Try to Scrape that Zit off on the Kitchen Wall

Well tonights tennis playing was a wash, so a night of geeking out was in order till I received a call from my friend down Hallettsville way, who was busy washing cucumbers / pickles, whatever they were. They come in all shapes and sizes, some big some small, some rounder than others. For all of you who love pickles --

While Jill washed the cucumbers, I was desperately trying to get rid of the humongous zit on the back of my neck. It was big, inflamed and painful!

Anyway, I did some ass kickin' at basketball, and learned a lot about pickin', cleanin' and cannin' pickles! YEE HAW!

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A cucumber should be well-sliced, dressed with pepper and vinegar, and then thrown out.
Samuel Johnson

RB's square headed girlfriend

Mike P and I are sitting in some boring ass training, sitting in the back, comparing pictures we can take with our phones, yes I know very pathetic and geeky.

Mike P took this picture, which I found very humerous, along with the following dialogue, in which he 'infra-reded' to my phone.

Holla ladies! Sorry but RB is all up on this crusty old lady. He's got no love for the IRL ladies just them cyber-hoes!

If we can live thru this Sharepoint 'training' we can live thru anything, maybe even a Nickelback concert or something like that.

Flowers In The Window / Introspection

Here is the post where I Robert, congratulate all the people who are having / recently had babies, and damn the number of you is insane! Offhand let's see -- Ryan, Sara, Amy, Erin, Russell -- ummm, and that's just SHS class of 1995 (the one we are going to have the 10 yr reunion for soon - damn can you say old!) Getting pictures from you guys is very touching, and it is also touching to read the bro-in-laws sentiments on my nieces and nephews and it really brings me joy and happiness.

You know you class of 95 peeps bring a lot of peer pressure on me, considering yours truly hasn't passed Girlfriend 101 yet. You are truly on the higher end of the human evolutionary totem pole in terms of figuring out what is important in life, and I look to y'all for guidance and hope.

From good friends, I've heard it more than once that I'm one of the most sensitive people they know while simultaneously being one of the most insensitive people they know. I've also been indirectly been referred to as a 'misanthropic soul' -- and for all you bohonks that don't want to look up that big word, it means.... 'a general dislike of the human race' -- I suppose I have hope, but day to day life I smile the best smile I can, but generally speaking I have a disdain for the day to day blah situations that being an 'adult' puts you thru.

Having said all those stuff about misanthropic souls and the like, enter the thought that I want babies one day. It's such a nice feeling when I go to Jenny's place and Benny the dog is so damn happy to see me, I'm like, this sh*t rocks. I can only imagine what that feels like when you go home and see your own flesh and blood, your own genetic code, happy to see you, and vice versa. I know it will help me to find more meaning for existence, and help fix the issues that come with having not a whole lot of regard for life, and the human element.

So people with babies, I sincerely admire y'all, wish I could relate more, as one day we will definitely trade stories and such of what are babies and kids are doing, etc. For now, I'm getting my travel on, entertaining with 80% confidence the idea of moving to Londontown for 3-5 years, and biting off more than I can chew and chewing like hell.

Anywho, babies’ rock

\PS
One day I'll try to put into words the push / pull - Smigel / Gollum stuff that goes on in my head on a daily basis; The struggle for balance for a dude that has just too damn many options. Guess that isn’t a bad thing, but I suppose it can be a bad thing. Confusing stuff, damn.

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The quotes say to live life with the innocence of a child, the maturity of an adult and also take care of the place, we didn't inherit the earth from our parents, and we borrow it from our children. etc, etc, etc, etc

Mr Brown Nose at Work

Hey Folks -- This is Sherry, she is 3rd in command of Information Management Services. I think she thinks I'm a cool dude, at least I hope she thinks I'm a cool dude. She is really cool, I asked her to take a picture for my blog, and also float the peace sign, and she did without hesitation.

For the record, and to set the record straight, brown nosing where I work does not get you anywhere, and especially since she isn't in my chain of command, it will get me nowhere.

Moral of the story, be nice, smile a lot, be a bit dorky, most importantly sincere, and you can take pictures with important people! Thanks for taking the pic Mike P

YIPPIE!

digable planets - LZR

What can I say about DP other than it was a fabulous show. The openers were stellar, as Mike D and I were front row dead center for the first 35 minutes of the show, until we both conceded that we had to take a piss.

The opening act drove down from LA, an 18 hour drive Toshi, Mike D, Dr. Love and I are going to make sometime in mid-July, fun and exciting times.

Before we departed from the front row of the sold out La Zona Rosa, we both HI5's from Lady Bug, who still is beautiful after all these years.

After party was at the Red Fez, but we are both middle aged computer geek programmer and awknowledge that we needed to go home and opt out of the after party.

Massive tunes, Massive Crowd Participation, Massive-ness all around

AMF - Cashin' In On College Campus

Well If had had more musical talent, instead of people one step up from a talentless wannabe but not really wanting to be, I'd be takin' what I learn from these things and tearing it up.

In all seriousness, go to these things, lots of great information, lots of cool people --it's the mission statement to help local artists. A fine and noble cause I'm proud to support.

What's the name of your Indie Band, come out and tell us about it.

Japanese Curry Night

Folks here's Toshi again, man is this guy fantastic or what. Tonight he cooked dinner for 7 fat americans (not really fat americans, but its fun to 'feed' the stereotype). This meal was fantastic, the main dish was meat, rice, etc and a killer curry sauce. Also there was a salad with some crazy sauce, brocolli (or however the hell you spell that) stems, and some other stuff I didn't know what it was all about.

Here's a picture of the master chef, a class act this guy is.

We even gave Benny Janak, Jenny's boston terrier some of the salad. He gave a funny look as he chewed the stems, but he managed, and conjured up some killer farts later in the evening.

Anyway, the curry made me tired as can be as we went to go look at where Mike D is purchasing a condo. Super huge congrats to him, party's at his place from now on!

Cannonball Anyone?

Well My brotha G-Man got him a new pool, a 2,800 gallon pool. Maybe next week for the July 4th celebration weekend we will see Dr. Love, aka Chris C, do a cannonball, or pehaps Bob will jump in, or better yet, well, nevermind.

We may invite some playboy bunnies to come lay next to the pool this coming weekend. I'm sure the playboy dude wouldn't mind lending us some.

'Your not cool, unless you have an above ground pool' --

Scotty Wedding

A spontaneous trip to a wedding in Schulemburg is where Saturday took me. Apon hearing Brandon and Chris Riveda, Manuelabor and Lacinator were going to be there, I definately had to make the trip. The groom Scotty and I met at a bachlor party in New Orleans about a year back and had loads of fun.

In this picture, I totally felt like underdressed white trash, what Manuelabor refers to me sometimes as. You guys rule, thanks for the dialogue and fun.

Let the Good Times Roll --

Glastonbury 2005 - A Wash?

Mr. Anderson, my wonderful buddy from across the pond sent me a picture of the Glastonbury Festival, which officially gets underway today. For everyone that doesn't know what this festival is all about, it is the largest open air music festival in the world, selling approx 135,000 tickets, which sell out almost immediately, you have to have British citizenship, etc, etc, etc to get tickets.

The festival is held near a town called Pilton, in the midst of Worthy Farm, beautiful surrondings, etc and a massives lineup each year. One day before I get too old you will see me camping out there, no shower for 4 days, and total exhaustion from music overload.

Here shows tents half in water, at least its clean, but can you imagine the mud! ARG! Good mud pie weather!

Nate Dogg, C-Dogg and I were en-route to the festival a few years back, but the tickets sold out in a record 3 hours, because it was announced that Radiohead and REM were playing. So hence you get 85,000 Radiohead and REM fans, and the the rest.

Neil, one of these years hook a brotha up!

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"The ground beneath your feet is dry - that costs a lot of money," -- Fran Healey after singin' "Why Does It Always Rain On Me"

architecture in helsinki - or not

Tonight I skipped out early of Deutsch class and headed to Emo's around 10 to catch architecture in helsinki. Apon arriving I heard 'The Casting Couch' which could possibly have potential with a lot more practice. A tuba and accordian and such, something just wasn't right about them, but I thought the lead singer was cute.

Then it was time for The Shells, and this was at 11:45, architecture in helsinki was slated for 12:40. So I did the grandpa thing, and although I wanted to see the band, I didn't want to feel like sh*t today at work, so call me Grandpa Bruns or what have you, I left and called it an early night.

The special treat came when we met up with Rebecca, a pleasure to see her. She has a cool friend who I will dub 'Nate-Dogg II' who has great taste in music, and somehow dragged Rebecca out to the gig.

Here's a picture of the lovely Rebecca and yours truly Mr. Fat Head.

The night was fun, kinda a bust that I didn't see the band, but the brautwuerst and kraut at the end of the night was splendid. Rebecca and Nate II, feel free to post about what you thought of the gig. Did I miss anything, or was it good that I went home to snooze?

Today finds me listening to the soothing sounds of East 17, the brit version of the Backstreet Boys. Here's the rest of what I'm jammin' in almost real time.

New School Meets Old School

Well I'm currently putting together a 'home stereo system,' so I decided to check out what's up for grabs in the back of Milton's TV and Appliance.

Here's what Jr. and I came up with:

1. Realistic 20 Watt Amp - Notice this sitting on top of the left speaker. This is circa 1966, one of the first 'solid state' amps on the market, no tubes in here, booyah. Really 20 watts for a preamp is all you need to fill a big ass house with sound. A little more 'adjusting' and I'll have some nice rich bass.
2. Allegro / Zenith Speakers - These are also dated before I was born, not too heavy, but surely state of the art back in the day. All is good with these except the crusty 30 year old wires that come out of them.
3. Pioneer 8-Track / Record Player - Yea, this nice little gem was left with the house, everything still works in this thing, which is amazing. It looks like a piece of furniture, but when you open it up, there's the goods.
4. Laptop / Soundblaster Audigy Platinum 5.1 - The 'CPU' of it all, I can jam any of 185 gigs of mp3, or try my luck at internet streaming radio, or I can hook up a guitar and play it thru the Allegros.

It's a fun little project, a few cuss words come up in trying to get this stuff working, as I'm sure a few more will come out before it's all said and done. When I get my lovely old school Bose TV working, I'll tell you about those challanges.

Congrats Ryan and Nicole on the second big baby! Nibb High Football Rules!

A Trip to Stonehenge, Texas Style

Well for everyone that doesn't know, there is a Stonehenge in a town called Hunt. Sam and I have been planning a trip for about 500 years now, and we finally got to go on our trip, and we concluded that Stonehenge was the place to be! So we loaded up the truck, I mean VW and headed out Fredricksburgh way. We stopped to eat at a Deutsch Microbrewery and I was amazed at the size of the tea glass. Due to too many beers at the Old 97's show I opted for tea, despite being in a microbrewery.

Now, off to Hunt and the Stonehenge details:

Here Sam is standing in the middle of Stonehenge. I think she said she felt some sorta cosmic power radiating thru her at this point in time. The energy was TREMENDOUS! hahahah

As an extra bonus, we also were in walking distance to the statues that are on Easter Island. Sam fell in love with this cute little guy and decided to give him a kiss.

And finally for my japanese friends who think it's fashionable to take pictures in front of things showing the peace sign, here I am, lookin' like a football player in front of the Easter Island statue.

A pleasant, relaxing trip it was. A very beautiful drive thru the Texas Hill Country. We also made a stop in Luckenbach Texas, but alas, we saw nothing but horses. Thanks for the fun trip Sam, and I hope you liked that Brooks and Dunn we were listening to!

Well, there ain't none better than the girl who's movin' on.

Well we were definately entitled to a treat Friday evening. The Old 97's, one of the only bands i'm sincerely proud to be called 'Texas Music', played back to back shows at Gruene Hall. First show, slated for Saturday sold out immediately, then was announced to be a show on Friday, sold out pretty damn quick too, but not before I snatched up 5 tics.

First seeing / being blow away by them at Austin City Limits Festival last year in the midst of what seemed like a million people in a million degree heat, seeing them in the oldest dance hall in Texas was nothing less than splendid.

Not to mention that they were recording for a live cd slated for release later in the year. Hence, they played nothing but the good shit, no fluff, and the sound was amazing.

Beautiful Time, Beautiful Band, Beautiful Venue, Beautiful Beer, Beautiful Company (esp. the Nate Dogg! hahahaha)

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There was a sad truth
There was a punchline
and there was a long whistle
and it was a good sign

Kasabian - Processed Beats

And Processed Beats it was. The light show was fantastic, but the mysterious 'man behind the curtian' sound has never impressed me. I see a dude playing guitar, I hear the sound, I hear a sound, and don't see where its coming from, I'm like, yea, whateva.

The opening band was horrible, I'd rather hear Adam Sandler fart on a snare drum, and Kasabian came on, I had my standing on the bench un-obstructed view for 4 songs, then it was to the back for me, and before the show was over I was out on the street watching the scores of people walk down sixth.

In this picture, If I had a dollar for every drugged up, skinny, indie brit on stage, I'd have a lot of money! No, I'm not a hater, just trying to be funny.

Third Thursday on the drag looked very hoppin', I saw 5 flame jugglers, It must be the 'theme' or something, I'll check that sh*t out next month.

Tired - Grouchy - Stressed - Contemplative - A night I should have stayed home. One of those nights where I'm in a leave me the f*ck alone mood, sorry Toshi and Jenny for being a groucho.

Aus-tin Love to get Lost-In, But It's Too Damn Hot in Aus-tin

These were the sentiments echoed by the pasty / humble brit, who said he loved Austin, but it was too damn hot here, so he had to go back to London.

If I had to describe one word how the evening went, I suppose it would be inspiring. He says he calls himself Aqualung b/c he writes songs about the sea, dreamy, etc. The sound produced is a lovechild between Coldplay and Ben Folds, favoring Coldplay. The harmonies were tremendous, and the songs could only send me down the path of bizarro emotions.

The highlights of the evening were of course the 'big hit' Strange and Beautiful, and on the encore who would have guessed what was to happen. He comes out and speaks of how he recently had a baby, and two days later he heard this particular song, and he thought to himself 'I have it figured out.' What song do you ask? The song is 'God Only Knows' by the Beach Boys, which again sent me down a sentimental path, as a group of us saw Brian Wilson perform the tune about 8 months ago.

The night was fabulous, despite the Dawson's Creek sounding openers. At the end of the gig, the drummer threw his sticks out, Toshi caught one, and I got the other, very random stuff.

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'Sometimes, the last thing you want comes in first
Sometimes, the first thing you want never comes'

Tickets to Concerts / Drinking at Clubs ---

Damn, it's a packed week of shows -- I'm going to have to plant some ticket trees

• Tuesday - Aqualung - The Parish
• Thursday - Kasabian - The Parish
• Friday - Kathleen Edwards / Matt Mayes - The Parish
• Saturday - Old 97's - Gruene Hall

Come one come all -- Good shows, if my ticket tree sprouts early, I will blog about it, and everyone will get free tickets!

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"Well nevermind, we are ugly but we have the music." -- Leonard Cohen

AMF Boat Trip

Well today we crawled in a boat and 'sailed' Lake Travis, had some beers, some food, some sun. I was supposed to supply the music, but got a little nervous at the crowd of musical guru's that would be on the trip. I wouldn't want anyone to go damn, what the hell are we listening to? Plus my contemplative mellow white boy type music probably would have just depressed everyone and everyone would have jumped off the boat. Still would have been better than the new Coldplay. So hence, we listened to KLBJ.

To start the evening, Ian is shown playing with the ball in the water. Actually my clumsy a$$ dropped it in the water and it started floating away from the boat.

Well the boat docks, and people swam around and such. Friends are making me try to show off my half a$$ swimming skills, but I'm too afraid. I mean, not to be morbid or anything, but this just looks like Titanic type stuff here, people all swimmin around. WHEW!

Great to see the old faces, and many new faces. Alissa / Ron, we miss the hell out of you as you are in all of our thoughts. We'll tear it up when y'all come back to ATX.

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Steh auf wenn Du am Boden Bist!

Tilly and the Wall / Of Montreal

Well no Tilly, no wall, no Montreal, The gig was sold out much to my dismay. Toshi took it apon himself to take a picture of me in Lovejoy's, he said he looked like I wanted to cry. I was so tempted to beat a little kid up and steal their ticket, but I refrained.

There will be other gigs, like Aqualung on Tuesday and Kasabian on Thursday. In the meantime, I'll try to hold back the tears.

Dallas Nightclub

Well its amazing where a night of a foiled concert will bring you. Tonight it Angie, Jenny, Ashley, Mike D, Toshi and I to Dallas Nightclub. I can do the country dancing, but the booty shakin' music I feel too white boy to tear up the dance floor. Not like the crew led by Mike D. I think he was the best dancer in the building that night, at least for the booty music.

While braggin about Mike D and his dancing skillz, he doesn't have the country dancing down that well, but he was trying, and it was funny as hell.

Meanwhile Toshi continues to improve his dancing skills, here he is getting fancy with Ashley. Look at those moves!

Then there's myself, I mean, damn look out Brad Pitt. Look how sexy that is, a nice white t-shirt, a fat roll hanging out, lookin' nice and thick and flat footed, and the nice bald ring on the head, don't forget the stylish Muse wristband! The country girls were all over me! --well, not really.

To complete this blog, gotta post a picture of Toshi doing a bit of advertising for Shiner Bock.

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Well we fooged up the windows in my old chevy
I was willing but she wasn’t ready
So a settled for a burger and a grape sno-cone
Dropped her off early but I didn’t go home --AJ

Little Pink Houses for You and Me

Look at this monster, it's hard to believe the payment on this beast, nearly 2,000 square feet is only $615 per month. Putting it into perspective, I pay $550 per month for my 500 sq ft inner city ATX apartment. The final cost was near 75,000 with an abundance of furniture left behind.

6 big rooms, a huge backyard, 3 car garage, vaulted ceilings and wood floors are some of the nicities of this place. The place was built in 1925, so there is some updating that needs to be done, and eventually central air.

To all my city friends and 'ambitious' friends who think I'm an old pops and settling down, it's not the case. I will still retain residency in ATX. There are many family / logistical reasons for the purchase, and rest assured if I want to move to Istanbul one day, I'll still do it. How you may ask? Well, the old accounting analogy, when you have a leaky bucket, i.e. spending lots of money, you try to cover the leaks, and hence quit spending as much money. I really don't agree with plugging the leaks, my philosophy is to somehow get more water in the bucket. I suppose I'll have to get a 'real' job soon and sell my soul to the capitalist machine.

Bob and I are going to start doing random computer $hit under rockstar techies, the LLC we are going to set up -- in the main room of this crib, Saturdays only / and via email only. I really don't want some lady calling me at night asking me how to double click or something like that. I have two trips that I need to fund, one to Tel-Aviv in December, one to Japan next April.

House buying is a great feeling, a feeling of investment, and a nicer tax break, and a nice place where you can warm your bones beside the fire. Shiner is also a great place, great community and family.

I'll leave you with some pics of the place, feel free to come by and visit, I should be there at least 2 Saturday's a month, and I'm planning to have a monster party July 4th weekend.

Outside View

Upstairs Bedroom

Upstairs Bedroom 2

Kitchen

Bedroom

Hallway

Livingroom

Outside View / Corner Lot

Did anyone see the bada$$ retro furniture?

The Face of Misery

Folks, enter Tony, he's a buddy of mine, Abs's boyfriend, all around cool dude. Now I don't know about y'all, but he damn sure doesn't look like he's having a good time at this weeding, and most definately looks like a fish out of water.

What were y'all doin' dude, that crazy stuff where you dance around the bride and groom to 'their song'?

Tony and Abs are on this crazy a$$ diet in which they can't eat hardly anything. Abs was in a happy / hungry mood the other night, and all she could eat was strawberries and carrots. Tony said he wakes up every morning all light headed due to lack of food. I think they are crazy, come on folks, 4 words (eat less, exercise more), can't go wrong.

I had the distinct pleasure of hanging out Tony and Abs last Saturday. We watched the ring juggling championships, some interesting lookin' dudes on there. Met a chick that has bada$$ taste in music, records concerts (gave me Elvis Costello live @ ACL!), and someone I look forward to going to gigs with!

An Evening with Heritage

Tonight was an exquisite evening hanging out with Emanuel, his dad Kashmir (I think I spelled that right), and Ashley. Emanuel and his parents are in Texas for the next two weeks visiting, then back to a small town near Frankfurt. We partook in some jazz at the elephant room, where some dude was just rippin' up the standup bass.

Afterwards went to MoMo's Club and stumbled apon Warren Hood & The Hoodlums, MY GOD BRILLIANT STUFF!!! It's an every Sunday gig, and I plan on going back as soon as possible to catch them again. Strange enough, Marcia Ball was the 'tip jar girl,' which was extremely shocking. MoMo's also has a brilliant view of downtown.

Talk about Germans and their tolorence for beer, Emanuel was matching me pound for pound with the Stellas and Guinness. Great times, great company, damn the humidity though. I have to have something to complain about, right?

Remote Blogging --Geeky as Can Be

Well this is my first blog from a remote device, to be specific the Sony Ericsson S710 , a bitchin picture phone, bluetooth, infrared port, 128 smart card, 50 meg built in memory, mp3 player, EDGE technology, which makes surfing on wireless pretty damn fast, ummm, yea, tons of geeky features. OOO, Over-indulgence in vanities, a vacuous vice.

Took a picture with my nephew Kman, and blogged this entry, picture, post, text and all sitting in front of the tube watching Dora, or some other kid show.

Fun times ahead, I got this device b/c we are planning a drive out to California and I plan to blog from the car. Hmmmm, perhaps I should unplug for a while and get a life?

Republic of Texas Bike Rally

Well there is about a billion bikes downtown this weekend, and it seems like all the local bars are tooled to play Skynayrd, REO Speedwagon, and other music to draw in the sun fried biker chicks.

It's amazing to see all the bikes and such, there's 1 million pounds of chrome downtown, congress is closed off, as well as sixth street and many other roads. It's more crowded downtown than for the SWSX music festival, and the crowd looks pretty intimidating

Here's Brad lookin all mean, we were going to take a picture of one of us acting like we were pissing on a bike, but both of us were too scared. The next picture would have been me holding my teeth in my had after getting punched by a Harley Davidson lookin dude.

No trip anywhere can be complete without seeing Austin's Leslie workin it. Man he's got freckles on his ass, whew!

Vallej-blow (I mean Vallejo), The Burdon Brothers and others played on the corner of 6th and Congress. Here's a video of some rednecks going crazy listening to the band cover Crazy Train.

Kicka$$ Night to be Alive

Tonight, as the rockabilly band (2 Hoots and a Holler) at Ego's said, it's a kickass night to be alive. Expecting to head down to first Thursday and have a decent time, turned into the most fun I've had since SXSW. For all you people who don't know, every first Thursday of the month Austin throws a big shindig down on South Congress, and the entertainment only seems to get better and better. I counted 11 bands playing out on the street or on rooftops or in some other tight little location that begs the question 'How the hell did they think of playing there'

First stop as usual is Guero's for a nice rita and blues. Quentin Tarentino supposedly does some movie recording at this place. It's got stellar Tex-Mex, some of the best in town hands down.

Next stop brought us to Ego's, and little did we know that's where we would stay, and little did we know how rambunctious the evening would get, Pictured is Mike D, John, Ashley, Toshi, and Yasu.

Well Toshi has never danced here in Austin, or possibly in his life, I didn't get the story, but Ashley is such a great dancer, she talked Toshi into dancing and he did a fantastic job. He had to chug a few Miller Lights to get the courage, but it was awesome! Toshi got really hammered, and thank god we didn't have to take him to the hospital this time!!!

Speaking of having a lot to drink, Ashley took it apon herself to help out the band and pass the tip jar around, damn that was funny too. Mike D and I were the good fellas on the evening and avoided a lot of drinking to make work not miserable in the morning.

Then out of the blue I get a text from the wonderful C-Dog saying him and Nate were at Trophy's down the road, so I told them to high tail it over to Ego's for some group fun. C-Dog and I always try to push the limit of what we can do with pictures, so here's him with his fabio / Al Bundy pose.

Then there's the Nate-Dogg, he is also a great dancer, he has his own style. When we were in Scotland, he was dancing with a scottish gal and she told me Nate danced like an arraingitang, or however you spell that, I hope y'all know what I mean.

Finally, introducing Yasu. Toshi is leaving back to Japan in August, I will be very sad, but I told him he had to find me a Japanese replacement to hang out with once he's gone, so enter Yasu. A brilliant fun guy, who's going to my alma mater, marketing major, and aspiring guitar player. Damn Toshi, nice pick for the replacement! At any rate, look forward to hanging with him more in the future.

This weekend, pull out the wife beater and head downtown for the motorcycle rally!