Side 3 Track 6

Here and Now.

Michelle Softich recently asked, "I got to thinking about your 'Jackson Pollack' creation at your previous apartment, and I am curious as to whether or not you had to, let's say, 'retouch' the paint in your old place?"

Here's pics...

The answer is YES. When I originally painted this mess I used some type of paint that was odor-riffic and kept me high on the fumes for about a month. And it now has several coats of some green-ish beige paint over it. Well at least it did when I moved out 2 years ago.
My current apartment has found me using actual framed pictures to adorn the walls. There is something to be said for conventional forms of decoration. Mostly a lack of airborne toxins.

Here's a review of what's been up with me lately.

On June 16th I'll be moving to a new apartment that is 7 minutes away from work. Since my current commute has me in the car for 1 1/2 to 2 hours a day, this is a vast improvement. It will also save me lots of $$$ on gas.

My job is terrific! (Really) I spend all day doing spreadsheets and bookkeeping and pouring over P&L reports and General Ledger reports and using my 4 color pen and 5 different highlighters and 3 different types of white-out and feeling more important than is actually the case. I used to want to be a rock star, but it's hard when you look like this...



Not really. This picture is about 10 years old and I'm much fatter now.

Here are some pictures from a couple months ago.




These last two also have my buddy Kelly in them. You'll see other pictures of her throughout this blog. She's my best friend and I love her because she's pretty and is willing to be seen in public with me (though she lives 1300 miles away). That's all it takes to be my best friend. (Of course, I am a dork that spends 8 to 10 hours a day doing spreadsheets and then goes home to spend countless more hours in front of the computer. Ahh, yes indeed friends, I am livin' the dream. Unfortunately it's not my own.)

Aside from work and being a full-time dork I still go to Florida every March for our "Family Gathering and Spring Training Baseball Uber Weekend Mass Hysteria Glee Club Picnic and Stamp Collectors Trading Post". Um... no. Just the first part.

Uh, still a Cardinals fan. Still a Colts fan. Still an F1 fan.
Matt sends me a DVD of each race and then we spend hours on the phone talking about it. He's a dork too.

Lastly, I spent inordinate amounts of time making compilation CD's. A couple of bands that I've recently become enamored with are...
The Fratelli's
The Apples In Stereo
Elliot Smith
Of Montreal
Combustible Edison
The Shins
Apollo Sunshine
Peter Bjorn And John
And a big HELL YEAH to the cover of "My Generation" by,
The Zimmers

It's seems odd to me that likable, melodic, pop songs are now "Underground" and mainstream music is dull as dishwater. I understand that "emo" is the big thing now (I first learned about "emo" 10 years ago from my friend Kyl3 M. Beach [that's really how he spells it] and back then I quickly figured out it was an excruciatingly limiting musical form and predicted it to be a fad that would never amount to much. I was wrong.) but the songs that supposedly "Rock" are still lackluster. To find music that has a spark of energy and life to it, you really have to do a little digging.

Lastly, I am still a big fan of ELO and have been constantly listening to the 30th anniversary reissue of "Out Of The Blue". The 1977 album that is now "Cool" but got me beat up for liking it back in the day. Yeah, well, who's cool now? Oh, yeah, still not me. (Dammit!)


Okay, that's the end of the blog entry for this year. Obviously that contradicts what "Blogging" is about, but what are you gunna do about it, sue me?

All Hail Brak!



(once a dork, always a dork)

Phil

2007 Spring Training

Saw the redbirds play a couple games this spring. They'll be a .500 team.

I got Tagged - 5 Things you don't know about me.

From Matt:
Now, I get to tag a couple of people to blog their 5 things. So, I am reaching out and tagging my nephew, John Softich and my good friend Phil Maxted to perpetuate this.

From Me:

Okay... here goes...

1) Though I like to believe I'm a fun person, I'm also a fairly cranky person.
2) My whole life I figured I would be dead by age 30. I spent a good chunk of my early 30's completely at a loss as to what to do. It honestly didn't occur to me that I'd still be around. (Therapy anyone?)
3) I don't like compliments, I perceive it as mockery. Oddly, I don't mind being mocked. I'm used to it. (Seriously... about that therapy)
4) I wish that I was a concert violist. (I'm a dork)
5) Several years ago, as a party game, through process of elimination it was determined that the one thing I would not want to do without was milk. Yes, even more than that. Now I'm having problems with dairy. (That whole cranky thing isn't so hard to believe now, is it?)

There you go.

Now I'm supposed to pass this along to another blogger but, other than Matt, I don't know any.

Tired of Baseball? Okay, how 'bout a pretty girl?

Shucks.

Well, I asked for it. St. Louis Cardinals are the 2006 World Series Champions.

DAMN

COME ON TIGERS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Stupid Cardinals won game one. The only way this is good, is if it makes the Cardinals look worse by collapsing and losing the series again. I feel like I'm the only one that sees Tony LaRussa for the crappy manager that he is. If the Tigers lose this thing and the Redbirds are World Champs, no one will see how awful he is. Please Walt Jockety, fire Tony and give the team to Jose Oquendo. That's a team I'd like to see. As long as Jose was in charge I don't care if they win 20 games a year, it'd be the type of team that I would like to see play the game.

World Series Game One is 11 hours away.

Let the humiliation begin. The Stain Louie Carbules don't stand a chance. This 2006 team isn't good. In my opinion they are the worst Cardinal team I've seen since the mid 90's. Great core group of guys and then just a bunch of guys that wear a uniform. And without going on and on I can tell you that it's the fault of Tony LaRussa. The environment that he demands around the club house does not allow for role players to feel like anything other than extras. This year many of the "starters" fell into that catigory also, which doesn't sound like a team to me. Sounds more like half a dozen favorites and a bunch of guys unsure of what their job is or if they have one. Who wants that for a World Series Champion. Not me. I'd love to see Placido Polanco lead the charge to bring Jim Leyland another Championship. That would be a much better baseball story.

WORLD CHAMPS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

TIGERS SWEEP THE CARDINALS TO WIN 2006 WORLD SERIES! (Oops. Too Soon. Darn it. Rule #1 in comedy....timing.)