Big pointy looks, big pointy knives

Well, not exactly.  But it appears that Google street view has moved up 9th street from Atlantic and captured our house and our car!
urlm.in/cuir
Perhaps this is not as exciting for others as it is for us. 

Ganked from http://eclecticmicks.blogspot.com/2009/03/happy-st-paddys-day-from-father-jack.html

This is one of the greatest things I have ever seen.  The Melvins did a taping of a kids' show called Pancake Mountain during the soundcheck for their recent L.A. show.  Here's a clip:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=laORDEl62CA
And here's a link to the show's website:
http://www.pancakemountain.com/index2.htm
I really wish, though, that the Melvins would have done "ABC 123" for karaoke. 

 * Grab the nearest book.
* Open the book to page 56.
* Find the fifth sentence.
* Post the text of the next two to five sentences in your journal along with these instructions.
* Don't dig for your favorite book, the cool book, or the intellectual one: pick the CLOSEST.
---------------------

"After all, the love of her life had fled, life had no meaning, how could you face the future, et cetera, et cetera.

But after about two seconds of that she realized that Westley was out in the world now, getting nearer and nearer to London, and what if a beautiful city girl caught worse, what if he got to America and worked his jobs and when she got there he would look at her and say, "I'm sending you back, the moping has destroyed your eyes, the self-pity has taken your skin; you're a slobby-looking creature, I'm marrying an Indian girl who lives in a teepee nearby and is always in the peak of condition."

Buttercup ran to her bedroom mirror.  "Oh, Westley," she said, "I must never disappoint you," and she hurried downstairs to where her parents were squabbling."

From "The Princess Bride," by William Goldman

So, in the immediate aftermath of this quake, it appears that a crack on the outside of our house has gotten a little bigger.  Probably no big deal, but obviously we want to make sure.  Anyone know who to contact to take a look at that and tell us whether or not to be worried?

Well, that was weird.  I didn't even really know what was happening.  I was slicing cheese in the kitchen when I felt a large truck going by.  Then when no truck came and I heard Dorothy with a concerned tone say "Lance" from the front, I knew something was going on.  Then we stood in a doorway. 
Morganna was freaked out, but in traditional kitty fashion forgot about the whole thing in 10 minutes.  I guess it's kind of odd being in a 6-foot-tall tower when an earthquake hits. 
Wow.
This is a lot different than getting drunk and waiting for a hurricane. 
Better or worse?  Not sure yet.

Okay, so a couple of months ago I started realizing that my mother's famous jambalaya recipe was on the verge of disappearing due to my parents' new super-healthy eating habits. I then panicked and decided that it was time to try out the (non)recipe she gave doafy and me several years back. By "non" I mean that it's one of those "a pinch of this, a little of that, take your chicken and cook it" kinda recipes. So Thanksgiving this year seemed like as good a time as any to take a stab. I took the non-recipe, called my mom several times to fill in the gaps, improvised a little, and came up with a dish that comes remarkably close. I figure that after much practice, I'll have something that proudly carries on my mother's tradition while also reflecting my own style of cooking. I'm so freaking thrilled! For the truly nerdy, here's a photo:

So, I was looking into tickets for the Cure concert at the Hollywood Bowl on May 31st, and I was wondering (since I've never been there) how bad the view is from the cheap seats. It doesn't seem like an incredibly large venue, but is the view obstructed from back there?

So I have 2 tickets to the Monday, October 15th PJ Harvey concert at the Orpheum Theatre in L.A., balcony, row H seats 211 and 212 that I can no longer use. I figured I'd check here and see if anyone wanted to buy them at face value ($123.95 for the pair). Connie-Lynne, if you could post a link to this, I'd really appreciate it, seeing as how you know 3 million times the number of people I do.

I don't know. she's just...grading...and...grading...i think...no, it's just too awful to imagine. The drive-by bass is even more unbearable in our neighborhood than normal--they've all got awesome systems. our huge window was smashed out hours ago. i've been holding them off with my 9-iron and the kitties of the neighborhood (numbering in the hundreds. i've managed to save most of the flowers in the front yard, but i don't know how much longer i can last. i guess i won't be going into work tomorrow. i mean, do i call in? or do i assume that they know i won't be there?

So, this is related to Dorothy's last post. Our internet connection has been running suspiciously slow for a little over a week. I recently discovered that it is near impossible to upload anything to the internet. I've been able to upload one email attachment (a rather small jpeg to my at&t email account), and another jpeg to photobucket. But when I try to upload an email attachment to either Yahoo or Gmail, in Firefox or Internet Explorer, I am unable to. with Yahoo, it just keeps on "attaching," but never does. With Gmail, it times out and does nothing. I've tried the original attachment that I needed, which was about 1 MB. I've also tried a 10 Kb jpeg. No luck. the at&t tech people just keep telling me that my connection looks fine and that I should delete all my temporary files and cookies, which I've done, and hasn't helped. I'm thinking it's a problem with our actual computer. I don't know if it matters, but the outlet for the ethernet cable on the back of our computer has two indicator lights, one of which is lit green and one of which is flashing yellow.
this sucks.
any ideas from anyone?

This is awesome. I'm not sure when it was produced.

So Saturday my forehead started to swell a little bit.  I think this is normal, but I'm going to call my doctor anyway to make sure.  The question is, do I look more like a Klingon or a vampire from "Buffy?"  And will my head go back to normal or will I eventually become Jerry Lewis?

Actually, it's no longer in my head. Yesterday evening I had a lipoma (a common, benign tumor composed of fatty tissue) removed from the top of my forehead. I'll spare everyone the really graphic details. I was somewhat horrified that they were not going to put me under. I've never had any sort of surgery before, so I assumed they knock you out for anything surgical. Oh, no. I was heavily numbed, so there was no pain, but it was still a really bizarre experience. On the plus side, I got my very first prescription for Vicodin! And I have super cool blue stitches. My doctor decided to bandage the area to cut down on bruising, but because of where the spot was, he had to wrap half of my head. Now my wife gets to call me "flathead" instead of "fathead." Here are some photos of me wrapped (we've decided that I look like I was injured in the Civil War):

Hey,
this bar looks pretty cool: http://www.mandrakebar.com/
AND they're having an awesome art opening this Saturday night! Anyone interested?

How cool is this? We are getting all arty farty on ya!

(the) Melvins @ (the) Mandrake

February 17th - March 24th, 2007
Opening February 17th, 6-8 p.m.
2692 S. La Cienega Boulevard Los Angeles, CA. 90034.

Mandrake is pleased to announce the opening of their third exhibition,
(the) Melvins @ (the) Mandrake, organized by Bob Nickas, curatorial
advisor
to MoMa PS1 in New York City, and a long-time and devoted fan of the
band.

The exhibition will present more than thirty artists, who will make
album
covers for the Melvins, the influential band that brought together
metal,
punk, and primordial riffs, giving the world - for better or worse -
Nirvana
and grunge.

Artists include: Santiago Alandra, Matthew Brannon, Georgeanne Deen,
Sam
Durant, Anthony Elms, Jason Fox, Amy Gartrell, Torben Giehler, Wayne
Gonzales, Tom Hazelmyer, Adam Helms, Ryan Iverson, Cameron Jamie, Irena
Knezevic, Jutta Koether, Tim Lokiec, Justin Lowe, Brendan Majewski,
Cameron
Martin, Adam McEwen, Keegan McHargue, Thurston Moore, Dave Muller,
Chuck
Nanney, Mackie Osborne, Ted O'Sullivan, Erik Parker, Steven Parrino,
Nora
Jean Petersen, Lisa Ruyter, Michelle Segre, David Silver, Meredyth
Sparks,
Fred Tomaselli, John Tremblay, Banks Violette, Kelley Walker, Claude
Wampler, Chuck Webster, Christopher Williams, Kevin Willis, and Kevin
Zucker.

What American accent do you have? Your Result: The Midland "You have a Midland accent" is just another way of saying "you don't have an accent." You probably are from the Midland (Pennsylvania, southern Ohio, southern Indiana, southern Illinois, and Missouri) but then for all we know you could be from Florida or Charleston or one of those big southern cities like Atlanta or Dallas. You have a good voice for TV and radio.
The West
Boston
The South
North Central
The Inland North
Philadelphia
The Northeast
What American accent do you have? Take More Quizzes

well, I've already done radio, so "Today Show," here I come!
I've always been told that I don't have an accent of any kind, and many people, upon learning that I'm from Mississippi, say, "Oh, you're so lucky." I guess there are certain pre-conceptions that come along with a Southern accent, but I've never actively tried to get rid of my accent because I was ashamed of it. I've just never had one.

You scored as Michael. You're Michael! You're very artistic, but still sore that a boyfriend/girlfriend dumped you. </td> Michael 75% Claire 69% Hurley 56% Kate 56% Charlie 56% Locke 38% Jack 38% Sayid 31% Boone 25% Sun 25% Sawyer 19% Jin 19% Shannon 19% Who is your "Lost" alter ego? created with QuizFarm.com

This isn't totally accurate because I'm not still sore that I've been dumped. But otherwise it's pretty right on. Except that I would never screw over all of my friends the way Michael did.

The Melvins (who, if you don't already know, are the greatest band on earth (and my favorite)) have a history of losing bass players. This time around, instead of just hiring a new bass player, they've completely absorbed another band called Big Business, which consists of a bass player and a drummer. Check out this video of them in Seattle:
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-5107214296988915033
They are touring the nation, and playing 2 separate dates in the L.A. area! Maybe I'll go twice, and cement my status as obnoxious nerdy fanboy!
tour dates: http://www.ipecac.com/calendar.php

1. Elaborate on your default icon.
It's a little dinosaur, drawn by me, inspired by "I'm a Little Dinosaur" by Jonathan Richman and the Modern Lovers.

2. What's your current relationship status?
Happily married for just over 4 years.

3. Ever have a near-death experience?
I flipped a truck a couple of times in a ditch, and escaped with scrapes, bruises, and a wierd lump on my head.

4. Name an obvious quality you have?
Is a goatee a quality?

5. What's the name of the song that's stuck in your head right now?
"My Humps" thanks to Erich's blog.

6. Any celeb you would marry?
no

7. Who will cut and paste this first?
I think everyone else who would read my LJ has already done this.

8. Name someone with the same birthday as you.
Mary J. Blige

9. Do you have a crush on someone?
Usually.

10. Have you ever vandalized someone's private property?
Yes. Mostly TP'ing yards.

11. Have you ever been in a fight?
Yes, but really only on the recieving end.

12. Have you ever sung in front of a large audience?
100-150 people, playing with my band Hagus as Devo.

13. What's the first thing you notice about the opposite sex?
Probably hair color or ass.

14. What do you usually order from Starbucks?
Double Latte. But I try to avoid Starbucks.

15. Have you ever hurt yourself on purpose?
no

16. Say something totally random about yourself.
I bite my nails.

17. Has anyone ever said you looked like a celebrity?
Keifer Sutherland, but that happened more when I was skinnier.

18. Do you wear a watch? What kind?
yes. Fossil.

19. Do you have anything pierced?
No, but I once had my tongue pierced.

20. Do you have any tattoos?
no

21. Do you like pain?
no

22. Do you like to shop?
Yes, mostly CD and hardware shopping.

23. What was the last thing you paid for with cash?
Taco Bell

24. What was the last thing you paid for with a credit card?
Star Wars: Battlefront 2 and the Wolfmother CD

25. Who was the last person you spoke to on the phone?
Doafy

26. What is on your desktop background?
Gabe's kitty.

27. What is the background on your cell phone?
My kitty.

28. Do you like redheads?
Sure.

29. Do you know any twins?
Not currently, although I was friends in the mid-80's with a pair who had the same last name
as me.

30. Do you have any weird relatives?
yes.

31. What was the last movie you watched?
_Beerfest_. It was awesome.

32. What was the last book you read?
_Factotum_ by Bukowski. It was my second time reading it, to prepare for the movie.