Random

Typically in the beginning the week when our meals aren’t planned, Bethany and I shoot emails back and forth during the day to try to figure out what’s for dinner.  We started the conversation after I was reading an interesting article on Digg, so I responded "Are you interested in being experimental for dinner?"  How about some Dishwaster-cooked Salmon?

I stopped by on the grocery store and picked up two salmon fillets and some lime juice.  Bethany met me at home and we wrapped them in foil, placed the seasoning and loaded up the dishwasher.

We fired it up on the normal setting and let it ride.  It took a little over an hour to get completely through the cycle, and we  were both wondering whether we were threw $10 worth of fillets in the trash.  The drying cycle just about completed, we opened up the washer and were ready for the moment of truth.

Believe it or not – it fully cooked!  The inside was definitely moist, but I think it was due to the fact that it was steamed.  It looked like the water stayed out of the foil.  In the end, the only benefit was that this was entertaining.  We usually cook salmon in the oven for 5-10 minutes, instead of putting in the dishwasher for over an hour.  Next time we’ll do the oven, but maybe next time we have a party we’ll do salmon in the dish-washer.

I’m on the road for the rest of the week, attending an NCSC National Team meeting in Dallas, Texas.  This is my first extended time in Dallas, so it’ll definitely be interesting.   Coming up: four days of meetings and activities!  I have a lot of random thoughts I want to add, I’ll look for opportunities to do so.

I wish I could say that my blogging hiatus was due to a sabbatical, sat on a beach for three weeks and enjoyed the end-of-summer weather.  Unfortunately my disappearance is nothing that glamorous or exciting, but simply due to an extremely stressful month.  To answer the question, "Where the heck have you been?"

School started on the August 21st.  When I posted the short "Hey Ya" entry, little did I realize that my time would essentially evaporate.  After consecutively unsuccessful semesters taking classes on-line, I’m back in the class room for the fall semester.  I’m determined to get my academic butt back in gear.  Little did I know how much my time would evaporate.

Work has been a perennial nightmare for the last few weeks.  Things began inexplicably breaking, and we are still struggling to get a permanent solution in place.  On top of that, rumors of layoffs have everyone on edge.  Now is not the time to be lax at work.

I joined a band.  After my well-publicized search for drumming opportunities, I found one that was worth the wait! I am the new drummer of Greenfoot, a rock/blues/rockabilly band.  I am especially excited for this opportunity to join two talented musicians.  I believe that my musical gifts can help take this music to an awesome new level.  Originally the blues/rockabilly genre wasn’t one I ever initially considered, but I’m definitely growing into the music.  These guys have a really unique sound, and I am challenged by the genre.  I’m used to being able to easily crank out some grooves and lay a solid foundation.  With this new genre, I find myself taking a step back and reflecting on my true place in the genre.  How can I apply my signature to this style?  It’s neat to actually sit down and "wood shed" my parts, deliberately planning each song.  We actually have a few gigs lined up in October.  I am looking forward to playing live again!

Matt and I are hard at work, starting a new business.  We’ve been inspired to create a unique seldom-done service, that will be greatly needed by many people.  As we’re finalizing the planning stages, I’ll be sharing more on my blog.  In the meantime, you can say that we’re working to "Preseve Memories".  This has definitely been time-consuming, especially since we’re looking to launch on October 1.

Many other new things are beginning. I’m now a Knight of Columbus.  I’m dusting off my Broncos jersey for another exciting season.  I’m still biking and finding ways to get back in shape.  I am scaling a mountain of NCSC work, and will be heading to Dallas in about a week.

These are definitely crazy times, but I still have many random thoughts.  I hope that this inaugural school-year post will remove the psychological barrier I have from finding time to post.  Thanks for sticking with me, wish me luck!

Wow, TGIF!  I am really grateful that this week is finally coming to an end.  At the beginning of the week I knew that this week was going to be long – little did I realize how much of an understatement I made.  Frankly work has kicked my ass.  When it’s all said & done, I’ll be putting in about 55-60 hours of work this week, and it’s all been fighting fires, with our application consistently going down.  It’s definitely frustrating to say the least.

I’m a little fearful about this upcoming week: given the amount of butt-kicking that works’ brought about, I’m nervous to add school on top of that.  Also looking at my schedule next week I have something going on virtually every night. Ugh.

On some good notes: I got my Broncos season tickets yesterday!  It hurt the wallet a bit, but I was fortunate enough to be able to pull it off for another year!  Now football season can officially begin…

Tonight Bethany and I are headed down to the Pepsi Center in Denver for the Red Hot Chili Peppers concert.  This is a show I’ve really been excited about.  I saw them a few years ago at the crappy Fiddler’s Green / Coors Amphitheater venue in Denver, and it was about as good as it could be at the venue.  I can’t stand Coors Amphitheater because they have this noise ordinance that prevents any groups from playing after 10:30.  Snoop Dogg actually opened for them (which was an unique but awesome combination), but he played for almost 90 minutes, and when the show started at 7pm it really didn’t give the Chili Peppers much time to play at all.  This time, I’m really anxious to see a full set from them.

This will also be the debut of my "concert-camera".  I bought a used Casio Exilim EX-S3 camera off of eBay a few weeks back. My intention is to have a camera of decent quality, but is small enough to sneak in.  Both the Sonys and Exilims got good reviews for slim cameras, and the price was right on for the Exilim on eBay.  This thing is small enough to fit in a deck-of-cards holder, or a cigarette case – should be easy enough to smuggle.  I am looking forward to providing an update on my concert-camera’s inaugural journey.