the tonedef blog

Sunday started with me making a McDonald’s run for breakfast. After we at and chatted a bit I headed outside and cut the grass. It didn’t feel to hot out, but by the time I was done I realized how humid it was outside. After the grass I had Band Mom cut my hair for me. HOLY SHORT HAIR BATMAN!

Band Mom got a little over zealous with the trimmers. I almost, but not quite, have a military grade high and tight. A little short for me, but it’ll grow back so now worries. After I cleaned up all the hair I jumped in the shower.

After my shower my folks came and picked up Things 1 & 2 and took them to see Shrek The Third. Then I headed over to Rock’s for practice around 5.

Practice was a little rough this week, but not awful. We ran through 15 or so songs, we’ve only got a few weeks till rocks party and our coming out, so we need to pull stuff together, then we’ll have another month till our first bar show. I think we’ll be ready. While at practice The Colonel stopped in. He liked my haircut…

Saturday was my company picnic at Olglebay Park. It was a great day for a picnic. It was clear skies, and upper 70s. Just perfect. We got to the picnic around 1:00 said some hellos and had some grub. The company provided everyone with activity bands for everyone so that all of the park activities were covered for the whole day.

After lunch, Band Mom and I took Things 1 & 2 and rode the pedal boats. Thing 1 helped me pedal while Band Mom and Thing 2 sat on the back and just enjoyed the ride. We cruised around the lake a few times. After we finished that we then walked over the hill to the zoo.

The zoo was pretty cool. The first thing we checked out when we got in were the model trains. They have a huge Lionel setup. I think the kids really got a kick out of it. I know I did. After the train display, we made our way around the zoo and checked out the animals. Some of the cooler animals they had were two bald eagles. Another one and one that I’d never seen before was a Red Panda. After we made our circuit through the zoo we rode the zoo’s train. It makes a circuit through and near some of the exhibits. While going through the ostrich enclosure we saw one of the birds stand up and it turns out it was sitting on 3 eggs. When it stood up another ostrich proceeded to turn the eggs. That was pretty cool.

After the zoo we headed back to the playground and let Things 1 & 2 play for a while. A little before 5 we headed back to the shelter for the prize drawings. I ended up winning a $50 gift card to Cabela’s. While I was watching the drawings Band Mom took Things 1 & 2 back to the playground for a bit. After the drawings we decided to play a round of miniature golf. Thing 1 actually got a hole in one so she loved the golfing. After the golfing everyone was starting to get a little beat so we said our goodbyes and headed home.

Sunday was Father’s Day. Things 1 & 2 each made me a card. Band Mom let me sleep in again. Also while Band Mom and Pooh were out shopping the other day, they picked me up a couple of work shirts and some AC/DC pajama pants. Band Mom made us some scrambled eggs for breakfast. Then I spent most of the day watching the final day coverage of The U.S. Open at Oakmont. Man golf looks awesome in HD. Around 4 Pooh’s Dad dropped her off. So we called my folks and headed out for a little U.S. Open of our own.

We went to Deer Ridge for some Father’s Day miniature golf. Which of course, I won… Then we went to Bob Evans for dinner. After dinner my folks headed home, and so did we. I ended the relaxing Father’s Day playing some poker on the PS2 before heading to bed.

Since Band Mom and I were out late on Friday, and my folks had Things 1 & 2 we got up Saturday around the crack of NOON! Ah to sleep in without the kids and no commitments for the whole day. We lazed around and did very little for most of the day. Band Mom decided not to go to the second day of her conference, since the first day was rather boring. Around dinner time, my folks were back home with the kids after a day at the pool. They brought them over and Band Mom made dinner for everyone. She made this killer chicken on the grill. It was coated with yogurt and curry powder. It was excellent! After dinner my folks left and Band Mom finished watering her outdoor flowers. We lazed around some more and watched some TV for the rest of the night. I ended up going to bed at 4 after catching up on all of my DVRed programming, but not being able to fall asleep until after 5.

Friday, Band Mom was attending a conference, so I took the day off to stay home with Things 1 & 2. During the day they played and I got some work done. At 6 Band Mom had a meeting. I then took Things 1 & 2 to my folks to spend the night. Then I headed to Rock’s (after a quick stop at the beer distributor and Subway. I was there a little early so I got to eat my dinner before we practiced. We ran through the 5 new songs we ran through last week and 5 more new ones. They are coming together pretty good.

After practice we were meeting Band Mom and her friends at Bradford’s like we did two weeks ago. When I called Band Mom to let her know we were on our way she told me to skip Bradford’s (because the music was killing them so they were already bouncing to the next stop) and head to Peppino’s. So Trav and Rock followed me home so I could drop my car off and we headed to Peppino’s. Scott was heading home to pick up the his girlfriend and other roommates. When Scott got there it turned out his girlfriend and her sister backed out, but his other roommate Kieth was in. So now there are 9 of us hanging out back of Peppino’s chatting with the owner for a while.

After a few drinks it was time for the next stop. Mayor Ken dropped out after Peppino’s so the rest of us headed to Hungry Jose’s for the next stop. A quick round there and then off to May’rz Inn for some karaoke. We got there and on of the sons of the owners was there with his wife and she was singing. Then I signed Trav up to sing A-Ha’s Take On Me which was kinda funny. He then signed up Scott to do a Busta Rhymes song. Very Funny! Then Councilman Matt and I did a duet of The Divinyls I Touch Myself. There’s an inside joke there, but it was funny without knowing it. Then the karaoke guy closed down shop (a 1/2 hour early according to the signs) so we headed to The Moose to finish up the night.

This year Ozzfest is free. That’s right free. Sharon Osbourne in all her genius found a way to bring an all day festival concert to the masses for free. Band Mom would love to have the number of sponsers Sharon got for Ozzfest for any of the festivals she is working on…

To get tickets this year for the festival you first needed to get a code. You could get the code a number of ways including buying Ozzy‘s new CD, getting one from a special case of Monster Energy drink, or getting it online starting in May. I got mine online. Then yesterday (June 12) at the specific time for your venue, you went online and used the code to claim up to 2 tickets for the show.

Sounds all fine and dandy doesn’t it? Well, it was a bit more painful than that. First off, I got two codes for two of my email addresses. Band Mom got a code, and Pooh got a code. Just having a code didn’t guarantee a ticket. They gave out codes with no end, tickets obviously are finite. So you had to make sure you got your tickets before they ran out. Also Pooh was not home at the time the tickets went on “sale” so I said I would get hers as well. At 3 o’clock I opened 3 browsers and headed to the ticket site. ONE of them actually allowed me to start the process. The other two wouldn’t connect to the site (probably a high traffic issue). After an hour the first one died in the middle of the process. Then I got the others to connect. I had all 3 working to get tickets. Band Mom was at home having the same connection issues. By the time I left work at 5 I had 1 pair. By the time I got home at 5:30 Band Mom had a pair. Pooh was working on the other 2 pairs. (I really didn’t care at this point since I had MY ticket…) We got a pair around 6 and the final pair finally after 6:30. I’m sure there are people out there that didn’t get anything in those 3 hours. The servers must have been getting smashed.

Turns out Band Mom can’t go now. The first day of Washington’s Arts & Heritage festival is the day of Ozzfest. She’s not really broken up about since the only bands she’s heard of at the show are Ozzy and Lamb Of God, and she only likes Ozzy. Me on the other hand…How could you not like this lineup. Those 2 alone are worth going for, add Static X and Hatebreed and everybody else there is gravy…

My parents had a tree cut down in there back yard, oh, a few months ago. However, it was only cut down. The tree has been laying in the yard for months now. So Monday night Rock offered to take the chainsaw over and cut it down for them. Right after work, he stopped by and picked me up. We headed over to my folks and he started cutting. We figured we could get it all out of the way in one evening. WRONG. The chain decided it didn’t want to quite finish the job and Rock was out of oil before the whole tree got cut. So we packed everything up and told my Mom we’d be back another day this week.

We then headed back to my place to get my car and I followed Rock out to his house to help him unload his new TV. He got this big ‘ol 43” 4:3 HD Toshiba. First we unloaded the stand and it was kinda heavy so I was dreading this monster of a TV. Turns out the TV is lighter than the stand. We got it in and apparently the DirecTV guy’s coming on Friday to get him all hooked up the the HD service. Rock’s not gonna know what to do with him self when he has HD big screen Skinamax!

Saturday Band Mom got on an early cleaning kick. So while she was cleaning inside the house (mainly the office) I was on lawn duty. Got everything trimmed and mowed and went in to help clean a little. We got the downstairs pretty clean and then everyone got cleaned up.

We headed up to Band Mom’s Mom’s around 4. We picked her up and went to an early dinner at Bob Evan’s. After we ate we went to Wal Mart so Band Mom’s Mom could do some shopping (grocery and other). For as little as that woman actually bought that was the longest trip to Wal Mart, ever. After we were done shopping, we took Band Mom’s Mom home and headed home ourselves.

By the time we got home it was approaching 9. Councilman Matt had invited Band Mom and I to go to the American Legion to see Tom Terling. So around 10 we met Councilman Matt at Peppino’s and followed him to the Legion. We got there and hung out with Matt’s Dad, the Mayor and his wife, and Jeff while listening to Tom. We didn’t want to leave Pooh home with Things 1 & 2 for too long 2 nights in a row, so around midnight Band Mom and I headed home.

Band Mom was whipped so she went to bed not long after we got home. I ended up playing around 3 hours or so of Return To Arms.

Sunday morning I got the fam some McDonald’s breakfast. Band Mom and I caught up on some DVRed shows. Then my folks came and picked up Things 1 & 2 and took them to the pool. Band Mom and Pooh headed out to do some shopping and I got some much needed client work done.

Everybody got done or home about the same time and Band Mom made some ke-bobs on the grill for dinner. I love relaxing Sunday’s like that.

Friday night we weren’t supposed to practice, but earlier in the week the band decided to get together for a quick practice. So I headed out to Rock’s around 8. We went over some new stuff that we are adding and wrapped up around 9:30. I headed home and got changed to go out with Band Mom.

We then picked Councilman Matt up at The George Washington Hotel and headed out to the Holiday Inn Meadowlands to check out Smokin Section. This is the house band for The Hines Ward Show and Band Mom has them booked for both the Washington Arts & Heritage Festival and Oktoberfest.

We hung out there for a while then called down to Jay’s to see who was playing. Turns out it was our friends Buc Wyld. So we packed up and headed down to Jay’s. We ended up catching the last song of the second set and then chatted with Tim and the guys a little. The also are playing Arts & Heritage and Oktoberfest this year. We stayed for the third set then headed home. I don’t know what it is with Buc Wyld, but I really dig these guys. I HATE most country music, but I could hang out with these guys and watch them play every day…

Tuesday night was the third Republican Presidential candidate debate. This one was in New Hampshire and hosted by CNN. I didn’t get to see it yet but I DVRed it and after I watch it will probably be posting about it. I did hear that like the others it was rigged toward the “front runners”, but I’ll watch before I comment.

However, while checking out the news today I saw something that really bothered me. After the debate the candidates hit the “spin room” and the press room and the candidates and their teams were hounded by the media. Apparently while an reporter for WeAreChange.org and Infowars was questioning a Giuliani representative about some comments made by Giuliani in a previous interview and back after 9/11, they had the reporter arrested! FOR ASKING QUESTIONS. This reporter had a press pass to the event and was not doing anything seemingly wrong except asking a question this person didn’t like. Watch the video below to see the confrontation.

I was listening to The Alex Jones Show and apparently he wasn’t the only one to be escorted out by police. He’s the only one I heard of being charged with anything, but still…This is completely ridiculous. Since when is asking questions a crime. In my opinion, this is what you can expect if Giuliani gets in power. Or most of the candidates from the Republicans or Democrats for that matter.

For a more detailed article on this read this article.