the tonedef blog

I upgraded my blog software today. I jumped from v1.5 to v2.3.1. Why I haven’t done this sooner I don’t know. Its just that well, I’m lazy. And I fear change. But the transition was painless and seems to have worked perfectly. If anyone (ok if either of you two who read this) notices any issues please let me know!

So today I took an online quiz that checks your views and matches you with candidates based on your answers. I answered truthfully and let the chips fall where they may. Turns out that I agree 80% with Ron Paul! I’ve been backing Paul since he announced because I thought I did agree with him. I’m glad this quiz verified my thinking…

If you want to take the quiz go to Glassbooth.org and give it a shot.

Here is the full results of my quiz

Sunday started with some Krispy Kreme. Then it got a little stormy in the household. After the storm, there was some cleaning done. Then I played some Guitar Hero III with Thing 1. We started a Co-op Career. One cool thing was that there are different set lists and different songs when you play co-op. I noticed the first set was different when we started, but then we hit the encore and it was Sabotage by The Beastie Boys. I didn’t play that last night (this morning).

Later in the day Band Mom and I made a trip to Wal Mart for some essentials and dinner. (As if dinner weren’t an essential) After we ate Band Mom and I settled in to catch up on some DVR. Band Mom was asleep with in the first segment of the first show. Around 11 she woke up as I was getting ready to head to bed. I think the weekend (Thanksgiving, Black Friday, Dave & Buster’s) finally caught up to her.

Tomorrow, Pooh gets braces…

Saturday we all got up and I headed to McDonald’s for our normal Saturday morning breakfast. After we ate everyone started getting ready. Around noon Pooh’s boyfriend was dropped off by his parents. Then Chocolate Thunder showed up. Finally my parents and sister arrived. We all loaded up in our van and my parents van and headed out for our day at Dave & Buster’s. This was a postponed birthday present for Pooh.

Once at D&B we all started gaming with a passion. Things 1 & 2 love it there. We spend way too much money and they love playing games and winning tickets. After about an hour of playing we took a break and had lunch/dinner. After we ate it was back to the gaming floor. One of my favorite games is the giant 8 player trivia game. I won a bunch of tickets while playing against Band Mom and Chocolate Thunder and some others. I played a bunch of games with Things 1 & 2 and we netted a ton of tickets.

My parents and sister left before the rest of us. Probably to go shopping. That is pretty much all they do whenever my sister is up for a visit. Before the day was over, Chocolate Thunder and I played a few different racing games. I smoked him on all but one attempt. (Of course we both got smoked by this kid that couldn’t have been more than 7 on one of the games. The kid actually got up and cheered when he beat us!) After many hours of gaming we decided it was time to wrap it up and check out the store to redeem our tickets.

Pooh has been saving up her tickets for a few trips over the last year+. She had 10,000 tickets saved up so along with a couple thousand from Band Mom she was able to get Guitar Hero III for the PS2. Thing 1 & 2 each got some little things that made them happy as well. Then we all packed into our van and headed home.

When we got home, we instantly started playing GH3. You’d think we all would have had our fill of games after a 6 hour trip to Dave & Buster’s, but you’d be wrong. First Pooh handily whipped her boyfriend. Then Chocolate Thunder was dispatched by Thing 1 (LOL!). Thing 1 & I played a little too. Finally, Chocolate Thunder called it a night and headed home. Then Band Mom took Pooh and took her boyfriend home.

While they were gone Things 1 & 2 headed to bed and I started my career on GH3. I was playing when they returned. I took a break and we all watched some DVRed House. After we watched something else on DVR and Pooh fell asleep. After that show, Pooh and Band Mom both headed to bed. I of course stayed up to play…

By 4:30 in the morning I had completed my career on easy. I managed to beat everything the first run through with 5 stars except 3 things. The first time I had to battle Slash, I lost. The first time I played Slayer’s Raining Blood I failed and then only beat it with 4 stars. And finally the first time I battled Lou, I failed.

One cool thing about this version is that you win money on easy so I ended up buying all of the bonus songs and some guitars while I was at it.

All in all a fun filled day of gaming.

On a side note: I’m not sold on the Chocolate Thunder name that Band Mom wanted me to use. I may just go back to using his real name. I’m not sure yet…

Band Mom ended up not even going to bed. She just stayed up all night. I got up a little after 5 and scared the shit out of Band Mom because I was heading down the stairs while she was coming up in the dark. We both got showered and headed out earlier than we ever have. We got to Target at almost exactly 6. I dropped Band Mom off and went to park. According to her cell phone she entered the store at 6:03AM. She headed straight to the electronics section. See our main goal of the morning was to get this TV that was on special as a present for my parents. She gets to electronics only to find out that the special TV is actually in women’s clothing. She heads over to women’s. Checking her phone it is now 6:13AM. When she gets there there is no sign of TVs. Why? Did she get bad info? NOPE! They were all gone already. The damn store was only open for 15 minutes and they were gone!

Well doesn’t that just throw a monkey wrench in our plans for the day. We end up getting a few things that we did want to get and then we headed over to Wal Mart to see if they had a TV in the price range or if they had anything else. Its not even 7 and Wal Mart is like a ghost town. Seriously. Last year at 7 you couldn’t even move in the store. Today, its like shopping at 2:30 AM on a Tuesday morning in February. Of course thats probably because they have shit as far as anything we want to get this year. One thing they did have was a McDonalds. So I grabbed an Egg McMuffin and a Diet Coke and Band Mom got a burrito and a coffee. We then headed home.

Band Mom had seen a comparable TV online for a little bit more. So we ended up ordering that and looked at some other stuff online. Then we headed back out to the mall to check out GameStop to look at some stuff for Things 1 & 2. We ended up getting some used stuff for both of them instead of the single item for Thing 1 that we were initially thinking of since we got them for the same price as the original item we thought about getting. I think they will be thrilled when they look in their stockings.

We then stopped by at the AT&T Wireless store to look at possible phone upgrades for Pooh’s Christmas present. We didn’t decide on anything, but we did end up adding unlimited texting to all of our phones. Sort of an early Christmas present for Pooh and Band Mom, since I don’t text all that much or have a need to. We made one final stop at the AT&T Wireless corporate store to see what other phones they had to offer. We found a couple that have promise so we are going to do a little research and see what Pooh (and maybe me) might be getting for Christmas.

Finally we came home to stay. Band Mom went right to bed and I am just sitting here on the couch catching up on my DVR writting this stupid blog for you to read.

Thursday was Thanksgiving. Hope everyone had a happy turkey day. Band Mom and I lazed around most of the day. We finally got ready and headed out to pick up Band Mom’s Mom around 5. Then we headed to my folks’. Band Mom’s Mom had some presents for both my folks and my sister that she had brought back from her China trip. My mom and sister made a huge dinner. Everyone ate enough for ten people I think.

After dinner we hung out for a while and chatted and watched a little TV. Eventually we said goodnight to everyone and Band Mom, Pooh and I headed home after dropping off Band Mom’s Mom. Things 1 & 2 were staying at my folks’ again, since we were getting up for Black Sunday shopping.

We got home and Band Mom started looking through the flyers and on-line to make a plan of attack for the next day. I watched a little DVR while she was doing this. I went to bed a little after midnight. Band Mom and Pooh were still up. Pooh had to get up earlier than us since her step mom was going to pick her up at 4 O’Clock. Band Mom wanted us to be out of the house before 6 to hit the doorbusters.

Wednesday. Finally we get to get our selves in front of the public. The night before Thanksgiving. The biggest bar night of the year. Bigger than New Year’s Eve. What a day for a debut.

After work I came home. We packed up Things 1 & 2 and took them over to my folks’. My sister is in town for the holiday. The girls love spending the night when my sister is in town. After we dropped them off we headed up to The George Washington, or more precisely Bradford’s Lounge in the hotel. We got there around 7 and had some dinner. A little before 8 Rock and Trav showed up. They brought in the stuff from Trav’s car while Band Mom and I finished our dinner. After we finished, I got the stuff out of Band Mom’s van and we started getting set up. A little after 8 we started playing. We just did a couple of songs as a sound check.

By that time, Pooh had shown up with her boyfriend and his family. Her boyfriend and another friend were to be our opening act. The do an acoustic thing where the girl plays guitar and Pooh’s boyfriend sings. The played a few. Then we got back up and the crowd started rolling in. We played till 9 and then got our openers back up. They played to a packed house from 9 til a bit after 9:30. By this time the room was way crowded. Some of our friends were starting to show up. Scooter (the bass player that we were practicing with until sorta recently) and his girl, and a crew stopped by for a bit. We took the stage a little after 9:30.

We ended up with a great crowd. The Mayor and his wife showed up. Our neighbors were there. Former band members, Jason, Ed, and Sal all showed up. My pal Robb and his wife made it out (haven’t seen them in a while). Newly elected councilman AJ was there. We played for over an hour and a half straight. During that time we got the Mayor up to sing a few. Also I had a lot of help from Band Mom’s friend Michelle on vocals. We actually harmonized pretty darn well. We finally needed a break. So we had to stop for a little bit. We took a short break.

We got back up after about 15 or 20 minutes. We played a short set because our pal and former singer Kenn showed up. We got him up at 11 or so and he played and sang for about a half hour. He played Band Mom’s request of Last Kiss, so he won all kind of props from her.

We got back up a little after 11:30 and then played til we ran out of material and steam a bit after 1:30! 5 hours! We had a blast. It seemed like the crowd had a good time as well. I hope so. It was a blast being the singer for the whole night for a change. I need some work, but I felt good physically and good about the singing after it was all said and done.

I got to socialize a little and it was cool hanging with everybody. Band Mom got to socialize a ton more and had a blast haning with Chocolate and Vanilla. Obviously not their real names. But the names fit. She was in between the two of them for most of the evening, and said they were killing her all night. She was still laughing the next day about there antics.

I hope everyone had a good time. We sure did. Can’t wait to do it again.

Monday and Tuesday were normal work days for me. But Tuesday after work we had something to do. I got home and then we packed up the kids and headed out. Band Mom had an invitation to the open house of the new McDonald’s in Canonsburg. We got there and Band Mom wasn’t sure if we all could go or just her. I had to go to Canonsburg anyway to pick up the PA from Bill so the plan was that if we couldn’t go I would get the PA and we would all get a bite after. Turns out we were all allowed in.

There were a bunch of Chamber folks there. Band Mom was flitting around and doing the social thing. Things 1 & 2 and I wandered and had a little food. Then we checked out the new game room that they put in. It was pretty cool. They have some GameCube and PS2 kiosk games, a dance game, and a few others. AJ and I also tried one of the games a bike riding game. (I don’t think it was built for adults.) — If I get the pictures off of Band Mom’s phone I’ll post it later.

We ended up staying there for longer than I thought, but in the process ate a ton. They had people walking around handing out nuggets, 1/4 Big Macs, then some stuff that is not on the menu like Swedish meat balls, crab stuffed mushrooms, crab balls (I said balls), and some other stuff. They also had tables with fruit, veggies, cookies, and big ass shrimp.

We stayed and chatted and ate till a little after 8. Then we headed to Bill’s and loaded up the PA. We headed home and got the girls ready for bed.

Sunday first thing I went out and got…Oh wait no I didn’t. I actually cooked breakfast for Things 1 & 2 and myself. Some dippy eggs and toast. Band Mom slept in. We had plans for the day. First we were gonna go see Bim & Bo’s mom in the hospital. After that I was gonna go to a short practice at Rocks and then watch the game.

That didn’t turn out the way we planned. Band Mom wasn’t feeling all that well, so I decided to head to Rocks at 1 and practice till three then head to the hospital. So we practiced and added some more songs really quick. Rock was in a better mood so things went smooth. I took off around 3 and headed home.

When I got home Band Mom wasn’t feeling any better, so we ended up not going to the hospital. Then I got sick later watching the Steelers game. If you didn’t catch that it was all in my tone of voice. I didn’t actually get sick, but they lost to the 1-6 Jets. :puke:

Saturday started with guess what? Wait for it….aww, you guessed it. McDonald’s breakfast. I sometimes wonder if we need to enter a 12 step program to get off of this habit.

Anyway, around 1 we headed out and went to Band Mom’s Mom’s to pick her up. She needed a grocery run and so did we. So we all headed over to Wal Mart. Obviously, they were giving away $100 bills for every item purchased, because the place was packed like it was Black Friday. Pooh went with Band Mom’s Mom to get a pedicure and then start shopping. Band Mom, Thing 1, Thing 2 and I started on our normal rounds. The kids wanted to look at toys to start their Christmas lists. So Band Mom went off while I took them to look at the toys. We were quickly distracted by the demo of Rock Band on the PS 3. Daddy knows what’s going on his Christmas list! We got started playing. We all tried the drums, then Thing 1 did drums while I played guitar. Eventually Band Mom was tired of waiting for us and called me on my cell to get us moving. We could have stayed there all day I think.

We finished shopping and then waited in the mile long check out lines. We then headed to Eat N’ Park for some dinner. We took Band Mom’s Mom home and Pooh and I helped her carry up her groceries. Then we headed home to unload ours. Pooh’s dad picked her up around 8. The rest of the evening was spent just goofing off around the house and watching some TV. Okay, Band Mom did some work on some new web sites, but I just goofed off and watched TV.