Jazz at The Walrus

Here's a picture from Michael and my gig on Monday night at a local restaurant/bar called the Walrus. Grandma was here and she accompanied my parents and Austin to listen. We played from 8:15pm-12:15am with a few breaks and had a great time.

Our band is called Nodak Summit (since we're all from ND but we aren't always here) Zach is an incredible drummer now living/gigging in the St. Paul area, and Darrin is a bass player living in Georgia. John Krueger is still in ND teaching music at Cathedral Private Elementary.

From L to R: Zach Schmidt (drums), John Krueger (alto sax), Darrin King (6-string electric bass) Michael (piano), Joel (tenor)


*note that I am wearing an old tie that Dave made for Grandpa a while back.

Lunar eclipse

we got up to see the eclipse this morning between midnight and 1:30am. Used a 10x zoom with tripod. So the whole time, I'm watching and taking pictures, I can hear something rustling and, and sniffing coming from the alley...eventually, a racoon popped it's head over our fence! Didn't get the camera off the tripod in time to snap a pic. bummer.

Midwest Customs (not really)

Here are a few pics of my 2006 Toyota Corolla LE (5 speed). I'm very pleased with this car and plan to update the shift knob to something custom. I'm hoping I will be able to carve something from a nice piece of wood and then use a wood burner to inscribe the shifting map.

As you can tell, the rear and back side windows are heavily tinted which gives the car a nice secure feeling. It also changes the driving experience slightly, making you feel like you are in a cockpit rather than a glass box.

The 6-disc CD changer is another sweet feature. Speakers aren't bad either. There are even little speakers at the bottom of the A-pillars (at the top of the front door hinges).

106K miles, one owner (drove mostly highway), and the car looks like it's brand new IN and OUT.


I decided to name my car: "Rambi" after Rambi the Rhinoceros from the Donkey Kong Country video game for Super Nintendo. I'd say the resemblances are stunning. They both say, "Don't mess with me."

this is just a tribute

Austin.

Competitor.

Flowing.

Out with the old. In with the new.

Here is a photo of our new car with a similar shot of the dear departed Subaru. The new car is smoother, quieter and I'm enjoying it. The Legacy was a bit more fun to drive and handled more like a sports sedan, so I'm missing it a bit. but not the nagging "what's next?" in car repairs. There were 395,636 Accords sold in '07 alone.





Check out the tires. Brand/Model: Fierce/Instinct. Complete with flame graphics on the sidewalls. Fast and Furious III, here I come.

Menacing Mantis

Saw this guy hanging out on the grape arbor. He looks like something out of a si fi movie. Pesky bugs beware. (note clothes pin for scale)

Let it snow let it snow let it snow

In my 50th year I decided that it was time to buy a snow blower. Actually during my 49th year when we set some kind of record for frequency of snow fall, I made up my mind. I bought it used, but runs great. I really gave it a workout today going through lots of wet, heavy snow. Here is Darren. He is happy because he will be using it to clear a couple of neighbor's driveways.

Home theater

We finally got a plasma TV this year, but had it sitting on the old TV/media stand, so couldn't take advantage of the reduced space of a thin monitor. I just finished a built-in, by building into our walk in closet and hanging the monitor. What a difference in space, and look. I matched the wide molding to the rest of our basement. I have in-ceiling speakers and all the wires/cables are hidden in the walls. Trouble is, now Julie can't rearrange the room around so much...

Family Photo

found this on my camera! (sorry for the delay)

Love you all!

cabin closing

oops.

not sure how this happened.


the new wheel set-up on the lift is the bomb.

all docks and lifts are in except for the main one. lines are blown, water off, gate closed. another year. oops. not sure how this happened.

oh yeah, forgot to tell you about my summer (#4)

Finally getting back to ND in June, I had the privilege of hosting my buddy Andrew on his way up to Alaska. What an amazing beard. We had a great time hanging at the lake: sailing (nearly tipped!), diving and relaxing.

oh yeah, forgot to tell you about my summer (#3)

The end of May, I went to Cleveland, OH for an Art Song Festival. Only ten singer pianist teams were chosen, and my singer friend and I felt fortunate to be among such talented teams. We were among the youngest, and many of the teams were finishing doctoral programs at schools such as Julliard, New England Conservatory, and other big time schools. It was a great experience. I got to meet a lot of cool people.

Karen Crow, the singer I accompanied. She did her undergrad at Lee.

Mischa, myself and Yegor. These guys were from NY. They were probably the best team there.

oh yeah, forgot to tell you about my summer (#2)

I graduated!

oh yeah, forgot to tell you about my summer (#1)

I think I've posted about this place before, but this water hole was one of my favorites in TN. We took a last hurrah trip up here the day before graduation. The water was still a bit cold, but it was still real swell.

Andrew has such a sweet beard. I feel cool just sitting next to him.

The group.

Here's me gliding down the falls. (notice the gentle and epic flow of my golden locks).


So fierce.


Joel taking an ice bath.
A little yoga by the falls.

And finally, the cliff we jumped from.

the Lone Wolf still hunts at Dusk (a.k.a. Joel finds good things on Craigslist)

Here are my friends: Josh (roomate/bass player), John (truck friend) and Jordan (plays timpani most often) and on the ground is the newest member of our family. She's not paying rent, but we don't mind.

I found a free piano on Craigslist (Chattanooga) and brought it home with the help of my friends and a pickup truck. It had been entirely upholstered with this awful orange/brown vinyl, so the first thing we did when we got it to the house was cut off most of the upholstery. We also had to saw the (non-functioning/decorative) left leg off so that our second couch (the blue one) would fit under it. Don't worry, it fully reclines still. That's Josh's (my roomate's) head in the mirror. We may try to replace the mirror with some wood. It's a bit hokey. But, we like our piano and it really gives our pad a dignified air. It needs to be tuned, but we have a music faculty who owns the equipment necessary. We are excited...

A close up of the (cleaned) keys and exposed wood that was underneath the orange/rust vinyl upholstery. Apparently they sanded down some of the wood to allow the vinyl to lay better when wrapped.

this is is a photo of our back patio. The wood came from a neighbor who cut down an 80 year old Red Oak and let us have some pieces (She said we can take all we want... we know how that goes) The broken Chiminea comes from Andrew Moles (one of Michael's old roomates.) He bought it 6 years ago and we just re-po'ed it from an old friend's house. Totally awesome.

more to come.....

Country church

I took the winter photo of this cute church near Linton, ND a year ago on our Christmas drive up. It worked well as a background photo at chruch behind the lyrics, so I was anxious to take a couple summer shots for the same purpose. I few more photos thrown in for the same purpose.