235 - PreSchool

How exciting! Ewe starts his first day of pre-school today. He is in an afternoon class for two days a week.

We visited the school last week during their 'Open House' with the boys to see the facilities, meet the teachers, sign some paperwork, and play. Els, also thinks he is 3 going on 4 and was having a grand time during the open house. He is going to take it pretty hard when it is time to drop Ewe off and he has to go home with mom and take a nap. I guess we'll see how it goes today.

234 - Summer 2006

It's that time of the season, again...the time where I put together a bunch of songs from albums that I have been listening to this summer. This summer mix is more carefree and upbeat than my usual mixes...I guess that is the nature of summer...being outdoors, going to the pool, barbequeing, etc. I can't wait for the fall, because I look moody music the best.

Tracklising:

1. Tilly and the Wall - Rainbows in the Dark...this band uses a tap dancer for all percussion.
   
2. Hard-Fi - Hard to Beat...this song reminds me a bit of the Clash at a dance party.
3. Keane - Crystal Ball...big song.
4. Ladytron - White Light Generator...female dreampop.
5. Joy Electric - The Brass Stopped Before the Second Mooring...nice minimal, electronic.
6. Asobi Seksu - Goodbye...more female dreampop.
7. Mutemath - Noticed...a little bit of everything, including Sting.
8. Bon Voyage - West Coast Friendship...sunny female dreampop.
9. The Weepies - A painting by Chagall...I have been enchanted with this song all summer.
10. The Violet Burning - Blown Away...another classic.
11. Editors - Munich...I'm so glad I found this.
12. The Concretes - On the Radio...sweet female Swedish pop.
13. Mojave 3 - Running With Your Eyes Closed...roll your windows down, feel the breeze song.
14. Starflyer 59 - I Win...what am I supposed to say, my talent is an aquired taste.
15. Morrissey - You Have Killed Me...what's my life for.
16. Fair - Monday...Aaron Sprinkles new band-great summer music.
17. Pony Express - Fraud...fuzzy and messy.
18. The Flaming Lips - Haven't Got a Clue...tasty.
19. Sufjan Stevens - The Perpetual Self...uh-oh!
20. Dashboard Confessional - So Long, So Long...sappy.
    

233 - spaceships in the sanctuary

Young boys have the unique ability, when they are bored and are void of all toys, to use their imaginations and make or see spaceships out of the mundane objects at hand - a pen and binder clip for example.

Every time I look down to the front of our church sanctuary, I see this spaceship swooping in ready for attack.

As these boys grow older, I guess they never really loose this ability.

232

Some events over the past week:

• I did not post anything and it felt great. I just was not interested. Maybe I am getting bored with all of this or maybe I was just too busy with other stuff.
• Ewe and I went to see the movie Barnyard : the original party animals on one of my half-Fridays. Our outing always involve slushies at QT.
• One Saturday, we had the Sharenbergs and the Whites (college friends and family) over for dinner. I again tested my skills of barbeque and smoked some pork ribs and pork loin.
• I enjoyed some of the best weather of the summer and took our dog for walks after the kids were tucked in bed.
• Our neighborhood hosted it's annual picnic that we all went to. Not much action and not too exciting, but they had the folks from Werner's Market grilling the brats and sausages.
  
• Doc was in town and we went out for lunch at Cupini's on 43rd Street. It was good to see him and catch up a bit before he heads back to Wisconsin. He is buying all sorts of furniture and is getting all moved in to his new house.
• I saw this beat-up truck loose it's front driversided tire on the highway. It was a strange event, that suddenly made you keenly aware of your surroundings. It might have been a donut tire, because when it flew off, it looked smaller than normal. But out of the corner of my eye, I see the tire go spinning off to the left. It hits the median barrier and bounces over onto oncoming traffic - which can be very dangerous. The truck is now functioning on 3 tires as I see sparks coming from the axel of the missing tire. I think the driver is aware of what happened and is pulling over to the exit ramp - the same one I am taking. But the driver is not pulling over to the shoulder. He proceeded to turn onto 18th Street Expressway and continue driving as if nothing happened. I looked behind me and he wasn't being chased by cops or anything. The whole thing seemed crazy and quite odd.
• I had a couple of soccer games on the Friday nights.
• We went over the the Demeree's house, because a few in my family and them were hosting some exchange students for the week for some event that I really don't know to much about.
• We did some house cleaning over the weekend - steam cleaning the carpet and me organizing my space which needs a good re-work a couple times a year.

That is all I can think of real quick.

231 - pet art

230 - First Fridays

229 - Leonard Cohen // I'm Your Man

228 - the July report

The recap of new music and books read in the month of July. (for my own personal inventory.)

Fair - the Best Worst Case Scenario
The new band from Aaron Sprinkle (Poor Old Lu, Roseblossom Punch) is a great modern guitar summer pop album. This is a great sounding album and he has turned into a good singer and songwriter.

Sufjan Stevens - The Avalanche
No, the Avalanche is not an EP. It is a full 20 songs and over 70 minutes of music. The Avalanche is not quite as compelling as Illinois, but that is the nature of songs that are outakes and didn't make the cut for the original album. The funny thing is that the songwriting quality of these outtakes is still better than 90% of music coming out today anyway.

Thom Yorke - the Eraser
The Eraser sounds really nice in my headphones. I am waiting for the fall and the cool weather to really dig deep into that album.

Donald Miller - Through Painted Deserts
I just took a road trip with two guys in an old VW van. Thanks for the journey. This is the story that is often referenced in his book Blue Like Jazz.