restaurant, but this was way nicer. Still, you order at the counter and the food is very affordable.

To give you some background, my favorite food is probably fried rice. I love Miyabi's fried rice for just straight up rice, but when you start mixing ingredients it gets trickier. I used to love this place called Red Bowl, that was right outside of my neighborhood in Mauldin. Their "house fried rice" was delicious, and I went there a few times every week during the summer when I was in college. I actually kept salt and pepper in my car so that I could order to go and enjoy it to it's fullest potential. I had the number memorized and they knew me by just my voice. Sadly, the week I went on my honeymoon my dad called me and told me it shut down. I think I was one of their only regular customers, and they must have known that I was moving. Ever since then I have been unable to find house fried rice as good. There have been some OK attempts, but nothing that has gotten me excited....until today.

I ordered some house fried rice, no peas or carrots, extra spicy at Oriental House, and it was amazing. So amazing that I am tempted to say it is better than Red Bowl's...but I did love Red Bowl's, and it's been over a year, so it's hard to say for sure. Either way, I am just so excited. Not only that, but it looked like they had some stuff Kristi would like, so I'm hoping this becomes a regular restaurant of ours. I'm not joking when I say that finding this place was probably one of the most exciting things that's happened in a while.

Once I got to work I ate my lunch and then worked on a few things. I didn't have a whole lot to finish up on the sound end, so I did a few things here and there for Joe. Matt wanted a Christmas tree montage for "O Tannenbaum," so I spent an hour finding good stock photos of Christmas trees and putting them in a slide show. I found some pretty cool ones. A little after 6 I changed into my black clothes and got ready for the show.

Jingle Jazz went really well tonight. I was on top of all my cues and felt like I had a better handle on things than last night. I was able to do some different things with mics that ended up working really well. For instance, I was getting tons of drum bleed with the Shure LDC for the sax...so much so I doubted it would be very usable. Joe suggested I rig something to be able to clip a mic on the bell, so that's what I did. I found a lapel clip that was big enough to hold one of our micro Audix condensers, and taped it all together. It is a little airy sounding being right on the bell, but all in all it sounds amazing. Not only that, but there is practically no drum bleed at all. Another thing I did was put a Shure LDC a few inches in front of the kick drum. It really livens up the kick alot, and even the toms a little. I used some MXL 991's (some of my favorite cheap mics) as OH's on the drums, and those sound really good too. I think I may switch the AKG's I usually use as OH's for something else, because the 991's sound way better to me.

This weird thing happens when I run sound where I constantly tweak up to a certain point and never really hear things as a whole. When I finally get to sit back and just listen, I am usually shocked that it sounds so good. It's almost like an epiphany. I remember a jazz mixing project in college that I worked on for a few days. I was still not completely happy with everything, but when I sat back with the whole class to listen to my work, I realized it sounded amazing, and got several comments to that effect. Tonight was kind of one of those moments. I had been tweaking everything for the past few days. With sound, there really is endless artistic possibilities, so something can always be changed. Tonight was the first time I was able to really sit back during some songs and listen to everything, and it sounded really good. I'm sure with more time there are things I would try, but I couldn't really find anything I didn't like.

Once Jingle Jazz was over I came home and got ready for bed. I feel like I haven't seen my wife or my pets this week, so it will be good when things get back to normal. Tomorrow a guy is coming to fix the old piano my parents gave me. I'll have to give you its history some other time. I am really excited that I will soon be able to play a real piano in my own house. By the way, have you looked at my soundclick page lately? There's some new stuff up, so you should.

USCjr, Lamecocks, Shamecocks, etc....they're all good nicknames

2008-12-01T23:06:00.005-05:00

In case you didn't already know, this blog is pretty much a rip-off of my friend/boss's blog which you can read here: Resurfaced. Sometimes I tell people my blog is better, which I think is hilarious considering the situation. If you look at Sunday's post, you can see a sweet picture from the service of the stage over my shoulder at the sound booth. Yes that coat is wool, and yes it is amazing!

Sorry I took such a long period off. I wanted a break for the Thanksgiving holiday. Actually these next two weeks are going to be insane and I make no promises when it comes to post consistency. I've had some pretty intense weeks in my life, but I think these next two are going to be up there with the best of them. It's always so sweet when you come through on the other side of a hard period of responsibilities successfully, so I look forward to that.

So much that has happened since I last posted...I'll start with the disappointments. My Thanksgiving cheesecake was a disaster. You know what they say: "Pride goes before the fall." I was pretty proud of my last cheesecake success, so I offered to make one for this Thanksgiving. The night before I forgot to leave out the cream cheese and let it warm to room temperature, but I figured it would be fine if I mixed everything real well. Boy was I extremely wrong. The cake came out totally wrong...wrong consistency, wrong taste, wrong look, just wrong. We didn't even take it to the meal.

Another big disappointment was my haircut today. In Columbia this bald dude cut my hair (kind of funny), and he was awesome. I would just give him a basic idea and then tell him to do what looks good, and he never let me down. Up here I have gone to two different people and tried this strategy and have been sorely disappointed, especially today. I told the girl I didn't want it a whole lot shorter, and it looks like she didn't do anything at all. She also didn't really thin out my sideburns, which I specifically asked for. I ended up doing that myself when I got home, which is dangerous. I guess I'll keep looking for a hairdresser. I plan on just trying various people at cheap places until I find the right one. The guy that cut my hair in Columbia was just at Hair Cuttery, but he had been doing it for so long that he was very knowledgeable.

Now for the good stuff. Thanksgiving was alot of fun at both houses. We had a game night with my family the night before, which was exciting. Apples to Apples frustrated me like always, but Catch Phrase was fun. Apparently Taboo is not Kristi and I's game, but we did have some ridiculous cards...such as "sulk" and "cantaloupe." On Thanksgiving we went to my parents' house for lunch and Kristi's Aunt and Uncle's for dinner. Some old family friends, the Greaves, came to my parents' house and it was good to see them. We always go around and say what we're thankful for, which gets a little emotional, and then sometimes play Thanksgiving trivia. This year the stakes were high; a $25 gift card to Outback, so Kristi studied for 5 minutes. She came in first, but for the record I came in a close second. I tried to save room for dinner, but it was still rough. Eating that much turkey in one day makes me not really care for left overs like I used to.

The day after Thanksgiving just consisted of shopping and work. I don't really buy much when I go shopping after holidays, but I enjoy the hustle and bustle. The mall mainly gets me in the Christmas spirit. That's right, nothing says Christ coming to earth quite like good ol' American consumerism. Seriously though, I do enjoy the mall around the holidays, especially on the day before Christmas. This year I did buy some Clemson sweatshirts for my dad and I and some t-shirts for my community group leader. He is a big Mizzou fan, but has kind of adopted Clemson as another team he cheers for.

Speaking of which, Saturday came and it was time for the big game. As I mentioned before, Matt gave his tickets to me so I could take my dad to the game. We left around 9:15, stopping at McDonald's for some breakfast on the way down. It was really cold, so I was glad I had bought an orange sweatshirt. I was pretty apprehensive about the game, but it turned out to be amazing. Our line has improved so much over the last few games, it makes me excited about the future. I also want to point out that my predictions all came true. My first, the most impressive perhaps, was that we would only lose one game after GT, and it would either be to FSU or USC. My second was that USC was not as good as people thought, and we were improving, and that if our defense hung in there we would have a chance to beat the Gamecocks soundly. Oh how true that turned out to be. We went to Anchaeux's after the game for my usual Blackjack sandwich, and then came home. It was a really fun day, especially to be able to spend with my dad. Here's a picture of us where we sat:

Our seats were actually right under the upper deck overhang, which was nice because we didn't get wet. Here's a picture of a prayer huddle before the game:
And here's a good picture of the scoreboard afterwards:
I figure that game had to be tougher than usual, even for Gamecock fans, so much so that I actually felt bad for them while leaving. I've seen several pictures of Spurrier where he wouldn't really even look Dabo in the eye afterwards. I think he was pretty exasperated...here's a video that shows what I'm talking about:

Sunday was a good day too. I felt like the morning sounded really good, and there was not really any mistakes on my part. In the evening I worked on recording a new song I wrote. I am going to try to write more often, just to keep the creative juices flowing. Also it will give me a chance to try new mixing techniques. This track I used an interesting stereo mic setup for the acoustic, and carefully chose a pick to get the right attack sound. I also pretty much ate the mic for the vocal track, pressing my nose against the pop filter. I used a limiter pretty liberally on both the acoustic and vocal tracks. I had a cold, so I couldn't pronunciate very well, but I was really happy with the vocal sound I got. I was also pretty happy with the acoustic sound, although there is a little comb filtering, and I recorded it a little hot so there is a little distortion in the low end at loud parts. All in all it's really good sounding, and an alright song. Here's a link if you are interested in listening: It Starts Tonight.

This is a long post, but I definitely need to talk about today. I spent most of the morning and the afternoon waiting to talk to a financial aid advisor. My new academic advisor told me I should be eligible for lottery assistance, so I wanted to ask about that before I payed this semester's bill. All the waiting was worth it, because I will be getting tons of money back from this past semester, and will only have to pay half of the spring semester. Talk about some good news. They should do a better job telling students about that.

After Tech, I got my disappointing haircut and then stopped at a Simpsonville Chinese restaurant for lunch. Their house fried rice was OK; I guess I will just never find anything as good as Red Bowl (r.i.p.). I came home, took Lucy for a really long walk, and then looked up some drum technique videos on YouTube and practiced some. YouTube is amazing...seriously.

Around 5 I made sure to watch the press conference with Dabo Swinney, where he was officially announced as head coach. I don't know how anyone could have watched that and not have gotten really excited about the future of the program. If you didn't see it, you really should watch the first little bit, which you can find here. If not, at least please read this article about the guy. I am pretty excited to have him representing our program, and I really hope he turns out to be the great coach everyone thinks he will be. He's already got a good start!

Kristi came home and we went to Ouback (with our giftcard), and then to TJ Maxx and Petsmart. I got Lucy the lamb and rice ScienceDiet this time, and she seemed really excited about it. I think it's just the novelty...soon she won't care about her food again...except for when Oliver tries to eat it of course.

So there you go! My past few days in a nutshell. They have definitely been great, which is nice building into a tough week or two. Tomorrow should be fun as I am going to eat lunch with my mom and then go into work. Hopefully there is some soldering for me to do!

I wondered why the dates on the shot records looked like February...

2008-11-25T00:02:00.004-05:00

Oliver is fine. I just thought I'd get that out of the way up front, since I'm sure at least two out of the three of you that read this wouldn't have been able to focus without hearing it. You probably would have skipped over everything else just to see what was wrong with him; I'm on to your blog reading habits. The vet said that he probably just strained a little too much and to give him a little laxative over the next few days until it heals. She also gave him his shot he was supposed to get Friday, which is nice because I don't have to pay for 2 visits.

I got up at 8 this morning to call the vet actually. The lady told me that I could wait until Friday, but that his problem definitely wasn't normal, so I decided to go in. I figured if it was something bad like a bacterial infection, I didn't want it to get out of control just so I could avoid paying for two visits. Oliver slept on the bed for the first time last night. It went fine, except Lucy gets extremely grumpy when he tried to sleep next to her. It's kind of hilarious, I don't know what her deal is. I think I actually got more sleep this morning because both of them slept a little longer. We are starting to run out of room on the bed though...it's important to establish your position early on. Right now both of the pets are sleeping with their heads against Kristi, which is kind of cute. That's right, I used the word "cute" in my blog, and I'm not ashamed.

After talking to the vet receptionist I went ahead and got ready for the day, after which I quickly left for school. I enjoyed Psychology for the first time this semester, although I think the reason is totally unrelated to Psychology. We started talking about what age everyone wanted to die at, and I really enjoyed listening to what people had to say. There is this one older lady in the back who is very nice and comes across as very intelligent, and she talked alot today which I enjoyed. I didn't really add to the conversation, just listened. If I had to verbalize my feelings on the matter, I would probably say that I don't want to be a burden to my family, and I don't want to get so old that I am very lonely because most of my friends and family are gone. So I don't really think I have a specific age in mind at all. Some students said that they don't really think about it, because honestly they are a little scared to die. I have had to deal with alot of death in my life, sometimes I feel like more than others my age, so I actually have thought about the subject alot. I think it has been good for me.

After school I went straight to work and Joe and I worked on setting up a "green screen" most of the day. It's going to be used for some video shoots for Jingle Jazz...we'll see how it turns out. We ate lunch at Zaxby's, and Joe paid for my lunch which was a really nice surprise. A free CD and a free lunch in 2 weeks time...maybe he is getting ready to fire me or something and feels bad.

I had to come home from work before 4 so I could pick up Oliver and take him to the vet. I accidentally grabbed Lucy's shot records instead of Oliver's which made me feel a little dumb when the vet receptionist handed them back to me and told me they were from a dog. Thankfully they are familiar with the agency we adopted Oliver from, so they knew what he needed. I ended up waiting for almost an hour and half, but I did get to see a ton of dogs which was fun. There was only one cat in the waiting room, and it was mean and ugly. I mean literally ugly.

When I came home from the vet Kristi was there and we decided to go to Moe's for dinner. I really like Moe's, but tonight I didn't eat all of my food because I felt pretty full. We went grocery shopping afterwards and then came home. Kristi went to a friend's house for a little bit and I watched football and played guitar. I was going to work on statistics, but I am just really good at procrastinating.

I spent most of the later evening reading some pro audio forums. I was encouraged to see a bunch of people who have project studios at their houses and get a little business every now and then. I have alot more equipment I need to collect before I can start mine. But hey, I got to cross hi-hats and two snares off of my long list...that's exciting!

Tomorrow I might go to Greenville Tech in the morning to take care of some things and then I will work the rest of the day. I'm not really sure if I'll go to tech though, I might want to sleep, and sleep usually wins decisions like that. It all depends on how loud Lucy and Oliver are I guess...