Sunday, March 29, 2009

Ultrasound

This is a pic of my granddaughter who is now 18 weeks old in utero. :) She was 16 weeks in the ultrasound.



My daughter took a pic of her ultrasound photo with her cell phone, sent it to her sister, and her sister put it up on our family site, and from there I saved it. Technology is amazing, isn't it?

Trying to fit the Ocean in a Cup


Sounds, cool, doesn't it? Its from a song by Josh Wilson. He was the opener for Big Daddy Weave on Thursday. The song talks about trying to find words for God, to describe him is like trying to fit the ocean in a cup. I rather liked that comparison.

I started out Thursday morning by getting off work - at 1 a.m. I headed for home knowing I had much to do and needed to sleep sometime. Sleep ended up being an illusion. I managed to make it to bed between 3:30-4 a.m., which is earlier than I often get to bed, so sleeping wasn't happening real quickly. Finally I dozed off and too soon woke to my alarm set for a few minutes before 7. I needed sleep, so I set the alarm rather last minute and hoped to get out the door quickly. It almost happened -- almost. I figured I'd end up being a few minutes late, but close to 8 a.m. if traffic allowed. I had to drive about 45 minutes or so. After all, I reasoned to myself, it did snow and most likely the bus wouldn't be exactly there on time. They rarely are. We were supposed to be serving a full breakfast, which accounted for the early hour. I managed to get everything loaded into my car that I needed to take. I have a two door car with a convertible top, so I put the top down to make loading easier. The top decided not to go quite all the way down. I literally had to use all the force I could muster. 20 minutes later, I had the top up on my car, but the back window wouldn't go up. Fortunately after a couple of tries, the window finally went up and I was on the road. Now I was REALLY late, but I tried not to panic. I got on the road and made a call to let the person I was working with about my expected tardiness, and she hadn't even left yet. She lives further away from the venue than I do. I kept myself calm knowing somehow things had always worked out in the past, and that usually full breakfasts end up being brunch anyway. LOL Still, I made incredibly good time on the road and arrived a little before 8:30 which I could NOT believe. Lynn arrived shortly after with a few others. We were scrambling to get breakfast ready. There was no word from the bus yet, which meant they still weren't too close. AS it turned out we got word that the bus would be there about noon just as I was getting ready to cook up some scrambled eggs, so I decided to wait until they were closer before cooking them. We were well into fixing breakfast, so we just decided to start on lunch and serve both meals simultaneously. At noon, just as I was finishing up scrambling the eggs, the word came. They're here! :)

It was a fun and busy time of putting out food, serving, and meeting everyone. Everyone in the tour was extremely nice and polite and gracious, and thanked us lots for the food mostly with really cool southern accents. I don't think they could believe all of the food. LOL

After "brunch" we cleaned up a little and did some prep for dinner. Then I took a bit of a break and took a few snapshots with my point and shoot and found my seat for the evening, front row and just right of center. I think a few chairs were added and I was ended just a little more centered than when I started out, though.

Before long we were setting up for dinner. Dinner was at 5 p.m. and I could not believe how quickly the day was going. After we served dinner, and did a little clean up, I ditched the kitchen and went out to watch the concert. Just before the show started, one of the guys with security asked if that was my seat and I said "yes" so he said come with me. My first thought was, "uh oh, what did I do." LOL As it turned out, Josh Wilson wanted me to record his song, "Savior Pleas" on his little mini recorder. (I haven't done much video. I hope it turned out o.k. LOL I was a bit nervous about it.)

The concert itself was awesome as always. Josh demonstrated what a looping pedal can do, and sang 4 or 5 songs before Big Daddy Weave took the stage. Mike Weaver has a way of making worship fun and meaningful at the same time and that is one thing I have always appreciated about Big Daddy Weave (which isn't just Mike!) LOL I did my best to get some photos, although I was having some issues with clarity and exposure. You think by now I'd remember to check the ISO settings, but I didn't, so for most of the concert I was shooting at ISO 400. That means, basically, the shutter speeds were slower, so the pics weren't as sharp. I also had issues with my usually trustworthy 100mm lens focusing a couple of times and it even gave me an error message once (take out the battery, putting it back in worked.) Hopefully I will find some decent shots in the next day or two and add them in, so keep checking.

After the concert was over, I took pics of a friend from church with her friend who was in a wheel chair, so they let her at the front of the line. Then I went to visit and went back to the kitchen. I told Lynn not to worry about clean up and to leave whenever she wanted and I would finish up. Then I went and took pics of several people with Josh, bought his cd, and waited a while for a pic with him and then tried to get pics with the Big Daddy Weave guys and almost succeeded. LOL As it turned out, the guy in charge of maintenance (who does an outstanding job, btw)encouraged me to just leave everything as is for the cleaning crew coming in the next day so that the building could be cleared in a timely fashion. So, I loaded my car, helped a little with loading for someone else, and headed for home with Jimmy Eat World keeping me awake. I made a quick stop to my P.O. Box to find an Ace Enders cd I didn't recall ordering (was it a preorder at a show? It seems like I might have done that, but it was a long time ago.) At any rate, I am too blessed.

The only downside to the day, really (other than the car top incident) was that I was overtired and made a few comments I shouldn't have that came out even worse than intended. My apologies if I was stupid and rude to anyone. Sometimes when I'm really tired I should just bring a zipper. LOL O.K. That just gave me an idea. If it ever comes to fruition, I'll blog about it. ;)

Hope everyone has a good and restful week.

Peace out,
Melanie

Saturday, March 28, 2009

Simply stunning!!

This Providence and The Academy Is sing Jimmy Eat World acoustic. They performed this in Boise and it was even better than this. It gave me goosebumps. I love great
harmonies.

Wednesday, March 25, 2009

Fun Times and Exciting News

Should I post the exciting news first, or the fun times...
Fun times or exciting news? ;)

O.K. I have to spill the beans. Relient K is coming to Salt Lake City!! I was so excited that it took me hours to calm down and get some sleep. But it was a good thing, really. It's just that I saw Thiessen's blog about tour dates, and was preparing myself for disappointment. Instead, I saw June 4, Salt Lake City and did a happy dance (well, in my mind I did a happy dance, anyway.) Murray Theater is not a terribly huge venue. I have only been there one time before to see Secondhand Serenade, My American Dream, Play Radio Play and Rookie of the year show. It is an old theater made into a concert venue, and it's actually kind of a fun place. Tickets go on sale Saturday, and now I just have to figure out for certain which promoter so I know where to get them. LOL

As for the fun times, Saturday was fun - really fun. I started off the day on the right foot, by getting a whopping 2 hours of sleep before heading for Boise. I am quite sure I was barely coherent most of the day. We did have a nice drive and arrived in Boise at 2:30 p.m.

I had hoped for a wee bit of early check in and hoped to be to the venue by 3 p.m., but instead we had to wait until 3:20 for the room to be ready. I probably arrived at the venue around 3:30 p.m., so you know I didn't waste a lot of time at the hotel. It was a nice room, though, at a pretty reasonable price and only .9 of a mile from the venue.


Even with the short distance, I saw a tour bus outside a nearby hotel and a sign that said, Joan Baez, 8 p.m. SOLD OUT! I didn't even know she was touring. I would have loved that show!! LOL Down the street, David Archuleta was playing. I heard there was a long line.

When I arrived at the venue, my husband pulled into the lot and I saw the tour bus, and a red car with two young ladies, so I asked them if they knew anything about the venue. As it turned out, they were from Utah. They said I could hang out with them for the evening. They were pretty big TAI fans. They said they had talked to one of the This Providence guys earlier and I gathered from the description that they had talked to Gavin. They told me the tour manager's name so I could ask him about my camera. He said it had to go through the publicist, so I said I just wanted to take pics of This Providence, and he said he'd put something together for me. So my husband left me with cameras. As it turned out the venue pretty much nixed any hope of getting my dslr in and didn't even want to let in ANY cameras, but I mentioned to the security guard what the tour manager had said. Anyway, he finally went in and checked and I was able to bring my point and shoot in. Phew!! I would have been heartbroken otherwise. My new concert friends let me leave my dslr in their trunk and told me where they were staying in case anything happened and we lost track of each other.

After a long wait, lots of conversations, and having a few buckets of rain pouring down on us, it was almost time for the doors to open. The venue staff came out and wrist banded people before the doors opened which made my day since I had will call. I managed to get to the stage, barely on the right. The stage wasn't really huge. It was a small place, but lots of fun.

First to play was Evan Taubenfeld. Apparently he used to be a lead guitarist/back up vocalist for Avril Lavigne. He was a lot of fun and had an amazing voice. I was able to meet him and talk a bit after the concert was over, and he really was nice. I couldn't bring myself to buy his "Cheater of the Year" tee (name of his song.) I just felt funny wearing it. He said I could put an "X" over "Cheater of the Year." I seriously considered it. LOL

This Providence followed Evan, with a great acoustic set. The concert was acoustic, so both TAI and This Providence only played with two of their band members. Dan and Gavin sounded incredible. The very first song, "Wolf in Sheep's Clothing" is not what I would expect to hear as an acoustic song, but they did an amazing job of it. They played "Letdown" acoustic and it was great. I'd been singing that one all day. My favorite though, is the "sappy love song" (Dan's words, not mine) "Sand in Your Shoes." It's just beautiful. The gals behind me knew every word to all of the songs. I could hear them well. I'm sure they have some video of me singing badly (I could not hear myself at all) along with Dan and Gavin. The only bad thing, as usual, is that it had to come to an end.



After a bit of time for a stage set up, it was time for The Academy Is. All of the vocals were a pleasure to hear. William has an great voice. He also takes good care of it (at least before the show. lol) I could hear him warming up during sound check earlier in the day. I've seen TAI about 3 or 4 times, but I still don't have one of their cd's. I will remedy that soon. I would have bought one there, but they didn't have any available.




Afterwards, all of the artists hung out with us concertgoers, signed autographs, took photos, etc. I talked to Gavin a while, talked to Dan some, talked to Evan, and had a photo taken, and had a photo taken with Adam Siska. I waited for things to die down so I could get a pic with Dan and Gavin. Then I waited for the line to die down for William. Finally I got in line and the venue wanted to kick everyone out. So, William said we could just go outside and finish. Oh, and I did meet up with my concert friends who were in the lot with me. The three of us, and a few others stayed outside in the lot and talked to William for quite a long while. He was very gracious.





Finally, my new concert friends, drove me back to my hotel (which was pretty cool as I had planned to walk as I didn't want to wake Ed up.)

As it turned out, Ed was awake. Neither of us had dinner, so he ate some brownies he bought earlier at a stop, and I ate the banana I bought. Great meals. LOL Then at around 12:30 a.m. I crashed as I was completely exhausted. At 5 a.m. I had to get up, take a quick shower, and check out. I wanted to be back in time for church at 10 a.m. Things went well, but there was a hang up at the desk and it took 20 minutes to check out. Ed was less than happy that we were rushing back, so that made me feel a little bad, but I made it to church at 10:30. It was late, but they were still in the middle of the worship part of the service, so things went well overall.

Needless to say, it was an exhausting weekend, but a fun one! I can't wait for the next big adventure. I think that will be this Thursday for Big Daddy Weave. I am working, starting at 8 a.m. Who needs sleep? ;)

Peace out,
Melanie

Saturday, March 21, 2009

Hi Ho, Hi Ho, to Boise I Go (with a little hlep from my friend.)

In about 4 hours I will be headed for Boise to see This Providence.

My husband did not want to go along for the ride, but he had a change of heart. So, I got home about 1:30 a.m. and made a hotel reservation .9 of a mile from the venue.
I'm pretty excited that he is driving as I don't have to worry so much about how sleep deprived I really am. LOL

It's been gorgeous the last two days, and should be tomorrow. On the way to work today, I drove by one of the temperature signs flashing a beautiful 69 deg. (F) Ed says it will be colder on Monday, but then warms up again. I'm liking the sound of that word -- warm!!! Yes!!!

I am not a winter girl, what can I say!!

Friday, March 20, 2009

Sometimes My Own Worst Enemy, and Sometimes I Love It. LOL

Tuesday I woke up bright and early which would have been o.k., if I had gone to sleep immediately after arriving home from work at 1:30 a.m. I didn't. So after about 3-1/2 hrs. of sleep, I tried to rub the sleep from my eyes and get out of bed. The destination was "Ultrasound Specialists" who do ultrasounds and fetal photos. When we arrived, my daughter filled out a form, and received was handed a binder with instructions. The binder was just kind of a silly thing. How to hold and not hold and feed a baby the right way, and the purely ridiculous. It was mildly amusing. Then we went into a room and she got up on the table. There was a huge console and small screen. Just to the side of the table was a large tv screen and a soft, comfy couch and Bethany's friend Christine and I had a seat and prepared for the "show." As a result, I now know that I am going to be the proud grandmother of a baby girl alien. LOL Most of the video of my granddaughter was the standard black and white 2D, but there is also some 3D color video. Since Bethany is only 16 weeks, a little early for the 3D we were informed, she still looks somewhat "skeletal" and that makes her look a bit like an alien in 3D ultrasonograpy.
Still, it was apparent that she is an alien with her mother's nose. :) At least it is the same shape. She was a busy little thing. :) I had intended to put up some of the video, edited of course, but right now my computer doesn't think it should recognize my dvd player. But hopefully soon!

Afterwards, we had lunch/brunch or something of that nature at IHOP. Trying to find low fat at restaurants is definitely a challenge. I had to bring a salad for a potluck at work, so I came home, headed to Smith's for some salad shopping, came home, made a salad, and got ready for work. At about 11 p.m. I was seriously falling asleep. I finally woke a little after a brisk walk around the building twice. After work I went into one of the batches I was entering data on and double-checked. It was a wise move. Some of the errors were somewhat humorous, but only because I caught them.

Anyway, while I was online I noticed that This Providence was opening for The Academy Is in Boise on March 21st. Then I realized that March 21st is a Saturday, so I mulled over the idea of making the 5 hour drive to see them. Ed said he was o.k. with it so I bought a ticket. I fully intend to be back for church at 10 a.m. on Sunday (give or take a few minutes.) I will definitely need prayers on that one! LOL Who needs sleep?

Last time I saw This Providence was in September. I'm looking forward to seeing them again.

Miles to go, but I'd better catch a few zzzzzzzzzzzz's.

God's blessings to all and to all a good ... night.. day... whatever it is, wherever you are.

--Melanie

Tuesday, March 10, 2009

It snowed and it wasn't Tuesday

My husband keeps track of the weather forcasts online and the forecast has been for snow on Tuesday and then it's supposed to warm up a little. So this afternoon I awoke, looked out the door and it was snowing. My first thought was "It's snowing" (yes, I'm a rocket scientist) and the second was... "wait, it's not Tuesday." LOL

SO, it was definitely a Monday today. Focusing at work was tough so I hope I didn't do anything ridiculously stupid. I will cringe when we get our quality reviews back. Hoping for the best. The highlight of my day was realizing that May 25 was Memorial Day and I won't have to ask for the day off to see No Doubt/Paramore. It's the little things that keep ya going, huh? :)

After work, it was ridiculously cold and icy. I must usually leave after the crowd because I walked out of the building to hear a myriad of ice scrapers running across car windows. For some reason it really struck me as mildly amusing. I searched for a pair of gloves in my purse, which I thankfully found, and headed off to join the chorus. I literally had to pry my windshield wipers from the windshield with the ice scraper ever so carefully.

I made it home, had a bowl of hot oatmeal and said a prayer for those in Siberia. I'd never make it there. I can't imagine how people do. I am such a wimp. LOL

I hope everyone had a fine Monday.

Monday, March 02, 2009

We Shot the Moon and other things


Saturday was concert day! I was pretty excited that We Shot the Moon was coming to Kilby Court on a Saturday - no taking off work or worries of that nature. I just finished my first full week back to work as I only worked three days the first week back, and I was pretty tired. By Saturday, I wasn't sure I wanted to make the drive. I knew things would be different once I arrived. I did decide that I wanted to get a few things done, and that I wouldn't go as early as I often do. The last few times I arrived even before anyone from the bands or venue. I decided to leave around 4, stop and the store, get gas and head on out. I still wanted to be early so I could park close and avoid the evening traffic if there was any on a Saturday. Things went pretty much as planned. I left a few minutes before 4, stopped and bought a few things, filled up my gas tank (with a nice $.15 per gallon discount) and headed for Kilby Court.

Kilby is a rather interesting and kind of fun venue. It is basically like a very big garage towards the end of an alley. You enter through a gate next to a ticket shed, and the venue is on the left side, there is a "courtyard" of sorts with a fire pit in the center, and on the right side a long shack where merch is sold. It holds about 150-200 people, if that, and is a very intimate setting. Some great bands have passed through there. :)

At any rate, I did arrive somewhere near 5 p.m., I think. I didn't check the time. We Shot the Moon was there already. I spotted Jonathan and gave him something I bought for him, and showed him something I brought for Jason. So then I found Jason and he loved his bananas and Naked Juice. LOL (It was from a video.)

There were a couple of gals there that drove down from Rexburg which is about a 4 hour drive. One of them had a new Rebel XS, so we talked about cameras for a while. Then I decided to take a few photos around the place.





At one point Jonathan was watching videos from the Rexburg show the night before,and I got to see quite a few. It looks like a cool little venue. :)

Then I just killed time as best I could until 7 p.m. chatting with whoever was up for chatting. I met a gal from Canada who was visiting her daughter who is going to school here. I also met a cat. :) He liked it when I mewed to him. I didn't really know I spoke cat.


Finally, just as I was about to turn into a giant popsicle, it was 7 p.m. and time for the doors to open.

The opening band Blackhounds was a local band that was really very good. I think they should go places. I knew one of the guys from another band called Larusso, so it was cool to see him again.



After Blackhounds, Big Surrender played. The lead singer was so animated he was fun to watch. He had the best expressions! But he was hard to take pics of sometimes because his head was always moving. I did get a few, though.



Finally it was time for We Shot the Moon to play. They played a good, long set, and afterwards the crowd yelled for one more song until Jonathan came back and played to songs before the band joined him and played the song "Julie". At one point another local artist and Big Surrender's lead singer joined WSTM on the stage impromptu. :) It was a great concert!





Afterwards everyone just hung around until they were actually locking up. I stood and sat by the fireplace and talked to Little Miss Corey and her friend Beth for a while, as well as the bands. Lots of hugs were shared (which is great - I love hugs!) I stayed to get pics with the band, and they were nice enough to stick around for it even though they were tired. I don't think the pics are very sharp, but I think one isn't too bad.

Anyway, I was happy to finally make it home, around midnight, very tired, but satisfied. Ed had fallen asleep quite early, so he was awake when I got home and we chatted a bit before he went back to sleep. Then I had to take a shower because I smelled like a campfire! By the time I hit the sack it was nearly 6 a.m. So, I not really here typing this today. I'm actually a zombie masquerading as Melanie. ;)

Hope everyone had a great weekend.

God's blessings, Melanie