Musings of a Punk Rock Father

Yesterday around 3:30, I heard on the radio that police activity was reported at Northern Illinois University. NIU's website reported a possible gunman. At 3:55, I saw the update online that a shooting was confirmed. As an NIU graduate, the confirmation floored me even moreso than the other school shootings. I called my wife to see if anyone we know goes there, and then e-mailed one of my old professors. He responded soon after, letting me know he and his wife, also a professor, were safely at home. He was teaching in the next building when it happened.

The count is up to 6 dead, including the man who attacked the university. Everyday something in the news makes me ask "What is wrong with us?"

This tragedy hits close to home because I am a graduate of the university, and because we live only 20 or so miles from the main campus. I walked past that building nearly every day for 4 years. Seeing the doors and windows shot out, footage of students and police, hearing the accounts on the radio, the reality that I personally know some people who lived through this...it is too much for me to comprehend and to find any words to articulate how it is affecting me.

After Columbine, I would just start crying thinking about those kids...KIDS!...who had to dive over tables, around doorways, to avoid a bullet. When I saw Michael Moore's "Bowling for Columbine," I couldn't sleep, and I kept replaying in my head the video from inside the school on that horrific day. I had never seen it until that film, and I found it profoundly disturbing.

I feel the same way now. I think about the young people in that classroom, and I cannot believe that they had to make the choice to jump, dive, crawl, whatever it took to get away from someone who wanted to destroy lives. I cannot believe that 6 of them are dead.

Oh my, I still have a blog?

I was pretty much forced to end my blogging when my employer decided to block this website. I tried to transfer my blog to blogspot, and they blocked that too. And the last thing I ever wanted to do when I got home was look at a computer.

I now have a little more time for these things, though, since I have been laid off. Ah, the joys of "structural expense reviews." Let's just say that Des Moines, Ann Arbor and Mumbai, India are all cheaper than Chicago. The best part is that my branch was actually number one in the country for our last full month.

So I am once again writing resumes and cover letters, and practicing the answers to questions like, "What would you say is your biggest weakness?" I also was able to enjoy the ambiance of the local unemployment office.

I have been able to spend some extra time with my wife, 2 1/2 year old son and 7 month old daughter. We went to Brookfield Zoo on July 3rd, and that ruled. The zoo is so much cooler when you go with a 2 year old. He was chilling in his stroller as we walked past an okapi (yeah, I'd never heard of it either) and he has the zoo map open in front of him and yells, "There's an okapi on my map!" Everything is so much more exciting when seen through his eyes.

The thing I am missing most right now from my job is the CD club that I started with 2 of my co-workers. We would pick a theme (90's songs, songs about war, songs over 10 minutes long/under 2 minutes long) and make comps for each other. In a few months the biggest thing I will miss wll be the paycheck, but for now it is the comps.

I don't know how regularly I will be able to write. I suppose it will depend on what job I get next.

I apologize for the infrequent posts here; I still update at my Blogger account.

Mostly I'm continuing my Album of the Day series, in which I write about albums I've listened to that were referred to me by others. I have months worth of albums left.

The other day I told Melanie that her brain is like a Brawny paper towel, and mine is more like the other leading brand. She remembers so many things, like important dates, my pants' size, pizza toppings I like, who starred in what movie. I, on the other hand, can barely be counted on to remember my car keys, never mind where I put them the night before.

I wish I had a better memory. I try hard to remember to do nice things for her, and to clean up after myself, and to consider her needs, but sometimes I just plain forget. And it's not because I'm not thinking about her, because I am. Sometimes I get so wrapped up in doing something nice for her, that instead of thinking about what she would like, I think about what I would like if I were her and I do that.

As I said before, we recently painted our new basement, and bought sofas from Ikea: a sofa bed and a love seat.

This is how the stairway going down now looks:

This is the new view from the stairs (the window still has some work to be done, though):

Here is a view of the new closet; the doors are supposed to be installed tomorrow:

Our bathroom still needs some work. Tomorrow the floor, ceiling, toilet and sink are to be installed. But here it is in all it's painted glory:

No photos for this phase yet, unfortunately. Sunday afternoon and evening we prepped the walls for the primer. First I tried to use a Shop Vac to get the drywall dust off the walls, but it didn't seem to do much good. So we dampened some rags and washed the walls, which worked better, but was a mess. Then we found some imperfections in the drywall, so went to work spackling and sanding.

I finished priming around 11pm Sunday, with only a few drops of primer to spare. Then, Monday we actually put paint up. So for we've gotten one coat up, and it looks terrific. It's amazing to see how far our basement has come in about a month and a half.

Then late last night we picked up our sofas. Originally we purchased a sofa bed love seat and a three person sofa, but when we got home and unwrapped everything, the larger sofa was damaged. We also discovered that it was too long to fit down our stairs anyway. So back to the store we went, and exhanged the damaged sofa for another love seat. This weekend we should be able to move the rest of our furniture downstairs, since all we will have left to do is painting the trim.

Our contractor should get the bathroom finished this week, because really all he needs to do is put in the floor. We're putting in all the fixtures ourselves. It will be nice to get the sink and toilet out of our garage finally.

At least it looks like everything will be done in time for Kyle and Erika to visit us!

Since work was fairly slow this morning, I spent a little time considering what I would put on a top ten of 2005 list. First, I had to consider what categories belonged. Being like Rob Gordon from High Fidelity, I believe my list must include books, films and music that achieved high levels of excellence. I could include personal milestones and highlights, but those probably belong on a different list. So I will, for now, present my Art-Related Top Ten List of 2005. Keep in mind, these are not necessarily things that were released or created in 2005, but things that I discovered in 2005.

10. The Apprentice
OK, so it all can’t be considered high art. I love this show. For whatever reason, I get caught up in the drama and backstabbing and blow-ups and freak-outs. I love to conjecture about who will get fired and why, and I love to play armchair Trump and list my reasons for whom I would fire and why. For the record, I think it was terrible that Randal told Trump there should be only one apprentice, I think it worse that Trump, the self-important blow-hard that he is, listened. He should have told Randal to cram it, and hired Rebecca anyway because he’s Trump, and he doesn’t have to listen to anybody, particularly his most recent employee. Now that they are branching out beyond New York City, I can only hope they bring the series to Chicago soon.

9. Public Enemy “Bring the Noise 2000”
Never officially released.
With the release of “New Whirl Odor,” which was a contender for a position on this list, my interest in Public Enemy was renewed, which brought me to a website called www.shutemdown.com, which was linked from Public Enemy’s main page. On it I found a cornucopia of PE downloads, including this unreleased album of b-sides and remixes. When you download and burn this to a CD, make sure the songs are burned with no space between tracks because they bleed into one another creating the greatest party mix I’ve ever heard. As Chuck D says, “Welcome to the Terrordome!”

8. Finding Neverland
Theatrical Release Date: September 4, 2004
Video Release Date: March 22, 2005
It is rare for Johnny Depp to make an outright bad movie. Some I didn’t care for (“Chocolat,” “Secret Window”) and some too weird even for me (“Charlie and the Chocolate Factory,” “From Hell”), but none of the films on his resume are just plain bad. In fact, most are amazing. “Finding Neverland” falls into that latter category. This film tells the story of the author of Peter Pan, and the story about the story is just as magical and timeless as Peter Pan itself. Now I want to see it again.

7. The Incredibles
Theatrical Release Date: November 5, 2004
Video Release Date: March 15, 2005
As a fan of “The Iron Giant,” I eagerly anticipated Brad Bird’s “The Incredibles.” Of course, now that we have a child, Melanie and I don’t get out to the movies often and so our anticipation of a theatrical release turns into an anticipation of the video release. We both really loved this fun, clever, well-written film. I love kids moves that transcend being a kids movie, and both of Bird’s feature-length films have managed to accomplish that.

6. Douglas Coupland “Eleanor Rigby”
Released September 6, 2004
I’m a huge fan of Coupland’s “Life After God” and “Microserfs.” His writing is full of characters who think deeply without pretension, and with the exception of “Miss Wyoming,” I’ve been unable to put his books down. “Eleanor Rigby” is simply an enjoyable read. So much time has elapsed between the time I read it and now that I find myself unable to come up with examples of what I loved about the novel, so I suppose you’ll just have to read it for yourself.

5. Hotel Rwanda
Theatrical Release Date: December 22, 2004
Video Release Date: April 12, 2005
Don Cheadle is in my top ten list for favorite actors. His work in films like “Out of Sight,” “Traffic,” and “The Assassination of Richard Nixon” is worth the price of admission alone. (And I just looked him up on imdb.com and saw that Elmore Leanord’s “Tishomingo Blues” is in preproduction, with Cheadle cast as Robert Taylor. Funny, because I just read the book and pictured Cheadle as the character as I read it.) “Hotel Rwanda” is a sad, poignant, important film. It is a film that lifts the medium above pure entertainment, even above artistic excellence: it shows that films can share a story that can touch and change lives. I actually ended up seeing the first half of the film twice because I began watching it while Melanie was asleep. When she awoke and wanted to see it from the beginning, I had no problem skipping back to chapter one and starting all over again. If you still haven’t seen this, I urge you to rent it on your next visit to the video store.

4. Harry Potter
This year I decided to read the Harry Potter series. As of this writing, I am almost halfway through “Goblet of Fire,” and I love the series thus far. I tore through the first three, but life has been a little more hectic during the fourth installment. I wanted to read the books as much as a response to the number of Christians I heard talking about how bad and immoral the books are as a genuine desire to read a good story. Admittedly I am troubled by some of the sequences of witchcraft and wizardry, such as the divination classes, but heck if Rowling has written a set of books that aren’t difficult to put down. Melanie and I just watched the first three films as well, and while they didn’t spark my imagination as much as the books, they were fun rides on their own merits.

3. mewithoutYou “Catch For Us the Foxes”
Original release date: October 5, 2004
I had only heard an EP and seen the band once before. The EP was good, and live I really enjoyed them. They wore their Fugazi influences on their sleeves, and their set was compelling. Still, I didn’t feel the need to buy an album. Recently, though, it seems I couldn’t avoid seeing amazing reviews of their 2004 release, “Catch For Us the Foxes.” My pastor even mentioned the passage in Song of Solomon 2:15, “Catch for us the foxes, the little foxes that ruin the vineyards, our vineyards that are in bloom.” Then I found a sale, and I got the CD for $7.50. Now I’m sorry I didn’t get it earlier, especially being a fan of mid-to-late-90’s punk rock. The album sounds like Steve Albini (frontman of seminal punk rock bands Big Black and Shellac and producer of seminal albums like “Nevermind” and “Surfer Rosa”) fronting a band made up of the Jesus Lizard, Tar, and Seam. Thrilled, I picked up the CD to look a the credits, where I noticed that the album was produced by none other that Brad Wood, who had produced the Jesus Lizard and Seam, along with many other notable Chicago bands. This is one of the most exciting new albums I have heard in 2005, and is one that I find myself recommending to anyone who will give me half an ear.

2. Project 86 “…And the Rest Will Follow”
Original release date: September 27, 2005
Since the New Bomb Turks have essentially broken up, Project 86 has taken on the mantel of my favorite band. Lyrically, the band is leaps and bounds beyond its peers in the mostly uninspired realm of next-generation metal. I actually have no idea what genre to put them in, though. To me, they sound more post-hardcore than anything, but others have called them anything from rap-rock and nu-metal (both of which, to me, equal talentless, soulless genres) alternative and punk. This latest album further distinguishes the band from other hard-rocking outfits, as they veer from the catchy but heavy riffs of “Cavity King” to the quiet title track to a bombastic arena-rock western anthem called “My Will Be A Dead Man.” The band’s more accessible side is seen in songs like “All of Me” and “Subject to Change,” where they prove they don’t have to make a lot noise to make great songs. I also had the chance to see the band tour in support of this album, and the guys brought these songs a terrific amount of energy and passion. “…And the Rest Will Follow” is not only the most artistically exceptional piece of music that they have created, but it is also the most spiritual and thoughtful of their five albums.

1. Nirvana “With the Lights Out”
Original release date: November 23, 2004
This boxed set is a treasure trove for Nirvana fans. The expansive track list covers every phase of the band’s career, from early songs that I have never heard like “Pen Cap Chew” and “Help Me I’m Hungry” to a reworking of “You Know You’re Right.” I was particularly fond of a rocking version of “Stay Away” called “Pay to Play,” a somber hymn “They Hung Him On a Cross,” and various reworkings of “Verse Chorus Verse,” among others. Not only are the CDs pretty all-inclusive (although I would’ve like to have some of the final recordings of songs like “I Hate Myself and Want to Die,” but I guess since they already appear on legit releases they were not considered), but the accompanying DVD covers a lot of ground as well, with some great footage of the band that I’ve never seen before. I wasn’t able to get this set until my birthday in March of this year, so it is number one on my personal best of 2005 list.

Well, really only one door and some trim.

And here's a peek through the doorway from the laundry room into the new room.

Here we have our basement after the drywall has been put up, taped, mudded and sanded. I tried to take photos from the same place for each phase.

This is a view of the window from the doorway to the laundry area.

This is the view from the bottom of the stairs.

And here's a photo of the doorway to the laundry room and the new closet.

And here's one of the closet and to the right of it is where you'd come into the room from the stairs.

After a few days of what Melanie called the loudest pounding she;s ever heard, here is what we had:

This was the corner with the window.

This was the area by the stairs. Note that a new closet is being framed.

Our TV and DVD player will most likely set up shop here when done,

And the bathroom didn't really change yet.

Next: The Drywall!

I told you before that we had been unable to live in our house for a while due to some construction. Well, I was just able to upload the photos to our computer. I'll show you a few pics of what it used to look like.

This is the far end of the basement. That escape window is crap, and I've been wanting to replace it for quite some time.

These are the stairs leading up to the main floor. Underneath the stairs is used for storage, mostly seasonal items.

Behind the shelves full of eBay stuff sit our washer and dryer.

And this is the half bathroom. Note the lack of toilet and sink.

Coming soon: The Framing!

I know you're here, I can see that you've linked from your HCTS website. So post some comments already!

I woke up this morning around 6, and felt like the world was spinning. I shut my eyes, and tried to fall back asleep. Not so easy when it feels like you're on a giant carousel. But I did. I woke up again around 7 to get ready for work. I got up and got some clothes out of the closet, but all of a sudden I fell to my knees, dizzy again. So I went back to bed. I woke up again at quarter to eight and felt great. So I got up, and...dizzy. Feeling of nausea.

So I called in sick.

So Chevy has this amazing new tagline in their ads: The price on our tag is the price you pay. Not a penny more.

What a fantastic concept. Imagine our world and the way shopping would be if more retail establishments adopted this method of pricing!

Imagine walking into a grocery store, picking up a box of Little Debbie brownies, seeing a price tag marked "$1.99," and KNOWING that this was the price you would pay, and not a penny more (well, not counting tax, title, license and dealer fees, of course).

I think Chevy is really onto something. In fact, Ford has now unveiled a similar pricing plan.

They call it Keep It Simple, and promise, "All it takes is a simple handshake with your Ford Dealer. There are no tags to look for. No hassles to get tangled up in. And no gimmicks to steer clear of. The price you see is the price you’ll get."

Car dealerships: Offering consumers unprecedented pricing options.

I don't know if I'm reading this right, but looking at my blog stats, it seems that I usually get anywhere from 10 to 100 hits per day. I can't believe I get that many, considering I haven't really let many of my friends and family know that I have this yet.

But on November 20th, the hits spiked to 496. It seems that 457 of those were from direct access hits, meaning my blog was accessed 457 times by people (or the same, nefarious person?) typing in the url or clicking on a bookmark for my page.

Other brendo users, am I reading this right?

Yesterday I made a comment and said "chuckle hysterically." After thinking about it, I realized that you cannot, in fact, chuckle hysterically. I believe the very nature of the chuckle is that it is a more reserved expression of mirth. It may even be used as a sarcastic reaction, but still not enthusiastically. It should be executed with a hum-drum tone.

It has been far too easy lately to be negative. With everything going on in our lives, I keep wanting to find what is going wrong and focus on it. But Melanie recently posted on a message board a new thread about being thankful. And I didn't want to wait until Thanksgiving to give this some thought.

Mostly I am thankful for the Lord, and what Jesus did on the cross for me. I don't tell Him enough how thankful I am, and I don't tell others either. I need to do both.

I am thankful for my wonderful wife and friend, Melanie. We share so many wonderful moments together, and I need to spend some time letting her know that I appreciate her.

I am thankful for my beautiful son. I love every minute of every day with him, watching him learn and discover. Yesterday he discovered the simple joy of a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, and I am thankful I was there to witness it.

I am thankful for our home. As much as I complain about the lack of room, our neighbors, our homeowner's association and the costly repairs and maintenance, I am thankful we have a place for our family to lay their heads. It is a wonderful home, not because of the structure, but because of the precious time we share as a family in it.

I am thankful for my church. Our pastor challenges us week after week, and I love hearing his sermons. Our church recently opened the doors on it's new worship center, and it has already been a blessing. While I sat initially thinking how it was unnecessary to build such a large and hi-tech sanctuary, someone very close to me was able to hear a sermon in its entirety for the first time ever. When I heard this after the service, I thanked God that He had our church leaders invest in the costly sound equipment.

I'm sure I will think of more as the week goes on, and hopefully can add some more.

So, thanks to Kyle I have now entered the world of blogging! Thanks to Danny for setting me up. I'm not yet sure what the feel of my blog will be...we'll see what comes up.

Thanks for visiting.